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“Ada. Ada, wake up.”
Emil’s voice seemed to come from every direction at once, filling the air with its familiar tone.
“Please, Ada. I don't know what to do.”
Ada was somewhere without pain or suffering, ensconced in a golden warmth that permeated her entire body. She smiled, hearing the voice of her beloved husband so close to her. Emil was here. She didn't know where, she couldn't see him, but he was here.
“You need to wake up. Please, Ada.”
Ada looked around, seeing nothing but sunlight and deciding that was okay. The light was beautiful, rays of elation emanating from her surroundings.
“This isn't working, what do I… Dr. Mesmer. There's a patient who needs you. Your patient needs help.”
This time, Ada frowned. Emil hadn't called her Dr. Mesmer since his earliest days at the asylum, and even then, in his darkest moments, never in that fearful tone.
Something was seriously wrong.
Ada forced her eyes open to the sight of pitch darkness.
“Ada. Please, please wake up, you need to wake up. I don’t know what to do.” Emil’s face wavered and materialized in front of her as her eyes adjusted in the dim moonlight, the faint glow reflecting off tear streaks on his face.
She moved to reach out for him and was stopped by something holding her back.
“It was Orpheus. He became this… creature, and brought the tree down on you when you tried to run.” Emil’s voice was shaky, and Ada tried fruitlessly to reach for him once more before looking back.
She was on her stomach, her legs behind her pinned to the ground by a fallen tree. Her head switched to work mode in an instant, assessing the damage with a clinical eye. It was difficult to examine with all the blood, and a bit deliriously, she wished she could be doing this in a sterile medical facility. Dread sank into the pit of her stomach when she saw shards of white where the bones of her calves had splintered off and shattered.
She tried to move them and found that they remained stubbornly still, not even an arrow of pain shooting up her spine. Nothing.
Ada wasn't a doctor of physical health, but she knew as well as any doctor what irreparable damage looked like.
“Emil, you need to leave.” The words slipped from Ada’s lips before she could stop them. Emil’s head shook stubbornly.
“How do I get you out? I’m not a doctor, I don't know…” Emil trailed off, hands balled into helpless fists that Ada could tell would leave crescent marks on his palms. It was a bad habit of his, a form of self-harm that Ada was working with him to stop. He’d gotten so much better about it recently, only resorting to that comforting pain when he was extremely stressed.
“You're not getting me out. Not unless you cut me out.” Ada sighed. Emil shook his head violently.
“But your legs.”
Right. Her legs. It hadn't taken Ada longer than a second to process that she’d never walk again.
Not that it mattered, because she was going to die here regardless.
“The nerves are severed, Emil. Remember what that means, when I was teaching you about anatomy?” Ada’s voice dropped to the soothing tone she used when trying to calm Emil, the switch almost instinctive. Her husband looked at her, eyes no less fearful, but he obediently recited the lesson she’d taught him on the different tissues and nerves in each part of the body.
“Nerves are how the brain talks to the body. You can't control how they move or feel them if their nerves aren't connected to the brain. Right?” Emil asked shakily. Ada smiled.
“Very good. You’re a brilliant man, you know that?” She murmured, and Emil’s fists tightened at the praise.
“You can't feel them, then. What if I actually cut you out? Will you bleed to death?” Emil’s voice grew louder and louder as he talked.
“... Probably, yes. Or I’ll go into shock and die from that.” Ada said simply. Emil didn't look even slightly discouraged.
Emil had to leave. Orpheus could be back at any time to finish her off, or maybe he’d done this on purpose to lure Emil out. Every rational thought in her mind told her to scream at him to go, to make him get somewhere safe by any means possible. One single selfish thought convinced her not to.
She didn't want to die alone.
“Probably? So there’s a chance?” Emil asked uncertainly. Ada paused. Emil’s idea was crazy. A desperate attempt to save something that couldn't be saved. In a triage situation, no doctor in their right mind would even consider wasting resources on her.
But maybe.
“There's a chance. You’d have to… tie tourniquets to slow the bleeding. Find something sharp to use and clean it. Infection takes longer to kill, but it’ll kill. Keep my legs elevated while you carry me, then you’ll have to get out of here and find a hospital without my help, since I’ll likely be unconscious by that point.” Ada listed off, like a surgeon directing her assistants in the operating room. Emil’s fists loosened, and he nodded along, listening attentively to every word.
She found that Emil calmed down very quickly when given specific tasks to complete. She’d never imagined she’d be giving him a task like this, but some part of her brain whispered that if she let herself die without giving him a chance to help, he really wouldn't recover from it.
At least this way, he would feel like he’d been able to make her proud in her final moments. Hopefully, that would grant him some kind of solace.
Hopefully, Emil would be okay without her.
“Will White Sand be able to treat you? I know it’s not a real hospital, but they have medical equipment, and… um… I know how to get there.” Emil bit his lower lip, and Ada’s heart twisted at the words.
“Don't. They’ll recognize you, they’ll take you back. Anywhere but the asylum.” Ada said firmly.
“Forget about that. Can they treat you?” Emil asked stubbornly, and against every ounce of Ada’s better judgement, she relented.
“... Yes. They have a wing for medical emergencies.”
“Where do I get something sharp?”
Ada pulled a scalpel out of her tool belt, frowning at the mud and peat that covered it.
