No Place For Me | [boyxboy]

CHAPTER 20

When Rue's eyes opened, he was very happy to see the blinding lights that filled the room.  Rue shut his eyes and pressed his face back into the pillow and took a moment to thank the stars for the second chance. Rue couldn't believe he was alive after the agony that he suffered from the night before.

    From the paralyzing pain Rue felt, to the fevers and then cold sweat, Rue was convinced he wouldn't make it. Rue recalled at one point that he tried to leave the bed to sit in the bath to cool down, but he couldn't move. So seeing day again made him hopeful that maybe he was meant to be here.

              Rue felt around for Roxas' sword, and when he couldn't feel it, he raised his head and saw it on the table beside the bed next to his bow and his glove. Rue froze, he knew right away that someone moved it because he hasn't slept a night without it. When Rue finally realized that the excruciating pain from the night before was gone, his top off and new dressing wrapped around his body. Rue turned around and sat up, and there he was.

              Roxas looked like an angel, in white, kissed by the sun as he stood in front of the window before the bed watching him. At that moment, Rue was convinced he was dead. There was no way Roxas could be back so soon, and Rue never thought he'd witness the day the dark angel wore white. 

           By the time Rue remembered to breathe, his saliva had slipped down the wrong passage, and he coughed uncontrollably until his throat was sore. Embarrassed, Rue thought the dead didn't need to breathe, which meant he was alive, and Roxas was indeed there.

            Roxas said nothing as he finally approached the bed sitting next to him. Seeing Roxas at night could not measure up to this moment where Rue could see his lovely details with clarity. How could a person be this beautiful? Rue thought, trying to calm his nerves. When Rue's heart ignored his brain and started to ache, he looked down at the covers on his lap.

           "How do you feel?" Roxas asked, his voice much softer than the night before.

            "Better," Rue uttered. "I didn't expect you back so soon," Rue replied.

            "Soon?" Roxas asked. "It took two days to travel here. I thought you were dead when I found you. Luckily your heart wasn't poisoned, and the healer was able to save you. You have been resting for many days now."

     Rue could hear as well as feel the uneasiness in Roxas' voice, as he explained.

            "Oh," Rue answered, he felt terrible that Roxas found him in that condition. "I'm sorry."

            Roxas sighed.

              "Why didn't you say anything about your injury?" Roxas asked.

       Rue thought for a moment. When would have been the right time? When Roxas was kicking his ass or when he was lecturing him, or perhaps when he was giving him the cold shoulders.

           "I don't know," Rue replied, looking at him. Roxas sighed again, not satisfied with his response.

             "Who did the poor stitching?" Roxas asked.

          "It wasn't poor until you threw me around like a ragged stuffed animal," Rue thought out loud. Rue was so shocked that the words slip his lips that he covered his mouth with his fist.

              Roxas tilted his head slightly irritated, but instead of responding with anger, he smiled.

         Rue sighed. "Someone I know," Rue replied, knowing if he mentioned being on the other side of the barrier, it would probably anger him more.