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Description
Lynx stared down at Griffin's body as she replaced her mask. Len was looking straight ahead.
He walked to stand a little to the left of Griffin. He looked up as if Griffin was standing right in front of him.
"Len, come on. It's just us now, remember?" Lynx says.
"No. I want to talk to Griffin," Len says.
"But Griffin just…" Lynx starts, but she chokes. Len could talk to the dead, that's right. Lynx begins to walk away, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
A hand closes around hers, stopping her. She turns, expecting to see Len, but instead sees Griffin. He was transparent, like a ghost.
He tried saying something, but Lynx heard nothing. Griffin looks to Len for help.
"He says 'I love you, Lynx,'" Len says. Lynx stares at Griffin in disbelief. Then she smiles.
"I love you, too, Griffin," Lynx says.
The boy who had warned them came by then.
He said his name was Blade.
A weapon resembling a sword appears from his left hand and as Len, Lynx, and the ghost of Griffin watch in disbelief as Blade silently plunges the weapon into Griffin's body.
Lynx hears the ghost Griffin cry out in pain and watches him fall to the ground.
He's clutching at where the blade stabbed his physical body.
"What did you do!?" Lynx screams. She advances on Blade, intentions to kill.
"Before you kill me, just sit back and watch," he says.
Lynx watches. And waits. She barely notices the ghost fading and Griffin's body looking more… alive. She doesn't notice, until Griffin gasps.
"The mask, Lynx," Blade says, holding his hand out to her. Lynx hands it to him, and Blade puts it on Griffin's face.
Griffin coughs and takes deep breaths.
He opens his eyes and coughs again.
Lynx smiles.

XXXXX

What was I doing back? Didn't I just die?
I must have since I saw my body.
Lynx knew I loved her now…
I sit up quickly, expecting a lot of pain.
I felt nothing. All my wounds had healed. My neck had been reset and had healed as well.
I look around and my gaze locks on an unfamiliar face. He looked a year or two older than me, and he wasn't wearing a mask.
"You're Blade, aren't you?" I ask. I'm surprised by how raspy my voice is.
"Yes. And you don't have to be grateful I brought you back, but I need you alive," Blade says.
"You need me alive? Why?" I ask.
"I can't tell you right now…"
"What do you mean you can't tell me? You brought me back to life! I want to know why!" I attempt to stand up but fall flat on my ass. Lynx helps me up and supports me. I give a grateful smile to her, but I doubt she saw it.
"I mean I'm not authorized to tell you! When you meet Pandora, she'll tell you," Blade says to me.
"Who's Pandora?" Len asks. His purple eyes are bright but were rimmed with red.
"Luka was the leader of the Refuge right? Well Pandora is the leader of the group I'm a part of… If that makes any sense."
"So when can we meet this Pandora?" I ask.
"Soon. Follow me, and then you can meet her," Blade says to. A sword-like weapon materializes and he uses it to draw a design in the dirt. When he finishes it, a circular tube shoots up into the sky. Blade glances at us once and steps through it. A purple light flashes briefly, and he was gone.
I glance at Lynx and Len. Len takes a step through the light next, and just like Blade, he disappeared.
Lynx steps through, then me.
When I'm done being blinded by purple light, I realize I'm standing in a pretty much undamaged hotel lobby…
Was this the past?
I turn and look out the window, and I see the post-apocalyptic ruins of… Chicago. I was back in Chicago.
"Welcome home, Griffin," Blade says, startling me. He starts walking down the hall and he stops in front of the stairs.
"You don't need to wear your masks in here. Filtered air is pumped in here through the vent systems during the day," Blade explains when we see a boy run down the hall without a mask on.
Len takes his mask off immediately, Lynx and I follow a little more slowly. We all follow Blade up the stairs and pause in the hall on the next floor. There's a girl walking towards us. I can't see her eyes. She has long reddish- brown hair and she might have been my age, if not younger. She looks up and sees Blade standing there with us. Her eyes are the color of the ocean. She smiles and runs to him, embracing him in a tight hug.
"Pandora, what are you-?" he begins.
"Blade, where were you? I've missed you so much!" she says. She sounded like a love-struck puppy.
"Pandora, I brought recruits," Blade whispers to her. She jolts and her eyes survey Lynx, Len, and myself standing there kind of awkwardly. She steps back from Blade, and she flattens her hair a little bit.
"And what are your names?" Pandora asks.
"I'm Len. Nice to meet you!" Len says. I roll my eyes at how cheerful he is around strangers.
"Lynx," she says. She stares at Pandora with distrust. Pandora takes Lynx's hand and smiles. It's more apologetic than it is friendly.
"I'm-," I begin to say. Pandora looks at me. She drops Lynx's hand and takes mine instead. Her eyes widen and it's almost as if she stopped breathing. Blade looks between me and her.
"Pandora?" Blade asks. He grips her shoulders firmly and tugs her. Her grip tightens on my hand…
It keeps tightening and tightening. My hand goes numb and I think she cracked a bone or two.
I'm on my knees gripping my hand to my chest by the time Blade gets her to release me. Pandora falls against the opposite wall and pulls her knees up to her chest.
"I know who you are now Griffin. Blade, why did you-?" Pandora asks. She looks toward Blade with wide eyes. She's shaking and holding herself as if she was cold.
"He's no use to us dead," Blade says lifelessly. I look between him and Pandora.
"But if he's already dead, he's dead! We shouldn't change things like that!"
"Luka had started him on the path to death."
Luka… He didn't deserve to die…
"Then… Where's Luka then? The procedure you used to revive Griffin required a… You killed Luka?"
"I had to…"
"He was a good soldier…"
"Luka was a traitor. He was leading Lynx and Len to their execution. And he tried killing me so I couldn't tell them that. And why do you keep saying you need me alive? Why am I needed alive!?" I ask.
"You're going to help us change the world. Change it and revive the life it lost," Pandora says, staring me straight in the face.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, with you, we can change the world back to the way we used to know it as. Like when we were younger…"
I jolt with a sudden realization. They were going to use me. Sure, we would restore the world to how it looked before the wars and the destruction…
How were they going to do it?
I look around stupidly and I see a little black haired head staring at me from around the corner. She notices me staring back and her white face turns pink and she disappears around the corner again. I cock my head to the side.
Who was that girl?
Pandora notices me staring at nothing and she looks to see what I saw. She reaches for my hand again, and her fingers brush mine.
"That was Domino," she says quietly.
"Domino? Who is she?" I ask.
"One of our newer recruits. She told us about you."
"Did she?"
Lynx moves closer to me and her hand falls to rest on my shoulder. I meet her eyes and smile.
"You have nothing to worry about," I say, leaning down and giving her a soft kiss to the lips.
Len groans in disgust and I laugh. I stare at where Domino was and I get this feeling of nostalgia.
Who is she? Why did she seem so interested in me? And why was I so fascinated by her?

