Silver Rose

Chapter XXIV - A Fallen Hero

Ingrid slowly opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes to allow her mind to fully wake up. Her left hand was itchy and she reached over to scratch, but stopped upon feeling something coming out of her flesh. It was an IV. She tried to sit up, but winced at the sharp pain in her right chest.

"Ingrid?" Lilly's voice sounded through the haze in her mind. "Ingrid!"

A pair of arms wrapped around her and she closed her eyes to try and numb the pain all over her body.

"Shit, thank the gods," Perseus said.

Leon felt a heavy weight lift off of his shoulders. He and Athena shared a glance before both started to become overtaken by the emotion. Echo was in the furthest corner of the room, curled up into a ball, her face hidden behind her knees. Xanthus was nowhere to be found. His way of coping was to involve himself with the cabal that Penny was a part of. He had forced his way into Oscar's office, demanding to know why so many bad things seemed to follow them around.

Lilly continued to sob on her partner's shoulder while the latter closed her eyes to collect her thoughts. Yuan's face flashed into her mind.

"Where is he?" she demanded, grimacing through the pain as she sat up.

"Don't!" Lilly said through tears. "You're still injured!"

"I don't care!" Ingrid yelled. "Where is Yuan?"

No one answered, but there was a collective flinch in the entire room.

"Yuan's," Lilly began as she wiped tears away. "He's..."

"Quit stalling, dammit!" Ingrid said, tearing the IVs out of her skin and unhooking herself from the monitor. She stumbled to the doorway.

"Wait," Leon said.

"Leon," Ingrid said, her eyes burning. "Don't you try and stop me."

"I wasn't. Just...let us help you."

"I gotcha," Athena said, shouldering her out of the room.

The rest followed.

"Where is he?" Ingrid said, panic evident in her voice. "I want answers!"

"He's alive," Athena said.

Ingrid sensed more and she waited for the rest as patiently as she could, but she could only wait for so long. "But?" she said.

"Do you know how long you've been unconscious?"

"Do I look like I fucking know?"

"Three days," Perseus said. "And that's how long he's been out, too."

Ingrid's whole body went cold. She hurried in the direction Athena had been leading her. Nurses and other staff tried to stop them, but Ingrid was on a mission. Only an act of the gods would be able to keep her down.

She threw her hand to the window of the intensive care unit as she looked in, eyes wide open, breathing as erratic as her heartbeat. Yuan was lying completely still, barely breathing, tubes coming out of his mouth and nose and in other places. She went for the door. The physical pain her body was in meant absolutely nothing to her right this moment. She needed to get to him. She needed to touch his hand to assure herself that she wasn't hallucinating.

Security guards came upon the group, but Perseus and Athena were between them in a heartbeat, shields deployed and ready for action.

"Please!" Lilly begged everyone. "Stop this!"

Athena and Perseus glanced over at their friend and then looked back to the security guards, who seemed to falter. After a few moments, the guards backed down and both Athena and Perseus lowered their shields, but stood in place, neither speaking, both glaring, letting everyone around them know that they meant business.