The aftermath

Continue from Hunt you down

They had been sitting there waiting, what had it been hours now, almost close to midnight. Every single minute was torture, not knowing what was going on. What was happening out there, if everyone was safe. She had started to lose her mind slightly in worry. Even if it had helped that Ella had stayed and Archie had come over, and they had been sitting in the sofa watching some crap reality tv to make time feel a little less stressful. The worry was extreme, and she couldn't repress that. Finally, the phone called making her almost fly up from the couch looking around to figure out where she had placed it, finally finding it picking it up. Holding her breath for a moment as her mind already had thought out the scenario where it wasn't him who picked up. But the sound of his voice made her breath out, even as she realized the sound of his voice held bad news. Something had happened, she could hear that. Then the ball dropped, and she held her breath for a moment as he mentioned something had happened to Selene. It's critical, she took a deeper breath in and rushed her hand up in her air closing her eyes for a moment while folding her lips together. "Okay, yeah - I will be there as fast as I can," she took a deeper breath in before they hung up. She then looked to Mariella and Archie. "It's Selene, they are taking her to the hospital. The others are fine," she informed and took a deeper breath in. "Stay here till they come back, I have to be at the hospital," she didn't really take no for answer before walking over to grab her jacket and put it on along with her shoes, and grabbed the car keys. Then it was off to the hospital.


Ash had no words for what he had seen on that field. All that death was just massive, but he wasn't going to let Selene die again. And he was going to do his very best to make sure it didn't happen. So, when Nia mentioned the OR was ready he gave her a nod. "We will do our very best, go take a seat in the waiting room. I will have a nurse come and give you updates as we go," he placed a hand shortly on Nigel's upper arm, before rushing up to the OR. They had to save her. Ash didn't want to be the one telling his son that the person he loved had died in his OR.


Irina had possibly driven past the speedlimit getting here, not really given it much thought and luckily she hadn't been pulled over. It took her seconds to park the truck and run inside the hospital. Her heart was beating so heavy with worry and fear that she felt like she would explode, and she knew she needed to calm down, but she couldn't calm down, not yet. Her main concern was Selene, but even if he had said everyone else was fine - fine was a very overused word by people like them, and she couldn't be sure till she had him close that he was alright. The werewolf's eyes searched the halls, the rooms while tracking his scent till her eyes caught him. She didn't slow down, she started running, making people step aside, till she was able to just lash her arms around him by wrapping her arms around him, finally breathing out.

She pulled him closer, closing her eyes shut and let the few tears of worry to be fleeing from her eyes. Her heart finally feeling at ease as he held her close. And she just stood there for a moment, taking in the comfort of knowing he was okay. Irina looked into his eyes as he pulled a little away, she still held onto him and breathed out again, as he said it would be okay. She hoped so, she really did. Irina knew that either way Selene would come back, but she also didn't want her best friend, her sister to suffer - and yet, here she was hanging onto her life again. Selene kept sacrificing herself over and over again, and it wasn't like her stubborn sister was going to listen when Irina told her not to. Irina closed her eyes shortly as he kissed her forehead, taking a deeper breath in. "What happened out there?" She asked breathing out again. He had said everyone was okay, everyone expect from Selene, but she doubt that if everything had went smoothly - otherwise how had Selene gotten shot? "Archie is at home with Ella and Mila, and Katelyn is at Roman's - I promised to call her when everything was okay," she informed him with a lower voice, as she took a deeper breath in again, decreasing her heart rate a little bit more. She heard the sound of his phone buzzing as a message came in. Irina licked her lips a little bit, she had been so worried, she was still worried - and yet she could do nothing but hope for the best. Hope that everything would be fine, and that the doctors had this under control.

