Lost & Found

Ch.4 - Return

The doctor opening the door to Aoba’s room, everyone walked in following behind. Aoba rested on a standard hospital bed, now wearing a hospital gown. He was asleep, bandages covering his wounds for healing, needles stuck into his skin with a few IVs, providing liquid and necessary ingredients he was lacking. A heart monitor stood on the opposite side, giving off a steady beat. Now that they had a good look at him you could see the dark circles under his eyes, his bruised lips and cheeks. He looked so peaceful compared to how they had found him, it brought relief to their hearts, but only temporary. They knew that this was only the start of a long way to go.

“As you can see, he is stable. His physical wounds are actually rather…minimal. There is evidence of worse wounds, but they’re all old and all healed up by now, just leaving scars. Within a few days of treatment he will regain his appropriate weight.” The doctor explained. She was interrupted by one of the nurses.

“Excuse me doctor, but- holy crap they’re hot-“

“I’ll come out in a moment.” The doctor said as she turned to the group. “You may stay with Aoba. But I do remind you that only until visiting time is over. Now if you excuse me.” The doctor said with a bow as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and leaving the group with Aoba. Mizuki looked down at Aoba shocked. He had to restrict himself from rushing to him and hug him, even though that was all he ever wanted to do after not seeing Aoba for so long.

“Aoba…” Mizuki muttered. The sight of Aoba looking so fragile struck him like shards of glass. It hurt to see Aoba this way. He could only imagine the kind of pain he had gone through. Koujaku, seeing how pale Mizuki had turned, quickly pulled up a chair and had him sit on it. Ren didn’t hesitate to kneel down next to Aoba, gently rubbing his hair and cheek ever so lovingly. Even as Ren did this as delicate as he could, Aoba flinched in his unconscious state, making Ren quickly back away.

“He will be here for a while. Thank goodness, he’s safe and home now.” Clear said. Noiz rubbed the back of his head.

“I’ll need to go back to Germany for a few days. Got to return the private jet, and settle some stuff within the business that needs to be taken care of.” Noiz muttered, his voice being sign enough that he really didn’t want to leave Aoba’s side.

“Take care of your stuff. If anything happens, we’ll call you.” Mink said, receiving a strange glance from Noiz, only to then receive a nod.

“Thanks, Mink.” Noiz said. The group then stopped as they heard whimpering. They turned to see Aoba was the cause of it. He was fidgeting, moving around, his heart rate increasing.

“He’s, having a nightmare?” Ren asked worryingly.

“Wouldn’t be much of a surprise…” Koujaku muttered under his breath, cursing to himself afterwards. Mink looked over to Clear.

“Clear, sing what you were singing earlier.” Mink said. Clear turned to Mink and then back at Aoba.

“The Jellyfish song? Oh! Of course, I used to sing it to Aoba before going to sleep after the whole Oval Tower incident. Before he…you know…” Clear said, his voice lowering in sadness at the end of the sentence. He fixed his composure, and started to sing. His gentle voice echoed across the room, enchanting everyone in it to be swoon by it. As the song went on, Aoba’s fidgeting stopped, until coming to a complete halt, his muscles relaxing to the song. Within his own mind, it was swirling darkness, and with the song echoing across such darkness, the voices within spoke to each other.

“This song. It’s familiar. I remember this song.”

“I remember it too. I like this song.”

“Jellyfish…I remember…the one with crystal eyes…”

…

The group stayed with Aoba until a nurse came to tell them that visitor time was over. As the group headed outside, they all went their separate ways. Noiz went to watch his plane, Mizuki and Koujaku walked together to Mizuki’s tattoo shop, and then Koujaku headed back to his place. Mink accompanied Clear to his house, where he was staying after Scratch had dissolved itself. (Clear had insisted for Mink to stay at his house while he stayed in the island, seeing as he had more than enough space.) Ren went back to his home, the one he had shared with Tae and Aoba. Regardless, it was a sleepless night for all of them. The only thing they could think about was Aoba.

The next morning Mink headed to the hospital first, meeting up with Koujaku and Ren just as the two walked up to the entrance.

“Where’s Clear?” Ren asked.

“He said he wanted to make something for Aoba. He said he would come later once he was done.” Mink explained. “Mizuki?”

“At his shop. He has some appointments to take care of.” Koujaku responded.

“You should continue your work too, Koujaku.” Ren reminded him.

“My schedule is free today anyways.” Koujaku yawned. In the desperate search for Aoba they had to remind each other to not forget about their daily jobs. Koujaku with his hair styling, Mizuki and his tattoo shop, Noiz and his family business. Ren took a job at the Junk Shop, the same one where Aoba worked. Mink worked as a Traditional Craftsman, and becoming rather popular for his work. He had returned to his home in order to expand the search for Aoba, and decided to stay here once more when Aoba was found. The three then proceeded inside, talking to each other calmly. Whether before they wanted to rip each other into pieces, for Aoba’s sake, they had become friendly to each other. One way or another. After gaining permission to visit, the three went up by the elevator all the way to the fourth floor, where Aoba’s room rested just down the hall. But what they found once the elevator doors opened wasn’t what they expected. At the hall, right in front of Aoba’s door, stood the doctor from yesterday, some nurses standing by the side, but hiding behind the walls.

“Aoba, you can’t be standing up yet, please lay back down!” The doctor asked, her soft voice rising in worry as she raised her gloved hands into the air. The doctor was pulled out of the way by one of the nurses as an IV went flying out into the hall, smashing against the wall where the doctor once stood. The doctor pushed the nurses away from her before running into the room.

“What the hell is going on?!” Koujaku asked, the trio hurrying down the hall. The nurses looked up to see them.

“The patient isn’t in visiting condition, please step away-!” The nurse said, but was interrupted by a familiar voice soon enough.

“I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY!” This followed a loud thump and a shriek. The trio hurried by the nurses, despite their insistence, and stepped into the room. There they saw the nurse laying on the floor after being struck and Aoba holding a chair in his hands, as if wanting to keep his distance from the human contact.

“Aoba!” Koujaku called. The bluenette glanced up at the group, to which his eyes widened and only made him back away against the wall behind him.

“That’s not Aoba.” Mink suddenly said. Koujaku and Ren looked at Mink and then back at the young man, their eyes widening slightly as they realized what Mink had meant. The blue haired boy stood with eyes full of fear, his body trembling, yet his eyes much more golden than usual.

“It’s you, Sly Blue.”