Author Notes - I want to make sure this story doesn't fall into the same trap that 'Thirty Years Later' did, wherein it becomes far too dark for its own good.

I am a little surprised to already have three favourites on this one, so thanks to Vicosaurus106, SuperAvengerMan, Celebi2005 for said favourites. Clearly, the fandom's been meaning to have a story like this for years now.

CHAPTER TWO - HOSPITAL VISIT

When Zooli came rushing to Mr Grouper with tears flowing down her face, he didn't know what to think. When she told him what happened... he didn't want to believe it. Not just because he failed as a teacher, but because he failed as a surrogate father. Still, he made sure his emotions wouldn't cloud his judgement, to the best of his ability. So, even when all his students returned to school weeping about the fate of their friend, he put on a brave face and talked them through it.

'... and as soon as I get the call, we'll be right over there.'

In spite of what other teachers may say, he never told them that 'everything would be okay'. All he said was that Gil wasn't gone yet, and there was a good chance he'd be okay. He guaranteed nothing, in case the worst did indeed happen. Raising their hopes seemed like a good idea at first, but if it turned out that Gil wasn't going to be okay it would hurt so much more.

He watched his crying students, as tough as it was for him to do. No teacher worth their sea salt wanted to see their own students crying, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He could only allow them to let out their emotions in the safe place of their classroom.

Molly was no doubt the worst, by far. She just stayed in the corner, crying into her lap while not letting anymore get near her. Nonny, who wasn't used to dealing with this kind of emotion, hugged Oona and cried into her shoulder. She tried to stay strong for him, but she just couldn't do it. Goby held Gil's bulldozer toy close to his chest, holding onto it like his life - and Gil's life too - depended on it. Zooli may not have known Gil for nearly as long as the other kids did, but she was no less heartbroken. If anything, the devastation of the other Guppies would've made her cry even if she hadn't known who Gil was.

The Guppy that concerned Mr Grouper the most, though, was Deema. All she had been doing since the accident was staring, dead forward into space. Such an empty reaction from the drama queen was unheard of, and it unnerved her teacher. No matter how many questions he had asked her, she said absolutely nothing.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Mr Grouper rushed to answer it as the Guppies fell into a silent spell. Whoever was on the other line didn't even care to make sure she was talking to the right person.

'Gil Davish is alive.' She said. 'He's badly injured, yes, but alive. And we have no reason to believe he won't make it.'

Mr Grouper sighed in relief and smiled for the first time since Zooli had given him the news. He took no time in telling the rest of the class.

'Gil's alive!'

Most of the Guppies sighed in relief too, and a couple of them even managed to smile, but that didn't stop the tears. Molly lifted her head up and gasped. Part of her waited for her to wake up and find out that this news wasn't true, just so the universe could spit on her one more time, but she wanted to ignore any possibility that this wasn't happening. If any part of this whole mess had to be true, she wanted it to be this.

'I-Is he okay?' Oona asked. 'Is he hurt?'

Mr Grouper frowned. 'Unfortunately, yes. He's very hurt. But don't worry. The doctor said that he'll make it. I'm just... not sure how hurt he is.' He returned to the phone conversation. 'Can we drop by and see him?'

'Of course.' The person on the other end replied. 'His family have promised to give you and the kids some time with him alone.'

'Thank you, Miss. It's... it's a difficult time for all of us right now.'

'I know. It's a difficult situation for anyone to deal with. Hope to see your class here soon.'

This was not the first time the Guppies had visited a friend in the hospital. They knew just what it was like there, thanks to a prior trip to check up on Avi and his broken tail, and another for the mayor and her stomach ache, and yet another for the birth of Mia. This visit, however, seemed far more serious. No one could shake that icky feeling in their stomach as they rode the elevator up to the floor of Gil's room. Molly had adopted Deema's stare, except whereas Deema's was as blank as a fresh canvas Molly's was ladened with fear.

The swim to Gil's room seemed to be even longer than the wait for the ambulance. Dr Apple, the same lobster woman who had taken care of Avi, stood by the door. The moment the class reached the room...

'Is Gil okay?!' Molly cried, seemingly out of nowhere.

'Yes, he's okay.' Dr Apple said in a much quieter voice. 'He'll live. Don't worry about that. But I want you all to be quiet when you enter his room. He's been through a lot today, and he's very tired. So right now, he's sleeping. Don't worry though - I'm sure he'll wake up to see you guys.'