Hunters. There was plenty of hunters in Gaia and around that area, but she held her breath as he mentioned his father had showed up. Irina watched as he sat down and she breathed out. He killed Quentin. Quentin was dead. Irina's imagination had never been bad, she could clearly imagine the scene as it was explained to her. Making her move her hand towards her chest for a moment while taking a deeper breath in. A special bullet, she folded her lips together suddenly not having much hope. If magic couldn't help, who was to say science was any different. Completely lost in her thoughts, overthinking the worst outcome of the situation for the moment, she zoned till he mentioned Diego's name. "Diego, right," she took a deeper breath in and ran her hands through her hair. Diego would most likely be sleeping, he couldn't just leave Derek home alone. And she wouldn't get far with a text message, as he couldn't read. But she would try to call him, at least leave a voicemail. But right now she needed to breathe so she would terrify Diego completely if he picked or when he heard the voicemail. She knew he would go completely mental with worry, she for sure knew that.

"Yeah, I will try call him," she breathed out and placed her hands on her hips for a short moment before getting her phone. She had to walk a little bit away in respect for the other people in the waiting area to try call him, ending up leaving him a voicemail with the details she had - also adding her and Nigel would stay here. And she would call if anything changed. Irina massaged her forehead thinking about who else to call, there was Walter, but she didn't really have his number or anything - so there was no way she could call him regarding this. Unless she involved Roman.

Irina breathed out feeling a bit dizzy, putting the phone back in her jacket pocket, before running a hand through her hair again, pulling her eyebrow a little bit as she took a deeper breath in. Selene would get out of there, it needed to be fine. Irina walked back to the waiting area, looking perhaps a little pale from all the worrying that seemed to fill up her emotions.

She breathed out as her eyes locked with Nigel's again, and she let him take her hand and pulling her towards him. Irina sat down on his lap as he encouraged her to sit down. She breathed out feeling his arms around her again, closing her eyes for a moment, trying not to feel the energy of the room. But it was hard, everyone sitting here was worried, you could feel it in the air - the heavy worry and fear of the unknown. Nurses and doctors walking in and out of doors, she could hear the sound of their foodsteps so clear, the beating hearts around them almost dreadfully paralyzed with fear. "Selene is strong, she will get through this," she whispered leaning, feeling his forehead against hers. Irina didn't put much thought towards the fact that Quentin was dead, the only thought about him was Elenora and how she must feel. Family was family, even if you argued and fought. Finding or seeing your brother dead, that thought made it twirl inside her. Irina calmed down with each breath she took, tuned out of the senses around her that tried to overwhelm her in the moment of weakness. She just focused to the sound of Nigel's heart beating.

Then somewhat familiar scent caught her attention, within the same rapid heart beat she had had earlier. It was the sound of fearing for the life of person you loved. And very well, she saw the young warlock Sebastian entering the waiting room. She turned her head a bit looking at him. Well, she had kept quite about Selene's conflicted love life, up to a point she had mentioned a little bit about the whole Sebastian thing to Nigel. It was the main reason why she also knew why he was so worried, it wasn't just a good friend fighting for her life, it was more than that to him. Sebastian's eyes landed on Nigel and Irina after he had looked around, Bash knew too many of the nurses and doctors here because he sometimes worked here. Helping them. He sat down on a chair across them and breathed out before looking to the side. He knew just which door to look at, he knew how things went here, but he couldn't just sit home and wait for updates. He had to be here.

She had dozed off by waiting, being exhausted from overthinking eversingle thought she had. It was the sound of the doctors coming closer that had her instincts wake her up, looking shortly at Nigel before he woke up, then following his eyes to Ash and Nia. Irina breathed out, almost as if she hadn't been able to do so till she knew it had gone well. She looked over at Nigel with a smile on her face, leaning her head against his for a brief moment in relief. The werewolf turned her head towards Nia again, as she mentioned they could see her now. Her body slowly waking up, trying to force her to get up from the chair, but as the warlock got so quickly up, she took her time.

