War Of Hearts (MeanPlan)

A Wild Game Of Survival

Plan's life as he knew it was falling apart. He didn't manage to hand in his Incantations essay on time, half his friends were laid up in intensive care beds, his limp was taking forever to heal and as if that wasn't enough, just to top it off, his soulmark was burning.

Miraculously, no one had died. After he'd burst through hospital doors hurriedly trying to explain what had gone down without incriminating the wolves, nurses had roused all members of staff and one by one, lycan and vampire alike, the patients were rescued from the bloodshed in the forest. Despite the lack of fatalities, the teachers didn't play dumb like he'd hoped. Plan had been interrogated twice and the entire Academy had been put on lockdown. He'd feigned amnesia, claimed that his injuries had left him with no memory of the attacks. They didn't believe him but, they also had no evidence to prove otherwise. All of those who had made good recoveries, now conscious and talking, had kept their mouths zipped. If no one talked then they had no case and none of the students were willing to take the wrap. Reluctantly, Plan's superiors had let him go both times.

Plan sat beside Earth's bed, accompanied by Perth who was clearly a wolf with a cat's supply of lives. His head was wrapped up in bandages from a particularly nasty war wound but he was still as animated as usual. Plan had joked that his brain must have remained intact because it was the size of a peanut, protected by his thick skull.

"Just you wait til' I get my hands on those cold-blooded bastards," Perth seethed, glaring over at the bedsides of vampires who'd also got caught up in the chaos. "If they want this hospital to be a communal area, then they best be ready for a communal beat down cause I swear to god -"

"Will you shut up?" Plan fired. He already had enough of a headache as it was, the lunar cycle fast approaching. "We'll get them for what they've done alright? But we can't exactly go in there all teeth and fists again can we, it didn't exactly do us any favours last time."

"Well I can't just sit back and watch them all smug and superior. If they hadn't have had us on numbers, we'd have kicked their ass."

"Yeah and we will, but right now that's not the priority." Plan reminded him, eyes falling back upon Earth's sleeping frame. The nurses had placed him in a magically induced coma whilst they fed oxygen back into his bloodstream. From the bruises that formed a gory necklace around his throat, it was obvious that he'd been strangled.

Perth puffed his cheeks out in annoyance before resigning himself to the fact that Plan had a point. He slumped back in his chair, tilting his head to the side to lay fond eyes upon him.

"At least you're alright though," Plan half smiled at his brotherly affection, "dunno where I'd be without your sensible head on my shoulders."

His chosen adjective forced Plan's lips into a pursed line. If only he knew just how reckless he'd been. How he'd been so close to endangering their whole pack. He pulled his sleeve down a little further, wrapped his fingers around the fabric as he hid the mark that stung every time he thought about it.

"Don't mention it, we all make mistakes," he spoke, not completely sure whether he was talking to Perth or himself.

Perth seemed to sense that he was giving himself grief for not having protected them better, for abandoning them during battle. The younger looped a comforting arm around the back of his shoulders as he stared at Earth, soft features exemplified by his slumber. He wasn't the only one, Gong also still bed bound as the nurses worked on his shattered right leg. Gun had gotten away with only a few scratches for his troubles, a better fighter than he ever gave himself credit for.

Plan knew he shouldn't have left them. He couldn't believe that he had done. He'd deserted his comrades on the battlefield to pursue intrigues over a boy he didn't even know. Over a vampire. Having never felt guiltier in his life, he swallowed down his secret along with his shame. Placing a hand atop his on his shoulder, Plan turned to look at his friend, expression serious and eyes determined.