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laylaisthename · 1 year

Text

Implied spoilers for ILW ch16!!!!

Yet another It Lives Within fic based off the idea that Amalia brought mc back from the dead

tw for sorta graphic descriptions of dead bodies? // 2100 words // not proof read cause i got no one for that but i did throw it through the spellcheck // m!MC&Amalia (they love each other but not romantically)

The radio is barely audible over the sound of her Highlander's engine pulling up, bounding down the highway into the beautiful green mountains of Oregon.

Fear made you do quite strange things, Amalia found. Things like contacting one of your best friend's exes to help you track his phone, tracing the signal down to a clearing in the woods near a small town named Westchester.

She and Horus had been talking when in the distance a scream rang out. He'd cut off the call with a quick, "Back soon." But it's been hours and still there has been no word from him, despite her many, many attempts to reach him or his parents, the calls ringing and ringing with no response.

She considered contacting the police, but a gut feeling told her they'd be of little help, probably citing that it was out of their jurisdiction or something to avoid the drive out this late in the afternoon. It had to be her.

The drive wasn't a long one, but nerves made for poor company. She fiddled with the Highlander's radio, still not quite used to all the knobs and buttons. It gets stuck on some old rock station, and a wistful smile plays on her lips as she can already imagine Horus in her passenger seat, belting along to every word on their way back. The bustle of the city thins out the closer she gets.

"It's fine." she says to herself, "He's probably just distracted." Never mind that he was glued to his phone and he always picked up when she called. He'd let it ring a few seconds, much to Amalia's dismay, but he liked her ringtone so much.

It's still light out when she arrives, the long summer days thankfully providing her with a clear sight of the parking lot and the woods beyond. It's mostly empty, save for a cluster of cars of different sizes on the far side, among which she recognized the Asar family's car. The rest of them probably belonged to their extended family. Horus did say that everyone was showing up, much as he tried to get out of it. She parks nearby

It wasn't hard to figure why they picked this area to camp. It was beautiful this far away from everything. Tall pines rose high above, their needles a green blanket over the forest floor, littering the trail. Mountains lined the horizon, and Amalia bet that there had to be some beautiful streams running through the forest.

She opened her phone again, scrolling down her contacts for Horus's number one last time. When it once again rings to voicemail she lets the message roll.

"I'd do a bit here," his recorded voice rings clear, "but everyone that knows me usually texts. So hi stranger."

"Hey stranger," Amalia replies after the tone, keeping her voice light despite the anxiety gnawing at her. "I got worried about you so I'm here outside the campsite. If I find you out there having fun I'm seriously kicking your ass for not picking up. See you soon."

She makes her way to the nearest info board. Only one of the marked campsites is large enough to accommodate his whole family, and Amalia finds it on the map with ease, following the trail markers deeper and deeper into the woods.

It's not always easy to notice the absence of things, and having grown up in a city as she had, Amalia did not know to listen to the absence of bird's song when she drew close to the location. She didn't feel how deathly still everything had gone, nor how strange that actually was.

It's the smell that hits her first. Acrid and metallic, bile rising in her throat when she stumbles upon the first body. It was a man. She thought it was a man at least. It was hard to tell exactly who this was with what was left of the body. Claw marks marr the face, limbs bent in ways that made her nauseous just looking at it.

Amalia had no idea who this was. She wasn't sure if that somehow made it better or worse. Her steps are careful as she moves through the clearing, her eyes wide trying not to look too closely at the carnage around her.

The sun has started to set when she sees it. A shock of bright red hair from the corner of her eyes, almost missed among all the blood. The shell shock of finding so many bodies, so much blood and broken bones, wanes away into pain. She found him. But when she rushes to kneel beside Horus, grabbing his hand in hers, it was already cold, his fingers strangely stiff. She was scared she might break one off if she held it any tighter.

His eyes- just one eye, was left open staring up at her. Empty and unfocused, the brilliant brown glowing golden in the waning sunlight. The other had disappeared, as if something had taken it out, leaving behind only a crevice rimmed by claw marks and blood, streaking down like tears.

He was gone.

She reached out to the gaping wound in his chest. It was as if something had grabbed her hand and moved it for her- no she wasn't imagining the force, the Power guiding her hands. Amalia thought of herself as a rational person. And her mind was shouting at her to stop, to turn back and grieve her loss, this bright fire snuffed out from the world. This was crazy, and dangerous and disgusting as her trembling fingers dug into the hole left in his chest, the last of his warmth already long gone before she arrived here. Symbols traced around his body, drawn in his blood in a hand that should not be as steady as it was.

But grief made you do even stranger things than fear, she learned. Because a feeling in her gut told her that this would bring him back to her.

