Chapter Thirty-Three

"Everything seems accounted for." Said the nice nurse who oversaw Ella's care while she removed the pressure gauge cuff off her arm and the clamp from her index. "Your vitals readings are good as well as your oxygen levels."

"Then, do I still need to keep this?" Ella asked, lightly touching the nasal catheter that she had been wearing since her admission into the unit and which its removal had been delayed out for hours now, bringing it to the nurse's attention ever so diligently.

"No. We're ready to take this off now," The nurse reached out to their patient and carefully drew her out of oxygen support, "Breath in and out slowly. That's it. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." She simply replied, "My nose just feels a bit itchy and dry."

The nurse gave her a quick chuckle and smiled. "That's normal. I'll fetch you a Vaseline tube for you to hydrate that area."

Ella thanked her caretaker right away for her kindness and attentiveness, then brought out the elephant in the room. "When can I leave?"

"You're an anxious little one, aren't you? "Again, the nurse chuckled. "You'll stay tonight for observation, at least. Smoke inhalation is a very dangerous thing. You can end up with permanent lung damage. Like your friend in the other room."

Angella frowned as she processed the nurse's reply. "What...? W-Who?"

The nurse grabbed onto the monitor's holder and pulled it with her as she left her bedside, then turned her attention to the clipboard in her hands and started scribbling some numbers on it. "Ethan Prescott, it is his name. Similar injuries. He arrived at the same time as mademoiselle... same site for what I could gather, so, I just assumed you might have known each other. Was I wrong?"

The young girl jumped up at once, eager to know more about his well-being. "N-No--! And how is he?!"

"Oh, I can't disclose that due to patient/doctor privilege. But he's much stable now." She stated, studying her features. "Do you wish to see him?"

Ella was opening her mouth to respond when a soft tap on the door made itself heard and stopped her from doing so.

"Oh? I see you have a visitor. A very handsome man, to top that." The nurse turned around just enough to meet Ella's gaze and tease the poor girl.

The young girl blushed at the sudden nurse's remark and immediately averted her gaze, focusing on her hands which she kept closed in tight fists, holding onto the hospital garbs.

"Can I have a moment with mademoiselle Roosevelt?" Khamuel politely excused themselves.

"But of course. I do need to finish my charts, after all." The nurse caught her breath but gifted both with a smile.

"Thank you." They gave her a small bow to show their gratitude towards her small gesture.

"I'll leave you to it." She said teasingly before leaving the room, at last.

"How are you feeling?" They asked as they casually made their way across the room and sat next to the girl on the bed. "Are you still having trouble breathing?"

Ella shifted her gaze only briefly, then focused again on her hands. "N-No. I'm fine. Healthy as a fiddle-- at least it's what the nurses and doctors say. Although I think that I'm suffering from short-memory loss." And casually shrugged a shoulder. "They say it is normal 'cause of trauma-related stuff, you know?"

When she finally ceased talking, they said nothing, only nodded in acknowledgment.

"T-Thank you for saving me, by the way." She said, nudging him on the arm and flashing at them her signature smile. "I don't know what would have become of me if you didn't come to the rescue. But one thing still intrigues me. The nurse said Ethan was here." She lightly bit onto her nail; eyes thoughtful as she recalled her conversation with the nurse. "She implied that he was one of the fire victims too."

Khamuel did not break eye contact with her when denied ever stepping inside the apartment, "She wasn't wrong, and I was not the one who got you out."

"But you were the one who was ins-- Ethan?!" She looked as surprised as Khamuel was by how physically closer she got to them in a mere second. "Why?! Why would he risk his life for me?! Why on earth would he do that? And have you seen him? How is he? I tried to ask the nurse, but she wouldn't tell me!"

Khamuel placed their hands on her shoulders, gently pushing her back. "Calm down for a second, I'll tell you everything you wish to know but first, we need to have a serious conversation."

Ella's expression dropped. "About what?" She stared at him, fear clutching at her heart, fear that whatever they wanted to tell her would have to do with the lack of her family's presence there. And, once the words were out, they would have become reality.

"Ella, your family is..." They started but, seemingly couldn't help themselves finish their sentence.

Angella hid her face, from which a faint smile forgot to fade though her features now expressed nothing but emptiness. They say there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. What they don't tell you is that you can cycle through them all in just one second.

She lifted the blankets and crawled into the hospital bed feeling like she could die of a broken heart. "Can you leave? I'm exhausted and I would pretty much like to get some sleep."

