Chapter 380 I LOVE YOU

Chapter 380 I LOVE YOU
SERAPHINA’S POV

Her hands stretch out, and numerous black hands spring forth from the shadows of everyone else, every person that still remains on the school premises, grabbing onto whomever it comes from and pinning them to the ground, myself included.

"I only spared you for a moment because you meant something to her, but if you force my hand, I will find joy in crushing you with my bare hands," she seethes, trembling with anger.

The shadow holding me down doubles in pressure, and I feel a few of my ribs breaking under it. It’s only a matter of time before she kills me along with everyone else here, and if she does that, there would be no one else to stop her.

"Sera, don't!" the scream of a female voice pulls both our attention to the far left.

It's Olivia, tied down by her own shadow, trembling and in tears, next to an equally captured Jasper...

I thought they had escaped.

"Don’t do this, Sera. This isn’t you."

Her surprise turns into disgust while facing Olivia now. A scoff and chuckle escape her lips.

"You’re one to talk. She needed you the most, but you let her down over and over again. You were never her friend. You were an enemy in disguise."

"That’s not true!" she screams, denying it and shaking her head.

"That’s not true. I made mistakes and pushed you away because I was afraid, but you were always important to me. I regretted it when you were gone," she defends, despite her trembling and evident fear, she stands up to her.

Sera remains quiet for a moment before she pries her eyes away, a blank expression on her face.

"Everyone seems too eager to meet their end tonight," she comments simply, raising her hand again to crush us.

"I know you’re in there, and if you can hear me... Sera, if you can hear me, this isn’t you," I speak up again before she can use her power and go to the extreme.

I know I need to reach her now more than ever.

"I know it was hard. I’m so sorry that I left you all alone, I regret it so much but I’m here now... I promise. I swear on my life you won’t have to feel that ever again," I plead, imagining just how lonely she must have felt and how I helped in all of it.

"Sera... I’m sorry for pushing you away when you needed a safe place to stay, I’m sorry for ever doubting your intentions. You are right, I am an idiot - I always have been, and I never seem to appreciate the people I have until they're gone," Jasper yells from Olivia’s side now, giving up on struggling against her magic that remains unparalleled, something never seen or heard of.

His voice trembles with emotion, his eyes screaming of the regret boiling in his heart.

Her stoic expression turns confused for a second, the emotions on her face hard to read with blank eyes, but I can tell there's a shift in there once more.

Biting her lips and shaking her head over and over again as if fighting with a force inside of her.

"You’re lying. You’re all lying!" She yells at no one in particular, trembling while the magic binding all of us weakens for a second.

The hold of magic pressing me down weakens, and I’m able to get up on my knees while tied down.

I offer her a warm smile now, and say the words I’ve been desperately holding back since I woke up from being dead.

"Sera, every moment without you has been an endless torment. My existence feels hollow, and even when I fought through death, it was your name that anchored me, your memory that pulled me back from the void. I need you to fight through this, to return. What’s the point of living or dying if you’re not right by my side? Please, darling, come back to me." I free one hand and stretch it out to her for her to take it.

She looks at me, emotions other than hate on her face for the first time since this started, and a single tear drops from her eyes.

Until the very next moment, she lets out a scream of agony, clutching her hair and pulling on it, struggling with herself and throwing her own body left and right before falling to her knees again.

“NO! You can’t trust them again. You can’t. You can’t control this power without us!” Her screams are incessant while she fights off the powers that control her mind.

The black shadows holding everyone on their knees instantly fade away into a dark mist, setting them free.

“Jasper!” I look at him, giving him my orders with my eyes only, and he understands the sign, nodding his head before he proceeds to lead Olivia and everyone else out of the school grounds and to safety, leaving me alone with Sera.

Her magic goes haywire, glitching and fighting itself before she pauses in place, and a bright blue light shines from within her, purging away the darkness and spreading a brighter light in her eyes.

The blast of energy knocks me off my feet, and I hold onto a portion of the floors cracked and elevated for support, while everything around her continues to be blown away by the wave emanating from her body.

And then her green irises form again, and she looks at me, worried and scared but completely relieved.

“Artemis?” There’s instant recognition in her eyes.

I let out a heavy breath of relief I didn’t know I was holding, grateful to hear her once again.

“Baby…”

She looks relieved for a moment before ripples of pain course through her body, and she screams in agony again. The energy oozing from her body pushes back against me again, and I hold tighter onto the ledge.

“W-what’s happening…? Turn it off,” I plead with her, scared of the pain it's causing her.

Her eyes meet mine again, fear staring back at me after she's accessing her form, the bright light that continuously oozes out of her, and the energy that continues to rip apart everything around her.

“I can’t... I can’t control it. I don’t know how to stop it,” she explains. “I’ve never wielded this much at once… it’s going to explode.”

I remember the last time the explosion happened and know for a fact that this could be much worse than that, and possibly this time no one would survive it.

“No… you can do this, trust me. Just take deep breaths, okay? In and out,” I say, trying to be positive and encouraging, hiding the fear in my voice and smiling her way.

She does it for a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, her face contorting again, and I can tell nothing's changing.

"It’s not working, Artemis… Nothing's working. It’s already too late." The light seeping from her becomes even brighter and almost blinding to the point where I can barely see her face.

"No! It's not. I promised you I’d protect you, and I will. Just… just let me figure this out," I say instead, closing my eyes for a second to think.

Come on, figure something out…

You need to figure this out before it's too late.

But it’s hard to think, holding on for my life and with the chaos around me, with so little time to figure this out.

"Nothing’s going to work…" her voice comes out softer and less scared.

I open my eyes to look at her, and all I see is the acceptance in her features, something about it leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"I just got you back…" I say, the first tears falling from my eyes, being propelled behind me by the surge of energy without falling.

I don’t realize I’m crying until I see the droplets floating in the air. She’s still in front of me, yet my chest hurts so much.

"There’s only one way to stop it from erupting and taking the entire school with me… I don’t want to hurt anyone else."

"Sera, please."

"I have to do it."

"No, you fucking don’t! You don’t have to do anything," I grind my teeth with anger.

The whole school could burn for all I care, taking as many lives as it can, heck, it can take me too, anything that wouldn’t mean her being hurt, anything but whatever she’s thinking of doing.

"Artemis…" She looks at me, eyes tearing up, ripping my heart into shreds even further.

I don’t catch the next part; her voice fades away in the sound of rippling energy that seems to grow with every second. But I see her lips mouth three simple words: I love you.

And in a split second, she conjures up a blade, small as her palm, from her magic—the bits she could maneuver—and slices her own throat.