~BOOK 5/PART ONE~ Paranormal: Too Close To Home (Multi-Bandom FanFic)

My eyes fluttered open and my body shifted uncomfortably as I turned my head to see a heart machine towering over me. My eyebrows knit together and I turned my head the other way, finding Brendon asleep in the chair beside - what I figured was - the bed I was lying in. I sighed and looked back over to the side with the heart monitor, noticing a person standing in a white lab coat in the doorway behind it, conversing with someone whose identity I couldn't decipher because they were hiding behind the wall.

I bit my lip and tilted my head down, seeing that my hand the machine was attached to had completely turned a deep gray color. I brought my other hand over and pulled my sleeve back, revealing that my entire arm was like that. "Oh god," I muttered.

The doctor in the doorway glanced back, having heard me, and gasped. "Oh, she's up. We can finish this later," They told the person they were talking to, approaching my bedside and smiling at me. "Rachael, I'm glad to see you're awake. How are you feeling?"

I met their gaze and replied sarcastically, "How do you think I'm feeling?"

"Right," They retorted, nodding their head, "Well, just know that you're in good hands here. We promise to take good care of you."

"I'm not going to make it, am I?" I mumbled, gazing over at Brendon who was still sleeping, his tired eyes closed and his lips parted ever so slightly. The corner of my lips curled down into a frown.

"We're not sure what's causing your condition, but we're working to find a way to stop or slow down whatever is causing this."

"It's the darkness," I answered for them, keeping my eyes locked on Brendon, "The darkness is killing me. It has been for a while. It's just...really killing me now." I shifted my attention over to them, smirking sadly. "You know, I feel kind of betrayed. This darkness...it's kept me alive for so long, and then all of a sudden, it decides to kill me." I chuckled painfully.

"From what Mr. Urie has told us, none of this is your fault. We're going to figure this out. For right now, though, we'll try to make you as comfortable as possible. Kenya has asked me to take special care of you while you're here with us."

I forced myself to sit up, my body aching all over. "Thanks, but...I need to get out of here. I need to find Link." I went to swing my legs over the edge when the doctor grabbed me and pushed me back down on the bed.

"I'm sorry, but you can't leave, not like this. I'll bring Link in here as soon as he wakes up and has a full check up," He assured me.

"You don't understand," I argued, kicking my legs and pushing the bed sheets down to the foot of the bed, showing that my legs and feet were in the same condition as my hands and arms, "I don't have time for this! I need to get out! I have things to do!"

"Um, doctor?" A voice sounded from the doorway. The person attending to me looked back. "You might want to come and see this." I stared at the nurse as the doctor left my side and abandoned the room, following after the nurse. I sighed and sunk into the bed, drained from my struggle. My breaths were short and rapid, my heart beating against my chest and the monitor beeping faster than it was before.

I turned my head and looked out of the room, closing my eyes and finding my way into the thoughts of the nurse, watching as she walked down the hallway with the doctor beside her. In her hands was the report. "I talked to Link, since Brendon said he might know what to do. Apparently he was the one to put this darkness inside of her."

"Does he have any idea on how to stop this?"

The nurse shook her head. "He said it was so long ago that he did it; that even if we found a way to get it out of her, the darkness is too attached. We take the darkness out, we kill her. She'll return to her normal self, but her normal self was dead when it was put inside of her."

"So you're telling me that either way, she's not making it," The doctor remarked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'd give her until tonight, but that's being generous."

I cut the psychological connection and allowed my head to fall back onto the elevated mattress. Brendon stirred awake and looked around the room a bit before setting his eyes on me. "Hey, you're up."

"I've got until tonight," I informed him dismally, a blank expression on my face.

"What?"

"Brendon, look at me," I said, glancing over at him, "There's practically none of me left anymore. This darkness is going to kill me or them removing it will. I'm done for."

"Hey, don't talk like that," He murmured, sitting forward and taking my cold hand in his, "Rachael, you're not going to die."

"But Brendon, I'm already dead," I argued, my lip quivering as acceptance washed over me. I'd known it for a while, I just chose to ignore it.

I didn't want to be the living dead. It was already hard enough being the Supreme's daughter, but being the Supreme's daughter who was resurrected from the dead with the use of dark magic? I was an abomination, no one would accept me.

So I lied. I lied to my family, I lied to my friends, I lied to all of the people I'd crossed paths with, and I lied to myself. For years and years I did this, hiding this secret from me and everyone I ever cared about. It was bound to be exposed at one point or another, I just didn't imagine that it would happen like this.

"You killed me, remember?"

"I can't forget, Rachael. I've thought about it for the last thousand years, and I'm sorry it happened, but there's nothing we can do to change the past. I just wish you would have told someone sooner about this."

"I didn't want to get Link in trouble," I explained, giving his hand a slight squeeze, "Or you."

"Rachael, it doesn't matter if we got in trouble. Link and I both care about you. If you would have told one of us, or Patrick, or Kenya even, we would have helped you. We still want to help you."

I smiled through the black tears spilling from my eyes. "I wish you could, Brendon, but I'm too far gone."