Here Be Dragons (Completed)

Irrevocable

***Here you have it! The final installment of Vol. 1. Happy Reading!***

Luke was unconscious for three days and none of us left his room for more than a few hours at a time. Victor was glued to his computer since he was sure that Volto was once again on the offense in trying to attack his firewalls and Owen hovered over him almost as much as he loomed over the foot of Luke's bed. North stayed by Luke's side, sleeping for only a few hours at a time against the mattress near Luke's arm and Kota was equally stuck to Luke's other side, though he didn't touch him or speak a word to anyone. Gabriel brushed the unconscious boy's hair, humming varying Elvis songs under his breath as he did so and Sean did his best to remain optimistic, though his cheeriness was forced and usually met with frustration. Silas and Nathan took it upon themselves to keep everyone from starving, but even though they kept sandwiches and other various food in the room, most of us didn't eat.

I sat by Luke's left leg, my body frozen and my mind confused and weary, but I didn't move away. I shouldn't have cared so much for someone who had technically tried to kill me, but I couldn't help it. I remembered the way he'd sat in Gabriel's room, getting his toenails painted with me and how he'd welcomed me my first night here, accepting my beastie and I for what we were. I felt his soft lips against my neck and way his chocolate eyes melted and swirled with desire when he looked at me.I thought of holding Levi's head in my lap after he promised to buy me matching footie pajamas and the feel of his palm tentatively sliding into mine whenever he wanted to hold my hand. Yes, Luke was a lunatic but he was my lunatic, my friend. I had no idea when it had happened, but there was no changing the course of my withered, ruined heart. Luke had reminded my demolished organ how to beat again and I couldn't leave him, not now when he needed me. 

So I sat, resting my head on the mattress when it got too heavy to hold up and keeping my hand gripped lightly on his calf above the teal, hospital blanket as I did my best not to break into a million tiny pieces. I strained for every beep of Luke's heart monitor and jolted at every twitch of his muscles, every shift of his limbs. With every movement, our hope was rekindled and we waited on baited breath for him wake. 

The bullet had hit him in the chest, but whether Kota had meant it or not, the shot had missed his heart, piercing his lung instead. Owen with Gabriel's help had been able to keep his lung from collapsing in time to insert a chest tube to drain the blood before dressing the wound. It wasn't a professional job but when Kota had calmed down enough to understand the effects of his anger, he'd helped patch Luke up as well. A hospital could have fixed him quicker but, for obvious reasons, going somewhere public wasn't an option. If Luke took a turn for the worse, North would take him over a few counties to be treated professionally, but both Owen and Kota were sure that he'd pull through. 

Kota had withdrawn into himself the moment his medical expertise was no longer needed and he'd sat like a statue by Luke's side, the only movement or sound coming from his lips as he counted. It was incredibly annoying hearing him count in three's for hours before starting over with even numbers and then switching to odds. He started in on irrational numbers next and then square roots, and I'd officially blocked him out when he started reciting every decimal point in pi. I wasn't sure how far he'd gone with that one but I was glad when he'd finally lapsed into silence, staring at Luke's hand like it held all the answers to life's questions. He looked terrible, his expression one of agonized sorrow and though I still bore the bruised marks of his fingers around my throat, I felt nothing but pity for him. 

Every one of the boys had tried to kill me that night-except for Luke, unless Lex's desire to take me counted-and I couldn't exactly blame them. I had done my best to beat them as well, willing to kill them if necessary, but it didn't seem like there were any hard feelings. That was game night, after all, and sometimes people got hurt. Granted, shooting each other shouldn't have been on the agenda but you couldn't always control what happened when ten psychopaths got together to play. Either way, it was water under the bridge for most of us, though Kota didn't seem too keen to forgive himself for putting Luke in this hospital bed. I didn't envy his guilt but I could understand his actions. If anyone had said those things to me after going through something as traumatic as what he had...well, I would have shot them, too.