Life 14: Now We Wait part III

Shadow moaned softly in her sleep and started to shiver. Dante, who was on watch, looked over at her. He stood and walked over to the sleeping girl and silently checked for a fever. It was still high. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, wondering what to do. Shadow already had three blankets covering her and had a change of clothes on. Raziel had changed her bandages before Dante took over his shift and had given her another dose of pain killers...So what could be wrong now? Dante looked down at her and put two fingers to her neck. Her pulse was beating rapidly, a sign of high blood pressure or pure adrinaline pumping through her. That's when he remembered; Shadow hadn't eaten anything since the incident.

"Damnit..." he muttered, looking around. There wasn't anything to eat in the room and he wasn't supposed to leave. There wasn't a phone in the room either and he didn't have his cell with him.

"Well...this is just great. Fine time for everyone else to be out..." He sighed and sat down in the chair that was left next to Shadow's bed, then closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "I just hope they get back soon. I don't know what to do..."

Dante muttered a curse and then fell silent, listening to the hospital equipment beep and hum. He still didn't know how Raziel had gotten it, but he didn't really care. As long as it helped him and his friends, there was no point in wondering about where it came from.

Shadow chuckled and shook her head. "No..."

Zepher laughed and nodded. "Good," he said. "because Vampires suck!"

Cain narrowed his eyes and grinned. "Be careful what you say about Vampires, Z." Zepher faced him and raised an eyebrow.

"Why should I?"

Cain shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe 'cuz they might track you down and kill you for dissing their kind."

"Eh, let 'em come get me. I'll kill whoever tries to touch me!"

Dante rolled his eyes and grinned. Shadow shook her head and looked over at Cain.

"Hey Cain, don't you have duties to attend to?" she asked casually.

He shrugged and said, "Nope. Father gave me a few hours of free time before I have to go back and round up more troops." He groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"It's hopeless though. Those morons don't know the first thing about combat." Dante crossed his arms and cocked his head to one side.

"Why not give the job to someone else? It's clear that you're not skilled enough to get a few demons to learn how to use a weapon," he said grinning. Cain glared and shot up to slug the humonculus but Ryven stopped him.

"Don't let him get to you, big brother," she said. After calming the Prince down, Ryven walked over to Dante and punched him in the arm. He didn't flinch or anything, he just looked at her and said in a dull voice, "Ow..." Zepher chuckled and nudged Dante with his elbow; Dante glared at him.

Itaki smiled and shook her head. "I'm gonna miss this..." she said aloud. As soon as she did, she didn't know what she meant. She wasn't going anywhere, was she? Everyone stopped and looked at her, sad looks on their faces. Ryven walked over and sat next to her.

"You don't have to leave, sister Shadow," she said. Shadow shook her head again.

"You know I'm not your real sister...and yes I do have to leave." Now she was surprising herself. What was she talking about? Dante narrowed his eyes.

"You can stay. This is your home. You don't have to leave us..." Everyone looked at him in shock. Dante was NEVER this nice.

"No..." Shadow said, smiling faintly. "I have to go. I don't belong here. You of all people should know that, Dante." The humonculus looked away, eyes narrowed. Zepher and Cain stood side by side, sad looks on their faces. Shadow stood up and emediatly felt weak. She stumbled back and sat down, breathing hard. Everyone looked at her and moved closer.

"Shadow? What's wrong?" asked Cain, slightly panicked.

"I...I don't know..." she wheezed. Zepher knelt in front of her and looked Shadow in the eyes.

"Shad...are you alright?"

"Y-yeah...I'm just a little dizzy." Shadow looked at him and smiled with effort. The boy narrowed his eyes and felt her forehead. "Really...Zepher...I'm okay..." said Shadow. 'What's his deal? I'm just a little dizzy..."

"Hey."

Dante looked over towards the door and saw Ryven standing there. "Hey..." he replied, nodding. Ryven walked over to him and looked at Shadow, her face full of hurt and worry.

"Will she b-be okay?" she asked, looking back at Dante. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back again.

"I don't know..." he said quietly.