Description
Lynx stared down at Griffin's body as she replaced her mask. Len was looking straight ahead.
He walked to stand a little to the left of Griffin. He looked up as if Griffin was standing right in front of him.
"Len, come on. It's just us now, remember?" Lynx says.
"No. I want to talk to Griffin," Len says.
"But Griffin just…" Lynx starts, but she chokes. Len could talk to the dead, that's right. Lynx begins to walk away, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
A hand closes around hers, stopping her. She turns, expecting to see Len, but instead sees Griffin. He was transparent, like a ghost.
He tried saying something, but Lynx heard nothing. Griffin looks to Len for help.
"He says 'I love you, Lynx,'" Len says. Lynx stares at Griffin in disbelief. Then she smiles.
"I love you, too, Griffin," Lynx says.
The boy who had warned them came by then.
He said his name was Blade.
A weapon resembling a sword appears from his left hand and as Len, Lynx, and the ghost of Griffin watch in disbelief as Blade silently plunges the weapon into Griffin's body.
Lynx hears the ghost Griffin cry out in pain and watches him fall to the ground.
He's clutching at where the blade stabbed his physical body.
"What did you do!?" Lynx screams. She advances on Blade, intentions to kill.
"Before you kill me, just sit back and watch," he says.
Lynx watches. And waits. She barely notices the ghost fading and Griffin's body looking more… alive. She doesn't notice, until Griffin gasps.
"The mask, Lynx," Blade says, holding his hand out to her. Lynx hands it to him, and Blade puts it on Griffin's face.
Griffin coughs and takes deep breaths.
He opens his eyes and coughs again.
Lynx smiles.

