Star Beings: Dawn

A dangerous dance

I awoke the next morning to Leigh staring down at me in disappointment.
"Anai."
"Five more minutes...."
"Anai, why is your jacket covered in blood?"
"Someone got shot yesterday and decided to not say anything," I hear Hade grumble.
"Hade, you know how we agreed to not hate each other? Yeah, I'm about to break both that agreement and your neck."
They cackle with laughter in response to my threat, meanwhile Leigh continues to stare down at me, silently fuming.
"I'm fine now, Leigh. Quit looking at me like that."
Leigh says nothing, and instead goes to her bag, pulls out a  flowery pink shirt and white overalls, and then walks to the bathroom to change. Hade raises an eyebrow at Leigh's wordless reaction, but doesn't comment.
Instead, they look over at me with a smug expression.
"Quit staring at me like that. She'll start talking to me once we get on the road again."

Spoiler alert: she did not. Not as the three of us caught a bus inland, or even when we reached the next town, which was twenty miles away. Hade's began to morph from cockiness to concern, and I grew more and more worried that Leigh wouldn't talk to me at all for the rest of the trip. I know she's mad, but gods this sucks.
Though I suppose it is what I did to her by not saying anything about the gunshot wound.... Oh.
Deity above, I'm an ignorant fool.
I wait until the three of us find somewhere to get lunch, yet another pub. Hade offers to get the food for us, but they don't wait for an answer. Clever bastard.
"Leigh, can we please talk? I didn't want to worry you or exhaust you further, alright?  That's why I didn't say anything. I figured I could mention it after you got Hade all checked out but-"
"Twenty minutes."
"What?"
"That's how long it would have taken you to bleed out if Hade hadn't intervened. You don't know the human body like I do, Anaideia. People can die so damn quickly. If you get hurt, say something for fucks sake! Even an injury that seems relatively minor can put you out of commission for a long while if your adrenal glands are doing their job."
"What?"
"An adrenaline rush typically muddles the pain, but that's not my point. What I'm try to say is you could have fucking died and I don't think I could've taken that."
"What the hell does that-"
My jaw snaps shut as Hade returns to the table, burgers in hand.
"Glad to see you two are on speaking terms again," They say with an impish grin. I can't help but roll my eyes. Every time there's conflict, Hade just has to throw their commentary out there. I don't think they even care if it adds fuel to the flames.
I guess their pyromania includes social fires, too.

The three of us step back out into the street, our stomachs full and ready for the next part of the trip... which, sadly, isn't by bus. No, instead we'll have to go the rest of the way on foot, hiking high up into the mountains to reach The Castle Of Shadows. Once we get close, I'll leave my two companions behind and venture into what might as well be an active warzone... by myself.
"Ani, are you ok?"
"Micheal Jackson much?"
Leigh and I both stare at Hade in confusion.
"Micheal... Hade, what the hell are you talking about?"
They respond by laughing until they double over, which answers nothing and I doubt they intend to change that. Once they're finished, the three of us continue on.
For about ten minutes everything goes swimmingly. However, considering that our little group consists of a war criminal, a regular criminal, and Leigh who is somehow more terrifying than the both of them, that doesn't last.
"ANAI!!!"
That's the last thing I hear before a deafening gunshot goes off. The problem is, Hade and I are both fine. Which means...
I turn around to see Leigh standing in front of me,  blood beginning to soak through the pink fabric of her shirt and staining both the garment and my mind.
No. No, I finally had one goddamn thing and now...
Now all I can see is red.
But before I can even step towards the bastard who's still holding that smoking gun, I hear a strange, fleshy snap.
Leigh's attacker collapses, their neck bent in a way that definitely isn't humanly possible. I realize with a start that Leigh is still standing, still gripping her chest, and still staring forward with a look of rage that sends a shiver down my spine. However, I notice how her hand moves. How she gently pats her chest in a rhythmic fashion. Almost as if she's trying to keep her heart beating
"Anyone else?!" She roars, the challenge echoing through the silent streets. No one dares to respond.
"Smart move," She grumbles, reaching up to the wound with her other hand and healing it before promptly collapsing. I almost trip over Hade trying to catch her, the both of us scrambling for Leigh the moment she begins to fall.
As I straighten my back, my friend's limp body in my arms, Hade looks out at the crowd we've gathered.
"Oh for the love of christ... Leave! Off you fuck!" They shout, waving their hands in a dismissive gesture. The crowd dissipates, and Hade turns to me.
"Come on. We  can't stay here for much longer."

After about an hour of hiking, during which Hade and I took turns carrying our friend, Leigh woke up. After that, we kept going until sunset. By then, we had found a cave at the base of the mountain range to take shelter in and I, for the first time since we left the base, realized we didn't have any sort of camping gear.
Hade, however, seemed completely unbothered when I pointed this out.
"Don't worry about it," they say, igniting a few pieces of wood they had picked up earlier. Once there's a decent fire going, they stand and walk over to their backpack.
And then, by some goddamn miracle, they pull out three sleeping bags, a lantern, and three separate pillows.
"That's... That's fucking impossible!'
"Mate, I've seen Damien break the laws of physics at least once a week for the past two years. Nothing is impossible."
I hear Leigh laugh behind me. I glance over at her, and I finally ask the question that's been on my mind since she collapsed.
"Earlier, when you got shot, you were like... pounding on your chest. Why?"
"Hmm? Oh, I was keeping my heart from stopping. Forcing circulation until I could heal it, basically."
Neither Hade or I respond. We just stare at Leigh in silent shock.
"What?" She asks, raising one eyebrow.
"You are a terrifying human being."
"I know," my friend says, flashing a smile.
"I'm gonna go get more firewood." Hade says quietly, walking out of the cave.
Leigh and I sit in silence for a while, setting up our sleeping bags on the cool cave floor.
"What did you mean in the restaurant when you said you couldn't have dealt with me dying?"
"You're my friend, Ani. I don't want you getting hurt."
"Leigh, you took a literal bullet for me. In a place where it definitely would have and should have killed you. Why? Why risk death for me of all people?"
"When are you gonna realize that some people actually care about you? That I actually care about you?"
"Never, because it doesn't make sense! I'm a monster, Leigh. Who could ever love anything like me?"
"I COULD!!!"
There it is again. That same stupid, jumpy feeling I got that night. But this time it isn't laced with dread or fear. This time, it's only butterflies. Wonderful, fluttering butterflies.
"I could," Leigh repeats quietly, studying her callused hands
"I know."
Her dark eyes jump from her hands to my face, wide with shock.
"What?"
"That night we both got drunk. You... admitted some things. I wasn't ready then, though. You ended up crying and I never brought it up again because I knew I had inadvertently hurt you and I hated that. I hate seeing you cry. I hate seeing pretty much anyone cry, especially when I'm the reason they are, but it's different when it's you. I... I care for you. A lot."
"And now? Are you ready now?" Leigh asks, scooting closer to me.
"I..." my gaze shifts down to her full lips and back up to meet her eyes once more.
"I think so," I whisper, leaning closer.
Our lips meet and, for a brief moment, I forget all about why we're even on this little road trip in the first place. I don't think I've ever felt this happy, but gods I don't want to pull away and ruin it.
"Holy SHIT guys, I don't know where the rain came from but..."
Leigh and I slowly pull away from each other and turn towards Hade, our cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Uh... I..." they look away from the two of us, "I-I got the firewood."
They toss down the logs and walk over to their sleeping bag, their movements quick and awkward.
"Thanks Hade." Leigh says.
"No... No problem, El."

GAYGAYGAYGAYGAYGAYGAY