Chapter 15: After The End

Chapter 10: The End

Begin!

~Klaus' POV

"Take the damn cure, Klaus; I don't exactly have time to argue with you about this!"

"Do you want this to end up as a suicide mission?"

I can't take the cure from her... not after we finally worked it out, not after we agreed to start our friendship over. She's a precious person. The guilt would haunt me for the rest of my days. Quigley would kill me, or disown me as a brother-in-law; I don't know which would be worse. He needs a woman like Fiona in his life; he cares for her, to lose her so soon after finding her would destroy him.

"You have a family to get back to," Fiona reasoned.

"So do you!" I could feel the poison getting worse and I'm sure she could as well. "What about your stepfather?"

"He's survived losing people before."

"And Fernald?! I may not like the guy very much, but he's your brother and I can see clear as day that you're the most important person in the world to him," I said, "Would he survive if he knew he wasn't able to save you?"

She went silent and carefully considered her answer. I knew she was going to say no to my question it was obvious. "Fernald would never let anything hurt me." Those were her exact words; they were words that had been thought about carefully. Words that had been a fact for her entire life, but this was an instance where she had to ensure her own safety. And arguing with her about it was not going to solve our problems. First, pull out your phone and text the others who the culprit is so they can catch him. The mushrooms were dead, his plan was foiled; all we needed to do was catch him. If anything else, that will put their minds at ease for now. I did exactly that and got a response from Isadora saying they would make sure of it. I ignored her when she asked if we were alright.

"So what do you propose we do about this situation then," Fiona asked; she intentionally avoided my question because she knew I was right.

I glanced at the vial in my hand. We only had one option; get her to a source of horseradish within the next 57 minutes or I'd lose my friend forever. I quickly asked Isadora through messages if everyone was still in the auditorium. She confirmed that they were. Good. I can't take her to the others; too many people around the poison would spread. Quigley would flip his shit. There has to be something else in that cafeteria that has horseradish in it.

"If we're both going to make it out of this, then one of us has to be healthy." I said before drinking the cure. Thankfully, the antidote to the mycelium is very fast acting.

Once I was able to breathe normally again, I took the enemy's commonplace book and stuffed it in my jacket as evidence. I grabbed Fiona's hand, "How fast can you run?"

"No better than anyone else," She replied.

"Well you're in luck; I've gotten to be pretty good at running."

She covered her mouth with part of her jacket and gripped my hand tightly as we ran up the secret staircase. It led out of a wall entrance into a hallway I recognized, it wasn't far from the cafeteria. Don't hesitate. Ignore her coughing. It's only going to get worse, so just don't think about it. You've been through this before Klaus, more than once at this point. Can't hesitate. Not even for a fraction of a second, every moment counts. I was practically screaming at myself internally as we ran through the halls to get where we needed to be. I care too much. I've lost too many good people in my life; Fiona is a good person I don't want to lose her too.

Once we reached the room I practically tore the kitchen apart looking for anything that had horseradish in it. Ignore the clock on the wall. It's only going to make things worse if you think about it. I could hear her coughing harder this time. It was an awful sound. The sound of someone feeling punished for sins they want to be forgiven for. I swear if Violet doesn't forgive Fiona... No don't think. Just concentrate on finding horseradish. Minute after painful minute of searching and I had found nothing. Do I worry the others by telling them what's happened? Would Violet even be willing to help? (Logically even if she didn't she'd be outvoted four to one... but my sister can't possibly be that cruel, I know her better than that.)