The Lost

46- Voices

Azure

I was distantly aware of a warmth on my bare arms. Whether it was from a blanket, the sun, or something else entirely, I couldn't tell. My fatigue dissipated the more I considered where the comfortable feeling could be coming from, until I was panicking myself awake.

Sleep didn't go away easily despite my quickening pulse. I certainly hadn't been resting, because my entire body, right down to my toes, seemed to ache when I tried to sit up. Opening my eyes was the only movement I could bring about at first, and even that was difficult. My eyelids kept fluttering shut again. I don't think that I've ever wanted to sleep so much in my entire life...

Cringing in the light, I opened my eyes. I think that maybe I was a little afraid of what I would see when I did. The ground below me was cold, hard; certainly not a bed. Unpleasant memories crept in as sleep crept away. The last thing I remembered was Lucius's voice and Aspen's face. Lucius. He had been trying to help us. But... had he? Had he saved us?
If I awoke to the inside of a cage, I didn't know what I would do.

I opened my eyes. There was sunlight shining on my bare arms through the open front of the tent. Even though my skin was warm, it hadn't been tinted pink from sunburn. Either I hadn't been laying in the light very long or the sun had only just come out. No cage... I released a little breath, the pool in my heart settling, no pocket. Oh gods— no cage. My mind lacked words to describe the relief that worked its way through me.

Aching, I heaved myself awake. There was a big black mark in my memory between the then and the now. Everything hurt, I realised. But it seemed like I wasn't trapped, which was... good.
I yawned drowsily. That was when I noticed Aspen.

He was sitting next to me, watching me like a hawk. I supposed he had been there for however long I had been laying here.

I tried to speak, then ended up coughing. Once that passed I managed a croaky Aspen?
"Hi." The boy smiled tentatively. He watched me try to wake myself up with the most serene expression on his face. "You're awake." He murmured.
I rubbed my eyes, "I feel like I've been sleeping for a hundred years."
He laughed a little, very quiet "Not that long. About a day."
It hardly surprised me given the circumstances. "Really?" I stated more than asked.
"All yesterday afternoon and night, then this morning."
A day without waking up. Had I ever done that before? Yawning again, I managed, "I'm turning into you..."

He gave a soft laugh that was just a breath. Then a quiet between us.
"You... want some water?" He asked after a delay. Even though he obviously didn't have any. "How are you feeling?"
Immediately I went to answer I'm just sore— but then I went still, memories suddenly drowning the space between my ears. I remembered heavy fingers shoving me down against his hand, snatching my face, dragging my hair out of the way...
My hand flew to my face. And there it was. A stinging ravine under my fingertips, my scar that wasn't a scar anymore. I exhaled— a harried, shaking noise.
"Yeah, I know..." Aspen flinched, sliding closer on his knees, "Me too." The boy looked like he wanted to reach out and touch me but was afraid to do so. I noticed the sling on his arm then. Me too— he was hurt too.
At first, I shook my head. I had heard the sound, I had heard that awful horrible sound and seen him scream when it happened, but was his arm really broken?
"Your arm..." I breathed.
He shrugged. With one shoulder, because he couldn't move the other one. He just did that stupid lopsided shrug like his broken bone was nothing more than a bruise.
I slid to his side, "Az, my gods... I'm so sorry."
"Sorry? For what?"
"You're hurt."
"What are you talking about?" He actually smiled as he shook his head, "Don't be an idiot, Zuri. I'll heal just fine. One injury is nothing. If I let go of you..." he clamped his mouth shut and shook his head yet again, "We said we wouldn't get separated again, didn't we? And we didn't. So it's nothing, really. It was worth trying to stay with you."