Chapter Text
The other side was glaring in the distance, the flashing mystical spiral of light almost taunting the small girl. Despite being dead her stomach already felt like it was in knots. She just took her surroundings in, eventually noticing Jane's doll, carelessly tossed on the floor. For some reason her eyes only fixated on the doll, it felt oddly familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, what confused her more is if it was familiar why didn't she pick up on that immediately upon Jane's strange arrival. She just kept staring at the rather decrepit doll, it was then her heart sank.
"Oh my god Ocean look at that one!" A rather tall girl exclaimed, her wide smile of enthusiasm showing her tooth gap. A rather rare sight to see. This girl was Penny Lamb, latest addition to the choir, and simultaneously the most feared and picked on girl in school. Ocean was immediately picked by Father Marcus to set a good role model for the taller girl. It didn't take long for that relationship to blossom into a rather interesting friendship, Ocean always felt her face start to flush whenever in the room with the girl. She never really was able to put her finger on it, only really adding it up to simply being intimidated. She was rather intimidating, though there was some beauty to that to Ocean. Penny's tall frame, and sometimes quite mysterious nature, always seemed to draw her in.
"Are you even looking?" Penny crossed her arms, snapping Ocean out of her trance, only stumbling a quick "Huh?". Penny just rolled her eyes, grabbing Ocean's arm and dragging her over to the prize corner. Though Ocean only fixated her gaze on Penny's hand, until she pulled away. "You think Ez will like this?" She pondered, staring at a rather old looking doll. The doll had bouncy blonde curls, it looked ancient, its pitch black eyes almost piercing Ocean's soul. Ocean simply shuddered at that, she knew Ezra Penny's younger brother was into strange oddities… "Knowing him-, yeah-, uh-, probably… " She eventually muttered.
Penny just laughed quietly at that, immediately getting the attention of the carnie. "How much for that creepy doll?" Penny asked, pointing up at the curly haired doll, the carnie looked up from his rather inappropriate magazine, already getting a slight cringe from Ocean. "That old thing? 10 tickets." He stated simply, his breath gravely. "Oh-" Penny started, obviously she didn't have enough, it wasn't uncommon for these prizes to be complete rip offs. Ocean froze, she didn't want to see Penny disappointed, immediately putting 5 more tickets on the prize table. "We'll go dutch!" She smiled looking over to Penny, who looked slightly confused at her wording. Earning a quiet "Split the cost of it-" which Penny did thankfully agree on. Nodding slightly, a small smile appeared on her face.
She put all her tickets on the table, the disgruntled carnie giving her the old doll. Seeing Penny's smile was worth all those tickets, Ocean knew her face was flushed, Ocean knew Noel was snickering behind her back, but she didn't care. "Guys! The line for the cyclone is so short today! Come on, it's my favorite!" Constance called out, snapping Ocean out of her trance yet again. As she rushed with her friends to the line.
Ocean could feel herself start to shake, "No-" she mumbled quietly under her breath. "Clock is ticking." Karnak echoed, Ocean just shook her head, immediately going over to Jane. Jane just looked at her with the same curiosity and blank stare as always. Ocean just sighed starting one of her long speeches, though thankfully was not left with the typical groans from Noel "We died young, by total accident. But to say that if one dies young, they die needlessly, that is to discount the years they had. The experiences they had... I would gladly take my seventeen years over nothing. Who do I vote for?... The girl who can't remember any of it. Her... we had a life, she didn't. That's my vote"
She paused, her hands trailing up to Jane's porcelain face. Jane just blinked in confusion, looking down at her. Ocean gently pulled her head down towards her, kissing the taller girl gently on the lips, weirdly getting the kiss returned. Ocean's face was flushed a hot red but she couldn't panic, even Jane's rare smile didn't do anything for her. She just stared at the floor at that, her hands trailing down to hold Jane's cold, dead, hands. "I don't mean to rush you-" Karnak looked at the scene in pure confusion, "Uhg, shut up for once, they're having a moment." Noel scoffed from the corner. Ocean couldn't help but smile slightly at that, Jane's small smile making her feel warm inside. A tear ran down her cheek before speaking. "That's my vote." She pulled away, going back in line. "Motion carried-, Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg-, democracy rocks!... " She shot her hand up, before slowly raising it down.
