Chapter 186: A Symbol

Serena’s POV

Time seemed to slow down as I watched her drop to the floor.

Then it all came rushing back and arrowed down at her.

Everything else, the gunfires, the explosions, the men screaming, they all faded into a distant, meaningless noise as I pulled myself free from Nico and rushed to my knees by her side.

First thing I noticed as I dropped to her side was blood, it was everywhere, soaking everywhere.

There was so much blood that my hands began shaking immediately. It was spreading fast beneath her, soaking into the ground and staining her clothes.

Then my hands the moment I touched hers.

“No… no, no, no—” My voice broke instantly as I tried to lift her. “Get up. Come on, get up—we have to move—”

She didn’t move the way she should have. Her body felt… heavy in the wrongest of ways.

“Serena,” she just about called out, way softer than I had ever heard it.

Too soft.

I shook my head violently, already dragging her arm over my shoulder. “No, don’t—don’t talk like that. We’re leaving. Nico! Nico, we need—”

“I’m here!” Nico’s voice cut in sharply as he rushed to our side, then stood over us without saying a word for a moment.

“Form a wall around them! Now!” He yelled and moved away, then boots pounded in the floor as our men closed in, forming a tight circle around us while firing out as the enemies pushed closer.

But I didn’t bother looking up at any of it. I couldn’t.

“Come on,” I whispered with my voice shaking as I tried to pull her up again. “We can still make it. The car is right there—we’ll get you patched up, we’ll—”

She winced, a small, broken sound left her lips, and her hand gripped mine—not hard, not firm—just enough to stop me.

“Serena,” she whispered weakly again.

“Stop it!” I snapped with tears already blurring my vision. “Don’t say my name like that. Don’t—don’t start this. We’re going. We can talk on the way, okay? Just—just stand up—”

“I can’t.”

The words cut into me as my chest tightened painfully.

“Yes, you can,” I shot back immediately, shaking my head harder. “You can. You will. I’m not leaving you here, do you hear me? I’m not—”

“Serena.”

This time, her voice cut through me.

Not nearly because of how loud it was, but just how certain she sounded.

I froze.

And when I looked at her face, I felt something inside me begin to crack.

She knew. She already knew.

“No…” My voice dropped to a whisper. “No, you don’t get to decide that. You don’t get to just—just give up like this—”

A faint smile touched her lips, one that didn’t belong in this moment. One that made everything worse.

“I’m not giving up,” she murmured. “I’m just… done fighting something I can’t win.”

More chaos erupted louder around us with someone yelling close by, but I didn’t turn.

They could shoot me for all I care.

“Listen to me,” I said with my hands trembling as I tried again to pull her up. “You’re strong. You’re stronger than this. You’ve survived worse, you—”

“My time,” she cut me off and took a slow, uneven breath. “It was always going to end like this.”

“No!” I snapped with my voice breaking into a sob. “No, it wasn’t! Stop saying that! Stop—”

Her hand tightened slightly around mine.

“Serena, please.”

My throat felt tighter.

“Just listen.”

I shook my head with tears falling freely now. “We can talk in the car. Not here. Not like this. Please—”

But she didn’t move, and I was painfully starting to understand why.

Her breathing was getting weaker and her strength… fading.

“I kept my promise,” she said suddenly, and the words caught me off guard.

“What?”

Her eyes found mine, softer than I had ever seen them.

“I told your mother… I would protect you.”

My lips parted, but no words came out.

“Tell her this for me,” she continued with her voice trembling more now. “Tell her I'm sorry for staying away, that I didn't not because I couldn’t come back… but because I believed this was safer for her. For you. I thought distance would keep you both out of this life.”

A tear slid down my cheek again.

“I made my choice… and I lived with it,” she added.

“Aunt Maria—”

“But I kept my promise today,” she said with her grip on my hand tightening again. “I protected you.”

A sob tore out from my chest.

“You did,” I choked. “You did, okay? So now you have to keep going. You don’t get to stop now—you don’t get to leave me like this—”

Her smile wavered. “I don’t have a choice anymore.”

“You do!” I cried. “You do! We can still fix this, we just need to move—”

“I’m tired, Serena,” she spilled and that broke something in me completely.

Not just the words, but the way she said it, like she was actually… tired.

“I’ve been tired… for a long time now,” she added and my grip on her stiffened desperately.

“Then rest when we get out of here,” I said quickly, my voice shaking. “Rest at home, rest anywhere—but not here. Not like this—”

Her gaze drifted for a moment to a distance.

“After Carlos died,” she whispered and my breath hitched. “I was never… whole again.”

Her voice cracked this time, the first real crack since she started.

“I tried,” she continued, swallowing hard. “God, I tried. I built the foundation to help make people smile, hoping that maybe… it would make me feel whole too.”

More tears slipped down my face now.

“But it never did.”

I shook my head, crying harder now. “You helped people—you changed lives—that matters—”

“It helped,” she admitted softly. “It kept me standing… kept me breathing…”

Then her voice dropped as she added. “But it never brought him back.”

Silence wrapped around us for a brief second.

“I still feel him,” she whispered. “Like a part of me never left him… and the rest of me has just been… waiting to follow.”

“No,” I said immediately, gripping her harder. “No, don’t say that—don’t say things like that—”

Her eyes returned to mine, and they were filled with something that terrified me.

Peace.

“I’m not afraid,” she said gently.

“I am!” I broke out. “I am! So don’t you dare leave me—don’t you dare make me watch this—”

She slowly lifted her left hand, shaking as she reached for her ring from her other hand.

I frowned through my tears as she struggled to pull it off.

“What are you doing?” I asked with my voice trembling.

“Take it,” she said as she pulled it off her finger and stretched it out to me.

I froze. “No.”

“Serena—”

“No!” I shook my head harder, pushing her hand back. “I don’t want it. I don’t need it. I need you, so stop this—”

“Take it.”