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If I should die before I wake...

That prayer again. I smiled as I stood, disoriented and not quite sure of the world around me. Lucian... Had they shot Lucian? Was it dream? Those strange aliens, both groups of them fighting, and I was like Switzerland as I was passed between them. The whole night was a blur to me. Running down the alley, thinking I'd gotten away, tripping, someone I thought was Lucian healing me, seeing him shot dead.

I cringed slightly at the thought, the smile slipping from my face. And yet here was another one just as perfect... my disorientation came as a blessing, and I saw Lucian who I'd come to imagine as my guardian angel before me. Maybe it was the fever I suspected I'd managed to contract, or the trauma that was more than likely warping my perceptions of reality (most certainly if I was, in fact, seeing aliens war over the planet) but I wasn't one to judge at the time. I walked slowly towards him, somehow able to ignore every bit of strangeness that pertained to the situation.

“Lucian...” My voice sounded rough, and little to my own ears. Could he even hear me? “Lucian, Lucian... Take me somewhere safe,” I pleaded. He watched me with troubled eyes. I couldn't identify the source of the trouble, I didn't bother to try. I only wanted all of this to end. Somewhere in the back of my mind I hoped perhaps it was a dream. Perhaps... I'd passed out drunk, and actually had much more than that one beer. Yes, that would be it. I'd wake up in the morning with Danni yakking on the phone and asking me how I could pass out in a bar and be taken home by such a cute guy without even getting his number. That was how it worked. There were no monsters, no aliens like this.

And, of course, never so many people dying in front of me. I'd never seen one death, let alone four. These thoughts all passed in a hazy blur and I pleaded still with what was probably the result of my impaired senses and not so wounded imagination, that Lucian was, in fact, with me. He put a hand on my arm and seemed to consider my words. I felt dizzy. I felt tired. I fell against him, closing my eyes.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep... If I fell asleep, I would die before I woke. Maybe that was why the words were stuck on repeat, running around my head. So then I would just have to stay awake.