Supernatural (Tom Holland x Reader)

19. Quietus

I hit the ground flat on my back, knocking me back into shallow consciousness. I willed my vision to clear and stood up shakily. Every part of my body screamed in protest, but I choked down the pain and faced Apathy. She advanced on me like a lion after its prey.

"You are persistent, aren't you?" Apathy sighed in annoyance. She kept her cool sense of wicked confidence, but I could tell she was hurt. She limped as she circled me in the center of the entrance hall. I was exhausted, panting heavily and bleeding profusely from several lesions all over my being. The entire household, including every servant, was huddling against the walls, quaking like leaves as they watched, transfixed, the scene before them.

The entrance hall was in ruins...ancient stone littered the floor in various chunks. Paintings had been ripped to shreds. Vases and windows had been shattered.

"You're not going to hurt them, Apathy," I managed. My lungs had collapsed and I could barely stay upright, but I would die protecting the Hollands, if that's what I had to do. Apathy coughed, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. She raised her arms and the millions of tiny glass shards all over the floor rose into the air.

"Oh, I will hurt them, girl."

"Then you'll have to go through me first." My voice shook violently.

"Deal," Apathy sneered. She sent the shards of glass shooting my way, knocking me over. My wrists were broken, but I bit the inside of my cheek to dull the pain as I put up a sheild. The glass turned to sand again upon impact, but my power was quickly draining. I knew there was no way I could defeat Apathy...except for the one thing I never wanted to do again. I had to kill her.

I looked over at Tom. His eyes were streaming. I looked at the boys for strength. I had to end this. I rose unsteadily again, spitting blood from the hole I'd gnawed in my cheek. "Apathy Hardstrune, you are never going to hurt anyone ever again." My voice wobbled with pain and anger. I wheezed as I breathed, but I had one spell from the book Tom had given me...one I'd sworn I'd never use. I limped slowly towards her, my hands outstretched.

Apathy knew what I was doing and for a fraction of a second, I thought I saw fear flick across her face. She replaced it with a cocky smirk. "It will destroy you, girl," she laughed. It was a raspy sound. She was injured.

"I don't care," I coughed. "I won't let you hurt the people I love." I knew the spell would kill me too, but I had to do it. I couldn't let Apathy harm the Hollands. And besides, I'd finally get to be with Benjamin again. I took one last look at the boys, choked down my pain and shouted, "OCCIDENDUM !"

"NOOOOOO!" I heard Tom scream desperately. There was the clink of metal as he struggled against his bonds.

Every bone in my body ached, my head pounded with pain. Apathy muttered a counter-curse, combatting the ray of silver light I'd blasted her way. I heard her groan in agony, and I focused harder, forcing every last bit of energy I had into ending the witch's life. Our rays fought for dominance. I grit my teeth, and through the sickening red light the collison of our curses had created, I saw her eyes fill with fear. I was winning. I screamed as I forced myself onward, feeling every cell in my body being torn from the others. Our two howls echoed deafeningly around the entrance hall. Then, everything went dark.

POV SWITCH

I watched helplessly as Y/N drove herself to defeat the witch. I knew the spell she'd used. It was the killing curse. And it destroyed the person who cast it as well as the victim. Y/N let out one last desperate cry and a red flash of light filled the room. I closed my eyes, blinded, and when I opened them again, I had been freed from the chains that had held me. I heard Sam and Harry calling for me from behind where I was standing, unable to see me after the magic chains had been broken. I was too busy, however, gaping at the middle of the entrance hall to answer.

There, where the two witches had been standing only a moment before, was a huge black sear mark, etched into the flagstone floor. Everyone in the room was staring wide-eyed into the air, where flakes of inky black ash were falling like snow. Apathy was gone. But where was Y/N? I searched the floor to find her laying a few yards away, underneath the balcony where I had lain dying just a year before.

Paddy broke away from Mum's grip and ran over to me, tears clearing tracks on his dirty cheeks.

"Is she okay?" he asked me frantically. I couldn't speak. We crouched by her side. I tried to feel her pulse, but my fingers passed through her neck. I tried again and again, becoming more wretched with every failure. "Here," Paddy said weakly. He pressed his fingers to her neck, then looked up at me with tears spilling over his eyes. "She...she's gone," he breathed. Sam and Harry rushed over, kneeling over Y/N's body. Their eyes welled up as well. I let out a sob, burying my face in my hands.

"No!" Sam's voice cracked. Harry was too choked up to speak. I cried harder than I ever had in my life. I attempted to pick her up, to set her head in my lap, but failed yet again and sank to my knees in despair. Y/N was really, truly gone. And she had died trying to save my family...saying she loved them.

"T-Tom?" Harry asked in confusion. I looked up. He and Sam were staring at me in disbelief, water making kaleidoscopes in their eyes. I was confused.

"You...you can see me?" Sam and Harry hiccupped in response, weeping harder.

"And hear you," they said at once. When I looked up, it seemed everyone could see me. They were all pointing, whispering, some let out cries of joy...Mum and Dad especially. How was that possible? I was dead! The answer didn't seem to matter at that point. Y/N was still dead...stone cold on the floor. And gone forever.