The lantern slipped out of her grip and hit the ground. For a second it felt like everything had gone still, so still she couldn't even breathe.
For that second, her world crashed down and built itself back up again.
Eli.
Her mind whispered but her lips were too still with shock to speak. Tears raised to the brim of her lower eyelids.
“Donna.”
Her body moved on its accord and she broke into a race, afraid that if she didn't get to him fast enough, he would disappear with the fog. Scared that he might even be actually there.
She collided into his embrace as his warm arms slided around her, tears streamed down her cheeks and her lips met his that readily moved against hers in a gentle rhythm.
Slow and filled with so many unspoken words.
Her heart tightened with how overwhelming this felt but to pull away and feel his breath warm upon her face made it feel like everything had finally fallen into place.
A bittersweet feeling.
Her hands were around his neck, her fingers slipping into his heart.
He was really here.
There was so much to say, so much to do. She didn't know how to begin, it drove her insane, made her feel fragile, broken and made whole, empty and filled, terrified and happy.
It was too much.
Here he was, the man that had died in her arms and for, here he was staring down at her with a smile that had filled her dreams, looking down at her with his hands cupping her face.
Her hand slipped to his chest where she had struck him with the dagger. There was no blood, there was nothing.
He was healed.
Alive!
Then she remembered and her lips trembled, as more tears streamed down her face, tightening her throat.
“I lost our child.”
“It is not your fault.” He wiped her tears away.
By Ignas, his voice.
She couldn't believe she was hearing his voice again.
“She wants you to know that…”
She.
Belladonna smiled.
Her child was a girl.
Her precious baby girl.
“...and she hopes that you will stop blaming yourself, just like I hope that you will stop blaming yourself for me.”
Belladonna couldn't speak, she could only nod; the weight of her tears felt too much for her throat.
This was all too much.
She still couldn't believe it.
Her hands caressed his cheeks, the scales upon it. The roughness, something that she delighted in.
He wiped her tears away once again, pressing his forehead against hers as he slipped his hand into her hair. His sandalwood scent poured into her lungs and she fought to keep her eyes open as she inhaled him, afraid that if she did, he would disappear.
“My Donna. My love.”
“There is so much I want to say but I can’t—” Then it hit her. “Eli, we cannot stay here. We must leave now!” She pulled away from the embrace and held his head to lead them out of the Resurrection Ground.
There were too many thoughts colliding in her head and she couldn't think straight but one thing was clear; they had to get out of there.
But as she continued to walk, Eli stopped and his hand slipped out of her grip due to the growing distance between them.
She looked back at him.
“I cannot cross.”
Her eyebrows furrowed with questions, and something dark shadowed over his eyes.
“I am dead, Donna.”
She turned fully to him now, shaking her head. “No, that is—”
“I am dead.”
“No. You can't be dead. The Ground brings back to life that who I greatest desire.”
His face brightened with a smile as he pulled her towards him, away from the invisible border he couldn't cross.
“In here, I am alive.” He slipped his hand around her waist and tucked a couple of strands of hair behind her ear. “We both can be.”
She would have to stay here forever.
She could— wait. Alaris.
“Is Alaris there?” She needed to know if he was dead, or if he was still in the Garden. If he was dead, maybe she would stay here. It was selfish but there wouldn't be a way to bring him back but there, she couldn't stay— she— Alaris.
By Ignas, Ah!
Her heart; It hurt!
“Alaris is not here.”
He wasn't dead then. He was still in the Garden!
She had to find him but Eli—
Her heart was racing, her breathing heaving and harsh, as the realization washed over her.
She staggered away from him, wheezing as she bent and clenched her fist against her chest.
From the depth of her throat, she let out a heart-wrenching sound.
This was the test.
“A Life For A Life,” the voice from the fog said in her mind and immediately, she knew what it meant.
Alaris was here, searching for her in Resurrection Ground.
They were both here.
One dead, one alive.
This was her test.
A choice.
Alaris for Eli.