#hidehillplotdrop013

[nicoxkarvelas]

𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?

triggers: death, choking, poisoning

featuring: @adrianamartinez, @maximoaguilar

It wasn’t a secret that Nico had not been acting like himself recently. He was being more chaotic than normal, problematic, he was causing issues in people's lives where she shouldn’t and he didn’t care. He didn’t care who had gotten hurt in the midst of it all, he had something on his mind and he set out to get it with no care for who was burnt on the way.

After the leak from the shadow it seemed as though the entire town had turned against Nico including his best friends. In his mind he had done no wrong, he was the only one of the two that was single when the kiss happened and Ana was quite literally pregnant with Max's baby. He didn’t care though. He didn’t give a fuck if people thought he was causing problems, if they thought he was ruining lives because all he cared for right now was getting Ana back in his life one way or another.

After texting a bunch of people, causing chaos in the forum and ruining a few lives Nico agreed for a friend to come over. They needed to sort through some differences they were having and Nico was terrible at explaining himself or his emotions over text, he was more of a face to face guy to squash some beef. Tossing his phone onto the couch he was about to head upstairs to the bathroom when he heard a knock at the door already, swinging it open he nodded at his friend and invited him in. ‘Make yourself at home, bro. Get yourself a drink and I’ll be down in a second. I gotta piss real quick before we get into this.” He suggested before heading up the stairs and stopping half way as the other asked whether or not he had anything strong in, where the glasses were and if there was ice in the freezer.

“Yeah, bro. Hard shit.. You know where to find that you’ve been here enough, glasses haven’t moved and the ice should be in the freezer.” He called out before heading up the stairs once more, whipping out his dick for a quick piss and shaking off the drops before putting it away once more and zipping up his jeans. Flushing the toilet he washed his hands and headed back down the stairs to see that his friend had made the two of them a drink and placed his on a placemat ready and waiting.

“Where do you want me to start? I don’t really know how to explain what happened because there wasn’t much to it, I didn’t think you cared so much.. Or would have cared… I figured the two of you were done..” Nico shrugged as he leaned over to pick up the glass from the mat in front of him, holding it in place for a moment before turning to look at his friend once more. “I thought you had moved on, you’d moved away and then you were back, you seemed all loved up or in some relationship at least with the other chick.. What’s her name again?” He asked before shrugging and taking a sip from the beverage he was holding.

He didn’t know what to say anymore, he suddenly realised he couldn’t apologise for his actions because he simply wasn’t sorry. His words would be redundant in the moment and if anything it was a meaningless sex for him that he’d forgotten about until it was being brought up again. It meant so little to him that he couldn’t even pinpoint what his friend was talking about without it being spelt out to him.

"Look.." he started off before stopping suddenly, he was feeling strange, his throat feeling like it was closing up.. like it was hard to breath. He coughed slightly to clear his throat, his eyes looking at the drink in his hand and then over at his friend as he tried to pull himself together. "Me and.." he started off again but found himself almost choking on his words as he began to cough again, this time harder than before. He was struggling to catch his breath now, it was almost as though he was choking on nothing. Eventually the glass in his hand slipped out of his fingers as he felt as though he was losing all feeling and control over himself, his eyes watering as the coughing and struggle was becoming too much. Nico dropped off the seat and onto the ground as he found it difficult to catch his breath.

Had something been slipped into his drink? Surely not. They were friends, they were best friends, this felt a little excessive over a girl. He felt as though he was slowly suffocating as his friend sat there watching and barely moved a muscle, watching him as he struggled to breathe, watched as he was fighting for his life. His coughs and gasps for air becoming few and far between as he felt himself slowly losing consciousness not realising that these were his final moments. Not knowing that his final moments were with somebody he had considered a best friend, somebody that he had shared many laughs and drinks with, somebody he had confided in before. That same person being the one to take his life from him.

His body eventually became too weak to hold himself up as he fought to breathe, his arms giving in as he left himself fall to the floor completely, his breathing now a slight wheeze as his vision was completely blurred and eventually that was just it. He was gone. The fight was over and it was something he hadn't expected or even known was happening until it was. He wasn't attacked in the street or in his own home, there wasn't a fight that he could put up against, it was tactical and almost cowardly.