XXXXX

What was I doing back? Didn't I just die?
I must have since I saw my body.
Lynx knew I loved her now…
I sit up quickly, expecting a lot of pain.
I felt nothing. All my wounds had healed. My neck had been reset and had healed as well.
I look around and my gaze locks on an unfamiliar face. He looked a year or two older than me, and he wasn't wearing a mask.
"You're Blade, aren't you?" I ask. I'm surprised by how raspy my voice is.
"Yes. And you don't have to be grateful I brought you back, but I need you alive," Blade says.
"You need me alive? Why?" I ask.
"I can't tell you right now…"
"What do you mean you can't tell me? You brought me back to life! I want to know why!" I attempt to stand up but fall flat on my ass. Lynx helps me up and supports me. I give a grateful smile to her, but I doubt she saw it.
"I mean I'm not authorized to tell you! When you meet Pandora, she'll tell you," Blade says to me.
"Who's Pandora?" Len asks. His purple eyes are bright but were rimmed with red.
"Luka was the leader of the Refuge right? Well Pandora is the leader of the group I'm a part of… If that makes any sense."
"So when can we meet this Pandora?" I ask.
"Soon. Follow me, and then you can meet her," Blade says to. A sword-like weapon materializes and he uses it to draw a design in the dirt. When he finishes it, a circular tube shoots up into the sky. Blade glances at us once and steps through it. A purple light flashes briefly, and he was gone.
I glance at Lynx and Len. Len takes a step through the light next, and just like Blade, he disappeared.
Lynx steps through, then me.
When I'm done being blinded by purple light, I realize I'm standing in a pretty much undamaged hotel lobby…
Was this the past?
I turn and look out the window, and I see the post-apocalyptic ruins of… Chicago. I was back in Chicago.
"Welcome home, Griffin," Blade says, startling me. He starts walking down the hall and he stops in front of the stairs.
"You don't need to wear your masks in here. Filtered air is pumped in here through the vent systems during the day," Blade explains when we see a boy run down the hall without a mask on.
Len takes his mask off immediately, Lynx and I follow a little more slowly. We all follow Blade up the stairs and pause in the hall on the next floor. There's a girl walking towards us. I can't see her eyes. She has long reddish- brown hair and she might have been my age, if not younger. She looks up and sees Blade standing there with us. Her eyes are the color of the ocean. She smiles and runs to him, embracing him in a tight hug.
"Pandora, what are you-?" he begins.
"Blade, where were you? I've missed you so much!" she says. She sounded like a love-struck puppy.
"Pandora, I brought recruits," Blade whispers to her. She jolts and her eyes survey Lynx, Len, and myself standing there kind of awkwardly. She steps back from Blade, and she flattens her hair a little bit.
"And what are your names?" Pandora asks.
"I'm Len. Nice to meet you!" Len says. I roll my eyes at how cheerful he is around strangers.
"Lynx," she says. She stares at Pandora with distrust. Pandora takes Lynx's hand and smiles. It's more apologetic than it is friendly.
"I'm-," I begin to say. Pandora looks at me. She drops Lynx's hand and takes mine instead. Her eyes widen and it's almost as if she stopped breathing. Blade looks between me and her.
"Pandora?" Blade asks. He grips her shoulders firmly and tugs her. Her grip tightens on my hand…
It keeps tightening and tightening. My hand goes numb and I think she cracked a bone or two.
I'm on my knees gripping my hand to my chest by the time Blade gets her to release me. Pandora falls against the opposite wall and pulls her knees up to her chest.
"I know who you are now Griffin. Blade, why did you-?" Pandora asks. She looks toward Blade with wide eyes. She's shaking and holding herself as if she was cold.
"He's no use to us dead," Blade says lifelessly. I look between him and Pandora.
"But if he's already dead, he's dead! We shouldn't change things like that!"
"Luka had started him on the path to death."
Luka… He didn't deserve to die…
"Then… Where's Luka then? The procedure you used to revive Griffin required a… You killed Luka?"
"I had to…"
"He was a good soldier…"
"Luka was a traitor. He was leading Lynx and Len to their execution. And he tried killing me so I couldn't tell them that. And why do you keep saying you need me alive? Why am I needed alive!?" I ask.
"You're going to help us change the world. Change it and revive the life it lost," Pandora says, staring me straight in the face.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, with you, we can change the world back to the way we used to know it as. Like when we were younger…"
I jolt with a sudden realization. They were going to use me. Sure, we would restore the world to how it looked before the wars and the destruction…
How were they going to do it?
I look around stupidly and I see a little black haired head staring at me from around the corner. She notices me staring back and her white face turns pink and she disappears around the corner again. I cock my head to the side.
Who was that girl?
Pandora notices me staring at nothing and she looks to see what I saw. She reaches for my hand again, and her fingers brush mine.
"That was Domino," she says quietly.
"Domino? Who is she?" I ask.
"One of our newer recruits. She told us about you."
"Did she?"
Lynx moves closer to me and her hand falls to rest on my shoulder. I meet her eyes and smile.
"You have nothing to worry about," I say, leaning down and giving her a soft kiss to the lips.
Len groans in disgust and I laugh. I stare at where Domino was and I get this feeling of nostalgia.
Who is she? Why did she seem so interested in me? And why was I so fascinated by her?