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Matt's face and neck was still covered in countless of bruises, though it wasn't as bad as when he was dead. The lazarus box healed him to the point of his brain functioning again from being a smashed mush, his skull being reformed back to what shape it was supposed to be and his respiratory system working again.
But the bruises still looked like it was supposed to hurt him tremendously even if he doesn't feel anything, maybe he wasn't done being repaired to be alive yet, or maybe it's part of him now. Maybe he's like a zombie or something now. Or maybe it's just the adrenaline rush. Hopefully whatever it is, the bruises won't be permanent cause it's not a good look on him.
He hoped that his appearance won't disturb the others much, though by how much their eyes linger on his face and neck, it was quite a horrible sight. Well, even he was horrified to look at his reflection for more than a second when he got time for himself in the bathroom.
He keeps reassuring them that it didn't hurt at all, but they seem doubtful. Not that he could blame them, he was also worried how he wasn't affected by the deep, dark purple bruises covering him. He should at least feel something, even if it's just a little bit.
But, there's no time to worry about it, they have lives at stake and he's very grateful that he's not in any pain.
He noticed that his head was blurry and cloudy when he didn't push himself and solved mysteries in his head. Maybe it was just that his brain is really starting to accept that people he loves are dying and not coming back like he is. Either that or it's the side effect of his resurrection. He's not so sure.
He didn't know how to feel after the gruesome night he's been put through and how only him, Nikita and Joey made it out alive.
His head swam at how only three people survived the ordeal. Three, his mind stressed. But, he blocks the anguish and pain to just take a deep breather that he's alive. He survived. He's a survivor.
Even if he was supposed to be dead and the others could be here, enjoying the sunrise instead of him. He really should have stayed dead, so Manny or Safiya or Ro could have-
Oh, god. Ro-
Why didn't he just die-
"Matt, so.. what now?", Nikita's voice on his left snapped him out of his thoughts.
She sounds like she's trying so hard to not crack and still be brave as if she wasn't lost and felt like she hadn't been forced with no choice to kill her best friend just few hours ago, but Matt knows better.
"I guess, we just go home..?" Matt didn't sound sure with his answer, but they've got no other choice. I mean, what else are they gonna do?
"What do we tell.. about.." Nikita didn't have to even finish her sentence and he knows she's talking about their friends.
"I'll think about it, but we definitely can't say the truth."
It's not like they could say that they just witnessed a demon and their friends being sacrificed one by one in a town that's in 1970s and did they mention how Matt got revived back alive after temporarily being strangled and beaten to death by a strongman with his one arm looking mutilated?
Yeah, Matt's not looking for the nearest way to get into a mental hospital.
"Maybe we just say we don't remember a thing, it's easier than making up a story."
Now he understands why the previous missing Youtubers victims couldn't remember anything that happened to them for the month that they're gone and only two survives, no one would believe anything if they say that magic and monsters were involved.
Nikita only nods in response, still too rattled to say much and Matt could only hope that the bruises still on his neck and face when he went to touch it and both of them being covered in blood won't make them being questioned much and the whole 'I don't remember' believable.
"Let's get out of this town, the sooner, the better." He says after they're done with catching their breath.
"Agreed one-hundred-percent on that with you. I just wanna leave this town forever and never come back."
He didn't know if they could even go back to their house at this point since it's currently 1970 but he didn't have to think further with what happened next.
Once they took a single step right under the town's sign, they immediately felt exhaustion beyond anything they've ever felt in their core like a spell of some sorts and both of them fell straight to the ground, unconscious to the world.
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When he awoke, Matt founds himself feeling like he had rest for years laying down in bed even though he's emotionally still so drained.
He blinked his heavy eyes open and he was met with the sight of off white curtains and white walls behind it greeting him.
"..What? Where.." Matt winced a little at hearing his own voice. It sounded hoarse like he hasn't used it for days.
When he heard something rustling to his left right after he asked where he is, he barely had to move his head when someone familiar and one he loves dearly appeared in his vision.
"Matthew? Are you awake?"
It was his beloved wife, Stephanie.
She looked so tired from the dark bags under her wide expressive eyes with unshed tears, her voice sounded so small filled with hope and it just hit Matt with the realisation that she probably didn't get enough sleep from worrying about him for who knows how long.
