[ Accepting Her Legacy ]

After the last dream, she came to one last door.

For some odd reason, she did not want to go through it, a feeling of loss and pure sadness began to take over. She could feel it in her heart, her body and most importantly, her very soul. This door symbolized the end of a journey she wasn’t quite ready to let go let alone end. She had so much she still wanted to do, so many things that she felt unsaid. Still, a part of her accepted this, that the dreams were simply that: Dreams. She was never meant to wake up, never meant to return to the world of the living. She just couldn’t, there was no possible way for her to even attempt to do so.

Leiah reached forward with a shaking hand towards the door, taking hold. She gasped and threw her head back, her green eyes glowing as memories from her past and present flashed through, meeting her fraction leaders for the first time, her first time earning coins towards her dream costume [She would never become Harley now], the sheer struggle to remain whole and human after her breakdown in the back of Spencer’s, telling Drew about the child that never came to be. The bandit attack and finding out the crucial information she found through the radio, and how she just knew this was the work of scientists.

The work of Umbrella…Pfft! A fictional pharmaceutical company was responsible for the deaths of many…Yeah, such a sound theory that was. A silent scream tore through her throat as more memories came fourth, the woman she saved at the casino, the boy who’s sacrifice made it all possible, her shame and guilt at having to choose one over the other based on the simple fact of who would be more beneficial to survive in this wasteland. Tears leaked down the sides of her face as she remembered her time in the fog, the madness, the voices, but more disturbingly, the demonic voice of her dead child drowning her further.

She calmed then, her head lowering loosely.

She knew this would be the outcome of her journey, the voices in the hospital had already told her so. Everyone was infected, it all made sense now. The virus had already consumed them way before they even reached this point. For all she knew, they were born with this infection, living while it incubated and waited for the perfect time to make itself known. Leiah had accepted this, she was going to die, this was the end no matter what lies she tried to fill her head with.

But then, if she was dead, then why was she still here? Why was she still solid? Unless…She was no longer Leiah Sanderson, she was only what it had decided she would be, and it decided that she was no longer human, no longer alone in her struggle to remain but in stead she was apart of something more, something greater than just her solid being. In fact, she came to one conclusion: She was the virus, the very thing she was actively trying to avoid, to escape. Funny how things seemed like they all fit now that she simply had time to think and assess the situation she was in. She was indeed something greater…

She was a legacy, one that was probably years in the making.
Calmness reached over her very being and she relaxed, letting the warm embrace of her calling take over. She was no longer singular and alone but apart of what she could only think of as a collection of sorts. But then…Just as she had begun to accept, something clawed at her chest, begging to be freed.

“T-This isn’t right!”

No, this existence was a gift, meant to be shared with those that have yet to embrace what their legacy will be.

“This isn’t what was supposed to happen!”

Gather, share, give the rest of the world what they have been craving for thousands of years.

“Look around you! This isn’t what we were meant to be!”

This world is your vessel. The memories fuel your legacy.

“We weren’t meant to be this thing! This empty husk! Please! We still have things that—“

- Cannot be contained because your memories are not complete.

Leiah closed her eyes as her skin began peeling. She was unfurling, unwinding, finally becoming something more. A bright light surrounded her before she finally took form once more, the pieces of her human vessel turning to dust.

Freedom.

It was a scary thought, being free. She looked down, gasping at the nothing that greeted her. Where was her form?! Where was her body?! This wasn’t what she meant by freedom for what is freedom without a form?
Nothing.

Frantic and struck with fear, she ran, looking for something to give her shape, to give her meaning. For the longest time, Leiah did not pay attention to where she was running, looking for that one thing that could give her shapeless form some sort of meaning. Then, as if she finally figured it out, she stopped and took note of the vines around her. She raised her arm, reaching towards some of the vines as they coil around her like a second skin, giving her nothingness form. She did not want to see what she had become since she was sure she wouldn’t be as thrilled to find out what it was.

She tried to right herself as she wandered, looking for something that would tell her just where her body was so that she could reclaim it. Instead, she saw something that she thought would be a clue of sorts, the face she saw feeling more and more familiar the closer she stumbled towards it. It was then that she found slight disappointment in the fact that no, this wasn’t her body, but someone else. This was someone she had seen in her dreams so many times before. Her rescuer, the one she had maimed thinking she was the enemy. Leiah frowned, guilt overriding her disappointment. This creature tried to save her and this was how she repaid her? No, this simply would not do.

Leiah reached up and touched the vines covering her rescuer, one sentence coming to mind as they began to disappear at her command. “A favor for a favor. A life for a life.”

She took the plant as carefully as she could, walking throughout the corridor and through the chambers till she made her way towards a set of stairs. She started her decent, wincing as she began to feel herself unravel once more, still she kept going. Tears or what she thought were tears flowed down her face as she moved, realizing that she might not make it, that she might not be able to go much further. When the exit came into view, she cried even harder, realizing that once her task was complete, she wouldn’t be able to give her rescuer a proper thank you. She recognized the shadows, the tiniest part of herself reaching forward to give her plant to those that would take care of her. As they received her, a new feeling overcame her at the sight of her rescuer being able to do what she no longer could.

”Live.”

She gave her plant one last look before she ascended the stairs once more.

“A favor for a favor. A life for a life.”

Pieces of herself started returning once more, making her whole. The center felt welcoming, warm even as she took a look at others that were just like her, complete yet not at the same time. As she looked around for familiar faces, one last tear flowed as a realization struck her. She was still Leiah Sanderson, she was still her.

But for how long?