"Plague!! Plague, come the fuck in!" I shouted frantically into the radio.

  "What is it, Ayla?"

  "It's fucking time!" I was so nervous I couldn't stop shaking. Mary was somewhat calm, surprisingly.

  Not only had Helena's contractions started, but they were also rapidly getting worse!

  "Ok, Ayla, listen carefully. Bring her immediately to the hospital. Levitate her if you need to, but just get her here now!" I could do that; I could definitely do that. Helena had gotten out of the bathroom, and she was clutching her belly.

  "Helena! Think you can walk?!" I shouted.

  "Yes, and please calm down, Ayla."

  "I am calmed down!" I shouted. Cooper was also nervously rummaging through the keys, which were in a pile for some reason. I made my way over to him. "We can worry later!" I took all the keys and put them in his jacket. "Get the lift! I'll help her get there, move!" I ordered him. I did something that I never would have dared normally, but the situation called for it. At that point, Helena was struck with another contraction, bending her over as she was clearly in pain.

  I had to contact Plague again. "Plague! She's in a lot of pain, and it's just started! Is that normal?"

  "I don't think so; hurry up." He said it plainly. At that point I simply went very close to the mother and put myself under her shoulder to help her walk. She was able to make it to the lift without much issue. Mary got in last, and I was having a panic attack. My arms felt like they were being pricked with small needles; I could only see what was right in front of me. I was hyperventilating, and my heart was beating fiercely in my chest. Cooper relieved me of my carry duty, and now that I had my hands free, I passed them through my hair. My face was covered in sweat. Mary noticed and hugged me.

  "Ayla, relax. Look at her; she's doing fine. Relax." She said softly into my ear. That lift ride felt like an eternity.

  "I can't, Mary, I can't!" My chest was rising and lowering quickly. She took my hands and squeezed them; she made me focus on her eyes. I could only see those blue irises now.

  "Just listen to me! Breathe in and out. Do it with me." She began exaggerating her breathing so I could copy her.

  I did my best and copied her. I breathed in, held it for a bit, and let it out. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. Slowly but surely, I began relaxing. She was right; I had to stay calm.

  The elevator doors opened, and we all darted out. We made it to the darkened street and were right in front of the hospital, where there were a bunch of people, one of them with a wheelchair. They sat her on the wheelchair and speedily wheeled her in. We all followed through. I was feeling lightheaded. I couldn't focus on anything; everything simply passed around me like a blur. Eventually, somehow, I found myself in the delivery room. I didn't know how I got there or when. I only knew there was a lot of noise and stress. Plague was there, and Mary. Why was Mary there? I was feeling even more tired and nauseous by the moment. I didn't know anything at the time; my mind was a real mess.

  My eyes moved from Helena's red face to the lights on the ceiling, and everything blurred, and I blacked out.

  "Ayla... Ayla!" I opened my eyes again. How long had I been out for? Who was talking to me? My eyes began focusing slowly, and Mary was leaning over me. I was lying on the floor. "Ayla! What happened!?"

  "I passed out." I was more relaxed now. The labor was still going on. I looked around and noticed a sizzling hole in the ceiling. It was a perfect round carving. Then I remembered why I was there. Had the kid done that? I bolted up.

  "What happened!?" I asked Mary.

  "A ball of blue light appeared, and you collapsed. Are you doing ok?" She sounded really worried.

  "Yeah, it's just stress. I'm fine. How long have I been out for?"

  "About ten minutes." She answered.

  I didn't know whether that was a lot or not, for this context at least. "And how's it going?"

  "Smoothly. Look!" She smiled.

  Then, Helena screamed harder, and the miracle of life began. Plague held the infant in his arms, wrapped in a hospital towel. Cooper had tears rolling down his eyes, and Helena was bawling in joy. I knew that people could cry of happiness, but I never knew they could sob like that. I felt like a ten-ton weight lifted off my chest. Everything had gone smoothly, and I had turned out to be useless, thank god. Now that I think about it, this was the first time Plague had been majorly wrong about something, but it was such a relief. Humanity could procreate like it always had.

