Synergism

Chapter 12

The murmurs around Zhan were nothing but background noise as he stared with listless eyes at Yibo's pale face.  Words such as extreme damage possible and T6 spinal cord injury were some of the things that were said, but Zhan did not react to any of them.  He kept a firm hold of Yibo's hand and only flinched when he heard Yibo's mom crying in the background. 

            There was a light touch on his shoulder. "Zhan," Mr. Wang said.  His voice was thin and he sounded exhausted.  "Auntie and I have to step out to take care of some things.   Please call us if there are any changes."

            Zhan acknowledged with a slight dip of his head.   It was the least he could do given how both Yibo's parents were taking care of everything else in regards to what had happened.  They spoke to the doctors, specialists, and even their lawyers, while Zhan sat there uselessly.

            The thing was he couldn't understand how he still wasn't able to heal Yibo.  They both had come so far at mastering their abilities, so much so that when he crawled over to Yibo, he reached out with sure hands, believing everything would be fine.  Then when Yibo didn't respond and Zhan didn't feel anything other than Yibo's cold fingers in his hand, his heart dropped to his stomach.

            An arm was wrapped around him pulling him into a side hug and Zhan could smell the faint scent of Yibo's mom's perfume.  "Zhan, I messaged Jason to let him know," she said.  "Make sure you get some rest."

            He knew she contacted Jason because she was worried about him and wanted to be sure there would be someone there to support him.  "Thank you," he whispered. "I'll make sure to rest."

            She gave her son a kiss on his forehead and straightened the blanket around him before leaving.

             "Yeebs," he said when they were alone.  "I'm here, love.  Please wake up now so we can figure this out together."   When there was no response Zhan sighed and laid his head on the edge of the bed. 

            Voices and a hand stroking through his hair woke Zhan up.  He lifted his head and the hand dropped onto the bed.  Zhan blinked the sleep out of his eyes to see Yibo smiling weakly at him. Kenneth and Jason were also in the room.

            "You're awake," Yibo said, taking the words right out of Zhan's mouth.

            Zhan studied his face to see if there was any indication of discomfort or pain. "When did you wake up?" Zhan asked.

            "Not long ago," Yibo replied, taking Zhan's hand into his own.

            "A nurse was just here and she went to get the doctor," Kenneth added.

            The words barely left Kenneth's mouth when the door opened and the doctor entered with the nurse following close behind him.

             Zhan stood quickly knowing the doctor would want them to leave so he could access Yibo's condition.  "I'll call your parents," he said, softly.

            Yibo squeezed his hand to let him know he heard him.

            They made their way to the waiting area and Zhan called Yibo's parents to tell them Yibo was awake.   Then with nothing to do but wait, he took a seat between his two friends.  They were all quiet, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

            Jason broke the silence and even then his voice was small when he spoke.  "He said he can't feel his legs."

            Zhan closed his eyes as the tears burned behind them and leaned his head back against the wall.  "Spinal cord injury from the beam that hit him," Zhan said, his voice breaking.  "He pushed both me and his father out of the way."