Sebastian was the first one up from the chair, walking over to give his father a hug, because he had so much anxiety rushing through him it was pure terror, and he needed someone to just hold him for a second. Ash closed his arms around his son for the time he needed it, looking over at Nia for a moment. Finally, Irina got up, giving Nigel a chance to stand up as well. She moved her hands through her hair as she took a deeper breath in. One thing was knowing Selene was set and just needed to rest, another thing was seeing her connected to machines, so Irina braced herself from that. Sebastian let go of his father, and let him and Nia show the way to the room. Irina kept an arm around Nigel, keeping him close to her, feeling her still worried heart beat loudly in her chest. But she wasn't blind to the sound of the younger warlock's heart beating heavier and faster than hers, and she took it as a duty to make sure he was as comfortable with everything. Also because she knew how much he meant to Selene, but also for the sole reason that it was Cassian's son, and just like Cassian, the werewolf had accepted the young warlock to the family. "You can go in if you want," Ash looked at the three of them as they reached the room Selene was in.

Nia gave Sebastian a small smile, she was tired an exhausted. Even with being the race she was, making her more prone being able to work through multiple nights with little to no sleep. It had been a week, month – basically since she had come back to Athena. When people talked about it being a cursed land, they were onto something. But then again, they could call it their own little Bermuda triangle. Even though everything seemed to become frequently more dramatic, it was still a place filled with loved one and good things happening every day. Like this one, they had made sure that a person made it through another night. That was a win.

Nigel walked beside Irina, finding her hand, giving it a light squeeze as they walked towards the room where Selene was lying. As they were told they could go in, Nigel waited for both Sebastian and Irina to go in. Of course, he wanted to make sure that Selene actually was okay, but another thing was also the fact that he was the reason she was lying here. Or the things evolving him was the reason, which didn’t make it any less hard to deal with. He stepped in, watching how Selene was lying in the bed with a small tube into her nose making sure that she breathed probably. The beeping noise mentoring her heartbeat. Steady and slow, as it should be.

He stood back, watched how Nia left after making sure that every question was answered. Letting nurses know when she needed the next dose of painkillers. It really had been a life sent that Clay had joined them, with his information about species healing and pain process.


Nigel wasn’t sure how long time had gone before he walked over to Irina. “Maybe we should get back, see Mila, making sure that Elenora is alright and rest, then we can come back tomorrow and hopefully she will be fully awake then, how does that sound?” he asked with a soft smile, letting his hand find her shoulder giving it a loving squeeze.

They could go in. The young warlock didn't waste a second before going, walking into the doorframe with his shoulder in the hurry, but it didn't matter to him. He had to make sure she was alright. She had to be alright. Yet, the closer he got he didn't even dare to touch her, just looking at her being stuck on all these machines, it looks perhaps worse than it should. It always did. To Sebastian it was like a slap across his face reminding him of when Aleks had been locked up on all the life support after the accident last year. Ash took a slightly deeper breath in looking over at his son, giving him a moment to just take in what was going on around him. Irina finally got in, walking over on the other side of where Sebastian was standing, tilting her head a little bit to the side and took a deeper breath in before breathing out. Irina wasn't blind for taking her sister's hand, folding her lips together while keeping her eyes on Selene, only blinking a little tear out that seemed to try blurry her vision. No matter if Selene was fine or not, it didn't change the fact that seeing her like this was hard.

Sitting down on a chair close to Selene, she hadn't really taken her eyes of her. It was just what the two of them did, they looked out for each other. Irina sighed a bit turning her head towards Nigel as he spoke to her. She leaned her head towards his him, closing her eyes for a brief second. "I think it already is tomorrow by now," she looked up at the time, so many hours had passed. Bash was out on a coffee run, had they really been here for that long. "But yeah," she placed a tender kiss on his hand before getting up from the chair. Moving her hand to her head feeling a little lightheaded, which mostly just caused by the lack of sleep. She breathed out reaching over to grab Selene's hand for a second. "We will be back for when you wake up," giving the hand a little light squeeze before turning to Nigel. She placed her arm around his waist locking her arm there by letting her hand grab the fabric of his shirt a little. Getting home to everyone.

It was very early in the morning, and the sun had showed up as they reached the house. Irina had almost managed to doze off on the small trip again, but it was like after a while of having left the hospital she felt less tired, almost as if something had been in the air back there. Irina took a deeper breath in and breathed out looking over at Nigel for a second. "We will figure it out," she grabbed his hand giving it a small squeeze before letting go to get out of the car.