She rummages around his pockets, pulling out old crumpled receipts and other things, heedless of the bloodstains she was leaving everywhere. Eventually her hands close around a butterfly knife, a tattered old thing he'd bought himself to impress a girl once. She flicks it open, laying the blade against her palm and cuts. She leaves a drop of blood on each of the runes, each glowing a bright cyan in the waning light. With the circle complete she holds her hand over his missing eye, a final offering for a pact made in blood.

"Please…" the word is a quiet prayer on the rising winds, bright light pouring out of his eye socket, illuminating her face as she backs away from the rune circle. Amalia watches on as Horus' body is carried up, light gathering around the worst of his wounds.

She hadn't noticed how dark it had gotten until the winds died down, Horus' eyes fluttering closed as his now mended body is left on the forest floor. Amalia waits with bated breath as the runes slowly dim and fade, rushing forward. It's completely silent, no winds or animals, not even the distant rush of water. And then, more felt than heard, a heartbeat. Slowly his chest rises, up and down, up and down. Mesmerized Amalia watches him sound asleep. Whatever she had done had worked, and as her eyes fell on another body wreathed in red she knew that it wouldn't work a second time.

Annie's dress was stained crimson, her small frame lying only a few feet away from Horus, arms outstretched as if she was reaching for him. The winds had blown her hair back, and Amalia could not stand to look at the terror in her face for more than a glance.

Carefully Amalia walks over, closing Annie's eyes. She wants to say something. A goodbye of sorts, a way to pay her respects. With how much time she spent over at their house, Annie, may as well have been her own sister. But her voice fails her still, and all she manages to say is, "Goodnight."

Behind her Horus starts to cough, his voice strained, "Lia?"

Slowly his hands reach up to his eyes, pressing the heels of his palms down into them. One moves up through his hair, the other down to the ground to prop himself up. "I feel…" he has to stop to take a breath, "like ass. What…?"

And finally he opens his eyes and looks at her. Amalia couldn't help but let out a little gasp, staring into his sudden heterochromic eyes. The restored eye was piercing in its cool cyan color, creating such an odd contrast against the streaking red of his hair and the warm brown that his eyes had been before. And it's as she's staring at him that his eyes drift behind her, filling with a hurt Amalia had never seen in him before, and one she hoped to never see again.

"Annie?" He desperately tries to stand up, but barely makes it a single step before his legs give out under him. His arms scrape over the ground as he tries to heave himself up again, only to fall and crawl along. Amalia didn't know what to do. He reaches Annie's body, leaning over her.

"They're all… gone. I-" another coughing fit overtakes him, dark blood splattering on his hand. Amalia gently rubs his back, carefully pulling Horus away. As much as she wanted to give him the time he needed, he had to be looked at by a doctor.

"Horus, we need to go." but his eyes refuse to meet her.

"I tried, Annie. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I promised you."

Seeing him like this, she wondered if leaving him dead may have been the kinder mercy. But what's done is done.

"Russ, look at me," she grabs his face between her hands, her fingers growing slik from the tears, "I'm going to take you somewhere safe, just keep your eyes on me. Can you do that?"

He shakes his head. "No I need-"

"Please. Just don't look down. Don't look back." She entwines their hands and tugs him along. Thankfully he doesn't struggle against it. She doubts she'd be able to drag him out of here by herself if he resisted, and would rather not have to knock him out.

Thankfully the moon is bright tonight, making it easier to avoid the bodies around the clearing. Still Amalia takes out her phone to use the flashlight, always looking ahead, afraid to look behind her. She wasn't ready to look Horus in the eyes again.

Not a word is exchanged between them the whole way back, but Amalia can hear him sniff every so often. There was so much she wanted to say, but what could she? That she was sorry for his loss? What words could be enough? Not to mention her own complicated feelings. She'd just brought someone back from the dead. She didn't believe magic was real, but what else would you call this? One thing she knew for sure however, he could not know about this, ever. It would change everything between them, and Amalia couldn not allow that to happen. If Horus learned she had brought him back somehow he'd either feel indebted to her or hate her, and she wasn't sure which one was worse.

They make it to the car without issue, and Amalia finds that her hands still tremble as she's helping Horus into the passenger seat, clicking his seat belt into place. She struggles to type the address of the nearest hospital into the gps, but eventually she manages. Not all of Horus' wounds were gone, just the most lethal ones. Plenty of scrapes and a nasty cut on his leg drip blood in her car, but she can't bring herself to care about that. It would probably leave a scar, but it was the mental ones Amalia truly worried about. The pain, the horror, the guilt-

No, she resolved as they approached the hospital, she would not burden him with this as well. He would not be allowed to learn of what happened here. That would be her weight to bear.

#ilw #it lives within #amalia de león #sorry lia that the first time i write you properly is for like #woman pain #anyway teehee #i dont think this theory is true cause theres like no evidence for it but who knows maybe ill catch smth on a replay

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