The force of her leg being thrown over her head knocked her flat on her back again, cracking her head against the ground. She saw stars, reeling to regain her senses. The sickening crack she'd heard when he'd blocked her kick resonated in her brain even as she lay on the ground for a moment, a moment that seemed like hours to her.
And yet eventually she stood, scrambling to her feet slowly but surely as she tried to regain her bearings. She lifted her eyes when the refocused, looking up at Lucius with more sadness than anger now. He wasn't gone. She absolutely refused to believe it. He couldn't be. Maybe it was stupid to think that way, but she couldn't help it.
Friends didn't give up on friends. Not ever.
"I want you to prove it to me. Prove to me that you're gone. Prove to me that my friend isn't still in there," she demanded, her voice raising. "Prove it, Daniel. Because I don't believe you."