Xavier's POV

"Pulse." Alex spoke up every eye in the room going to him and the hand he had around Kate's wrist. "She still has a pulse."

The shouts that came from my family were almost intangible. People running about calling for an ambulance and getting the medics to rush our sister into the car. Alex was the only one that went with her.

The others either wanted to stay here and make sure no one was left or were just too scared too see what might happen, I was one of the people in the second group. The image of Kate's body burned into my brain and as I moved Sokolov into my car and drove him off to our warehouse to keep him for further interrogation, the image of my sister slowly morphed into one of my father.

"Dad!" I skid to a stop, the front of my body drenched in blood. I was shaking in fear, the gunshots could still be heard clearly as we were both hidden behind a table. My hands desperately clutched at the wound in his chest.

Tears streaming down my face, I was blabbering mess, begging my father to just stay with me. "Listen to me Xav." "No no whatever you want to tell me you can do at home okay. I just...I need to get you out of here."

"Oh son, we both know I'm not coming out of here alive." I choked down a sob as I shook my head "No, please don't say that." His bloody hand came to rest on my cheek, and I held it tightly.

"You gotta take over okay. You gotta take care of your family now. You can do this." I nodded my head, I wanted to scream out at the world for this. It was supposed to be a simple deal, I can't even remember how it all went so wrong. So fast.

"And.. and you have to promise that you'll take care of your sister. Find her, get her home and give her all the love I wanted to." I nodded again. I hugged him tightly just holding on until I felt his body go slack.

Our workers had gotten rid of the others I don't remember how long I stayed there but I held my dad until someone had to forcefully pull me away from him.

"I promise dad. I promise I'll make sure she's okay."

It was almost as if I was on autopilot, I didn't even realise I had reached the hospital until I heard my brothers call to me. They had all already reached and were scattered around in chairs.

Sophia was the first one to run up to me and embrace me. She was still sniffling softly, I couldn't imagine how this all must be from her perspective, after all this was almost like losing another sister.

Besides my brothers Ace, Elijah and Eren were also here, along with Ace's cousin Victor. The four were all sat huddled together, Elijah was asleep on Victor's shoulder while the rest just stared ahead vacantly.

After about 2-3 hours Alex and a doctor exited the room, everyone stood up immediately rubbing their eyes to rid them of the sleep. They were talking amongst themselves. Once done the doctor left and Alex turned to talk to us.

"She's out of surgery." he said "The bullet entered on the left above her chest. It shattered her clavicle and sent a fragment of bone into her neck which damages her artery. So-" Alex stopped a second, clearing his throat.

"The surgery was successful and they were able to get the bullet out but the doctors are saying that even though she's out of trouble she isn't 100% safe. there is a chance her condition might deteriorate. with the amount of blood she has lost, it's a miracle she isn't dead. They are going to keep her in a medically induced coma for a while."

Alex's words hung in the air like a dead weight. no one said anything until Elijah let out a choked sob and ran out of the place, the other three following him.

Soon the sound of crying followed from our entire family. No one wanted her to die no one wanted to focus on that part but it was so hard not to when it was staring you right in the face.

Ace's POV

Eren came out of Kate's room, his red rimmed eyes a dead give away of how he had been crying inside. I was the last to go, everyone else had went in, I was just too afraid to face whatever lay on the other side.

Eren gave me his best effort at a smile. It looked more like a grimace but I accepted it anyway. I had no idea how the hell he was able to pull himself together like this right. He out of all of us was the most affected, he may not related to her by blood but he was the one who had been by her side the longest, who had known since they were literal kids.

Passing him i came to a stop in front of Kate's room. I didn't want to go in, I didn't want to confront the fact that this was a goodbye, a goodbye just incase she never really woke up. I shook my head, snapping myself out of that stupid inner monologue.

She was laying so peacefully on the bed, her hair was tied into a loose braid by Sophia, the wraps of her bandages were visible through the hospital gown she wore. God, she looked like a beautiful disaster.

I took a seat on the chair beside her bed. "I'm supposed to say goodbye but I don't really want to. I- I don't want to think about you being gone. I don't think I can physically take you being gone."

I exhaled a shaky breath, come on Ace, think of something, anything you want to tell her before you might not have chance. I scratched my brain for anything I could come up with until i finally remembered.

"My mom, before she became sick, we uh we used sit in our backyard." I took a hold of her, gently encasing it in mine. "Whenever I couldn't sleep, she would take me out there and we would lay on the grass watching the stars. She used to say that when good people die they go to heaven. And god let's us see them through stars."

A few tears slipped from my eyes, I didn't bother wiping them. my voice was hoarse, breaking from the effort it took to not cry. "And I- I really, really don't want you to die. But if you do get tired and you feel like you can't keep fighting anymore, you can let go. I won't be mad. I promise, I'll understand, we all will."

"And just know, that when you go up there you will be the biggest and brightest star in the sky. And every night I'm gonna...look at you, and wave." I couldn't talk anymore, it felt like just being in this room, the mental image of Kate never waking up was just too much.

I pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, whispered a goodbye and walked out of that room with every inch of my soul hoping and praying that the girl that gave me a reason to keep living would finally wake up.

