Collateral Damage (bxb)

25. The Soul

A.N. The finale is here. This chapter begins from the perspective of Aidan.

At first, I thought I was being dragged away, but then I realized I was falling horizontally as gravity had shifted beneath my feet. The only point of reference I had was the monolith that grew smaller and smaller until it became a thin thread across what now was the sky.

The dread I felt before was replaced by a growing sense of pressure in my chest that was pressing outward as if my heart was about to explode. I was getting closer to the body and the ever-mounting danger is the indicator.

When I thought the monolith was gone from my field of view I saw a bright light like stepping out on a sunny day after days spent at home, I was blinded by it. The pressure was replaced by pain, pain that could not be described simply as pressure: I could feel my heart racing at a speed unimaginable to any athlete as it struggled, my limbs were being torn open as each two hundred and six of my bones were being scraped and broken over and over again. It was not the light that made me shut my eyes because what blinded me was the pain.

I struggled to get up from the ground as I yelled, unable to contain it any longer. Peter was here, I could feel him present in the background of my conscious mind after all the time spent apart in the same body. Both of us knew that this would be bad, but not this bad.

"Aidan!" A voice cut through what sounded like wind rushing past my ears. I was hoping to go through this alone, but the voice was a distraction enough to open my eyes and look at the source.

A person wearing a purple hoodie is walking towards me, holding something and trying his damndest to not be blown away by the force of the wind. The wind was a coagulation of the strangest aspects of both worlds, the fog of Neverland condensed into sharp jets of lightning that poured out, and dust and debris swarmed all around as he pressed forward with an outstretched hand that was holding some of it back.

"I am coming for you! Hold on!" He kept on yelling as ethereal lightning struck next to him. I felt a different kind of pain, guilt. I dragged him into this, he'll get torn apart because of me.

I clutched my chest as a wave of more intense sensations shot through me. Taking a look to assess the damage, I saw a hole where my chest should be, the jacket that I held deer was long gone by this point. The real body was starting to resemble Peter's, and I could only think of how he went through something similar every day. All of this is my fault, I was selfish, I was the monster here who destroyed all he touched.

Why did I even hope for something good to come of this? I should die for what I did and maybe save Ian in the process. All I have to do is just to let go and give in to the suffering I deserve after these seven long years of fighting for nothing more than half-baked answers. What was I even fighting for? Peter, yes, but was it even worth it trying to find the elusive science freak by whose hands both of us suffered? I think so, there is no doubt about it, but why do I feel like it wasn't?

As I took my final breath and looked at Ian, tumbling and fighting a force beyond any one of us, an Image of Peter appeared where he stood. I blinked confused as they overlapped, but I did not question the rules of both worlds clashing.

Do you want to give up after all of this?

"I can't!" I cried out. The agony of even saying anything was too much.

Life is not easy, Aidan. You can't give up because of a setback.

All I want to do is save Ian and let someone survive. There never was a guarantee that I'll make it, but there is a chance he will.

True.

The image and Ian were closer than before, a few more steps and they'll be able to reach me, but they grew slower as the force increased. He'll just get hurt if he keeps this up. As if one cue, ethereal lighting like a fire that claims all struck him, and a sleeve of his hoodie was torn into nothing, sucked into the void.