The Boy from the Bunker - Season 8

Episode Six, Part 3:

Episode Six, Part 3:
Love is Just a Way to Die

She is gone, but she used to be mine. 

Kodiak grabbed onto Elara as he tried to process what was happening. Her eyes were desperately open as if trying to take in as much of the world as she could, afraid that it wouldn't be long before they closed on her.

Her hands were too weak and too shaky to apply any sort of pressure to the bullet wound in her lower stomach, so Kodiak placed one of his hands over it, using the other to wrap around her waist and slowly guide her to sitting down.

"Ell, it's okay," Kodiak said, leaning her back against his knee as he worked to pull his jacket off, frustrated with himself that he couldn't do it quick enough, seeming to get himself tangled at every opportunity provided. He managed to scrunch it up in his hands, wasting no time in pushing it tightly against Elara's injury, unable to think about what he would do next. He couldn't turn to Neptunum for help: they had just shot Elara. But he couldn't save her on his own... How was he going to fix this?

"I've got you. I'm right here. Everything is going to be okay," he said to her, every word coming out of instinct - none of them processing in his head, first.

Elara let out an incoherent noise, coughing up a mouthful of blood which foamed at her lips, erasing the taste of Kodiak from her tongue. There was nothing she could do to fight; nothing that was working at stopping the blood from spilling out of her, or inside of her, and as she flickered her drowsy eyes to look up at Kodiak, she knew.

She reached up, moving her hand to try and find his, feeling his ring beneath her fingers soaked in her blood. And she tried to say something. She tried to open her mouth and say his name, but all that came was more blood, heavy down her throat as it replaced her breathing. And she wondered, if the world had already taken everything away from her once before, and now it had taken her life, too, why was it stealing her last words away? Why wasn't she allowed to tell him she loved him? Say her brothers' names one more time? Beg Kodiak to keep Izzy safe for her?

Elara didn't get an answer. Her breath - which was already long gone - ran out of her lungs and her heaving chest came to a quiet still, collapsing a little further against Kodiak, burying herself into his arms one final time. And her eyes froze in their gaze, fallen just a little short of Kodiak until they stopped seeing completely. And she died.

"Hey, Elara," Kodiak said, shaking her a little. The strength left in his voice suggested his denial at what was happening, and he thought that by moving her, he could trigger her into doing it herself - as if she would suddenly take in another breath and fight to stay with him.

"Elara, stay," he begged, somewhat desperate now; finally understanding what was real. "What are you doing? Ell, say something? Don't... Don't go. Don't go."

How was this happening? How was this real? A minute ago she was kissing him and vowing to spend the rest of her life with him; now, the rest of her life had already come and gone and she was dead in his arms...

"Ell, please!" Kodiak cried, searching her face for any sign that she could still hear him, but she was gone. "No..." Kodiak shook his head, clutching Elara closer to him. "No, I'm not losing you," he carried on, although his hand moved from her wound and wrapped around her head, smudging blood on her cheeks as he gathered her hair in his hands, trying to pull it out of her face.

"I'm so sorry, Ell," he said, pushing his lips firmly against her forehead, kissing her over and over, crying into her. "So, so sorry. So, so sorry."

"Ammon..."

Kodiak looked up momentarily as he saw someone hovering beside him, not knowing what to say to Athena as she frowned down at him, something miserable in her expression.

He looked away, shutting his own eyes as he cradled Elara's body, rocking her back and forth slowly on the ship's deck. He would have chosen anything over this. He would have died in the floodwaters a thousand times over; he would have withered away on the ship until he was old and ancient - never seeing any of his family again, if it meant Elara would have had a chance to live. He would have given anything to save her.

"Ammon, we need to take the girl inside-"

"What have you done!?" He cried, his voice the most wretched sound Athena - or any of the guards - had ever heard before. "You killed her! You killed Elara! Why did you do that?"

"We think we've figured out the death combination," Athena said, lacking the usual passion in her voice as she talked about her mission. This was what she had spent most of her life working towards but now, as the words came out of her mouth, she couldn't feel any more regretful if she tried. "I thought she was just a prisoner who was taking advantage of you to get out of her cell. That's why I ordered her to be shot. I thought instead of putting her through the trials, we'd test out the combination on her. I didn't realise you had grown so fond of her so quickly. I was concerned about your relationship with one of our harvest-"

"I love her," Kodiak growled, stroking a hand through Elara's hair as if in an act to comfort her. "And you killed her."

"I'm sorry, Ammon," Athena said, waking her hand to signal some of the guards behind her to approach. "As I said, I didn't realise how important she had become to you in such a short time. I would have done it if I had known."

"What are you doing?" Kodiak panicked, securing Elara's tight in his hold as two of his fellow guards moved down towards her.

"We need to take her to the medical wing and try and keep her body alive," Athena said. "As you know, her brain will already be dead by the time that it happens, but that's where the combination should work. But that can't happen unless we revive her body, first."

"T-the combination doesn't work," Kodiak whimpered. "You've killed her for nothing-"

"It hasn't worked before," Athena corrected him. "We have reason to believe that we've figured it out now. We'll keep the girl's body alive until tomorrow and we'll go from there. Please let us take her inside. If you want a chance at this working, we have to take her to the operating theatre now."

Kodiak dropped his gaze from Athena, suddenly feeling a complete lack of control for himself. The two guards beside him worked at lifting Elara out of his arms and as much as Kodiak didn't want to let go of her, he made no efforts and stopping them. There was nothing left in him that could fight; not a flicker of courage somewhere that could bring him to his feet; not a reason to take another breath, except for the instincts of his heart which kicked in and did his breathing for him.

Before he knew it, the only thing he had left of Elara was her blood that was drenching through his clothes, still seeming to spill on touched patches of his skin, as if the moment in which he lost her would continue of forever. What kind of man would want to survive losing a girl like Elara? 

Six // Part Three
Her breath ran out of her lungs. And her eyes froze in their gaze. And she died.

Farewell Elara Bell.

Probably one of the hardest character deaths I've ever had to write. Elara, and Ares. Speaking of which, what are Quill and Wynn going to do when they find out? They've already lost their big brother; now their little sister is dead, too.

My heart just absolutely breaks for Kodiak, though. He's spent all this time basically alone, knowing that Elara thought he was dead, only to get her back and ask her to marry him, only for her to be the one who actually dies. ♡

29/11/20.