[ thanks for reading this book! I love all my twisters books equally but also this is my favorite. I was debating for days on how to end this, and this felt like the one that would bring me the most joy in the long run
also... I'm probably gonna start a fifth twisters fic after I finish free and easy. I'm think Scott AND Boone. for those asking for Javi... I still haven't forgiven Anthony so it's a no for now ]
☁︎
YOU CAN'T BLAME YOURSELF.
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KATE was fine, because that's what mattered. Kate was fine.
But DJ was numb as she sat on the curb, surrounded by debris as she watched the body bag be taken off by first responders.
It took nearly an hour to find him — it was Tyler who came across him. His body was bloody and bruised from being thrown right into a building. He didn't look anything like the Scott she so loved.
Tyler told DJ not to look, told her she needed to remember him how he was. Alive and happy with her. But she had to see him. She had to or she wouldn't let herself believe it.
Scott was dead.
And DJ hadn't stopped crying — not as they searched, not when they found him, and not now as he was carried away.
She sat in the curb, feeling sick at her stomach, staring at the spot he'd been mere moments ago.
Slowly and still limping, Tyler came to sit next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, but she didn't lean into him. She just stared numbly at the last place Scott would ever be.
"DJ," Tyler said softly. "I'm... so sorry."
Her lip trembled as she searched for the words. "He wasn't supposed to be here," she muttered, sucking in a deep breath through her nose. "He - he only came to help because of me. If not - not for me, he'd have - he'd have just kept getting his data and not caring about - about helping. Scott's... dead. He's dead because of me."
"Hey, now, you cannot blame yourself," Tyler told her. "None of us were prepared for this. But Scott made his choice. He knew the risk. And he protected you 'til the very last moment."
God, Tyler really knew how to put his foot in his mouth, because that last sentence made her feel worse.
Maybe he'd still be there if he'd just let her fly off. Or if he'd held onto the chair instead of her. Maybe if he'd been in a different part of the theater instead of close to her because she hadn't made it to the back in time.
Maybe Scott would still be alive if he had never met her. If he'd never loved her.
Because god, how dare he say that? How dare he tell her that he loved her and then went and died?
