Lena Quotes

“He is my world and my world is him and without him there is no world.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“This is the strange way of the world, that people who simply want to love are instead forced to become warriors.”
― Lauren Oliver, Requiem

“I'd rather die on my own terms than live on theirs. I'd rather die loving Alex than live without him.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“Are you sure that being like everybody else will make you happy?"
"I don't know any other way."
"Let me show you."
And then we're kissing. Or at least, I think we're kissing—I've only seen it done a couple of times, quick closed-mouth pecks at weddings or on formal occasions. But this isn't like anything I've ever seen, or imagined, or even dreamed: this is like music or dancing but better than both.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“I was lost before I found her in my dreams, and she found me that day in the rain. I knew it seemed like I was always the one trying to save Lena, but the truth was she had saved me, and I wasn't ready for her to stop now.”
― Kami Garcia

“Alex loved books. He was the one who first introduced me to poetry. That's another reason I can't read anymore.”
― Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium

“DEMON MATH
What is JUST in a world
you've ripped in two
as if there could be
a half for me
a half for you
what is FAIR when
there is nothing
left to share
what is YOURS when
your pain is mine to bear
this sad math is mine
this mad path is mine
subtract they say
don't cry
back to the desk
try
forget addition
multiply
and i reply
this is why
remainders
hate
division.”
― Kami Garcia, Beautiful Chaos

“This is what I want. This is the only thing I've ever wanted. Everything else—every single second of every single day that has come before this very moment, this kiss—has meant nothing.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“I love you, I'll never stop.”
― Ann Brashares, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

“Ethan, I love you. Don’t leave me. I can’t do this without you.
If there was moonlight, I could have seen his face. But there was no moon, not now, and the only light came from the fire, still frozen, surrounding me on every side. The sky was empty, absolutely black. There was nothing. I had lost everything tonight.
I sobbed until I couldn’t breathe and my fingers slipped through his, knowing I would never feel those fingers in my hair again.
Ethan.”
― Kami Garcia, Beautiful Creatures

“Their friendship was only one aspect of their lives but it seemed to give meaning to all the others.”
― Ann Brashares, Sisterhood Everlasting

“What does it feel like to be infected?"
"I-- I can't describe it." I force the words out. Can't breathe, can't breathe, can't breathe. His skin smells like smoke from a wood fire, like soap, like heaven. I imagine tasting his skin; I imagine biting his lips.
"I want to know." His words are a whisper, barely audible. "I want to know with you.”
― Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium

“I saw his face change.
His eyes widen.
He lunged at me.
I wouldn't let go.
We stared into eachother's eyes and clawed at eachother's throats.
As we rolled over the edge of the water tower and fell
the
whole
way
down,
I
was
only
thinking
one
thing ...Lena”
― Kami Garcia

“They haven't killed us yet," I say, and I imagine that one day I will fly a plane over Portland, over Rochester, over every fenced-in city in the whole country, and I will bomb and bomb and bomb, and watch all their buildings smoldering to dust, and all those people melting and bleeding into flame, and I will see how they like it.

If you take, we will take back. Steal from us, and we will rob you blind. When you squeeze, we will hit.

This is the way the world is made now.”
― Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium

“I like you.
You don't know me.
I want to, though.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“I know the rules. I've been living here longer than you have."
He cracks a smile then. He nudges me back. "Hardly."
"Born and raised. You're a transplant." I nudge him again, a little harder, and he laughs and tries to catch hold of my arm. I squirm away, giggling, and he stretches out to tickle my stomach. "Country bumpkin!" I squeal, as he grabs out and wrestles me back onto the blanket, laughing.
"City slicker," he says, rolling over on top of me, and then kisses me. Everything dissolves: heat, explosions of color, floating.”
― Lauren Oliver

“His eyes are blazing with light, more light than all the lights in every city in the whole world, more light than we could ever invent if we had ten thousand billion years.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“She loved her mother and depended on her mother, and yet every single word her mother said annoyed her.”
― Ann Brashares, Sisterhood Everlasting

“Nothing has ever been so painful or delicious as being so close to him and being unable to do anything about it: like eating ice cream so fast on a hot day you get a splitting headache.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“The idea—the fact of it, the fact that he even noticed and thought about me for more than one second—is huge and overwhelming, makes my legs go tingly and my hands feel numb.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“No one can tell us no. No one can make us stop. We have picked each other, and the rest of the world can go to hell.”
― Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium

“I'm sorry,Lena”
― Lauren Oliver, Hana

“Lena always described how she dreaded and mourned things before they even happened. Carmen was beginning to suspect that she was permitting herself to mourn this long separation only now that it was over.”
― Ann Brashares, Sisterhood Everlasting

“Lena's real mom, Emily, knew that this was not the truth, but she also knew that Vaclav was not lying.
Vaclav knew that he was telling the truth.
Lena knew that it was a lie, but she loved it and believed it, like a fairy tale, like a song, like a bedtime story, like a magic trick.
She loved Vaclav until it became the truth and so it was.”
― Haley Tanner, Vaclav & Lena

“Vaclav has said goodnight to Lena every night since the night she went away. Out loud. In a whisper. [...] He filled the words with all his love and care and worry for Lena and launched them out to her, and like homing pigeons, he trusted them to find her.”
― Haley Tanner, Vaclav & Lena

