Survived Me: a Shatter Me fan-fiction (Warnette)

Chapter 124 - Conflicted

⚠️TW️⚠️
Hospitalisation
Injury detail

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(I think that's all the trigger warnings that there are, but I could be wrong! So if any of the past trigger warnings are sensitive for you, then don't read this chapter!)

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JULIETTE'S POV:

Leo has been stuck in a cell, only being let out to be interrogated. I have asked and asked, begged and pleaded with Aaron, to let him go, but he says that it's necessary. Aaron and I never fight like this, normally we have disagreements and then we resolve it within the day - but not this.

It's been two weeks since the small quarrel between Aaron and Kenji, and the whole of those two weeks, I have been trying to free my brother.

"My love," Aaron says, looking at me as he sits on his desk chair. "I understand why you are angry, I do, but you have to see it from my perspective."

"No Aaron, no. This is not just some random citizen, even though I would be here, fighting for their freedom, but it's not - this is my brother. My brother. Who, by the way, helped you save my life."

He takes a deep breath, he knows that he can't reason with me, he has been trying to for two weeks now. "I know he is, I know. I am sorry, I really am, but you have to believe that I am making sure that he is taken care of."

I groan, because I know that he can't be reasoned with either. "Why can't I handle it? Huh? This is my sector!" I finally snap.

"..." Aaron says nothing, only looking down at the desk in front of him.

"Let my brother go!" I shout.

Aaron groans in frustration, his hands finding their way to the arm of his office chair. "Love, please-"

"No!" I interrupted him, fed up. "What is taking so long? Just ask him a few questions and then let him leave!"

"I..." he takes one of his hands and runs it through his blond hair. "I can't."

With that, I turn around, marching out of his office, slamming the door behind me.

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AARON'S POV:

How on earth do I handle this? I don't know what to do? Am I supposed to keep lying to her? Keep saying that Leo is being questioned? I don't know!

The truth is, when Juliette was kidnapped and we went to save her, Leo was badly injured. Not as badly as Juliette, but he isn't in a good shape. He has gotten increasingly worse and he has made us all promise to not tell Juliette.

Lying to my love is something that I would never do if I thought there was another way, but right now if she takes on too much stress her heart could give out.
That's right, her heart could give up.

The doctor told me, when she originally woke up, that her heart was still weak and she needed to be kept stress free. So, of course, that meant that she couldn't know about her brother, or she'd go crazy with worry.
And now, all this time later, here we are, keeping up this ruse. Her heart is still weak, not ready for the impact that breaking the news would have on her, so this lie has got to continue - even though it kills me inside.

Now, as to what is wrong with Leo, he was shot by Sebastian before he fled, making him one of the only ones of us to have seen him that night, other than Juliette and Annie, of course. The bullet hit his spinal cord and completely immobilised him.

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Flashback:

It's been two days since Juliette was rescued from Annie, she is still laying unconscious in the bed that I sit next to. Kenji is here, looking at me with worry beyond what I feel mentally ready to deal with.

"What's going on, Kishimoto?" I ask, slightly increasing the grip I have on Juliette's hand. "Is there something wrong with Juliette?"

Kishimoto shakes his head, quickly turning and looking at his unconscious best friend. "No, man, it's Leo." He says. "He has been paralysed."

"What?" I ask, suddenly interested in what this man has to say.

"Yeah, they say it is probably only temporary, but they can't be sure."

I sigh, "what does this mean?"

"What do you mean, 'what does this mean'? That doesn't make sense." Kishimoto criticises.

I resist the urge to make a rude comment under my breath. "I mean what does this mean for him? Will he never be able to walk again, even if he does have motion in his body once more?"

He looks at me with more of an understanding of what I am grasping for. "Oh, right. Well they think he should regain all his physical actions, like walking and stuff - but they can't be sure."

Shit, this isn't good.

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I hear the door to my bedroom get knocked on, loud enough so that I can hear it in my office, which adjoins my bedroom.

Who is that? I ask myself, I can't be Juliette, because 1) she is angry at me, and 2) she has a key to the bedroom.

I can take an educated guess at who it is, that being Kishimoto, because he is the only person that would, willingly, knock on my bedroom door without paying me first.

"Come on man, open up!" I hear Kishimoto's voice come from the other side of the door. "I know you're in there, I'm not stupid."

Eh, debatable. The mocking, snide comment easily makes its way to my brain.

"Are you seriously still not going to answer me, man?" He hums in annoyance. By his voice, it's easy to hear that he is scowling. "Let me in, Warner!"

I grumble, lifting myself from my desk, through the threshold of my bedroom and office, then to my bedroom door, to open the door.

"What do you want?" I ask him, the door handle still in my grip, hoping that he will make this quick, then I can shut the door and not speak to him further.

"Juliette is upset and it's obviously your fault." He stands there, his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. "What did you do?!"

I huff, defeated. I hate that she is upset, it makes me feel as though something inside of me has died, only to be brought back to life, to be stabbed to death again. "It's about Leo, she is angry because she thinks that I am keeping him in questioning."

That turns Kenji's angry expression into one that seems as though he feels sorry for me. Like he has pity for me. I don't want his pity, I don't deserve it. I have been lying to my fiancée. About her own brother.

That's a new low. If it were anyone else, anyone at all, I wouldn't batter an eyelid - but no, this is Juliette. I vowed to myself and her that I wouldn't ever lie to her. But this situation is something different. If I stop lying to her she could - quite literally - die.

I have never been so conflicted in my life.

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Word count: 1161