upon our land • s. kalivoda

nine

simon lives, tatum dies. enjoy <3

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"what if we don't make it out of this, si. i mean-" i ask simon as he puts an 'x' of sam's blood on my arm.

"we will, don't worry. we've got this." he replies, trying his best to assure me. i love him with all of my heart- what i didnt know is that he would never hear it.

"you guys remember half an hour ago when you wanted to murder me?"

i still do, but go on.

"you don't have to do this, you can leave." she continues.

"remember when you decided to sacrifice yourself for us?" kate replies. "we are ending this together."

"hm. touché," i add.

"you've done well, my friend." simon pats her shoulder.

"I'll see you later." i give her a sad smile. "we got back door patrol." i hug simon and turn my head around to face kate and josh and see them kiss. "simon," i whisper. "look."

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"go! she's right behind me!" i yell, trying to escape death by ruby. i stop in my tracks when i see kate's body, neck down in one piece. i can't vouge for the neck up, though. my heart was hurting for josh, as i could see the pain in his eyes when they laid upon the sight. i turned to look at him, but see his eyes wide, looking above me.

not much later i realize what he was looking at, but the pain didn't last for long.

third person pov

josh's jaw dropped when he saw the camp nightwing killer bash tatum's head and her body drop dead. blood pooled out of her skull into the shape of a heart. her final thought before her last breath was the regret of not telling simon i love you before. she had no other regrets but one.

tatum's eyes fluttered shut as she exhaled for the last time. she felt peaceful. it was all over for her, she had gotten what she wanted for a long time. death. it just wasn't what she was hoping for.

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it was all over, simon thought to himself. he had been fighting ruby lane for the second time that evening and she had disappeared. he let out a short gasp at the thought and sprinted to go tell tatum it was all over and let her know he loved her.

"tatum! we did it! tatum!" he yelled with a smile on his face. but his smile dropped when he laid his eyes on her body. "is that.." josh nodded and walked away, leaving the two souls alone. his eyes betrayed his minds mission to hide how he was feeling. how was he feeling?

simon kalivoda had loved tatum cowan since the eighth grade. and now here he was, lying on the floor of a grab&bag holding her lifeless body in his arms. he had never imagined this to happen, nobody who is normal would. but under these odd circumstances, here he was.

"tatum, please? please stay here," he whispered to her. but to no avail, her eyes remained shut, heart not beating. he shakily leaned down to kiss her head and hug her for the last time. "i love you," he said to her. before getting up and wiping a stray tear that had fallen.

"can, uh. can we go?" he sniffled.

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simon stood up from the couch to answer the knocking at the door. he had been staring at the wall for what felt like hours, and probably was, after the night before. he hadn't called his friends back. his dad wasn't home.

tatum was gone.

he was alone.

"excuse me, sir. are you simon kalivoda?" the person at the door, seemingly important, asks. simon nods once in return. "we have a delivery. the urn of tatum cowan. said in her premature will that she wanted you to have them if she died. i'm sorry for your loss, sir."

"thank you." he replied taking the urn. she wanted him to have her ashes. she was still here with him, even if it wasn't in an alive way.

"out of the courtesy of sunnyvale, they donated the money to place graves for all of the victims. you can visit hers here. again, sorry for your loss. have a good one."

"yeah."

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it was day 278 without tatum. everyone was doing a whole lot better, especially simon. he visited tatum's grave- or tried to- every day, and kept her urn on his dresser. he knew that somehow, somewhere, they would meet again. and that's what kept him alive.

tatum is the reason simon was still here.