EUNOIA ━ diego hargreeves

52

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
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FREYA RAN like hell—her chest burned from the cold, her toes felt frozen, and she was one-hundred percent convinced she had never been more out of shape in her life. Diego jogged ahead of her, and Lila tailed her closely. By the time they reached the road the van was on, she could just barely manage to make out a few figures standing outside of the vehicle.

"Klaus!" Diego screamed. "Start the van!"

Klaus and Ben were easily recognizable, though she was surprised to see that Ben hadn't returned to confinement in the short amount of time he'd been separated from the rest of them. Besides him, was a tanned girl with long hair that Freya did not know, and next to Klaus, was a woman who had raised her arm so quickly Freya nearly missed what happened next.

She heard the gunshot first, and when she watched Klaus plummet to the ground—she screamed. A throat aching, gut wrenching, glass shattering scream. Klaus with a bullet to his chest. Klaus who did not have his powers. Klaus who was not immortal any longer. Klaus had been shot.

Her ears were ringing, she couldn't make out any sort of conversation happening behind her as she frantically knelt down to his side, shaking hands searching his clothes and feeling for any seeping blood. "No," she whispered. "No, no. Klaus. Klaus."

His best attempt at a reply was a weak groan, his eyes were slit and he was paling rapidly.

"He's bleeding out!" Diego yelled, crouched on the opposite side of Klaus while Freya desperately tried to stop the bleeding.

"Get him into the van!" Ben said, and Freya hesitated before moving and letting the two of them lift and lug Klaus into the vehicle. Freya stayed by his side the entire duration of the drive to find the remaining siblings, Lila propped his head in her lap while Freya tore off any weak fabric and attempted to cloth the wound.

Her attention didn't stray from Klaus, even when Diego hit something rough and she heard something hit the road behind them, just as Allison, Five, Viktor and Luther scrambled into the van. She focused on keeping Klaus conscious, though his pulse was starting to slow and eventually, his breathing hitched.

"Guys, he's dying!" Allison called, helplessly. The despair in her voice went as deep as the horror Freya felt in her chest, down to her bones.

"Five, marigold," Lila commanded, simply.

Freya snapped her head up. "What? No. No, there has to be something else that can save him."

"He doesn't want that!" Allison protested.

"He's stopped breathing. Freya, give him the marigold, now."

Freya kept her hands planted on Klaus's chest—heart thundering. Klaus didn't want this, she knew what toll his powers took on him, she'd known for years. And he was doing so good. He was sober, how could she throw that away from him?

"Freya!"

"I can't he-"

"He's going to die!"

"Your morals don't matter right now!" Ben told her.

Fortunately, Allison saved Freya from making the hard decision, though she was very hesitant on it, too. Freya squeezed her eyes shut as she poured the marigold over the wound, and for a long moment, nothing happened.

"Klaus? Klaus, come on."

"Please," Freya whispered, clutching his hand, and despite the years of distance between them, she noticed he was still wearing their matching ring. That made the pang in her chest tighten, and she dropped her head low onto his shoulder, stifling a sob. "Please, Klaus."