[eladcmir]

Holding on too tight, Head up in the clouds,

Heaven only knows Where you are now

trigger warning: death, poisoning, murder, a corpse

Truthfully, Ela doesn't remember the last time she lingered at an event for this long. Beyond those that catered to her career, she was as fleeting as a summer monarch, flitting from one flower to the next. Trying to find the next one to keep her going. The reason why she lingers that little bit longer here comes only in the desire to see something good come of an otherwise messy situation, in a town that seemed to only know dread. Regardless of the things the shadow had most recently brought to light, Ela has spent all this time trying to reconcile any distrust she holds for Ana - she knows all too easily how such things can be skewed to magnify the woman as the bad guy; then again, she's also more than aware that Nico always made choices to suit him, and nobody else.

It was only in watching the strength that Max portrayed as he joined the mother of his child in an effort to start the gift opening that she circled back to the unyielding optimism she tried to carry with her. The pair would make great parents, no matter which path they took from this point forward. The fact that any of them were there, was a testament to how they clearly knew that what was most important was the baby. She only hoped that Max wouldn't have to sacrifice anything within him to give their girl the best life possible.

It felt akin to looking through a window, at a family that would be, picking apart each accumulated vision of what their life would be like. Happy - she prayed, someone in this town certainly ought to be. Differences could be put aside, and time certainly offered to heal all wounds. A transcending thought which pulled doe hues from the soon-to-be-parents to Austin. When exactly would those wounds heal? An ache that had simply twisted itself up inside her and chose never to ease. The same happiness she wished upon Ana, Max and their child; while her own was wasted upon a man who didn't want her.

The murmur of voices as gifts are opened and swooned over gives her a momentary reprieve. The white noise seeks to drown even her most callous thoughts within its depth; she stays here because it's easy to pretend life in Hidehill is normal with the promise of new life on the horizon. Too many, has she tried to save and failed. Failure. It struck her in waves, one after the other until her lungs could barely take another.

But all too soon, she's swept up in murky depths again.

The harrowing scream is one she knows all too well. It echoes the halls of the emergency department - patient rooms and hallways forever soaking in the sound that pierces her heart each and every time. The same one that follows her home and hides within every shadow she can't quite brighten. Before she knows it, she's moving forwards. Pushing her way through those that seek to stand in curiosity - it's one of the most instinctive things a human being can do. Eat; breathe - and beckon themselves towards death.

"Get out of my way, Max." She states with the same authority and temperament the hospital staff know her for. It was something she'd built herself upon since the day she could make any given choice for herself. She'd sworn an oath, and Ela had refused to allow anyone to stand in her way.

Help people - save as many as you can.

A toll, that strikes Ela with brutal force at such familiar features staring blankly up at her now. Her chest implodes and where air should have filled her lungs, something far heavier finds its way in. It's excruciating and this time, she can't simply push it down so easily. Seconds pass; too many beats of her own heart to count as she struggles with what lies before her. "Give me some damn space," uttered as others try to crowd their way in as she reaches for a pulse point.

Fingertips find nothing but ice, and she swears she's never felt anything so cold to the touch. It burns away at her skin and were she ever to recount the moment to anyone, she'd tell them that it spread. The chill of death climbed its way into her flesh and froze everything within her, one little piece at a time. "Nico? Nico, come on." No longer is she crouched down in Ana's living room, her mind drags her back to the Trauma floor. Everything is sterilized and cold, and with each detail that floods her mind, Ela works to find something within him that hasn't quite left her yet. "Nico?" Yet hues that stare back at her hold nothing but a never-ending abyss and no matter what she does, she knows he's already gone. "Don't do this to me.."

Frantic hands continue to search for vitals and Ela remains entirely ignorant to the hands that reach for her now. All she needs is the faintest of heartbeats, the twitch of his lip as he struggles to draw air into his lungs. All she knows, is when it felt as if everything within her had died - when Austin left and her whole world left with him, the man lying before her remained the only one to find each tiny sign of life within her. When heartbreak brought her to her goddamn knees, Nico remained the only constant. She owed him her life.

