You're Never Alone

Chapter 43

Word Count: 2221

Louise, PJ, Cat, and Phil all agree to talk a bit later after everything in the warehouse had settled down. After walking out of the room, Phil finds Dan sitting on a cot in the far corner of the room next to Phil's with a cup in his hand. Phil walks over and sits down, grimacing at the smell of alcohol present in the room which makes Dan laugh darkly.

"Let people have fun for once, Phil," Dan tells him and Phil slightly pouts, pretending to be slightly offended.

"I am letting people have fun. Alcohol just screams danger especially as a rebel," he shortly explains and Dan nods in understanding. Phil pauses, looking at Dan's arm where a long blue scar now marks his skin. "Who healed you?"

Dan looks down at his arm in surprise as he momentarily forgets about the previous incidents of the day. "Oh, Joe healed me. I didn't want to bother you while you were talking to the three of them," Dan says, gesturing to Louise, Cat, and PJ who stand in a small group across the room.

"Well I wouldn't have really minded." The two then sit in silence for a minute or so before Phil speaks up. "Are you doing okay? You seemed a bit shaken up with you got back."

This makes Dan chuckle but not in the way that sounded happy. "While the last of us were getting back, Alfie and a bunch of soldiers ambushed us. They caught us by surprise but he figured out who I was by my reaction to cutting my arm with one of the blue icebender blades," he explains but Phil can tell that's not the only thing bothering him.

He doesn't ask Dan what else is wrong, deciding to not push him into telling him something he doesn't want to. Phil just nods in response and turns back to the room in front of him, not even noticing when he hands had started to shake. He was too wrapped up in his head to realize that Dan had taken notice of Phil off in space. Suddenly Phil snaps out of it when Dan waves a hand in front of his face and he looks over to the brown-haired boy.

"Hmm? Sorry did you say something?" Phil asks with slightly wide eyes and Dan hands him the cup in his hand.

"Here, drink this. You look like you could use it," Dan says with concern lacing his words and Phil slightly smiles, downing the alcohol in the cup in hopes to relieve his stress and jitters.

The two stay in the corner and soon, Phil can feel himself relaxing just a bit. They don't talk much between them but instead, they watch the people in the room. Phil notices all of the rebels finally at ease and wonders to himself how long this is gonna last before the king comes to ruin it all.

***

Late that night after everything has settled down, the previous four meet back in the room to try to figure out what the hell they have to do now. PJ is the last one in the room and he sits down with a small sigh of exhaustion. They all sit for a moment, waiting for one of them to speak up and say something but none of them say anything for a solid few moments.

"So," Phil starts, breaking the tense silence in the room. "What happened around here while we were gone?"

Cat clears her throat slightly and leans her elbows on the table. "Well while you guys were captured, we were trying to come up with a plan to save you but with the higher security of the palace, that just didn't fully work out. Of course that's not really a problem anymore," she explains seriously, looking across the table at Louise before looking down at the table.

"We also got a message form the king last night," Louise adds on quietly and Phil and PJ look between the two of them with wide eyes.

"Last night?" PJ asks in shock and the two girls nod slowly. "What did it say?"