Infinity♾️

33🤎

Rue

On the fifteen minutes it takes to get to the hospital I've played every single scenario in my head of how this will play out. My favorite one has to be me getting to the hospital to find out this is all some sick joke. That Joe and Simon thought it'd be funny to scare me and they somehow got my girlfriend in on it. That can be the only explanation for all of this right?

Everything in my life seems so futile right now, the only thing I want to do is get to my brother and tell him everything's going to be alright.

Everything is moving in slow motion and I don't really know how to find out where he is or how to get to him. I find a desk with a perky woman sitting behind it.

"Hi, how can I help you?" She smiles as if everything is okay right now. My brother is somewhere in this building fighting for his life and she's smiling.

"Simon, Simon Sutton." I get out. "I'm here for my brother Simon Sutton, he was in an accident."

She does something on her mouse and keyboard. "He's in the ICU on the fourth floor in room 415. I just need you to sign in." She hands me a clipboard.

I snatch the board from her hand and scribble down my name, the time I got here, and my signature. And almost throw it back at her before leaving to find where my brother is. Before I make it to the elevator Kathleen finds me. She doesn't say a word, she just grabs my hand and leads me to Simon.

I'm relieved when I get to his room. It's almost instantly taken away when I see him. He's connected to at least twenty different machines and he's banged up pretty bad.

"Si, I'm here. It's Rue, I'm here big brother." I half smile. Tears start to fall, the more I try to hold them back they just keep coming. "What happened?" I ask without looking up from my brother. I grab his hand and rub his head.

"We were ATV riding and he hit something, either a log or a big rock I don't quite know. He flew up in the air outrageously high while still on the bike, he came down and the bike fell right on top of him. The doctor should be in here soon to give us more updates." She paces.

I knew those bikes were a bad idea. Everyone wanted to ride them though. Why couldn't it have rained today? Why didn't I try harder to keep them off of those death traps?

"I called your parents, they're flying down as we speak." She places her hands into the pockets of her pants.

It seems like hours went by, in reality, it had only been forty minutes before the doctor came in. "Hello, I'm Doctor Hamilton, Simons doctor." He shakes out hands.

"I'm his best friend Kathleen and this is his sister Rue. His parents should be here soon."

"Good to hear. Sadly I've come with bad news. Simon is almost virtually brain-dead, which means he has no motor skills and pretty soon his organs will start to fail. It could possibly be fixed with surgery. Sadly because his heart had stopped on the ride over for so long he won't withstand the anesthesia and will likely die on the table. It's a lose-lose situation. We want to know how you all would like to proceed?"

"So you're saying he'll die either way?" I question.

"There's a 95% chance of mortality if he goes under a scalpel and if he doesn't have the surgery his organs will fail, causing him to die."

"You didn't answer my question." I state.

"I can't give you a certain answer about the surgery, I can only tell you what could occur. I'll give you a little time to discuss it with your parents but the longer we wait, the riskier the surgery will be." He says before leaving.

"I'll call your parents, you stay in here with him. Don't worry, everything's going to be alright." Kathleen kisses my forehead.

It's foolish but I believe her, everything will be okay one way or another. Hopefully, they opt for the surgery because he'd have a chance even if it is only 5%, we'd be doing something to get him healthy. I can't lose anyone else I don't know if I can stay on this earth without him.

"You hear that? Everything is going to be alright. Despite what your doctor said, you'll be okay."

♾️

Shuri

"Please, if you allow me to take him I can stabilize him until I get him to my country and I can heal him fully. The doctors here don't have the tools to fix him." I explain to Headmaster Sutton.

It's a bold move right now but I could care less about what anyone has to say. I can't let anyone else close to me die, especially when I can save him. His doctors aren't even trying to save him. They want to try some bullshit ass surgery that won't work or let him die. What course of treatment is that?

"What if the surgery works? It could work." She says.

"Even then he'd be quadriplegic since no one is addressing the issue with his spinal cord, it's broken in four different places. I could bring back a full-functioning Simon." I try to explain to her.

"Are you prepared to tell everyone?" she asks.

"That's the least of my concerns, I want my best friend alive and well."

"Let me talk it over with my husband and I'll call you right back once I have an answer." She says.

"That's fine, but I need an answer fast. The window to treat him is getting narrow by the second."

Rue is a mess, she's trying to keep herself together but she's ripping apart at the seams. All I want to do is comfort her but I need to get him to Wakanda right now.

I get the Okay from the king to bring him back. He's sending the Royal Talon as we speak. Even if they say no I'm going to figure out a way to take him back. That's his only chance of survival.

Only other affair to get in order is to tell Rue.

After I have a conversation with the doctor about transferring him, I go into his room to check on the pair. "What did they say?" Rue pops up.

"They're discussing it, they'll call me back once they've come up with a solution. We need to talk." I mutter.

"What about?" She wipes her face.

"Another course of treatment that I've discussed with your parents." I fiddle with my fingers. I've never been so nervous about something in my life.

"Okay, what is it? Why didn't the doctor come and talk to me?"

"The doctor didn't come up with the plan, I did. If your parents allow me to take him back to my homeland I can fully heal him there."

"W-what are you talking about? What's the difference between this hospital and a few miles from here. What do you mean you can heal him? I don't have time for the bullshit today."

"I'm not bullshitting you. I can heal him in my homeland. Just trust me."

"Your speaking in riddles right now. So tell me what it is exactly that you're talking about or you can leave." Her voice cracks.

I've never seen this Rue, she's in full on distress mode. "Do you trust me Angel?" I grab her hands.

"Of course, just be transparent with me. That's all I'm asking."

I take a deep breath. "I'm the princess of Wakanda, you may not believe me but I'm telling the truth."

"Your lying, I know you want to make me feel better but lying isn't the way to do it." She pulls away from me.

I pull her back toward me. "Angel, I'd never lie to you about something as serious as Simon's life."

She just stands and stares at me, no emotion and no expression. Just a blank stare.