I could hear sirens. In fact it was hard to hear anything else. Damn sirens were making it hard to think. Someone was screaming too. I couldn't understand what they were saying. I couldn't separate the screams from the sirens long enough to care. My head was damp. I didn't know if it was from the fire sprinklers or from the blood. Was the blood coming from me? It had to be me. I just wanted to sleep. Whoever was screaming called out again and this time I could hear what they were saying. They were saying my name.

He was saying my name.

That realization brought me back to the present. Brought me back to my mission here. I had to do this. I had to end this. Danny would never let me but I knew I had to be the one to do it because he never would.

Danny. He would be so mad at me. He'd understand eventually... I hope he'll understand eventually. He needs to be free of this shadow that plagues him. This shadow that leads back to me. I loved him and so I'd have to be strong enough to do this. I had said my goodbyes, or rather written them, and he'd find them eventually. He was still yelling my name; his screams becoming more frantic as time ticked away. I needed to do this now, before he came too close to the room Vlad and I were in. Before he came within range of the blast I was about to set off.

I located the ectogun on the ground and began to drag my body towards it. Tears began to flow freely down my face and I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out in pain. Finally, my hands grasped the cool metal and I let out a quiet sigh of relief. The end was near. I looked over at Vlad on the floor and, despite everything, I couldn't help the small dread I felt at the prospect of killing him. I hadn't always known him to be a psychotic monster. He'd been my family for a long time. His blood flowed through my veins and vice versa. As much as I despised him, we shared a connection. Albeit a connection I was about to break.

I wouldn't change any event that had taken place over the past year. They had brought me to Danny and so they couldn't be bad. All the death, and destruction, and agony I'd felt seemed a fair trade for all the joy he'd brought me. Dammit I wish I hadn't taken so long to grasp the depth of my feelings for him. Now that I better understood them I practically drowned in them. Vlad and I may share blood but Danny and I share a soul. Maybe I'd see him again. I hope I could be so lucky.

I raised the gun up to the reactor; prepared to blow Vlad and his torture chamber into the stratosphere. I took a deep breath and let every memory of Danny flood into my brain like a tsunami; temporarily overwhelming me. When the waves calmed I let my eyelids drift closed. I heard him call my name one last time as a tear drop rolled down my cheek.

"I love you" I whispered.

And then I pulled the trigger.