[ WP ] Dying for the greater good still hurts .

*'' The needs of the many...'' * The words echoed through Sacre's head as she crawled desperately towards the device, leaving a smear of blood behind her. As she did, she felt the darkness coming for her. It took her and dragged her down as she reached for the crystal that would stop the holocaust. As her eyes closed, she saw her hand falling short. 
 
 *She knelt beside her father's casket. Crying that he would never return. She felt Noon's hand on her shoulder. `` He died a good death Sacre. A true paladin.'' She shoved his hand off, `` Why!'' She shouted at him. `` All I wanted was for him to come home, he...'' Her words were broken by tears. `` He promised he would play with me, like he always did.'' Noon knelt, taking her hands. `` I'm sure he wanted to do that, however, we are Paladins. Our lives our not our own, we give them in the service of others. This is the truest and deepest meaning of being a Paladin. This is not to say that we throw our lives away foolishly or recklessly. We do not sell our lives cheaply. Your father understood this, and you will too someday. `` * 
 
 *The image of Noon faded from Sacre's mind as she recalled all the other times she had heard him say something similar. It flashed through her training as a Paladin, when they had put the golden armor on her, and finally landing on her wedding day. Geppeto had been so handsome that day, her heart had been overwhelmed with joy. But she could feel the moment slipping by, running, rushing, forward. Less then a year later, she felt the pain of giving birth to her daughter. She had been through month long torture sessions that had been less painful. However, she loved her daughter. She did not want to leave her alone in the world, like her father had left her. * 
 
 The memory of that birth last summer was the last image before the searing pain returned. She opened her eyes slowly. Childbirth had been hard, but leaving her would be even harder. Sacre glanced around the room, the dead bodies of her strike team around her. If she just let go, then perhaps, just perhaps she might survive. No one would blame her, she had tried and failed. 
 
 However, the pulsed softly above her, speeding up as the weapon prepared to destroy the entire city except for the people who were in this room. 
 
 She was temped for a moment to just let it fire and survive for her daughter. However, the last half of the line echoed in her ear. *''..outweigh the needs of the one. `` * 
 
 With a last great effort, she stood, she felt a painful sensation in her belly as she did so, fresh blood gushing out of the wound. She thrust her hands into the magical field and clutched the crystal. The white hot pain as the flesh of her hands fused to the crystal caused her to scream. She let herself fall backwards, pulling the crystal out with her. 
 
 The energy contained in the cystal pulsed and flashed, no long directed as it had been. Sacre did not hear the scream of pain that was ripped out of her. The agony of her body absorbing more energy then it was ever capable of holding coursed through her. Her blood felt like fire. She emotions and feelings of the city surrounding her filled her mind as her powers were amplified a thousandfold. For the longest moment, Sacre felt not only her own pain, but theirs as well. Then there was the sensation as if something in her brain had been blown out and she felt their emotions no more, only pain. 
 
 *So this is what it's like having your soul shredded. * Sacre thought in a brief moment of lucidity. 
 
 The next sensation was sight, the image of the crystal and the harsh light it threw on the scene was burned into her mind forever. Geppeto, Dead. Lucian, Dead. Jacob, kind Jacob, dead. Vane, Dead. Their mangled corpses intermingled with the final defenders of the device. Then suddenly, painful inky blackness, blackness forever. 
 
 With sight gone, touch was next. Her body felt as if it was wreathed in flames, each one licking at her but not consuming her body. The stone floor was hard and cold, offering no comfort in her last moments. Then there was nothing, just pain. For the briefest moment, she could hear herself screaming with agony. Then there was nothing, just the pain. Then there was nothing.
