❀ ― @dashingdad wrote : Leaving
SHE CHOKES ON A METALLIC MOUTHFUL . it’s terrible warmth overflows the confines of her mouth and oozes past her open lips , whose hue was once a healthy pink , but now a sickly pale shade . every gasp between the string of hacking coughs ushers another gulp of blood , seeping into her trachea , settling in asthmatic airways . the infiltration sets off a cataclysmic spasm . the death throes of damaged lungs are surprisingly powerful . in their dying moments they crave life , so desperately clawing for air around the fluid that fills them . she’s drowning , her own blood is a weapon against her , and it WON’T STOP . it bubbles up her convulsing throat , spit out by her heaving lungs only to be sucked back inside as she attempts the next respiration .
pain seizes her chest , white-hot and mind numbing . her ribcage is shattered . every involuntary movement forced by the paroxysms of her lungs lights a fresh flame . the broken edges of fractured ribs PUNCTURE the very organs they’re made to protect , popping them like fleshy balloons . escaped air flows freely into her chest cavity . the pressure is enormous and horrendously painful . indra can feel that precious air crackling up her back . death has tried to take her before . she’s suffered the cusp of OBLIVION and always turned her back to it . life called to her too strongly to depart . but , for as many times as she’s faced her own mortality , she’s never experienced this kind of pain . it’s agony .
yet somehow , she still finds COMFORT . there’s a someone with her . a hand cradles the blood-sodden head she has not the strength to lift on her own . another across her , holding her broken body close . a distant voice meshes with the ringing in her ears , blurry eyes strain to focus . shapes and colors dance about with no distinctive pattern , darkness is encroaching the corners of her vision , black spots like swarms of ants crawling in a black sheet , but for a moment , one fleeting second , she sees his eyes . she KNOWS those eyes , that face .
after suffering the loss of her parents , her sister, and her friends , indra was left alone , and that was how she had intended to keep it . never again would she allow herself to go through that kind of anguish . the price of love is pain , a price she deemed was too steep and was UNWILLING to pay . and she tried to maintain this , vehemently tried to , but despite how she closed herself off , the time she’s spent with ethan , the moments they had shared , both good and bad , had broken down the barriers and allowed him ACCESS to her heart .
and at the end , she is grateful for it . she will not die alone as she once thought .
a smile tries to sneak into her stained features , but the quiver of her lips makes it near impossible . one more FUTILE breath and she struggles to deliver her parting message . “ good luck --- finding rose . ” she croaks , the words forced through jagged gasps and weak coughs . “ kick some ass --- ethan . ”
then the pain disappears . in its place is warmth , like a hug from light itself . she doesn’t know fear . death is the bridge between her and her loved ones . she will again be with those who unwillingly left her behind . she can almost make out their SHADOWS in the fading light as darkness claims her vision .
