Once Again

Chapter Thirty-Eight - To Be Alive

Picture: To Be Alive inspired art by theantleredwolf on Tumblr

We need some Puppet art and there's not a lot of good stuff out there ... I love this one, though.

To Be Alive

The next two days felt like two small eternities. WRLD was finally up and walking again, Noise's splint had been fixed, and Echo came less frequently. The only person who never moved was Puppet.

Finally, during the second day, they let him see his friend. Rogue was breathing steadily, looking almost peaceful, his pale face covered in scratches, bruises, and a couple of bandages. His torso was wrapped up in a white bandage, clean except for a few pink splotches over his wound.

Puppet stared at him and gently squeezed his hand. "You're going to be okay," he whispered.

"It's a miracle he survived," Fij said. "We were worried that he'd need blood from a donor, something we just don't have, but he managed to survive these two nights, and now I'm sure he's going to recover."

This is all my fault. I should've stopped him. "How long do you think it'll take?" Puppet asked.

"Months, probably. I don't know for sure."

Puppet sighed. "Will he be able to move?"

"I'll have to move him out of this area as soon as he's able. He should be able to move on his own in the end, but it may take a while." The healer watched him squeeze his friend's hand again, and then said, "I'll give you some privacy. I promise he'll be okay."

The other Raider just nodded.

Fij quietly left him alone, and then Puppet sighed loudly. Rogue's breath hitched in his throat for a moment, and Puppet's heart almost stopped. Eventually, it steadied and the other Raider let out a sigh of relief.

He sat there for a long moment, thinking, worrying. After a couple of hours, Fij came back in to check on him. Everything was still as well as it could be, so he left again.

Puppet almost dozed off, but then Rogue muttered something and he woke up with a jolt.

"Rogue, did you say something?" he asked, his heart beating rapidly against his chest.

A moment passed before his unconscious friend muttered something again.

"You awake?"

"Ben?" Rogue mumbled, still asleep.

Ben ... who was that? That was his brother, wasn't it?

"S-Seth ... Mom -" Then Rogue took a gasping breath and relaxed, somehow still managing to stay asleep.

Puppet watched him, his heart aching. He was almost responsive now, but ... those three people were dead. Was he seeing the dead, or just imagining? What if he was dying, and all Puppet could do was watch?

"Rogue, what am I going to do?" he muttered. "This is all my fault. I'm sorry. I'm sorry ..." He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, fighting the tears suddenly spilling down his face. "If only I wasn't so ... so useless ... I mess up everything. Now you're hurt, you might be dying ... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault ..."

"Brendan?"

Puppet's head snapped up. "What?"

"Brendan, are you ... are you there?"

"Rogue, is that ... are you ..." Puppet swallowed nervously. "Joel, are you awake?"

"It's ... so bright. I can't s-see you."

"I'm here, Joel. You're alive! You're alive ..."

"Brendan, are you crying?"

"No," Puppet lied, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.