GHOST FEELINGS CHAPTER XIII
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THE END OF IT ALL
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★ ✶ ★ ✶ ★
"Where does this take us?" Theo asked while driving, trying to escape from the Ghost Riders.
"The hospital."
"Hospital? Why the... What the hell are we supposed to do at the hospital?" Theo exclaimed, feeling nervous. Suddenly, memories of Eiza came into his mind. They couldn't go to the hospital, not while she was there.
After visiting Eiza, Theo was dragged, with the help of Mason and Liam, to the police station, ending up in jail. But the Ghost Riders had to show up, forcing the sheriff to free Theo. And now, here they were, Liam and Theo trying to distract the Ghost Riders in order to help Scott remember Stiles — but, of course, Theo didn't know about this last thing.
"Hide. Look, we can't outrun them, right? I know every inch of that building; every room, every corner."
"Hide, that's the best you've got? Have you forgot about something? Maybe... a girl named Eiza? Does it sound familiar to you?"
"We... will take her with us!"
"She's in a fucking coma, you dumbass!"
"We just need to keep them away from Scott for as long as possible," Liam said, trying to convince Theo.
"Why? What's he gonna do?"
"He's gonna remember."
"Remember what?!"
"Stiles. He has to remember Stiles."
• • •
Eiza sat on a corner, wrapping her arms around her flexed legs and burying her head between her thighs. She was shaking, swaying herself from side to side.
They are gone. They are gone. They are gone.
They were in front of her, and she did nothing to stop those monsters.
It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault.
When she was at the verge of crying, Eiza heard a siren, along with voices — probably coming from outside the building — and payed attention to them.
"Because while they're busy wrapping a whip around your neck, or shooting a hole in your head, I'll take Eiza and we'll be running in the other direction!"
"She won't run away with you!"
"That was not a question."
Eiza recognized those voices, the thing was, that she didn't expect to hear them together. Not after what happened before.
"I'm on your side as long as it helps me."
That voice, Eiza knew like the back of her hand, and her heart couldn't help but beat faster every time he spoke. He was here. They were here.
And they shouldn't be.
"Trust me, I know."
That other voice was Liam. Liam and Theo. But, what were they doing here? Were they planning some sort of rescue? That's why they needed the — she thought was, given the siren — ambulance?
Eiza tried to stand up and get closer to the voices, her friends. Her hands came in contact with the cold hospital floor and started to shake, her legs wobbling. She felt weak and sleep roamed in her mind, calling to her, telling her that it was okay to let go, but she knew better than that. Since sophomore year, she had been through numerous threats: Peter Hale, the kanima, the alpha pack, the dread doctors, and so on. She had had it worse than this. She had been close to death. And she had survived. That's what Eiza always does.
But she was on her own now. Or so she thought.
After five long minutes, Eiza stood in front of one of the hospital's hallways, now hearing her friends' voices clearer than before. That kept her going forward, her friends, as if they were some kind of magnet that Eiza couldn't escape from.
The hospital was deserted, and Eiza couldn't help but stare at her surroundings with her mouth agape. What happened? She had lost track of time, but the last time she was there it all was full of life, people going from room to room, chattering and shouting present. Now, the only thing she could catch a sight of were fallen leaves and rubble lying on the floor. The lights were off. Neither doctors nor patients were anywhere to be seen. She was utterly and completely alone.
Until now.
Loud stomps, as well as rising voices, could be heard all the way from the hospital entrance. People were running. Liam and Theo were running. Running to her.
And she was going to run to them.
• • •
"Fucking hell, she is not here."
Theo Raeken found himself in the room where he last saw the one person he didn't want to lose. The person who was helplessly escaping away from his grasp. Or more like she was being pulled away, given the amount of people who didn't want those two together.
But did it really matter?
"Fucking hell," Theo hissed again, his heart beating faster by the second. Where the hell was she, if not there?
Liam set a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. He deeply understood Theo, Eiza being like a big sister to him, someone to look up to. But he also knew that time was running out and if the ghost riders got to them there would be less of a chance to get everyone back.
"We need to hide."
Theo looked at him as if he had just said the craziest thing ever.
"But she-"
"She is gone! And we aren't. And I know that I sound like a dickhead right now, but we can't risk it."
Theo looked at Liam hesitantly, and sighed deeply.
"You go, I'm going to look for her."
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Are you out of your mind? We don't leave people behind. So if you wanna leave, fine by me. But I'm staying."
Liam couldn't believe what he just said, and what he was about to do.
"Fine," he sighed. "But we have to stay together."
"I didn't know you were so fond of my company, Dunbar," Theo said with a cheeky grin.
"Go to hell," Liam replied.
"Already been there."
As they took off running, Liam wondered if he was ever going to get the last word.
