Page 125 of Gift from the Wing

“What’s happening?” My brother’s concerned voice filters through my mind, but I can’t answer him.

“Their souls are splitting apart,” Aria quietly whispers, but I hear it.

Loud and clear.

“No!” I scream as I hold Oakly’s arm tighter.

“Willow, you have to stop. It’s killing her. It’s too much.”

My eyes snap open and collide with San’s. His face is set firm, although his lip trembles. He nods in retaliation to the insistent shaking of my head, but I refuse. I’m not letting her go.

My frantic gaze searches each of their eyes. There’s a war raging in each of them that I understand down to the depths of my soul. Part of us is fighting tooth and nail right now, not willing to let her go. The other side, the one that doesn’t want to surface just yet, believes this is the end of the line.

“I can’t. I need her. She’s my sister,” I cry, begging them to keep pushing, keep trying.

I whip my head to Oakly and force my mind into hers. There’s no consciousness on the other side, but still I plead.

“Oakly, fight. Do you hear me? Fight with all you have. Fight for the love that’s out here waiting for your hazel eyes to snap open. Fight for your Nexus, who will wage literal war for you, then turn around and hand feed you pastries because they’re your favorites. They’re going to love you forever, Oak. Here, in this realm. Fight for the want to prove yourself as the best archivist to walk the realm. No doubt Gaster will train you to the point you surpass him, and he’ll be none the prouder.

“Fight for me. Please. Fight for us. Fight for the future we’re going to have together. Fight for our bonding ceremonies. Fight for our adventures. Ourgirl days. Our gossip sessions. Our trainings. The children we’ll have in two hundred years that are going to give us hell. Please fight.”

Another excruciating bellow falls from my lips as another strand slips undone between our souls. The thread of our connection is growing thinner by the second and I know any moment now, our bond will break, then be made whole again.

But she won’t physically be here with me anymore.

“I swear by all the fucking power within me, Oakly Mercie, if you leave me, I’ll crawl to the fucking beyond and drag you back out here by your beautiful purple hair. Don’t keep fucking tempting me,” I scream as my emotions become an overwhelming concoction of grief and anger.

Power surges through the room, causing Jamie to take a desperate, harsh inhale that echoes through the space so piercingly it penetrates the heartbreak overriding all my senses.

“Don’t you stop now, Willow. Her body is sucking my magic dry. Draken,” Jamie grunts painfully.

My dragon man’s power pulses through the room and it springs everyone into action.

Wind, water, and a mountain of certainty coats not only my body but Oakly’s, and when Keeper turns my wrist outward to drag his razor-sharp nail down my wrist, I nod at him encouragingly.

When he does the same to Oakly, his smooth accent floats around the room and I gasp as I feel my blood pulling from my veins. It’s the same sensation as when I’d be drained, but there’s no pain, no needles, and no tubing. Just a direct transfer of my life essence to hers.

Drag after drag of my blood pours into Oakly to the point my head begins to swim, but the strong arms that wrap themselves around my waist hold me up and I hold onto my determination for dear life.

I watch through blurry eyes as Keeper lifts his wrist to his mouth and punctures the vein until his cobalt blood streams down his chin. As the two lifeforces merge, a river of purple blood flows into the cut on Oakly’s wrist and Jamie takes a deep breath.

“Gaster,” Corentin commands.

Gaster hurriedly makes his way through the sea of us and gently opens Oakly’s jaw. The pure white liquid miracle of the Poison of Essence travels through her lips and the room falls deadly silent as we wait.

Watch.

Tillman’s chest catches me as everything that makes Oakly explodes out of her and sends all of us skittering backward. Her water, her gift, her magic swarm her body protectively. Healing it back whole.

Her purple hair fans out around her and the shine that always makes it look like it’s brushed with glitter shimmers from her roots until it touches her ends. Her pale skin slowly starts to gain back its sun-kissed glow, and when her finger twitches, me as well as her entire Nexus jump back to her sides.

My lungs beg for me to breathe, but I can’t.

There’s no air left for me when Oakly inhales what feels like a never-ending gasp.

Brown, green, and gold flares to life as her eyes snap open, glowing with the overwhelming amount of power coursing through her. For a moment in time, she just stares up at the brightly lit ceiling before blinking them in rapid succession. When her gaze turns to her Nexus, they pounce.

Wrapping her up in their hands, they hug, kiss, cover her until I can barely see her through their massive bodies. Their words of praise and love to her have me covering my mouth to hold in my sobs of relief, but that doesn’t stop my body.

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