How to Catch a Fish (ManxMan)

Chapter Twenty-eight: Road to Recovery

~Chapter Twenty-eight: Road to Recovery~

"You're an idiot," I rasp past the dryness in my throat. I am not sure how long I have been unconscious, but it feels like it has been at least a year with how much it hurts to talk.

My statement is met with silence, and it goes on long enough for me to attempt to open my eyes. This only results in me being temporarily blinded by the room's bright lights, though, and I cringe into the pillow. When cold hands brush over my face, I startle, but they are unrelenting, brushing over my eyes, my lips, my cheeks.

Realizing who it is and why he did not respond or react faster, I dryly - in more ways than one - comment, "Didn't know fire demons could freeze people."

"Fire demons can do whatever they want so long as they stay alive," Nero retorts, and then the hands disappear to be soon replaced with something colder and harder pressed against my lips. "Drink this."

The water does not soothe my dry throat right away - in fact, it hurts more going down at first - but it eventually works its magic, and I know longer feel like I fell asleep in a desert...again. I do not know about this realm's deserts, but Yabrogathian deserts suck, and falling asleep in one is definitely up there on my list of things to never repeat.

Far the glass is moved away and there is a hand once again brushing against the side of my face, I slyly ask, "Whatever I want?"

There is a telling pause before Nero corrects what he said with, "Anything within reason, that is."

Humming noncommittally hurts, but it is also worth it since it makes me feel a little more like myself. Simply having a casual conversation after being trapped for what felt like ages in an empty room with only my own husk to talk to is nice, and it makes this feel more like reality. There is still a hint of a lack of reality, but I have a feeling that doubt of what is real will not completely go away until I can see again. In the meantime, though, talking with Nero is nice.

"You died," Nero says after a moment, and I fail to hide my wince. I mean, I suspected as much, but to hear that... "Three times."

"That really something to say to someone on their deathbed?" I ask, my voice still raspy enough that it actually does sound like I could still be dying. Thankfully, though, I can sense the state my body is in - even with what I would assume to be copious amounts of painkillers in my system; I can definitely feel those - and I know that, no matter how bad I sound or feel, I am on the mend.

I also probably would not have woken up just to die again.

Completely ignoring my question, he says, "Never do that to me again."

"I believe once-er, thrice is enough, don't you think?" I agree, grimacing slightly. I can only imagine what he went through with all of this. While I might have been the one to die, he had to be the one to watch, and I doubt I would have been handling it as well as he seems to be if our roles were reversed.

"Even once was too many," Nero replies, as one of his hands brushes over my hand. "While I appreciate what you did, as does the rest of the kingdom that is still alive and thriving because of you, I refuse to be widowed before I am even married."

What starts as a snort turns into a tired huff since I cannot gather enough energy for laughter, even as short as a snort, just yet. As if sensing my exhaustion - or maybe he can see it - Nero brushes a hand over my eyes again and says, "Go to sleep. I'll still be here when you wake up again."

"If I wake up," I mumble, because I just came out of a coma. Who is to say that I might not return?

Apparently, Nero is, though, because he just repeats, "When you wake up."