Steven's POV:

My breath catches in my throat and I try not to retch at the sight. I want to turn and look away, to yell to Frank to come instead, but I can't.

I run in and crutch down next to her pale, corpse-like body. She reeks of sweat and dry blood while another sour stench of urine, feces, and cement causes me to become bilious. I place my fingers against the sticky skin on the side of her neck to check for her throbbing pulse. An indication that she's still alive, but my insides twist at my discovery.

There's none. Not a single pulse.

"Hell cat?... Hell cat!... Enough with your damn games now, come on! Wake up! Hey, wake up!" I shout while shaking her lifeless body uncontrollably, lightly smacking her a few times against her cheek to get a reaction from her.

She doesn't respond.

I have no idea why, but for some or other reason I actually find myself caring if she's dead or alive. Which is completely unlike me. I don't care for or about anyone. I never have... well at least not anymore.

Not after what happened when I was 18. I was fucking 18 years old and stripped of my-... screw that. I'm not about to pity myself. What happened, happened. It cannot be changed, it cannot be fixed, it's broken, it's dead, and so it will remain forever.

"What's going on here? What are you doing? How is she?" Frank frantically questions from behind me as he runs into the room. As soon as he's next to me, he gasps at Vivian's state and current profile. "Dude, what the- She's not breathing!" His eyes widen at this realization.

Before I get the chance to react, he shoves me out the way and crutches down. I feel like throwing a swing at his face. The damn nerve he has to touch me. But I soon realize that he did it without thinking as he begins to panic and quickly lifts hell cat off of the bloodstained floor. He speeds towards the exit of the room while carrying her bridal style.

"Where are you going with her?" I yell out as I quickly get back up on my own two feet and start to follow him after locking the door and placing the key back in my pocket. 

"Where do you think you fucking idiot!" He yells back already halfway up the staircase. It's clear that he's heavily pissed off at me. He's not saying it now, but as soon as he drops hell cat off in the evaluation room, he's going to lose his damn mind.

I decide to let it go and mentally prepare myself for the speech that's soon about to be bestowed upon me. Not from Frank, I couldn't be bothered less with what he had to say. I prepare myself for Peggy's wrath. As petite as she is, I have seen her deeply infuriated before and trust me when I say that it's not a side of Peggy anyone would ever wish to encounter. However, since it's me, her revolting anger has no effect on me whatsoever.

"You better pray that she wakes up," Frank announces, breaking the soothing silence that existed mere seconds ago. He races through the main doors towards the evaluation room, nearly tripping on the way. I can't help but smirk at the idiot even though he cannot see me. Two left feet, what a shame.

His close fall makes me completely forget why we came all the way here in the first place. Just then my eyes latch onto hell cat's pallid complexion. She looks drained of life. Her deathly white skin pulled tight against her bones. Maybe I should have fed her at some or other point or at least given her water.

Shit.

What have I done? I think for a few seconds before realizing that I'm questioning my own actions. I have always known when to do what it is that I am supposed to do. I never question my decisions or my actions. I am precise and coherent. So why the sudden feeling of... Regret?

Fuck that!

She deserves what came her way. Practically begged for it. She received multiple warnings but refused to listen. If she just cooperated like every other damn person here, things would have turned out differently.

"Peggy!" Frank shouts as we reach the room.

He swiftly hurries over to the bed and places her limp body down. She sinks with ease into the fabric. Peggy snaps her head towards Frank as she hears her name and drops the towels on the ground as soon as she sees what his war cry is all about. One look at hell cat, and her eyes filled with panic, fear, and anger all at once. 

"Vivian! Vivian!" She yells while shaking her, then realizes that it's a pathetic attempt at waking her up. She runs over to the desk and grabs a tray of medical shit. 

"She's not breathing. I don't feel a pulse." Frank announces.

"Have you even bothered with CPR!?" She yells at him, her tone harsh with no remorse. 

Recognizing her tone and the level of stupidity he endures, Frank's eyes expand and he instantaneously bends over and begins doing CPR. I knew that's what I had to do when I saw her in the room in the basement, but there was no way in hell that I would ever want to do mouth to mouth with her. Not even if she's dead. Hell, especially if she's dead.

"You!" She shrills as her eyes find mine.

Here we go...

"What have you done? Huh! What have you done? You left her there for three days without checking up on her!? Not once did you bother to use that imbecilic brain of yours to think about the consequences! Even though I warned you! I warned you that this was going to happen, Steven!" She continues to shrill while throwing random objects at me.

I duck each and every one of them. When she manages to throw a tiny knife towards me, don't ask me what it's called, how the fuck should I know, I move trying to dodge it, but it lands right in my arm. That's when she collects her senses and stops. Her breath hitches as blood starts to run down my arm as I pull the tiny knife out. It's not painful, it stings for sure, but it's nothing I can't handle.