Dr Apple opened the door, and from Molly's point-of-view it opened like a stiff creaky door in a haunted mansion. She almost didn't want the door to open at all. Was she able to handle whatever sight lay on the other side? Despite her horrors, she was the first one to get a glimpse into the room. Before she could see anything, she could hear a constant beeping sound.

She almost cried at the sight. Almost.

Gil lay in a hospital bed, covered with bruises, cuts, and bandages. He was hooked up to a few things, including the heart rate monitor making the constant beeps. Like Dr Apple said, he was asleep. Molly could've sworn she saw a small smile on his face. In a somewhat unusual bending of hospital rules, he had Bubble Puppy cuddled up to him and sleeping too. The breathing of the young boy was calm and steady, almost too calm after what he went through.

It got a small smile out of Molly, if only for a moment. Of course Gil would bounce right back from an accident like this. He always did. It was one of her favourite parts about that turbo-charged boy. The smile lasted only for a moment, ending when she swam into the room itself with most of her friends behind her.

'Gilly?'

She kept her voice low. After everything that had happened, she didn't want to stir him from such a peaceful sleep. She approached the bed as quietly as she could, and looked down at her injured friend. Tears threatened to fall again. Goby stood right next to her, doing a much worse job at fighting back the tears, and placed his backpack on the floor. From it, he grabbed Gil's toy bulldozer and put it on the bedside table.

'We don't have to play right now.' Goby murmured to his sleeping best friend. 'We'll play whenever you're ready. And if you're never ready... that's okay.'

Oona couldn't bare to look upon those bruises and bandages any longer, and steered her attention towards the heart rate monitor instead. She had no idea what this machine was, or what that line meant. Was it bad? Did it mean Gil wasn't okay?

'Nonny...' Her voice came out high-pitched and trembly. 'W-What does that machine do?'

Nonny was only half-listening to the world around him, but answered her question all the time. 'It monitors Gil's heart rate. Don't worry about the beeping. That means his heart is still beating, so he'll be okay.'

The bespectacled boy's attention was focused more on the X-rays hanging on the wall. A lot of bones were broken - an arm, his tail, one of the ribs even - but fortunately nothing bad seemed to have happened to his skull or even his jaw. What a miracle.

Zooli had no idea what to do. She still didn't know Gil as well as the others, and so wasn't certain how to react. It felt like nothing she could say would be appropriate to the situation. So, she just sat down on one of the chairs and watched her friends react instead.

'It might not seem like it, but Gil was incredibly lucky.' Dr Apple explained to Mr Grouper. 'He suffered no major injuries to the head. If he did, he would've been in real trouble. It didn't take him long to become conscious again either. He has got to be one of the toughest kids we've ever had. Or, perhaps, the most determined. Having the will to keep pushing can be very important, you know.'

Mr Grouper sighed. 'I'm thanking my lucky stars for it. I... I just can't believe I let this happen. My students have never run away from class before, so I thought I could trust them. But... I'm their teacher. If I was just watching over them like I was supposed to...'

'Don't blame yourself, Harold. It doesn't matter if it was anyone's fault. All that matters is that he's okay now.'

Only one Guppy hadn't moved into the room - Deema. Her vacant stare remained, except now it had a target. She stared at Gil, not past him like before but directly at him. Despite what it seemed, she had heard every word from her friends and the doctor. It seemed like no one else had come to the conclusion that she considered obvious.

This was all her fault.

All of the emotion that had been building up behind her vacant stare was finally released, and all at once. She fell to the floor, crying harder than she had ever cried before, without any prompting at all.

'Oh my!' Mr Grouper cried.

'DEEMA!' Oona yelled.

It was the only thing that could get everyone to stop focusing on Gil. Mr Grouper was on the verge of panic himself.

'D-Deema, what's wrong?' He asked. 'I-I know Gil's hurt, but-'

'IT'S ALL MY FAULT!' She suddenly screamed, speaking for the first time in hours.

Mr Grouper was speechless. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't think of a single word to say. How was he supposed to respond to that beyond 'no it isn't', a sentiment that rarely convinced anyone?

Dr Apple gave Deema a slight glare. 'Young girl, I told you to be quiet. I know this is a horrible situation, but Gil needs his rest, and you-'

'IT'S ALL MY FAULT!' The young girl screamed again, wailing at the top of her lungs.

