She waited for the nothingness, but it never came. Had the German missed? How was that possible from so close?
She allowed her eyes to open back up.
The officer was still standing there, frozen in his death-delivering stance. A hole the size of Deryn's fist had been punched through his chest, blood already beginning to accumulate around the wound. Their eyes met again, and he furrowed his eyebrows, as if he were confused with something. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, but no sound escaped his lips. Then his eyes glazed over, the pistol dropped out of his hand, and he slumped to the ground to Deryn's right.
Deryn released a blood hacking breath. She turned her gaze to Alek. He was looking away, their hands still gripping each other. She gave his a shake, and he turned his eyes to meet hers. They seemed to be full of astonishment. Deryn reckoned hers did too; who had saved their lives?
She soon got an answer.
From a long way off behind where the German officer had been standing came a shout, "Sharp!" Deryn knew in an instant who it was, no matter how much she couldn't fathom it.
"N…Newkirk…." she whispered hoarsely, smiling at the ridiculousness of it all.
It was true. The clumsy, jumpy, son of a Monkey Luddite , and unassuming Newkirk, had just saved Deryn's life with a shot from so far away, that it took him ages to sprint over to the two lying in pools of their own blood in the middle of a strange German cobblestone street.
He dropped a rather large looking rifle to the ground, and kneeled in front of Deryn. "I saw the whole damn thing! Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Newkirk's voice was slightly deeper than it had been, prompting Deryn to wonder if he was the same person she'd known since she came aboard the Leviathan.
She smiled as she said, "My da…loved guns as much as flying, so he…would teach me with…both."
Deryn began to shiver involuntarily; she was going into shock, and the adrenaline was wearing off.
"I see," said Newkirk as he pulled two signal flags out of his coat. Deryn noticed a dark shape loom into view over Newkirk's shoulder.
"Is that the Leviathan?"
"Aye, and they're going to pick us up." He turned and waved the flags over his head until the ship flashed its signal lights, indicating it was ready to receive a message. Newkirk went through some movements. Deryn tried to watch, but she began to fade in and out of consciousness. From what she could make out, he was telling the ship that there were two wounded, both in critical condition.
He turned to Deryn, "Everything's going to be all right; they've begun their descent."
A wave of light-headedness suddenly washed over Deryn, and she blacked out.
When she came to, the Leviathan was so close to the ground that she couldn't see any of the stormy sky. Two gurneys were being lowered toward them. She started to fade again, but she fought to stay coherent.
One of the gurneys landed softly on the soaked ground next to her. Newkirk gently half-lifted, half-dragged her onto it; her hand slipped away from Alek's.
She whimpered in pain and her eyes clamped shut as her body was shifted. "It hurts…so much…"
"But you're still alive, and you need to stay that way." Newkirk said as he gently strapped her in.
"Aye, but keep Alek that way too…" She looked over and saw that Alek had dragged himself onto his own gurney.
He glanced at Deryn, and smiled, "See you at the top?"
"You…better be there."
Newkirk set Alek's straps as well, then made wheeling motions with his arms. The great airbeast's crew began to haul up their comrades.
"Alek…"
"Yes?"
"Tell them that only Dr. Barlow and Dr. Busk can treat me…they'd…understand…" The darkness of unconsciousness overtook her.
OOOOO
They made it into the cargo hold, where half a dozen crewmen carried them to the sick bay on their gurneys. On the way there Alek said, "Someone get Dr. Barlow to help Dr. Busk, I don't know if he can handle both of us." Without questioning him, they sent a crewman sprinting for the machine room to fetch them and all of the supplies they would inevitably need.
When they finally got to the sickbay, the lady boffin was already there, dressed in a white dress and apron with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Tazza whimpered and Barlow's eyes widened when the teens were carried through the door.
"My god, what have you two been up to?"
"L-long story…but Sharp is in worse shape than me…"
"Well, let's see to him then!" The crewmen set them on adjacent beds, and the boffin shooed them away.