"Of course." She couldn't really see their reaction from where she was standing, or rather, laying but, she could hear the confusion and disappointment in their voice. "Rest as much as you like. We can talk more in the morning." They brushed her hair aside and kissed her forehead, then got up and hesitantly left her side.

The moment they left, was the moment she finally felt like breaking down. She rocked back and forth, tears coursing down her cheeks unchecked, wishing those awful news to be nothing more than a long-enduring nightmare.

Wiping the tears from her eyes with her hand, she failed to suppress a sob. Ella looked up at the sky through the single window in the room, her eyes still glimmering with tears. "Why? Why did you take them from me? Is this punishment for not believing in you? I-I can't say I do now but..." She sighed and embraced tightly her pillow. "P-Please give them b-back... I would do anything, I-I need them... I-I feel so alone..."

She laid in that hospital bed crying like a child, blowing her nose, and sobbing in silence, until the darkness slowly swallowed her vision and she fell asleep, at last.

~

Fire.

The flames burned fiercely, quickly consuming everything they would touch in the chateau, turning wood into ash and the lives that resided within those walls into nothing.

Everyone was running for their lives, willing to stumble upon each other if that meant they had any chance of survival. Their screams were genuine and tangible; panic expressions written all over them as they fought to exit the building.

The pale woman forced her way through the crowd aiming for the master bedroom but, the risen heat was beginning to burn her sensitive skin, her instincts screaming at her to turn back. Despite the pain, she still pushed onward.

The master bedroom was just a couple of turns ahead. She tried to open the door, but it was stuck despite how much she'd pull. It was the longest second of her life until she realized she wasn't going to be able to bust it open.

'Just go, Katherine! Leave me!' Then a strained voice shouted from the other side of the door. 'I'm done for.'

Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to let emotion take over again. Stepping up to the door once more, she smacked her palm against it. Then taking a deep breath, she let it out and closed her eyes.

'Go. Run to the forest! Don't let them find you!' the man shouted from the top of his lungs.

She agreed and grabbed the hem of her dress and started running in the opposite direction from whence she came. She knew if she were to exit through the front door, she'd be caught and be done for. So, she would take the back door to the garden.

She'd never run that fast before without stopping to catch her breath; not that she had ever needed. And she knew if she stopped or tripped, she'd be as good as dead. The sound of horse's hooves an angry crowd on foot with their torches and forks kept distracting her from any logical reasoning. She could be running in circles and wouldn't have a clue.

By the time she realized that she wasn't coming out of that woods alive, someone jumped from behind one of the trees and caught her by surprise. She gave a startled cry as her body stumbled back and tripped on a loose root, ending up falling onto the ridged soil.

The athirst and blind huntsman grabbed the defenseless woman by her red locks, thus pulling her to his height, and locked gazes with her, who he highly viewed as being the monster of his story. 'This is the finishing line for you, bloodsucker. Go back to Hell.'

The meaning behind his words didn't occur to her until she felt the thick liquid gush out, flowing down her skin and onto the fabric of her dress' corset. It must have been a shock as she only then felt the pain moments after when the wooden stake fully pierced through her chest, causing tears to come out, blurring her vision further. As result, her body forced her to cough harshly and splutter the bits of blood that began to fill her lungs.

Her mind must have been clouding already as a smile formed on his lips. Although that smile was not empty; there was definitely a reason behind it. She wished to know what, but she would die without knowing.

For a fleeting moment she saw what it seemed to be the huntman's reaching out to her neck.

Blankness.

Numbness.

Then, nothing.

As she breathed out her last breath, her beautiful head was forced out of her body. As if that wasn't enough, her body was set ablaze, that way she couldn't regenerate. Soon, it disintegrated completely, her bits and pieces lingeringly falling and becoming part of the forest soil.

The huntsman circled the woman's remains and walked away; as he moved, he kept his footsteps silent and did not stop until he left the woods.

~

Ella's sucked in a breath and her eyes snapped open; her body was drenched in a cold sweat and shaking worse than an earth temblor with a magnitude of 8.0, by Richter scale.

She forced herself up. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest while she looked around the room suspicious and paranoid that she would find the same horror she did find in that nightmare. The reason why she was searching her own body for any stabbing holes was beyond her own comprehension.

After finding peace and quiet only, and her body still intact, she found within herself the strength to calm down her nerves. Angella weakly plumped down on the bed. Now, there was no way she was going to be able to fall back to sleep.

