Auden clutched the big plastic bowl to her stomach and stared at the linoleum. She'd felt like throwing up for the past hour, but hadn't been able to do much more than gag. A nurse had come and changed the bowl for her a few times when she'd brought up bile, but other than that…

She could feel how pale she was. She couldn't stand this waiting—not knowing if Grelle was going to live or die. Not knowing if she was going to have to blame herself for the rest of her eternal life. Nobody came and brought her news. There wasn't any. Not yet anyway. She sat in the hall and trembled. Others passed her, but she was alone.

A nurse put a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Lord?"

She started, and looked up, and behind the nurse a little ways down the hall was Sebastian. The second she saw him, tears pooled up in her eyes and she knocked the bowl from her own hands as she stumbled to her feet, crossed the short distance between them, and threw herself into his open arms. He hugged her, held her, and she sobbed.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry," she blubbered.

He stroked her hair and held her head against his chest. "Hush."

But she couldn't. She continued to sob, thinking about how much she loved Grelle and how Sebastian loved her even more and how he would feel if they lost Grelle and how it had been her Scythe that had done the job. She would blame herself for it. She was already doing just that.

Sebastian let her cry and didn't say any useless things. That had always been her favorite part about him. He just held her and stroked her hair in his soothing way until she'd had it out with and just clutched onto him, sniffling. He was so warm, Auden couldn't help but take a little comfort as wretched as she felt.

He looked down at her. "Let's sit, hm?"

She nodded and he brought her over to the plastic-y couch where she'd been perched before and sat her down and put his arm around her and held her hand. She rested her head in the crook of his shoulder, silent tears still streaming down her face. He wouldn't say Grelle would be all right because he didn't know. And she would have been upset with him if he had.

"I'm sorry," she said again on a whisper into his shirt.

"You didn't do this," he replied.

"But I was there."

"That doesn't make you responsible, Auden."

She wanted to believe him, but she couldn't find it in her. If she hadn't have allowed that demon to disarm her, Grelle wouldn't be in the state she was in—teetering between life and death. She was responsible for her Scythe, and it was her carelessness that had led to this disaster. At least, that was how it seemed.

They sat together for hours with very little news. Nurses and doctors appeared in the hallway and each time the two of them stiffened, prepared for the worst, but they always walked past. Sebastian continued to stroke Auden's hair, and as the hands moved slowly around each other on the clock, Auden's exhaustion began to overtake her. She'd fought too, been injured, had several bandages around her arms. She was almost asleep when a nurse finally stopped beside the couch.

"Mr. Michaelis?"

Sebastian tensed and it startled Auden out of her sleepiness, so she noticed the nurse too and suddenly felt very much like throwing up again. The two of them looked at the nurse, anxious, and Auden gripped Sebastian's hand.

"She's going to be all right."

A flood of one million emotions passed instantly through Auden's body on a single breath, and with it tears filled her eyes. All right! Grelle was going to be all right! She wanted to start sobbing all over again, but she managed to keep it down to a whimper.

"She's very weak, and she's lost a lot of blood, but she's all patched up now," the nurse continued and gave them a kind smile. "She'll need lots of rest, and we'd like to keep her here for a few days just to make sure, but she'll be coming out of the anesthesia very soon."

Auden's bottom lip trembled when she spoke. "C-can we go s-see her, please?"

"Yes, of course you can," the nurse replied, putting a gentle hand on Auden's shoulder. "Of course. Come with me."

She offered Auden her hand and helped her off the couch as Auden wiped tears from her cheeks. Once the two of them were up, the nurse started off. Auden was already blubbering, reaching back for Sebastian with her free hand as they walked. He tapped her palm with two of his fingers to let her know he was there, and, comforted, Auden used the hand to wipe her nose.

