Key To My Heart || Slugterra

53| Aftermath

"Is your back really fine?" Trixie asked.

"Don't worry about me," I said as I walked down the underground hallway with Mia and Trixie. Strange perched on my shoulder, gleaming as she tried her best to seal up the wounds on my back.

"How many men have we lost?" I asked them.

"Guess," Trixie said with a wobbly eyebrow. She has been very hyper every since we won the battle, and I can completely understand.

"I do hope the answer is none," I chuckled at them.

"Correct!" Mia exclaimed and I widened my eyes in disbelief. "For now, we haven't loss any men, but we lost a lot of slugs. A lot of our more inexperienced slingers just fired their slugs at lavas and monsters to defend themselves, and that resulted in the slugs being killed, sacrificing themselves for their slingers, even though they've known each other for only three weeks."

I nodded softly.

Slugs are truly selfless, and I love them more because of that.

"Where's Tad and Junjie?" I asked, recalling the fact that they did not come into the citadel with the rest of the group during the war. Eli was sent to the medical room the second he stepped foot into the underground hideout, receiving the medical services he needs with Pronto and Kord by his side, answering his questions.

After the Elementals saved Slugterra, the Shadow Clan and the other creatures left us and retrieved to their own habitats. We then led the people back to the underground hideout. There were tears of joy when the soldiers were reunited with their families, after knowing that their loved ones were safe and we won. Everyone then started packing their stuff, ready to get out of hiding and start over with their new lives.

"Tad is in the slug's healing room with Pieper. She's healing fast," Mia smiled at me, but it soon vanished. "Junjie is with Master Lian. I don't know if she would make it."

Trixie gulped knowingly, and I could feel my chest tightened.

The massive doors of the hideout of Bonnie Spring Cavern creaked open. Before us there were rows of wards, each ward was occupied with an injured soldier. Between two rows of wards was a path, where doctors and nurses could be seen walking around hurriedly to attend to as many patients as possible.

The three of us ventured deeper into the room, greeting and comforting the patients on the way before we reached Master Lian's ward.

Mia pulled away the white curtain that was separating the ward, and my heart sunk to the floor at the sight. On the hospital bed, Master Lian laid there, her body covered from head to toe with a piece of white cloth.

Mia and Trixie gasped lightly beside me. I stood there frozen. I didn't know what to do. Tears threatened to fall, and there was no holding back.

Junjie was staring down at his master with his back facing us. I looked up at him as he slowly turned his body around to look at us. Our eyes met, and even though there were no tears, they were the saddest pair of eyes I had ever seen in my entire life.

I wiped away my tears before I took a step forward, and crashed him into a tight hug. He didn't waste another second to hug me back, burying his face in the crook of my neck. I could feel his warm tears forming against my skin, and that triggered more tears to roll down my cheeks.

Junjie helped me conquered my feelings during the painful three weeks of preparation, and we had developed quite a strong bond.

He is like an older brother I didn't know I need, and seeing him in this state was just heartbreaking.