Chapter Twelve

Hospitals and Memories

Irene Albion

Medina lay still on the hospital bed, breathing weakly into his oxygen mask. Helen and Yudai sat next to his bed, holding his hands. I sat awkwardly on my own bed, covered in bandages and scars. Archie however, stood at the door, leaning against the wood as she looked at the floor, the sight of a broken Medina too much to bear.

Yudai was crying and sobbing tears as he worried for his friend. I watched wistfully as I nervously played with my bandages.

"He won't disappear right?"

Archie stood frozen in shock, her eyes glossy as her lips shook. After being brought to the Grim Hospital, I crawled out of my bed and shook at Medina's arm, leaving my bed cold and empty. I weeped remembering why Medina's heart was impaled, why Medina sacrificed himself for a low life like myself.

"Like you said your soul gets hurt not your body, so it can heal just as fast right? Right?"

I was begging for some closure, for some miracle to happen. If there was a God I began praying, my heart and soul shivered in response to all my pleas. I clasped my hands together, knuckles turning white as I begged on my knees. Please let Medina survive.

Please.

Archie simply averted her gaze. My breath was uneven as I began to shake, Archie caught me as I fell to my knees.

"Please tell me he's going to be okay."

Archie couldn't do anything, she couldn't do anything but hold me as I wept into her shirt, blemishing it with tears and snot. I was dressed in a hospital gown and was knocked out for the better of a few hours. After we were rescued by a neighbouring Squad on duty we were rushed to the hospital. I must have been unconscious for all I remembered was my kicking and begging for me to get to Medina.

I held onto Archie, cleaning my soul of sadness as I pitied myself and dug myself a larger hole in my heart. I kept crying and Archie kept holding me.

"I don't know." Said Archie, fighting to stay strong.

Yudai wailed as Helen rubbed at his back, I couldn't imagine what they were going through. Especially since Yudai tried and failed to use his Relic to reverse the damage to his heart. I'd only known Medina for two weeks, they'd known him for longer, more than a few decades, centuries even.

Archie walked me back to my bed and took a seat by me. Yudai's eyes met my own and my heart nearly broke. His eyes were puffy from crying, his hair was down, grey hair peppered with black as strands fell around his face. Freckles adorned his pale skin, and in my sadness, I counted them, all forty-four of them. But in his eyes held true and utter anguish, in them replayed stories of the two. I'd always noticed how Medina told stories to Yudai and how Yudai would listen intently. I noticed the kind gestures they'd throw at one another, noticed Yudai's fascination with Medina and how Medina taught Yudai all there was to know about the world.

They were like a true family.

It's crazy what you remember when someone dies.

I slapped the thoughts of my grandfather away, tired of hearing his voice in my head. I thought of my own memories with Medina, the times we'd shared.

"You're the worst I'd ever trained."

"Gee, thanks for the encouraging words."

He sighed as he helped me back up once more, it was evening and the orange sky began to darken into bruised purples and pinks. Medina offered me a glass of clear water and I chugged it down in a single gulp landing me in a coughing fit.

"Calm down. Here, let's take a break."

Earlier today we'd received that we'd have a mission for tomorrow, to exterminate ghouls. My blood was brimming with excitement as well as anxiety. I still hadn't figured out how to summon my Aether Relic's power and time was running out.

"Do you think tomorrow will go well?"

"Well, Blythe has never given us something we couldn't handle."

"You're quite fond of the librarian," I said as Medina choked on his water, "Don't lie, I see the way you look at her."

He shook his head, "That obvious?"

I nodded rolling my eyes lightly, "That obvious."

I laughed at myself in the hospital room, earning stares from everyone as if I wasn't so stupidly aware of what was happening. My laughs turned into coughs, coughs into sobs, and I was crying all over again.

"What's that you got there?"

"Oh this," Medina looked up from the book he was reading, "It's a fantasy book from your realm."

"Oh let me see." I snatched the book as I plopped myself down next to him. One look and I could see the language was different, written in its different alphabet. "You can read this?"

He shook his head before explaining, "It's in Farsi or as you call it, Persian. You see I lived in the time when the Persian Empire still existed, back then we were called the Hashishin meaning assassins. Back where I lived, there was this corner store where they sold knowledge on these flimsy papers. They had the best stories and I'd rent one every week. The lady was so nice too but I was getting sidetracked, there was this little girl who I always would recite the stories to. She was illiterate and was just orphaned. We called her Zahra."

"Zahra sounds beautiful, it sounded like you enjoyed yourself."

Medina pursed his lips and shook his head, using his hands to emphasize his story, "Not really, the times were difficult and money was scarce. Hunger was on the rise and that's how I found myself in this line of work. Not that I'm proud of it."

I nodded as I started assembling the mental picture. "Tell me more."

"Well, I guess the most beautiful thing about the time was the dreams we shared. One wanted to work as an engineer, one wanted to serve the royal family, one wanted to study the stars."

"And what was your dream?"

"To save someone. Anyone."

I don't know why that memory stuck with me most, but it replayed itself over and over again until it was all I could hear. I was so distracted that I didn't hear Blythe's heavy footsteps rush inside the room, out of breath as she looked around alarmed.

"Where is he?"

She was panting as she cried out once more.

"Where is my fiance?"

She rushed to Medina's side, who was still stuck on life support. She ran a chubby hand over his face and held onto his hand. Her hair was slicked back into a ponytail revealing a distressed face. Her bangs were slapped onto her forehead with sweat. Tears welled up in her eyes as she held him and sat at his bedside.

The monitor continued its incessant beeping, showing us his heart still beat. But with every second came a weaker drum, a weaker breath, a weaker fight for life.

Blythe fell to the floor as she rushed to Archie on her knees, and placed her hands on her legs as she wept, "Please tell me he's going to be okay."

Archie's face turned, despair taking over as she swore beneath her breath, promising vengeance upon the White Ravens. "They won't live once I'm done with them. They will pay."

Archie's eyes were solid with revenge as if it were the only promise she knew, her voice stern and silent with anger. She held Blythe's hand as Blythe folded over and screamed. Although muffled her voice tore through my soul and I could feel her dread, her diminishing hope, and bountiful love. Love for a man so righteous and brave. So brave he landed in the hospital with a knife through his lungs. At this moment her cries punctured everyone's lungs, hitching our breaths as if we'd all been stabbed with guilt.

Then the machine began beeping, and beeping until it didn't.

Doctors rushed in, Blythe was kicking to get closer to her partner, get closer to the man she loved. Medics rushed in and found the machine in a loud frenzy. It scared us all as we took a step back to watch the events unfold. Blythe yelled, Archie cursed, and I grieved as we all wished Medina's body to move. To see his chest rise once more.

But his chest sank and the alarm blared.

Medina had Passed.