Disclaimer: I do not own Luca or any of the associated characters.
Chapter 8: Tears in Water
"Please Luca…"
With desperate heaves, Alberto managed to drag Luca up a sandbank and out of the water. He knew the blood in the water was dangerous for them both, and he couldn't clearly see the extent of Luca's wounds in the darkness. Frantic, he hauled Luca's body high onto shore. His friend was limp but still alive, evident only by his labored breathing. Between knocking his head, being strangled, and losing a lot of blood on their long swim to shore, he had been unconscious for several minutes and Alberto was wracked with worry.
"C'mon, Luca… wake up for me… please."
Finally on the dry, but still dark, shore, Alberto hurriedly examined his friend to find where the bleeding was coming from. It was a deep gash on Luca's leg—Edoardo had good aim, even in the darkness of the waning nighttime–but luckily the harpoon had missed a more lethal mark. Alberto ripped off his shirt and wrapped it around the wound, panting from the strain of trying to tie off the bleeding as tightly as he could make it. Shaking and terrified, Alberto combed over Luca's body for any more injuries. He looked so little and frail under the cold moonlight. Alberto choked back a sob.
"Please, please, please Luca—" he croaked. "Please wake up. You have to wake up." He scooched up to Luca's pale body and laid his head on his chest, grasping at Luca's still wet shirt. He could barely, barely feel the gentle rise of shallow breaths… but they were weak.
"You have to wake up," Alberto choked again, finally letting the sobs escape him. "Y-you have to go to Milan. They'll be w-waiting for you. It's what you've always wanted… to go have your adventure…" Luca remained motionless, and Alberto cried harder. "I-I'm sorry for everything I said. Listen—if you wake up, I-I promise I'll go to Milan with you. We'll go together and you can study a-and I'll get a new job. I'll do whatever I have to, to make it work. I'll look after you, I promise."
Alberto bit his lip so hard he tasted his own blood as more sobs wracked his body. "O-or even if you don't want me to be with you—I'll understand that too. If you don't w-want me—" he choked even trying to say it, but years of frustration and anger and self-loathing and envy all began crashing down. "—Even of you leave me behind again it's okay. I'll forgive you a-and I'll let you go. You can leave me to go anywhere you want in the whole world…"
Alberto buried his face in Luca's chest and sobbed openly. "Just please don't leave me like this…"