Keeper of the Lost Cities: Rebuild [COMPLETED]

Chapter Forty-Four - STINA

Eventually she summoned the courage to step by his side. "Uh... hi." Her voice warbled, but he wasn't awake to hear it, so she wasn't embarrassed. Instead, she felt panic, like she was on a timetable and once she left, she wouldn't be able to see him, and if she couldn't see him he'd somehow take a turn for the worse—

Breathe, she reminded herself, clenching the sheet and counting her inhales.

"Just so you know, this is not my fault."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

His eyelids stayed closed, and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ugh, can you just wake up so I'm not talking to myself like some psycho?"

"Good to know... you're more concerned about your reputation than me," he grunted, stirring.

She jumped. "Good grief, Fitzroy, were you awake the whole time?!"

He opened his eyes slowly, which was when she noticed the bags under them. "Maybe? I... feel like I have no energy. What... what happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"Kind of?" He moved to rub his head, then hissed. "I... got shot, didn't I? Is Elwin here?"

"No. It takes a long time to get to the Lost Cities from the site—something about bureaucracy, Belisia said? I guess there's another reinstatement site that you leap to from here, then they log you in so they know who's going from here to there, then you have to wait, then you can go and get who you need, but then you have to go back and log in again. Besides, even if I had just leaped home, it would've taken too long to hail Elwin or Livvy, and... you were kind of bleeding out."

"At least I know human medicine isn't all bad—Sophie told me some horror stories."

"Oh. Yeah." Stina felt childish, but she couldn't help bristling at the mention of the Moonlark's name. She'd grown to respect Sophie as a leader and even as a person, but all those years of her mom constantly telling her to "be like Sophie Foster" hadn't exactly trained her for adoration—which was something she sometimes felt everyone in the universe had for Sophie, except for her.

"Where's Maruca?" asked Fitz.

Why does it matter? Stina wanted to snap, but that would officially bring her down to foal maturity-level. "She went to Everfalls, because of the painting and everything."

"Right. That makes sense."

"Are you disappointed?" Stina blurted, before she could get over herself. Why was she being so ridiculous?

"Disappointed? I don't know what you mean."

"You know... that I'm here, and she's not."

He squinted his teal eyes at her, which she couldn't seem to look away from. "Where is this coming from?"

"I don't know." A pause. "Okay, well, I do, and it's going to sound really stupid and I would be fine if you forgot about it or ignored it or whatever. But, um... Well, see, the thing is..." Ugh, grow UP, Stina! "The thing is," she repeated, a little louder, "I like you. Or—no—I think you're hot. Cute. Not hot. That's... weird. And not cute like you're-a-three-year-old kind of cute, but handsome. In a romantic way. Except it doesn't have to be romantic, because I can totally unfeel these... feelings. And... Ugh, that was humiliating."

He cough-laughed, grimaced, and settled with a smile. "That... was not what I was expecting."

"Okay, say no more!" she shouted, holding up her hands. "I don't really want to talk about this any further! Besides, Dr. Wrinkles-A-Lot said you need to rest, so I should probably let you do that."