Chapter 19
A/N: Hello everyone! :D
As promised, I'm back with another chapter! (^_^)
Enjoy! :)
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There was someone there, beside him. It was a presence. Tender, warm.
He felt a gentle touch on his forehead and slowly, he opened his eyes.
He noticed the darkness first and glanced at the window.
It was nighttime, but there were so many lights on in the city, that he could barely see any stars.
Then he heard the soft moan beside him and turned his head to look at its origin.
"Astral!" he gasped, as he saw the golden and silver eyes right beside him, lying in the bed with him.
Immediately, he turned onto his side, though it made his stomach burn, to look at him properly.
"Astral, I've been so worried about you… I haven't seen you at all. How are you?" he asked, ignoring his own discomfort, in favor of inquiring about his lover.
"Do not worry about me, my love" Astral replied "focus on yourself".
The second he finished though, he moaned and moved into something close to fetal position.
Yuma did not feel anything coming from him and frowned.
"Are you… in pain?" he asked, placing a hand on the others shoulder. Astral nodded weakly.
"Yes… but do not think about me Yuma, I will be… okay" he whispered faintly.
Yuma kept his eyes locked on him for a while, then suddenly he spoke.
"Tori said you were fading… I can see that she's right. Yet, I can't feel anything from you. Barely even that you're alive. Why not?" he asked.
"I can handle myself. I'm safe, inside the key" Astral replied, but then he whimpered again, and Yuma inched a little bit closer to him.
"Tori also said that you are still solid, when you aren't disappearing.
So then, how can you claim to be safe in the key?
Doing your time, you told me that it would try to revert you back to your original form.
So, how can you remain inside it now, if you are still, technically, solid?" he asked.
At first, Astral didn't reply. But then he finally spoke.
"I have no choice. Even if it pains me, it is the only reason for why I still exist. I assume you understand why" he said.
"I don't want you to suffer. There must be something else we can do to aid you. I know why you are fading. It is because I am ill, isn't it? Because your lifeforce, is tied to mine" Yuma commented and Astral sighed. Then he nodded.
"You know it is" he whispered "so please, just focus on getting better yourself. If you do, then I too, will improve.
I should return to the key now. I am so glad you are awake at last. I couldn't reach you at all. Everything was dark and… so lonely".
At his last words, his voice faded away and Yuma noticed that he was withdrawing from him, in preparation to get back into the key. Before he could get far though, Yuma grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" he said "I… I don't want you to suffer… Couldn't you… stay with me? Right here, beside me? Wouldn't that help you?".
Astrals eyes locked on his for several intense seconds. Then he slowly spoke.
"Here… with you?" he said "but… we are in public. And your friends and family are always represented here. Yet you are asking me to… share the bed with you? Even though we will undoubtedly be seen?".
Yuma nodded. "Yes. I am. I love you Astral. I don't care if we're seen. I think my family have a pretty good idea already, and my friends…
Well, they'll probably just think it's because we're so close. Except for Tori… She might" he said, but then broke off with a small sigh.
Her jealousy really wasn't fair to Astral. Neither one of the two halves, could help how they felt.
"I cannot deny that being able to remain near you, might aid me somewhat. The key helps me as well, but it is true that remaining inside it for hours at a time, also pains me a great deal.
Toris' observation is correct. I am, theoretically, still solid even though it has been almost a weak since my time passed. It troubles me, for I do not know why this is the case.
For the moment though, I am afraid I am translucent, more often than solid" Astral said quietly, deciding not to comment on Yumas last words.
"So then… you'll stay?" the young man asked and Astral, still with his eyes on those of his partner, send Yuma a small smile and nodded.
"I would like to… If you will be alright? I do not wish to intrude upon you or make you uncomfortable" he said.
"You won't Astral. You could never do that… There's plenty of room for both of us… Come" Yuma replied, moving the duvet aside so that Astral could crawl under it.
As he did, Yuma rolled onto his back, because lying on his side was getting too painful, and then moved out an arm so Astral could settle comfortably against him.
The alien wasn't late in placing himself as close to Yuma as he possibly could, resting a hand on the others chest so that he could feel his heartbeat, though not daring to place his head on the humans' shoulder, afraid that it might aggravate his injuries.
Injuries which, as far as Astral had gathered from what he'd heard from the nurses and doctors tending to his partner, was caused by him.
By his time and that which Yuma had been forced to endure throughout it, to keep the blue skinned being safe.
He felt so guilty. He didn't feel that he had any right to nuzzle against Yuma like this.
He should stay away from him, so that he didn't make him even worse.
But the pleading that had seeped into Yumas voice, to his eyes, as he grabbed his arm so very weakly, and asked him to stay with him.
That, Astral just could not resist.
So, he had joined him.
