Chapter 2
Ember
The next two days were mostly spent in a bare room, keeping watch over her brother. Dante spent most of his time sleeping. He was so pale and still that he looked comatose, and he could only stay awake for about fifteen minutes at a time. That time was never spent in conversation— she'd call Wes in, and he'd help Dante eat, drink, strap him into a back brace and usually get her to help carry him to the bathroom down the hall. She knew how miserable Dante had to be, because he didn't act indignant over his treatment. Just tired and a little pathetic. She supposed that being a chameleon hadn't prepared him for how much taking a bullet hurt. He'd usually ask to speak to Riley, and accept Wes' refusal with little protest.
For the most part, she was bored. She didn't want Dante to be alone— if he woke up, he needed someone with him. Garret would come in fairly often, but his head was obviously elsewhere. Probably wondering about the Order, if she had to guess. Jess provided her with a few books to pass the time. She had never much liked reading, but it was better than staring at a wall. Sometimes, right after Dante went to sleep, she'd go down the hallway and and talk to the other hatchlings that were also stuck in their rooms, too injured to move.
"How is Riley doing?" Ember asked Wes after a particular taxing round of caring for a conscious Dante. It wasn't the best thing to ask, probably, but she hadn't seen him since he came back from the mission that brought Dante back to her.
"He's holding up alright. Still grieving, of course— it's only been a week, we both are…" Wes swallowed thickly and took off his latex gloves. "He might actually be getting less sleep than I am, which is saying something. Jade is helping, though. The hatchlings love her, and she has the whole… calm aura, or whatever. I can't believe I just used the word aura."
Ember cracked a smile. "Well, at least she's still here. And she's fully recovered?"
"Yes. Dragons and their healing. Honestly, I want to say I'm jealous, but I'm just relieved. Couldn't imagine doing this if you had a human healing factor," Wes said and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He looked worse for wear, but she knew that everyone did. Every injured dragon with more than a cracked rib or a few lacerations had to be in the same hallway so Wes could stay close to all of them, and everyone agreed that Dante would be isolated. That meant there were five hatchlings in two rooms, two of which had to stay in dragon form to heal. So of course everyone looked exhausted.
"Wes…" Ember started, but her voice faded. Wes blinked and focused his attention on her. "I know that you adopt this sort of… softer persona... when you're dealing with injury." Wes raised an eyebrow. "Like how you're handling Kain right now because one of his eyes was gouged out."
"I just like Kain more than you, Ember," Wes said.
"And how you talked to Garret while he was delirious," she continued.
Wes clenched his jaw. "Okay, I can't claim that I like St. George more than you. You win. What's your point?"
"Dante's spine," Ember said. Wes looked away. "Is there any fixing it? Will he be able to shift again?"
Wes didn't respond for a while, which only made Ember more nervous. He obviously knew the answer— he had been researching spinal injury and contacting rogue doctors in the Network ever since he dragged Dante back to the farmhouse. But he didn't want to say anything outright, which meant he didn't have any good news.
Ember closed her eyes. She didn't want to feel any sympathy for her brother— he had betrayed her over and over, this would keep him safer to be around. But the idea of keeping any dragon from going back to their true form was enough to make her shudder.
"I don't know, Ember," Wes finally said. "You have to believe me when I say that I want to be able to take it out— I'm not heartless, and I know how much it would destroy a hatchling to be barred from their true body. But it's an awful wound and a bloody miracle that he can walk at all. As his… doctor, I guess, I'd rather he be stuck in human form but able to breathe and walk unaided than to be able to shift but need to use machines to live for the rest of his life. We just don't have access to what he would need if he damaged his spine."
Ember swallowed and nodded, grabbing for Dante's hand and squeezing it lightly.
"Stupid brother…" she whispered. "Why couldn't he have just gone with us in Crescent Beach, before he got in too deep? And now… dammit, he's actually in trouble this time. I always thought that it would be me that would be taken down by a bullet, not him."
Wes stayed silent for a moment, tracing the wood on the floor.
"What happened?" she asked. Wes looked up. "You and Riley have been so busy, that I never got to ask about the mission."
"Well, You remember that Mist got pulled away by her employer, right? Riley insisted on coming with her, and I went because I could tell someone was going to get shot— granted, I thought it would be Riley," Wes said, and Ember nodded. She did remember that conversation. The one where she learned that the Archivist was Mist's boss, and that he could maybe be trying to help the rogue's cause. Mostly, she remembered a lot of yelling by both Riley and Mist over secrets and loyalties and the current state of Talon and the Underground.
"Well, in the car, Mist told us the mission— we needed to keep Dante from getting to the Archivist. Riley was planning on killing the bodyguards and kidnapping him, but Dante panicked and was about to shift, apparently, so Riley shot him before he could. He didn't mean for him to be so injured, just enough to keep him down, but you can't aim for that in that situation. He called me in as soon as the battle was over. I… I didn't want to leave Dante for dead."
"Thank you, Wes."
"Piss off, I didn't do it out of the goodness of my heart. I just didn't want you to deal with your twin dying. You were sad enough when St. George got shot."
"Thank you, anyway."
Wes shook himself and stood.
"I need to make sure the other hatchlings aren't dead. Yell if you need anything. Maybe try to leave the room if you're feeling ambitious." he said. He walked into the hallway and closed the door behind him, leaving her alone with her brother.
Ember sighed and looked back down at him. He looked so different to the Dante she knew from Crescent Beach, and the Dante she saw at the lab. He was still pale, hair in disarray and dirty from sweat. And he looked so small.
"You better be okay, Dante," she whispered to him. "And then I can show you how good the underground is. And here you can be free."
Post-Chapter Notes: Yeah... sorry Dante. At least he's catching up on his sleep.
Really short chapter that I'm not particularly happy with, but I've gone over it so many times and I promised an update, so here's what you get. You got the backstory, and a quick update, so I think we're even. I'm going to be busy next week and probably won't have my computer, so next update will be about 10-14 days from now. Sorry.
Reviews are love! They give me motivation to actually remember to update! Please!