• • •
The morgue. Of all the damned places in that hospital, they had to go and hide in the morgue.
They didn't find Eiza. And Theo officially despised Liam.
And after a heated argument about saving and being saved, the siren they turned on to attract the ghost riders suddenly stopped.
"You still hear the ambulance?" Theo asked with a shaking voice. "The siren, can you still hear it?"
And after a sudden realization, a scary one, Theo felt a hundred things at once. Anticipation, nerves, the adrenaline rushing throughout his body. And fear. Fear for him, and Eiza, who was still roaming through the hospital.
But not for long.
After ten minutes of excruciating pain navigating through her blood, up and down her veins, tired muscles and a spinning head, she fell on her back on what she didn't realize was the morgue door.
Theo and Liam took notice of this noise, and immediately showed their fangs and claws, along their yellow eyes, seeking for a place to hide.
And then the door fell open.
And Theo felt the air rush out of his lungs in less than a heartbeat.
She was there. She was there, and safe. That brunette girl who had come into his life like a rush of fresh air and had exited it in the same way. That girl who showed him mercy, compassion and love once again.
He felt whole.
"Eiza?" he heard Liam mutter. That made Theo snap out of it and rush to the almost-unconscious girl. His werewolf companion kneeled alongside him and picked Eiza up, gently laying her on the morgue table.
She breathed faintly, the two werewolves only being able to catch that due to their improved hearing. Theo cupped Eiza's face in both of his hands and caressed her cheeks. A few seconds later, the girl produced a slight hum. A forming grin could be seen on her face, and Theo and Liam released a mouthful of air they didn't realise they were holding in.
"Hey," Theo murmured. "You're fine."
Suddenly, Theo felt something on his wrist, something tender and soft. A touch he craved and yearned very much, her touch, light as a feather, a sign that she was there. Theo smiled at this.
More sounds could be heard out of the morgue, and Liam started to get impatient. "Wasn't she supposed to be in a coma?" he nervously asked, confused by the situation.
"She's super. Guess something as mundane as a coma can't put her down," Theo replied.
"No," Liam said. "She's Eiza, and she's strong as hell."
In that they both agreed.
• • •
The situation was far from perfect. In fact, it was nothing like they expected it to be.
Liam and Theo, who was holding onto an unconscious Eiza for dear life, were running like they were one step away from being hit by a bullet, literally. But not a regular bullet, of course not. The ghost riders had found them, and they weren't going to let them go that easily.
After successfully locking a ghost rider inside a hospital room, they both acknowledged each other's efforts, but their victory was short lived when Eiza, who was sat briefly in the cold tile floor, started regaining consciousness and coughing blood.
"Hey, hey," Theo said while running to her. He cradled her in his arms and tried to soothe her. Soon, Liam realised that the wound in her stomach, made by the infamous Mr. Douglas when they were trying to catch a ghost rider, was bleeding too.
But the blood wasn't red. It was black.
"What... What is happening to her?" Liam asked, evidently worried. Immediately after, Eiza slowly opened her mouth, as if she were trying to say something.
Liam and Theo waited with all the patience they could, trying to stay on alert too. The ghost riders were still there and they wouldn't like to be caught off-guard.
"I..." Eiza whispered, a thread of voice that she tried to cling to. "I... am dying," the enchantress finished, coughing more blood.
Theo and Liam's astonished faces were replaced by denial ones afterwards. She couldn't be dying, that couldn't be possible.
"No, you're not. Listen to me, you are not gonna die," Theo spat out, furious, anxious, decided. He wouldn't let her die, not now, not ever. But Eiza slowly nodded, as if to say Yes, I am.
But there was not time for chitchat, because the ghost riders were already there. And both sides fought. For Eiza. For everyone.
• • •
Liam was the last person Theo thought he would be fist-bumping with. And that made Eiza happy.
Barely conscious, she watched everything unfold in front of her, like it were a movie and she was just a mere spectator. Liam and Theo worked amazingly well together, being capable of protecting her and defending themselves at the same time.
At first, it was bickering. Now it's teamwork. And Eiza knew that was the last thing she would see before she left this world. And she was glad.
She was supernatural, yes, but she wasn't a werewolf. Fast healing wasn't one of an enchantress' quantifiable qualities; in fact, she healed at exactly the same pace as a human. And let's just say that some alpha's claws digging deep into her stomach wasn't a light thing. She accepted that it was not going to heal anytime soon.
Her coma was short-lived, thanks to her enchantress powers, and she thanked God that she could mutter a last final goodbye to those she cared about. Scott, Liam, Theo.
Stiles.
God, Stiles. The others were probably reunited, trying to save him and all of those who had vanished from the face of the earth. Her friends, Lydia, Scott and Malia. She belonged with them.
Eiza hoped they remembered her.
