Chapter 16 Cold
Cold... It was so cold.
“If we don’t get his temperature—”
Soren?
“Working on it!”
Ender frowned. Why would Cyrus Grimm be working on anything with his brother?
Cold… It’s so—
Killian tried to be as sympathetic as he could while applying the burn pack to the screaming man's wound, but…
Well, he was not known for any sort of bedside manner, and he was more of a fighter than a healer, even if he was out of practice with fighting and pretty well trained in first aid.
Killian found it rather hard to feel things for adults he didn't know, especially when he was generally disconnected from many of his emotions—softer emotions, that is.
He glanced around at the chaos still going on around them. Alarms were blaring, but at this point they were just background noise compared to the screams of the injured. The bomb had blown a giant hole in the side of Brick Bond, but the area had been sealed off automatically by the ship's system.
They’d had to pry open the sealed emergency doors to reach the few people who’d gotten caught on the other side of it, to bring them to safety.
But the damage was worse than just there at the breach point.
Bombs had gone off simultaneously in the core of the trafficker’s ship, and inside Threadless UGA91, which belonged to the Bureau.
They had some serious questions for the possibly traitorous idiot who had left his post at the breach point, but they’d have to wait as the man was currently still passed out.
The explosions had not only killed Riker, but also had taken the lives of five Agents, injuring many more.
Aside from Ender himself, Cryptid Means had miraculously come away with only a few minor injuries.
All three ships, however, were damaged, with Ender’s apparently suffering before the bombs.
They had yet to assess how badly, but on Brick Bond, he could tell it had definitely messed up the climate controls, as the temperature was dropping rapidly.
Under the circumstances, having been closest to the breach point blast, aside from the Skinwalker who set the bomb off, Ender should be dead.
But he wasn't. The Gorgon being what he was, along with his age, was likely all that had saved him.
His scales had apparently risen up at the right time to protect him.
That being said, the older man wasn't out of the woods yet. But he was alive. At least, Killian hoped he still was. Anything could have happened in the last thirty minutes… But he sincerely hoped the Gorgon survived.
Despite Ender and his group being a pain in the ass, there was no denying the good they did.
He, like Cyrus, agreed that the world would be a worse place without the man.
And Ender…had saved him. He hadn't yet had the time to contemplate why the Cryptid was even here in space, but the Gorgon had saved his life, he just wasn't sure why… and…
Shaking his head and pushing the thoughts away, he finished applying the sealant as Killian awkwardly patted the man. Standing, he pulled his borrowed coat closer around him, before helping the person to stand, and basically dragging him to a safer area of the ship.
With Ender in his arms, Cyrus slowly sat down, fully submerging himself and the ice-cold Gorgon under the bordering on hot water.
“If he dies, you will follow,” Soran ground out, with unshed tears in his eyes.
The Harpy wasn't looking at him. The man was looking down at Ender, as if his world was ending. They'd never really figured out what Ender and Soren’s relationship was, or why they seemed so inseparable and unbreakable loyalty-wise, but…he couldn’t help but wonder if they’d ignored the obvious reasons a bit too much.
Cyrus held back his burning question about their relationship and said, “I’m doing this so he doesn't die. I can force the healing to speed up, but I need his temperature to rise before I even attempt it, or I risk sending him into shock."
Soren scoffed, but otherwise remained quiet.
With his back covered in third-degree burns, he held Ender a bit closer against his chest, keeping the man face down.
Cyrus couldn't help but notice that while the Gorgon's shoulders were wider than Killian's, the Cryptid still somehow fit perfectly in his arms. Which was an odd realization for him to have, and he wasn't sure why he’d had it.
It was also extremely inappropriate when the Cryptid was currently passed out and half naked in his lap.
Not to mention, the Gorgon's possible lover was standing mere feet away, glaring down at them.
Yeah…that's just what this situation needed… more awkwardness.
The conversation, thankfully, didn't pick up, and after what felt like hours, but he knew wasn't, the temperature monitor on Ender's wrist alerted him to the fact the man's body temp had finally reached where he needed it to be.
Cyrus then did something he hadn't done in a long time. He dropped the veil and looked at Ender's threads. Eyeing the various dim green frayed lines, with the worst of them at the center, he slowly began to rewind, weaving the damaged threads back together.
It wouldn't instantly heal the Gorgon, but it would speed things up.
Unfortunately, it also wouldn't guarantee he'd live, and Cyrus couldn't see if he would or not. He couldn't see if Ender was destined to die now, soon, or even far off into the future, which was normal. Cyrus normally couldn’t, and shouldn’t, see the deaths of everyone around him.
The problem was…he couldn't see anything.
Cyrus had never realized just how much he relied on, and was even comforted by, the threads being there, by having the ability to drop the veil and look, to peek at the possibilities, until he couldn't.
Even if he couldn't see, Cyrus wouldn't let Ender die. The world needed the man. Ender would live, even if Cyrus had to break more and more of his family's rules to accomplish it. He had done it once already. One violation or two, did it really matter?
The man was here, and injured, because Cyrus had fucked with the future.
Ender had saved Killian, and Cyrus knew the Cryptid had made the decision to do so.
The Gorgon would have known. He was old enough, and knowledgeable enough, to know when some outside force was urging him to do something beyond his own will.
And Ender was strong enough to fight and refuse that urge. It would have caused him pain to do so, but he could have, yet he hadn’t. For that, Cyrus would do everything in his power to make sure he survived.