“Hey!” I bark, as loud as I can, and bring my arms above my head, trying to make myself look as large as possible. “Hey! Get out of here! Go on. Go.”
The bear withdraws another inch, confused, startled.
“I said go.” I reach out and strike against the nearest tree with my foot, sending a spray of bark in the bear’s direction. As the bear still hesitates, uncertain—but not growling now, on the defensive, confused—I drop down into a crouch and scoop up the first rock I can get my fist around, and then I’m up and chucking it, hard. It connects just below the bear’s left shoulder with a heavy thud. The bear shuffles backward, whimpering. Then it turns and bounds off into the woods, a fast black blur.”
"Holy shit," Alex bursts out behind me. He exhales, long and loud, bends over, and straightens up again. "Holy shit."
The adrenaline, the release of tension, has made him forget; for a second, the new mask is dropped, and a glimpse of the old Alex is revealed.
I feel a brief surge of nausea. I keep thinking of the bear's wounded, desperate eyes, and the heavy thud of the rock against its shoulder. But I had no choice.
It is the rule of the Wilds.
"That was crazy. You're crazy." Alex shakes his head. "The old Lena would have bolted."
You must be bigger, and stronger, and tougher.
A coldness radiates through me, a solid wall that is growing, piece by piece in my chest. He doesn't love me.
He never loved me.”
― Lauren Oliver, Requiem

“Lena tore her eyes away from the smile Shin was unable to restrain and started walking away, her heels clicking against the wooden floor. She felt his presence quietly following her, half a step behind. The realization that he had a habit of moving without making a sound also made her oddly excited.”
― Asato Asato, 86—EIGHTY-SIX, Vol. 4: Under Pressure

“She opened the bathroom door and put on the RAID Device resting on top of her towel, activating the Para-RAID. The target was, of course, Shin, who was waiting in the corridor outside her private quarters.

"Er, Captain…"

The call was shut down wordlessly. She reconnected the Resonance and asked as soon as the call was connected:

"Why did you hang up?"

His response came in a disconcerted tone.

"If anything, why did you Resonate now of all times?"

“We were in the middle of a conversation.”

"We can finish it later. At least wait until after you shower, please."

Lena refused to back down.

"Why can’t we do this while I’m in the shower?"

"What do you mean, ‘why’…?"

There was an exasperated pause between them, which Lena broke by persistently pressing him.

"You were fine with it before. When you told me about the Black Sheep and the Shepherds, two years ago in the Spearhead squadron’s barracks, you, er…you were connected while you were in the shower."

"Yes… But you don’t seem fine with it, so you don’t have to force yourself."

That’s…

Well, yes, she was quite embarrassed about this.

Only their sense of hearing was being Resonated, but it gave the impression that they were face-to-face. Lena realized that this meant that her feeling of embarrassment over the situation was being directly transmitted to Shin, which left him feeling restless.

And to top it off, the sounds of the running water and her breath, leaking out from the heat and the steam, as well as the sound of the water dripping from her long, satin-like hair, were also being transmitted.

"But this time we can’t—Ah…"

The Sensory Resonance ended again, and this time it seemed that he’d removed his RAID Device, since she couldn’t reconnect.”
― Asato Asato, 86—EIGHTY-SIX, Vol. 4: Under Pressure

“She remembered the blunt, youthful voice speaking to her from beyond the transmission crackling with noise. He never did give her his name, but she did remember the Personal Mark on the damaged armor... A headless skeleton shouldering a shovel. Realizing she'd seen that same personal mark only a moment ago, she turned her eyes to Undertaker again.
The same headless skeleton shouldering a shovel didn't quite return her gaze, because of its missing head, but it was there all the same. The Personal Mark of a reaper burying the dead. A reaper...
...It can't be.
Shifting her attention back to Shin—to the Processor who piloted that Reginleif - she gawked at him, which only resulted in Shin averting his gaze. Shin obstinately refused to look Lena in the eye. And that made Lena sure of it,
"It was you...?!"
Shin's eyes darted around for a moment, as if looking for a way out...before he dropped his shoulders in resignation.

"...Yes, it was."

In contrast to Lena's eyes lighting up, Shin looked away awkwardly.

"I'm sorry... for back then."

“... I never once doubted that you would catch up to us, Colonel.”

"Huh…?"

“I never doubted that you’d reach our final destination. I worried that contacting you or coming to see you would make it seem like I didn’t believe you could do it on your own.”

"You remembered."

"Of course I did."

Shin said it with his usual placid tone, as if it was nothing at all, but there were no other words in the world that could have made Lena happier. He’d remembered—he’d believed in her and that she would catch up to them someday. Lena bit her lip. If there was ever a time to say what needed to be said, it was now, and if she didn’t take the opportunity, she’d likely never be brave enough again.

"Shin."

She called his name firmly. Shin turned to face her, closing the door to his room. Lena gave a dry cough before continuing.

"Can we…can we call each other by our names? In public places there are appearances to keep up, so that’s not acceptable, of course, but whenever we’re not…"

"Major."

The Eighty-Six had called her by her rank before as a sign of their reservations. To signify their relationship as the oppressor and the oppressed. One was a white pig sitting safely behind the wall, and the others were proud Eighty-Six fighting outside it. An invisible line had been drawn between them, marking the fact that they weren’t close enough to pretend to be friends by calling one another by their given names.

But she was finally outside the wall, even if she didn’t stand beside them on the battlefield.”
― Asato Asato, 86—EIGHTY-SIX, Vol. 4: Under Pressure

“... I never once doubted that you would catch up to us, Colonel.”
― Asato Asato, 86—EIGHTY-SIX, Vol. 4: Under Pressure