Paris, France – 6 Months Later.
Sitting in front of Le Cáfe Miro 81 Alex, Clear, and Carter sigh happily watching the Parisian life whiz past them with no worries "Voilà, merci," the waiter said as he placed down their drinks with a smile and a nod when they reciprocated his thank you.
Alex leans back into his chair "Wow," he breaths out as he looks at Clear "It's weird being here, huh" he questioned, motioning out to Paris "We finally completed a puzzle. It's just there's something missing. You know?"
The blond had spent a fair bit of time in the hospital getting over his injuries and burns but something hadn't stopped nagging at him ever since they had taken down Thana not that he could explain to Clear or Carter.
It was quiet for a beat before Carter lifted up his glass solemnly "to Terri" he spoke softly as he remembered his girlfriend who did nothing to deserve the gruesome and painful death that she received while he was still breathing.
"Yeah, to Tod" Alex quickly agreed taking his glass and lifting it up beside Carters, reminiscing about his best friend that didn't deserve the cruel fate that he received and how he wasn't able to save him in time.
"To all of our friends that can't be here" Clear finalized as she clinked her wine glass against theirs in cheers to the people they had loved and unfairly lost.
Alex watched Carter confused when the dark-haired man started to laugh to himself "What?" he questioned curiously, it was unlike him to laugh after bringing up Terri.
"If you told me 6 months ago that the three of us would be sitting here having a drink..." Carter trailed off as Alex himself began to laugh; 6 months ago, they were at each other's throats daily and Carter probably threaten to beat Alex up more than once.
"I don't know. I mean, sometimes I just feel like the two of you are the only ones who really understand" Carter admitted out loud as he glanced at both Clear and Alex, who nod along with his words knowingly.
A guitarist staring playing a tune as Carter looks at Alex. "You were right, Browning. It did skip us, there was a design" He sighed as he continued, "We beat it, you know? We won" Even after seeing Thana Carter struggle to believe the design of Death, but now he knew for sure.
Clear eyed Carter apprehensively, "I think the only thing we won, Carter, is a chance at a full life," she said finally understanding to not underestimate Death's power.
Every time they thought they could beat Thana she punished them ten times worse "A chance that I won't ever waste."
It was only 6 months down the line, and she grew up a lot, she now trusted her instincts more, and she guessed she did have Thana to thank for that. Having a Demon stalk her, and even more that Demon being Death made Clear cherish her gift of empathy even more.
Having felt what Alex felt on the plane, and all those dark negative feelings whenever Thana was around really helped her understand her role in life and how Death hadn't taken her parents to be spiteful, it was all just part of some bigger design. Not that it hurt any less.
Clear placed her hand into Alex's as he lets out another sigh, "Yeah. There's just something, you know, something I can't figure out," the blond confessed as he went over the same thoughts as he'd been having since coming out of the hospital.
"About what?" Carter shrugged, he'd locked up all those feelings of fear and loneliness in the back of his mind and was now trying to find life after Death. He never really thought about his life after high school, but watching your girlfriend die in front of you puts things into perspective.
"About the design."
Clear huffed at her boyfriend's words, "Alex, just let it go. All right?" but he couldn't let it go he quickly dug around in his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"I just wa- Just hear me out, all right?" He unfolded the paper to reveal the plane seating plane that he had printed out all those months ago when trying to figure out what Death's design was and how he could try to be one step ahead of Thana.
Before he realized, no one could ever be one step ahead of Thana. Carter dropped back into his seat after recognizing what he was seeing after noticing all their names on the paper. "Oh, my god," he scoffed to himself.
Alex quickly jumps to his own defense after hearing both Carter and Clear's huffs of disbelief. "Just hear me out, okay?" placing the paper on the table, Alex leaned forward. "Now, the path of the explosion determined the order of our deaths, right?".
When neither of the other two spoke up, Alex continued "When I intervened and saved Carter, it skipped him and went to the next person in the path then went to Billy and then it was Clear. But I intervened and saved her, so it went to me".
Clear gazed away from the table, leaving only Carter to listen to Alex's rambling, "But in my case, no one intervened, right?" The teen finally turned her head when Alex directed his attention to her, "I was thrown from that power line by the explosion so..."
