Chapter 38, Wounded.

Alexis was sitting in the infirmary, in the bed next to her was her brother Atticus, both Robin and Atticus had been brought to the infirmary after their duel, the pendant that Atticus had used to create a shadow game had been placed on a stand next to his bed.

Atticus had remained unconscious since his duel with Robin and he had shown no signs of waking up, Nurse Fontaine had examined him and found no sighs of physical injury, her best assumption was that Atticus was in a coma.

Alexis looked at her brother and sighed, "Atticus, why did you do this, why did you become Nightshroud" she thought, Alexis didn't understand what could have happened to her brother, when he duelled Robin he acted as if he didn't even know her.

Just thinking back to the duel was painful for Alexis, her brother had acted so cruel, he had ever threatened to hurt her, the Atticus that she knew would never hurt someone let alone his own sister.

The memory of the duel made Alexis's thoughts turn to Robin, as soon as Nurse Fontaine had seen him she had immediately began to worry, Alexis could only hope that Robin would be ok.

Robin was currently in another hospital bed that was covered with the curtain so Alexis couldn't see what was happening, Nurse Fontaine was behind the curtain tending to Robin's wounds.

When Nurse Fontaine had first started to treat Robin's injuries he had cried and moaned in pain despite being unconscious, the sound of this had almost broken Alexis's heart.

Finally Nurse Fontaine emerged from Robin's curtain, she had a look of distress on her face and she had a box of bandages in her hand, "Nurse Fontaine, is Robin alright, will he be ok" asked Alexis, Fontaine hesitated for a moment as if she was unsure of what to say, "Don't worry, Robin will survive" she said.

"Is it ok if I see him" asked Alexis, Fontaine hesitated again but when she looked at Alexis's face she know that she needed some kind of reassurance, "Ok, you can see him, but I'm afraid that he won't be able to talk to you, I had to sedate him" said Fontaine.

Alexis walked over and pushed Robin's curtain aside so she could enter, Robin was laying in his bed unconscious, he was covered in bandages and Alexis could smell a hint of burn gel in the air, even if Robin had been awake Alexis won't know what to say, all she could hope was that his burns wasn't too severe.

"Alexis you've had a long night, maybe you should go to bed" said Fontaine, Alexis looked at Robin and then at Atticus, "No, I can't just leave them like this" she said her voice breaking a little.

"Alexis there's nothing you can do" said Fontaine as kindly as she could, "I know, but I can't go" said Alexis, her brother had been missing for over a year, even she had started to believe that he was dead, she couldn't just go back to her dorm now that she had found him.

Fontaine looked like she was ready to argue but she could tell that it would be pointless while Alexis was in her current state of mind, "Ok dear, I'll get you a blanket" said Fontaine.

After being give a blanket Alexis sat down in her chair next to Atticus and tried to make herself comfortable, she doubted that she would be able to get much sleep tonight.

The next day.

Morning came and Alexis was woken by Nurse Fontaine, "Alexis dear, it's time to get up, you have school today" she said, Alexis opened her heavy eyes, she felt awful she had likely only gotten a couple of hours sleep.

"What time is it" asked a still groggily Alexis, "It's eight-thirty, your first class starts in half an hour" said Fontaine, Alexis looked at both Atticus and Robin nether of them had woken up, "Don't worry about these two, you can come and visit them after class" said Fontaine.

Alexis knew that Nurse Fontaine was right, she couldn't stay at the infirmary forever and she needed to get to class, Alexis stood up and Nurse Fontaine sighed, "Alexis you should go and freshen up a little in the bathroom first, you look awful" said Fontaine.

Alexis did as she was told and entered the bathroom, when she looked at her reflection in the mirror she had to admit that Fontaine was right she really did look terrible, she looked nothing like the neat girl she usually did.

Alexis's hair was tangled and out of place, her uniform was creased, she could easily see the dark circles under her eyes, and to make matters worse she was still dirty from being inside that volcano, both her skin and clothes was covered with dirt and ash.

Alexis did the best she could to fix her appearance, she washed off as much dirt and ash as she could in the sink, then she tried to flatten her uniform, and finally she combed her hair with her fingers.

Alexis looked in the mirror and sighed, even after her best attempts to fix her appearance she still looked awful, her hair looked only slightly better, her clothes was still creased and the bags under her eyes was still visible.

Alexis left the bathroom, she knew that she didn't look great but this was the best she could do right now, she just hoped that no one would notice.