She grabs one of the towels off of the floor and speed walks over to me. Then places it on my arm and tears soon begin to build up in her eyes. "Peggy I-" I begin as I think up of some bullshit to smother her with. "Leave. I don't want to see you," she interrupts and pushes me out the door, then slams it shut in my face. 

Well, that went better than I thought it would. Sort of.

I walk away and head to one of the other room's to get two stitches. The blade went in deep and a plaster won't stop it from bleeding. The thing is, and I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I hope that hell cat wakes up. Who else am I going to mess with around here?

-₹៛₹៛¤៛₹៛₹-

Peggy's POV:

Steven just doesn't know when to quit, now does he. This time he has gone too far. I honestly feel like strangling him! The hell that he has put Vivian through is sickening and it has to end. I won't allow him to harm her anymore, not physically, mentally or emotionally. Enough is enough and I have had it with him.

I push the door close after shoving Steven out and turn around to rush back to the bed in which Vivian lies. Steven's presence isn't needed here right now, or ever for that matter of fact. I pick the tray back up that I placed on the desk when I threw things at Steven and see that Frank's still busy doing CPR.

He does chest compressions down in the center of her chest, pumping hard and fast. Faster that one pump a second. He tilts her head back, lifts her chin, pinches her nose, and covers her mouth with his. He blows his air twice into her lungs, before pumping again.

"Go and get the defibrillator, I'll continue here!" I yell at him hastily while placing the tray on the bedside table. 

My hands replace his and I begin to pump her chest. Frank runs out as fast as he possibly can. "Please don't die, please come back, please don't die," I chant. I do the same that Frank did and tilt her head back, pinch her nose and breathe my air into her lungs til her chest rises. I repeat this twice, then pump again.

I'm not giving up! Come on Vivian wake up! I yell internally while fighting a battle with my tear ducts. I'm not going to cry now. There's no time for that. 

"Goodness, please say that it wasn't ventricular fibrillation." 

I try to convince myself that it isn't a fatal case, that she'll survive and be perfectly fine once she opens her eyes.

"What's that?" Frank questions as he storms back into the room with the defibrillator on a tray with wheels. His nurse follows him in.

"It's the most serious cardiac rhythm disturbance. It causes pumping chambers in your heart to quiver uselessly and the heart can't pump any blood, causing cardiac arrest. It plummets blood pressure, preventing vital organs of a steady blood supply," she answers quit professionally and I continue to pump while she sets up the defibrillator as quickly as possible.

"How could that have happened? What could cause it?" he questions, more curious than ever before.

"She could have undergone a serious panic attack inside that room, leading to a heart attack which left damages behind. These damages cause abnormal, rapid, and erratic electrical impulses that started in the ventricle. Which are called ventricular tachycardia." I explain a fast as I can, running out of breath in the process as I panic at the reality before me. All the while explaining, the nurse and I removed Vivian's tank top to place the AED Electrode pads on her chest and below her armpit.

"Shit... Do you th-" Frank wants to question again. "CLEAR!" the nurses plangently exclaims. Vivian jerks from the shock wave sent through her body.

But she doesn't respond.

"Come on Vivian! Wake up! Wake up!" I dreadfully yell while doing CPR yet again. My vision becomes a blur and a wet liquid slides down my face. The air feels stale, depressing and my chest begins to ache. "CLEAR!" The nurse exclaims once again and I quickly remove my palms from Vivian's chest. Another shockwave zaps through her like lightning strikes a tree.

But she doesn't respond.

If she doesn't wake up soon, she'll never wake up. Any longer and her brain cells will die due to the lack of oxygen. I quickly near her again and continue CPR. I am not going to give up on her. She's way too young to die like this. 

"Vivian! Wake up!... Dammit child, wake up! I can't keep repeating myself like this! You are not going to die!... Vivian!" I shrill in anger and frustration, hot tears streaming down my face land on her chest as I continue to pump.

"Peggy, I don't think that she's going to wake up. Maybe you should st-"

"Don't tell me what to do!... She's not dead!" 

I'm trying my best to stay positive and hopeful about the situation, but I find myself losing faith in the possibility of her lively existence. I decide to go for two more rounds, attempting to bring her back to life. It's now all or nothing. "CLEAR!" The nurse plangently exclaims one last time and I remove my hands. Another blast of shock waves zap throughout her pale body and I secretly pray for her to respond. Even a twitch would suffice the aching pain growing in my heart.

She doesn't respond for the third time. I can't handle this.

I near her again. Only two rounds Vivian, that's the only chances that I'm willing to give you I telepathically think to her. Not that she can hear me, but it makes me feel better knowing that I, sort of, warned her.

I know that I'm trying my best and didn't simply give up on her. I'm still not giving up. She has two more chances. I breathe my air into her lungs yet again, then place the palm of my hands on her chest ready to begin pumping.

Without warning, a high pitched shriek escapes me as I fall back. I expect to hit the ground, but Frank catches me in time. Her body shoots up into an upright position, then immediately curls over as she clenches onto her heart. She begins to cough ferociously. It takes me a second too long to come to the realization that...

She's alive!