With the frilly outfits, ridiculous monsters, and a pink talking wombat hanging around, it was easy for the boys of the Defense Club to forget that being a superhero and fighting monsters, albeit strange and sometimes silly monsters, was a dangerous practice. Sure, they had gotten their fair share of bruises and cuts, but that was easy to over look.
This wasn't easy.
It had been a month. A long, long month where the five heirs to the throne of love had been reduced to four and the friend duo of Io Naruko and Ryuu Zaou had been reduced to one.
The waiting had to have been the worst part for Ryuu. Stuck outside in the hospital waiting room, Atsushi calmly trying to explain what happened to their friend to a nurse, Ryuu didn't hear the lie he had concocted but it had to have been a good once since they accepted it. En and Yumoto were sitting on either side of him, En was far too calm for the situation at hand, at least on the outside. Yumoto had the decency to look worried as he held Wombat, and part of Ryuu was glad to see Wombat looking so guilty.
This was his fault. If he hadn't forced them to be Battle Lovers, if he hadn't come to this planet then Io would be just fine. Io wouldn't have been knocked unconscious and thrown off the school building as Ryuu was unable to anything, but watch. Now Ryuu wasn't even sure that Io was going to be okay.
There had been so much blood.
It was a day later that they found out the Io had entered a coma. At the moment the word "coma" came out of the doctor's mouth, Ryuu's world shattered apart. He started to shake and felt a little shock when he saw the rest of the world; the hospital, the town around them, the world didn't fall apart along with Ryuu.
The doctor had offered to let them go see Io, to check on their friend, but Ryuu was the only one who couldn't do it. He couldn't see his friend, broken and bruised and unable to wake up, in a hospital bed. He pointedly ignored the sympathetic glances of his friends as he fled the hospital, mostly because he knew that if he looked at them he'd noticed that one gaze was massing and he wasn't sure how much heartbreak he could take in one day.
His grades dropped.
He rarely left his house, only for school, and completely skipped being a Battle Lover. No matter how much is bracelet buzzed, he just ignored it. He couldn't go back there, not with what happened. And being in the club room, he knew it would hurt. It would feel empty without Io there.
Everything felt empty without Io there.
He often found himself in his room, hiding under blankets and wondering how a person could feel this empty and still be alive.
It took almost a week before he mustered up the strength to actually visit Io. He went alone, hoping no one else was there. The hospital felt cold to him, but so did everywhere else. He kept his eyes down, but it felt like everyone within a five foot radius was staring at him as he walked towards Io's room. Usually that would just boost up his self confidence, which was already high enough on it's own, but now he found it made him shrink back. He wanted to go home, to hide, to be able to pretend that Io wasn't in this hospital. Instead he would be at home, or just in the room next to Ryuu's. Ryuu could pretend that Io was okay. But Io wasn't. And he certainly didn't look okay in the bed. The room was, thankfully, empty and quiet. The only noise was Io's breathing and the constant sound of the heart monitor. Ryuu flinched every time it beeped, waiting for it to stop.
He wasn't sure how long he stood in the doorway, but it felt like an eternity. Finally he managed to walk in, to walk closer to Io. The closest he'd been to his friend since he helped carry him into the hospital.
Apparently blood did come out of the Battle Lover's uniforms.
Io looked small in the bed, which made everything look off to Ryuu. Io was anything but small, always seeming to take up Ryuu's world. That's probably why his world had shattered as Io did, and it laid broken waiting to be woken as Io did.
Ryuu stared down at his friend and slowly reached over to touch him, did his hand always shake this much? He took Io's wrist and for the first time Ryuu felt a sense of relief when Io's pulse thudded against his fingers.
Io was alive.
Barely.
This was how he transitioned into the next stage of grief, moving past his sadness and replacing it with anger. As he sat in the hospital chair, watching Io sleep with the smallest grain of hope that he'd wake up, the anger inside him built up and up. It kept building, even as a nurse came in to tell him visiting hours were over. Through the night it worsened.
The next day was the first day he returned to the Battle Lover's club room.
Afterwords, he couldn't remember much, anger had blinded him. There was yelling, so much yelling, and most of it done by Ryuu. Most of it was pointed at Wombat, but he didn't leave the Battle Lovers out of it. Why didn't they do anything as Io fell? Why didn't they seem to care as much? Why were they still here? Why couldn't Wombat do anything? Why did it hurt so much?
Atsushi had been the first one to try to calm him down, but when he couldn't he escalated to yelling as well. En only joined in to back Atsushi up, jumping in when he decided that Ryuu went too far. What set him off, Ryuu couldn't remember. But he could remember the pained expression on Atsushi's face. Yumoto had, for once, stayed quiet through all of it.
