Chapter Seventy: Be Still My Love

It's a killer inside as I'm watching you slide out my hand
You're slipping away as I'm watching you fade. Please hold on.
If I'm losing you now I won't give till I'm out
You're my world, I'll shoulder your pain
Ride the violent waves as I can
Be still my love. They can never take us
Be still my love, be still
Now there's strangers between, I can't get to you
Please don't fade off, I can't stand to lose you
I don't know what to do for your bleeding

~Bush

Nilin could feel the air leave her lungs. For a moment, time stopped. Her hands were around Christian's wrist as he buried the stake deeper. "I guess I've underestimated you again," he said coldly before he disappeared. Nilin felt herself falling backwards as she collapsed back on the grass.

Her lungs were screaming for air, short ragged breaths left her mouth. Nilin's hands went to the piece of wood that was jutting out below the ribs. As she lifted her hands up, she could see her fingers slick with blood. Another startled sob escaped her mouth. She tried to call out for help, for someone, but nothing would come out.

The pain was excruciating. Her chest was on fire, her lungs burning with each short breath. Everything else seemed to go numb. The only thing she felt wassearing hole in her stomach. Tears blurred her vision as they started to leak out of her eyes.

Suddenly someone's hands were framing her cheeks, and wetness was dripping on her forehead. "No Nilin, oh god, no," Elena said in hysterical gasps. Her hands hovered above Nilly, not sure if she should touch her or not. "Nilly, please," she cried.

Nilin turned her head to look at the sobbing girl kneeling next to her. Her chest heaved with gasps of air. "Shh shh," she managed to say, taking Elena's hand.

"Tell me what to do, Nil," she cried, squeezing Nilin's fingers tight. "What do I do?"

Struggling for air, Nilly wheezed, "Pull it out."

Elena's eyes widened. She looked at the blood seeping through Nilin's shirt and shook her head. "Nilly, I can't—"

"Yes you can," Nilly wheezed. "Pull it out." Her eyes were set on her sister's face. Elena was still shaking her head. "Elena, I need you to pull it out. I can't— I can't breathe," she gasped.

Elena finally pulled her eyes away from the stake to look at Nilin's eyes. She clutched Nilly's hand once more before slipping out of her hold. Nilin squeezed her eyes shut as Elena gripped the stake. The next thing she knew, a new pain was ripping through her as Elena swiftly pulled it out.

A cry erupted form Nilin's lungs before she could clench her teeth closed. More tears sprang to her eyes and spilled over as the pain began to sear through her. She felt pressure on her abdomen.

Slowly Nilin forced herself to open her eyes. She could see that Elena had taken off her the over shirt she had been wearing and was holding it to Nilly's wound. Nilin took in a deep breath of air and exhaled it. The pain seemed to lessen now that she was able to breathe again.

Elena moved to lay Nilin's head in her lap, applying pressure to the seeping hole the entire time. The slightest movement caused blood to trickle through Elena's fingers. She looked around frantically for help. This was bad, this was very bad.

Nilin tried to sit up, but it was useless, her lower body was growing colder and numb. Elena noticed what she was doing and forced her shoulders back down on the ground. "Stop moving," she ordered with a new urgency in her voice. "Why do you always have to be the hero, dammit?"

"It's just a scratch," Nilin tried to laugh with a hoarse voice.

"Bad timing for jokes," Elena said, looking down at her.

Nilin tried to say something but she suddenly became aware of the fight that was going on just yards away from them. She turned her head just in time to see Christian pinning Damon to the ground. She let out a startled cry and started struggling to move again. "Nilin there's nothing you can do right now," Elena told her, fighting to keep her still.

Nilin couldn't help crying as she was forced to watch as Christian held Damon down by his throat. She could feel herself hyperventilating. Suddenly, Nilin watched in horror as Christian's hand shot down and into Damon's chest. She could hear herself yell is name as Elena gasped and Damon cried out.

Stefan appeared behind Christian, his eyes hard and cold. He ripped Christian off his brother and flung him to the other side of the meadow. Nilin's eyes were on Damon still. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. "Damon," she started yelling. "Get up, please! Damon, please get up!" she was crying and struggling to get to him, believing that simply screaming his name would urge him to stand.

"Nilin, no, stop moving." Elena held her down, pushing on the crimson soaked fabric. Nilin fell back with a gasp as the pain started to become more apparent as her adrenaline dropped.