Dylan-or was it Deryn?- had awakened now, but didn't seem to know where she was. She scanned the room lethargically, as though she were drunk. She opened her mouth to speak, but only her lifeblood drained down and out of the orifice, soaking into the pristine white sheets around her shoulders. They met eyes for a long and painful moment, and tears began to fall from her's again. Alek felt his own eyes begin to well up, and it became harder to swallow.
She probably wouldn't make it.
His one and only true friend on this ship. The only girl he's really ever known who had feelings for him, and there she was, about to die right in front of his eyes.
She went out again.
Dr. Barlow felt the middy's neck for a pulse but shook her head, "It's so faint…there's not much that I can do, I'm afraid. This is a task for Dr. Busk." The lady boffin turned to Alek. "Where are you hurt?"
"Once in the abdomen, and once in the leg. I think the bullet shattered the bone."
"My goodness," Dr. Barlow said as she picked up a pair of shears from her tool kit. She cut Alek's pant leg up the side, splaying it open to gain access to the wound. "Your diagnosis may be right Alek, the bullet hasn't passed through, so it probably hit something, I.e. your femur." The boffin then skillfully snipped open the length of his shirts. "My my! It's lucky the bullet passed through you. I'm going to have to have you sit up." She bent and wrenched on the bedframe until the first half was elevated. "Now you won't lose so much blood." She said matter-of-factly.
The doctor turned back to Deryn and brought the shears down to bear on the Midshiman's clothes, going layer by layer until she reached the white collared shirt. Deryn's eyes shot open and she forcefully grabbed Dr. Barlow's wrist when she was halfway up the garment. The girl held the boffin's gaze for a long moment, and continued holding it when she let go of the boffin's arm. The Dr. finished the job, revealing the Deryn had bound her torso tightly with what appeared to be linen bandages. Barlow met Deryn's un-breaking stare once more.
"I knew something was peculiar about you, Mr. Sharp." Deryn didn't speak, only nodded, a fresh bout of tears running down her face. She laid her head back down on the bed as Dr. Barlow began retrieving surgical tools.
"D-Dr. Barlow…?" Deryn choked out.
"Yes dear?"
"You know how s-some people say that when you…die, y-you can see a light…at the end of a tunnel?"
The lady boffin froze. "What of it?"
Deryn smiled and chuckled very lightly. "Well, they're wrong…I can't see...a bloody…thing…" Her head slowly rolled to one side, her eyes closed. Tazza made his way over to her bed and licked her limp hand, whining.
Alek sat straight up. "Deryn!" He couldn't hold back his sobs. "Deryn…no please! Don't go!" His heart shattered, and his eyes filled with tears that streamed down his face. "If you can still hear me…I love you too! Don't leave me here alone!"
Dr. Busk finally burst into the room. "Right, what's going on?"
"Treat the midshipman!" Barlow shouted, shoving an array of surgical tools wrapped in a sterile cloth into his hands.
…..
Sunlight made its way across the room until it settled on Alek's eyelids. He opened them, and squinted in the brilliance of it. He sat up, slowly, so as not to hurt his braced leg, wincing as his abdomen changed shape.
Deryn.
He took a deep breath, then cast a worried glance at the bed to his left.
Beneath the thin sheets lay a skinny midshipman with blonde hair and fine features, dressed in a white shirt and sick bay regulation white trousers, right arm in a sling.
Deryn Sharp had somehow survived.
It had been a week since the nearly tragic day, and Deryn had been treated numerous times until she was deemed stable enough to be left without an attendant. She had been unconscious, Alek reckoned, up until two nights ago, when she had started muttering words like "Da", "Alek", and "Love." And last night, she began to move around, meaning that a bullet hadn't left her paralyzed.
As Alek looked her over, she began to weep in her sleep. "N-no…" she murmured, turning her head to the side, as if to avoid something. "Don't hurt him…s-stop…Alek…"
Alek watched her dream, wondering what was going on behind her eyelids. She gripped the sheets with her left hand and her right clenched into a fist.
