" Thank you even if your words are not the truth. " I smiled so much, eventually it started to hurt.
Nonetheless, the smile never left me, it stayed despite the increasing pain in my body.
This had to be another seizure I suppose. Suddenly a stroke made my body convulse like a tremendous wave crashing a dam. I hold my aching chest with my trembling hand.
" What -" was the only word he could mumble before I collapsed on the floor.

In the background, an abrupt noise reached my ears, I whimpered like an abandoned puppy.
There was a war, an egregious war with two fronts. One in my mind, the other one in my heart.
Peter grabbed me as softly as the circumstances allowed and carried me presumingly to the next available object to lie on: the couch. Simultaneously he whispered desperately: "Ava, you have to stay awake, do you hear me?"

Yes, I do.

It was different from the other haunting seizures which had occurred the other times.
I felt so incredibly weak, as if every ounce of life was being sucked out of me. A soft surface reminded me that I was not dead yet despite my blurry vision with the dancing black stars in front.
" Don't die on me here", Peter continued to hold onto me. Agony clearly dominated his speech causing me to suffer even further. I try my best for you. He put me through so much pain, however I could not bear him in pain. I was such a fool. Every person with common sense would have already left without thinking twice.

My head rested on a rather hard subject compared to the rest of my body. I looked up to only see the silhouettes of Peter in front of me. His aura radiated misery.

Intuitively, my right hand slowly reached out to him. The tempo had nothing to do with the dramatic effect, rather my body was weakened to the point where only shire willpower allowed me to raise my hand at all. Pathetic.

After some seconds have passed, I eventually reached his cheek. My hand started to caress it gently. During the whole procedure Peter kept unusually quiet.
Out of the blue, more pain started to flow into my body causing me to wince. I could make out fine black lines on the outer part of my right hand and wrist. What type of tobubohu sorcery was that anyway?
That is not the moment to think about logical explanations for unlogical events. I was on the merge of dying after all.

Why was there so much of this black liquid? At this point, at least a quarter of my body had to be filled with this acid.

My hand was pulled away from his face while Peter on the other hand laid his lips onto mine.
Was that some kind of love-can-overcome-anything-shit? Am I dreaming madness again?
As the kiss lasted, the heavy burdens were taken off me. Relief surfaced from deep within me.

Peter caused and alleviated pain at the same time. Was that because he suffered too?
What if this contact transferred the agony from one individual to the other?

My head turned demonstratively to the side, thus separating our lips yet again. I hated this feeling, nonetheless my hatred was far more superior to his suffering.
Rather me than him, I thought and pulled my hands to my head. My body probably resembled a fetus in this position.

A hand softly ran his fingers through my dark brown hair. I would lie if I denied how at ease this made me feel. No wonder, basically everyone was so keen on finding the love of their lives.
There was no better feeling than being in his, her or their proximity. The comfort strengthened.

" Why did you do that?" Peter suddenly questioned.
" I don't want you to hurt", I honestly answered with a smile. My eyes were closed since I still was feeling fatigue. Nonetheless, Peter transferred a great amount of pain onto himself, hence only a tolerable rest remained. Therefore, my vocal cords allowed me to speak again.
" But why? I was anything but nice toward you."
" It's not like I don't want to despise you for it, I certainly do. Nonetheless, my heart won't allow this. Apparently, I care more for you than for me. "
" You are stupid. " The irritation clearly audible from his tone. I could not help, but to chuckle:
" I know right? I am the biggest fool walking on earth. It's my fate, I suppose."
He joined in my snickering until it developed to the sincerest laugh from Peter I had ever heard.

This incident led to immense misery, anguish and angst. It was truly horrifying to experience the state of lifelessness to this extent. However, although the damage it has done, it also welded Peter and I together. We learnt to understand as well as rely on the other one more.
It was the most perfect attempt of living in harmony in my life. It truly was fulfilling spending my time with him.

The more time passed, the more I grew to love him. Every small quirk and flaw captured me and made me more mesmerized with the person called Peter Hale.
He told me more about this whole werewolf thing and even a small portion about his life. Just as I suspected, he went through enormous pain.
Hell to be exact. My sole response was a tight hug and with tight I meant seriously tight. Peter did not complain, conversely he seemed to enjoy the direct contact between our bodies.

We laughed a lot, we talked a lot and in the end, we even began to sleep in the same bed due to the nightmare both of us had. The dreams about the black creature stopped, whereas I now was being chased by a humongous tsunami. Peter's dreams always involved fire and how he was being burnt alive. His greatest fear as he had told me.
Oddly enough, his fear was kind of the direct opposite to my phobia which was drowning.
Just the thought about it made me shiver. How cruel it was that your own instincts were the cause of your death. You tried your hardest to keep your mouth shut, to not let the water in, though eventually it came in any way, since the reflexes of your oxygen-craving body kicked in. 

Cruelty at its finest. 




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So a double update, huh? It took me quite some time writing this, better enjoy this. 

Niam