“You need to clean it. Running water, or better yet, alcohol.” Ada didn't even realize her head had dropped to the ground until Emil was holding her up, shaking her desperately.
“No, no, don't go yet. Hold on just a little longer. You need to tell me what to do.” Emil pleaded, his face swimming in Ada’s field of vision.
“Cut… as low as you can. Don't stop if I scream. Cutting bone hurts.” Ada mumbled, feeling Emil’s hands tremble on either side of her head. She could feel consciousness slipping away from her, sliding through her fingers like water in a sieve.
“Please don't die. Please. I need you.” Emil whispered, the sound growing distorted as its serpentine shape wrapped around her mind.
Emil’s wide green eyes were the last thing she saw as her eyes fluttered shut, weighed down by the force of a dozen weights.
The darkness was comforting. Not as comforting as that beautiful golden light, but the absence of color was reassuring in some way.
She faintly heard a high pitched tone surround her, only vaguely recognizing it as her own scream when she noticed the grating of a scalpel against the bone just below her knee. She settled into the darkness further, hearing the sound grow impossibly louder before stopping, then restarting again with the other leg.
If this was dying, then Ada decided she didn't mind it at all. This was comforting, not quite warm, but the absence of cold helped. And Emil was here. Emil, the love of her life. Nothing made her happier than knowing that one day, her beloved Emil would feel this peace too.
Ada vaguely felt herself float in the air and realized she was flying.
“It’s okay, Ada, it’s over. I’ve got you. Just stay with me a while longer, okay?” Emil’s voice came from everywhere at once, and Ada found herself content to settle into its comforting cadence, letting the blackness envelop her even further as familiar arms lifted her into the air.
The last thing she heard before it consumed what remained of her thoughts was the rhythmic sound of Emil’s breathing, so close to her that she could almost imagine it was her own.
When Ada awoke, the light was not golden, but stark fluorescent white. She groaned as pain settled into every inch of her body, reality flooding back into her limbs like IV fluids.
A petite woman with round glasses was hunched over her bed, while Emil sat in the corner.
Emil.
“Helena. You made it out.” Ada rasped, reaching out to touch the woman’s face. Helena was blind, Ada knew she would appreciate the acknowledgment that she was able to move.
“I could say the same to you. We didn't think you were going to make it. I’m glad you did.” Helena returned the gesture, reaching a hand out to touch Ada’s cheek.
“Who’s we? Emil?” Ada asked hoarsely, and she watched panic flit over Helena’s face. She never was any good at controlling her facial expressions.
“Ada, Emil… didn't make it. Remember? Orpheus shot him. Right here.” Helena pulled Ada’s hand to her own chest, tapping the other woman’s fingers over her heart. Ada could feel her own chest ache at the reminder.
Yes. Ada remembered.
She remembered seeing Emil dead on the forest floor, seeing that beastly creature turn its gaze on her next as she wailed over the body of her husband.
Emil watched her from the corner with a sad smile.
“We, as in me and the doctors. They have no idea how you managed to perform that kind of emergency surgery on yourself. They say you should’ve passed out before you got free, let alone escaped and made it all the way here without being able to walk. They found you almost dead outside the gate.” Helena explained softly, Ada stubbornly not meeting her eyes. It wasn't like Helena would be able to see her staring right at Emil, who was watching the scene quietly.
“Could I… have a moment? You can come back in ten minutes, I just… I need to process.” Ada asked, and Helena nodded vehemently.
“Of course. Take as much time as you need.” She picked her cane up from beside Ada’s hospital bed, tapping it lightly on the ground as she walked out the door.
Emil still hadn't said a word.
“Emil… You don't have to be here. I’m okay. I made it.” Ada looked down at the gristled stumps where her legs were severed, cuts imprecise and unprofessional.
“You passed out before I got to tell you I love you. So I waited for you to wake up. Did I do good, Ada?” Emil’s voice was timid like a mouse, and Ada swore she could feel her heart snap into two irreparable pieces.
“You did so good. I love you so much, my sweet boy.” Ada choked, tears wrenching themselves out from behind her eyelids.
“You saved my life, you know. In the asylum. I wasn't alive until I met you. I had to return the favor.” Emil moved his chair to be beside Ada’s bed, grasping her hand in his own. His grip felt like golden sunlight.
“You did. You saved me.”
Emil smiled even wider with all the innocence of a puppy being praised.
“And now I even get to say goodbye to you.” He whispered. Ada sobbed at the sight, at how awed he looked just to have this one final moment with his wife. She squeezed his hand impossibly tightly until she felt crescent marks of her own lining her scraped palms.
“Goodbye, Emil. I’ll always love you.” Ada watched as Emil shimmered briefly, wavering before dissipating into yellow light.
“Goodbye, Ada. I love you more than love itself.” Emil’s last words came from everywhere around the room, and as soon as the last vestiges of him vanished, Helena carefully cracked open the door, making Ada sob even harder.
“Ada, are you…” Helena trailed off when Ada nodded. The blind woman looked around the room uncertainly, as if sensing something out of place.
“I’m alive.” Ada simply responded. Helena glanced around the room, perhaps seeing something that vision was not sufficient to observe.
Emil’s chair was in the corner of the room as if he’d never moved it, and Ada was alive.