Treasure for All

16. Venom

As soon as the crew boarded the ship, Yunho shut the side door right when the HALA took off. San was immediately rushed to the infirmary to be treated for his injury, and Grace-Anne took the diamond piece to the lab to be cleaned and stored. Mingi rushed to the deck to where Jongho was holding the ship steady. The younger boy stepped away to let the pilot take over.

"Woah!" escaped Jongho's lips as he looked into the distance.

The HALA had risen over the trees just enough to see black smoke rising like a shadow from the Colosseum, and tourists were rushing out of it to escape any possible danger. Police cars and firemen could also be seen zooming to the fire. Chaos was all it could be described as. A few of the crewmembers came onto the deck to see what was happening. The ship was already moving far away from the damage, but the smoke could still be seen. It now just looked the size of a licorice stick.

"Hopefully, it'll still be intact," Phoebe sighed.

"Considering the walls are still up," Grace-Anne said, "I think it will be. They'll probably just close it down for a while to do repairs."

"That explosion was huge," Dinah exclaimed. "The ceiling above us could have easily been blown away. Did you see how big the smoke was?"

She then felt sharp pains in her abdomen and grabbed her stomach. "Pardon me," she excused herself before dashing off below deck, Wooyoung following closely behind her.

The crew that remained on deck stayed there until the old arena was nothing but a speck. Despite being safe on the ship, everyone was still shaken from the current events. Hongjoong ordered everyone else to clean up and rest before dinner, but he didn't bother going into his office; he instead trudged into his room and plopped himself onto his bed to give himself a break. Grace-Anne busied herself with the diamond in the lab, Taeran was comforting Celestia while San was being treated for his wound, and the rest of the men were either setting a course for Agra or showering. Phoebe was calculating ways to sneak into their next destination without breeching security, and Dinah decided to rest with a heating pad on her stomach to try to ease her menstrual cramps.

In the infirmary, Yeosang and Dahae had an unconscious San lying face down with his chin resting on a towel to allow him to breathe as the two medics worked. They had torn off his thick leather jacket and black t-shirt to examine the wound, and an arrowhead the size of a golf ball fell onto the floor, San's blood dripping from the sharp tip. With gloved hands and large tweezers, Yeosang picked it up and set it on a separate tray to examine later. Dahae used a syringe to inject San's wound with a solution that was quick to extract any poison that might have entered his bloodstream. Placing a tube against the wound, a pinkish-white liquid with a cloudy texture filled up the tube.

"Poison's out," Dahae confirmed before disposing the substance.

Yeosang then took a suction to clean out any extra venom. He then cleaned and stitched up San's wound and wrapped his torso in bandages.

"He's going to be fine," said Yeosang after he turned his friend onto his back.

"Let's get him back to his room. I think Celestia's waited too long for an answer."

San slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the wooden ceiling. He was in his room. It took him a few seconds to remember what happened, but he was glad to be alive. He also noticed that he was clothed in only his pants and bandages around his abdomen.

"Hey, handsome," a familiar voice sounded from his left. He turned his head to find his wife sitting on the bed and staring at him with a sort of sad but relieved smile, and he gently placed his palm on her cheek, his tan contrasting with her porcelain skin.

"Hi, angel," he greeted back.

"How are you feeling?"

San shrugged. "Alright, I guess. What time is it?"

"Four-thirty in the afternoon. You've been out for about five hours."

San tried to sit up, but Celestia stopped him. She gathered the pillows she could find and placed them behind San for him prop up. As he tried to adjust himself, he felt small pricks of pain shoot through his right side like miniature firecrackers.

"Did a snake bite me or something?" he winced. Celestia shook her head.

"We thought it was a rock or large chunk of debris or ash, but when Dahae and Yeosang examined you," –she opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a small plastic bag with a sharp, bloodstained arrowhead attached to a bullet- "this fell out of you're jacket."

San took the bag and examined it. "What did it do to me?"

"If you were hoping it was spider senses," Celestia chuckled, "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Peter Parker. They did find traces of inland taipan venom coated on the tip."

"Snake venom?"

"Yeah, but you lucked out. Had you not been wearing your leather jacket..." Celestia's voice drifted off when she realized where her sentence was going.

San immediately saw the tears begin to pool her eyes, so he pulled her into his chest in a bear hug. He gently placed a kiss on her head.

"Don't worry, baby," he whispered.

"I'm your wife. Of course I'm going to worry."

"I'm not leaving you or baby girl anytime soon." San's hand went to his wife's swollen stomach, and he felt his daughter's foot high-five his palm.

"She's been moving a bunch ever since we got back," Celestia explained. Her hand rested on top of San's to secure it there.

"I guess she thinks you were running a marathon," San giggled.

"That's possible, but knowing that tomorrow marks me hitting the thirty-eight week mark in my pregnancy, I think she's moving to get into position for when she's ready to come."

San sighed.

"I'm ready to meet her, Celestia," he whispered against her red locks.

"'Spoil,' you mean," she chuckled.

"That, too," he returned the laugh. "You're birthday is also tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken."

"No, you're right."

"Anything you want to do, my angel?"

Celestia shrugged. "Just being with you is enough."

San lifted her chin for her to meet his eyes. "Then, I'll make sure you have the best twenty-first birthday."