Ryuu was the one who left, his anger still bubbling and hot tears streaming down his face.
Guilt chewed at him after that. He knew he was in the wrong. He had yelled, provoking them, calling them heartless and uncaring. Accusing them of being selfish and easily moving on from Io. The guilt seemed to be the only thing that cooled his anger. It took several day before he could apologize. Thankfully they weren't mad, the understood where Ryuu was coming from. Ryuu wasn't sure he could handle loosing his other friends.
Nightmares came.
So many nightmares. he couldn't move in most of them. Io kept falling, falling, falling. Sometimes his head would crack open, or his body would shatter. Sometimes they'd be at the hospital and Io would be dead. Sometimes he'd died in Ryuu's arms.
Io always did know how to get rid of nightmares.
But he wasn't there to do it then.
Ryuu didn't sleep much anymore.
He didn't want to.
So much blood.
He still didn't return to being a Battle Lover, he didn't think he could handle it. Yet, he would visit his friends. It took several visits for Ryuu to realize that they were coping too. En was a lot more clingy, especially with Atsushi. They had always been close, but En was almost always as close as possible. Yumoto cuddled more and spoke less, something that Ryuu found himself worrying about. Atsushi was almost always doing work and Ryuu could see the lingering guilt in his expression.
Ryuu knew that Atsushi shouldn't have felt guilty about what happened. Ryuu should have saved Io. It was his fault.
When he wasn't with his friends or at home he was in the hospital with Io. Up until they made him leave, he'd stay there. At first he was always quiet, but at time wore on he found the quiet unnerved him. Instead he filled the room with needless chatter, just like before. He would tell Io about school, about how the day went, aobut how his mother was doing, filling up the empty space. Still, though, he found himself pausing, waiting for a comment that Io would usually interject before realizing that it wasn't possible. He'd still continue to talk, but his voice always shook more after that and his eyes watered.
But too much time was passing, and Io still hadn't woken up.
It scared Ryuu.
What if he didn't wake up?
It was hard to ignore thoughts like that. Especially when he was leaning back into his chair, talking to Io alone. Those thoughts would wander into his mind, whispering to him and filling his head with images and scenarios he didn't want to see. He decided that Io wouldn't look good in a coffin.
"So- so then the teacher decides to cal on me. It was awful. I couldn't believe it." Ryuu laughed softly, rolling his eyes. "You wouldn't laughed, though. Quietly, sure, but still." His laughter died, replaced with a sigh. "... I miss your laugh."
You probably won't hear it again.
He tried to block out the whispers. "And I miss having you in class. It's so boring without you there."
Hope you're ready to be alone. All the time.
"Looking off your papers was nice too, you know I'm awful in math. Maybe I should have taken you up on your offer to help me. But the girls wouldn't find that attractive, right?"
You won't get another chance to accept the offer.
Tears stung his eyes. "Though, I haven't had much time to talk to girls recently. You're killing my chances with the ladies, Io." The joke felt empty.
You'll have the time in the world to talk to girls after you pull the plug.
Next thing Ryuu knew he was standing up, his whole body shaking hard. His voice was a whisper, only meant to be heard by himself. "I-I'm not! Io's not going to die, shut up!" He raked a hand through his pink hair, messing up his headband in the process and causing some hair to fall in front of his face.
Why did the walls feel so close? Had the heart monitor always been so loud? "Io... Io's going to be just fine." He forced himself to say, tears running down his cheeks. "He's going to wake up soon and get all better and it'll be...fine." His breathing picked up and he reached out to grip the side of the bed. "He has to! Wh-what am I going to do if he doesn't? I... I need him." Ryuu chocked on his words, squeezing his eyes shut so he couldn't see the walls close in on him.
He didn't notice as the heart monitor slowly started to pick up. He didn't notice the sound of rustling bedsheets over the sound of hyperventilating. He didn't notice when Io's eyes opened for the first time in weeks.
Fingers wrapped themselves around Ryuu's wrist and his eyes opened with a gasp. Was he imagining things? No, no- Io was looking at hi. A sob escaped his lips as he saw Io's lips twitch up into a familiar smile. "You- You, Io- you-" Words didn't seem to be working, he couldn't form any. Io gently tugged on his wrist and kept doing so until Ryuu sat down next to him. Then Io managed to reach up to Ryuu's collar and pull him down into laying next to him. Ryuu's face was as pink as his hair and wet from tears as it rested against Io's chest. He gulped in air, trying to calm down, and reached up to grip Io's shirt, feeling the rise and fall of his chest.
"I'm fine." Io spoke softly, his voice raspy. He closed his eyes and pressed his face into Ryuu's hair, continuing to whisper comforting words as Ryuu calmed down until the sunlight outside disappeared, leaving the two in each others arms.