Nothing Burns Like the Cold (Phan)

Chapter Seventeen

CHAPTER WARNINGS: Character death. This is where I remind all of you that there will be a happy ending because everything is possible in this world. If you are uncomfortable reading character death, please message me and i will tell you what happens in this chapter. Your safety is important to me <3 Ily and good luck!

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There was a moment where everything was white and Phil's ears were ringing as if there was some loud explosion. He could barely see, a certain brightness in the room that was completely overwhelming.

He vaguely realizes that his arms and legs were free, the guards previously restraining him letting out loud yelps and running out of the room as if there were rabid dogs on their asses. There was someone screaming and, was that him? He couldn't tell.

All he could focus on was Dan and how there were flames surrounding the entire room. Axel was frozen to the spot and there were several guards either staring in terror at Dan, or even just lying on the ground unmoving with flames enveloping their bodies.

It was when Dan pressed a hand to his chest, coughing erratically, that Phil came to his senses, scrambling to his feet. "Dan, Dan, Dan," he babbled. He was stumbling, tears and smoke making it nearly impossible to see correctly.

Dan fell to his knees, clutching at his chest as if he was trying to claw out his heart. His eyes were clenched shut tightly and he was breathing so heavily that his shoulders were shaking under the force. There was a low groaning noise forcing its way out of Dan's mouth and Phil couldn't fucking get to him fast enough when there were people in his way.

"Dan, stay with me," Phil called again, and finally he reached him, kneeling by his side and smoothing his hair out of his face. "I love you, you know that?" Phil asked forcefully through his own sobbing breaths. Dan's face was so pale and he was sweating, his breathing slowing with each inhalation. Phil didn't want to see it, didn't want to think about what that meant. "We are going to get out of here and we are going to live happily ever after. One day, we can get our own house together with flowers and a dog or two and we don't ever have to think about Dahlia Academy ever again because we will be happy with each other. Would you like that? I'd love that more than anything."

He was babbling, he knew that, but he couldn't seem to stop the words from flowing out of his mouth. The fighting had stopped around him, or maybe that's because he could only focus on Dan at the moment, but nothing else really mattered.

Dan smiled softly. His eyes were still closed and he wasn't breathing as hard anymore, the shaking of his shoulders having ceased almost completely. He was deathly pale and there was still sweat pooling on his forehead, but he reached out and grabbed onto where Phil was brushing his hands through his curly brown hair. "I love you so much," Dan whispered, and he was so quiet that Phil was sure he may have not even heard him at all.

Dan went still. His breathing ceased and his hand dropped to the floor. Phil started to shake.

"Dan?" He whimpered, grabbing onto where Dan's hand dropped. It was like all of his normal body heat was sucked away, dispersing into the floorboards beneath them. "Dan, please."

There were hands on his shoulders, grabbing him, pulling him, trying to drag him away, but he tore himself from them, clinging onto Dan like he was his reason to live. "You can't leave me," Phil screamed. He buried his nose into Dan's neck, feeling the hairs tickling his nostrils when he breathed in. He inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled once more.

Then he let out the most bloodcurdling scream that he could possibly muster. His chest felt like it was on fire and he could barely breathe anymore, tears running down his face and dripping onto Dan's cool skin. He kept screaming, sobbing, until his throat was raw and he couldn't make anymore noises.