Azule lies in Sally's arms, unconscious with blood leaking from his head and tears falling onto his face from Sally. Cobalt's gone, running after the perpetrator who pulled the trigger, Fuchsia and the other girls gather around Azule, praying for his safety, and Reice just gets off the phone with the medics.
"They're on their way." Stressed Reice, walking over to the girls; Sally looks pale as she can feel the warmth from Azule's body turn cold...
"Hey, you ok?" asked Reice, squatting down next to her; she didn't answer. He's not going to make it…he's dying in my arms…she thought, slowly looking at her dying friend.
Violet keeps her eyes closed, refusing to see Azule in this state. What cruel person would do this!?
The ambulance arrives a few minutes later; the medics gently take Azule away from Sally and place him on a stretcher. They drive him to the hospital; Squidcom grabs a ride with the ambulance.
At the hospital, Squidcom sat in the waiting room, everyone uneasy. Sally had a terrified look on her face, holding a handkerchief to her mouth looking down at her feet. Reice stood next to her, concerned for both Azule and her. Violet sat down, praying a verse for Azule, Fuchsia and Tangie both sat silent, looking blank in thought. Sky barges in with tears in her eyes; the other members of the Elites and Pastelle, Parker and Kidvel followed behind them.
"Where..!? Where's Azule!? Where's my little brother!?" Cried Sky, completely distraught; the others had depressed looks on their faces too, hearing the news from Riece.
"He's inside with the doctors." Reice answered, avoiding eye contact out of shame; Sally, looks paler than she was before, the image of Azule still fresh in her mind.
Sky makes a hustle to the door, but is stopped by Aaron, "Let the doctors finish what they're doing. We can't just simply rush in and interrupt them."-Holding her-"I know you must be scared, but believe in your little brother. He's got a warrior's heart."
Tears flood her eyes as she stares at the door-remembering the bright smile her little brother would always give, she drags herself to the wall next to the door and sits down, covering her face. Pastelle walks over to the door, placing her hand on it-seems like she's experienced something like this, Parker and the other Elites take a seat next to Squidcom.
"Explain what happened." Demanded Aaron; trying to figure out what in the world is happening.
"We were walking home together when someone shot Azule in the head…" spoke Reice with gloom; Sky closed her eyes shut and clenched her fists, throwing a punch at the floor with tears still flowing down her face. The others had shock written on their faces. Why would anyone even shoot Azule? They all thought.
Parker took off his backpack, "Shot!?" in disbelief.
"Who shot him?" asked Pearl, sitting forward with an angry look, already with an idea of who it might be.
"We don't know who, Cobalt's out looking for the perpetrator as we speak." Reice answered, shaking his head in distress.
Just at that moment, the doctor came out with her assistants. She had long black tentacles tied in a ribbon, Green eyes and a nonchalant look on her face. Holding a clipboard in her hand, she tightens her look.
"You all have quite the unbecoming facial expressions. I don't think young ones such yourselves should have such looks..." Taking off her glasses, "Your friend…Azule was it...?" -Taking a glance at Sky- "You must be his older sister." signaling her over.
Sky got up to her feet, "Yes, I'm his older sister. What's his condition? Will he be fine?" in shaky voice, trembling ; the doctor silently gestures her to come with her to a corner.
"I take that you are aware of his medical history, yes? from what we see here from his past medical records and this incident, I am afraid to say that he has suffered major physical and metal damage..."-putting on her glasses-"We'll monitor him but...I can't promise you that he'll be the same when he wakes up...if he does..."
Sky nods her head yes to all information given, but then stops, "if..? what do you mean, if?"
"I will explain shortly to you and everyone here..."-She pauses to let Sky calm herself for the news about to be heard- "He will lose about 10 years of his life if he is even lucky enough to survive this…consider him surviving a pipe dream. He took a direct bullet to the head for Kanaloa's sake." Concludes the doctor, helping her over to the wall, exhibiting no emotion; the others can only imagine what was said.
Sky holds her head, trembling with fear after hearing the news; the doctor tells the others right after about his current status.
"As it is, he is in a coma…" Everyone's jaw drops, "He is very close to death knocking on the life is on the very brink... However, there is still a chance that he can recover from this if he has the strength to make it. The time table of when he could wake up is one month. After one month, if he is still in a coma, we'll have no choice but to pull the plug. If he shows any signs of staying brain dead for just that amount of time, we will also unplug him. overall, I'm letting you all know that all you can do at this point is pray. It's up to him if he can endure and make a comeback..." exiting the room and leaves them all speechless.
Reice, Violet and Sally's distress faded away, and the three of them got up. Exchanging looks with each other, knowing that it's all up to Azule now.
"Then we won't have anything to worry about, our captain wouldn't leave us!" declared Reice.
"As for the season, our fate's been sealed…"added Violet.
"We're gonna win it all for Azule and go to the Winter Tournament together!" concludes Sally; the three them gave a three-way fist bump and looked at the others with a beaming smile.
"Cheer up everyone! Azule wouldn't ever leave us! He's too stubborn to die!" cheered Reice; everyone still looks gloomy.
"How?" asked Parker, "How… can you guys immediately switch from depression to such a burst of confidence?"
They laughed, this time Fuchsia and Tangie joined them in the positivity, "We have a motto that we follow, it started back around the time we just finished forming our club." Chuckles Sally.
"Trust is a must." They all say in sync.
"Azule has always been a big supporter of friendship, teamwork and a family environment. We didn't really understand his mode of thinking at first, but once the entire club gained its current members, we truly understood the bond that we all share-we all live by the motto 'trust is a must'. It's been a short time that we've spent together, but I'm sure we all feel the same way about each other, we care for one another and we'll keep moving forward-together." Giving the speech as well; all the members grab each other's hands.
The mood in the room improved; everyone's frowns turned upside down. Sky, the most depressed of them all, stood in a corner, in deep thought; Aaron walks over and gives her a hug.
"Looks like you'll have more to worry about than just Azule, ready to defend our school title? It's all in his hands now…" with a smirk; she returned his smirk with a bright smile.
"Yeah!" she says, walking over to Squidcom.
She offers a handshake to Sally, the ace of the club and vice captain; Sally accepts it.
"For Azule…" Sky said.
"Mmm-hmm for Azule…" Responded Sally; this night marks the first real events that these young inklings will be dealing with…no doubt this won't be the last time.
Everyone leaves the hospital after giving Azule their prayers; today stood a huge block in the road for Squidcom and tomorrow would only be tougher without their leader present. Tomorrow would be the big match against Azule's rival, Todd, and his team known as the Rebels.
