The Dark Hour

--------Lalna--------

"Lalna!" Skyla shouted. I ignored her as I ran back around the building. I've seen this before, and I can't let her stop me, not this time. This was exactly my dream that I've been having for weeks, and I wasn't about to watch it all come true. I started climbing up into the debris and quickly looking around. It was around here somewhere, I knew I was close but where?

"Lalna! What are you doing? This stuff is still unstable, and hot," Skyla said running over to me.

"Ridge is here," I said quickly. "I know he is."

"Lalna Valerie's looking for him, and I don't want-" I saw a piece of debris move and I ran over to it. "Lalna!" It looked horribly familiar and I knew this was the right spot.

"Ridge!" I called out. "Ridge can you hear me!?" I listened and I heard a soft tapping noise. I recognized it, morse code. I listened as the same three letters were repeated over and over. SOS.

"Lalna-"

"Shh." I held my hand up and Skyla stopped. I walked around until the tapping got louder then I found the spot. "Skyla, help me move this." I grabbed the large piece of debris and started trying to pull it over. Skyla sighed then helped me pulled it down. Dust flew up and I quickly covered my mouth as Skyla waved it away. I saw ice formed into a dome like shape but the top was broken. Ridge was by the wall of the dome and there were pieces of debris on him.

"Ridge!" I said running over to him. He looked like he was struggling to stay awake. Blood was staining his hair and running down his face. His breathing sounded forced, rugged and kinda painful.

"I'll go get Ryan," Skyla said quickly running off. Ridge's eyes were closing and I bit my lip as I kneeled beside him.

"Ridge, Ridge you got to stay with me. You can't close your eyes," I said trying to keep my voice steady. He looked up at me and I saw him trying to talk but nothing was coming out.

"Don't push yourself, it's going to be ok. Just... Please don't close your eyes." My voice cracked and I bit my lip again as tears blurred my vision. Ridge shakily held my hand and I sniffled as tears started running down my face.

"Lalna!" I looked up as Skyla came back with Astrid and Ryan.

"Where is he?" Ryan said quickly.

"Here," I said motioning towards him. "H-He's bleeding again." Ryan nodded and got over to him.

"Hey Ridge I need you to stay awake." Ryan said trying to keep him awake. "Astrid I'm going to need your help." She nodded and got one of his arms around her neck and Ryan got the other side. Ridge squeezed his eyes closed and I saw him gritting his teeth. His breathing sped up.

"Hang in there Ridge. I'll heal as much as I can when we get you out of here." He slowly nodded then he started coughing. Blood came out of his mouth and he started wheezing.

"Ridge!" Skyla and I shouted panicked.

"Set him down Astrid." She nodded and sat him down. "I think a lung might be punctured. Hate to say it I might have to perform emergency surgery. I can't use my magic to heal a puncture or I would." Ryan said digging in his bag. "Someone go find Michael, get beads from him so I can get to work on him." Skyla ran off and I kneeled down by Ridge. I gently took his hand and he looked at me.

"Everything is going to be okay." Astrid said softly.

"I found him!" Skyla yelled running back. "He was just about to leave cause Gabriel was hurt but I got the beads!" Ryan nodded.

"Stomp on it so we all can go back. Astrid can you put a protective barrier around Ridge so he doesn't get hurt anymore than he already is." Astrid nodded and said something in Latin and Ridge glowed red.

"There he's protected."

"Ok, there's five of us so five beads," Skyla muttered setting them on the ground. "Here we go." She stomped on all of them and all of us were teleported into Michael's office.

"Ryan why don't I use my levitation to get Ridge to where you need him." Ryan nodded. Astrid used her levitation magic and picked Ridge up. He was still wheezing and he looked like he was going to fall asleep.

"Ridge stay awake!" Either Ridge ignored him or couldn't hear him cause he didn't react. "Let's get him to the medical bay I'm sure Gabe will allow me to use a surgery room."

"Then let's go," Skyla said quickly. "Come on!" Ryan nodded and we all left the room.

"Is Val already here?" Astrid asked.

"I-I d-don't know," I sniffled.

"Hey Ridge is going to be fine you need to be strong for him okay."

"I-I'm scared."

"I know, we all are but we're being strong. We need you to be strong too."

"I-I saw this happened before, I couldn't stop dreaming about it for weeks," I said as I started crying again. "Ridge wouldn't have been in there if I wasn't stupid and ran in there. It's my fault!"

"It's not your fault Lalna."

"It is! I left him in there, I knew he couldn't keep up with me much less the fire and how fast it was spreading! He should have never been in there but he because of me!"

"Hey! You guys stop it's no one's fault!" Ryan snapped "Our main priority is Ridge right now so stop!"

"Lalna, he's going to be ok," Skyla said gently. I couldn't say anything, my throat felt like it had a ball in it. I backed away from her then just ran. I heard Skyla yell my name but I didn't stop. I went all the way to my room and quickly went in and locked the door behind me. I started sobbing and I couldn't stop. I got to the couch and I buried my face in the cushion. He shouldn't have been there, I shouldn't have been so stupid. I shouldn't have left him alone. If he wasn't going to be ok- I screamed into the cushion until I ran out of air. I started hiccupping and I tried wiping the tears out of my eyes. I stared at the ceiling for a bit before I closed my eyes.

~~~~

"Lalna, Lalna come on buddy." I groaned and rolled away from the voice, then I fell off the couch. I yelped and I heard a stifled laughed before someone walked over to me. "Are you ok?" I looked up and I saw my dad. I rubbed my eyes and sat up.

"I'm fine," I said softly.

"From what your friends told me you weren't," He said softly. I looked at the ground and he sat down by me. "You know there were times when Gabriel and I went out on missions and he got hurt over something I did. He always came out fine but it would scare the crap out of me. I would feel horrible that he was hurt but he would snap at me telling me it wasn't my fault. He would say that it was his fault, he made the choice that got him hurt. Unless I physically hurt him on purpose, it wasn't my fault. You didn't mean for Ridge to get hurt, it just happened. Right?" I nodded.

"I would never hurt him," I mumbled.

"See, you didn't get him hurt. He choose to run after you even though he knew he was hurt. He knew he probably wouldn't be able to keep up with you and he ran after you anyways. You didn't cause him to get hurt, it was his choice to be in that building. He helped Valerie save Layla and he got Layla out of the building before she got hurt again. If he wasn't there I don't think she would have gotten out alive." I just looked at the floor and my dad put his hand on my shoulder.

"He's going to be fine, and so is everyone else. Gabriel broke his arm and he's up telling his students what to do and how to do it. And Ridge is fine too. I checked and any blood that was in his lungs is gone and he can breathe. His wounds were stitched up and he's going to make it. He's got a few broken ribs but Gabriel got him in a chest cast after he had Ryan move the ribs back. I'm sure he's awake if you want to see him. He can't talk cause his throat is raw from the smoke but I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." I thought about it a minute, then I slowly nodded.

"Ok." My dad helped me up and he smiled softly at me.

"It's ok, things like this happen but you can't lock yourself away. That doesn't help anything, trust me I know." I nodded then quickly hugged him. He hugged me back and I closed my eyes as tears started going down my face. He rubbed my back and sighed softly. "Come on, let's go see Ridge. Ok?" I nodded and wiped my eyes with my sleeve.

"Ok." He smiled and gently took my hand and we went down to the infirmary.