She sucked in her breath quickly and then let it escape in a frustrated sigh when she realized she was now wide-awake. She threw her legs off and sat at the edge of the bed; the girl groaned and covered her face with her hands.

'What the heck was that?' Her brain panicked as she thought of it. 'It didn't feel like a dream at all.'

"Maybe I should go see the nurse, I'm sure she'll give me something to help me fall back to sleep." Angella promptly slipped her feet onto the cloth slippers given by the hospital and walked silently out of the room.

On the way to the nurse's station which was located at the far end of the hall, a distant but clear still beeping caught her attention. She knew she shouldn't but, her curiosity got the better of her and thus, she ended up going after the sound.

It was dark and extremely quiet, but soon enough, she did find the source of that overwhelming beeping that kept disturbing the peacefulness of the unit. She was feeling a little hesitant to open the door since she didn't know what she'd find, however, she swallowed her nervousness and peeked inside the room.

Inside were three beds, only one of them was occupied. A brunette boy was lying side-ways, wired to a few machine monitors, and connected to the oxygen support. While he had his back towards the door and was half-covered with the sheets, Ella was able to spot the perks of an extensive bruise on the left flank of his abdomen. Also, there were bandages around both his arms, suggesting that he might have gotten hurt somehow, inflicted or not.

She gasped at the view and stepped away, going immediately into hiding, heart pounding, shock coursing through her veins. 'Was that Ethan? His body was... Oh my God. That was on me.' She bit her lips to keep them from quivering and blinked her eyes to get rid of the blur. 'I almost lost him.'

Angella ultimately sank into a condition of mental stupor and became nothing but a puddle of conflicting emotions, distress, and guilt. Ella covered her mouth with her hand and her chest began to tighten again, the weight of the world around her shoulders proving itself impossible to bear alone.

Regardless of whose fault was it and whether that fire had a criminal hand or not, she still felt responsible for Ethan's current medical state. He was in that bed because of her, bruised and soured, how would she ever face him again?

Then through the door and empty space, she heard Ethan clearing his throat and stirring, and his voice said crossly: "Are you going to just stand there or come in?"

She blinked out of her trance. How long has she been sitting in her stupor?

"I've seen someone die from less." His voice was so calm that she wasn't sure she had heard him right. "C'mon, I wanna see you."

His words poured courage into her heart. "C-Coming right in--!" The young woman cried out before stealthily slipping inside the room and quietly closing the door behind her.

Ethan despite not having gotten out of bed, was now facing the girl, who stood by the door, gaze glued to her feet while whipping her eyes hastily with one hand to get rid of the tears. "You seem of fine health. That's a relief."

"I'm the one who was there for the longest, and you are the one with extent lung damage and burns." Said Ella almost jokingly although it did not correspond to her current humor.

Ethan shrugged with as much neutrality as he could muster as he removed the oxygen mask and eyed her with deliberate interest. "It seems so. Wait--" He raised his torso slightly up and supported his body weight by having his elbows pressed against the mattress. "Have you been crying, Els? Your eyes are all swollen up."

She gathered all the courage she could find to look him in the eye. "N-No, I just got something in my eye. T-That's all."

The silence lasted for about a minute. "Hey, it's okay, come here," He forced calmness into his voice the moment he saw how stressed she was; her body was tense, and she was avoiding eye contact. Ethan then lifted the sheets and softly patted the spot on the mattress next to him, ushering her to come laying down with him.

Ella obeyed straight-out, no questions asked, just like a baby duckling who instinctively follows their mother around and, before she knew it, she was lying in bed right beside him.

She carefully climbed over all the wires, avoiding direct contact with his gaze. She just needed to hug him. To feel him against her. To make sure he was safe and sound. She could feel the silent tears fighting to be freed as she struggled to compose herself.

Ethan covered Ella's body and pulled her close to him. His hand lingered on her arm, and she rested her head against his chest, feeling the warmth of his body sink into her own body. A small, contented sigh escaped her lips; the sense of comfort and reassurance at her core returned as his energy flowed through her. She was starting to finally calm down when he popped up the question.

"Why were you crying? What happened?" His voice turned to a whisper, and he gently raised her chin, locking gazes with her once again.

Such a bright blue, his eyes. They reminded her of the ocean, of all that was to discover deep within the dark but lively-rich caves. There was so much sadness in them that she got confused where hers started and his ended. 'When did his eyelashes get this long?' she wondered to herself.

