The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 130: By His Side Once More

Her arms were beaten badly and there were new scars that littered her whole body. For the skin that wasn't scarred had varying degrees of serious bruising and she didn't even want to think about the crusted blood that matted down her hair. The cuffs she had on looked painful, digging into the flesh and looked like it was cutting off her blood stream.

With an aggressive swipe, being careful not to cut her, Kija dismantled the wretched thing, tossing it far away without a second glance. The freedom finally allowed Yoon to get to work treating her extensive injuries under the shining light of the moon.

She didn't wake once.

Zeno was crouched beside her, studying her state as keenly as the pretty boy beside him, which was a first. He usually wasn't around when Yoon did his medical treatment, preferring to stay out of the way of his work. This time though, he couldn't help it.

The girl laying on the cold ground was completely still even as Yoon injected her with an anesthetic to ease her pain before shuffling over to Jae-ha.

Half an hour later, she woke up but she wasn't all there. Two minutes later, she was knocked out again.

The youngest began to tell them the state of her injuries so that they all were aware.

Almost her entire upper arm was covered in bandages and her hands were braced so that when she awoke, she wouldn't use them. There was something covering her vision on the left side and they could only assume it was to stop the bleeding from her head.

The scratches on her neck had been cleaned and all traces of dirt had been carefully wiped away while Shin-ah cradled her head.

According to him, she had broken the bones in her knuckles due to recklessly overusing them and it would take some time to heal. He just wanted to make sure it didn't heal improperly which is why he was keeping her sedated for the time being.

But soon enough, he eased her off of it, letting her body rest on its own.

All this time, the blue dragon never left her side. The others came and went, rotating every so often so that they all had a chance to rest, even with how reluctant Hak and Yona were to sleep.

They switched off duties, who was in charge of getting more food, water and supplies every so often.

By the time Jae-ha's shoulder had almost healed, several days had passed and Calista finally woke up.

Wearily blinking open heavy eyelids, she shot up despite every bone in her body shrieking in protest, eyes wild and frantic.

"Shin-ah!!!" She cried out, grey eyes unfocused.

Yona bolted upright and Kija fell on top of Hak, causing the former to squawk as the latter gave him a death glare. But Shin-ah beat them all to the punch.

He hushed her worriedly, bracing her back in an instant to support her weight so she didn't strain herself. His hand found hers automatically and intertwined with her trembling fingers.

Kissing her temple, he murmured, "I'm here."

He knew this would happen. Yoon had warned him. She had gone through so much during the prolonged days down there that she had alienated herself as they had come to know and love her just so that she could survive. She locked it away deep inside, to protect herself.

And only time would tell when she felt safe enough to come back.

Her whimpers made his heart crack and he let her blindly grab at his robe, letting her hold on as tightly as she needed to in order to ground herself. She sobbed into his chest, blubbering incoherent apologies that were gently kissed away.

The tears that flowed down her cheeks were wiped away with a soft thumb as he angled her face towards him.

He didn't know how much time had passed before she finally calmed down. Unfortunately, she fell asleep due to overexerting herself but he couldn't say that he blamed her. He held her close but didn't dare sleep.

Her head in his lap, he stroked her hair softly until the repeated motion slowed down, eventually coming to a stop.

Days passed. The sun came and went only for her to stir once more as nighttime fell.

Shivering in his arms, the unconscious Calista cried day and night until she exhausted herself. Whether it was from the pain of her injuries or the trauma of it all, he didn't know and she was never awake long enough for him to ask.

He never let go of her once.

Hak, Kija and even Yona offered to take his place but he declined, wanting to stay by her side.

The first thing Yoon did every day when he woke up was check on her. He instructed Shin-ah what to look for if she was getting feverish or there were signs of infection, knowing that the distressed blue dragon wanted to help in any way that he could.

He had woken him up more than once out of extreme worry when something looked slightly off but luckily it usually turned out to be nothing.

A grieving silence blanketed their group, shrouding them in a mist they couldn't find their way out of.

The risk was immense. They all knew that, going down there to find her. Hak had kept Yona pressed against his side the entire time to hide her. Jae-ha went off ahead with Shin-ah while Kija and Zeno brought up the rear with Yoon in between them.

But since their group was so large and they were fumbling around like they clearly didn't know what they were doing, they had almost gotten caught more than once. It slowed down their progress while the dragons dealt with them and it wasn't until that last round where they finally found her.

Shin-ah exhaled shakily as he toyed with the bandages on Calista's arm mindlessly while she slept.

He was just glad they weren't too late.

The more shallow cuts had healed, as had the one on her head. Shin-ah had unbuttoned the back of her shirt to assess her wounds in private and luckily, she hadn't sustained too many injuries on the back that had already taken too much of a beating. He was eternally thankful for the gods above that there were not more new scars on her back.

She would have some serious bruising on her ribs for the time being and her hands were still damaged but she would live.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, a tear fell from his eye, landing on her face. He wiped it away, not wanting her to worry when she woke up. Chuckling tearfully as he heard her soft voice filled with concern echoing in his mind, he sniffled, caressing her cheek tenderly.

I'm so glad... I'm so relieved you're okay.

Thank you. For staying alive.