“I know” he breathed letting his arms wrap around Nora, hoping that even though her heart was being pulled in different directions that his presents could help mend it. Because the last thing she deserved was this, but he also knew his father. And it hadn’t been today, Quentin’s was numbered. But one needed to remember that Elenora had decided to tell Quen that he wasn’t her brother anymore, and that she would have nothing to do with him. Having told someone that, and actually mean it. That was two very different things, and now she would never be able to make amends with him. For that he was sorry, because that would take a toll on her, and he knew that.  As her voice broke through the silence, he could feel how it tore in his own. “It’s okay not to know what to do right now” he breathed, pulling her a little out, letting both his hands place on her face. His fingers swiping over her cheeks and remove some of the fallen tears. “But I would propose that you let me drive you home to Nigel, and we wait there, being together with people that loves you and will be there. From there you can call the people that needs to be called, okay?” he said with a soft smile, pulling her into another hug, waiting for her to be ready to be brought to the car and drive back to his brothers place.


Nigel let out a sigh as he parked the car by the house. He saw that there were other cars as well, meaning that people had regrouped here. It would be nice to sit down and make sure that everyone was somewhat okay after what had happened. Especially Elenora, she had been the one losing a close one today. Then they also needed to talk about the fact that their father was back, and what the hell that meant.

“Yes, we will” he mumbled nodding and looked towards Irina with a soft and tired smile. He walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders. After locking the car, he walked with her into the house. Katelyn was the first one to greet them. It was clear that she had been very worried, it radiated of her whole being as she walked over and very carefully placed her arms around her dad. “I’m okay” he mumbled, Katelyn opening her eyes and looking towards Irina making sure that she was alright as well.

Coming into the house she smiled at Katelyn walking towards them, letting her know they were alright. Her eyes scanned the room to see everyone, Roman sitting in one of the armchairs, not having wanted to let Katelyn face whatever was to face alone. Jamie was out in the kitchen with Mila making sure she got something to eat, and Elenora sat in the couch with Archie still leaning against him while processing everything that had happened hours ago. Irina breathed out, as she watched Reginald come towards them, letting him wrap Nigel into a warm embrace shortly, holding out placing his hand on his son's shoulder looking into his eyes, just wanting to see he was okay before letting him go further into the room.

Elenora took a deeper breath in and breathed out by the sound of people walking inside. She turned her head a little bit, allowing herself a few seconds before lifting herself from Archie and got up from the couch despite feeling rather weak. She wanted Nigel to know it wasn't his fault and that she didn't blame him for his father's actions. Elenora placed her arms around Nigel, pressing a few more tears out even though she thought it was impossible to cry more. Irina let them hug and found her way back to the couch and sat down, giving Archie's shoulder a soft squeeze, due the fact that he had preferred not being on the battle field but had ended up rushing out there anyway. The sound of Mila laughing from the kitchen was enough to put a smile on her face and turn her head towards the sound, letting Jamie and Mila have their fun for now.

Again, Nigel was overwhelmed with just how big his family had gotten. Hell, he was even happy about seeing his daughter’s boyfriend sitting in the armchair. Knowing that he had come along because he cared. And that was more than enough for Nigel to look at the werewolf with a whole new outlook.

He breathed out as Reginald gave him a hug. No words were needed to know what was happening and how people were feeling. Nigel swallowed a lump in his throat as he saw Elenora. How time slowed down as she got up and walked over hugging him. Losing one’s father, and now brother. Even though they had been crossing lines that couldn’t be uncrossed they were still family. People you had known while growing up. That meant something. Just like he would never really see his blood-related father as that. His real father was standing behind him, watching how Nigel pulled Elenora into a hug and closed his eyes. For a moment just being there, knowing they all needed to sleep and figure out what to do tomorrow. But right now. This hug, these people, and this situation. That reminded him that things were still worth living and fighting for.