"Els?" He called her name again, trying to grab her undivided attention. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

And as if working as a trigger, she broke down the silence between them with her cries. Her shoulders shook, sobbing as she wept all over his chest. "I-It's all my fault!" She buried her face in between her hands and continued to sob. "It's my fault that my family is dead-- that you've got hurt! That all of those people got hurt!"

"How could that be your fault? You didn't start the fire." He said, reassuring her that: she had done nothing wrong.

For a moment, she said nothing - afraid to trust her own voice -, then apologized for burdening him, still washed-up in tears. "I-I'm so-so sorry..."

Angella felt in debt with Ethan. A person who wouldn't hesitate to save one's life even if it meant endangering theirs was of value. Someone who could deal with one's insecurities and fears, and still bring them peace with just one glance. Someone who would bring peace to others despite their world falling apart. And someone who would know one's value and help them see it, even if blinded for the most trivial things in life.

That wasn't only about a very good friendship between two childhood acquaintances, there was more to it than Angella would like to admit.

He stroked her hair, lulling into her ear until Angella started to calm down at last. "Shh-- It's okay. It's over now." He comforted her, as best as he could, trying to learn what really got her into the mess she was now. Then, he noticed a scared expression flash over her features, she looked visibly shaken. "I'm fine. They are fine. I promise, Els."

"Promise me, Ethan. Promise me that you are okay, that I don't have nothing to worry about." Her voice literally begged him to lie if necessary but, he didn't need to, there was no reason to when everything was taken care of.

"Listen to my heart beating. Do you hear it?" He muttered, thus gently grabbing her hand and placing it over the left side of his chest. "Can you feel it?"

"Yes." Ella echoed, then sniffed.

"And where is it now?" He asked, not ever once breaking eye contact.

"Within your chest..." She replied curly, shifting her gaze momentarily to her hand cupped by his large one and placed over his chest.

"Every beat is for you. Until the day I die, every beat is yours." he said, giving Ella's hand a little squeeze. "My heart is yours to do as you please."

Startled by his sudden confession, Angella looked back at him with a confused gaze. Smiling, he touched her automatically, stroking the side of her face and tucking errant curls behind her ear.

Naturally, her heart let out an audible thump. As heat swiftly rose to her face, a strange feeling welled up in her throat. Her breath came by quickly and her stomach roiled with nervousness. For a second, she forgot how to breathe. She was at a loss for words. What was wrong with her?

It wasn't the first time she would notice this but, Ella's heart would do something like skip a beat or race wildly whenever Ethan would whisper sweet nothings to her and stand that close to her. The way he would look at her with those blue hopeful eyes, time seemed to slow down every time.

So, she laid there in a daze while she quickly gathered her thoughts about that familiar physical reaction while he kept gingerly rubbing her cheek.

He was always so caring and warm towards her. Sliding her hand involuntarily across his collarbone and resting it at the end of his shoulder, grew a certain feeling inside her. 'Could it be that I...' The answer to which sank firmly in her heart, and she shook her head in dismay. 'No' She must still be out of it.

Closing her eyes for a few precious moments, she breathed deeply and let her breath out in a long, relaxing sigh. If she couldn't manage to control her physical reactions because her body was just idiotically disobedient, then she would have to make sure she controlled her mind.

"It was just a freaky accident. I am safe and you are as well." He bent down and kissed the top of her head while sighing heavily against her hair. "Please don't cry anymore."

During his outpouring of affection, Angella closed her eyes just to feel the warmth of that kiss with all her senses. His hands traveled down and up her back, caressing her skin, and she opened her eyes to see him, once more. "I can't help it. I'm just so overwhelmed with everything that's happening." she confessed.

"I know, but it'll be alright, okay? I will always protect you. I'm here with you. Always and forever." In his arms, he held her tightly against his chest. She could feel those heavy muscles of his rippling with every breath he took. There was no escaping those large arms of his, and she didn't want to. "And now stop crying. Your smile is way too beautiful to hide it, okay?"

"I don't know what I would do without you." Ella couldn't stop herself from tucking her head into the crook of his neck. She feared what would happen next, her life was such a mess, and he was the only certainty she had. She couldn't afford to lose him. "Please don't ever leave me!"

"I've told you already..." He whispered against her ear, "I'm not going anywhere. Now, sleep. We'll talk more tomorrow."

Her nod was compliant. And just like that, in his embrace, everything seemed bearable, making all the misery and misfortune disappear. For the first time that night, she felt safe and secure. A part of her wanted to stay like that forever but, she knew that, eventually, she would have to let go.