Test The Limits

Almost

The night was long and irritating for Mark since nurses would constantly come into his room and check up on him, occasionally telling him to swallow whatever medicine they offered him to fill his still throbbing head. The steady beeping emanating from the heart monitor hooked up to him didn't help either.

He knew they were just trying to help, but he would've preferred if he was back at the hotel with Amy and his friends playing video games.

Eventually he gave up on trying to sleep as once again a nurse silently entered the room, only this time it was to check his vitals much to his relief before she quickly left again.

Visiting hours didn't start until five in the morning, so that meant he had to keep himself entertained until then. He fumbled around in the dark to find his glasses and phone, succeeding in only finding his glasses on the bedside table. He slid them on his face and continued his search until he accidentally bumped something glass, causing his hand to freeze. A loud shrieking sound replaced the steady beeping from the heart monitor, startling him further.

The door abruptly swung open with a bang as a doctor burst into the room with a cluster of nurses following close behind. Someone flicked on the lights, causing Mark to wince as the bright white light blinded him momentarily.

"False alarm." The doctor sighed in relief once he checked the wires connected to Mark. A couple of wires had gotten disconnected during his search for his phone and glasses, which was why the heart monitor was shrieking. It thought his heart had stopped.

"Sorry." Mark apologized meekly as the nurses shuffled out. The doctor didn't say a word, instead he silently handed Mark his phone from off of the bedside table before shutting the lights off and closing the door behind him.

Mark's head flopped back on the pillow as he activated his phone. He felt a lump form in his throat when he saw the lock screen image. It was a picture of him, Ethan, Tyler, Bob, Wade, Chica, and Amy during one of the times Bob and Wade came over to visit. He missed his friends greatly, almost as much as he missed making videos.

Almost.

Mark jumped in surprise as once again the door flung open and the lights flashed on, Amy bursting in and hugging Mark tightly as if worried that if she let go he would disappear.

"Hey babe." Mark whispered in her ear, briefly kissing her on the cheek as he hugged her back.

"She was worried about you all night." Marzia smirked.

"N-No I wasn't!" Amy's face blushed a bright red.

"Dude, you kept talking about Mark all night so I made a tally. You mentioned you were worried about him twenty three times." Signe snorted in amusement.

"Only twenty-three times?" Mark teased her.

Mark laughed as Amy stayed silent, her face burning brighter as she wiggled out of Mark's embrace and shuffled to the back of the room to try and avoid further embarrassment.

"You survive the night?" Anti chimed in.

"Somewhat." Mark shrugged.

"Yeah, hospitals are like that. I've been in my fair share of them, even before I became a doctor." Anti's gaze grew distant.

"Probably because you kept trying to do stupid stuff." Dark nudged him.

"You did too!" Anti nudged him back, sticking his tongue out at him.

"Since he seemed stable overnight, he can compete today." The doctor added from in the back.

"Good, I was worried I wouldn't get to beat you in the finals." Felix joked.

"I need to see how I do first." Mark chuckled.

"You'll do the best you can. I know you, your best will get you in the finals." Jack encouraged him.

His friends went back to the waiting room as the doctor gave him one last checkup and a bottle of pills to dull the now minor pain in his head, giving him clothes to change into that Amy brought. He was glad to change out of the thin white hospital gown and button up his favorite red and black flannel and pull on a pair of jeans.

When he walked back out to meet his friends, he received another hug from Amy before they all walked back to Dark's car and drove to the rink where the competition was being held. They ran into their coaches at the entrance, Mark and Amy'a coach looking ready to cry in relief but instead smiled broadly.

"I couldn't get a hold of you two, I was worried something happened." Smith admitted.

Mark and Amy exchanged glances, tempted to tell her that they just came back from the hospital. They decided against it so they didn't worry her as they were led to their warm up room.

"Glad to see you two in one piece." Murphy's eyes gleamed as he hugged the two.

"This way." Taylor roughly led Marzia and Felix to their room.

"Break a leg!" Dark yelled after them before walking with Anti to their coach.

Half an hour later, the four groups were dressed in their uniforms and waiting to be called into the rink in their rooms. Thankfully each room had a tv that showed what happened on the rink.

Amy and Mark were the first team to go.

It's just like a panel, it's just like a panel, Mark changed in his head.

Except there's judges.

He shook his head to ignore the last thought as he heard the announcer introduce him and Amy as the skating duet from America. He took a deep breath before he gripped Amy's hand and skated onto the rink with her.

For a brief moment he felt all of his fear dissipate as he looked into Amy's eyes.

The moment didn't last long.

Before he could comprehend what was happening, a loud of black smoke blanketed the rink. Mark thought something was burning, but didn't see any fire. Instinctively he gripped Amy's hand tighter and tried to look through the smoke to find a way out.

Screams filled the air as people rushed out of the exits.

Mark felt his hand torn from Amy's by someone or thing, and the smoke was making it hard to breathe.

"Amy!" He yelled despite the fact that his lungs hurt from breathing in the smoke.

"Amy!" He coughed as he called her name again, hearing no response as he died to look for her.

"Hello again." He heard a voice whisper beside him before he felt the sting of a needle piercing his skin, injecting something into his blood. Suddenly he felt as if he hadn't slept in weeks, his eyes drooping despite his attempts to stay awake. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was Amy screaming his name as the black smoke began to clear up.