Revive Me

Chapter Twenty Seven

The first thing that hits me is the smell.
It smells like a million corpses.
The second thing that hits me is Castle and Kenji standing in the middle of the room.
Their smiles are so wide and they're laughing so loud.
And then I see Juliette.
And the waterfall of emotions hits me.
She still looks awful as ever, but she's standing there conferring with Castle and Kenji - laughing with them as if nothing ever happened. As if there was no part of Delalieu inside her, as if her eyes weren't bloodshot red, as if she was still the same Juliette that I knew before all this happened.
All three of them look over to me, and Juliette gives me a smile. I smile back.
My hand follows her face and downwards. It pauses on a shining piece of silver dangling on her neck.
The necklace is still there.
I walk over to the three.
"Hello, love," I whisper to Juliette.
She gives me a small smile and looks down shyly.
"Castle, Kenji, I came to ask if you could come to an important meeting with me?" I ask the both of them, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "I mean, if it's alright with you, love."
Juliette nods at me and gestures for Castle and Kenji to leave.
"But Julliete," says Castle in a meaningful tone. "Before I go, can you hand me that little necklace you have?"
God damn it Castle.
At the word 'necklace,' Juliettes eyes widen. Her lips begin to tremble and her eyes become an inhumanly red colour.
Oh my God, Castle.
What have you done.
Tears start to fall out of Juliettes eyes.
"Leave!" she screams.
I advance towards her, but she takes a step back and puts her palms out in front of her.
"Warner, please," she says. So much desperation, so much love. "I don't want to hurt you. Leave. All of you."
"Okay love," I whisper. "But we'll be back. You can't live like this much longer. We'll be back."
She begins to cry harder.
It kills me.
I feel my heart being torn to shreds.
I feel my body being pulled apart.
"Please stop crying, love," I say as gently as I can.
"Just leave!" she screams.
All three of us nod at each other and leave the room, calling for a group meeting in Castles room.

***

"This ends today," I announce.
Everyone nods.
I think everyone's had enough of this.
"Anyone have any plans?" Kenji asks, looking around the room.
"We kill Delalieu," says Brendan firmly.
"If we kill Delalieu, Juliette goes down with him. Same thing vice versa. They're intertwined," states Sonya. "And no, we are not taking that risk."
"Well if anyone has any plans, now would be the time to speak!" says Kenji, his voice rising with every word.
"I have a plan," I say as calmly as possible.
As awful as I feel, as terrible as this is, I think it's the best plan we have.
Perhaps the only plan.
Everyone looks towards me.
Too late to turn back now.
I begin to talk.

"No," says Kenji.
"Well, if you have something better it would help if you said it now," I reply.
Everyone is stressed out.
"Run through that one more time, will you Warner?" asks Kent.
I nod and take a deep breath.
"We go in there and we have Castle yank that necklace off. He will die, she will kill him. But he'll keep the necklace firm in his hand. He'll be dead, so one of us will go and shoot the necklace to destroy it. Then this will be over," I say, my voice trembling.
"We are not going to have Castle be bait," says Kenji.
"And we aren't going to risk the fact that she might pry the necklace out of his hand," says Winston.
"We aren't letting her kill anyone," says Kent.
I stare at him.
"Well what else do you want us to bloody do?" I spit back at him.
He continues as if I didn't say anything.
"How would you feel?" he says. "To wake up one day and have to live with the fact that you killed someone so close to you and you just have to suck it up and continue on with your life. I'm not going to let her live with that burden."

I wish he wasn't right.

"What do you suggest?" I ask.
"I suggest that we start off the same," he replies. "We go into that room and Castle takes that necklace off. But here's where things get tricky," he says with a tremble in his voice.
"He throws the necklace to one of us," he continues. "But none of us catch it. We let it land on the ground, and that's when we shoot it."
"What about Castle?" asks Kenji.
Castle sits in the corner of the room. I look at him. He's trying so hard to look strong.
"Juliette will attack him because he's the one who took the necklace off," says Kent. "But as soon as she starts, Kenji yells for the girls who will be standing outside the door. The necklace should be destroyed by then, so the girls can work their magic on Castle. Nobody dies."
I take a deep breath and exhale.
The plan sounds perfect.
Too perfect.
"All in favour say 'I.' Those not in favour, say 'nay,'" I demand.
A loud chorus of 'I' circles the room.
It's decided.
"We start in an hour," says Kent.
"No," I blurt. "We start now."
Nobody argues.
Everyone stands up and arms themselves.
We walk out of Castles room and start heading towards Juliette.
This is really happening.

***

I slow my pace so I end up beside Castle, who was walking alone, at the back of the group.
"How are you feeling?" I ask him.
"Just like an average person feels before his death," he replies.
"You're not going to die!" I reply.
"I might!" he spits back.
I blink for a second too long.
"Aren't you afraid? Aren't you scared of possible death?" I whisper at him.
"Warner," he whispers. "The day you stop fearing it is the day that it comes true. And today, I am not afraid."

We stop in front of Juliette's door.

Here we go.