The whole Dancing Hall shook as an explosion went off. From the tables both Veronica and Michael saw its origin.
The stage where the musicians played and part of the dance floor was instantly incinerated. Everyone that stood there got killed within a second. The people who stood nearby went flying.
Even more people died from shrapnel, and the ones sent flying crunched on the ground. As everyone panicked and ran towards the exit like headless chickens, the unconscious people got stomped to death.
The whole room started to fill with smoke as the explosion ignited the large curtains and wooden floor boards.
On the ceiling the gigantic chandelier swung from side to side until it made a loud screech and began to plummet. It landed on a couple of people who were hit by the explosion... They died instantly.
All of this happened in the first dozen seconds after the explosion. Veronica herself was a bit confused and disoriented, but before she even realized what happened, her body moved.
Michael was helping her along, but she mostly moved on her own. In that moment she realized how useful the discovery of her principle was. While her mind was still trying to rearrange itself, her body moved near independently.
Most of the people were already out and Michael was nearing the exit as well. At that moment when they were near the exit Veronica glanced behind them.
There were dozens of people knocked down and dying on the place that was previously the dance floor. They were shouting, crying, begging for anyone to help, but everyone rather saved their own lives.
Veronica saw a man leave his previous dance partner behind, the girl wasn't even an adult yet and she begged for help as her dress got drenched in her own blood.
Another one, this time a woman, actually kicked away a man's hand who tried to get her to help him.
Similar scenes flashed before her eyes. She stood near the doorway watching all this. Next to her Michael was shouting something, but her ears were still ringing from the explosion.
On the farthest side of the room Veronica spotted a different sight. An old woman, possibly above 70 was trying to drag an unconscious man away, who looked similarly old.
She could only move a few centimeters with each pull, but she didn't give up. Even when she began to cough and collapse she continued to try and save him.
When she was beginning to fall down something very strange happened. She felt weightless, like someone was holding her. Her vision slowly darkened, but she did spot the night sky and a beautiful woman with pink eyes, before losing consciousness.
A second later the old lady's husband was brought out by Michael, but instantly after he placed him next to his wife, he ran back inside after Veronica.
They moved back and forth, slowly bringing each survivor out. Some of them weren't breathing, but luckily there were a few doctors and nurses in the crowd, who immediately went to work on them, trying to keep as many alive as they could.
After Veronica brought out the second to last person she walked away from the large crowd. Her lungs were filled with smoke and she was constantly coughing. Her ascended constitution was already at work and she felt better with each passed moment.
She stood at the opening of the alley next to the Dancing Hall. Here she waited for Michael to come out.
As her mind cleared she remembered what the suicide bomber said before killing himself and at least thirty other people...
"Death to the rich..." She whispered to herself.
The individual had to be a radicalized protester, but not a very well informed one. This building that he just blew up was the only public Dancing Hall in the entire city. It had no real rich people inside, only mid- and upper-middleclass citizens.
Suddenly out of nowhere an ominous feeling passed over her, similar to the one she felt a few times before... like someone was watching her.
As a shiver went down her spine she tried to turn around, but was a fraction of a second too slow.
Suddenly her hair that was still in a partial braid, got yanked back. She let out a yelp of pain, and she felt herself weightless for a moment before hitting the ground hard.
She rolled a few times, before jumping to her feet, fast as a viper.
With a quick move to the side she dodged the incoming fist and with a quick back handspring she evaded getting hit by a high kick too.
Sadly she underestimated her opponents speed and before she realized what happened, something hit her on the side. She went flying again, and she felt her hip bone crack.
The pain was near overwhelming, but she wasn't about to give up.
With a lot slower speed she jumped to her feet, but her right leg wasn't working properly.
Only now did she realize that her ankle was bent in a strange way, and within the next second the pain hit her brain like a train. She leant on the wall that had a large spiderweb crack running from the point where she hit it.
Her eyes were all over the place and could hardly focus on her assailant. It was a man with an average build, but that's the only real information she could gather in the low light of the alley.
