PORTLAND, OREGON
DECEMBER 3RD, 2007

OLIVIA'S POV:

"MAGGIE, NO!"

Those two words escaped my lips and time seemed to freeze. I watched in horror as my best friend was impaled by Blackbeard's scabbard.

Maggie's brown eyes connected with mine as a familiar golden dust flowed out of the brunette girl and into the artifact. She gave me a small and pain filled smile, before collapsing onto the ground.

"MAGGIE!" I screamed, tears streaming from my eyes as I stared at the teenage girl who was choking on her own blood.

I snapped out of my horrified and frozen state, before shooting Marcus Sterling with my Tesla gun. I waited until he'd hit the ground, before rushing over to my partner.

"Maggie! Mags, you've gotta stay with me! Okay? Just keep your eyes open! Don't fall asleep!" I rambled though my sobs, as I pulled Blackbeard's scabbard out of Maggie's abdomen and put pressure on her wound. I used my free hand to pull out my Farnsworth and called Artie.

"Artie, we have a problem! Maggie's been stabbed by the artifact! What do I do?" I asked hurriedly, when my godfather's face appeared on the screen on my communicator.

"Blackbeard's scabbard?" He asked worriedly with wide eyes. I nodded quickly in confirmation, and his expression grew solemn. "If the scabbard has already taken her soul, then there's nothing that we can do. I'm–I'm sorry, Olivia. I'm so sorry."

"No! Don't give me that bullshit, Artie! We can save her! There's gotta be something! Maggie's not dying! Okay? Not today!" I snapped, urgently glancing down at my friend, who was bleeding out on the concrete floor. "I'm not giving up on her! You hear me, Artie? She's family, and we don't give up on family!"

"There's nothing that we can do, Olivia! The artifact has already taken her soul! Even if you do neutralize the artifact, she'd still be nothing but a walking meat suit! Besides, Maggie's been impaled! The severity of the wound will kill her, before any help can make it there!"

"I'm sorry, Liv, but it just can't be done!" My godfather told me, pain evident in his voice and on his face.

"Livie, he's right." Maggie told me with heavy breaths, after I'd angrily ended the call. "There's nothing you can do."

"The bastard got me good." She joked with a chuckle, which turned into a pained wince. "Neutralize the scabbard and get out of here. Tell my brother–! You have to tell my brother! You have to tell Ryan that—!"

"No! No way, Mags! I'm not leaving you here!" I argued stubbornly with a shake of my head. "I'm not leaving you alone, no way in Hell!"

"Go, Livie! Someone might have heard the fight and called the cops. You need to go!" The pale girl told me sternly.

"But I don't want you to be alone, when you...." I trailed off, my green eyes filling with tears again.

"I'll be fine, just go!" She said, pushing me to my feet and towards where I'd thrown Blackbeard's scabbard.

I shakily grabbed the artifact, before digging around in my bag for the neutralizing baggie. Quickly, I stuffed the rusty sword into the large bag, ducking away when sparks erupted from it.

I turned around and looked back at my quickly fading friend, tempted to go back and stay with her.

"Don't even think about it, Olivia! Just go!" She shouted, not even having to look at me to know what I was thinking.

I reluctantly did as I was told and ran to the car. As I grabbed my keys from my bag, I took one last look at the scene. I saw Maggie's body slump and the arm that was once on her stomach, fell to the concrete.

After tearing my eyes from the scene, I unlocked the car, before quickly climbing in and driving off.

Once I'd driven a decent distance away from where my best friend's lifeless body lay, I parked the car and let all my remorse hit me. My entire body shook as I sobbed for what felt like hours.

After returning to the Warehouse, I'd promptly gotten into a fight with Artie. I had relentlessly shouted at my godfather, accusing him of not caring enough to even try to save Maggie.

He just stood there, letting me hit and shout at him in my moment of anger and grief. I didn't know it then, but he knew that I needed to temporarily blame something (albeit wrongly) for her death. My godfather was grieving just as much as I was, but he held it in so that I didn't have to be the strong one. So that I could break down my walls and grieve for my best friend.

Twenty minutes afterwards, I sat in my room with a raw throat and a broken voice. Ryan held me tightly as we both cried, sobs raked my body and caused the two of us to shake.

We'd lost our best friend that day and Ryan had lost his twin sister. 

We both knew that from that day on, nothing would ever be the same again.