Summary: Hazel's tumors start growing again, months after Augustus' passing. Then one night, Hazel closes her eyes and meets Augustus in that Something with a capital S.
A/N: My first The Fault in Our Stars one-shot/fanfic. Sorry if this sucks! I just wanted to give it a try. c: If any of you guys have cancer, please tell me if I have errors. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own The Fault in Our Stars. John Green does.
I felt the pressure bubbling in my lungs, and I knew that this was it.
I was finally going to die.
I tried to scream, but ended up wheezing and coughing. I roll of my bed, Philipp still connected to me. I crawl to the door, and bang it twice. That's as much energy as I can muster.
My parents hear the banging and rush in my room, to find me semi-conscious. Black spots are covering my vision, and I am on the verge of passing out. The throb in my lungs is a painful, stabbing pain in my chest, and I know, I just know, that this is the end. This is finally when it's going to happen.
The fluid is choking me. I can't breathe can't breathe can't breathe.
Both of my parents clutch my arms. Both of my parents look into my struggling form. Both of my parents are crying. I look to my desk and try to point to the paper that sits on front of it. "Letter," I wheeze. I can't breath. Can't breathe can't breathe can't breathe.
My father is too wracked with sobs to reach for it, so my mother does. Her hands are shaking as she gives it to me. "Bury," I say in between wheezes and coughs for air. "With me," I cough out.
My father puts his lips on my forehead as he cries. Tears fall down from his cheek and down on my forehead. My mother clutches my hand to her chest, and I feel myself drifting away. Here I come, Augustus, I think. See you on the other side.
Just before I close my eyes, I tell to them, "I love you."
For a second, I feel like I'm on the verge of passing out. No, not passing out. Dying. But then everything comes rushing back. I see the memory of Augustus and I eating in Oranjee in Amsterdam. I see Augustus and I walking down the pavement back to the apartment. I see Augustus and I, shamelessly kissing in front of all those people while Otto Frank's video plays.
In the silence, I think that seeing all those memories again is more than I could ask for.
It's all black when I open my eyes again. Not the terrifying black that envelops you. But that dull black, that makes you feel somehow numb inside. I reach out to feel the nubbins inserted in my nose, and find none. This is really it then. This is Augustus Waters' Something, with a capital S.
I groan, standing up. And when I look towards the distance, I see a white light.
"So this is it then?" I yell out in the open, to no one in particular.
"Why, Hazel Grace, if I knew better, I'd say you were talking to yourself," a voice said behind me.
I whirl around. There's only one person who could ever call me Hazel Grace.
And that's Augustus Waters.
I fly into his arms with impeccable speed. Tears, coming from me this time, gush down my cheeks. His button down shirt-the same shirt he wore for Amsterdam, I realize-is already wet. His chin rests on the top of my head, and I can hear his low chuckle. "You're really here," I whisper.
Augustus pulls away, and says, "So are you." He wipes away my tears with his thumb. "Why are you crying, Hazel Grace?"
I laugh, and look in those clear, blue eyes. How I've missed those eyes. "The absurdity of this all... Well this is Something with a capital S, isn't it?"
He winks. "It is what you make it out to be."
I snort, and girlishly wrap my arms around him. "At least we're together again," I murmur to his chest.
He pulls away again and puts an arm around me. We walk towards the bright light. "Hazel Grace, I was always with you. You just didn't see me."
I snort. "Like the pedophilic stalker you are."
Gus bellows. "See? You're using that word again! Pedophilic." He tastes the word on his tongue. "That's the Hazel I know."
We walk in silence as we near the light. I still can't see anything, but I can vaguely hear random voices inside. "Gus?" I call to him softly.
"Hm?"
"I love you," I kiss him softly. "I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier."
He kisses me again. "It's okay, Hazel Grace. It would have been a pleasure to have my heart broken by you. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay."
And never have I loved him more.