The man slowly walked towards her, not even a little bit careful about what she might do.
When he was only a few steps away, she moved as fast as she could and tried to hit him in the face.
She saw him smirk before moving to the dodging to the side... No... It wasn't a dodge, not really. It was more like he moved, but not suddenly like an evasion, but calmly, like he always wanted to step out of her way.
Since her move didn't even come close to landing on him, she fell over with a groan of pain. Her whole body ached, but she still tried to get up.
In her mind the finally part of the wall started to crumble, but she couldn't pay attention to realize why.
Suddenly a large pressure assaulted her head, like a heavy weight was placed on top. She felt the markings on the bottom of a shoe on her face, pressing her further into the dirty alley ground.
It hurt a lot and the pressure kept increasing for a while, then just as quickly as it came, the pressure disappeared.
Veronica breathed a sigh of relief, all she wanted to do is pass out, but in the next moment another pain appeared. This time a kick landed on the left side of her ribcage, breaking the bones.
She felt one rib pierce her lung, which made breathing much harder. Her left lung slowly began to fill with blood, and at this point no fight was left in her.
Someone stepped in front of her, but she only saw a pair of nice black dancing shoes.
The mysterious man slowly descended into a squatting position, then he lifted Veronica's head by her hair. She wanted to scream for help and from pain, but it came out as a wet cough. At the edge of her lips blood started to leak and drip to the ground.
The man was only a few dozen centimeters away, but her vision was washed red from pain. She saw a small glint in his eyes, which were light blue in color.
"I wanted to save you you know? Back then when you done the prerequisite for the Dancer path... I would've helped you get away from Him, but now its too late..." Slowly Veronica's eyes widened.
'That voice... I recognize that voice...'
"F... *cough* Floyd?... *cough* What are you... *cough* Doing?" She used all her remnant willpower to speak, but it was getting harder.
"So you remember me!... He probably only made you forget about my kidnapping attempt... Haven't you felt that something was missing from your brain, a feeling that you are forgetting something important?"
Veronica breathed laboriously. She did remember a few occasions like that, but she didn't know what she was forgetting, and eventually that feeling went away as well.
"It doesn't matter know. I wanted to save you since you were innocent, but I also don't want Him to use you..." From the corner of her vision Veronica saw his hand move behind his back, and in the next moment a beautiful rainbow-patterned dagger was held to her throat.
"Please... *cough* Please don't... *cough* I don't want to die..." She said while sobbing and coughing. Her whole body was in pain, but the only emotion she felt was fear. Her heart beat with so much ferocity she thought it would explode.
She looked into Floyd's eyes with terror, but there was no sympathy there, only regret and a hint of sadness.
"I'm truly sorry Veronica. This was my fault, my failure... I should've helped you disappear much earlier... Forgive me, but this is the only way I can guarantee He doesn't get what he wants... Sadly, you have to die..."
Veronica's eyes widened and using all her strength she tried to scream for help, but even after that nobody came. It caused her throat to bop up and down from coughing, which made half a dozen small cuts on her neck.
"This dagger has a special property of creating a bubble of silence, no sound can escape from within... Again, I'm sorry... I hope you understand... And I hope you can forgive me..."
As the information reached Veronica's mind, she stopped her struggle entirely. She sobbed in silence waiting for her execution.
In her last moments she closed her eyes, and there she saw pictures, images, memories...
At first she saw her real parents back on Earth. She also saw her friends, and siblings...
Next the memories changed and they showed her new family. They sat at the dining table laughing and eating. Everyone was there, and everyone felt happy...
Next came Alex. It was the memory when he decided to open up about his past...
After that she saw Father Martin, that strange old man she spent most weekends with..
The last memory she saw only happened a few hours ago. It was her first dance with Michael. This was the most painful out of every memory...
'My only regret is not getting the chance to spend more time with you... I hope we meet in another life...'
She felt the knife start to move at her throat, but before it went to deep something strange happened...
A gunshot echoed through the alley...