  "It's over." I muttered to myself. It was over; the stress and the anxiety were no more! Oh, I could have flown to the moon at that moment!

  I hugged Mary. She hugged me back. From the very beginning I had been more worried than her about this. She had a feeling that nothing was going to go wrong, but I, on the other hand, did. I thought something was going to go horribly wrong, and I think it was because Plague told me!

  Speaking of which, he had been the one in charge of getting that kid out. Everybody in that room owed it to him. But nobody was mentioning it.

  "Plague!" I called for him loudly. Once he turned to me, I began clapping my hands. He deserved to get recognition for the amazing job he had done. Mary followed my example, as did Cooper and the three other doctors there. I saw Plague smile; he wasn't as heartless as I thought. The only one not clapping was Helena, but her hands were busy with her new little bundle of joy. All I could see on my end was the towel it was wrapped in. After the applause quieted down, the medics, along with Plague, did some last things that I didn't know about, and Cooper called us over.

  Mary and I were holding hands as we made our way there. Helena's face was returning to its normal color, and she was grinning like an idiot, the most beautiful idiot in the world, perhaps.

  "Cooper, what is it?" I asked him. He chuckled as if I had asked for the weather. It was clear; they wanted us to meet the little thing.

  "Ayla, Mary, thank you so much. I can't find the words to express just how much you two have done for us. So as a thank you, we'd like to name our son after your brother, Mary, if that's ok with you." Said Cooper.

  Mary gasped; she wasn't expecting it either. She covered her mouth in surprise. "You really don't have to do this; we haven't even done that much!" She began stuttering.

  Helena took her hand. She rubbed it gently.

  "We want this, please. It would be our honor to commemorate him. Could you tell us his name?" She spoke softly.

  Mary swallowed down tears and nodded.

  "Alex, my brother's name was Alex."

  "Alex Cooper, I like it; it has some ring to it." Said Cooper. I still hadn't seen the kid; he was covered by the towel.

  "Say hi, girls." Helena uncovered the newborn. His skin was red, his head was big, his hair was almost transparent, and most of all, he was healthy as an oak. There was nothing wrong with him; he seemed fine. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him. He was minuscule. His eyes were closed as he suckled his first meal. In a year he would learn to crawl, in two to walk, in three to talk, and in a lifetime to live.

  I was so happy for them.

  I didn't know how long it had lasted, but it felt like absolute hours upon hours. I checked my watch and found out it had been three hours since the water broke, which was overall really fast. I went to one of the chairs at the sides of the room to rest and catch my senses; I had to think over a lot of things. Plague was done and had taken off his sterile cloth robe for surgery; I don't know what those things are called. He noticed me and came to talk to me.

  "Pla..." I tried to speak, but he silenced me.

  "I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't know this would mess with you so much, so from the bottom of my heart, sorry. Now, what the hell did you do when you passed out?" That caught me off guard. I was expecting him to have been mad at me for slacking off and getting overwhelmed so quickly.

  "I don't know. You think that ball was mine?"

  "I know it was yours. You're full of surprises." He sat down beside me.

  "Plague, Helena knows where my parents worked. She could be a really good lead for our case."

  "Oh, that's good. I'll talk to her later." Suddenly, his radio began talking.

  "Sir! We have a problem at the north gate. There's a man who has just crossed the entire city with only a sword and a shotgun. We are refusing him entrance; please come!" The radio went silent. Plague sighed heavily.

  "Ayla, I need another favor. Please come with me."

  I was tired. Tired of being used for nothing but favors. I was tired from not sleeping. But that's work for you—just favors and favors. I couldn't say no.

  Plague excused himself hurriedly, and we left the hospital. He was in a terrible hurry; I didn't know for what, though.

  The city was dark, but there was enough moonlight to make our way to the north gate. It must have taken us five minutes.

  The walls around the gates had catwalks, and I saw a substantial number of guards all aiming their rifles at the other side of the wall.

  We climbed the ladder, and Plague talked to the man in charge.

  "Report."

  "Some guy wants to enter, but he came alone and is fighting a horde by himself."