The nurse led them quite a ways into the hospital wing, down lots of corridors until they'd left the bustle of the working area behind and come to a dim, quiet hallway filled with patient's rooms. Auden had never liked hospitals—the soft beeping, the antiseptic smell, the transitory atmosphere—and now was no exception, though she was grateful this time to have Sebastian with her. He came to a stop close behind her when the nurse paused in front of the door that must have been Grelle's.

"She'll be waking up soon, all right?" the nurse said and smiled again. "So just hang tight until she does. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

She opened the door and stepped inside, holding it open for Auden and Sebastian to come in behind her. The light was much brighter in the room than the hallway, and when Auden's eyes adjusted, she didn't like what she saw. What remained of Grelle lay in the bed in the center of the room, sort of propped up, mostly not, on the adjustable mattress, all sorts of wires and tubes attached to her, one for oxygen in her nose, others with liquids and things going into her hands, covered in white gauze all over, around her throat, while what was visible of her skin was sickly green and purple bruised, her red hair a strange haphazard hospital bun atop her head that made it look like she was bleeding profusely from her skull. Beep…beep…beep. That scientific heartbeat made Auden shiver.

She halted in the doorway while Sebastian went instantly to Grelle's side. He took up her hand gently in his own and, lacing her fingers with his, pressed it against his heart, looking down at her intently as if he was taking in every last detail of her injuries. After a moment he sat in the chair by the bedside and brought her hand to his lips, holding it there and pressing a kiss to its back. All the time his eyes did not leave her, but looked her over unwavering. He'd been far more worried than he'd led Auden to believe. She shrank back, guilty worms wriggling round in her heart. She'd been so selfish, sobbing all over him while he'd probably felt twice as miserable.

The nurse put a hand on her shoulder. "You can go over to her if you want? It's all right."

She raised her eyebrows in concern, but Auden shook her head, sniffing.

"No," she whispered, her throat tight. "I'm fine here."

Nodding, the nurse let her hand slip then straightened and turned to go. "I'll leave you with her now," she said. "There's a call button on the side of the bed if you need anything, okay?"

She slipped away and left them in the relative silence of the machines. Sebastian didn't call Auden over and she didn't go. She couldn't. She could barely stand to look at Grelle as it was from a distance.

Several minutes passed and every second was an eternal hell. Auden had wandered out of time altogether, and this would be her forever—standing against the wall, waiting. Grelle was still neither alive nor dead, not really. Not until she woke up. Auden couldn't take it. A scream was building inside of her, and just as it was about to break, Grelle stirred.

She drew in a deeper breath, her brows pulling together and her head turning slightly. Sebastian stood up, hovered over her in anticipation. A few seconds later she was blinking her eyes open, slowly, sleepily, and with a lot of tired effort. Sedate still, she noticed Sebastian and a weak smile crossed her mouth.

"Hi…" she whispered as her eyes shut once more. She couldn't keep them open.

Sebastian smiled back at her and leaned over to touch a kiss to her forehead. "Hello, my love." He pulled back slightly to look at her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Full of holes," Grelle responded, smiling feebly and laughing a little though it mostly sounded like a cough. That stab to her throat must have done something funny to her vocal cords.

Sebastian chuckled as well, kissing her lips. She smiled, but it faded as she struggled to keep her eyes open and look at him with concern.

"Where's Auden?" she asked.

Sebastian stepped to the side so Grelle could see her standing in the doorway from the bed. "Right there," he replied, smiling.

Grelle let out a sigh of relief. "You're all right," she breathed and closed her eyes.

Tears rose in Auden's eyes once more and started dripping down her face. Even after all she'd put Grelle through, the long nights, the complaining, the tantrums, all of it, near-fatal mistake with the Scythe included, Grelle still worried about her, still cared. It was overwhelming. Grelle reached out a hand to her.

"Get over here…you little shit."

Auden lost it completely, bolting across the room, straight for Grelle's arms, and Sebastian moved so she could wrap Auden into a hug. Her hold was weak, but it was the best feeling in the world.

"I'm so sorry!" Auden wailed, already soaking the shoulder of Grelle's hospital gown with her tears.

