Passenger

Chapter 22

The first person to rouse was, somehow, Krys.

I heard him inhale sharply, then cough, catching himself on his forearm. Slowly I turned to see him struggling to stand, seemingly trying to catch his breath.

While they had been unconscious, I had drifted a little ways away to think. Now, seeing Krys awake, I moved over towards him. "careful. Don't hurt yourself."

He didn't answer immediately, still getting to his feet. "is...is she alive?" Krys whispered, looking up at me. "did I...please, tell me I didn't..."

"no. you didn't kill her, Krys." I shook my head. "gave her one hell of a beating, but she'll live if you can –"

I didn't have a chance to finish before Krys fell to his knees, his breath catching as tears welled in his eyes. "I'm sorry." He whispered, burying his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry, I'm sorry –"

"hey! Hey, hey, Krys. Take it easy." I floated and crouched in front of him, breaking off his sob-filled apologies. "it's alright, Krys. Whatever that was, it's over now. I need you with me."

Earlier, I had decided not to tell Krys what had happened to me, and now I knew I was right to do that. Krys was an emotional wreck – I didn't want to put my whole 'alive' experience on him and make him feel even worse. Make sure Sarah and Neb survived first, panic about crazy magic stuff later. Hopefully.

Krys seemed to have realized that what he was doing wasn't helping. I heard him grind his teeth in an effort to focus, wiping his eyes, then looking up at me. "I'm sorry. I'm...alright, now." He said hoarsely, getting back to his feet. "what can I do?"

"well, Sarah's alive, and so is Neb, but Sarah's in pretty bad shape." I informed him, as he turned to look at the two. "I don't know how you're feeling, but...she really needs healing if she's gonna last much longer."

The Avian nodded. Wordlessly he knelt down next to Sarah and placed a hand on her forehead, closing her eyes. His palm glowed a faint green as beneath the makeshift bandages, I saw the wounds begin to seal and knit the skin back together. Sarah inhaled deeply a few moments later, and Krys leaned back, wiping the blood off of her face with his sleeve.

"careful, Krys." I warned softly, as Sarah's eyes began to flutter open. "she's not gonna be happy to see you."

"I know." Gently, Krys crouched in front of her, and I could see him trying to keep his composure – but what emotion he was trying to hide, I wasn't quite sure. "Sarah? Can you hear me?"

In response, Sarah groaned, then coughed. She didn't speak initially, eyes opening and focusing in on Krys. "y...you..." she croaked. Then her eyes narrowed. "you murderer!"

In a burst of strength, she lunged at him – or, at least, tried to. Krys scrambled back quickly as Sarah tried to strike him, then doubled over suddenly, clutching her side in pain and falling to the ground again. "Sarah, please be careful!" Krys urged worriedly, holding out his hands. "you're still hurt, and you've lost a lot of blood. You'll just hurt yourself more –"

"shut up, Avian!" Sarah snapped, then coughed in pain. She spat blood on the ground, then looked back up at Krys with anger in her eyes. "I...I don't know what you are, but...you...I swear, I'll..."

She tried to stand, then doubled over in pain again. Slowly, Krys knelt next to her. "I'm sorry, Sarah. Really, I...I am." He said gently. "I didn't want to hurt you, I...I lost control. And I know you don't trust me, and I know you've been through a lot because of my people. But, please. Let me help you."

I was amazed to listen to Krys' gentle tone. He had thrown his guilt to the wayside in order to try and help Sarah. I could still see a lot of tension in his shoulders, and the small wings on his back – were they bigger than they were yesterday? – were twitching in nervousness. Yet even so, he was willing to risk his life, again, to try and help someone who he had just been trying to kill a few hours ago.