Mateless and Home Bound

Chapter 58: Coming Together

There were so many people upset. He was upset himself. He felt so guilty for all of this. He was just trying to help heal some of the warriors that were wounded when all of this happened. That party where they were laughing and dancing was all tainted because of some evil hunters and their stupid weapons.

He wished he were powerful. He wished he was as strong as the people that his grandmother talked about in her stories. Then he could go after them himself and make them all pay.

Maybe he shouldn't have even come to this house. Maybe he should have just gone with Snake early on. If he did, then they might not have found this place. They might not have found Charlie or shot him.

Sage wished with all his heart that there was some way that he could fix this. He had pulled the arrow out and healed Charlie right when it happened, but the man was still unconscious afterwards. He didn't know what to do after that. It was just a blur of people seeing Charlie and sounding absolutely terrified as Max rushed him over to a doctor.

"He'll get better, Victor," Sage hugged his friend. "I know it."

It hadn't been long since Reggie took over the pack. He told Sage that Eric gave his title up to follow Snake somewhere. It was their last shot at trying to save him.

"How?" Victor looked like he had been crying the entire four days that it was going on. It was late at night now, and Sage walked past his room to hear him crying. He walked in to see him curled up in a little ball on his bed.

"Because if there's one thing I know about my uncle," Sage smiled a little. "It's that he always finds a solution to everything, and he never gives up."

"That's what I thought about Pop," Victor sniffed, wiping more tears away. "He was always strong, no matter what. But this is different from all those other times, Sage." He shook his head and looked at him with pain on his face. "He's never been like this. He won't even leave his side. He even gave up his title."

"I know," Sage sighed. Truth be told, he knew that this was a bad situation. He hadn't worked at that nursing home for too long when he got out of school, but it was enough to be able to tell when someone was dying. Plenty of elderly go there when they're months from passing away. The nurses just try to make them as comfortable as possible. After only a few months of working there, he could tell which ones were on their last stretch of life just by looking at them.

Charlie really didn't have much time left. The weight loss, sleeping all the time, all of it was clear signs that he was closer and closer to leaving the world they all walked on.

But he couldn't accept it. He didn't even know him that long, but Charlie was the closest thing to a father that he had in his life. He was there when he was bawling his eyes out about trying to run away, and he never once said that he was being overdramatic or whining about nothing. He made Sage feel like this truly was his home.

He couldn't die now. He just couldn't.

"Excuse me," Jane's head popped into the room. He shouldn't be surprised that she was still awake. She had been worried about the situation at hand, as well as Eric. But now, he was surprised to see something else. "This one was getting lonely."

Sasha was squirming in her arms. Sage remembered when he finally got to meet her for the first time. She was always so adorable and happy, just like the one that was always carrying her around. As soon as she would start giggling, Charlie would smile.

He let Sage hold her that day. She was the most well-behaved toddler he had ever met, if he was being honest. Maybe she just liked being held though. She wound up falling asleep on him plenty of times after that.