Slugterran Saviours

Chapter 23

He didn't want to walk in and see the Shadow Clan symbol embedded and glowing on the back of his right hand, he didn't want the confirmation that his dreams were true. He didn't want to be reminded of the fated misery and woe in the life of someone with Shadow Clan blood flowing through their veins. He had read the legends, heard the warnings, and the fear of losing the one person he cared about the most increased, untilmit became his only fear.

And his heart shattered when he witnessed his greatest fear come true.

He didn't just lose Allyson Héroe, the great warrior.

He lost a part of himself.

He let out a shaky breath, wiping away a tear from his eye as he continued his task to go to Leo's room. He passed by recovering patients and their families, greeting them as they passed, saying a friendly hello to nurses and doctors, smiling at stoic security slingers and friendly receptionists. But behind every smile held a heavy heart. He hid his dread with the cheerful facade he held up, he concealed his fear with a reassuring beam.

He dreaded seeing Leo lying down in the room unconscious. He dreaded seeing his fearless leader, who took up he responsibility of being the leader after everyone was left shattered during the Lady of the Night's reign beinf helpless, still, on the brink of death, grasping onto threads of strings desperately to stay alive. Just thinking about it made him sick to the stomach, but he forced himself to keep walking, turning left and right through the hallways.

He still greeted everyone he passed.

But when Sam Gray saw him, she averted her eyes and walked away.

Junjie wondered why when she didn't greet him like how she always did when they saw each other. Why her eyes were filled with guilt, and shame. But she walked on without another word, trying desperately not to glance his way. He remembered seeing her in his nightmare too, a faint recollection of dark skin and a mane of brown, curly hair.

But he shrugged it off anyway, trying to avoid himself over thinking as he arrived at the room, looking at the steel numbers on the door of the room: ROOM 131. Just reading the numbers made a feeling of dread build up in his heavy heart, fear creeping up his back of what he would find. He knew he had to go in, to at least, see how he was. It was what he had to do as a friend and teammate. And after that nightmare, he had to find some reassurance.

And just as his hand fell on the doorknob, he heard a voice.

"You've been lying to me. This entire time." A familiar voice cracked, and Junjie's eyes widened as he looked into the room through the window in the door. He gasped as he recognized the dark haired man inside the room, clad in a plain, white shirt and sweatpants.

Eli Shane.

"Everything that's been sprouting from your mouth are lies." He spoke to the still figure who lay unconscious in the hospital bed, his eyes closed, his body unmoving, the only thing indicating he was alive were the minuscule rises in his chest and the heartbeat monitor's constant beep. Junjie's eyes couldn't help but flicker to Leo's right hand, chills running through him as he saw a bandage covering the back of his hand. He desperately hoped it was just a cut from the IV, or something normal, something similar to that, something that didn't include inserting Shadow Clan blood into Leo's bloodstream.

"How we helped save the caverns. How we lost five people to...a slug. How did a slug kill five people? It's lies, all of it." He continued as he sat down on a chair next to him, unable to look at him as tears started to form in his own blue eyes. The bright blue irises started to glisten with tears, the whites of his eyes reddening as his face heated up. He felt his heart break when he saw a family picture lying on Leo's bed beside him, a picture of his parents and then standing on white snow. They were little, and covered in coats and scarves, but the smiles on their faces were so filled with joy, so filled with happiness.