"What for?"

"Th-this is my f-fault." She clutched on, her shoulders shaking with every sob.

"No…it isn't, darling."

Grelle put her hand on Auden's head, and she looked up, wiping her nose and eyes. Grelle smiled at her.

"You saved me."

"H-how?" Auden sat up and tossed her hands in the air, frustrated. All she wanted was to blame herself and wallow in the misery of knowing she'd screwed up, but nobody would let her. They kept telling her it wasn't her fault, but if she had been better prepared, practiced more, gotten stronger, something, none of this would have happened. Grelle pushed her hair back out of her face and strands of it got stuck in her tears.

"You called Dispatch," she said.

"But that demon took my—my Scythe, and he—"

"The two of you couldn't have taken on that many demons alone," Sebastian said. It was the most he'd spoken since he'd arrived at the hospital. "You made the right choice calling for back up. They would have disarmed you eventually, and if you hadn't called, you'd both be dead."

Grelle could only find the strength to nod. Her hand searched Auden's out, so Auden took hold and looked at Grelle's face, and she looked awful, but she was alive. If what Sebastian said was true, could she really ask for anything else?

"Grelle's always been too proud to ask for help," Sebastian continued, smiling down at her and brushing his fingers through her hair.

"Shut up," she replied, half a scowl crossing her drowsy features. "I almost died."

"Yes. And I will find the ones who did this to you and tear them limb from limb," he said, his voice gone dark and deep and vicious as he leaned in and touched a kiss to her mouth. Auden almost didn't hear him. But she did, and she could tell it was a promise.

The brutality of the statement didn't seem to faze Grelle in the least. She only said, "All right," and closed her eyes.

Sebastian titled his head at her. "Do you want to sleep?"

She nodded, already halfway there.

"Very well."

Auden got up. Sebastian found the lights and dimmed them, helped Grelle settle a little more comfortably around all the tubes and wires, and pulled the blankets up to the bottom of her chin like she liked. Grelle poked her hand out of the top of the sheets and he took it, stroking its back. Seconds later, she was asleep. Auden looked at her for a moment, then at Sebastian.

"You take such good care of people," she said softly.

"Only those who matter to me," he said, and held out his arm to her.

She went, wrapping her arms around his middle as he took her in by the shoulders to hug her, his other hand still tied to Grelle. Auden breathed in and then sighed. She should have tried to be there for him.

"I'm sorry about earlier. For being such a baby."

"Stop being sorry, Auden. You have nothing to be sorry for."

She pursed her lips, but nodded. They were quiet for a moment, watching Grelle, but eventually Sebastian spoke again.

"I hope you won't let this change your feelings about your Scythe," he said.

Auden looked up at him. "How can it not?" She would see it bursting red from Grelle's chest every time she looked at it now.

"You must choose not to let it bother you. Grelle and I have mutually tried to kill each other, and nearly succeeded on both accounts, with her Scythe, and she still carries it proudly."

"That's because you're both lunatics," Auden replied. Seriously, though. How did their relationship work?

Sebastian chuckled. "It is a tool for death, Auden. What it has done is what it was made to do. In a more practiced hand, your Scythe would only have taken a few blows kill another reaper. You're fortunate to have a weapon that requires skill to wield."

A lightbulb flicked on. In order to die, a soul's Cinematic Record had to be severed with a Death Scythe, but Grelle's had never even turned up. Auden's mouth fell open a bit and she looked up at Sebastian. "The demon didn't know how to use it."

"Precisely." He smiled at her. "A hoe isn't exactly practical. Or modern."

"And how old are you?"

That made him laugh and Auden smiled. Sebastian always did know how to make her feel better. Always had. From the moment they'd met, he'd understood her fundamentally. She couldn't imagine living forever without him and Grelle, and warmth spread from her heart, knowing now that she wouldn't have to. She tucked herself up against him and smiled. Her family was wonderful.