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  I leaned over and saw a man holding a spas and a long falchion. He was wearing a white jacket and no shirt. Even from this distance I could see he was jacked, more than Cooper and even, dare I say, Sofia Briggs.

  Plague came up behind me, and once he saw the man, his eyes went wide as dinner plates.

  "Everybody stand down immediately! Put your guns away!" He shouted for everyone. The guards looked at him confused, but they obeyed. Who was this man? I deduced that Plague knew him, or else he wouldn't have reacted that way.

  "I knew you were behind this! What!? Did you really think we would let you roam earth at your will!? Or did you think it was safe since I was dead!?" The man was twenty meters away and began making his way forth.

  "Cayde! I'll come down! Just don't do anything! Please!" Plague shouted back.

  It wasn't like him to bow down. This man was dangerous; I could tell. After Plague ordered his men to not do anything, he told me to come with him. We descended the catwalk, and the guards opened the gate. We were standing in one of the main avenues.

  We walked towards the man, now seven meters away from us. I saw he was handsome and had a cold stare, the coldest I had ever seen.

  "You were dead for good, Cayde."

  "Turns out I just had to talk to my twin to fix my issue. Now it's time to go back before you break reality again." I didn't like his tone one bit.

  "I've changed, and these people need me." Plague sounded reasonable, but this man didn't take no for an answer.

  "Don't make me take you back." The man lowered his tone.

  "Ok, jackass, that's enough. Who are you, and what do you want with him!?" I put myself between the man and Plague; I couldn't let him be humiliated like that anymore.

  "Step aside, human." He answered coldly. I was at the brink of using force.

  "Ayla, let me talk to him." Plague put his hand on my shoulder to move me out of the way, but the man had other plans.

  "There is no talking! You know the rules, Plague! Not only did you cross over, but you also messed with the cosmos." The man was getting angry for no reason.

  "Hey asshole! That was me, and I'm going to break something else unless you back down!" I said.

  The man scoffed. "You did it? Let me guess. Plague pumped you up full of mystery fluid, and now you can fuck around with reality, but it's still his fault."

  "He didn't pump me up with anything! Someone else did. Now back off." It was my final warning.

  "She's telling the truth. This isn't my fault. Cayde, you have to believe me; I'm helping these people." Plague interjected.

  "I still have to take care of whoever caused it." The man wasn't letting off, and it was pissing me off.

  "Caused what!? What is it that broke?" I shouted.

  "Someone made energy."

  "So what if I did? What of it?" I asked tauntingly.

  "Well, I'd have to get rid of you. The gods don't like rule breakers." I felt like he said that to both of us. But gods? He's mad, like crazy mad.

  "I'd like to see you try," I said.

  Plague grabbed my arm tightly and pulled me back. "Ayla, this guy will kill you; don't mess with him." He turned to the weird man. "Cayde, we know who caused all of this in the first place. We can end it before it gets worse."

  "You caused it. You and Greed and Decay caused this! Don't give me that bullshit." The man raised his falchion at Plague.

  "I also thought that. Look, I'll explain everything inside; just let us explain." Plague was desperately trying to de-escalate the situation.

  The man grunted and nodded. "Fine, let's talk inside." The man sheathed the falchion and slung the shotgun behind his back.

  "You're weak now." Plague remarked.

  "I'm strong enough." The man shrugged him off. He definitely seemed strong to me. He also seemed like a massive asshole.

  The sun was beginning to rise; the horizon was lighting up slightly.

  Now inside the city walls, I had to talk to Plague.

  "Plague, who is this idiot?"

  "Cayde, part of the original god of destruction and now the hound for the real gods. Ayla, don't mess with him, seriously. He has fought wars by himself." Plague was tense.

  "So? I'm strong as a god; you said so yourself."

  "No, not like this. He is so out of your league you're not even playing the same sport."

  Cayde was now observing everything around us: the streets, the walls, and the guards.

  "Ayla, I'll talk to him by myself." Plague left me alone. I didn't see where they went.

  So this was a big-shot guy? The god of destruction—anybody could brag about that title, but could he stand up to the name? It was then I remembered that I had left Mary at the hospital. I made my way there and arrived just as she was leaving the building. She spotted me and came to me.