"Ela, please.. he's gone." A hand snapped back to push away those that made an attempt to draw her away. How could she give up like this? How could she not do everything possible to wake him up? That was all she had to do - wake him up. As if nothing could truly keep Nico from another day.

"Help me with her, please. She.. - she shouldn't be seeing him like this."

There was no struggling against it this time, even as her hand grips tightly to Nico's in further refusal, "No.. no, stop. I can wake him up." The heated prickle in her eyes as tears flowed freely sparked something else within her; something otherwise unreachable. It was one thing that too many who followed the same path as her, suffered from. All trained and skilled with the ability to change what could otherwise be inevitable; only to meet a brick wall of loathing and hopelessness when even that was never enough. "I can wake him up." Her scream ripples through the room as something ungodly, as if someone had torn an entire limb from her body. The same one that is now drawn from the ground, lifted from the place beside the box the man she considered a brother, lay dead within.

"No..-- no, don't.. Nico!" It rattled her very soul, the depth of reality sinking in like sharpened blades, one after the other. Each moment would never come to fruition from this day forward. Each smile she'd never see, laugh she'd never hear and comfort that would never envelop her with the warmth that he'd always promised her. Never would she read another late-night text about the next questionable choice he'd made -never would he force her to take the time she needed when life snowballed far too much for her to handle. "Someone wake him up!" Why was everyone just standing around? Staring? Why wasn't anyone else doing anything? It boiled rage and anger and mottled it together with the ache in her chest convincing her that she'd never feel anything other than the acidic burn of disbelief that etched itself into her skeletal form.

The piercing screech of sirens can be heard from streets away and the sound alone swallows her whole until it's the only thing she can hear beyond her own heartbeat. No longer does she hear her own screaming, the words of those around her trying to soothe her within their embrace. The fresh chill in the air as she's half dragged, half carried outside doesn't touch her. Everything within her is already frozen and burnt. There's weakness in her knees and the pit of her stomach has dropped out of her almost entirely. She buckles, given the opportunity to stand on her own and falls into an embrace she doesn't know. One that doesn't reach her as the one that now slips through her fingers. Ela knows she'll never feel the same comfort as that which Nico gave her - she'll never feel that warmth.

Already, she knows nothing is right. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone.

And nothing will ever be the same again.

[maximoaguilar]

𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑 | SELF PARA

And if you fall... If you fall...

TRIGGER WARNING: corpses, poisoning, vomit, death, murder

This was supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life. And while he had once been here to celebrate Ana, the look on his face read one thing. He was now only here for his daughter. Because no matter how much rage came over him, no matter how much he wanted to let it control him, this day didn't just belong to the "happy couple." It belonged to their child, as well as the people in the room who cared about them.

The gifts. Of course he stands next to Ana, like a perfect soldier as she opens them, one by one. Just like he promised, he will be the father he never got -- Hector Aguilar is a name that feels like a distant memory. However, those moments with him are far too real for his liking. He believes he has proven himself time and time again that he is not his father's son. If he turned out like him, Max firmly would believe that he had failed Mason. Failed his little girl. 

He doesn't know how much longer he can do this. Pretend. Pretend like he is not a man scorned by a truth that he never thought possible, pretend like she had deserved to be given his heart. It was fragile enough as it is, having been held together by duct tape after shattering too many times before. Even still, he smiles when he’s told to. He laughs as if he is a robot, controlled and rhythmic. And he places his hand on Ana’s shoulder, as if she hasn’t already ripped this photograph of the two of them in half before it was even taken.

From now on, I will only be in your life for our daughter. It will gut me to do so, but I am not my father. I will give my little girl the father that I never got. But in every other capacity, consider us finished.

They may have been his own words, his own thoughts,, but they stung. Because he didn’t want to mean them. He never thought he’d have to.

He couldn’t lie to her, she had turned him into a shell of a man, a zombie walking through life with an aimless sensibility. To love someone as long as he had loved her, only to learn that maybe, just maybe Nico was telling the truth. That she had been with him, that she had forsaken every promise she had ever made him. To see his necklace still dangling from her neck made his blood boil, but at the same time – the sight gave him hope. Even though he knew that hope would die the moment he walked out the door of this house – Ana’s house, for the very last time as her boyfriend. Not that it seemed to mean anything to her. If it had, she wouldn’t have kissed Nico and done god knows whatever else with him. 