"Damon please," she said softly. Finally she saw movement. Damon's eyes opened as he took in a shaky breath. A sob of relief left Nilin's mouth. But before she could feel any more reprieve he was up and starting for Stefan and Christian.

"You're losing too much blood," Elena said as she tried to gather up fabric and apply pressure to the wound. "We need to get you out of here, now," she looked up, searching for help.

"I can't feel my legs, Elena," Nilin said with a sudden realization. "I can't feel much," she added as her head lolled back and forth in Elena's lap.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you help," she said, sweeping hair off Nilly's forehead.

Elena went to say something else but her voice was cut short by the sound of wood splintering. Nilin was having trouble moving now, but she managed to catch Damon hurling Christian into a tree.

The force was so strong that the trunk of the tree cracked in half. Damon flashed over to the vampire who was hysterically laughing on the ground. He grabbed Christian by the collar of the shirt and pinned him to the remainder of the tree trunk. Nilly could see foamy red blood gather at the corners of Christian's mouth as his laughter continued to grow deafening in the meadow.

Stefan was by Elena's side, kneeling next to Nilin's body. He lifted Elena's makeshift padding and turned his head away. It was too much blood for him to handle. Nilly tired not to focus on that, she kept her eyes on Damon as he held Christian to the tree with one hand and snapped off a long branch in the other.

"I still won!" Christian's said through his frenzied laughter. Suddenly Christian laughter turned into a sick gurgling sound as Damon rammed the thick branch straight through Christian's chest and into the tree, skewing him.

With one final gasp, the sound stopped all together as Christian's head slumped to the side. His skin turned chalky and grey, his lips and chin still stained with blood. Finally his eyes closed and silence over took the meadow.

Damon took a step backwards slowly, then another, then another. Still breathing heavy, he tried to gain control again. Short gaspy breaths behind him caused Damon to turn around. He couldn't comprehend the scene before him. Elena, red eyed, her body shaking with silent sobs, sitting crossed legged in the grass. In her lap, she cradled Nilin's head which was turned towards him. Her pale bloody face pinched together in pain.

He couldn't see her body through the long grass but he knew it was bad. By the sweetly sharp smell of blood quickly overpowering everything else in the meadow and by the way his brother was stiff and not breathing next to her, he knew it was very, very bad.

Once that basic thought was able to push its way through his brain, Damon was at her side in an instant. He sunk to his knees next to Nilin. His eyes looked over her body, from her blood soaked shirt to her piercing blue eyes. They were marveling against her ghostly skin. They seemed more alive than ever. Her hand found Damon's and her weak cold fingers grasped his.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," she smiled up at him. "I'm just cold." Her voice was so soft and weak.

"Damon, give her blood, she needs blood." Elena pressed, her eyes pleading. He raised his wrist to his mouth without a second thought but Nilly's hand shot out and stopped him.

"No, no I don't want it," she said weakly. "I'm sorry," she started crying again.

"You're going to die, Nilin. With vampire blood, at least I'll know you'll come back," Damon said, slipping his wrist out of her weak hold.

"As a vampire," she said slowly. "I don't want that. I don't want to become a vampire," she cried.

Elena tried to calm her down, murmuring soothing words. "It's okay, Nilly. It's going to be okay," she was saying.

Damon gritted his teeth. "No, it's not. How is it supposed to be okay if you're not living, Nilin?" he nearly snarled at her. Then he bit into his wrist. Damon went to hold it to Nilin's mouth but Stefan grabbed his arm and bent it backwards away from her. Elena had more or less covered Nilly to put herself between Damon.

"Let go, brother." Damon gritted out.

"You heard what she said, she doesn't want to be a vampire Damon," Stefan growled. "Don't take that choice away from her."

Damon ripped his arm away form Stefan. "That's easy for you to say," he shouted. "If it was Elena it would be a different story."

"I would honor her choice," Stefan pushed.

"Always the good brother," he sneered. "Well, I'm not you."

"Damon," a small voice said. It was Elena, she was crying and her body was shaking as she gripped Nilly's other hand. "She's not going to last much longer," she said to him.

He watched as Elena leaned down and kissed Nilly's forehead, her own salty tears falling on to Nilly. Nilin was so pale. She could barely keep her eyes open as she looked up at them. Damon dropped his hand to the grass, finding and taking a hold of Nilin's.

"I can't do this without you," Elena wept. "I just got you back, Nil. You can't leave me."