He had given in to the sweet temptation of lying with Yuma again, even though this time there would be no pain, no sex, just endless love and compassion.
And company. More than anything else, there would be company.
He had barely been able to endure the loneliness he had suffered, after separating his mind and Yumas so effectively.
He had done so out of guilt. Out of self-loathing. Out of fear that he would sense every long, heartbreaking moment of his partners passing, as he himself crumbled into pieces.
It had been cowardice, but he had been completely unprepared for the sudden weakness that had overwhelmed him, once Yuma fell off that chair in school, on what Astral had thought would be his last day there.
As he'd collapsed beside the human, all he had been capable of doing was just stare at him, as he felt himself fading in and out of existence.
Yuma, who had been right there, but had been seizuring, shaking uncontrollably, as he wet his pants and seemed to not even notice what was happening.
It had only been for a few seconds, then Tori had grabbed Astral and told him to get back in to the key, before everyone realized what had happened. So that they might not even notice that he disappeared.
She had been right to do so. Had she not, and had Astral not taken her advice instinctively, he and Yuma would have been separated, just like back when Yuma was emitted to the hospital with his cold, a few years earlier.
And that, Astral would not have been able to endure.
Had he been torn from Yuma like that, he had no doubt in his mind, that he would have faded for sure.
But instead, he had come with his other half to the hospital, inside the emperors' key, which he had understood from the conversations he'd overheard between Tori and Yumas family, Tori had underlined the importance of keeping with Yuma, to the ambulance drivers when the young man was picked up by them.
A thing which Astral would forever be grateful to her for, though he did not know how to show that.
It wasn't right that he lie here. That he relax like this, against his partners warm body.
But he would, because Yuma had asked him to. And because he wanted nothing more than that, himself…
"Yuma, what the hell?!" a shrill voice sounded. Startled, Yuma opened his eyes, flinching as they were immediately met by angry ones right above him.
"Ka… Kari!" he said, surprised.
"Don't you Kari me, Yuma! What are you and Astral doing?! You're supposed to be recovering! What is he doing here?!" she replied, "in your bed!".
Yuma turned his head then, eyes wide, and looked at Astral.
The alien was still beside him, one of his arms clutching Yumas, his eyes wide and frightened as he looked at the raging Kari above them.
But before Yuma could respond, Haru came in to view.
"Oh, leave them be Kari" she said "think of how close they are. I believe this is better for them than being separated. Yuma knows not to do anything that will aggravate his injuries, and if not, then his body will surely tell him!".
With that, Kari crossed her arms over her chest, but closed her mouth and sighed.
"Yuma, how are you feeling dear boy?" Haru then asked, sending Yuma and Astral a small smile as she did. Yuma swallowed, then let out a quiet moan.
"I've been better Grandma… But… It's good to see you, both of you, again…" he said softly, smiling back, though it was only for a brief moment, before he groaned and moved a hand up to cover his eyes.
The world was spinning around him, making him dizzy, and with that dizziness, came nausea as well.
He struggled not to flip onto his side and throw up over the side of the bed.
"We couldn't stay away" Haru now commented, as Karis eyes observed him worriedly.
"Sorry I scared you" Yuma said, voice low and shaking, in his continued struggle.
"Nonsense love. I'm just glad you were brought here in time" Haru said, still smiling faintly, even though only Astral saw that, as Yuma wasn't looking at her.
Astral could feel his struggle across their bond.
His partner was fighting very hard, to remain still, despite how he felt.
Being his other half, the alien wondered if there might be something he could do to perhaps help him endure, but he did not know what.
He hadn't really experienced nausea in himself before, as he didn't have the digestive system which the humans did, but he knew what it was, having felt it on a few occasions, when he and Yuma were one.
The young man tended to get quite nauseous when he was very tired, which he had been many times before, when the two had been pushed so far, that they'd had to merge into ZEXAL.
Still, that it was so hard for the other to contain it now, that even Astral was affected by it, despite them not being morphed, was quite disconcerting.
He wanted to at least offer his support, so after a bit, he lifted himself up on an arm and, placing his other hand on Yumas chest ever so lightly, focused his eyes on his partner and said "easy Yuma. Deep breaths, remember. That usually helps you".
As he moved, both Haru and Kari looked at him with surprise, as though they had been completely oblivious to Yumas current struggle.
They didn't speak though, just moved their eyes from Astral to Yuma, to see if he listened.
Yuma swallowed hard, tasting bile, but hearing Astrals voice and feeling the hand on his chest, he finally gasped before focusing properly on his breathing, synching it with that which he could hear from his lover.
It helped. After a few minutes, the nausea receded somewhat, and Yuma moved the hand from his eyes and send a grateful look to his other half.
"Thanks" he mumbled weakly and Astral nodded, then groaned quietly and lay back down once more.
