My Hero Origins One-Shots

Shadows Fade (7)

     It happened again. After his vision went dark, all he knew was pain. His joints felt like hot wires were probing his skin, digging into his bones. His throat felt thick and stuffy, clogged with emotions or something else.

     His eyes flew open to the sound of mechanic beeping. The ceiling above him was dark from the shadows that were casted from other objects.

     To his right, the EKG kept a steady rhythm for his heartbeat. The window next to it let out no light, a pitch black night, no stars, no moon.

     "Oh good, you're awake." An acute accent noted. Shino tried to glance over, only to be met with darkness, his left eye was patched over. Probably from the cuts Kol gave him that were a wee bit too close to his socket.

     So instead, Shino turned his head to see the figure. Big mistake. His vision spun on a three-sixty axle with black spots dancing around his vision, his stomach aching with it. Before squeezing his eyes to shut out the sickness, he caught a glimpse of black hair, violet eyes, and white skin.

     "A-Artemis?" He croaked.

     "Mmm," His visitor mused. "Close."

     Shino fought back a few swears. But really, he was grateful. "Theseus." If it were Artemis, his heart would probably spark out just to come up with the apology.

     "Ding, ding, ding!" He mocked.

     Shino groaned, forcing himself to engage with the other Divil by opening his eyes. His foot was wrapped in a thick, black cast up to his ankle, his toes visible. His wrists were scarcely wrapped with medical bandages, he must have sprained his wrists during his fall. Some gauze patches were crudely taped to the side of his torso where the glass had bit into his abdomen.

     Surprisingly, Kol didn't beat him up as bad as he used to.

     Theseus continued to converse. "It's been about twenty four hours since the party." His met Shino's face. "It was quiet smashing."

     "Oh, shut up." Shino sneered. "Where's Artemis?"

     The older brother hadn his hands woven together in front of him, his eyes unreadle. A deadly language that would kill him if he discovered its meaning. "I don't know, you tell me. Want the truth or the cover story we've been spilling to your intern buddies?"

     The Hardlight's chest seized again in fear, the heart rate monitor picking up its tempo. "What happened?"

     "Well," Theseus got up and started walking around carelessly. "Your lover got up about an hour ago. His leg's jacked up and he can barely move his arm without screaming in agony. But he's in the Conductor's hospital room right now."

     "He's still alive?"

     The French fighter stopped walking and looked over at him. Was he smiling? "Not for long."

     He took a satisfied breath and continued his lunatic ranting. "Currently, my brother is letting our père have a conversation with a pillow. How he's even able to walk to that room and lift the pillow is beyond me."

     Once again, Shino's mind was spinning but it wasn't from his injuries. Before the mission, the two groups had come to an arrangement: The Divils would help Ronin as long as they got to kill the Conductor.

     Something else flashed across the vigilante's mind. "What about you? Why didn't you help."

     "I did. Remember, we were supposed to protect one of the governors. Did you hit your head that hard or did you just never listen to the meeting all together because you were staring at my brother?"