Ptar: Ceilus and the revolution

13. Waking up

Ceilus woke up and was immediately met with pain as he rolled on top of his injured, patched up, arm. Roven sat next to him.

"He woke up!" Roven yelled. It hurt Ceilus' head.

"Do you have to be so loud?" Ceilus asked, reaching for his aching forehead. His mouth hurt as he spoke due to the hole in his cheek.

"Oh, sorry, sorry; didn't mean to startle you." Roven apologized.

"Don't worry, just please be quieter; I have a huge headache," Ceilus asked of his friend as he made the effort to sit up, groaning. His arms and shoulders felt like this small movement was crushing them, his back was mush.

Mr. Railer, the nurse, rushed to the boys' side. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Heavenly, obviously couldn't be any better," Ceilus said.

"I don't need your sass." The man complained. "I didn't spend the last five hours caring for you just so that you can piss me off. Now tell me, how are you feeling?!"

"Fine," Ceilus said, astonished by the man's sudden outburst.

"Great" the nurse sighed before pressing down his thumb, index and middle fingers on Ceilus's wrist. "Your pulse seems fine, though a bit fast paced. You're recovering well; you'll probably be out of here by Tuesday. Try to move as little as possible; we don't want your wounds to reopen. I'll be back in a few moments; I have some errands to take care of." He left.

"So... How are you, Roven?" Ceilus casually asked.

"Me?! Look at yourself. What the hell happened?" Roven asked amazed.

"I guess you're right" Ceilus laughed, triggering a pain throughout his chest and back areas. "Aren't you afraid of me any longer?" Ceilus asked.

"I was never afraid of you," Roven said. "I was just surprised, that's all; we have been friends for well over two years and your... powers had never come up. You gave me a lot to think about."

Ceilus thought back to his conversation with Roven on the previous night.

Ceilus entered the room, coming back from study hall where he had been studying with Connor for a few hours, and found a very serious looking Roven.

"What's up Roven?" Ceilus asked cheerful, passing by him and placing his satchel on his desk.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Roven said, his eyes filled with determination.

"Oh, of course, I do recall you telling me so after weapons." Ceilus said."Can it wait a second? I'm going to go eat something; I just came here to drop off my things and get some money."

"No," Roven said.

"Come on, join me. Let's go have a snack." Ceilus proposed.

"No!" Roven yelled in frustration. "We are going to talk."

"What's the problem?" Ceilus asked, shocked; he hadn't once heard Roven yell before.

"I know," Roven said.

"Know what?" Ceilus immediately thought; Roven had chosen a heck of a way to ensure his assertion was as vague as possible. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Scythe?" Roven said as he took the volume out of Ceilus's bag and held it up.

"He knows... "Ceilus realized, terrified at the prospect of having his secret revealed to the world. "How did you...?" He asked. "I was careful."

"Apparently not careful enough," Roven said.

"For how long have you know?" Ceilus asked.

"A while" Roven answered, his arms crossed.