Here's more Kinzylla, even though no one requested it, b/c I'm like one the 2 and a half people in the universe who cares about them. Oh well, I'm Kinzylla trash.

Thanks to the one person who followed!

10. Breathe Again

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The noise was constant in Hylla's ears. Always some beeping or static buzzing, some sort of machine making quiet sounds in the background. But there were never any noises she wanted to hear. Never anything human. Anything coming from Kinzie. She would have killed armies of monsters just to hear the smallest of sighs or a cough or a few deep breathes. Anything to indicate Kinzie was still with her.

The door to the hospital room opened, and an Amazon cautiously peeked her head in. "Uh, Your majesty-"

"I don't have time." Hylla snapped. She knew she has been horribly neglecting all her duties as Queen ever since Orion. But she didn't care if the whole Amazon company went broke, she wasn't going to leave Kinzie.

"I just..." The girl stammered, clearly nervous, "wanted to know if you would, uh, like some food? Some of us we're going out and we could pick up-"

"I'm not hungry." Hylla said curtly. Logically, she should be starving. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a good meal. But if her stomach was growling, it fell upon deaf ears. Hylla had given up on caring for herself.

"Okay." The girl quickly said before closing the door and hightailing it away from the room.

Hylla knew she should feel bad for scaring the girl. Kinzie would've scolded her if she was awake. But Kinzie wasn't awake. She hadn't been since their battle with Orion. Instead she just lay in the bed in the mortal hospital, pale and tiny and surrounded by hulking machinery.

At first, Hylla had thought Kinzie was dead. As soon as she had brought Reyna to safety, she had gone back searching for Kinzie. She had believed she was too late. Kinzie looked dead. Her eyes had been closed, and her bleeding body was limp on the floor. And then Hylla had checked her pulse. And it was there. It was feint, but it was there. Everything was a rush after that. Hylla remembered she was screaming orders, and someone was screaming back. They had rushed Kinzie and the other inured to the nearest hospital. Later, Kinzie had been moved to where they were now, a state of the art hospital within close distance to their headquarters.

Hylla took one of Kinzie's pale hands into her own. She wrapped both hands around Kinzie's one, leaving him forward and resting her elbows on the bed.

"Hey Kinz." Hylla mumbled, somewhat unsure of herself. "I feel pretty stupid talking to you. But some people say you can hear, so I guess I might as well try." She sighed. "As your Queen, I have an official order for you. And as my assistant, you have to follow it. I just need you to do one more thing for me. If you want, after this you never have to follow an order ever again. We can quit. Run away together. Make out all day it that's what you want." Hylla tried to hold back the wave of emotion she could feel coming on. "I just need you to wake up. I order you to wake up."

The only reply she received was the constant beep beep beep.

"You always say I worry too much." Hylla continued, "Which is probably true. But I'm really really worried about you. I can't do anything, Kinz. I can't run the Amazons, I can't think, I can't eat. I can't move from this spot because I don't want to miss a second with you. Because I don't know when I'll run out of seconds."

Hylla have Kinzie's hand a squeeze. "I need you to come back so I can breathe again. I love you."

It could've been her imagination, but Hylla swore she felt Kinzie squeeze back.