Dante had been observing the peeling patterns of the grey wall, trying to ignore the continuous beeping of Nate's heartbeat monitor. There were white curtains surrounding them, but he could still hear the heartbeat monitor of Lucius, who laid unconscious on another bed. As for himself, he had been treated for the wounds across his face, but there were no serious injuries. With bandages across his cheekbone and his jawline, he stayed motionless, his mind lost within endless thoughts that were driving him towards insanity.
That was the second time he was staring at Nate laying in a hospital bed, unconscious. The swelling around his eye has decreased and he was mostly asleep from the liquor he had drank before the beating received from Blue. Regardless, it had still been harsh on his head, and Dante blame himself that he was again unable to protect him.
But more importantly, that he hadn't been able to protect Raphael.
He had stopped carrying his pistol with him since he tried to be a better person and not impulsively shoot anyone that bothered him, but that proved to a terrible idea since he hadn't been able to defend himself from Blue. He used to be able to predict these random misfortunes, but ever since he had been trying to change, he had been slacking; he was getting too weak.
"I'm thirsty." Dante's eyes quickly shifted to Nate, who profusely blinked before settling his eye on Dante. He felt groggy, his pounding headache not any help since it was a mixture from getting hit too many times and a hangover. "I'm really thirsty."
Dante smiled weakly, trying to erase the sorrow from his gaze as he leaned towards Nate. "Sarah should be back any minute, I'll ask her for some water." When Nate slowly nodded his head and closed his eye again, Dante cleared his throat. "How are you feeling?"
"Like killing that bastard," he murmured sternly, his mind playing different ways he would murder Blue next time they crossed paths. "He ambushed us." Dante slowly nodded his head but kept his silence. At the moment, he wasn't sure what to say to be comforting to Nate. His entire mind was wrapped around Raphael and Lucius that he didn't have the energy and instead, he kept his lips closed in a thin line.
Nate noticed the gloom surrounding Dante's eyes as he diverted his gaze, as if he had something on his mind. He shuffled in the bed, twisting to face Dante and asked, "What happened after I fainted?"
That was not what Dante wanted to talk about; he still hadn't been able to digest Raphael's death and he didn't want to think about Lucius, who was anticipated to wake any moment, which they had all been dreading since no one knew how he would be. Lucius was also the strongest in their group, the only person truly able to stop him being Draco; they were not ready for the raucous that would happen.
Dante paused for a moment before clearing his throat. "Let's talk about it later. Right now, how about I get you some water? You said you were thirsty, right?"
He was about to push himself to his feet when he saw Nate's gaze become narrowed. "Tell me what happened and I'm not going to ask again." Dante inhaled a sharp breath, eyeing Nate for a moment before finally sighing, agreeing to explain.
He recounted all the details, from the moment they had been ambushed, to being saved by Lucius who fled before freeing them, then Reno and Bronsted making an appearance, explaining that Draco decided to look for them himself and bring them back to the base. They had been rescued, then Reno, Bronsted and Draco went to find Lucius and Raphael.
"Raphael was dead when Draco found them. Lucius was doing CPR and when they pulled him off from Raphael, he was crying so hard that he fainted. He hasn't been up since..."
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The Submissive Assassin (BxB)
Romance''After a few seconds of them staring at one another, Dante finally spoke. But his voice had changed; it was breathless and soft, echoing with a sweetness that Nate could have never imagined existed within him. With the knife left on his palm for Na...
