The Love of a Crow - Wesper/Crows Fanfiction/AU

19. Wylan

A/N: Yay! We have a long, and surprisingly uneventful, chapter! Trigger warning: mentions and scenes of abuse, read at your own discretion. And hopefully you enjoy the angst!

Life greeted him gently when he eventually stirred. Then life changed its mind and punched him in the face.

But his first thoughts weren't on his inevitable pain when Wylan eventually stirred. No. They were on the bed he was now laying on.

Oh, what a luxury! To finally, finally, have proper bedding underneath him again! To feel the soft crinkle of sheets and of poofed pillows and the sturdiness of a good mattress. Well, a reasonably good mattress. It was nothing compared to his bed back home. But at least that meant the last few months hadn't been a dream.

To be honest with himself, Wylan still wasn't aware what was real and what was a dream. Only a few shards of his broken memory seemed to have returned to him. What had happened? There had been a bomb... people screaming... no, one person screaming. Jesper! He had saved him, even after everything... Wait... WASN'T WYLAN DEAD?!

Fear caused him to startle awake, and he cried out as pain coursed through his back and his hands. He stared down at his bandaged hands. Already small spots of blood were seeping through. Wylan felt sick. Of course; the acid from the bomb. How damaged were his hands? Would they ever recover? He couldn't bear the thought of not being able to craft, to play music, to solve equations. His hands were his everything, and the only part of him that had ever been useful. How would people look at him if they were gone forever?

Speaking of people looking at him... Wylan had the odd sensation he was being watched. That was when he looked up, and his eyes met a wolf's. Well, a very shocked and very human-like wolf, but a wolf all the same.

For a while Wylan just stared at Matthias, and Matthias stared right back, both mirroring a look of shock. Wylan didn't know if it was the fact he hadn't noticed Wylan waking up, or the fact that he hadn't noticed Matthias was in the room, but something about this scene felt incredibly funny, and incredibly stupid. Still, neither moved, neither daring to break their prolonged eye contact.

"Hello..." Wylan finally said.

Matthias jumped. He actually seemed to fly from his seat like it was on fire. "You... uh... you're..." he stuttered, before eventually giving up and walking out.

Wylan's shocked face remained. What in the Saint's name had just happened? Did he really look that bad after waking up? Or maybe he was actually dead and Matthias was able to see ghosts. To be honest, it would probably be the least strangest thing that had occurred so far.

The door burst open and Wylan yelped, covering himself with a pillow.

"Saints, you're awake!" A familiar voice cried. Nina.

She ran forward and leapt onto the bed with surprising agility for someone in a tight red dress, and enveloped him in a tight hug. Too tight, in fact.

"Can't. Breath." He muttered.

"Sorry." She said, but she didn't let go. "We... we thought you were a goner."

"I think I did too." He replied, then winced as Nina's hands touched his back. He had barely even noticed how sore it was, but now it came in a wave of nauseous pain, and he bit his lip, fighting the urge to cry.

"How are you feeling?" Nina asked, pulling away, much to Wylan's disappointment. That was one of the first hugs he had had in years.

"As good as I can be after... what actually happened?" Wylan said.