(COMPLETED) The Lunar Chronicles - Winter's Summer

Part 34

Thorne stepped into the medbay, and immediately wished he hadn't.

Kai was laying down on the small table, bare chested, blood all over the table and floor. Jacin had a scalpel in his hand, a surgical mask over his mouth. Cinder was curled up in a ball in the corner, making the most agonizing noises and staring wide eyed at Kai.

She was the closest to tears Thorne had ever seen her. She looked broken.

Thorne stood next to Jacin, but not too next, and asked "What can I do?"

Jacin nodded his head at Cinder, but didn't move his gaze from Kai and his bullet wound. He brought down the scalpel just the smallest amount, and Cinder whimpered like it was her going under the knife. "Get her out of here."

Thorne nodded, then approached Cinder slowly, the way you might approach a small and terrified baby deer.

That bit. And had a tranquilizer dart gun.

"Cinder," he started, keeping his voice sweet and trying to keep the trembling to a minimum. "We need to let Kai get better. Jacin is fixing him. Come on, we can go wait with Cress and Iko and Winter. Do you want to see them?"

He was speaking to her like she was a young child, something that ordinarily would have ended with him getting a stern talking to and an attempted assault, but it brought on no reaction from Cinder. It was that that let him know how devastated she was.

With a sigh, Thorne leaned over Cinder, scooping her up in his arms. She was a lot heavier than he remembered, but it had been a long while since he had carried her like this. She normally got bothered if he simply touched her, just like a brother and sister might be.

As he carried her towards the door, she started making whimpering noises and fidgeting to get out of his grip, reaching out her arms to Kai. "Thorne, Thorne put me down right now. I need to stay Thorne I need to stay with him put me down Thorne please."

She continued carrying on like that, getting increasingly louder as they got farther away from the medbay. It ended up that Cinder had her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms reaching past him to get to Kai, and he held her by the waist.

If she was in her right mind, she would have demanded to be put down. He stopped by the doorway of the cockpit, saying "Hey guys? Would you help me here please?"

Cinder kept trying to escape him, ferociously clawing at the air and saying "Put me down take me back Thorne please take me back I want to go back please Thorne help."

Her voice got all tangled at the end of her sentence, dry sobs now being the only sound she could make. It broke Thorne's heart a little to hear her so weak, and he grabbed her waist more firmly with his right arm, letting his left hand reach up to stroke her hair.

Cress, Winter and Iko came over to him, Winter pulling Cinder (and him along with her) into a bear hug.

"Kai" Cinder croaked out, finally losing strength and letting her head rest in the crook between Thorne's neck and shoulder, her arms wrapping around his neck.

Gesturing with his head for them to follow him, Thorne walked away from the small group and down the small hallway to Wolf's room. When he got there, Thorne saw Scarlet asleep on the bottom bunk, Wolf sitting next to her.

He straightened as soon as he saw Thorne walk in, his eyes filled with curiosity. Thorne held Cinder a little tighter to him. "We had to get out of there. Mind if we come in?"

Wolf shook his head, and Thorne walked to the bunk beds on the other side of the room, untangling Cinder from him. He pried her arms off from his neck, and uncurled her legs.

As soon as she didn't have Thorne to hold onto anymore, she curled into a ball, moaning and wailing about Kai.

"H-he w-w-wanted me t-to stay b-because he thought I w-would be hurt." She squeaked out, sounding painfully close to tears.

"Shh. It's okay, Cinder. He'll be okay."

Cress, Winter and Iko trailed into the room after him, and at seeing Cinder in distress, placed themselves around her in various places. Winter got onto the bed with her, hugging her from behind, and Cress sat down so that Cinder could put her head on Cress's lap. Iko sat next to the bed on her gurney.

Thorne, not having anywhere to be, just stood in the middle of the room, watching the girls fawn over and comfort Cinder.

He turned to Wolf, watching him watch Scarlet. It was like he was checking that she was still safe, still there, by his side. When Wolf realized that Carswell was watching him, he stiffened, turning a little red. Carswell laughed weakly, saying "It's okay, you're married, remember?"

Wolf managed a small smile in his direction before turning back to Scarlet. He started fiddling with her hair, which was a decent amount shorter than the last time Thorne had seen it. Thorne sat crossed legged on the floor in front of Wolf, wanting to speak with him.

"I feel like we haven't spoken much since Scarlet was kidnapped. How are you? You've been through a lot lately."

Wolf stared at Thorne for a few moments, trying to decipher if he was being serious or not. It was true, Thorne didn't have a lot of touchy-feely moments, and rarely with any one besides Cress. It made sense for Wolf to be a little skeptical that he was being sincere.

Clearing his throat, Wolf said "I feel like I've been to hell and back."

"That bad?"

"Imagine Cress was kidnapped. She was taken out of the country, and you know she's either being tortured or raped, or she's already dead."

Thorne's throat went dry and his stomach heaved like he might throw up just thinking about it. He nodded solemnly, feeling like it would be a good idea to end the conversation there.

"That's not the worst part."

"What? How is that not the worst part?"

Casting his eyes down at the floor, Wolf mumbled "She thought I was Ran."

Thorne did not pretend to know every detail of the entire crew's screwed up childhoods, but he had heard of Ran. Disbelief settled on Thorne's features, not sure that he had heard Wolf correctly.

"What?"

"She called me Ran. She also thought that I was dead."

Thorne didn't have a response to that. What was there to say?

For the next hour, the only sounds were the collective breathing of the group and Cinder's pleading cries. Cress did a good job of keeping her calm, but she still whimpered every now and then.

When Jacin entered the room, wiping his hands with a white towel, everyone stood up, save Wolf and Scarlet, waiting for the results. It was a few moments of silence before a small smile formed on Jacin's face.

"He's going to be fine."

Cinder immediately ran to the medbay in a full out sprint, Winter and Cress following behind her. Iko didn't move.

Frowning, Thorne walked over to the android, waving a hand in front of her face. "Iko? You want to go with Cinder to see Kai?"

But there was no answer.

"Jacin?" Thorne turned to him, trusting him to know the best course of action for an unresponsive android, him having lived with her for so long.

"What's wrong?"

"She's not moving." Jacin came to crouch by Iko's gurney, moving aside the hair from the right side of her neck to open the small control panel at the base of her skull. He opened it up, and took a look inside.

Jacin peered into her head for a few moments, but then closed it suddenly, it clicking back into place with a sharp snap. He turned back to Thorne with an unreadable expression.

"Jacin? Is she okay?"

Jacin staring down at his hands with thin pressed lips was all the answer Thorne needed. He looked over at Wolf, who stared back with a blankness in his eyes.

Iko was dead.