"Theo," she was able to whisper, weakly. The pair runned to her in an instant, and she said the words that had been caging up in her heart for a while now. "Theo."
"Yes, I am here," he whispered too. Liam listened for her heartbeat, it was faint, barely there. He looked at Theo sadly, knowing what would come, slowly accepting her fate, the fate of a girl who had been like a big sister to him. A tear fell from Liam's eye, and Theo soon imitated the gesture.
"Tell Scott," she started, taking deep breaths in between. "Tell him... that he didn't fail me. Tell the pack that they didn't fail me."
Theo couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Tell him... tell him that I will be with her now. With Allison." Eiza couldn't help but cry. Liam was saying calming words, but nothing worked. All three were crying, and denying the inevitable would only make things harder. "Tell Isaac too. And Derek," she took a deep breath. "Tell Derek... that this wasn't his fault-"
The ghost riders were coming, but none of them cared.
"And Jackson." Both Liam and Theo nodded.
Eiza grasped Liam's hand all of a sudden, and he looked at her perplexed, and very, very scared. With a tear-stained face, he tried to smile.
"My brother," Eiza gasped, running out of air. "Make sure he and Sabrina are fine." Liam eagerly nodded.
Eiza finally had the strength to look at Theo. It was tender, so very tender. Eiza wondered how would it feel to kiss him one last time.
"Hey," she let out in between coughs.
"Hey," Theo replied with a saddening smile.
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you."
A door was opened. A ghost rider stood in front of them, in full glory.
"Tell me later," Theo quickly said, before picking her up and running back.
"I'll distract them!" Liam screamed, in hopes that Theo could hear him.
"I'll come back!" he replied.
He opened an elevator and snuck Eiza in there. Kneeling before her this time was more painful than they both could ever imagine.
"I need to tell you that... you were the first... and the last." Eiza was barely audible right now. And Theo's tears were spilling a lot faster at the moment. "I love you."
She loved him.
It was the first time she said that. And the last. And it broke his heart.
"Don't say that," he managed to say in between tears. "Why would you say that?"
In a heartbeat, Liam staggered back and crashed into the wall, catching Theo's eye. He hurriedly looked at Eiza and went to help him. And he decided in that very moment that a life without Eiza... was it worth living? Was it worth living a life without someone to share it with? But there were other people, other someones that deserved it more than he ever did. And those people happened to be the ones who sent him to Hell.
And he was not bitter about it.
So, with one last bit of good will, he pushed Liam and sent him back to the elevator, where he found himself with Eiza, and a newfound peace was born in his heart.
"What are you doing?" Liam yelled in an alarming tone, his yellow eyes shining brightly. Eiza formed an "o" with her mouth, and just when Theo turned back and looked at her, she knew.
"Being the bait."
Both of their hearts were beating at an insane rate, and just when the elevator's doors were about to close, Eiza could see Theo mouth four simple words.
"I love you too."
The word was black.
• • •
Stiles cradled Eiza's body.
Everyone was there, outside of the hospital. Liam, Theo, even Scott had come.
And Stiles was back. And in that moment he wished he wasn't. Because he was holding his best friend's limp body on his lap.
The tears couldn't be stopped.
Stiles swore that the sound of his heart breaking could be heard miles from here. The girl who was there since the beginning and before, before Scott became a werewolf and their lives gave a complete turn. Those three had grown up together, and losing one would be like losing a limb.
Stiles and Scott didn't know how many deaths they had had to endure over the years, but just when everything seemed to be right, life decided to take one life once again. Their sister's life.
Scott heard a couple of heartbeats in the span of two minutes, but he didn't let himself get his hopes up. He kneeled before her and whispered her name.
"Eiza."
It was dead silent on the other end.
Stiles' mind was somewhere else. Because it was his fault. Eiza died because of him. If he hadn't disappeared she would still be alive, and that's something he couldn't take. The cheerful girl who had an unwanted fate, only to master it at the end; the girl who went from shy to confident and well-known; the humble girl with a golden heart who took a liking to 80's movies and moody werewolves. And the girl who had been there for them over and over again.
Little did they know, Eiza was barely there. The world around her had faded, and she could feel her supernatural aura leaving her. It was a matter of seconds before she left this world in her best friend's hands.
They had got him back. And now she would die peacefully.
She slowly opened her mouth, and everyone was surprised by her actions. She took a handful of air, and began what would be her last words.
"I always remembered."
The last remnants of air left her chest as she exhaled one last time. Stiles looked at her with disbelief written all over his face.
I always remembered.
He could feel the moment Eiza became just a lifeless corpse, and he remained there, with his mouth agape.
I always remembered.
A tear fell on Eiza's face as her soul left her body with a smile.
★ ✶ ★ ✶ ★
Please don't hate me.
A very emotional epilogue is coming, so be ready.