"As you wish… her name is Penny Lamb, born April 7th, Aries: the lucky nature." Karnak boomed, as Jane started to make it through the light, Ocean couldn't help but continue to cry. Having a death grip on her skirt. Mischa looked at her sympathetically, he knew how she felt in this moment. About to reach out for her only for Karnak's voice to start up again. "I never said all of this was entirely final." He stated simply, "What…?" Ocean questioned, looking up at him. "Do not take everything I say as entirely true, I tend to not be truthful with my words, it is my duty to entertain. So I've decided, not only one person can be brought back to life." His tone sounded almost mocking, it was a bit too obvious he acted like a tormentor at points. Ocean didn't say anything for a while, just storming over to the box Karnak was in.
"What the fuck was the point of all of this?" Ocean never swore, this shook the entire room to their core. Noel just staring at her, probably waiting for all of this to go haywire. Karnak didn't seem to have an answer, he was already losing power from Virgil, though Ocean took that as an insult. Kicking the box rather harshly causing him to immediately start malfunctioning. "Oh Jesus Christ on a bike Ocean! You couldn't have gone one minute without biting someone's head off!" Noel scoffed, immediately rushing away from his usual spot, as sparks started to fly and the sound of metal crashing filled the room. "We're going to die again!" Constance screamed, running from a falling metal pipe. The other side was still open, it was the only way, everyone started to rush through. Except Ocean.
"Ocean, come on!" Noel called out, sighing deeply in disappointment realizing he was going to drag her into the light himself. He grabbed onto the smaller stunned girl, trying to shove her through the portal. "Let me go Noel! I don't deserve to go back!" Ocean choked out a cry, Noel did feel a bit bad for her. But his panickedness only brought out the usual distaste, mumbling a quiet "god not this." Eventually being able to shove her and himself through the light before it closed. And everything went black.
Ocean's ears were ringing, she could tell there was something screaming at her. She tried to turn over but she couldn't, it was like she was glued to this platform. Her eyes eventually shot up, seeing most of the choir glaring at her from a hospital room. "Oh thank god she's awake." Noel sighed in annoyance. "Wh-what-" Ocean stuttered, her eyes adjusting to the bright lights. "Well it seems you've brought all of us back, frankly not a bad thing. But I was already starting to accept the fact I wouldn't be in this god forsaken town!" Noel exclaimed, groaning softly. "I think she did great job, she showed rage, and passion back there! True fighter." Mischa was probably the only one happy about this, despite everyone accepting their deaths, including the tall Ukrainian boy, he usually wasn't the one to blow out on Ocean. Plus he could kinda relate to her for once.
"Mischa for the last time, the issue here is she could've gotten us all killed in the afterlife! Which I didn't think that could even be possible till now!" Noel sighed. The arguments were starting to overwhelm her, it seems most of them were divided on this matter, clearly not liking the fact they had got severely injured, instead of not existing at all. Most of them were all healed with burns, scars, and stitches. Though Ricky was now forced to use a wheelchair. Ocean however, hadn't even been fighting during her coma, she genuinely wanted to be dead, part of her hates the fact she blew out on that moment, she could've just not gone through. Ocean's ears started to ring again, the loudness of the room, the constant beeping of the heart monitor, were just overstimulating her. She began to cry softly, digging her hands into the bed sheets.
The loud arguments during the visiting hour were going to keep persisting, until a tall girl slammed the door open with a stumble. It was Penny. Everyone looked stunned, they all knew her before of course, but the whole Jane Doe incident made them immediately shocked when she entered the room. She looked so different, scars all over her body, and a rather large stitched scar on her neck, clearly she was nearly decapitated. The silence persisted, as she hobbled over to the side of Ocean's bed.
Ocean was still crying silently, until she felt a hand on her chin, being lifted up to be kissed gently on the lips. Ocean was just stunned, of course flushing a bright red, wanting to cry even more upon seeing Penny. "I remembered, and I'm not going to forget that." Penny mumbled softly, wiping Ocean's tears. About to gently run her finger across Ocean's burn scar before being dragged out of the room from her nurse.
"Wow. Okay." Was all that came out of Noel, being gently nudged in the side by Mischa. Indicating it was best to stop the arguments now. Ocean was just left in a hospital bed with her thoughts, eventually being visited by her friends, thankfully with less arguments. She didn't know how she was going to just live a regular life now, and part of her still felt like she never deserved one in the first place.