Vices and Maces

Chapter 47: Remus Hates Hospitals

CW: hospital, small panic attack, unwanted medical treatments, implied past deaths

Usually when Remus wakes up, he can immediately jump out of bed and is wide awake. This time, waking up was much slower, and he felt sluggish. The first thing he noticed was his back was numb, just below his shoulder blades. Then he realized he was laying on his side, which was odd because Remus preferred to sleep on his back or stomach.

Then he heard the beeping of a hospital heart monitor.

He's only heard that horrid noise two times in his life, avoiding it as much as possible, and each time it flatlined. So really, pushing himself up in a panic despite his body not wanting to was reasonable to Remus. His eyes blew wide open as he ignored the pain coming from several places on his body, including a fiery pain on his hand.

"Roman!" he called in a panic. Where was his brother? He needed his brother.

"Remus! Hey, I'm right here," his brother said from the doorway, quickly rushing over.

Remus was struggling to breath, the noise ragged and panicked. Tears were starting to fill his eyes, from either exhaustion, pain, or fear. However he couldn't keep himself up, weakness taking over him, and Roman helped him lay back down.

"Well now I regret going to the vending machine," Roman tried to joke, setting aside a bag of pretzels and taking his brother's left hand. It was the right one that had a broken finger.

Remus tried to blink away the tears. "What- what happened?"

Roman sighed, trying to think of how to phrase it. "You were hit with lightning, there was a lightning genie. It hit your... it hit your wings. I'm sorry, Remus, I'm so sorry."

"What?!" his voice came out strangled. He turned his head, so desperately wishing to see the green wings. His green wings.

"Remus you have to understand," Roman tried to explain. "The doctors couldn't save them. They were completely fried and one of them was-"

"These aren't my wings." Remus's eyes were wide, staring at the wings on his back.

They weren't green, but golden, though they turned to a yellow green the closer to his back it went. The new wings aligned perfectly with what was left of his old ones, down to the smallest vein.

"Janus they... they created the wings for you. The doctors almost didn't allow them to offer the wings for the transplant, but there were no other available matching wings nearby so they accepted it."

"These aren't my wings... You know that-" His voice broke as a few tears slipped out. He wiped them away and tried to stop the tears. "Janus... where's Janus? Are they here? Are they okay?"

Roman kept a hand on Remus's shoulder to keep him down as his brother started to panic again. "They're alright! They're just resting in another room. The doctors took care of their injuries, and they're tired. They went through a lot, Remus, but they'll be alright. There was no irreversible damage."

Remus rested his head against the pillow in relief. He looked so exhausted to Roman, and so vulnerable. This must be how his brother felt like when Roman was sick.

"I'm more concerned about you right now, Rem. You were hit by lightning and fell from the sky! You... you hit your head. I wasn't sure if you would pull through." Roman balled up his hands in his lap. "I was scared."

"I... Aside from my wings, what else...?"

"Well, your right index finger is twisted, and you hit your head as I said. But for the most part you just have scraps and bruises, thank goodness. Though there are some burns on your back from the lightning."

"What about Janus?"

Roman sighed. "Their leg is broken, and a few ribs were fractured. Their arms were cut up and burned, and they were cut deep in their shoulder. There are a few other bruises and smaller stuff, but... they're on the right track towards healing."

Remus curled up in bed more as two tears dripped out of his eyes. The gel on their mohawk was starting to wear away, so strands of hair fell in his face and against his head.

"Roman... Why did I get a wing transplant?"

His brother looked down. "You were going to lose your wings anyway."

"You know I never wanted any wing replacements. I told you before, I'd rather have no wings if I can't have my own." Remus's voice broke, tears spilling out of his eyes again. "I would have been fine without wings. God, why did you let me have a wing transplant?"

The vampire sighed, turning his head away. "The same reason why you didn't let me die. I care about you too much. I don't know what you would do if you didn't have wings, and I don't want to figure it out. Your wings have saved you so many times... you have a nasty habit of getting in trouble."

"That's different, that was worse! I... these aren't my wings. They'll never be my wings! It doesn't even matter that they don't look like them, even if they did I wouldn't accept it. I can't..."

It hurt Roman to see his brother like this, really it did. He didn't know what to do, he wanted to help Remus but...

"I'm sorry Remus but I just... I can't see you without wings. I think... I think that would have been far worse. And... maybe like I accepted being a vampire you can accept these wings." Roman stood up. "It's seven in the morning right now, and I've been up all night. Sal went to watch over the kids and explain everything. They've all been really worried. Patton will be picking us up at eight, and you and Janus will be checked out then so... Just snack on the pretzels and rest for now. I'm going to go find a bench to take a nap on."

Roman started walking away, but just as he was going to open the door, Remus pushed himself back up.

"Wait. Can..." he sighed. "Can I see Janus? Please?"

The vampire frowned. "Well... you really shouldn't be up and about right now but... They aren't too far and I was allowed to visit them. But are you sure you can stand? The doctors said you might be concussed."

"I want to see them. I need to... to make sure they're okay."

"Alright... I'll help you out. But the moment you get exhausted or the pain gets to you, the moment you're coming back here. Got it?"

Remus nodded. "Just so you know, I'm still mad."

"I'm counting on you being mad at me for the next year."