BatIM Steps of the Survivor

Chapter Twenty-Four

Boris gently hugged himself in the hospital room, sat in a stiff chair with his ears flat against his skull. Even after the long periods of loneliness in the studio, there had never been such a crushingly hollow pang of solitude in his chest during all he could remember of his life. Even despite the fact that he was objectively not alone, Susie's hand petting his head and the sight of Jade in the hospital bed being proof of that. It felt almost... wrong to accept affection from someone his best friend made her distaste clear on, but... everything in this world was wrong... and he desperately needed that support in this moment.

The steady beeping of the heart monitor and slight sounds of the ventilator were the only things in the otherwise silence that provided stability to his world, the things ensuring that, at least for now, Jade still lived.

The memories flashed through his mind again, the fire department declaring that it was too dangerous to go inside, realizing that Jade still hadn't come out, and channeling every single ounce of any semblance of courage he had to rush inside, dodging the flames as best he could, and finding Jade collapsed in the lobby, already deathly unconscious...

Carrying her wasn't easy, as she was heavier than she looked thanks to the muscle she'd gained, but perhaps it was thanks in part to his own training that he was able to pull it off. He hadn't much cared about who had seen him, only about getting Jade to safety, getting her help. And now... they were here. The grim truth bestowed upon them, that Jade would potentially die.

Seeing her so fragile compared to how she was supposed to be... it was one of the biggest wrongs that had ever come to his vision. That hadn't changed from seeing her crumpled on the floor until now. She had always been so strong and brave, the rock in his life that helped him navigate the big and scary world that proved every day that there was so much that he had just never known. But it seemed not even that cared about what the wolf thought was right and wrong; he was just an intruder to the old ways that had lasted for millenia, beginning long before his existence, set to last generations and generations after he would be forgotten by time itself.

Vaguely, somewhere in his mind, he realized he had to tell the rest of the rebellion. This was all trouble, and if their leader died... well... the movement may as well be over. No one else seemed to have the natural ability to just guide the way Jade did, nor the ability to look into how to do things most effectively, nor the ability to try and work with Inky's inability to see and figure out how to help him to fight without the weapons the rest of the group was using, as well as the fact that he was a demon with already dangerous claws and the willingness and insistence that they should just kill Joey and be done with it. Jade never had a killing bone in her body, and neither did Boris, so to the wolf, her stubbornness to just stick with the plan and make Joey surrender despite those telling her that this idea was a bad one was admirable. If not slightly dumb, and at least according to Inky, very dumb.

Now he missed hearing her voice dearly. It always helped to reassure him when he felt lost or scared. He felt both of those things now, almost as strongly as back when he'd first escaped Alice's clutches, but no comfort seemed to truly come, other than the mostly silent vigil he and Susie shared. For all the feelings Boris had on Jade's mother, he had no words to write to her. Especially if he wanted anything he said to be good.

Eventually though, late evening and night time came upon them like a smothering blanket, swallowing their awake alertness like a black hole swallows light itself. It was Boris's turn to keep awake until the late hours though, it seemed, as no matter how he willed himself, no matter how he tried to muster the bravery to close his eyes with the uncertainty of his best friend's condition, he could not. The ceasing of steady, comforting affection did not help, as Susie had ended up going to sleep earlier than him.