Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Will’s heart raced as he sprinted toward the pond, his eyes searching the dark water for Stella. The air was freezing, sharp against his skin, but none of that mattered—she mattered. He saw her, her silhouette barely visible in the moonlight as she stood at the edge. She was too close.

“Stella!” he shouted, but before he could reach her, she slipped. One moment she was there, and the next, she disappeared beneath the icy water, swallowed by the darkness.

Everything inside him froze. His chest tightened with panic as he rushed forward, not hesitating for even a second before diving in. The cold water slammed into him, stealing his breath away, but he forced himself deeper. His eyes stung as he searched for her in the murky water, his arms flailing desperately.

Then he saw her—floating, lifeless. His heart dropped.

He grabbed her, pulling her limp body to him, and with every ounce of strength he had left, he swam back to the surface. His muscles screamed in agony as he dragged her onto the shore, her body soaking wet and eerily still.

“Stella!” Will shouted, his voice cracking with fear. She wasn’t moving. He knelt beside her, his hands trembling as he checked for a pulse—nothing. Her lips were turning blue, her chest unmoving. Panic flooded him.

“No, no, no, come on!” he whispered, his voice frantic as he laced his fingers together and began pressing down on her chest. “Please, Stella… breathe!”

His breaths were shaky, but he kept counting, kept pushing, refusing to let her slip away. After each set of compressions, he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers, giving her a breath, feeling the weight of every second ticking by. His last breath, he thought, because if she didn’t come back now, he had nothing left.

He pushed again. One, two, three… He breathed into her again, his lungs burning with cold and fear. “Come on, Stella!”

But there was no response. Her body lay motionless, pale, and unresponsive. Tears blurred his vision as he gave her one more breath, praying with everything in him. “Please, don’t leave me. I need you. Please.”

His lungs burned with the cold, every breath he gave to her taking something away from himself. His body felt heavy, each push on her chest harder than the last. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep going, but stopping wasn’t an option.

Stella had to live.

With shaking hands, he tilted her head back again and sealed his lips over hers, forcing another breath into her lungs. His vision swam, the edges of his world blurring as he poured everything into her. But even as he breathed life into her, his own chest felt tighter. A dull ache settled in his ribs, and his mind grew foggy.

Come on, Stella…

Then, it happened—a sudden, sharp cough from her. Her chest jerked beneath his hands as she spluttered, water spilling from her mouth. Will sagged in relief, a broken gasp escaping him as he rolled her to her side.

Stella coughed again, taking in deep, shaky breaths. But Will... he couldn’t catch his own breath. His head felt light, his body growing weaker by the second.

“Stella…” he rasped, his voice faint. He swayed, struggling to keep himself upright as his chest tightened painfully. She was alive. She was breathing. But Will’s breaths were becoming shallow, weaker.

Stella blinked, her eyes slowly clearing as she focused on him. “W-Will?” she whispered, her voice hoarse. She tried to sit up, her movements sluggish, her mind still catching up to what had just happened.

He smiled, but it was small, tired. “I’m… I’m glad… you’re okay,” he murmured, the effort to speak pulling the last reserves of strength from him. His vision darkened at the edges as his body began to give in.

Stella’s face twisted in confusion as she watched him sway, barely able to stay upright. Her breath hitched, fear creeping into her voice. “Will? What’s happening?” she asked, her voice trembling as she reached for him, still weak from the water.

But Will’s body gave in before her hands could reach him. He slumped forward, collapsing onto the cold, wet ground beside her. His eyes fluttered, the world spinning around him. He had nothing left.

“Will!” Stella screamed, panic flooding her as she crawled toward him, shaking him with what little strength she had. “No, no, no, please, don’t do this!” Her voice cracked, tears spilling down her cheeks as she shook him harder. “Wake up! Please!”

But he didn’t respond. His chest barely moved, his breaths shallow and strained. His lips, once pressed to hers to give her life, were now turning a sickly shade of blue.

Stella’s hands trembled as she pressed them to his chest, her heart pounding in her ears. “No, no…” she whispered, choking on her sobs. “You can’t leave me. You can’t…”

She tried to give him breath, to push air into his lungs the way he had done for her. But Will was too far gone. He had given her everything he had—his last breath—and now there was nothing left for himself.

