The world stopped.
Hers did.
It was so silent and so loud at the same time, it felt deafening to the point that she was nothing but numb.
She could feel the warm liquid that spilled down the dagger and dripped into her palm.
Tears welled up in Eli’s eyes and he smiled, as he moved her hand away from the dagger to hold his necklace.
The hardness of the wooden pendant made her feel something.
Feel everything.
Too fast, too much!
Tears ran down her cheeks and a whisper slipped past her trembling lips. “No.”
Her heart was racing too fast. She glanced at the dagger and up at him quickly. If she were to pull it, wouldn't that make things worse?!
What was she supposed to do?!
By Ignas, what?!
“N—no! Eli, stay! Please, don't do this to me!” He tried to speak but he couldn't. Blood dripped from the corners of his lips and from his nose.
Words poured out of her mouth, just as tears rolled down her cheeks. “NO! Live for me! Give me back my string! Why are you so greedy?! It was my death! Mine!”
He seemed to have smiled at that but that must just be her eyes playing tricks on her.
She heard the globe above them crack and she looked around quickly for help. Lytio, his men, and the witches were trying to bring the globe down.
“HELP HIM, PLEASE! MY ELI IS DYING!”
Lytio yelled something back to her but she couldn't hear him. Instead, all she could hear was the beating of her heart along with the ragged breathing of Eli, like a clock telling them that time wasn't on their side.
She looked back at Eli and the look in his eyes was getting very distant. He rested his head on her shoulder, and her hand slipped into his hair as she wept, her heart getting heavier and heavier.
“I forgive you. You hear that? I forgive you.” Regret filled her voice. “Just stay with me, please.” She begged, watching the crack of the globe increase. If he could just stay alive long enough, then this globe would be gone and the witches would be able to get to them and help them. “Stay with me,” she whispered with tears in her eyes.
“Donna…” it was a faint whisper, if he wasn't so close, she wouldn't have heard him.
“I’m here.”
But Eli's next words never came. Instead, the globe came crashing down and Eli dissolved into ashes.
He was slipping through her fingers, literally.
“No. No, no, no, no! What is this?!”
Her grip around him tightened but that stopped nothing. There was nothing she could do. In seconds, he was gone with the wind, and nothing of him was left but his necklace that she had in her hand.
For a second she stared into space, shocked, grief-stricken.
No.
“Peace.” A voice in her head said, breaking the silence, and she could feel the weight lift away from her shoulders as more and more voices said the word “Peace” over and over again.
The ghost brides were now departing from her, they were all giving their forgiveness, just as Eli had wanted.
Tears rolled down Belladonna's cheeks.
They had found peace in his death and she found nothing but grief.
The irony.
Lytio rushed to her as she screamed.
She rushed to her feet, looking at the witches. She fell to her knees, begging them.
“Please, Bring him back! BRING HIM BACK! PLEASE!”
But nobody was helping, instead, they went to Kestra’s corpse and started casting some spells on it.
So Kestra's body was left behind but not Eli’s?
By Ignas, what was this?!
She pointed the necklace to them. “I still have his necklace. Please, bring him back!”
No witch was helping. Why was no one taking this necklace from her and bringing her Eli back?!
“Why are you all just standing around doing nothing?! Why are you all so useless!”
“Bell…” Lytio tried to hold her back but she shrugged his hand away violently.
“WHY ARE YOU SO USELESS!”
Those voices were still saying the word “peace” in her head.
She jerked her head from left to right, trying to make them keep quiet as everything crashed on her, her hands crazily yanked her hair, her lips trembled, and screams tumbled from the depth of her throat.
Darkness dotted her eyes soon enough and her legs would no longer bear her weight. When she fell back, there were people holding her.
She heard one more thing before unconsciousness stole her away.
“She is bleeding!”