Believe Me

Twenty-Six: The Red V-Neck

THIS CHAPTER IS SO SHORT HOLY CRAP

SORRY GUYS

DONT WORRY, THOUGH, WE'RE GETTING BACK INTO THE REASONABLY SIZED ONES XD

Believe Me

Ch 26: The Red V-Neck

Sky's POV

Alesa, who freaked out when we told her Ty might be dead; Jason, who nearly had a panic attack; Seto, who won't let Tyler come; Annie, who was half-way between hugging me and strangling me; Merome, who are not going to be much help; and a few verifiably sane Recruits – they're the ones accompanying me to the Squid Base. And as much as I would love to hug the crap out of them all for helping, I'm currently much more likely to burst into tears again.

"Sky, look, you need to calm down," Seto says in a soothing tone of voice.

"I can't," I whimper, and Seto frowns and wipes my tears with his magic. I'm not sure how that works, but okay. "Thanks."

"Not a problem. We'll find him, Sky, I know we will."

"I know! It's just... I know it's far more likely for us to find him dead than it is for us to find him alive, and I don't think I can..."

"He won't be gone entirely," Seto reminds me.

"Please don't give me any of that 'he's still in your heart' crap-"

Poof.

Headphones.

Ty's. Around my neck.

"I'm sorry, I've never summoned a human so I can't just teleport Ty to us. But I can summon his extra headphones," Seto offers lightly.

I burst into tears and throw my arms around Seto.

"He hides them in his house, in case his regular ones get destroyed while you and he are doing something stupid," my favorite sorcerer explains.

"Thank you," I sniffle, because they're just so Ty, and, for whatever reason, it helps more than anything else ever could.

"Never a problem."

Alesa shouts from up ahead, notifying us that we've arrived at the squid base, and we all split up to look for him. Not that we've got much to work with; the squid base is ruined.

"He's got to be here somewhere..," I insist, peeking under a pile of charred rubble. "He's got to be."

"Sky, it's..." Seto shakes his head. "I can't sense him. The base is literally blown to bits. All that's left is fire and debris."

"I don't think we'll find him," Jason whispers, voicing the thought that we've all been refusing to embrace.

"No, we- we have to find him!" Alesa shouts, matching my feelings exactly. Hmm. Does she still have lovey-dovey feelings for him? She'd better not. I thought she was over that- augh, not important right now.

"What if we can't?" I ask, voice breaking on the last word. I'm not... I don't... "The last words I said to him were 'I hate you,'" I breathe. I blink, and a tear rolls down my cheek.

Notch dang it.

"Sky," Alesa calls distractedly over her shoulder, and I frown, wipe my eyes with my glove, and walk towards her.

"What?"

"I- oh. Oh, Notch," she chokes, backing away. I run up to take her spot.

"What is it? Do-" I freeze.

"What is it, guys?" Seto asks, teleporting over. His eyes go wide, and he glides forward.

"Did you guys find him?" Annie asks, and then she sees. Slowly, she blows out a breath of air, and then she moves to join Seto by the body.

"What's wrong?" asks Jerome, and then he gets here and calls softly, "Mitch..."

"What is it- oh."

Eyes closed, lips parted slightly. Face relaxed, as though only asleep.

A rip in his normally white v-neck.

It's red now.

"Notch dang it," Seto growls, moving around my friend's body in a blur.

"Oh, Notch," Alesa repeats from behind me.

I can't move. My eyes burn. Has it always been this hard to breathe?

"Fricking- no," Seto mutters.

"Sky?" Annie asks gently, reaching a hand out toward me.

"Ty!" I cry out, my voice muffled by my own hand over my mouth and distorted by the sobs that rack my body.

Seto glances up at me, curses, and then motions for me to sit by him. "Look, Sky, it's- it's not- it isn't your fault, okay?"

"I-I- He- How could it be anything but my fault?" I sob as I drop down next to him.

"It's not- It was his choice, all right? To save you."

"Y-Yes, but- we could've gotten out together, but I just had to freak out on him and hold us back-"

"Oh my- Sky," Seto says, eyes wide as he looks up at me.

"And I- I could've said anything, I had the time, I could've grabbed his hand and run out of the base with him-"

"Sky."

"But instead I just stood there and told him that I hated him and-"

"Sky!" Seto hisses, and I finally look down to see him with his hand about a centimeter above Ty's open mouth, his other hand resting two fingers on Ty's wrist. "Sky, he's breathing, just a little, I can feel his breath. And his pulse is weak, I didn't feel it at first, but it's there. Sky, we can save him."

My eyes go wider than I think they've ever been, and I gasp as I drop down next to Seto. "Oh my Jeb. He's- He's- Oh my Notch, Seto, really? Are you being serious?" Can't get my hopes up, can't, can't! "Please, please don't pretend just to make me feel better."

"I'm not lying, Sky," Seto promises me, taking my hand and pressing two of my fingers against Ty's wrist. "Do you feel it? He's going to be okay, but we have to get him back to the lab. Quickly."

"Of course! Yes. Yeah. Okay, come on, I can carry him. How long will it take us to get back? Not long, right? Can we make the trip back faster than the trip here? Do you need me to get anything for you to heal him with?"

"I can carry him with my magic, it won't be hard. The distance is actually quite small and it won't take long to travel across it, especially since we're very, very motivated now. I don't need anything but the items in my laboratory," Seto answers all in one go, shooing some of our friends away so he can have room to cast a spell. "Stop worrying, Sky. He's going to be all right."