He had never wanted Nico to give him the satisfaction of making him doubt, making him question a relationship that had once thought to have been as strong as it could be. However, as he gave an Oscar winning performance for a crowd of their closest friends and family, it seemed almost impossible to do anything else than allow the cloud of insecurity to take hold. 

Take control.

But then there was her. He would never let his daughter go through heartbreak like this without fighting for her, letting whatever piece of shit know that they would never find anyone else as special as her. But then again, he always wanted her to see her mother in the most beautiful light that she could. Because, even if he could feel his heart slowly breaking – he still loved her. Of course he did. But the taste of betrayal is bitter in his throat as he tries to swallow it down with no avail. There was no getting over this… was there?

Mommy and daddy just didn’t work out. Something. He knew he’d need something to say to her when she got older and started asking questions. People had always told Max he was dependable, possessed all the answers – but he didn’t have any now. 

It’s also then that he allows himself to remember that he never had a parent who had been willing to fight for him. He was always the person fighting for everyone else, the father that people never had. But who would have fought for him back then? Who was going to fight for him now?

Kit. Sasha. Danny. Nicola. So many more. They were standing there, eyes agape with pride as they watched what was thought was a perfect, new family unit. However, it couldn’t have been more fractured. Max didn’t know how much longer he could cover the cracks in the surface. 

 How was he going to tell his Vanilla Unicorn family that come Monday, he would be working for another club?

He had known the risks that came with dating his boss, sharing a child with her. However, he hadn’t realized how much it would hurt to leave them behind for a new environment. Even still, he knew they’d understand that he needed to get his bearings again. Figure out who he was, after following Adriana Martinez like a lovesick puppy for as long as he could remember.

He had more or less tuned out the rest of the world around him, only nodding and smiling as Adriana addressed him. Again, the smile dripped with falsehoods – but she knew that. She was the only one. He had wanted to keep the moment light for everyone else in true Maximo Aguilar fashion. Let them have this day. Even if it had been a day to celebrate his family. One that had managed to no longer exist in a matter of days.

He can hear her words, perhaps the only thing that breaks through the haze he’s in. “Thank you for staying, I’m sorry this is hard.” 

Her touch raises every hair on his body, even know. She is the electricity that brings him back to life even now, even after she has shattered his heart. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” Of course it’s hard for him in some ways, but not when it comes to their child. The one they promised to raise together.

However, he notices a change in Adriana’s face and his protective instincts kick in. Fear. He takes the card before she can even hold it out to him, his eyes becoming wide in surprise. 

Love, Marcus.

He never thought two words could be so jarring and yet they are, well wishes coming from a man that was long since dead. A man that Max had watched fall apart in that place when they were in the hands of Nadia, Carter and Alara. He had once been told that dead man can’t tell new tales. He tries to keep his face calm, neutral as it was before as he reaches for the side of the box – eyes fluttering closed as he tries to keep himself together once a familiar sight comes into view.

A body lies in the box in front of him, having been attacked with minimal brutality, but the sight from that close was enough to make the strongest of men quiver. And he does, shrinking away in shock as he scrambles away from what he has just seen – making every effort he can to keep the appetizers and champagne he had consumed amongst the contents of his stomach. 

Even if he had despised him, he would have never wished this upon him. He would never wish such a fate on anyone. To have people recoil from you in fear, likely used as nothing but a tactic to keep the rest of Hidehill at bay, in line. As if he thought the day could not get any worse, he was facing away from the sight on his hands and knees, trying to find it within himself to lay his eyes upon it once more.

He does turn a bit prematurely, however, when he realizes such shock would likely send the rest of their loved ones into chaos. However, before any of them can get too close – his hands raise in a desperate plea. If he can keep them from seeing the grizzly sight in front of him, he will. 

“Everybody BACK! Stay back!”

