Chapter Thirty-Eight
Axel's Point-of-View
I wake up and shut my eyes again immediately. The room I'm in is too bright, the sheets covering me are too scratchy, and there's a terrible pain pulsating through my head. I groan and try to roll away from the light, but a sudden shock of pain in my shoulder prevents me from doing so.
"Sorry. Let me get that light for you," someone says near me. From behind my eyelids, I can tell this person has dimmed the lights. I hesitantly open one eye and follow suit with the other, the room now darkened. I turn my head to see Iris's brother sitting in a chair next to me. Both of his eyes are blackened, there's a pad of gauze taped to his cheek, stitches on his lower lip, and his knuckles are wrapped in bandages.
"What…happened?" I ask, my throat dry. He hands me a glass of water, which I drink down in one gulp. "Where are we?" I ask with more gusto. "Where's Iris?" Demyx tries to bite his lower lip, winces, and stops.
"We're in the hospital. You have a concussion, stitches at your temple, and the muscles in your shoulder have been severely damaged. Go ahead, try to use them," he says. Furrowing my brows, I experimentally try to lift my arm at the shoulder. I get it up about an inch before finding myself unable to go farther. I drop it back down. "Told ya," Demyx responds.
"What about Larxene and Iris?" I ask.
"Larxene is dead," he says blandly. I smile.
"So that means Iris won. She's alright," I say. Demyx doesn't return my smile. Instead, he bows his head and looks down at his bandaged hand.
"Iris didn't win. I killed Larxene," he says, keeping that bland tone. My smile falls.
"Where's Iris then? She's alright, right?" I ask, fear creeping up on me. Demyx shakes his head, and I see the glimmer of tears falling from the tip of his nose. My stomach clenches, and I might start panicking. "Demyx, Iris isn't dead, is she?" I can hear my voice getting hysterical.
"I…I don't know," he whispers as a sob shakes his frame.
"What do you mean you don't know?!" I shout. A machine near me starts beeping frantically, causing me to finally take notice of the IV in my hand and the sticky sensors connecting me to machines. The door bursts open and a woman dressed in all white hurries in.
"Sir," her soft voice urges. "You need to calm down, sir." Her voice is soothing, but it does nothing to calm me.
"Demyx, where is Iris?! What's happened?!" I yell. I want to grab the front of his shirt and shake the answers out of him. The nurse hurries out and yells for a doctor. An older man with long blond hair rushes in after the nurse.
"Sir, I'm sorry, but if you won't calm down," he trails off, holding up a syringe. I ignore him, reaching my good arm towards Demyx. He's just out of my reach, causing me to growl, frustrated.
"Tell me what's going on right now, Demyx!" I shout, and I know I sound absolutely hysterical at this point. The doctor grabs onto my arm and plunges the needle into it. It only takes moments for the drug to take effect. Darkness closes in around me, and my eyelids droop. I register Demyx's concerned face. "Where's Iris?" I whisper before falling into a dreamless sleep.
I don't know how long I've been out when I wake back up, but Demyx is still there. My brain still feels fuzzy, so I know there's no way I can manage to get worked up again.
"Demyx…if you're not going to tell me what's going on, why are you still here?" I rasp. He looks up, surprised to find me awake.
"I can't tell you if she's okay because I don't know if she is. The last a doctor spoke to me, they were trying to patch up her lung. She lost a lot of blood, and stopped breathing for a few minutes and is on oxygen. They're still trying to fix her lung, and that's all I know," he says.
"Do they expect her to live? What're her chances?" I ask fervently. My mind is un-clouding, and the panic is back. Demyx looks nervous.
"Calm down or else they'll knock you out again," he warns.
"I don't fucking care! I need to know what's going to happen!" I shout. The machine starts going off again, and the doctor hurries in with a hassled expression on his face. Before I can object, I've fallen back into darkness.
Demyx isn't there anymore when I wake up. Instead, I see Zexion sitting there, observing a clipboard. He looks up and smiles sadly at me.
"Hey, Axel. How are you feeling?" he asks.
"Like a bed of flowers, Zex," I mutter sarcastically. "What're you doing here?"
"I heard about the castle invasion and called you. When you didn't answer, I put two and two together. I checked with the hospital, and lo and behold, here you are. Nice little medical list you have here," he says, motioning to the clipboard. I smile softly at him.
"Where's Demyx?" I ask.
"Visiting Iris," he replies simply. I try to sit up at his words, but my head swims and I fall back onto my pillow. Zexion's eyebrows knit together and he stands up.
"Easy. Do you need anything? How's the pain in your head? Want me to get your pain medication increased?" he asks. I shake my throbbing head.
"No, I'm fine. Just…stupid move there. You said he's visiting Iris. Does that mean she's okay?" I ask quickly. He frowns.
"She hasn't woken up from surgery yet. The doctors drained the blood from her lung and patched it up. It's working as it should now, more or less. It'll heal and be fine. A couple of her ribs are broken from the force of the injury, but those should also heal fine. They stitched up her face and the wound in her leg, but she's had to have quite the number of blood transfusions. She probably still has a few of those coming her way. She's not out of the woods yet, but she should be fine in the end. The doctor's here are very skilled." I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and relief floods through me. I bring my good hand up to cover my eyes and smile.
"She's okay," I say with a shaky laugh. Speaking the words makes it seem more real, and I laugh again. "She's okay."