Fear the Reaper [malexmale]

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

I wasn't dead.

The only reason I knew was first of all, I didn't get a grand ride to the Source, which was where I was supposed to go when I died, since I was one of the originals. Born of the first creature of the Source. My afterlife was the Source. Everlasting existence in the form of a star. It was supposed to be the most beautiful thing in the universe.

Instead, I had utter darkness, silence, until I heard the faint hiss and pump of a life support machine. The beep of a heart monitor, slow and steady. I could hear some kind of ventilation system too, a hushed whisper of air flowing into the room. It was all so calm, so peaceful. I welcomed the sounds around me. And for once, I was glad I couldn't move. I felt numbed out completely. I had no idea what drugs were being pumped into me, but holy shit, it felt amazing. I felt warm and cozy, relaxed, carefree.

Who knew the sound of life support could be so soothing?

The beep was soft and gentle, not loud and annoying. The hiss and pump of the life support machine was like being rocked to sleep. I was about to let myself slip back into that dark empty sleep, only to hear something different in the room. It sounded like footsteps. Boots, maybe, judging from the heavy solid thumps. There was a soft jingle, like metal was bumping against metal. A soft sniffle. A heavy sigh. Some shuffling around, like whoever was in the room with me was moving something in the room. Maybe a chair?

The shuffling stopped. I heard a soft poof sound, like whoever had taken a seat. I listened to their breathing, a soft sniffle coming occasionally. Another heavy sigh.

"Oh, Stanton." My heart bled.

Alaric. That was Alaric's voice. His voice was so beautiful, so clear. He sounded soft, sad. My heart ached. I wanted to hear him speak again, wanted to open my mouth to tell him to talk to me, to open my eyes and see him, but my body wasn't listening to me. It felt like I couldn't control anything. All I could do was lay there, listening to the sounds around me.

Puff. Hiss. Puff. Hiss.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

"Today was awful," came Alaric's voice again and I ached to take him into my arms, to cradle him against me, and the sorrow in his voice was like a spear in my chest, "Some rogue bounty hunters tried to come in and round up ex-slaves. We had to go in and make some arrests, and one guy pulled a gun on me. He's dead." Bounty hunters hunted slaves who'd run from territories that still had slavery as a law, and it was illegal for those bounty hunters to chase them into another territory, where slavery was illegal, to drag them back to their servitude. It'd been decided at a UP meeting.

But why was he telling me this? What was going on?

Life support, I realized. I was on life support... which meant my body was having difficulties keeping me alive on its own. Something had happened. What happened?

"Raven stopped by to visit. Ambrosius's baby is doing well. He's a little over three months along. Hades is still being a dick about the whole thing, but... I think he's just scared. I know you don't like him very much, and I can just hear you telling me not to get involved, Hades is a bastard, yadda yadda." Alaric stopped. I heard another sniffle. I wanted to smile at his words.

Fuck, he knew me well.

But the sound of his sniffling hurt my chest.

Please don't cry baby.

"Sorry," Alaric said sniffing for a moment and clearing his throat, "Uhm. Anyway. I think Hades is just afraid about this whole baby thing and you know, some pregnancies go wrong and things like that. Hades just takes being a worried parent to a whole new level, ya know?" Yeah, I guess, I wanted to grouse. But did he have to ignore Ambrosius? He knew how much his opinions matter to Ambrosius. Ambrosius wanted nothing more than to make his father proud, to make him happy, and right now, he no doubt felt like he was letting his father down once again. Hades wasn't thinking about Ambrosius. He was thinking about himself.