A/N About three chapters until the end! FFFFFFF. I really like writing this fic. ;^;
Feel free to pelt me with fanfiction ideas, they help a LOT fff.
Okay enough blathering here is your chapter, thanks for reading x x
(She'll wake up, right?)
(It's Nepeta. She'll always bounce back.)
(HOLY THIT HOW COME NO ONE CALLED ME?!)
(Shh! You're gonna wake her up!)
(Isn't that our motherfuckin objective?)
(The doctor said that she really collided with that car… What if she doesn't wake up?!)
(This is my fault. I should have gone with her.)
(What?)
(We were talking about the graveyard and stuff. Before she left she asked if I wanted to come with.)
(It'th not your fault.)
(Did Karkat ever say what happened?)
(I don't know. He and Terezi rode with her on the ambulance.
He just stayed with her all night after the surgery.
He hasn't said a word.)
It was so white. Every blurred. First there was pain. Now she couldn't feel anything. The right side of her face felt like it was burning, but it didn't hurt. The sun peeked in and reflected off her face. She cringed against it.
What happened?
She looked to the side with her eyes. Oh hey. She hasn't seen Feferi or Eridan for a while. She looked down at her hand. It was firmly grasped between strong, soft hands. Equius's head was turned away, towards Feferi, as the two seemed to bicker. To her left was a bouquet of really pretty orchids. She couldn't really see the tag from her angle. The little table was placed neatly by her beside. An I.V stuck fast to her arm, it's needle—
Okay, looking away. Eugh. Needles.
"—At all. I think the club should consist of those who are only—GOOD GOD, FEF SHE'S AWAKE, GET THE NURSE!" If she could move, Nepeta was sure she'd topple from the hospital bed onto the sanitized tiled floor. She knew Eridan was loud but good GOD, he didn't have to screech!
All at once chaos erupted.
Feferi threw open the door and ran out as if she were being chased by a shark. Eridan was hitting the paging button repeatedly, cursing when no one replied. The only one who remained quiet was her close friend, who held fast to her sweaty hand. She peered at him, biting her lip. He looked so worried. Guilt washed over her.
What even happened? Suddenly a Nurse swarmed around her, checking her forehead, touching that accursed needle, she was like Sollux when his computer was about to crash!
"Are you okay? How do you feel? Can you take a deep breath for me? Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
Argh, someone tell her to stop. She shied away from the nurse's well manicured hand. Where they supposed to pester their patients this way? Her eyes hurt whenever she blinked, and when she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. Her mouth felt so dry, but she didn't want to really consume anything. Her mind reeled, this was all happening too fast…
Equius…
"Miss, I urge you to please be a little less panicked. I'm sure my friend would appreciate it if you would kindly slow your speech." A sigh of relief—What a good friend. The nurse faltered, shooting the man a look that questioned his place. She promtptly stormed out of the room, scribbling on her clipboard. Eridan stood by the window, looking at Nepeta with a look that questioned her existence. She fought for her voice and tried once more.
"… What happened?" Feferi stepped forward cautiously, clasping her hands together. She shot Equius a hopeful look, which he returned with a nod.
"… Nepeta, how's your back?" Her back? Nepeta looked her over and rolled her shoulders. Pain shot down her spine and she bit back a groan. Feferi looked like she was about ready to collapse. "Thank god. They thought that your spine was broken!"
"You also suffered from a coma." What? A coma?
"… What? How long was I..?" Erdian stepped forward.
"You fell in September." He rubbed the back of his neck. "… It's February."
"WHAT?!" NOW, she was awake. She struggled to sit up. Equius gingerly took hold of her arms, pulling her frail body up carefully as he leaned her against ivory pillows. Nepeta glanced off a reflective mirror in the corner of the ceiling—
-Was that really her? Shoulder length cinnamon hair was tweaked in multiple directions. The right side of her face was heavily bandaged, her right eye blinded. Why didn't she notice this earlier?
"What about Pounce? My Pounceys' been all alone!"
"Karkat and Gamzee stopped by to feed her and stuff," Eridan soothed. "She's fine."
"What about my schoolwork?!"
"Karkat's been saving notes for you. He recorded all your homework assignments." Feferi rocked on her heels. "… He's been coming to visit you every day." She stiffened. "Eridan, you should call Karkat and tell him that Nepeta's awake!"
"Nepeta," Equius whispered, leaning in. "Do you remember anything before the car accident?"
"… I was hit by a car?"
"..Yes. Quite brutally."
"I told you they were no good." She received a stern look. She watched as Eridan paced uneasily in the corner in the room while Feferi delicately fluffed her hair. Nepeta wracked her brain, trying to sort out exactly what she was doing… "… If I remember correctly, I was editing Dave and Jade's photos." She winced as her head throbbed. "It was raining, right? I went to the printers.. and then I went to Folly's and got tea. Aradia was there and we talked…" Her mind went blank. She blinked in shock. "… Um.. I can't really think of what happened after that."
