Novel & Cerita Invincible You Were My Hero

“Why… are you here?” For once, Damian didn’t have a slick answer. His voice was raw, stripped bare. “Because I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you.” A faint smile curved her lips. “You… look terrible.” He huffed a quiet laugh. “And you look like hell. We’re even.” Her eyes closed again, drifting back into unconsciousness. But this time her hand curled faintly around his. Damian sat there, staring at her, knowing his world had just shifted in ways he couldn’t control.

I didn’t respond. "Come on, man," Max said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe it's time to move on." I shook my head, looking up at him for the first time. “No,” I said, my voice steady. “I can’t.” “Vincent?” “She’s wrong,” I interrupted. "I'm not being a fool, I'm fighting for her," I said, my determination growing. "And I'm not going to give up.” Max sighed, clearly exhausted by my determination.

“You just looked in the wrong direction.” Yvonne pushed herself upright despite the pain. “Why me,” she demanded. The man turned back to her. “Because you are perfect,” he said simply. She stared at him. “You heal,” he continued. “You run toward pain, people believe faces like yours. Soft, honest and brave. You are the hero they want.” “I never asked to be a hero,” she said. “That is why it works,” he answered. The phone still burned with images. The hospital feed shook as someone screamed behind the camera.

"I heard you've been talking about dying and destroying the world, trying to force them apart! How can you be this selfish? How long are you going to keep using that story about saving the world to fool us?" The words stuck in my throat. I should have known. I was her daughter, but I hadn't grown up with her. I couldn't compete with 20 years of shared history. Vanessa might not have her blood, but she was still the child Mother cherished most. There had always been a condition to her love for me: I would always come after Vanessa. "I've never lied to anyone." I pressed my hand against my forehead, trying to stop the bleeding. "I saved this world. I saved everyone in it."

"Better than you know yourself." "That's not an answer." "It's the only one I can give you tonight." Frustration rose in her chest, hot and sudden. "People say you've killed thousands. They say you're cursed. They say you cannot die, and I saw the number above your head today, and it said zero, and you're still standing here as if that means nothing at all." Her voice cracked slightly on the last word. "What are you?"

Aw, he’s embarrassed. The girl on my arm giggles and leans into me. Money and good looks will help people get away with just about anything. I learned that at the tender age of five from my father, thank you very much. He toted me around and flashed his smile or his wealth, and doors opened for us. Sometimes literally. Sometimes figuratively. We were invincible. Look at that sentence. Then read it again. *We. Were. Invincible.*

"Well, I walked into war in Wyoming not knowing what I was fighting against. This." "You were fighting sickos?" My eyebrows furrowed. "Sickos?" He was clearly amused. "Is that what you call them? There should be a refugee center around here somewhere. Come with me." "A refugee center?" I asked. "Where did you get that information from?" "You had no idea?" he asked. I shook my head, glanced at Mark, and knew he was clueless too. "Two weeks ago, my team and I fought against the lamebrains," he explained. "We had tanks to decimate them. But they still got to us. I was the only one left, and I escaped."

I chanted, my breathing fast and painful. "No, baby. No. No one is going to kill you. You're safe. I'm here. You did a great job. You ran away from them. You escaped successfully. You saved yourself, Elle. You're a hero. They can't hurt you anymore." I was crying, and the room was spinning and my head was throbbing, making it impossible for me to calm down. "I'm not a hero." "Yes, you are. You fought, Elle. You fought. No one else could've done what you did. No one could've survived that. You're the strongest person I've ever known, and I'm so proud of you."

I needed him to understand. “We’re here,” I said softly, glancing at my aunt—the only real family I had left, the only parent I truly had. “We’re here, both of us alive, both of us safe… because of you. And I want you to know that I’m grateful. Forever grateful. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay what you’ve done for me, but I want you to know that you’re my hero. And I thank you… with everything in me.”

Dangerous smile. Marcus wanted war? He would get war. But not the one he expected. The one he could not win. Could not survive. Could not— Escape. Because I had something he did not. Something he could never have. Something that made me stronger than him despite captivity. Love. For Hope. For Damien. For family worth dying for. Worth killing for. Worth— Everything. And love made me not weak. Made me invincible. Made me— Unstoppable. Marcus would learn. Soon. Very soon.