"Yes you can, you can do this." Nilly said, her voice barely audible. "Tell Jenna and Jeremy I ran off, that I couldn't take this town. They'll be sad, but they'll get over it and so will you. You're so, so strong Elena. I need you to do this."

"I love you, Nil. I love you so much," Elena choked out.

"I love you too," Nilly said, but then she began coughing, violent wheezes that jerked her whole body. Finally they subsided and slowly Nilly turned her head towards Stefan. He had been watching this all with a pained, crumbled look on his face.

"I love you too, you know?" she smiled weakly at him, her eyes struggling to focus. His lips perked up sadly. "You're like that older brother I never really wanted." His smile grew more. "I need you to take care of her and the rest of them. I'm passing my duties on to you," Nilin told him.

Stefan nodded, taking her other hand in his. "Of course," he answered, his voice strained and his emerald eyes beginning to swim. "You don't have to worry about them."

"Oh, of course I do," she said. "It's my job."

Stefan just tried to smile. He kissed the top of her hand before he placed it down gently. Her vision was focusing in and out, she was struggling to look to her other side where Damon knelt.

"You promised me," he said to her softly, unable to look in her eyes yet.

"Would you believe me if I said I had my fingers crossed?" her lips twitched in a smile.

"You can't ask me to let you die," he told her, his voice hard.

Nilin struggled to speak with her labored breathing. "I'm asking you to set me free," she said slowly. "Coming back to Mystic Falls was the best choice I ever made. I fell in love," Nilin gathered enough strength to smile. "And in this little infinity of ours, I can say I loved you until the day I died," she told him softly.

Damon swallowed hard before finally meeting her eyes. Then he swooped down and captured her lips. He kissed her, ignoring the fact that her sister and his brother were mere inches away. He could taste her blood on her own lips, and it caused him to kiss her deeper. Wetness dampened both of their cheeks as he griped her face between his hands. Finally he had to pull away, but only slightly.

"I love you," he said, his lips brushing against hers. She was half sobbing, half laughing as she fought to catch her breath. Her eyes looked up at him.

"That's my line," she tired to laugh.

"Fine then, I love you too." Damon said, kissing her again. One of her cold hands came up and laid on his cheek. "I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to tell you that," he whispered.

"But I already knew it," she smiled before the violent coughing started again. Blood appeared on the one corner of her mouth and on her chin. Damon quickly wiped it away, running his thumb over her bottom lip. "You brought me back to life, Damon." Nilin said, her voice becoming raspy. "I need you to keep living, for me." Her eyes began to water, and the sting was working its way into Damon's eyes.

He was losing her and there was nothing he could do about it. He knew she was fragile, that's one thing that he found so appealing. But now she was being ripped away from him. The only response he could muster up was a nod as he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you so much, Damon. Thank you," she wheezed, her eyes beginning to droop closed. He pushed the hair off her forehead, leaving kisses on her lips. He could hear how her almost undetectable heartbeat slowed even more, her breaths becoming shorter.

"I'm so tired," Nilin said softly. "And warm," she smiled. "I'm not cold anymore."

"That's good Nilly," Elena said, kissing her forehead again. "Tell my mom and dad I love them when you see them, okay?"

Nilly's eyes were closed now as she smiled. "I get to see my parents again," she breathed.

Damon leaned down so that he was a breath away from her ear. "Yes you do. Now go to sleep princess. I'll keep the nightmares away tonight," he promised her.

Nilin made a low sighing noise, before her hands went limp. Then all at once her lungs stopped struggling, her heartbeat ceased in her chest, and her head fell to one side.

She was gone. Nilin had slipped away form them.

Author's Notes:

Okay, we have some things to talk about. First off, I have changed the chapter names. Let me explain. I started writing the squeal and I have the squeal's chapters based off songs. It was really bothering me that Between Two Lungs wasn't like that, so I changed it. Everything is that, all the chapters and content is accounted for. I just changed the name and added some lyrics. So got take back and tell me what you think. Sorry! I swear, its like OCD or something.

Second, guys there are only TWO CHAPTERS LEFT. I can't believe it, I'm actually really sad. But, like I mentioned the squeal is in the making. Still, I'm a little bum.

Third, HI! Sorry, I feel like I haven't said that in a while. I adore you guys and I'm so thankful for everything. This is a really sad chapter, I actually got choked up writing it. So let me know how I did, okay?
Thank you so much, and see you next week.

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