  "What happened? She asked. It was a question I couldn't really answer properly, as I didn't want to scare her. How could I tell her that a weird man had just arrived at the gates after plowing through the city at night with only a sword and a shotgun?

  "I don't know how to explain. An old acquaintance of Plague's just arrived, and they're talking now. It's a bit more complicated than that, but you get the idea." I put my arm around her shoulder. "So how are the lovebirds doing?"

  "Oh, they're over the moon. The doctors said Helena would have to stay for a bit in the hospital, and Cooper said he'd stay with her for the night. You know what that means?" She smiled devilishly at me.

  "That we have the house to ourselves?"

  She smiled even wider. "You betcha."

  So that's what we did. We spent the night alone, just us two. And I finally slept without tossing and turning through nightmares and worries.

  The morning was nice; I didn't have to worry about the kid anymore. I decided on taking a long walk through the park with Mary, a treat for us after all our hard work. We were laughing and joking all the way through the canopy of the leaves, getting high off the summer smell of flowers and enjoying the fresh breeze that blew through us. The pond in the park had some picnic tables, and curiously enough, we saw Plague and Cayde sitting at one. Had they been there throughout the night? I would have been surprised either way. I decided to see what was cooking with them. There were about ten meters between us.

  "Mary, follow me." I took her by the hand and approached the two.

  "As I said, this guy caused the infection. You know I never lie." Plague sounded serious.

  "You really think a puny human could make the god virus?" Cayde was mocking him; whoever this guy was, he sure had some balls.

  "We don't know if he's even human!" Plague sounded as if he'd been talking to a brick wall. We came up from behind Plague, and Cayde locked eyes with us. Plague noticed his shift in attention and turned around. "Ayla, tell him what you know about Slone."

  I nodded before continuing. "I know where he worked, as did my parents. They worked at Reiner Biocorp in Thurmer. And I think my strand is his."

  I glanced over at Mary; her eyes were piercing into Cayde's soul. She was petrified, mortified. What was wrong with her? I nudged her elbow, but that didn't do anything. I then noticed her arm turning black, a sign she was about to make a weapon. A long, sharp blade formed out of her hand, and she leapt towards Cayde.

  "You fucking asshole! You let my brother die! I'll kill you for that!" She mantled over the picnic table while screaming that. I didn't have time to react; I didn't expect her to do that. But before I could even process what had happened, Cayde had her in an armbar, pressing her head against the wood with his foot.

  "Cayde! Let her go!" Plague shouted. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't even seen the man move; it had been a blur. Who was he really?

  Mary was crying. Cayde looked over at Plague and released Mary from the armbar and pushed her to me. She fell to the grass. My heart felt heavy then; I hadn't done anything to protect her at all.

  I quickly crouched down and helped Mary.

  "Ayla, that man pulled me away from my brother when I tried to go back to save him. He let him die!" So that was it; that was why she had attacked him.

  I hugged her tightly, and she sobbed on my shoulder.

  "He saved you; I wouldn't have met you if he hadn't." I said.

  "I know Ayla, but my brother also deserved to meet you! He stole that chance away from him!" I decided to stay quiet after that; I didn't know what to say to help, and I was deathly afraid of worsening it.

  Cayde scoffed. "You would have rather died than have me help you? If I were to have saved your brother, he wouldn't be as happy as he is now. The afterlife is a much nicer place than this shithole." The absolute lack of tact of that man!

  "You're saying dying is better than living!?" She shouted in tears.

  "For now, yes." He turned his gaze back to Plague. "This is why I hate humans. I do nothing but suffer through all their wars and conflicts, and this is how they thank me. I don't even know why I bother at all."

  "You don't have a choice, I'm afraid." Said Plague.

  "You're right. You know, I've been sleeping well these past two months; I've also grown weak. All the lack of destructive activities and lack of people has really helped my mood."

  "What I really want to know is what happened to Decay." Said Plague. It felt weird listening to their conversation. I didn't know who they were talking about or what they meant, but both were apparently on the same wave.

