The guard's gape at Phoenix, amazement and confusion clear on their faces.
"You were dead...how...?"
Phoenix points to the door. "Get out. NOW!"
The force of her yell make the guards jump and run for the door, fighting each other as they try to be the first one out. After the sounds of their fighting fades the animalistic look falls from Phoenix's face, her eyes roll back into her head and she collapses.
"A-Aydan?" He quickly moves to catch her, barely managing it before she hits the floor. The silver-haired teen's eyes were wide with surprise as he looks down to see Phoenix smile slightly. "Aydan...I thought you were...how did you...?"
Gokudera's voice breaks again.
"I heard you."
"H-Heard me?"
"Yeah..." Phoenix furrows her eyebrows. "I w-was in a...a white room...and I was...wa-waiting for something...and I heard you..."
"What did you hear exactly?" A worried expression appears on Gokudera's face. "And this white room...who were you waiting for?"
Phoenix shakes her head slightly.
"You said my name...and that...that you were here for me...I think I was...waiting for someone important...some-someone who means...something to me." Phoenix opens her eyes and looks up at Gokudera. "You're crying." She reaches up slowly and brushes away the tears. "Don't cry Hayato..."
"I'm...I'm not crying." Gokudera tries to rub away the tears. "Something just got in my eye." He looks away for a moment before finally saying. "But...did you meet them? The person you were waiting for, I mean."
"I...I don't know...I don't thi-think I did...I left when I realized that it...it was you I kept hearing...I just...I wanted to get back to you..." Phoenix slowly wraps her arms around Gokudera weakly squeezes. "I'm sorry Hayato...I'm so sorry."
The Italian wraps his arms tightly around Phoenix and hugs her back.
"It's okay. I'm sorry to Aydan. I'm just glad you're alive. I don't know what I would do if you..."
"No! It's not okay...I...I lied to you! I was horrible to you and I lied to you and I...I could never..." Her voice fades out as she can't think of the words to say, another tear escapes Gokudera's eyes.
"I'm not gonna lie, it hurt. But...I'm sure you had a good reason for doing it." Gokudera shifts their positions so that Phoenix is sitting across his lap with her head resting against his shoulder. He wraps both is arms around her and holds her close to him. "I just don't wanna lose you. You can hurt me all you want if it means staying by your side. Because that's all I want. You."
Phoenix blinks back tears. "I don't deserve you...not one bit." She stops trying to hold back the tears and holds onto Gokudera tighter, burying her face in his chest. "I'm sorry, Hayato...I shouldn't have lied to you...I would never team up with Reaper against you...I just knew he would use us to break you...I'm so, so very sorry."
Gokudera presses his face into Phoenix's hair, murmuring words of comfort to her. Eventually he lifts his head up and pulls back a bit to look her in the eyes.
"I know that now. I'm sorry that I doubted you. It's just...hard to trust people." He leans down and kisses Phoenix's cheek softly. "But I trust you. I always will."
Phoenix wipes her tears away and hits Gokudera lightly on the chest.
"Will you please stop reminding me how much I don't deserve you! It's getting depressing."
Gokudera laughs a bit.
"You deserve me. We deserve each other. Trust me, we do."
"Oh shut up, You're better than me in every way."
"I'm not better in anyway."
"Yes you are." Phoenix laughs slightly at the look on Gokudera face but her laugh soon turns to a grimace. "Ow."
A worried look appears on Gokudera's face.
"You should lay back down. You're hurt. Too much for my liking."
Phoenix nods and attempts to stand up but can't so she gives Gokudera a confused look.
"Why can't I move my feet?" Before Gokudera can stop her, Phoenix reaches down and pulls aside her pant legs to find both ankles covered in blood and her right foot hanging loosely from her ankle. "Okay what the hell happened to me?" Gokudera frowns as he looks at Phoenix's injuries before pulling his shirt of and ripping it into strips. He tightly wraps the strips around her left ankle, stopping the blood, and pops her dislocated ankle back into place before wrapping it up like the other. Phoenix smiles slightly as Gokudera tends to her wounds. "Well wasn't that all heroic."
Gokudera smiles down at her.
"Shut up." He places an arm under the girl's knees and the small of her back, picking her up and carrying her over to the couch despite his ankle hurting. "You really don't remember? Hm...It's best if you don't know then. You just dislocated your ankle."
Phoenix pecks Gokudera on the lips as he lays her down and pulls him down next to her.
"You shouldn't carry me, you'll hurt your ankle again." She kisses him again. "Please tell me, Hayato. I want to know how I ended up in that white room. Hell I wanna know what the white room was!"
Gokudera kisses Phoenix back and tries to distract her.
"It was nothing. Don't worry about it, Aydan."
He kisses her again, a bit more passionately and Phoenix leans into his kiss smiling as she does so before pulling back.
"None of that until you tell me what happened. Come on, Hayato, please."
Gokudera thinks about it for a second.
"You just...got into a little mishap. It wasn't your fault though."
"I don't get into mishaps Hayato, I get into fights...or brawls depending on how much I've had to drink." She smiles. "I'm not going to allow you to touch me until you tell me what happened to me."
Gokudera freezes at Phoenix's statement.
"You're joking, right? You can't just...forbid me to. Come on, Aydan."
He leans forward and attempts to kiss her again but she masterfully avoids it.
"Oh can't I?" Phoenix scoots a little bit away from Gokudera, smirking slightly as she does so. "Now tell me why one of my ankles is dislocated and they are both covered in blood!"
Gokudera sighs.
"You just...Reaper chained your legs to concrete blocks and dumped you into a water tank. You hurt yourself while trying to get out."
Phoenix gives Gokudera a confused look. "And Reaper told you this? Wait...What about the white room? Was the tank in the white room?"
"N-No...I saw it for myself." Gokudera looks away as many painful memories invade his mind. "As for the white room...I think that might have been something different. I'm not sure what but...It was something not of this world."
Realization comes over Phoenix's face and she almost tackles Gokudera with a hug.
"I'm so sorry that you had to see that. I wish I could make it better."
She hugs him tighter.
"Oof!" Gokudera almost loses his balance. "It's okay, it's not your fault." He wraps his arms around the girl's slim frame. "Reaper just wanted to break me. That's all."
Phoenix pulls back and smiles.
"I can tell he didn't manage it." She pecks him on the lips. "What do you mean it wasn't part of this world? It was a white room...it looked like the waiting room at a doctor's office."
"N-Nevermind. It was a stupid theory."
Phoenix gives Gokudera a look like a little kid expecting a present.
"Please tell me. I like hearing your theories. And I really want to know what that white room was...Who I was waiting for."
"It's nothing really. I just thought...maybe you really did...leave. Maybe the white room was...some place..." Gokudera points to the ceiling. "Up there, maybe."
The Irish girl's eyebrows furrow.
"But to go..." She points to the ceiling. "...up there, I would have to die."
"The guard did say that he didn't feel your heart beating. Maybe...you did...die, I mean." Gokudera intertwines his fingers with Phoenix's and squeezes slightly. "But maybe you came back...for me."
Phoenix sits back against the couch.
"I died...How? I don't remember...There was no white light, no 'my life flashed before my eyes' moment."
"Those are just what people think happens. I'm sure it's different for everyone..."
"But...No. I did not just die!" Phoenix tries to get up off the couch but Gokudera pulls her back down.
"Don't get up. You'll open your wounds."
"I pace when I think Hayato...and you just told me I died! I kinda need to think right now!"
"Yeah but right now you need to rest."