"Good enough," Feferi allowed, a small smile on her fuchsia lips. "Do you want Eridan to cut your hair? You don't look like you enjoy your new bangs that much." Nepeta's lips twitched, trying to respond with a smile.
"Could you?" Eridan held up a finger. He tapped his foot and sighed, irritated.
"Hey Kar, it's me. Just wanted to let you know that Nep woke up. She looks like she's doin fine. So stop by later I guess. So… Yeah. Bye." He flipped his silvery phone closed and looked over at the two girls, who gazed back at him. "… What."
"Can you trim her hair, Eridan? You might wanna hurry before the nurse comes back."
" Sure. Why not?"
Granted the doctor flipped his shit when he saw her hair. Nepeta thought it looked nice. The doctor dropped it and fixed his glasses. "Yes. Anyway. Miss Lejion, how are you feeling?"
"A little woozy."
"Do you think this is because of lack of nutrition?"
"I don't know. It might be."
"Do you know what day it is?" How was she supposed to know? She was in a coma for crying out loud!
"I know that it's February. Eridan told me." The doctor scribbled something down. "I'm going to politely ask your visitors to leave. Is that all right?" Nepeta looked over at Equius, who had clasped her hand tighter.
"Will you be back?"
"As soon as time will allow."
"Not after visiting hours, okay?"
"Fine. Get well."
"See you later, Nepeta! We'll go spread the news, okay?"
"Bye Nep." She gave them a bright grin and waved her hand. As soon as the door shut the doctor cleared his throat.
"How are you feeling, really?"
"I told you. I'm just a little dizzy."
"Have any emotional catastrophes taken place recently? A lost loved one?"
"No. Why?"
"When the paramedics arrived to take you they said you threw a fit. Do you remember?" She threw a fit? No way!
"I don't. Why?" The doctor wrote on his clipboard some more.
"… You were admitted here on September seventeenth at eleven o' ten. You suffered a head wound and a spine injury. We were concerned that your back was broken." Nepeta stiffened. "Luckily," he resumed, "It was only a slight fracture. You got very lucky." He sat on a stool and gazed at her, eyes probing. "Your insurance will cover the medical expenses. A man by the name of Vantas is willing to help pay."
"Oh no, tell him there's no need, I'll pay!"
"He told me that you are poor."
"Well…. A little."
"You should go over the payment with him." He flipped a couple pictures and focused closely on the fourth sheet, seeming to re-read it. "… Do you think that your mind is closing off a certain memory? Perhaps you saw something you didn't mean to see?" Why was he asking her to think so much? Tired, and, honestly sort of done, she rolled her head to the side, sighing against her pillow. "I can see you're tired," the man said, standing. "I'll leave you alone then."
… Did she really want to be alone?
Being a patient was boring. She should have been in school. Listening to a lecture was twice as exciting as watching dust particles float in the slow moving air. Occasionally a nurse would come in to check on her. Her breakfast… or lunch, FOOD, consisted of some grape juice and some cheese. The portions of the meals would grow as her body rebooted itself. She wish someone would roleplay with her. Maybe even give her a pen so she could draw on napkin. It had been at least three hours since her friends had left, maybe even four. But Eridan had left a message for Karkat. Was he worried about her? Did he really visit her that often? Blush crept onto her cheeks.
I wonder if he talked to me at all? Anticipation of seeing him made her squirm excitedly, but also some sort of a dread. Why? She focused on the source. Had she done something wrong? Maybe it was because of all the catching up she had to do. She'd been hit by one of her biggest fears—Would he chew her out for being clumsy? Oooh, that was most likely!
"Miss Lejion? You have a visitor." Her heart throbbed excitedly. Maybe it was him!
"Okay, can he come in?"
"Sure." The nurse gestured someone inside.
WHOA.
She hadn't seen this guy in a while. He approached with a calm, gangly step, catching the leg of a chair with his foot and pulling it forward, straddling it from behind. His long, messy hair spilled out all over his face, hazel eyes a little gazed. He was two lean fingers at her. She giggle and grabbed them much like a toddler would.
"Hey."
"Hey there, little lady. Heard you all up and took a digger. How's your noggin feeling?" She let Gamzee's fingers go and settled back against her little fort of pillows.
"My head is pounding and my back hurts." Gamzee chewed on his lower lip. He fished around his sweater pocket and retrieved some gum. He popped it in his mouth. She declined when her gentle giant offered her a piece.
"Should I get one of those ladies to pop ya a pain pill?"
"No not yet." She wiggled her toes, nervous. "Um, is Karkitty coming by today?"
"Karbro? Hell yeah. He all up and flipped his table shit when he got Hipster's message. He's feedin' your fine feline friend right now. He'll stop by afterwards." So he was coming. Her brief excitement however was washed away once she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Gosh she looked awful.
"How is he?"
"Doin' good. Ever since your funky college got all up and runnin' again he's hit his thousand paged books." He pointed to his left, a lopsided smile on his face. "Little buddy would plop down right here and take notes right here. He'd watch you so intently, even I couldn't distract him." He raised an eyebrow. "He really does think highly of little o' you, don't he?" She turned her head away bashfully, touching her heated cheeks.
