Paper Cuts- Jelsa AU

Chapter 37- Moth's Wings

(Moth's Wings (Stripped down version) by Passion Pit )
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"Elsie." Jack said and I smiled at him again. My hand was still on his cheek and he grabbed it and kissed the palm of my hand. I missed him so much. But what struck me as weird was the fact that our body temperatures were the same now. I gently pulled my hand away from his and tried sitting up.

"Careful now. You're still injured." Jack said as he shifted to help me sit up. My side ached from where I had been unknowingly cut by something from the accident. I winced as I settled back on the pillow now supporting my back.

"I got it." I said as I adjusted the covers. I put my head back and waited as the pain subsided. Then a thought crossed my mind.

"Do you feel pain?" I blurted out the question without thinking. Jack looked at me, his eyes showing the faintest of guilt and I knew. I knew what he did. I looked away as the realization dawned on me. He sighed and grabbed my hand, which I immediately pulled away.

"Elsie I-" I cut him off.

"How could you?" I couldn't look at him. "What happened to you not doing anything, reading my mind and all that, unless I said it was okay?"

"You were dying Elsie. By the time we got here, you had lost so much blood already that the doctors had no chance or hope of saving you. You died. I wasn't going to just sit there and be okay with that. So I did what I had to. I turned you. To save you." Jack's voice cracked at the last word and I looked up to see tears in his eyes. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. He was hurting so much already with the death of his sister, Kat. Kat, with her bubbly personality and her compassionate ways, was gone from this world at such a young age.

I touched his cheek and he placed his on top of my hand. Perhaps I could get used to being the same temperature as him. Reading minds and the heightened senses would take some time but eventually I'd get used to it. The blood drinking I wasn't so sure about. Which brought another thought into my mind. Shouldn't I be craving or dying of thirst right now?

A knock at the door stopped me from asking that question. Jack got up and opened the door to reveal Cordelia who had aged so much since I last saw her. She stepped inside the room and I could sense that she already knew what Jack had done to me.

"Cordelia I-" She held up her hand, eyes closed as if the light bothered her. She took a deep breath and I could feel her looking inside for answers. She opened her eyes and said, "You are not like him."

"What do you mean she's not like me? My venom entered her heart and replaced it with an unnatural one." Jack said as he stayed back, away from Cordelia but close enough in case anything went wrong.

"I mean she is not a Vampire. She can continue to live like she does, with the exception of her heightened senses and her two gifts. Otherwise she is still human." Cordelia said, sitting down on the chair to my left.

"How is that possible?" I asked, noticing the way the threads on the linen sheet stood out to me. It was no wonder I didn't suddenly crave blood. Outside I could hear an angry woman arguing with someone and I noticed that the voice was familiar but I couldn't place it.

"You mentioned gifts. What gifts?" I asked bringing my attention back to the conversation. Cordelia looked down and cleared her throat.

"The gift of Vision and the gift of Wind." She said as she looked back up at me.

"Wait. You're saying she can control the wind?" Jack asked, taking a seat. He looked shocked and his face was tight.

"This is crazy. No one can control the wind." I said. There was no possible way someone could control any of the elements. That stuff existed only in the fairy tales. Right?

"Very few witches can. In fact, there was one that was just like you Elsa." Cordelia said as her face seemed to age a few more years just by her sitting there. She was too close to me. She had to get out of here or else she would die sitting there. But I also needed to hear what she had to say.

"Jack, give us a moment alone will you?" Cordelia asked him and he nodded and silently excused himself from the room. We sat in silence as Cordelia took a few moments to breathe. I wanted to ask her what was wrong but I didn't want to make her talk more than she already had to. So I waited while she caught her breath.

"Cancer does not like anyone." She said quietly. I looked at her and tears began to form in my eyes. She was so weak, so fragile. I hated to see the woman who practically raised me, aside from Esther, like this. I felt so helpless.

"Don't you worry about me Elsa, my darling. It is simply the cycle of life for us witches. Cancer, of all forms, is our punishment from God. It is His was of saying that we should not have had this power to begin with. So He gives us a slow but painful death. But soon my suffering will come to an end. Once you are well enough, I will perform the ritual and give you all my power."

"No. Cordelia I will not let you do the ritual. This is not the way my mother would have wanted it." I said as I reached for her hand. It was colder than mine. I felt a tear fall down my cheek and used my other hand to wipe it away.

"Your mother is gone," Cordelia snapped, "She has no say in what I do with my life. And she certainly has no say in what you do with yours." She took back her hand and ran it through her hair and let out a shallow sigh. We sat in silence and after a while, she stood up and said, "I'm sorry. I can't be here right now. I will see you when you're going to be released." And with that final word, she vanished.

I put my head back on the pillow and cried silently to myself. I had so many unanswered questions and the only person who could really answer them was dead. There were times where I wished my mother was alive and there were times where I longed for her arms around me, her scent surrounding me from when I was younger. 

But that was impossible. She was gone and I couldn't bring her back. I couldn't change who she was or which family she was born into. This was my fate so much as it was hers.

Neither God nor Cordelia and my mother could've ever changed that....