Take Back the Night (a MCSM fanfic)

Chapter 2: Stronghold

Aiden shoved his way through the gathered throng, clawing his way to the front of the group.  "Let me through!  Let me through-- I know him!"

He forced his way past the other soldiers, emerging, panting at the front of the crowd and dropping beside the limp form on the floor.  "Lukas!  Oh my gosh... Lukas!"

Lukas lay on his back on the floor, completely still, and for a moment Aiden feared he was already gone.  But then he caught the faint, ragged rise and fall of the boy's chest, and relief flooded him.  "He's alive-- but he may not have long if we don't help him!  Get him to the infirmary-- quickly!"

The soldiers quickly moved forward, lifting Lukas and carrying him from the entryway, doing their best to avoid injuring him, and Aiden trailed them, a mixture of emotions flooding his being.  That Lukas was alive-- let alone that he'd made it here-- was more than he could ever have dreamed, but at the same time, there was no guarantee that Lukas would pull through.  It didn't take more than a glance to see that the young warrior had been running for a long time.  He shook from cold and exhaustion, almost certainly ill from the constant damp, energy utterly spent... Aiden shook his head.  It hurt to see his old friend like this-- but what hurt even more was the constant thought of the betrayal that severed their friendship.

It had never been Lukas's fault.  Aiden knew that well, though in the beginning he'd denied it.  No-- out of all of them, Lukas had been the faithful one.  When he and the rest of his team had given up hope, Lukas had ventured out into the face of the Witherstorm to find them and bring them home.  And how had Aiden repaid him?

With betrayal.

He'd been so jealous... jealous that Lukas was hailed as a hero, as part of the new Order of the Stone.  Jealous of his new friends-- so jealous that he failed to accept that Lukas had simply found more friends and not replaced his old ones.  He'd convinced himself that Lukas was the traitor-- and he'd turned the others against him...

Aiden slowed his walk.  Lukas didn't know he'd come home-- that any of them had come home.  And after all he'd done... he knew he couldn't expect Lukas to even want to see him, let alone give him the chance to make amends.

He sighed heavily.  The New Order had been gracious-- so very gracious.  They'd given him a chance to start a new life, and he had.  But he'd grown to miss his old home, too-- they all had.  So they came back-- to this.  By some miracle, they'd managed to avoid the infected long enough to find Haven and build its stronghold cities.  They'd thought the New Order had fallen-- but suddenly, here was Lukas.  Was there hope the others were alive?

Aiden shook his head.  He knew that team... that they stayed together whenever it was possible.  Unless they'd gotten separated somehow, there was little chance the others were alive.

He stopped, watching numbly from a distance as Lukas was brought into the infirmary.  How could he ever hope to make amends for what he had done?  No words could even begin to right the wrongs he'd inflicted.  Lukas had been like a brother to him, his greatest friend, and a better leader than Aiden had ever been.  And Aiden had scorned him...

Dejected, he turned and slunk away, his original joy now gone, replaced with the weight of what he'd done.

***

He found Gill in the cafeteria, collecting the day's rations.  Aiden got his own food and sat down beside him.  "Hey, man."

"Hey, Aiden," Gill said, looking up.  "Did you hear about what happened earlier?  They said--"

"I was there," Aiden murmured softly.

Gill blinked in surprise, eyes widening.  "You-- you were?  Did you see him?  Was it him?"

"It was him alright," Aiden sighed.  "Even after all this time, I'd still know him anywhere.  But he's in really bad shape..."

Gill looked down.  "Oh... do they... do they think he'll make it?"

"I don't know."  Aiden exhaled.  "I haven't heard anything yet..."

They both fell quiet, staring at their rations.  Finally Aiden broke the silence.

"Any word on Maya?"

Gill shook his head.  "She's no better-- no worse, either.  Unless we find the cure, I doubt there will be any..."

Aiden nodded mutely.  It had been several weeks since Maya had gone out searching.  She'd been one of the few to actually make it back-- though sometimes he wondered how much difference her return had really made.  She'd still been bitten-- she was still infected.  And while they'd managed to stall it, to keep it from spreading further and from turning her, it meant keeping her in stasis.

Did he ever miss her...

He let himself sink to the table, resting his head in his hands.  "We've lost, haven't we?  It's over.  The New Order is dead or dying.  We're basically prisoners here-- trapped in our own home.  Even our team has fallen apart..."

Gill put a hand on his shoulder.  "It does look pretty bad," he admitted.  "But we can't give up.  We've got to keep hoping..."  He shook his head, and then added softly, "Hope's all we've got left."

Aiden gave a bitter laugh.  "My hope died a long time ago."

Yet... though he'd come to believe those broken words... this time, he couldn't help but feel they were a lie.  Lukas's arrival had stirred something within him-- something he hadn't felt for a long time.  Everyone had thought the New Order was dead, but suddenly here was Lukas-- and he wasn't dead yet.  And though he didn't look it at a glance, Aiden knew Lukas was tough.  And if Lukas had survived the hordes of infected that roamed the land... maybe there were other survivors, too.

He tried to block it out, to tell himself he couldn't risk being let down again.  It was impossible.  They'd just have to start again with what they had here, at Haven.  But try as he might to deny it, he couldn't stop the strange sensation growing inside him.

For the first time in a long while, Aiden felt hope.