"Aw. That's nice."
"A motherfuck'n hassle getting him to leave though. Had to drag him away the first couple a days." He sighed with a slow shrug. "But hey. A motherfucker does what a motherfucker needs to do."
He did care. Her heart soared. She really did mean something to him. She clasped her hands together.
"Thanks."
"You're motherfuckin welcome." He picked his teeth with his fingernail.
"So I missed Halloween," She started. "And Thanksgiving. And Christmas."
"Yeeep. Nothing interesting really went on though. I just kicked bag at home and slammed a couple elixiers. Tavbro stopped by on Christmas though. He and Karbro. Terezi too." Oh.
"What'd you guys do?"
"Chilled." Nothing else?
"That sounds nice. I missed new years too." He ruffled her hair playfully.
"There's nothing to be up and upset about. You're little biff probably was unavoidable." He made a face. "What the fuck?" Nepeta burst into giggles. Whenever Gamzee had said a long word, he got some sort of wave of confusion. A loud honk made her jump suddenly. Why in the world would there be a clown in the hospital?! Her heart slowed as Gamzee took out his phone, and sped up again when he answered the lean black machine.
"Yo. Yep. She's up. Come see for yourself. Baaai." He hung up lazily. "Karbro is head'n on up."
"EEI." Gamzee leaned back, looking at her with slightly wide eyes. Nepeta covered her mouth. "I'm sorry! I'm excited. Um. Um, EEEK!"
"Whatever floats your boat, bro." She didn't even really have time to count the minutes. It could have been one. Maybe two. Three was just too long.
He'd burst into the room so loudly, it made Nepeta accidently knock her vase over. Gamzee, and she had no idea how he did it, lurched over the chair and caught it before it fell.
Nice catch! But wow.
Wow.
WOW. She wasn't expecting Karkat to just leave the door open. Usually he was neat. Overly neat. But as soon as he had opened that door, Nepeta's back was crushed painfully and Karkat threw his arms around her and nearly pulled her off the bed. At this moment, she was more than glad that the nurse took out the I.V. She was positive he could hear her heart pounding against his. But instead of her face being shoved into dark brown hair, her nose was tickled by fine, white locks. Did he forget to dye his hair?! Either way, when he pulled back, cleared his throat and looked away, she found herself unable to. HIS HAIR.
In her eyes, he was gorgeous. She blinked rapidly and tried to start a conversation.
"So-"
"How are you-"
"Is Pounce—"
"Are you feeling okay?" They stared each other down, one playful, one exasperated. He crossed his arms, glaring her down while Gamzee tried to help the flowers return to their normal shape.
"I'm fine. I like your hair."
"Uh. Yeah. Sure. Anyway, who cut your hair?"
"Eridan did. My bangs were getting in the way."
"Ever heard of a burette?"
"I never thought of that."
"Euugh." He rubbed his eyes and flopped into the chair next to her bedside. His hands clawed down from his face as he eyes her.
"No offense, but you look awful." She winced.
"I know. My head hurts."
"Still? After all those months?"
"I was in a coma!"
"Yeah. But lucky for you, you little bastard, it was just a head wound. Head wounds bleed a fuck ton, I-" A pause. "I thought you were a goner."
"… I'm sorry."
"No, fuck that, what the hell did you do?!"
"I was taking the pictures Dave asked for to him and then—"
Oh.
And I saw you-! There is was again. That unbearable pain slicing her heart into thousands and thousands of pieces. She bit her lip, staring at him with tearing eyes.
"OH SHIT, WHAT HAPPENED?! WHAT HURTS?!" She looked away, rubbing her eyes hurriedly.
"Uhm," What should she do? What exactly did she say in a situation like this?
"I… I saw you and Terezi…"
"And..? You could have said some—"
"You kissed her!" No one was expecting the ferocity in her voice. It shocked even her. She covered her lips with her hand.
"… yeah… I'm just gonna.. Go chill outside… S'yeah." Gamzee's statement was unnoticed as a staredown was in session.
"… Okay, and how the fuck does that have to do with anything?" that wall she so carefully tended to broke, her emotions pouring out.
"I love you! I love you, okay? I like it when we spend time together, I like it when we have lunch on campus, I love being with you! I always told myself that maybe one day you'd be able to see, but you didn't! And then you met Terezi, and ever since then you just didn't see, no matter how many times I tried to show you—"
"Calm the fuck down—"
"You just didn't see! CAN'T YOU SEE HOW MUCH I CARE?!" She erupted into tears and turned away. She wasn't even sure what he was doing. But after a minute, he spoke again.
"…. I didn't have time to see how you felt-"
STOP
"—And I'm sorry I didn't see, you just didn't try hard enough—"
STOP IT!
"And maybe you should see THAT MAYBE SOME TIMES YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE FUTURE!"
"STOP IT!"
A/N: Whoa…. –hides- s'yeah…