We heard the ambulance before we saw it. I rushed outside to see Electra lying on the road. All I could hear was my heart pounding as I ran to her side. Her head was cradled in her dads lap and he was sobbing. His sobs rattled through my body and I had to look away. There was blood everywhere. And her face, tears kept falling but they weren't normal tears. These were blood. Even I could tell her legs were broken. I barely even recognized her.
I fell to my knees beside her and her father and godparents. The ambulance was almost there. My heart ached as I realized I had seen Ember in this exact spot except that she was wearing a dress and she had gashes the size of my claws in her chest. She also wasn't as mangled as Electra.
"She'll be okay. She'll be okay." Odin whispered as he rocked back and forth.
"What happened?" I managed to croak out.
No one answered. When the ambulance arrived, it took my siblings and I, Electra's godparents, and both EMTs to pull Odin away from Electra's body. Once he was held back, one of the EMTs checked Electra's pulse and said it was faint but there. I sighed in relief but that didn't mean she would make it. Then they dropped a bombshell. Life Flight would be dropping in at the scene to take her to the capital. It was that bad. As if on cue, we all turned to see the helicopter touching down on the road. The Déjà vu feeling hit me harder than ever and suddenly I needed to be in that helicopter. But they wouldn't let me.
After they loaded her in, we all got in our cars and started the long drive to the capital.
---------------------------------------------------
By the time we reached the hospital she was in, she had had surgery for multiple things, and she was in the ICU being watched by nurses around the clock. We were told she would never not have some nurse beside her.
I had tried forcing my way through the doors to the ICU, much to the surprise and protests of the nurses. I didn't make it in but I did yell her name when the doors opened. I hoped she heard me so she knew I was here. We sat around the waiting room for days until she was finally somewhat stable enough for visitors. Her dad went first, then her godparents. The doctor told my siblings and I that she was in a coma. She was relying on machines to keep her living. In three days time, the plug would be pulled.
I didn't get to see her until nearly four in the morning. Her dad had been in there the whole day and night. When I walked in, he was sleeping in the chair, her hand gripped tightly in his. I kneeled on the other side of her bed and held her other hand between both of mine.
"You're scaring us, Electra. I know you'll come back, but I still can't lose you." I kissed her hand then began to play with her fingers.
Just before I left, I took the locket off and placed it around her neck. I looked inside to discover a picture of us. Well, not her, but Ember. I didn't remember putting that picture in there and I stared at it a while before closing the locket again.
"That's yours now. It belongs to you."
I kissed her hand again, then went back into the waiting room and attempted to get comfortable.
Three days later, the plug was pulled and we watched as her heart sped up then stopped all together. The doctor found that interesting, but its not like he could do much about it anyway.
Later that night, I slipped past the nurse and into Electra's room. Her dad stood against the wall, looking down at her body.
"I always hated this part." He said. His voice didn't even sound like his.
"I hate how this happens every time." I agreed. "I wish she could grow old."
Suddenly, Odin's head snapped towards me.
"What did you just say?"
I was kind of scared. "I said I wish she could grow old."
"Blaze...she's not eighteen."
I frowned.
"Do you know what this means?" Suddenly he was crying, but he was smiling as well.
"I don't understand."
"She doesn't turn eighteen until next month."
It slowly started to dawn on me.
"She broke the curse, Blaze."
I looked back at her but she still looked dead to me. Odin must have read my mind.
"Just give it a moment. This is the most beautiful process."
We stood there, staring at her body like lunatics. I was just about to speak when...something began to happen.
She started glowing. That's as best as I can explain it. She started glowing from her chest and the glow spread to envelope her whole body. And then she was better. The glow lessened slightly and I could see the scratches and bruises and scars disappear before my eyes. Then her casts fell off her legs and pins flew out of her body and poked holes in the walls. She was turning into the perfect image of healthy.
I looked over at Odin to see him staring, wide eyed, at Electra's glowing form. When I turned back, she was sitting up, looking at us. Then a second later, I realized she was floating in the air, not even touching the bed. Also, her eyes were closed. And she was completely different.
Her hair was long and black and it was in two braids that fell over her shoulder and brushed just above her hip bones. She was wearing a dress made out of animal skins and she had a bow and arrow over her back. A crown sat on top of her head to complete the look. Her eyes opened and they were the darkest shade of brown. Odin whispered her name and looked like he was going to grab her. I held him back, not sure that was a good idea.
She changed again but this time she wore a big dress and wore her hair up in a complicated braid. Her eyes were almost gray and she wore a gold crown. Odin returned to normal and leaned back, watching.
Three seconds later, Ember was sitting in front of me and I choked on a sob. I whispered her name and went to grab for her, but Odin held me back. Her eyes locked on mine for a second before she began to glow so brightly I had to look away. When I was finally able to look back at her, I stumbled back and had to lower myself to the floor. Odin had the same reaction.
She floated down to the bed and laid there. Every physical flaw of hers was gone. She was ethereal. Her face looked the same as it had in every life. Her hair, though. It cascaded down to her hips and it seemed to be every color ever. It was black but every time I looked at it, I could swear I saw streaks of red and blonde and brown. Her skin seemed to glitter with every bit of light that hit it.
And then her eyes were open and she was looking at us. Her eyes were so mesmerizing that I thought I was going to die because of them. They were every color possible. Blue, green, purple, brown, gray. But the colors seemed to swim. So, like her hair, I could never stop and concentrate on one single color. But then she spoke.
"I did it."
Her voice gave me the chills but in a good way. I felt like she could heal any injury with just her voice. She could smooth over any argument with just her voice. I got lost in it almost as much as her eyes.
"Wh-What do we call you?" Odin stuttered.
She smiled and my whole world stopped. "Ember."
Suddenly, a noise ripped through the hospital, and even sounded loud enough to rip through the world. It shook the floor beneath me and nearly made my eardrums bleed. Odin turned whiter than the hospital walls and braced himself against a chair.
"We need to go, right now."
Ember was out of bed with inhuman speed and was dressed before I could even make it to the door. I couldn't even question what was happening. We ran to the waiting room and shook my siblings and Ember's godparents awake and when we got outside, Odin stopped us to explain.
"The curse has been broken. She is now known as Ember. That sound is roaring and it is ripping through all Nine Worlds. Fenris is almost out of his bonds. Ragnarok has begun."