Stella’s tears fell onto his pale face as she cried, her voice barely a whisper. “Please, Will… I can’t do this without you…”

But his body remained still, his breaths slow and fading.

And then, with one final exhale, Will’s chest stilled. The life he had given so selflessly to save Stella slipped away from him entirely.

Stella’s sobs echoed through the night as she cradled him, her heart breaking with every second that passed. The cold air bit at her skin, but the only thing she could feel was the emptiness left behind.

He had saved her.

But in doing so, he had sacrificed himself.

Chapter Text

The blaring sirens cut through the cold night air as the ambulance rushed toward the hospital, its lights flashing through the darkness. Stella lay on the stretcher inside, her body shivering uncontrollably, but her mind was elsewhere. All she could see was Will—his pale face, his chest barely moving as the paramedics worked frantically on him. She could hear the steady rhythm of their voices calling out instructions, the sound of the defibrillator charging, the crackle of the oxygen mask they had placed over his face.

But no matter how hard they tried, no matter how many shocks or breaths they gave him, Will wasn’t responding.

She could still feel the cold weight of his body as she had clung to him by the pond, her voice hoarse from screaming his name, begging him to wake up. He had saved her. But she couldn’t save him.

“Please, Will…” she whispered under her breath, barely aware of the nurse adjusting the oxygen mask on her own face.

The hospital loomed in the distance, growing closer with each passing second. But time felt wrong to Stella—too fast and too slow all at once. She barely noticed when they pulled her stretcher from the ambulance, rushing her inside. All she could do was glance back toward the other stretcher—his stretcher. Will’s motionless body was covered with blankets, the paramedics still working on him as they wheeled him through the emergency room doors.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Doctors and nurses swarmed around her, but Stella barely registered their faces or their words. Everything was muted, like the world had been turned down to a low hum. She heard someone mention hypothermia, another voice say something about her oxygen levels. But none of that mattered.

Her eyes flickered toward the room they’d taken Will into, the door swinging shut behind the team of doctors that surrounded him. She wanted to run to him, to push through the crowd and grab his hand, to be with him. But her body was weak, too tired and cold to move.

“Is he okay?” she whispered to one of the nurses, her voice cracking, though she already knew the answer. The nurse hesitated, her eyes soft with pity, but Stella couldn’t stand the silence. “Please… tell me…”

The nurse gave her a pained look. “They’re doing everything they can,” she said gently, placing a hand on Stella’s shoulder. “But… you need to rest now, Stella. You’ve been through a lot.”

“I don’t care about me,” Stella croaked, tears stinging her eyes. “I care about him. He gave me his last breath… he saved me… he can’t… he can’t die…”

But the nurse said nothing more, just gave her a sad smile and walked away. The world around Stella blurred again as the hours seemed to stretch on. She lay there in the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, listening to the distant beeps of machines, the hushed voices of doctors and nurses moving through the halls.

Time felt meaningless.

Then, finally, a doctor emerged from Will’s room, his face drawn with exhaustion. He walked toward her bed, each step heavy with the weight of the news he had to deliver.

Stella sat up as much as her weak body allowed, her heart pounding in her chest, fear clawing at her throat. “Is he…?”

The doctor looked down, shaking his head slowly. “I’m so sorry, Stella,” he said softly. “We did everything we could… but it was too late. Will… he’s gone.”

It felt like the air was sucked out of the room.

Stella’s breath hitched, her chest tightening painfully as the words sank in. “No…” she whispered, shaking her head. “No, he can’t be. You have to keep trying. He can’t be gone.”

“I’m sorry,” the doctor said again, his voice gentle but firm. “He was already too far gone when we got to him. There wasn’t enough oxygen reaching his brain for too long. He gave you everything he had.”

The tears Stella had been holding back finally broke free, streaming down her cheeks as she shook her head in disbelief. “But he… he saved me,” she choked out. “He can’t just be gone. He… he saved me.”

The doctor didn’t say anything more. He simply nodded, his eyes filled with sorrow before he turned and walked away, leaving Stella alone with her grief.

