Chapter 55- The Choice

"They will not survive the upcoming doom. Oh, I forgot to add, the humans who are selected would get a wish. You could very well use this wish to help your family accommodate with you to the land of gods," Apollo said with a small smirk.

His words echoed through the silent hall. Reya too, like others was in daze. She peered down at her little sister with a worried look. 'This is not going as planned. What… what should I do now?'

She shook as she watched the blond-haired man smirking at her.

A strong pair of hands grabbed her's and gave a reassuring squeeze. "we…we will think of something,"

Reya rushed out towards her room. All she needed was a moment of privacy now. "no..nooo," she shouted, smacking the darn table. "This is not happening. I will not choose,"

Clive also dashed in the room and grabbed onto her hands. "Reya calm down, we can think of something. It's not what its sounds like. There might be some loopholes," he calmly whispered.

"They are making me choose!! These bastards," Reya shouted, throwing a lamp down the window. All along she thought of a novel notion that this stupid competition could help cure her sister. But now….This announcement….it was making her choose between her family's life and her little sister's.

She raked her hand through her tossed up hair. "W—what about the DNA analysis? Did you find anything? Anything….something," she whispered as she anxiously pranced around.

Clive plopped don eth bed and adjusted his slipping glasses. "Nothing as of now. but—but I will definitely find something. It will just,"

"Take how long, Clive. Mina does not have long. Even after you find a cure, testing and analysis is going to take years. By then… by then she would have," Reya cried, grabbing onto her hair. She was not able to deal with this news now. "Maybe… its better we just die together in this apocalypse,"

Clive closed her mouth swiftly. "Don't… don't say that. Why are you giving up so soon? You still have the chance to find an answer for this. Even if I don't find anything, we can still find clues for Mina's cure from the gods," he whispered anxiously. His eyes wandered into her red, swollen eyes. A single drop of tear slipped down her dropping eyes. With his thumb, he wiped it away. "It will be fine. I will definitely not let anything happen to her. I promise you," he whispered.

Reya calmed down slowly. She leaned her forehead against his and followed his calm breathing. "I though so too. But now, I'm not too sure." His warm hands wound around her waist in a reassuring hug. She too hugged him back.

Clive hugged her soft body close with a frown. "Clive, what should I do?" her muffled cry came from his shoulder. He patted her back softly. "Everything is going to work out. We will survive so…so don't cry," he whispered listening to her heart wrenching sobs.

The door to the room slowly opened without the being aware. Little Mina stood by the door silently sobbing into her hands. 'Reya is suffering because of me. I—I should not have survived. I should have stayed in that hospital otherwise Reya would not have had to make such a difficult decision,' she thought closing her eyes stiffly.

Her small feet patted on the hardwood flooring as she ran back.

Reya and Clive heard this and noticed the open door. "no…no…she heard us. Clive, she heard us. What should I do?" Reya panicky asked Clive. She was about to run after her, but Clive stopped her. "Reya, she has the thought process of a fully grown adult. Even if she didn't listen in, she would have understood. So don't blame yourself,"

Reya nodded, wiping her tears and rushed out. "Mina, Mina, wait…please," she shouted as she rushed after her.

Mina's small feet were only able to take her as far as the next corridor before Reya embraced her.

"Mina, listen to me, we can work things out." She whispered to her struggling little girl.

Mina cried and wiggled around. "No! no! we can't. I know, I know, you will save me! But... What about mom then? Reya, I am not meant to live that long, give up on me. Let me die, then… then you won't have to…."

"I will definitely save you both. I will! I promise. So don't talk about dying, Mina. You are my baby sister, I won't let you die," Reya whispered anxiously.