Love And War-Theo Raeken

part 20- Goodbyes

THEO POV

I opened my eyes the next morning, a decent night of sleep becoming a distant memory. I missed home more than I thought I would. So in order to remove the unwanted thoughts I went to freshen up in the stream I found the other day. By the time I had returned, everyone was awake and in bad moods. It was understandable of course however we really needed to raise their strengths and spirits if we were going to get through the next two days.

I spoke to Scott about it and he agreed that no one was focused on the severity of the situation and the importance of taking care of Cassie's health.

"Listen guys I need your attention" Scott said, successfully getting everybody to pause what they were doing and look at him.

" it's time to focus on today's task, if so much as one thing goes wrong today, Cassie's health can be affected so greatly that she may not recover. It is a harsh truth that no one wants to hear but you need to prepare and forget everything else. We can't let her die" he stated firmly, " you have ten minutes remaining to finish packing up and get ready to leave"

In those ten minutes, everybody had packed up their tents, including Cassie's and made a stretcher for her to be carried on. We agreed that we would take it in turns with regular breaks to ensure everyone was safe.

With that agreed, we set off with Scott and stiles carrying her first. After a few hours, midday had approached meaning the beginning of the first break. We sat and took in the harsh sunlight, Stiles had given up carrying Cassie within five minutes of setting off due to his human strength, Derek took over from then meaning both Scott and Derek were able to swap and rest.

After around a 30 minute break it was my turn to carry Cassie along with Liam which we did so for around 4 hours. Although I assumed this process would be easy it wasn't. Strength was not the problem, me and Liam could have easily carried her the whole journey it was the mental exhaustion. Watching Cassie's fatigued state as she went from sleeping to waking up and making weak conversation before passing out again, hurt me far more than I thought it would.

When it came to 4pm, we stopped again to camp. When me and Liam put Cass down, he looked at me apologetically before patting me on the back comfortingly. I nodded in appreciation and scooped Cass into my arms carrying her bridal style to her tent. I put her down slowly and gently putting blankets over her. I got up to leave thinking she was asleep but her soft words stopped me in my tracks.

"Theo.." she uttered weakly

I turned around to look at her before replying with a smile and sitting next to her

"Hey sleepy head how you feeling?" I said earning a soft laugh out of her

"hmm I wonder, I am dying and can't walk on my own so besides that I am great" she said dryly

" hey, now I would laugh at your amazing humour however you aren't dying. I won't let you die Cass" I said firmly

"Theo I think that is so sweet but you can't stop what's happening to my body" she whispered feeling disheartened.

I nodded in defeat and smiled at her before replying.

"well you should get some rest, we are going to arrive tomorrow so you've got a tough day of moving to look forward to" I whispered while laughing. With that I got up to leave and stood by the exit to the tent before I heard her call back again

"Theo, can you stay with me tonight? keep me company?" she whispered

"uhh yeah I can do that" I replied hesitantly

I climbed in to bed next to Cassie, making sure she had blankets, pillows and all of the comfort she needed. In the comfortable silence, I felt reminiscent like old times when I spent most of my time living at Cassie's house. The way my parents kicked me out and she took me in without a second thought. She dated me despite my sexuality, she loved me even when all I was ever used to was neglect and abuse. I missed this.

While this thought was still floating around in my mind, she rolled over and ended up laying on my chest. She snuggled herself into me and I couldn't help but smile at her and stroke her hair.

I was abruptly distracted from my day dreaming as Cass muttered in a sleepy state, "Theo I know you don't want to hear this but Lydia has started to hear the voices and they are getting louder by the second. I think it's time for us to say our goodbyes.."

The utter shock hit me in a wave of panic, "what? no you can't not yet Cass? Cass?" I muttered after I realised she had fallen asleep. How can she say that to me and fall asleep so easily, what if she doesn't wake up. Fuck. I am not used to saying goodbyes.