Suddenly, she sat bolt upright, her eyelids shot open, and she cried out "Alek!" Her breathing was heavy and tears fell off her face as she whipped her head around, eyes frantically scanning in every direction.
"I'm here," Alek said softly, "And you're in the sickbay."
She met his gaze. "Oh god! I thought you'd died!" She wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
"It was just a dream." Alek confirmed. "But you almost died, multiple times. I don't know how you survived."
Deryn was silent for a while, then gave him a long look. "Because you said something that day. Something that I'll never forget."
"And what was that?"
She looked away and was quiet for another long moment. She turned back to him, a serious look on her face. "You said you loved me. That alone gave me enough strength to pull through all this."
Alek felt himself blush. "Well then, you're welcome."
Then Deryn's expression turned into a solemn one. "How many people know?"
"As far as I know, only Dr. Barlow and Dr. Busk." Deryn drew in a long, slow breath, wincing as she did so.
"But they're boffins, so they understood. I made sure of it. If they keep their promises, then no one else will know."
Deryn smiled. "Thank you, Alek. Thank you so much."
She slid and put her feet on the floor, her left hand on her knee. With a grunt, she lifted herself from the bed. She stood wobbling there a bit.
"Are you sure you should try that? You haven't walked for a week."
"Well seeing as you can't, I thought I'd have a go at it." Her Scottish accent was back, just like the old Dylan.
Alek turned toward her, leaving his injured leg on the bed. She grappled on to anything to keep her from falling and stumbled toward Alek. She lost her balance and fell into Alek's open arms.
"Careful now," he said chuckling. Deryn giggled back as she gazed into his eyes.
"There's something I've been wanting to try." She said.
"And what is that?" He asked.
She moved her head closer to his, closing her eyes. Alek followed suite. Their noses gently made contact, and their lips pressed together for the first time. Alek's heart raced, and he wished this moment could go on forever. This just felt so right. He finally felt at home; he had found love.
The door burst open, and the couple quickly separated their faces, smiling at one another.
"Well look who's up and moving about! I didn't expect you to be awake for another day or so." Came the voice of Dr. Barlow.
Tazza bounded up beside Deryn, and she scratched his ears. "Nice to see you too Tazza."
"Well, it seems to me that you're feeling an awful lot better. Anything hurting?"
"Everywhere that'd make sense, especially my rib, but nothing I can't deal with." Deryn replied.
"Oh yes, interesting story that. You are quite a lucky one, Mr. Sharp," the lady boffin winked at her, "The bullet in your abdomen was much like when Mr. Rigby was wounded; it passed straight through you, missing all of the important bits. The second one, however, shattered on your rib, breaking it, and spraying lots of nasty debris into your lung, which is where most of the blood came from. Your shoulder, though, seems to be healing nicely."
"Thank you, Dr. Barlow, for saving our lives." Deryn said.
"Oh don't thank me! If it weren't for Newkirk, you might not have lived five more minutes on that road!"
"Where is the bum-rag, anyhow?" Deryn asked. "He saves our lives and doesn't even pay us a barking visit?"
"Would you like me to fetch him for you?" Dr. Barlow offered.
"If you'd like to, I'd be much obliged, ma'am." Deryn responded, appearing sheepish at her own lack of mobility.
"Alright then, I'll be back shortly. In the meantime Mr. Sharp, you should get back to bed; I don't need my newly fixed up patient hurting himself again, do we now?" With that, she strode out of the room, Tazza following.
Deryn returned her gaze to Alek. "How's this relationship going to work, hm?"
Alek shrugged, "We'll find a way." They smiled at each other, then kissed one last time before Deryn made her way back to her bed.
On the way there, Alek added, "And I was going to say that you shoot like a girl, but that wouldn't describe it properly." Deryn laughed as she laid down.
"Oh and one last thing," she said.
"You still need to teach me how to fence."