He was fading again. He felt it clearly.
Should he go back into the key? Or would his condition improve, so long as he just remained near his beloved?
"Feeling nauseous Yuma?" Kari asked, voice surprisingly tender for her, as she sat down on the edge of her brothers' hospital bed and looked at him.
Yuma just nodded weakly, as he looked at Astral beside him with anxiety and pity.
He was disappearing again, solid, then transparent, then solid again, though the periods of transparency were the longest ones.
If only there was something Yuma could do but knowing that the aliens' weakness was due to his own, he couldn't help him except if he himself got better.
The nurse from before came in to the room. Seeing those assembled there, she sighed softly, then said "my apologies everyone, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave us for a bit. I need to run some tests on Yuma, and we need privacy for it".
When she saw the blue creature beside Yuma in the bed, she frowned.
"You're the one I've been seeing about occasionally, aren't you? May I ask what you are doing in my patients' bed?" she asked.
Astral turned his head to answer, but he felt so weak, that only a faint moan escaped him, as he shivered against his partner.
"Astral…" Yuma said in a low, troubled voice, which made the frown on the nurses' face, deepen.
Approaching the bed, she crouched down beside it, so that she could take a proper look at Astral.
"You don't look too good… Perhaps it could be that I have two patients here and not just one?" she said softly, and Yumas eyes widened with surprise.
Astral wasn't exactly regular-looking, and yet she didn't seem frightened by him or put-off with his… special, complexion or the other markings on his body.
No, she seemed… curious, and worried.
Moving a hand, she placed it softly on Astrals shoulder, making the alien jolt and inch as close to Yuma as he possible could, clutching his arm, hiding his face by his partners neck.
The nurse noticed his strange reaction, but also his shivering, and sighing softly, she rose again, though her eyes were still on both of them.
"I am afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave as well. Unless you're a patient, you can't be here outside visiting hours".
"No, please!" Yuma gasped, shooting up in the bed, wrapping his arms protectively around Astral, even though it made him gasp with pain and made cold sweat spring forth on every inch of skin.
"Please, don't make him leave. He must stay here! Please, don't send him away Tanima!" he cried out, weakly and with pain obvious in his voice.
"Yu…ma!" Astral moaned, barely audible, in his grasp.
He barely solidified anymore, in between his waves of being all but gone. He turned less see-through, but not solid. It was a VERY bad sign.
And even as he thought that, he felt himself getting overwhelmingly tired, not even able to keep his eyes open anymore and Yuma found his hands no longer holding anything with substance, even as he could still see Astral.
Instinctively, he reached out across their bond, opening his mind fully to better utilize it, but he couldn't sense Astrals end of it.
It was like he was already gone.
This thought made Yumas heart ache painfully, and he felt as though the world was crumbling around him, his mind falling to pieces right then and there.
And without a sound, tears started streaming down his cheeks, Yuma completely incapable of stopping them, or even of a mind to try to do so.
He was shaking visibly now and Tanima too, noticed these sudden changes in both him and the blue being in his arms.
Desperate, her eyes darted to the heartrate-monitor which Yuma was hooked up to and even as she looked at it, she could see the numbers on it crashing dangerously.
Frightened, her eyes now widened as they locked on her patient.
"Alright! Alright, I won't! I won't ever send… whatever it is, away! But Tsukumo, you MUST lie back down! And stop aggravating your already life-threatening injuries!
There is a reason for why you are in the ICU. Please, listen to me!" she said and as her eyes locked on the dim, red ones of Yuma, she felt her stomach twisting with pity in a way she hadn't tried before, in regard to a patient.
There was something about this particular one, and the blue being who was with him.
They were special, much like she and her husband was, though she felt it was in an entirely different way.
For a long while, their eyes remained locked, as though the young man was testing her to see if she meant what she'd said.
But then his eyes closed, a low moan escaped him, and he collapsed back in the bed, his arms still around the blue being, though Tanima could see that Yuma had fainted.
"Yuma! YUMA!" his sister, Kari, cried out, rushing towards the bed.
"I'm sorry, but the two of you really must leave now. You can wait in the usual place. I will inform you when you can return. Now, go!" Tanima broke in, stopping her.
The young woman and the grandmother nodded and then, with a last look at the ones in the bed, they left.
Once they were gone, Tanima got to work immediately.
She paged Kazuya, and then emptied the catheter-bag on the side of her patients' bed, noticing the color of the urine was redder than it should be, before she moved around to prepare the doctors arrival.
Astral, though barely conscious, saw her moving about busily and heard the change in rhythm of the steady beeps that signaled Yumas heartbeat, as it was monitored on that strange machine on the wall above them.
He heard that it picked up speed, and then he heard the bustle as someone came into the room.
Then he heard no more…