Oona found herself torn between two friends. She wanted to make both Gil and Deema feel better, but she didn't know how to even begin. It made her cry too. She embraced Nonny for comfort, but he was no better than her.

'Deema, calm down.' Mr Grouper said as he finally got his words back. 'I'm sure you didn't do anything. This was just a freak accident. I'm sure you had nothing to do with-'

'BUT IT IS MY FAULT!' She yelled back.

She lifted her head off the floor and looked right at Mr Grouper with her teary eyes. With the salty tears and shiny mucus flowing down her face, she looked like a complete mess. Crying so hard never looked pretty. Even her most overdramatic moments were nothing compared to this.

'Deema, I-'

'I WAS THE ONE WHO SCARED HIM!'

'You... you did what?'

'T-There was a moving truck, a-and it was open, a-and I thought i-it would be f-funny to... t-to bark like a dog at him. I-I-I didn't think i-it would scare him that much. T-Then he hit the b-boxes, and then... a-and then...'

She cried into her arms, unable to continue. Mr Grouper stared at her for just a few seconds before he could come up with anything to say.

'Deema? You... you mean that? I... I don't know what to say. I'm sure it was just an-'

He reached out to comfort her, but she batted his fin away. Before he could possibly react to that, she leapt off the floor and ran away down the hallway. Where was she going? She didn't know, but she didn't care. She could've ran directly into a moving bus for all she cared. All that mattered to her was getting as far away from the others as possible.

She didn't deserve to be friends with them anymore.

'H-Harold...' Dr Apple stammered. 'Is such behaviour typical of Deema?'

'No! Not at all. She can be a drama queen sometimes, but... nothing like this.' He put his fin on his chin in thought. 'I just want to know... what was she talking about? I know it was a complete accident, and I know none of my students would try to hurt each other like that, but... why was she trying to scare him at all? And why did a little joke like that scare him so much?'

Molly gasped. Gil was beginning to wake up. No one could sleep through Deema screaming as loud as she did, except for Bubble Puppy apparently. His eyes opened slowly, and he emitted a low groan as he tried to move his aching arms. His vision was blurry, so all he saw was a cloudy mess of colours.

'Gilly's waking up!'

The voice seemed familiar, and he turned his head to the source no matter how much it hurt to do so. Once his vision returned to him, he saw his pink-haired friend looking right at him with a smile on her face.

He flinched. It took Molly by surprise. He flinched. Why did he flinch?

'M-Molly?'

She nearly cried again, but this time with relief.

'Oh Gilly!' She cried. 'You're okay!'

She reached out to grab his hand, but he flinched again and pulled away from her. He used that hand to pat a still-sleeping Bubble Puppy instead.

'Gil!' Oona yelled with joy. 'I'm so happy to see that you're okay!'

Gil looked at her for just a moment, with a look of slight disbelief on his face, before he looked back down to Bubble Puppy. Molly couldn't understand it. Sure, he had just woken up, but he barely gave his friends a look. And the flinching? It didn't seem right.

'Aren't you happy to see us?' Goby asked.

Gil gave them a very quick look before returning to Bubble Puppy. 'Of course I am. I just... I'm just tired. That's all.'

Well, most of the Guppies were happy. Gil seemed just fine for someone with such horrible injuries, and that was more than enough for his friends. Even so, Oona couldn't stop thinking about Deema. Right after they were done with Gil, she was going to search for that curly-haired girl.

'There's just one thing I couldn't understand.' Dr Apple said.

'Hm? What's that?' Mr Grouper asked.

'We were running tests on him earlier today, to check if all his functions still worked. The results were mostly good, but one thing was horribly off. It appears that Gil has sustained some... noise-induced hearing damage.'

Those very words were all that was needed to pull Molly out of her little happy moment.

'Hearing damage?!' Mr Grouper exclaimed. 'He couldn't have got that from the accident. How did that happen?'

'Frankly Harold, I am baffled. Usually, it would be because he's a singer in a band. It's unfortunately common for band musicians, especially ones playing rock songs, to have hearing damage because of it. But if that were the case for Gil, all the Guppies would have hearing damage too. From what I can tell, they don't. I just don't understand how it could be possible.'

Molly took one last look at her injured friend, and approached the doctor. She tapped her index fingers together, and couldn't look Dr Apple in the eye at all.

'Um... Dr Apple? I-I think I might know what happened.'

Author Notes - We're not just here to deconstruct the spooks, after all. We're deconstructing everything the Gil skits have to offer.