  "He was tired of everything. He just wanted to live a normal life without waking up wanting to rip his eyes out. He gave me his burden." Cayde said. "All this time we both thought it couldn't be done, but alas, I'm now the only god of us two. I would have preferred for him to be able to live in a better world than this, though."

  Plague leaned in. "So about my proposition..."

  Cayde sighed. "Ok, I'll stick around until you find the guy responsible, but I'm taking him with me. If he dies because of any of you, I'm killing you all."

  Jeez, what a good deal, isn't it? Not only do we have to put up with his bullshit, but we also have to yield the satisfaction of killing Slone to him. What a prick.

  Mary was seething; after all, I had promised her she would kill Slone. She was hell-bent on revenge, and she deserved to have her way.

  After that, Mary and I left the two alone. We now made our way back to the house.

  Mary's face was red; she wanted to cry. I put my arm around her, and she leaned into me. "He didn't save my brother."

  True, but he did save her, and that's one thing I owe the guy. "That may be, but he saved you."

  "And I'm supposed to feel good about that? Am I supposed to feel good knowing I was more worthy of living than my brother?"

  "No, I didn't say that. I think you're looking at this the wrong way. It's not him you should blame; it's Slone."

  She nodded and wiped her eyes. "You're right, Slone caused all of this. I feel like an idiot for having attacked Cayde like that; I thought I was stronger." I suppose she was talking about that little outburst of hers, the one that ended with her face on the table.

  "Yeah, he's stronger than he looks." We stayed silent for a bit. "Do you reckon Donn and Emmy know about yesterday?"

  She chuckled. "With your incessant shouting, I'm sure they figured something was up. You sure were tense back then."

  "Yeah, I was terrified! But I couldn't have done it without you." We arrived at the front door to the building and entered. We took the stairs, and instead of going into our own flat, we knocked on my brother's. I hadn't really been in his place much; I had mostly spent my time taking care of Helena, and as such, had to stay in my apartment. It was around ten in the morning, and I was certain my brother would be awake. But then, we heard a loud crash coming from the inside and no answer to our knocks. I decided I had to do something; it was too suspicious. With my telekinesis, I was able to pick the lock of the door, and when I opened it, I got the biggest shock of my life. Emily was a meter and a half off the floor, standing on a ladder with a hammer and nails in her hand. My brother was holding the ladder and had a couple metal things in his hand.

  "You idiot! I told you to catch it!" Emily shouted at him.

  "How am I supposed to catch a kilo and a half vase while holding you and the supports!? I don't have enough hands!" He answered.

  There was a flower vase now shattered into pieces, and there was soil on the carpet.

  "You could have used your hands!" Emily shouted again.

  "Oh, fuck off, Emmy!" They were going back and forth.

  "Hey guys, do you need help?" I asked.

  They both looked stunned at seeing me there. They were so engrossed in their feuds that they hadn't noticed Mary and me coming into the house. They looked at each other before my brother let go of the ladder and went to greet us. Emily wobbled a bit on the steps but also came down.

  "Yeah, we could definitely use your help; thanks for offering." My brother said. He handed me two L-shaped pieces of metal with holes in them. "We noticed a couple of days ago how the shelf was beginning to lean in, so we decided to fix it. And as you can see, Emily is doing a lousy job with the hammer."

  "Lousy job with the hammer? You were on first hammer duty, and you almost broke your head on the floor!" Emmy shouted.

  "It wouldn't have happened if you knew how to hold up a stupid ladder!" My brother retorted.

  "You two make an adorable couple." Mary interjected.

  "Shut it, Mary!" They both screamed in unison. To be fair, they did make for a pretty good couple. With my brother's stubbornness and Emily's indifference, they were cut out for each other.

  "So what do you want me to do?" I asked.

  "Just put these on the last shelf." My brother said. That would be easy; I didn't even have to use the hammer.

  In a swift motion, I levitated the brackets up to their places and pushed the nails through. That was one thing I was able to do. Maybe I wasn't strong enough to help deliver a baby, or maybe I was too weak to take on Cayde, but I was more than able to put up some metal brackets with nails, for whatever that may be useful for.