She lay back in the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling once more, the tears falling freely now, her chest aching with every breath she took. Will had saved her—he had given her everything he had, his last breath—and now he was gone. The thought of living without him felt unbearable, the emptiness he left behind swallowing her whole.

Stella’s fingers clutched the blanket covering her, her knuckles white as she whispered into the stillness, “Thank you, Will… for saving me.”

But there was no answer. Just the cold, hollow silence where his voice used to be.

Her vision blurred with tears, but through the haze, she could make out a figure moving slowly down the hall.

It was his mother.

Her hair was disheveled, her face pale and etched with lines of grief. She walked like a ghost, her body sagging under the unbearable weight of losing her son. Stella’s breath hitched as she watched Will’s mother step into his room, the door slowly closing behind her.

She couldn’t just lie there. Her body was weak, her limbs trembling, but she had to go. Stella swung her legs over the edge of the bed, fighting against the exhaustion that pulled at her, and stood. Her legs wobbled beneath her, the cold tiles of the hospital floor biting at her bare feet, but she forced herself to move.

Every step felt like she was walking through water, her body protesting, but she couldn’t stop now. She reached the doorway to Will’s room, pausing as her hand rested on the frame. The door was cracked open just enough for her to see inside.

Will’s body lay still on the hospital bed, his face peaceful in a way that only deepened the ache in Stella’s chest. His skin had taken on a pale, bluish tint, lips slightly parted where life had once flowed. He looked as though he was simply asleep, but Stella knew better. There was no waking from this. He wasn’t coming back.

And then she saw his mother.

She was hunched over the bed, her hands cradling Will’s lifeless face, her fingers trembling as she stroked his hair. Silent sobs wracked her small frame, her shoulders shaking violently as she pressed her forehead against his, whispering brokenly to him through her tears.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” his mother whispered, her voice cracking with sorrow. “I’m so, so sorry. I should have been here… I should have done more…”

Stella’s heart twisted painfully at the sight, tears spilling down her cheeks as she watched the woman’s grief unfold. Will’s mother pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, her hands shaking as they held his cold face, as though she could bring him back to life through sheer force of love and desperation.

“I love you so much, Will…” she whispered, her voice trembling. “You’re my baby… you always will be…”

Stella’s knees buckled, and she sank to the floor just outside the door, her body racked with sobs. She pressed a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound, but the tears wouldn’t stop. Will had given everything to save her. He had sacrificed himself for her. And now, his mother was left to grieve a son who had been taken too soon.

The pain was unbearable. Watching his mother break down over his still body, hearing the soft murmurs of her final goodbye, felt like a wound that would never heal. Stella had known loss before—she had lived her whole life under the shadow of it—but this was different. Will had been the one bright, reckless light in the darkness, and now that light had gone out.

His mother’s sobs filled the room, raw and heart-wrenching, and all Stella could do was weep silently outside the door, her heart shattering for the boy who had saved her life.

She didn’t know how long she sat there, her back pressed against the cold wall of the hospital hallway. Time felt meaningless. But as the minutes passed, the sounds of his mother’s grief grew quieter, until there was nothing left but the steady hum of the hospital around her.

Finally, she heard the door creak open, and Will’s mother stepped into the hall. Her face was pale and drawn, eyes swollen from crying, but when she saw Stella, something shifted in her expression. She looked down at the girl, her eyes softening despite the overwhelming pain she carried.

Without a word, Will’s mother reached out and pulled Stella into her arms. Stella collapsed into her, the sobs she had been holding back spilling free once again. They clung to each other in the empty hallway, united in their grief, both mourning the boy who had given everything for one final act of love.

“He saved me,” Stella whispered through her tears, her voice breaking. “He gave me his last breath…”

Will’s mother held her tighter, her own tears mingling with Stella’s as she pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “That’s who he was,” she whispered, her voice filled with both pride and sorrow. “He would have given everything for you… for the people he loved.”

Stella nodded, her chest aching with the weight of those words. She didn’t deserve what Will had done for her, but he had done it anyway—because that was who he was. And now, they were both left to carry on without him.

Together, they stayed there, lost in their shared grief, knowing that life would never be the same without Will, but that they would carry his memory with them forever.