Nya jerked awake, only to find herself in a dark room. Soft sounds of breathing and gentle beeps kept the room from being completely silent. As her eyes adjusted, Nya remembered where she was and her heart ached.

She looked over her shoulder to see Jay asleep on the cot the nurses had brought in for them. The lightning ninja had tried to convince his girlfriend to take the bed or at least share with him, but Nya had stubbornly refused. She wanted to be right next to the hospital bed in case anything happened with Kai.

Speaking of her brother, Nya glanced at the sleeping figure on the hospital bed, wishing that's all he was doing - sleeping. But no, he'd almost died and now his body was taking its sweet old time to recover via coma.

Nya stood up, reaching to brush Kai's hair out of his eyes. Her hand retracted quickly, though, because with an aching in her gut, she thought of what his response would be if he were awake. He would've jerked his head away, acting indignant, but really just feeling vulnerable at the physical touch. Deep down, Nya knew her brother was a teddy bear and craved simple physical touch like hugs, or whatever, but he was too "macho" to let that show most of the time.

But as Nya retracted her hand, and moved to sit again, there was a rustle, and her eyes widened as she watched the sheets move. And Kai's hand clenched, grasping the thin hospital bedding in a fist. Nya shot into a standing position, heart racing.

"Kai?" She whispered. "Hey, are you waking up? Can you open your eyes?" She tried not to sound too eager, too pushy, but if he could hear her, then maybe her voice would prompt him to fully wake up.

The beeping of the heart monitor picked up its pace, hinting that Kai was waking up. Then, the glint of amber eyes made Nya's vision tunnel as Kai's eyes flickered open. Nya made a little squeak, then a short, almost hysterical laugh as her cheeks rose with her wide smile. Relieved tears filled her eyes. But she shoved them back as she noticed her brother's confused, almost dazed look as he took in his surroundings and all the weird equipment attached to him. And of course, all the bandages and the neck brace.

"Hey," she said, hand reached out to grasp Kai's arm gently. "Hey, you're okay," she assured him.

His eyes focused on her, and a visible relief flooded through them. He couldn't talk because of the tube shoved down his throat, but his fingers brushed against the neck brace then gestured towards the bandages wrapped around his whole torso and shoulders. His eyes were questioning, and Nya's sibling intuition instantly knew what he was asking. Her smile dropped.

"You-you were in an accident," She informed him quietly. He rose an eyebrow, already guessing her white lie. "Alright, well it was a battle. There was some giant guy that came out of nowhere, and you and your stupid heroics had to go try to fight him by yourself. And he-" She choked, but forced herself forward. "He grabbed you and slammed you into the concrete. I didn't see it, of course, but the guys did and it-they said it was bad. Of course it was; you've been out for a week."

Kai's eyes widened, before his gaze darted down to his hands. Nya watched him for a second, simply happy to see her big brother finally awake. She wanted so badly to hug him. But she knew the only reason he wasn't in pain was because of the major pain meds the doctors had given him, knowing that he'd be in pain even in his sleep with the severity of his injuries. She didn't want to make it worse by jostling him or making him try to hug her back.

Kai looked up suddenly, grabbing her attention. He brought his arms slowly together, folding them on top of each other and rocking them back and forth. Nya couldn't help but smile. Of course, he asked about her when he's only been awake for 2 minutes.

"She's okay," Nya assured. "Maya's okay. She's back at the Bounty with the guys, and I made sure they're taking good care of her. And besides, Zane is there."

She sensed Kai trying to smile, but with the tube and the exhaustion settling in again, it seemed to prove difficult. His eyes were fluttering, and Nya knew she was going to lose him again. But, he needed it, and her heart was more at peace now. He was going to be okay. She knew it. Once he was back in consciousness, Nya knew there would be no backing down for her brother. He never backed down from life.

Nya was about to tell him it was okay to sleep when her back pocket vibrated, and she pulled her phone to see who was calling at this hour. Cole Brookstone. Her heart instantly lurched, even though it was probably nothing, which she tried to tell herself so the worry wouldn't appear on her face. But Kai wasn't fooled, what with the way she shoved her phone back in her pocket so quickly.

Though she could see he was really struggling to stay awake, he gave her a knowing look, like he was asking her if she was going to answer it. She sighed.

"Fine. It's just Cole, though."

She shouldn't have said that, because Kai's mind seemed to leap to worry the same way hers had.

"Hey, Cole. What's up?" She tried to sound relaxed, maintaining eye contact with her brother who was listening intently.

"Hey, Nya. What are still awake for?"

"Do I have to say that I could ask you the same thing?"

"Touche. But, uh, we're having trouble with Maya. We've tried everything to get her to stop crying, but it's not happening. I hate to ask this of you, but you're better with her than the rest of us as I was just hoping you could come back to the Bounty? I mean, Jay's still there, so it'd be fine right?"

Nya bit her lip, glancing at her snoring boyfriend behind her. "I mean, I would. But I kind of have a situation to deal with here."

The lights flicked on suddenly, only dim ones, so it wasn't too much of a shock, and Nya had heard the creak of the door open before that.

"Really? What's going on?" The worry was evident in Cole's voice.

A nurse was shuffling towards Nya and Kai, a doctor close on her heels. She heard Jay mumble confusedly behind her.

"Oh yeah, um, Kai's awake."

"WHAT?! Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Because we were dealing with the other problem at hand!"

Kai's eyes drifted wearily away from the two people poking and prodding and asking too many questions (even if they were soft and gentle), to focus on her at her loud exclamation. His eyes grew worried, and Nya swore internally.

"Everything's fine," she assured him, knowing he wouldn't be convinced, and he wasn't. He made the baby motion again, and she gave in."She won't stop crying. But she's okay, and you don't need to worry about it, alright, Kai? The guys are handling it." Then into the phone, Nya said, "Hey Cole, I need to call you back, okay?"

"Wait, but-"

"You guys can come down here if you want, but he's gonna be asleep again soon and you're dealing with Maya so I don't really know if it's a good time right n-" She paused as she felt a hand grasp her arm, looking up to meet Kai's determined gaze. He gestured towards himself, made the baby motion again, then patted his chest again.

Gosh, her brother was stubborn. Nya rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes tiredly and already regretting this, knowing her brother just needed rest.

"Scratch that, Cole. You guys can come. And bring Maya."


JBomb217 - nice theories! keep em coming. and thank you!

SheaAndDove - Thank you so much! I appreciate you!

MightyShipper - Haha, I mean you can interpret it however you want, but that wasn't my intention XD I'm only about the lava bromance. But anyway, thank you!

TheNinjaOfArt - thank you for always making me hit up google translate to figure out what you're saying hahah XD