The ghost fidgeted anxiously, glancing between the IV catheter lying on the floor and the now-empty doorway.
His gaze darted around for anything he could do to help, even though his ghostly hands were useless. Frustrated, he grabbed a pillow and pressed it against Ein's chest in desperation.
"CPR? No, that's for the heart, not this..." Adriel hesitated, his voice trembling. "What do I do? Come on, think!"
He threw the pillow aside and grabbed the blanket instead, pulling Ein into a seated position. It might help make breathing easier.
"Like this..." he mumbled, trying to prop Ein into an upright posture, but the weight of unconsciousness was dragging him down.
"Stop falling over!" Adriel pinned him against the wall to keep him in place. "Come on, work with me here! You're supposed to bring me back to life, not the other way around," he bargained, squeezing Ein's arms.
The ghost fumbled to check his pulse, pressing a corner of the blanket against his throat. It was weak and rapid.
A few minutes passed, yet no one showed. He kept glancing at the door, hoping someone would barge in soon. But no one did. Fear got the best of the ghost and he turned to cursing.
"Son of a... why are you putting me through this? Was killing me not enough?" he lamented, his voice rising. "Just breathe! It shouldn't be hard!"
Just as despair began to settle in, a resigned voice from behind made Adriel freeze.
"So this is how I die, huh?"
Adriel whipped his head around to see another ghost—Ein's soul—right next to him. His mouth hung open in alarm, disbelief washing over him. "You—" his eyes darted back and forth.
"Didn't expect it to be like this," ghost-Ein mused, blankly glancing at his body on the bed. He looked up at Adriel, their gazes locking.
"Huh...?" Adriel exhaled, dazed.
Ein winced with regret. "I'm sorry about your life. If I knew things would turn out like this, I'd have used my own life as the sacrifice."
The door swung open with a bang, revealing a breathless Dean and a nurse. The air stood still as the nurse assessed the situation, her practiced urgency faltering.
The noise snapped Adriel back to reality. "What are you doing out here?!" he hollered at ghost-Ein, jumping off the bed and grabbing him with both hands. "I told you to breathe, not come out for your last words!"
Ein's body, no longer supported by Adriel's frantic efforts, sagged like a lifeless sack of potatoes. Dean stood rooted in place, and the nurse's hands froze mid-motion.
"Hey, hey, I can't control it," ghost-Ein tried to calm him down. He wasn't about to give in to despair over death. After taking countless lives of others, what right did he have to lust over a longer life? If it was his time to go, so be it.
Angry and terrified, Adriel slapped ghost-Ein back to his body. "Why are you giving up so easily?! You're not dead yet! Get! Back! In!"
Ghost-Ein's eyes widened at the unexpected force. He only managed to stammer out a surprised, "Ow!" as he was thrown onto the bed.
The moment ghost-Ein's form made contact with his body, it was like a vacuum cleaner sucking him back inside.
Ein's senses jolted to life in a chaotic surge. It was overwhelming, like diving into freezing water after basking in the sun.
He gasped for air, his lungs nearly bursting with the sudden rush of oxygen. He felt everything—the weight of his body, the softness of the blanket against his fingertips, the stiffness of the bed beneath him.
The moment Ein opened his eyes, the world around him came into sharp focus, colors and sounds amplifying to the point it felt like stepping into a painting.
Too vivid, too fast, too surreal.
The first thing he saw was Adriel, two green moons staring at him. The speed of Ein's world slowed to a steady hum.
For a moment, it looked like Adriel was either about to put a hole in his forehead or burst into tears, but neither happened.
A fragment of the Main Prayer reverberated in Ein's mind like an eerie echo in an empty room. "Life is a cycle, and the end is just a new beginning."
The words sent a shiver down his spine, especially when coupled with the remnants of lightness from that ethereal state. It was like waking from a long, intense dream.
Frantic breaths filled the silence of everyone's shock.
The nurse, who had been just about to pronounce his time of death, stumbled back and bumped into Dean. Poor woman was so stunned she didn't realize she was stepping on the man's foot, but Dean didn't seem to notice either, panting out a scoff of disbelief.
"Motherfucker," he muttered under his breath at Ein.
It sent a chill down the nurse's spine, and she jumped back, quickly apologizing as she moved to check Ein's vitals. Her eyebrows remained stuck high on her forehead after witnessing such a miracle.
"This... this was not fun at all..." Adriel mumbled, sinking to the floor.
Ein took several deep breaths, his heart racing and lungs burning as if he'd just come back to life. In the background, he could hear Dean arguing with the nurse.
"What was in the IV drip? And why were you so far away? Due to your negligence—"
"God, I think I'm going to be sick," the ghost mumbled to himself, covering his mouth. "This stressed me out real good. Ugh... Can ghosts get heart attacks? I think I might."
"Adriel..." the name slipped from Ein's tongue before he could think. He wasn't even sure why he called out or what he wanted to say.
Dean's jaw tightened when he caught the murmur. He slowly turned to Ein with a look that could kill. "What did you just say?"