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Elektra clutched at Abby s shoulders, then shook her.  Don t die! she cried.  Abby, please don t slow
your heart! Slow the poison!
But Abby only lay there, still and silent. Elektra searched for a pulse, but there was nothing. She
searched again, refusing to give up.  No! No! Abby come back.Abby, come back!
For the first time since she had mistakenly plunged her sai into Daredevil s shoulder and nearly killed
him, Elektra cried. And as the tears ran down her face, she gathered Abby in her arms and sprinted for
the house.
Elektra remembered.
She remembered being a young girl and coming down the upstairs hallway, how her footsteps had made
muffled thumping noises along the long, expensive Persian carpet runner. She remembered standing
before the closed bedroom door and how tall it seemed, how she had to crane her neck to see above it
where the wall and the sixteen-foot ceiling met. Worse than that, she remembered opening the door
itself and seeing her mother s body lying on the bed. In this memory, thereal one, her mother was still
dead, but the blood from the nearly hidden wound was minimal and there was no demon shrieking at
her as it escaped out the window. There was only her mother s corpse and the blackclad ninja, a figure
with which she would become intimately familiar over the course of her life. Yes, her mother had died
in this bedroom
The same room, and the same bed, in which Abby now lay.
As she had done over her mother so many years ago, Elektra hovered over Abby tonight. Elektra could
only guess, of course, but even though the tools were different, perhaps this was the same way the two
ambulance attendants, those luckless, surprised New York City employees, had watched over her as
she d died under their care.
As she was doing to Abby, Stick had done to her.
It was the way of the warrior.
Doing this for Abby now, Elektra realized she had missed something all these years, and she had started
by missing it all the way back when she had trained under Stick in the hidden compound. There was no
doubt in her mind that the love, knowledge, and energy flowing from her into this child had come to her
in the same way from her mentor, Stick. Had she not been so self-centered and blind to the world
around her, so full of rage over the hand that destiny had dealt her, she might have seen that she might
have seen alot of things. Her fingertips touched Abby s head, arms, legs, and all the while she
whispered in the teenager s ear, putting herself into the healing, inserting her undeniable will into
Abby s already strong spirit. Her voice was soft and songlike, crooning, and she would not stop, not
now, not ever, until she had found her way right down into Abby s soul.
 Hey you, warrior girl. Elektra could see her breath tickling the soft hairs against Abby s temple and
she willed Abby to feel what she saw, to experience the sensation of the strands of hair sliding across
her sensitive skin.  Do you see me? Look at me, I m over here. No, no right here. She squeezed
Abby s wrists, pushing her silent commands into the flesh rather than trying to feel for life.  That s it,
she continued in a murmur.  Now come to me, come to me, come here. Obey your superiors, that s
right.
Always obey your superiors.
Elektra paused, knowing she would start again if she had to, she wouldnot give up. Abby s face was still
blank, but& yes! Therewas something& something&
She looked down. One of Abby s fingers had moved until it was just barely touching Elektra s own.
Coincidence? No suddenly Abby gagged, then her body twisted on the bed. She writhed and turned,
but Elektra made no attempt to hold or quiet her other than to keep her grip on the teenager s wrists. It
was a terrible thing to watch, but some things in this universe were meant to be done alone.
Coming back to life would not be any easier for Abby than it had been for Elektra years before.
It had taken more than half an hour for the convulsions to subside, and now the exhausted Abby was
sleeping quietly. Elektra was content to just sit at Abby s bedside and listen to her breathing, watch her
chest rise up and down and monitor the tiny jump of her not-so-strong pulse beneath the fragile skin of
her neck.
It was almost ten when Elektra heard Mark s crutchaided footsteps thunking down the hallway,
followed by the much more subtle stride she recognized as Stick. In his haste, Mark came around the
doorway and jerked to a stop, nearly falling when he saw his daughter s prone figure on the bed. Elektra
waved her hand to call him in when she saw the fear on his face.
 She s fine, Elektra said.  She sfine. She rose and gestured again for Mark to take her place by the
bedside. She met Stick s blind gaze, then walked to the window and looked outside. She had not stood
at this window since well before her mother s death, but finally, after all this time, she had found the
sense of detachment if not peace she needed from her mother s passing.
The demon in her dreams was just that&
A dream.
Elektra couldn t exactly recall the last time she d been in the master bedroom and seen the sunshine
spilling through the tall windows, but it was sure doing that now. It was fitting, though, a lovely
morning to welcome Abby back into the land of the living and into a life free of those who had tried so
hard to kill her and her father. Mark was in parental hover mode, of course, and Stick stood regally in
the doorway as Elektra went over to the bed.
She smiled down at Abby.  How are you?
Abby nodded better but she wasn t quite ready to try her voice. After a moment, Elektra sat on the
side of the bed, then she jumped a little when Abby reached over and took her hand. She didn t pull
away.
 So, Elektra said after a bit,  what s next? Abby looked at her with a frown, not understanding.
 Kirigi s gone, Elektra reminded her.  No one s after you. You can do what you want now. Abby s
frown deepened and Elektra almost shook her head as she realized how strange it must be for Abby to
actually have achoice in what she could now do with her life. No one had ever revealed the specifics,
but she and her father must have been running for a long, long time. Elektra grinned.  Back to school?
This question made the girl scrunch up her face so much that Elektra chuckled. She gestured toward the
blind man.  Train with Stick? This time Abby looked undecided, so Elektra decided to lighten things
up all the way.  Go lie on a beach and get a tan, she said with cheerful finality.
Abby considered this, then looked hopefully toward her dad.  I want ice cream, she ventured in a
scratchy voice. Both Mark and Elektra laughed, then without warning Abby threw her arms around
Elektra and held on tight.
Elektra swallowed, fighting against tears. She was supposed to be the strong mentor here, not a sappy
friend. It would be nice if she could be both, but her life just wasn t set up like that. The girl s next
words were a bittersweet reminder of exactly that.  You gave me my life back, Abby whispered.
 You gave me mine, Elektra said in return, and she meant it.
Only Abby heard her, but it was enough to make the girl sit back and stare at her with a sudden
understanding that was a little too old for her years. Tears glistened in the teenager s eyes.  Will I see
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