Carter interrupted the blonds paranoid rambles with a gruff "So, why did it skip you, right?" His jaw ticked as he fought down his own feelings of paranoia; he didn't have it as bad as Alex did, but his own brush with Death would be with him for the rest of his life.
However long that may be.
Clear side eyed Carter before turning to her boyfriend "How do we know that this isn't exactly what was meant to happen? That out of everyone on flight 180, you, me, and Carter were meant to live?" she desperately wanted to believe that "Maybe that was the design all along."
"Or you could still be next," Carter piped up from his seat, and Alex knew that was more likely, Thana as evil as she was wouldn't have spent her time stalking them and playing with them if she wasn't there to reap them at some point.
"Shut up, Carter"
"What? I didn't make up the rules," The dark-haired teen laughed. "Someone's gotta intervene before Death can skip them. Alex proved that 3 times. The plane, me, you".
He smirked as he shrugged, "For all I know, it could circle back and get us all again, but I am the safest fucker in the world because you're still next."
Alex glanced down at the paper when Carter jabbed a finger over his seat back on flight 180, feeling a chill run through his body he quickly looked up and over his shoulder at the guitarist who was playing 'Rocky mountain high.'
Clear argued with Carter, but all Alex could hear was the sound of his blood rushing through his body and his heartbeat that had begun to pound louder against his chest.
"All I'm saying is you said that redhead chick was gone, we beat her Clear. Thana is gone" Carter disputed as Clear ridiculed back at him not to be so cocky.
Alex's head spun as his thoughts began to eat away at the walls he built up and his mantra of Thana being gone- what if she wasn't gone? What if she was still toying with him? "no-one is ever one step ahead of Thana," he mumbled to himself, "not even us."
His head moved quickly as he suddenly noticed everything going on around him before a gust of wind knocked Clear wine over the paper, staining his name in dark red. Jumping up from his seat, he backed away slowly "I'm gonna meet you guys back at the hotel, okay?".
Clear watched on in confusion as her boyfriend started to act weird "Just wait, I'll go with you," she offered before Alex shook his head and stopped her from following him.
"No, no. ju- just stay here, okay Clear, just stay here. All right," Alex mumbled, walking past the table as Clear glances at Carter worried about Alex's sudden erratic behavior, maybe talking about Thana wasn't the best idea but she was gone, and they could rest.
"See? It's true. I told you, you were next man". Carter called out uncaring but not harshly; they were all overdue this talk, and somewhere deep down, he knew this thing wasn't over with. Even before listening to Alex's ramblings that made too much sense not to be true.
Clear glared at him scathingly as she moved to pick up her bag. "Stop it, Carter," she hissed, looking over to where her now pale boyfriend was trying to make a quick exit. "Alex, wait," she begged as her bag caught on the bottom of the table.
The blond boy whirled around quickly at the sound of her voice, his expression now full of fear and knowing as he begs her not to move. It was all too much, he could feel the paranoia clawing at his trachea "No, Clear. Just stay there, okay? Stay away"
Another gust of wind forces Clear to look away only to see the vision of a bus through the glass window, and a familiar shiver ran through her body "Alex!" she called out just as he moved to step off the pavement and into an oncoming bus.
Jumping back Alex barely missed being hit by the bus as it suddenly crashed through the small street they had been sat in, everything soon became like a domino effect as objects hit into other objects before the bus collided with the Bistro sign.
The teenager's eyes widened, and he froze in fear as part of the sign broke off, swaying dangerously in his direction "Alex!" He heard Clear shriek before he was thrown to the ground, narrowly missing the sign as it passed him and Carter overhead.
"I told you, you were next!" Carter shouted, pointing down at Alex reminding him of Billy moments before he was killed by Thana, they both had the exact same look of fear written across their faces but also the same expression of fear towards Alex himself.
The chaos in the streets swarmed around them as Alex's eyes widened. "Then it just skipped me," he exclaimed to a now worried Carter who stood over him after having intervened in his death, and now Death was hunting for her new prey.
"So, who's next?" The bistro sign that almost hit Alex swung back just as Carter's face drops in realization "Oh-" the sign hits Carter with such a force that his body is instantly crushed, his blood hits Alex's face as he stands up in shock.
He can vaguely hear Clear's cries from the table before a chill washes over his body before he feels a darkness wrap around him and a familiar giggle tickle at his ear where he can almost sense the grin growing on her red lips "I'm back!".