Yeah, for him it only was a long night, but the physics of time travelling probably made it a longer time, maybe a month like all of the previous Youtubers.
And his gut churned at the thought of Stephanie, with their son still inside her belly all alone in their house.
It would've made him feel a lot better to get a second chance to be home and see his wife and be there when little Oliver arrives except that the night in Everlock truly hits him like a bus.
His- friends.
No, please tell me they're alive.
That, it was all just a dream and he didn't actually witnessed his friends murdered in front of his eyes.
Oh god, no.
No no no no no no no no no-
"Matthew?" Steph's voice brought him back to the present and if he just closed his eyes to focus and listen to it and not think about anything, he could pretend that nothing bad had happened at all.
That it was just a normal day of him and Steph in their house researching for new theories.
Except it wasn't. They couldn't come back like he did.
"S-ste-ph.." Matt's voice cracked and barely made it past a whisper as he called for her and he just realised that he's crying and the realisation is only making him cry harder.
Steph seemed alarmed by this and cupped his face, brushing off the tears with her thumb with so, so much love and care that he had missed and it's making him choke from it.
"Shh, I've got you Matthew, you're safe."
She cried with him, her restless worries about her husband finally popped like a bubble, bursting through when he was finally found.
Matt could just stay in the soft reassurance of his wife, with her light touch, but he suddenly became alert when he remembered about the other survivor that was with him before he passed out.
Nikita.
"Whe-where's Ni-nik-" Heavy sobs and hiccups interrupts him forming an incoherent question, but Steph still gets the memo of what Matt was trying to say.
"Oh, the other woman they found with you? She's in the bed on your right."
She's safe.
Matt's posture relaxed a little at that and Steph being right next to him that he feels really sleepy and his eyes started to droop and get heavier significantly.
Steph smiled at Matt's antics of trying to stay awake and she just raked her hand through his hair lovingly.
"You can go to sleep, Matthew. I won't go anywhere."
I'll be here with you until you wake up, she promises inside.
"I love you."
And her nothing but sweet words finally coaxed him to close his eyes, making him fall into a deep slumber shortly after.
---------------
The next time he wakes up, he's more conscious and awake than the last time. The hazy cloud in his head clears up a little and makes him more aware.
This time, he can't escape the reality of the night in Everlock.
And his mind began spiralling at the thought before a familiar voice shouting on his right stops him.
"Matt? Matt!"
He soon realised it was Nikita, he's never heard her sounds so panicked before except the time she had no choice but to shoot Manny.
"I'm here, Nikita!"
Matt made a note that Steph was probably eating lunch or something judging by her coat hanging on a chair when he looked to his left and his wife was nowhere to be found.
The curtains covering his hospital bed was pushed aside by Nikita and he realised he's never seen her without makeup and her wig.
She looked to be out of breath with her IV drip ripped out and he could see tear streaks on her face, making Matt knows she's having a mental breakdown.
He scoots over and pats the empty space in his bed to mention her to lay down in his bed since she looked like she needed emotional and physical support.
She quickly laid down and stuffed her head onto his chest and clutched her hands at his hospital gown without a blink of an eye.
He hugged her small and shaking frame back as tightly. She sobbed and cried as hard as she could, letting out all of her pain from the horrible night they've been through.
She killed him, was all her mind could scream at her.
How could she?
"Matt, M-Ma-Mann-" She couldn't even say his name, it didn't made it past her lips.
"I know." He replied back.
"It was my fault. I-I killed him.." She brokenly said as her tears fell down the side of her face.
"You didn't have a choice, Nikita. You would never hurt him accordingly."
Matt reassured her, it just hit him how young Nikita still is. He felt the need to protect her just like he did with.. Ro. So, he would.
"B-but I killed him."
"Shh, you wouldn't have if you had another choice."
Rubbing her back in a comforting manner, she didn't respond back from sniffling too much and she was too tired to let out another word.
He could feel the younger woman slowly relaxing further into his hold and embrace as minutes went by until she finally stopped sobbing and went to sleep with remaining her tight grip on his hospital gown like he would be gone if she let go.
Matt gripped back as tightly as if to say he won't go anywhere and swore a vow to not let anything happen to Nikita like all of the others.