Hatchetfield Stories

Long Time No See

Something short because I'm bored :)

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
-Death

-------

Emma struggled as she was dragged through the halls of the hospital, kicking and screaming at every alien she could. But Paul's grip on her didn't falter. If anything, he held her tighter, bruises blooming on her arms.

She was led back to what had been her hospital room for the past two weeks, a half-full glass of water still on the nightstand from that morning. The door closed, and suddenly, they were alone. She was getting too tired to fight. Swallowing hard, she turned to face him.

"Paul..."

He smiled at her, his eyes glowing bright blue as he looked into her eyes, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Hello, Emma. Long time no see."

Emma looked at her feet. "What will you- How are you going to do it?" she asked, her voice shaking. "I don't want to die, Paul." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Shit, I don't want to die!"

"Shhh..." he hushed her, cupping her cheek, gently wiping away a tear with his thumb. "You don't know what you're missing."

"You don't want this, Paul..." her voice broke as she said his name, thinking about what he told her two weeks earlier. "The Paul I knew would've hated this."

"The Paul you knew is gone," he said bluntly, taking a step back.

"I know," Emma muttered, not looking up at him.

"Come on, Em. Blue is a beautiful color."

"Will it hurt?"

"Only a little."

"Okay."

He smiled, taking her hand. "Come get that kiss I owe you."

Emma nodded, closing her eyes as he leaned in, closing the distance between them. His lips were surprisingly soft, and she melted into the kiss, trying to convince herself he was still the real Paul, and trying to ignore the blue sludge going down her throat.

When they broke apart, Paul just held her tightly, sitting them down on the hospital bed as she shivered, her body trying to fight the infection. It hurt. It started in her chest, moving down her arms and legs, her limbs twitching as her blood slowly turned blue. Her vision failed her as she sobbed into Paul's chest, just wanting the pain to stop but scared of what she'd become.

He ran a hand through her hair, and despite it being the living corpse of the man she trusted, Emma managed to find some comfort in the gesture, leaning into his touch as pain took over every inch of her body.

She had a killer headache, probably from her brain trying to fight off the pathogen that was slowly taking over her mind.

And it was losing the battle.

Because when she opened her eyes, they were blue, and Emma Perkins was gone.