'It wasn't worth it.'
Words, memories, a spiraling cyclone leading to self loathing. He could hear weeping. But he couldn't open his eyes, they felt too heavy to lift. Perhaps weighed down by guilt?
His chest felt light, as if the thing holding it together finally broke. "My life in exchange for her freedom." A deal he offered to the yellow clad she-devil.
The sounds of Marinette's pleas burnt into his head. He was supposed to protect her from all the evil things in the world yet he was helpless. He couldn't swoop in like Superman and save her.
His offer meant with a zap of a tazor. "It's not up to me."
He wanted to tell Marinette not to worry. He would be okay, he would survive somehow and that she could live a good life. A life that Tom and Sabine, her parents would have wanted for her. To say his final goodbyes. To bite his lip and fight the urge to tell her. Tell her that he loved her.
To forfeit ever hearing her call his name. To live with the last memory of his name through her lips being the one brought on by desperation. "L..Luka!"
He then felt a bolt of something that he mistook for Vesperia's sadistic torture.
"ANOTHER ONE!" A voice shouted. "WE ARE LOSING HIM!"
Luka groaned at the pain. Burns, open wounds, his chest tightening up. He wanted to live, to find her, to save her. But giving up was so tempting, it was only one bright light away.
He then felt something slide into his throat. Cold, plastic impossible to swallow. He felt his lungs fill with air then slowly deflate, refill then deflate a cycle that he could not change even if he tried.
He lifted his eyelids trying to make sense of what was happening. 'It's all black.'
He couldn't see anything, not a face, nor the place he was in. He could hear surprised voices.
"You're awake!" An older female voice proclaimed as she held onto his arm.
'Mom?' He questioned as it sounded very similar to her but he had never heard so much pain in her voice. Even when the Dupain-Cheng's passed, or when she had to console a grieving child. His eyelids weighed too much to keep up.
He heard a brief shuffling of feet before he felt someone touch his face. A soft CLICK. The hand moved onto the other side of his face. Then another CLICK.
An older male voice spoke."His pupils aren't reactive. I am afraid there could be a few reasons for this. He could be suffering from temporary or permanent blindness due to his head injuries. Since he isn't breathing on his own, I am afraid this might just be an instinctive muscle contraction. We won't know until we get a CT scan but there is a possibility that your son could be brain dead."
'I don't know who he is but fuck him.'
Juleka attempted to comfort her mom who was not prepared to lose a child. Not this soon. It was always her worst fear that she would outlive her children. She was a young mom who worked really hard to raise her children, to give them the best life with the little she had.
Anakra wanted to trade spots with her son so it would be easier. Easier on her heart. She had recalled holding him when he was first born. Her little fat baby boy weighing nine pounds looking up at him with gray eyes that turned teal as the years went by.
She swore that she would protect him as he cooed. He did not know how bad the world was, only that there was this strange woman that was promising him that she would be the best mother she could be. To protect him, to love him unconditionally. It hurt to watch that baby boy she watched and cared for end up dependent on machines to breathe for him. Machines to control his pain, machines that visualized his heart rate that had already flattened.
Anakra gently patted his shoulder. "I love you, my little scallywag." A nickname she hadn't called him since he had been twelve. He had wanted to be a pirate, to fight others pirates, and steal treasures. Running around the boat that they called home pretending to go on grand adventures.
'Mom. Don't sound so sad. I am still here.'
Anakra wiped her tears on the collar of her sweater. "Juleka, I think you need to go back with Marinette."
Both of them knew that Luka would be right there by her side if he could. And Luka doesn't need both of them. If he was indeed still there they knew he would say "I am fine." No matter what injury he had sustained.
Luka attempted to move his hand. But could only lift his index finger. He wanted to ask "How is she holding up?" And send apologizes her way.