Chapter 20 - Goodbye Gaia

He walked through a hallway of the hospital. He had been here a few times now. After the summer vacation had ended, he had been looking forward to see all his classmates again. Especially one; Isah Lowick. He had been in love with her ever since he first saw her, but ofcourse he was never brave enough to tell her. However, on the first day of school, the principal showed up instead of Isah and told them that there had been a terrible fire at Isahs house. She had lost both her parents, as well as their equestrian center, their house, and some of the horses. When she had tried to save her own horse, she had been engulfed by the collapsing ceiling, killing her horse and putting Isah into a coma. They were all shocked to hear this, and they decided that they would visit her with a small amount of people to bring her some flowers and bless her. He had eagerly volunteered the first time, and had been coming at the hospital every week now. Still, it was quite painful to see his favorite goldenhaired classmate lying there with so many machines keeping her alive.

As he walked into chamber 44, he saw Isahs little sister sleeping in a chair, resting her head on Isahs bed. He smiled. "Hi flore." He said as he sat down in the chair on her other side. "Hi Isah." After a moment of silence, he stared at her face. "You know, people are quite worried about you.." He began. "Hanna even cried when we came to visit you. You remember Hanna? She's your best friend. Willow and Shiva came too. Bella didnt want to come, because she was too scared to see you like this." He stopped and looked at the flowers that he put in a vase on the dresser next to her bed. "I wish you could see the flowers, they're beautiful. I chose orchids this time. Some of them are red, and others are purple with white." He sighed. "You know, the doctors said it is very unlikely for someone who has been in a coma for a month to wake up, but I believe you can do it. You were always stronger and braver than the rest of our classmates." He looked at his hands. "That's not true, remember that time when I got stuck in that huge tree, and you had to climb all the way to the top to get me out. You were much braver." He froze. After a moment, he dared to look up and saw Isah sitting straight up in her bed. His eyes teared up. "Is...ah..." He couldn't hold himself back and jumped from his chair and took the girl in his arms. "Isah!" He started sobbing loud. He had never been tough or cool, and seeing this miracle was an insurance for him to tear up. And he couldn't care less.

"Dane, where am I?" She did it, she had woken up! But now she had to... kill herself if she ever wanted to see her friends again. Better play this along. "Isah, how old are you? What is your back name? How many fingers am I holding up?" Isah laughed and answered: "15 years, Lowyck, and three." Dane shuckled. "Wrong. I was holding one behind my back." Isah smiled and ruffled his dark brown hair. She looked into his blue eyes and sighed sadly. "What's wrong?" Dane asked. She looked very serious. "Dane, I have to tell you something and I want you to believe every single word of it." Dane gulped. Flore, who had been sleeping through all of this, moaned as she shifted around a bit.

Then, Isah started telling. She didn't stop for an hour, leaving nothing to the imagination. It was almost as if Dane was listening to his mother telling him a fairy tale back when he was younger. Still, it didn't sound as if she was making it up, and the look in her eyes was so determined that Dane believed every single word. When she was finished, she looked expectantly at the boy. "I believe you." He said. Isah looked a bit shocked. "No way! How could someone ever believe that?!" Dane narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying you made this up?" Isah shook her head frantically and moved her hands with it. "No no no, it's just.. Even I wouldn't believe it when someone told me this." Dane smiled at her. "I know you hate lying, so why would you?" She hugged him. Dane was a bit flustered. Sure they had been classmates for quite a while now, they had never been this close to each other. "Thank you" she whispered. She released him and looked him in the eyes. "But do you understand that I have to...die to go back to fairy tail?" Dane shook his head. "Please don't. You can't leave. We need you, your sister needs you." Isah shook her head. "Please tell this story I told you only to her, she will understand." She looked around. "By the way, why isnt gray here?" Dane looked confused, and sad after he realised it. "You mean your brother?" Isah nodded enthusiastically. "You told us a few tears ago that he had died due to a avalanche." Isahs face darkened. "Oh... That's right... In this world I don't have a brother anymore..." Dane saw how she wanted to turn over so he didn't see her cry, but he quickly grabbed her arm. "Watch out! If you accidentally disconnect that machines you could-" he stopped. Fuck, why did he say that. "die..." Isah finished. She grabbed the tubes and wanted to pull them, but Dane quickly pulled her into a hug. "Please, don't do this." Isah shook her head. "I have to. Please tell the doctors that it happened accidentally when I turned on my other side." Tears appeared in Dane's eyes. "Please, stop it..." She pulled the tubes and wires out of her arms, and ripped the mask that was supposed to give her oxygen from her head. Only the machine that detected her heartbeat was connected now. Isah started breathing heavily. "It's because you inhaled a lot of smoke back then." Dane whispered through his tears. Isah nodded and lay back. Dane knew he should get a doctor now, that she could be saved if he pushed the red button next to her bed. But he didn't. She would hate him if he did that. "Isah..." He whimpered. He embraced her and buried his face in her hair. She smelled like sunshine. He heard how the heart monitor started to 'beep' irregularly, and knew that she could die any second now. "Isah... I ... I love you. I've always loved you and I will keep loving you till the end of my days." The dying girl looked a bit shocked at his confession, but her eyes weakened and a little smile could be seen on her face. "I... Love you.. too, Dane." Then, she became limp and he heart how the beep turned into a constant buzzing noise. He pushed the red button. "Someone help her!" He screamed. He didn't really mean that, since this had been her wish. "Goodbye..." He whispered in her hair. Everything after that was vague. He saw flore waking up, crying loudly when she saw that her sister had a cardiac arrest. The doctors tried a CPR, with no results. It became silent as one of the doctors looked at his watch and said; "time of death, 17:39"

aww how dramatic... Well nothing we can do about it, bye Dane!

xxx Tinyss