final round - lrh

sixty-three.

"You know, even though you kicked my ass today... I really don't want you to leave."

    Declan chuckles, looking up from his bag as Ashton, Luke, and I remain in his room, ready to send him off as no one is ready to say goodbye. Calum had said goodbye to him already, choosing to run late-night trainings so we could all say our proper goodbyes to Declan.

    "Had to go out with a bang," Declan says with a shrug of his shoulders as he tosses everything into the bag, seeming just as pain-ridden to do so.

    "Yeah, I'm going to miss having you around here, mate," Ashton says as he sits on his bed.

    "Just make it out of the final round alive and I'll be annoying all your asses before you know it," Declan says cheerfully, probably trying not to focus on our reality as it's hard to process and not something to take lightly.

    We're literally about to be thrown in a situation where people are purposefully trying to kill us. I'm sure he'd like to believe that we'll all make it out alive but he's probably secretly being realistic with himself and recognizing the fact that it's probably not that likely that we'll all make it out.

    "What are we going to do with our lives once we're out of here?" I ask, knowing that this is the final war and that once it's over, we'll have no choice but to go on with our lives. Declan won't be going out and I won't be going out with him. Instead, we'll all be forced to go about normal lifestyles and attempt to forget the hell that war put us all through.

    "Resort to therapy," Ashton says, his tone somewhat joking somewhat serious.

    I don't doubt we will all need therapy after this.

    "I'll finally beat up Hemmings for dating my little sister," Declan says, grabbing his bag and going to pick it up.

    Luke, however, is quick to step in, offering to grab it for him as Declan doesn't fight it, letting Luke carry the bag as he snickers at his words.

    "You wouldn't even get a punch in, James," Luke says, propping the bag on his shoulder as Declan seems to look around as if ensuring that he has everything.

    He has a flight out and I know the plane is here waiting for him. We've definitely taken our time in here, no one wanting to say goodbye to Declan just yet as our time with him has been short-lived. Even though it was only for a week, I wouldn't trade that week for the world. I hadn't realized how desperately I needed this week to motivate me for the rest of my time here.

    "I wouldn't be so sure," Declan challenges. "Having one arm has its perks. Now all my time and attention is focused on this one and strengthening it whereas you have two arms to distribute the work towards."

    "Whatever you say."

    I laugh to myself at their conversation, appreciating their friendship as it certainly makes things easy for me. On top of that, I see it being really easy for us if Luke, Ashton, and I make it out of here. The four of us can all be together, in a normal reality, and live the life we were all meant to live together.

    "Lieutenant Hemmings, our pilot is ready to leave. Please send over the visitor in the next five minutes."

We all acknowledge the voice coming in through Luke's radio which encourages us to speed up our goodbye with Declan. I wish more than anything that I could turn it off and have us all pretend like we never heard it but I don't see Luke allowing that to happen.

"Tell that guy to kiss my ass," Declan doesn't hesitate to say, seeming just as displeased by him trying to rush our goodbye as I am.

I snort.