Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
ALEX
Doctor B stood beside me in his white coat, a hand on my shoulder as I watched the monitors.
My fingernails bled as I kept chewing, shifting, jolting at every red line that spiked or dropped.
This wasn’t his department, but every staff in the hospital had been put on alert when the news started to spread.
He was one of the first faces I saw when Reed and I rushed in next to the stretcher that carried Leo’s blackened body.
The VIA was in shambles—Heroes were injured, or missing entirely. Their own facilities were filled to the brim, and the overflow spread to Nightmyre General.
“We aren’t equipped for this,” I breathed, refusing to turn away from the machines. “We need healing Variants, the best ones.”
Leo was right there in front of me, but I couldn’t stomach it, couldn’t handle glancing down. Nearly seventy percent of his body was damaged. His arms and legs got the worst of it, and were wrapped in white bandages that were stained with red. It was his lungs, though, that had me on edge.
“Your friend put out a call to the VIA—they should have some arriving soon,” Doctor B tried to soothe me, squeezing my shoulder.
I was still in my Hero suit, covered in ash, sweat and blood. My eyes kept flitting between Leo’s heart rate, his blood pressure, his oxygen. It hovered around seventy percent, and I tried to convince myself that he’d be fine. No brain damage, no death. If only we could get a fucking healer.
“His levels are rising,” he pointed to the monitor as Leo rose to seventy-one percent. “The ventilator is working. He’s not done yet, Alex. Give it time.”
Leo was registering at fifty when we’d first come in.
I wanted doctors surrounding him, wanted them to rush him to surgery, but the whole ER was in chaos.
Codes being called over the speakers, stretchers rushing by our room with CPR in progress.
My body trembled, and Doctor B pushed me down gently, guiding me into a chair.
“Alex,” he knelt down in front of me as my breath came short. “You may be going into shock. I need you to sit and breathe for me. Can you do that?”
My limbs had gone numb, and I couldn’t stop staring at those fucking monitors. Did his blood pressure drop, or was I imagining it?
“C-check him, please,” I stuttered. “Eighty over sixty—”
“—is the highest it’s been since he came in,” he responded. “He’s stabilizing. Variants are durable, he’ll recover quicker than most. The VIA will send someone, and everything will settle. But we need you grounded. He can’t get through this without you, right?”
I froze, finally ripping my eyes away to look at him, and then to Leo.
He was alone in that bed; tubes and machines surrounding him.
But his chest rose and fell with the ventilator, and his face was still intact.
He didn’t look like Chin-Hae, or how I imagined Joon would have.
Bandages covered his neck and jaw, but he was still recognizable. He was still alive.
Leo is practically fire proof on the outside. But how much did he burn, inside? How much damage was done?
My thoughts swirled, anxious and tired and filled with fear. I couldn’t lose another person—I wasn’t sure what Leo was to me, but I was sure that if anything happened to him, I would break all over again. I couldn’t handle any more loss.
Reed burst in, panting and covered in soot. We whipped our heads to him as he leaned his palms on his knees, his face nearly as red as his hair.
“Okay,” he breathed. “Fuck the VIA, for real. I had to threaten to suffocate, like, seven people before they would hear me out.”
Doctor B frowned. “You know, for a bunch of Heroes, you lot are a bit dark.”
“Are they coming?” I nearly shouted.
“You think I’d come back empty-handed?” Reed put his hands on his hips as he leaned back and let out a long breath. “Yeah, they’re on their way. Twenty minutes tops. We’ll get him fixed up, no problem. Leo’s an asset to the VIA, they won’t let him die.”
Every ounce of strength left my body. I leaned back, let out a long breath, and my body finally turned to jelly. Leo wasn’t going to end up like Joon did. He was going to make it—he had to.
Reed murmured something to me, and all I could do was nod as he left. I couldn’t remember if he said he needed to shower, or eat, or go off to threaten the VIA again. I stayed there, staring at Leo, stroking the back of his hand with my thumb.
Wake up. Please wake up.
After eighteen hours and six rotations of healers sent from the VIA, we were able to take him off the ventilator.
New skin had grown across his hands, no more bone or charred flesh.
If Leo got only a few degrees hotter, if he’d stayed burning in that blue fire a few moments longer, he would have died.
Variants were exceptional, but we couldn’t bring back the dead. I’d gotten to him in time.
When Reed and I saw those blue flames, we knew.
Leo was burning out, and we didn’t know how to stop it.
I’d thrown up an illusion of a wave on a whim, hoping it would do something to stop the fire, startle him enough to make it stop.
I didn’t care about that Villain that had cornered him; I just needed him to stop burning.
But he didn’t burn me.
I knew it was a risk, but he’d been doing so well, all I could hope was that he’d stop.
He always reacted to the scar on my hand as if the sight made him loathe himself.
There was no doubt in my mind that he’d make sure not to burn me again.
When the healers had finished with him, I had one more request.
Make it go away.
It was stupid, and maybe vain. They weren’t there for a scar that had already healed, but after Reed stared them down, they complied. The hand that clutched at Leo like a lifeline had been gifted with new skin. My mark was gone.