Kate's POV

I woke up coughing out water. The feeling of salt water making my eyes itch. It took a second for me to adjust to the sudden light around me. Sitting up I looked around my eyes squinting under the sun.

A beach?

How the hell was I on the beach? Getting up quickly I noticed my clothes, I was dressed in a long flowy white dress. The material moving with the wind. My bare feet covered in damp sand. What was going on?

"Hello Katherine." A deep voice sounded from behind me. I turned quickly to see an old man, he looked to be in his 40-50s. The face, I remembered that face from every picture that was hung around the house. "Dad?"

"Hello sweetheart." His voice was so soft, almost melodic. "Wha- what is happening right now?" Tears formed at the back of my eyes. I moved to give him a hug but he stepped aside. "Unfortunately sweetheart you can't hug me. You can't touch me at all."

I nodded in understanding "So what is happening here? Am I dead? Is this some sort of heaven? I honestly didn't think I would make it here?" He sighed at that. "No, you're not dead yet, but you are dying, honey. Your body isn't fighting back."

"And does that mean this is all in my head? None of this is real? I mean is this what you even really sound like?" A sad smile was etched on my father's face. "Of course it's all in your head, but that doesn't mean it it's not real."

I tried to make sense of it. "Okay, so if my brain brought you here. There has to be a reason right?" My father nodded along. "I have always wanted to meet you? See who my real father was? Before I knew about the others I just thought you had left me with that monster of a woman."

I sat down on the sand, looking out at the ocean in front of me. The sound of him grunting as he took a seat beside me made me smile slightly. "Well, I never really wanted to grow old without my daughter. Everyday you weren't with us was hell."

I didn't really think about the next words. I don't even know why I spoke them in the first place. "I can play the piano." He smiled even wider. "I was told that you played as well. So anything you want to say about that?"

"I'm proud of you." He said it, he actually said it. 16 years I had pleaded with god to hear those words. I never heard it from my mother, I always hoped to every god up there that I could hear it at least once from my father.

I smiled at him, looking back at the ocean. The wind was soothing, not to cold but just a small breeze. "This feels nice. Even if it is in my head." "It does,but you have to go back now."

"What?" I wasn't ready to go back yet. I didn't want to. Dad smiled sadly at me "You are getting stronger, you have to go back Katie there are people waiting for you on that side."

"No, no I'm not ready. Please dad this is so good. It's so peaceful and you're here. We can just sit here and talk. I don't want to loose you again." His eyes scanned my face. Almost as of memorising every detail.

"Don't worry dear. We will meet again. It will be in the very far off future but we will meet. Until then I need you to go back to your family that is waiting for you. Be with them live the life you were meant. Be happy."

He was fading away, everything around me was fading until all I could see was black nothingness and then I was falling.

I could hear voices fading in and out like a pulse. They were unfamiliar, talking amounts themselves as if I was not there.

"We've stopped the pentobarbital." Said one of the voices.

"How are her stats?" Another replied.

"She's handling it well."

I tried to take a breath but it felt like I was choking. I began to cough and gasp, the feeling of panic washing over me as I realised I wasn't breathing.

"She's trying to wake." Said another voice, "How is she waking up so soon.

"We need to remove the ventilator."

I felt hands keeping my head in place, my lungs burning and a rough pain as they dragged a tube out of my throat. I coughed and spluttered as I took a harsh desperate gasp of air. My eyes fluttered open for only a second before the voices grew weaker and I drifted off again.

The next time I woke up, the first thing I saw was the sunrise coming through my window turning my head slowly I saw Elijah sleeping on Vitor's lap as the latter ran his hands through his boyfriends hair while scrolling through his phone.

"Hey." My voice was raspy and it hurt to speck but it was enough to grab his attention. "Hey." Victor greeted back his voice intentionally low so as to not wake up the others in the room.

"How long was I out?" I questioned.

"Six years." My eyes widened at his answer before he laughed, "I'm kidding. Six days actually."

Our conversation had woken the others also, cheers erupting through out the room as everyone rushed to hug me, being gentle enough to not put too much pressure on my wound.

The doctors came in soon to check up on me, telling me I was doing a lot better than they had expected but still had to stay in the hospital for about a week. I wasn't particularly fond of that but I didn't really have a choice.

We sat talking the whole night, Ace sat by my side his hand held tightly in mine the entire time while Eren sat on my other side playing with my fingers, something he hadn't done since he was 9 but I wasn't complaining.

The rest of my family surrounded my bed, and as I sat on my bed talking to the people I loved most in the world, I could see dad standing in the corner his soft smile still there.

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Hellooo people!

I'm so sorry I couldn't upload last week but as I said before I couldn't find much time during my exams.

I loved writing this chapter, it almost made cry while writing it😭😭.

A little insight into Xavier's mind!

And Ace's goodbye to Kate! Ugghhhhh🥺🥺

And Kate meeting her dad even if it isn't real!!!

Do you guys want to know more about Sophia and her past? If so do comment and tell.

Do tell me what you guys thought of this chapter!

Chapters left- 1+ epilogue

Love you all!💕💕✨✨