SELFLESS SACRIFICE
IT had now been a week since the break up. Everyone had found out about Aspen and Stiles' mutual decision to split up, and it was sad that none of them were too surprised by it. Aspen and Stiles weren't the only ones who noticed a shift in their relationship.
So the week had passed—Aspen had still been tugging strings to plan Allison's funeral. Things had been fairly quiet—and they all took a moment to bask in that privilege. They'd been drowned in torment for so long that they'd forgotten what it was just to just simply breathe.
But as they say—don't speak too soon.
Aspen was strolling downstairs one morning to grab a bite to eat—when she noticed a letter by the door. Figuring it might be Melissa's mail, she picked it up and took it over to the counter—when her eyes darted to the recipient of the mail, her heart raced a bit.
It was for her.
But that wasn't the most alarming part about the letter. The scariest part was the stamp in the top right corner—where the letter came from.
Eichen House.
Her blood ran cold as she stared at the front of the letter for a minute. She heard Brunski's speech about how important she and her family were, and how badly they wanted her in their closed unit, so they could perform sick experiments on her. But she got away... didn't she? How did they even know where she lived?
She then hastily ripped the envelope open, her heart racing a mile a minute as her mind span about what could possibly be inside this letter. What scared her the most is how they knew she was here.
She unfolded the piece of paper, revealing a typed out letter, addressed to her. She let out a shaky breath, and began to read.
Aspen,
You can't hide from us. I'm sure you're wondering how we could possibly know where you live—right? Well, in case you haven't realised it yet-- you're chipped. While you were uncosncious in the closed unit—I had my men insert one. Don't try and remove it—it's programmed to activate as an explosive device if it isn't in contact with human flesh.
You either hand yourself over— or your brother. The choice is yours—but we've waited too long to simply give up on you Bellators now.
You, or your brother, Aspen. Clock's ticking.
—Brunski
Aspen felt the blood running through her veins turn cold as she flew her hand up to the back of her neck, trying to feel for where they could have possibly chipped her without her realising. It was useless though—she couldn't remove it. Maybe that was simply a lie to make sure she kept it in—but how could she risk it?
Life was supposed to be peaceful right now. She wasn't supposed to be dealing with any crap right now other than her break-up, and planning a funeral. Those were supposed to be the only things she had to worry about right now.
She wanted to run upstairs and hide this letter under her bed—out of sight, out of mind. But just as she hopped off the chair and headed for the stairs—she heard footsteps. Scott and Melissa were both upstairs—so it couldn't be them. Out of fear, she reached for a knife in the kitchen. Sure—she didn't really need a knife for defence, did she? She was half-wolf-half-fox, she could take on an intruder with her bare hands if she had to. But still, she reached for the kitchen knife, and held it up in front of her with the letter in the other hand.
But when the so-called intruder revealed himself into the living room of the McCall household—Aspen let out a massive sigh of relief when she saw it was just Ace.
"Jesus Christ—" Ace's eyes widened when he saw the knife in his sister's hand, "what's with the knife?!"
"What's with the not knocking!" Aspen fired back, "How'd you get in anyway?"
"Scott and his mom haven't bothered to buy a new door, so..."
Aspen lowered the knife in her hand, still breathing heavily from the shock. Ace strolled on into the room casually, sitting down on the couch—not feeling the need to announce the reason he was here.
"Wh—" Aspen blinked, "What are you doing here?"
"I was bored..." Ace sighed—and by the looks of it, that was the whole truth, "Figured I'd stop by and spend some quality time with my little sister."
"Okay—well," Aspen replied, heading for the stairs again, "nows not a good time, so maybe later—"
"What's that?"
Aspen stopped in her tracks, really wishing her brother wasn't referring to the piece of paper in her hand. Slowly and reluctantly, she turned around to face him with a coy expression.
"What's what?"
"That." Ace said bluntly, pointing to the letter in her hand.
"Oh, this?" Aspen continued to play coy, "It's nothing, just some of Melissa's phone bills, I was about to go put it on her desk—"
"You're trying to lie to someone who can hear your heartbeat?" Ace cocked his head to the side, sensing something off about his sister's behaviour.
"Seriously— it's nothing." Aspen lied, "I'm just gonna go upstairs, as I said—now's not a great time. We can do some brother-sister bonding another time—"
Before she knew it, Ace was up off the couch and walking over to her. He grabbed the letter out of her hand, despite how much she fought him off. But he pried it out of his sister's grip, curiosity overcoming him as his eyes landed on the words on the paper.
Aspen watched as his face fell from his jokey laughter to pure horror over what he was reading.
"Were you ever gonna tell me about this?"
