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 Kant's chest in desperation.
"CPR? No, that's for the heart, not this..." Gabriel hesitated, his voice trembling. "What do I do? Come on, think!"
He threw the pillow aside and grabbed the blanket instead, pulling Kant into a seated position. It might help make breathing easier.
"Like this..." he mumbled, trying to prop Kant into an upright posture, but the weight of unconsciousness was dragging him down.
"Stop falling over!" Gabriel 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 Kant'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 Gabriel freeze.
"So this is how I die, huh?"
Gabriel whipped his head around to see another ghost—Kant'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-Kant mused, blankly glancing at his body on the bed. He looked up at Gabriel, their gazes locking.
"Huh...?" Gabriel exhaled, dazed.
Kant 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 Hunter and a nurse. The air stood still as the nurse assessed the situation, her practiced urgency faltering.
The noise snapped Gabriel back to reality. "What are you doing out here?!" he hollered at ghost-Kant, jumping off the bed and grabbing him with both hands. "I told you to breathe, not come out for your last words!"
Kant's body, no longer supported by Gabriel's frantic efforts, sagged like a lifeless sack of potatoes. Hunter stood rooted in place, and the nurse's hands froze mid-motion.
"Hey, hey, I can't control it," ghost-Kant 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, Gabriel slapped ghost-Kant back to his body. "Why are you giving up so easily?! You're not dead yet! Get! Back! In!"
Ghost-Kant'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-Kant's form made contact with his body, it was like a vacuum cleaner sucking him back inside.
Kant'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 Kant 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 Gabriel, stunning blue eyes staring at him. The speed of Kant's world slowed to a steady hum.
For a moment, it looked like Gabriel 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 Kant'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 Hunter. Poor woman was so stunned she didn't realize she was stepping on the man's foot, but Hunter didn't seem to notice either, panting out a scoff of disbelief.
"Motherfucker," he muttered under his breath at Kant.
It sent a chill down the nurse's spine, and she jumped back, quickly apologizing as she moved to check Kant's vitals. Her eyebrows remained stuck high on her forehead after witnessing such a miracle.
"This... this was not fun at all..." Gabriel mumbled, sinking to the floor.
Kant 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 Hunter 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."