While it works for some, he cannot avoid the curious. Even still, he slowly pulls out his phone as he tries to find it within him to stand. When he does, he’s a bit shaky on his feat but he somehow manages to dial the three simple numbers.

“Hi – this is Maximo Aguilar calling from Adriana Martinez’s residence in Hove Lake, someone..” He pauses, head shaking in disbelief as tears finally begin to fill his ears. Who the fuck would do this? Who would ruin such a special day? “Someone… gave us a body at our fucking baby shower..” He doesn't know how he's saying the words aloud as he gasps for air.

He had to give it to him. Nico Karvelas always managed to get the last laugh, even in death.

[adrianamartinez]

in the place that feels the tears

ft. @nicoxkarvelas, @maximoaguilar, @marcusxshaw

TW: death

It was not how she imagined the day going, none of it had gone right.

As she stood at the table that held all the gifts lined up, Adriana ran her fingers against the wrapping paper of the large box laid up against the table. She moved her fingers across each present as she walked. Her mind was anywhere but the party she was hosting.

Throughout the entire event, Ana felt like she was a ghost. Moving through each stage, faking each smile, small talking every conversation the best she could. The best anyone with a broken heart could manage. 

There wasn’t a moment that she didn’t try to meet her eyes with Maxs from across the room, just for him to never return the gaze. She had broken their family before even giving them the chance. They would welcome this little girl with open arms and hearts full of love, but they would welcome her into a world of betrayal that her own mother had created. The thought of it brought a sickness to Anas stomach, as if the baby in there already knew.

He joins her at the table as people start to gather around them. There isn’t time for any of the words Adriana wants to say to him now that they are side by side again. She only has a few seconds until everyone is close enough to hear what falls from her lips. She leans in, her hand laid gently on his chest as she whispers. 

“Thank you for staying. I’m sorry this is hard.”

It’s all she can get out before she has to turn to the guests inside her home. A house that now holds a strange feeling for her because it doesn’t feel like home to her. Home isn’t a place anymore, the word takes new meaning in the form of Max. This place is nothing but walls and a bed, there is nothing homely about the emptiness it shares without him there.

Still, Adriana keeps the pretend smile on her face as they sort through the gifts together. Lingering at the moments their hands connect on the same piece of paper or moving of a bag. Each one sends a sharp pain through her heart, the absence of his touch already starting to sink into her, though she doesn’t let it show. With all eyes on them, including her father who stands behind the crowd but still easy to spot. She keeps up with the show, and doesn't let the facade falter. She does things the Martinez way.

The final gift sits in front of her and Ana can feel a wave of relief hit her as the ending starts to approach. All she wants is for this to finish, for one more chance to get Max alone and talk. The only thing she can think about is fixing things with Max, until she opens the card attached to the beautifully wrapped box before her.

‘Love, Marcus.’

Her hands start to shake immediately. The card would have fallen to the ground if it wasn’t for Max taking it from her hands. 

Even in her state of shock Adriana has to know what lies under the wrapping paper. Her hands move fast to rip the paper off the top before anyone can move her out of the way, tearing through to get the box open. An instant regret when her eyes meet with the lifeless ones of Nicos.

Her eyes move up to the crowd at the sound of a scream. She doesn’t even realize that it’s coming from her own mouth until she hears Max yelling at the others to stay away. 

Adriana stumbles backward, holding her hand over her mouth as she drops her gaze to Nico again. A part of her wants to reach out, to grab him and shake him. To scream at him and tell him that his jokes have never been funny. But she knows the joke doesn’t come from him this time, that’s it’s been played on the both of them. 

She can’t help the loud sobs that come from deep within her as she is pulled away from the scene. Her fathers grip on her arm is tight as he takes her out of the room, Ana turning her head back to see only the top of Nicos head now. She finds it hard to keep herself from looking at him, from feeling the pain of knowing the days he’d never have now. 

She mourns the days they had together.

"He's dead.." She manages to mumble through her sobs, her father the only thing keeping her standing up straight.

There is a violent ache inside of her, something she hadn’t felt since the news of Marcus was delivered on her doorstep here. This house was not a home, it was a beacon for all the pain she’d hold in her life.