Ace's voice was just a whisper which broke a bit as he asked the question. He felt genuinely hurt that his sister kept this from him—or at least, tried to. And then it hit him—Aspen is the most selfless person he'd ever met. She'd do anything for the people around her—no matter the cost. And when he finally realised, he immediately shook his head at her,
"No." he told her bluntly, "No—you're not doing this—"
"I wasn't planning on it." Aspen cocked her head to the side, "I was just gonna hide it under my bed and forget it exists—"
"You're chipped?" Ace asked, though it was more a statement than a question.
Aspen's hand then trailed the back of her neck, wondering if that's where they had put it. Truth is—she had no idea where it was.
"So what?" Aspen brushed it off, trying to stay in denial that this was an issue.
"So—" Ace raised his voice, "they're gonna find you wherever you go! You can't just pretend this isn't happening, Asp! You can't just run away from your problems!"
"Coming from the man who faked his death for six years!"
"That was different..."
"No, it wasn't!" Aspen snapped back, growing frustrated with her brother, "Look—what do you expect me to do, huh? Remove the chip? I could kill someone—and myself!"
"That's not what I'm suggesting you do..."
Aspen looked up at her brother, looking at the expression on his face—the look in his eyes.
"You don't expect me to—"
"Hand me over?" Ace finished the sentence for her, "Yes—I do!"
"I would never sell you out, Ace!" she snapped, "I'm not letting you do that for me!"
"Too bad," Ace told her in refusal, "I'm doing it."
"No—you're not!" she cried back, "You don't understand what they do in that place—they perform sick experiments on people, it's disgusting—"
"Yeah— and if I don't do this then they'll come for you instead." Ace cut her off.
Ace's expression softened, as he looked into the eyes of his sister who he'd hurt so many times. She was a better sibling than he'd ever be. Even after all the torment he'd put her through—she still wouldn't sell him out to save herself.
"Listen to me, Asp," Ace said softly—bracing himself for what he had to say,
"Last year, I gave you enough pain and misery to last you a lifetime..."
Aspen felt a tear roll down her cheek as she saw the look on his face—the look of acceptance. He really wanted to do this for her—he wanted to make up for everything.
"Now, please—" he continued,
"Let me spend the rest of mine trying to make it up to you..."
"I can't do that to you—"
"You're not," Ace cut her off softly, "I'm doing it to myself— for you."
Aspen shook her head in denial, even though she could read all over his face that he was ready to check himself into that house of horrors just so she'd be free of it.
"Let me do this, Aspen!" Ace raised his voice, even though he was going through with this with or without her permission,
"Let me have my redemption!"
Aspen wanted to fight him on it—it was in her nature to be selfless like that. But she knew he wasn't going to budge—and that both melted her heart and shattered it. It made her smile weakly because he was truly showing how much he cared about her. After so many years of neglection, leaving her to suffer alone, only to come back and bring her more pain—he was finally being the big brother she remembered from before everything changed.
As she looked up at him right now—she saw the same Ace that would barge into her bedroom when they were kids, the same Ace who would confide in her as she would do the same.
This was the big brother she'd been missing for nearly seven years.
So, coming up short for words—Aspen wrapped her arms around her brother and squeezed him tight. He smiled as he returned the gesture, hugging his baby sister—for what might be the last time.
"I'm gonna visit you." Aspen murmured into his shoulder.
"No—you're not." Ace shook his head, "I don't want you ever setting foot in that place again, you hear me?"
"But, Ace—" Aspen objected as she pulled away from their hug, brows furrowed.
"I mean it." Ace cut her off again, "Don't come and visit me. I'll be fine. I'll be fine knowing that you're free. Please—don't ever set foot in that building again, okay?"
Reluctant to the idea, but understanding what he was saying and what he wanted, Aspen slowly nodded her head, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Why are you crying?" Ace laughed softly, trying to lighten the mood and not wanting his sister to be hurting.
"It's just—" she spoke through another tear, "I just got you back... and now—now you're—"
"Doing what I should've done a long time ago," Ace interrupted, a genuine smile spreading on his lips,
"Putting you first."
Aspen watched as Ace turned around and walked towards the door, but she felt frozen in time-- trying to process all that had just happened in the past five minutes. Just as he got to the door—or, more like, the door frame, Aspen stopped him.
"Hey, Ace?"
He stopped in his tracks, turning his head over his shoulder to look back at his little sister one last time.
Aspen forced a smile, as she reminisced a thing they always used to do when they were kids. Whenever one of them was leaving—whether it be for an 'adventure' as they liked to call them when they were little,, or just school, sometimes—they'd always joke around, and say,
"Please don't die."
//
oh— you guys didn't think ace was getting a happy ending in this book... did you 🤨🤨🤨
redemption arc= successful if u ask me
anywayyy.... THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER! EPILOGUE WILL BE UP SOON BUT AHHHH