"Don't know?" she repeated, stupidly. There was a silence for a while before Ryven walked closer to Shadow's bedside and took her hand in her own. "Has she gotten any better?" she asked.

"No..."

"Any worse?"

"No..." he said, slightly annoyed.

"What about physicaly? Has she healed any?"

"No..." More annoyed.

"Mentally?"

Dante snapped. He shot up and pulled her close by the shoulders. His face became contorted with rage and Ryven starred into his eyes, horrified.

"WHAT PART OF "NO" DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!" he shouted. "IF I SAID SHE HASN'T GOTTEN ANY BETTER OR ANY WORSE WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT MEANS?!" Tears started to well up in the corners of Ryven's eyes. She opened her mouth to answer but Dante started shouting again.

"DON'T ASK SUCH STUPID QUESTIONS WHEN YOU'VE ALREADY GOTTEN THEM ANSWERED YOU FUCKING MORON! IF YOU WERE SO CONCERNED ABOUT HER STATE OF BEING, YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE DONE THIS TO HER IN THE FIRST PLACE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FUALT!"

The next thing he knew, Cain had flung his hand across his face and he stumbled back, releasing Ryven.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, Dante?!" Cain shouted. "How dare you yell at Ryven that way?!"

Dante held the side of his face and glared up at Cain. "I should do a hell of a lot more. To the both of you," he snarled. "Causing Shadow so much suffering..." He spat in disgust, storming passed him. When he came closer to Ryven, he stopped, glared at her, then walked on, not needing to say any more than he already had. When the humonculus had left, Cain moved closer to Ryven, still fuming from Dante yelling at his sister.

"You okay?" he asked. Ryven shook her head, looking away, tears still falling from her eyes.

"He...he didn't have to yell at me," she whispered, putting a hand over her shoulder.

"I know..." Cain said, moving over to Shadow. "If he ever does something like this again, I swear I'll fucking kill him."

"NO!"

Cain looked over his shoulder at Ryven. She was staring at him, horrified.

"Why the fuck not?" Cain asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He...he's just upset," she mumbled. "Don't kill him..." After a few minutes of silence, Cain nodded.

"Okay...but if he does anything to hurt you--"

"He won't..."

Cain sighed and walked over to his sister, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I mean it though. If he does...I'll make sure he never does it again." Ryven narrowed her eyes thoughtfully then looked over at Shadow.

"Do you think she'll wake up soon?" she asked. Cain shook his head.

"I'm not sure."

Shadow clenched her fists and moaned softly. Ryven hurried over to her and put a hand on top of her sister's.

"Sister Shadow...please hang on," she pleaded. She closed her eyes and sobbed softly. "Please don't leave us...just hang on a little longer."

Cain narrowed his eyes and looked over at the doorway. Dante stood there, arms crossed, watching Ryven as she cried over her sister. The Prince walked over and Dante looked up at him, irritation in his eyes.

"You hurt her, you know," Cain said.

"I don't care. She deserved it."

"She didn't deserve anything, Dante. You're just being pissy with her 'cause you like Shadow and you think it's her fault she's practically a vegetable."

Dante narrowed his eyes. "It IS her fault. Just as much as it is your's."

"So you don't denigh it?" Cain asked, smirking.

"I have nothing to denigh. My feelings for Shadow are strictly as a sister."

Cain crossed his arms, his smirk growing. "That's good to hear...because if Zepher knew that you liked his girl--"

"Shadow doesn't belong to him or anyone!" Dante hissed, now inches from Cain's face. Cain narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"Dante...you have to keep your feelings in check. If Ryven finds out that you like her sister, well...you know how she'll get."

Dante smiled bitterly and drew back, looking over at Ryven and Shadow again. "Yeah...she'll turn into a dark, depressed little brat and think her word is coming to an end. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"She'll probably kill herself!"

"She'll go around telling everyone she'll kill herself and then never do it. She's too scared of death to do something like that and you know it."

Cain sighed and looked over at his little sisters. "Dante...if you break Ryven's heart, I'll never forgive you."

Dante sighed and shook his head. "I don't need your forgiveness, Cain."