Something that had been so trivial to me, something I’d worn as a badge of honor, was a reminder of his shame. I told myself that when he woke up, I’d show him, and maybe that would help, somehow.
Idiot.
Light lashes started to flutter, and my breath caught in my throat as I sat up straighter, leaning in.
“Leo?” I breathed. “Are you awake?”
A low groan slipped through his lips as he blinked, finally opening his eyes. He glanced around, as if attempting to focus before his gaze finally stopped on me.
“What happened?” his voice was hoarse.
I grabbed a bottle of water beside me and slipped my hand behind his head.
“Drink first.” My throat swelled. “We’re safe; that’s all that matters.”
He took his time, grunting as he sat up and then downed the entire bottle. I studied him, my gaze flitting across his form; there wasn’t a scratch or scar to be seen. They’d put him in a hospital gown, and it hung off his shoulders as it exposed his bare back. The skin had been repaired there, too.
“My head hurts,” he said finally.
I pulled my lips into my mouth. “… You went into burnout. The VIA sent over Heroes that could help. You’ll be okay, but you need rest.”
Leo turned his head to me before snatching me by the chin, as if he hadn’t heard a single thing I said. He leaned in, and my cheeks heated as his eyes bore into mine.
“You’re not hurt?”
I cocked my head, scrunching my brows. He was the one in a hospital bed, and he was checking up on me?
“A few bumps and bruises, but nothing compared to you. I… I watched you burn.” My throat swelled.
He ran his fingers through my hair before thumbing one of the horns on my head. It buzzed on contact, sending a gentle vibration through my skull.
“But I didn’t burn you.”
“What? No, of course not. I didn’t think that you would.”
“You trusted me.” He was breathless, and I had to check his oxygen again. “You saved me.”
Leo didn’t let me reply as he wrapped his large hand around the back of my head and pulled me in.
He kissed me—harsh, passionate, and furious, like he was drowning and was desperate for air.
Had his brain actually been affected? Or was this something that had been burning inside him, something I’d been oblivious to?
We had that moment in the kitchen, but I didn’t even get a chance to process before he turned around and acted like it was a meaningless regret. That part, admittedly, hurt a bit.
And then everything was blood and fire, and frantic despair.
His skin was warm, and his lips guided me as I hummed, leaning into him. I ran my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer, before he reared back and hissed through his teeth.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed, eyes wide. “Does it hurt?”
“No,” he sighed. “I just—is this okay?”
Leo lowered his brows, those eyes dropping back down to my mouth. He brushed his lips against mine, then moved to my cheeks, my temples. Gentle, hesitant, soft.
“Yes.” The admittance was honest, but a bit shocking.
There had been tension, but I thought it was a surface level attraction at first. Then Leo started to show himself. He started to open up, and I wanted more of him. This man, whom people feared, who everyone assumed was more Villain than Hero, had dropped his guard for me.
A smile crept onto my lips as he kissed the scar where my chip was, and nearly giggled as he buried his nose in my hair and took a large breath. This was a part of him I’d never seen—uncontrolled, but not full of rage or hate. It was adoration at its finest, and God, I was eating it up.
When he finally pulled away, his breath labored and lips pink, he started to twirl my ponytail in his hand, as if mesmerized.
“I wasn’t supposed to do this,” he murmured. “I was supposed to keep my distance.”
“Because you were on life support? Like only a few hours ago?”
Leo scowled. “Don’t do that. This is only happening because I’m hurt.”
Heat climbed in my belly as I chewed the inside of my cheek; I liked this, and I didn’t hate that I liked it. I was sure he’d regretted it before that moment between us, so what changed?
He leaned back, his hand trailing from my hair and down to my wrist as he closed his eyes. His thumb rubbed against my skin, and his brows pinched together before his eyes widened again.
“Your scar,” he whispered. “Why is it gone?”
“I asked the healers to remove it after they were done with you.” I hadn’t expected the admittance to be embarassing. “It… didn’t seem fair anymore. I know it bothered you.”
Leo turned on his side, twirling a lock of my hair around his finger before giving it a gentle tug. I leaned forward, and he took the opportunity to cup my face in his palms.
“I need to be extremely clear about something,” he said, entirely too serious.
I nodded, and my heart started to race.
“I was ready to die on the field today. People always say that stuff puts things into perspective, but I thought it was a bunch of crap. It’s not.
” His jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth.
“I stay away from people because I’m afraid of losing control.
You are someone I’m not willing to gamble with—but I didn’t hurt you.
I’m alive because you were there, because you calmed me down. ”
What is he saying? What’s happening?
“You reached out to me,” my voice was hoarse. “I couldn’t walk away.”
Leo nodded. “Exactly. I’m not letting you walk away either. Give me…” he let out a long breath. “Give me time. I want to control myself more. I want to do better.”
You already are, idiot.
I pursed my lips. “And then?”
His thumb rubbed my cheek as his eyes went soft. “Then… I want to talk. About everything. After that, the ball is in your court.”