The first people that Alexis ran into on her way to class was Mindy and Jasmine, the two immediately took notice of her appearance, "Alexis what happened to you, you look like you just crawled out of a ditch" said Mindy.

"Sorry guys, I just had a really rough night" said Alexis, "Really, what happened" asked a concerned Jasmine, "I don't what to talk about it" said Alexis, she knew that her friends would be in danger if she told them about the spirit keys.

The three reached their class, today they was learning geography with Dr Crowler, most of the class noticed Alexis's rather unkempt appearance, however only a few of the students noticed that Robin was missing from class.

Dr Crowler entered the room and started the register, everything proceeded as normal until he reached Robin's name, "Robin Thorn" said Crowler, no one answered, "Robin Thorn" said Crowler much louder this time.

"Where is that boy" said Crowler sounding very annoyed, Alexis raised her hand "Sir, Robin's not here, he's in the infirmary" she said, most of the students began to murmur amongst themselves about why Robin would be in the infirmary.

Crowler seemed to get the message that Alexis was trying to send and continued the register, class continued normally until the bell rang, "Alexis, Jaden, Bastion and Chazz, would you four stay with me after class, I need to talk to you about you grades" said Crowler quickly thinking of an excuse.

Everyone else left the classroom leaving only Crolwer, Jaden, Alexis, Bastion and Chazz, "Ms Rhodes would you like to explain why Robin is in the infirmary" asked Crowler, Alexis sighed talking about last night was going to be painful.

"Last night, while me and Robin was going back to our dorms we was attacked by one of the Shadow riders" said Alexis, everyone immediately took notice at what she said, "The Shadow rider wanted our spirit keys, and he decided to start with Robin" continued Alexis, she wasn't ready to tell everyone that her brother was the Shadow rider.

"Let me guess, Robin lost and that's why he's in the infirmary" said Chazz sounding a little smug, Alexis suddenly became very angry, "No, Robin won the duel, but" she almost shouted however she began to hesitate at the next part.

"Robin won, but he got hurt, really badly, and now he's in the infirmary" said Alexis, "Well at least he defeated the first Shadow rider, that's the important thing" said Bastion.

"Man, he's got to be really bored in the infirmary, I think we should go and cheer him up" said Jaden, "Jaden, I'm pretty sure that a visit from you is the last thing that he'd what" said Chazz.

"I think that you should all give that boy sometime to rest before you go and see him" said Crowler, "But, I was going to go there right after class" said Alexis, "Ms Rhodes, you should go back to you dorm and correct your appearance first, if you're going to see him then you should at least look like yourself when you do" said Crowler, Alexis didn't bother to argue partly because she knew that Crowler was right.

Alexis, Jaden, Bastion and Chazz left the classroom and headed back to their dorms, Crowler waited a few minutes before he left the room and then began to walk towards the infirmary, though he wouldn't admit it, the only reason he didn't what the others to visit Robin was so he could check on the boy himself.

Crowler entered the infirmary and walked straight passed Atticus without taking any notice and approached Nurse Fontaine, "Fonda I heard that Robin Thorn was in here, where is he" asked Crowler, "He's through that curtain, but he's still asleep" said Fontaine.

Before Fontaine could stop him Crowler pulled back the curtain and looked at Robin, however when Crowler got a good look at Robin's injured body he quickly shut the curtain again.

"Fonda, what exactly happened to Robin" asked Crowler his voice contained an unusual amount of concern, "I don't know, the security team brought him in last night, he was covered in burns but no one told me how he got them" said Fontaine.

Crowler was silent, "Are the Shadow riders really this dangerous, what if the next one comes after me" thought Crowler slightly panicking, "But if they go after another one of the children then they could be hurt as well" he thought.

"Get a hold of yourself Crowler, you're the adult here and as such it is you job to protect these kids, if another Shadow rider shows up then they'll have to deal with me" thought Crowler gaining a hint of courage.

"Fonda, how severe are Robin's injuries, he will heal won't he" asked Crowler showing genuine concern for Robin, Fontaine sighed "The burns to his body should heal up just fine, but the one's on his hands are more severe, I think that they'll leave scars" she said sadly.

"I'm not sure how I'm going to tell Robin the bad news" said Fontaine, unknown to both Fontaine and Crowler Robin was in fact awake at this moment and had heard everything they had said, a tear fell from Robin's eye at the thought of what his hands would look like when his bandages came off.