#anyhow i had to Angst / slightly alter the ending more whoops ( but also we could always happy ending it too )

[storiesbreathed]

things were how they were meant to be- so she has been trying to tell herself. ellen had made peace with almost every way that this could go before the sun had even began it's descent in the sky, allowing the moon to rise, though the numerous possibilities she had come up with are long gone. the rush of emotions she had felt before the rising sun has began to fade as orlok had succumb and in their place a numbness had began to fill her, a strange sort of peace, victory, calm, though all of that fell away the moment she heard the door open, then she was struck with the slightest feeling of fear.

out of all the things she should be terrified about, the way she is breathing should not be one of them, and yet, it is the thing the concern that her fading mind clings to the minute she hears the door opening. she sounds just like him- she knows she must. it is hard to breathe, everything feels so... dry from her tongue that cannot form words, to her eyes that she is too scared to blink out of fear of not being able to open them up again. her heartbeat was slowing, though now, it feels like it is beating a little faster once she sees him as a brief rush of life, of emotions fills her.

in a selfish way, there was a part of her had hoped that he would not see her like this, covered in her own blood, bare below the creature, though almost all of that was gone as her head moves to look at him. instead, ellen is full of guilt, peace, hope, love... all of which pound inside of her chest, filling her mind and softening her eyes as she turns to him, lip quivering slightly.

she inhales--- a wheeze. she exhales--- the sound just as shaky. she turns her head, the movement slow, almost painful but she tries, her fingers naturally reaching to him. the last thing she is expecting is him gathering her in his arms, to pull her from the creature lying above her, but she can say or think not on that surprise or her state, for in the moment so distracted by how warm he feels that all other thought is gone other than the want to drown in that warmth.

" t-t-thom- " her voice is raspy, the words almost just a breath, a broken croaked breath, but ellen tries at the same- there's so much she wants to say, after all. apologies. declarations of love. " t-t-t- " another deep inhale, moving her head so she can try and meet his eyes, wanting to convey all that is pounding inside of her, and, more than anything wanting to look at him, to let him be all she can see, the last thing she can see.

𝟺𝟾. thomas holds the ellen in their arms, the monster now dead. | @audaciiae !