SOLO: The Only Girl(?) In The WorldIt was past midnight. Foramen was senshi-suited back up, arm still throbbing but manageable for what he had planned for the early hours of the morning. Back at his apartment, Sue was sleeping off the beer they'd consumed. Foramen was slightly dismayed to learn that transforming also took the edge of his buzz. A senshi's altered metabolism could also apparently break down alcohol faster, not just speed up the healing of Foramen's broken arm.
Cool night air rushed past him as he stood atop a residential building across the road from the hospital. It hadn't been hard to break into the hospital's computer system and compare their blueprints to the room number Zac was lying unconscious in. He was now standing opposite the correct wing, and double-checking his count of windows. It wouldn't do to rift himself into the room of a stranger - who might actually be awake and raise the alarm at a 'terrorist' suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Just to be sure, he triple checked the count. Then sent a quick prayer to a god he didn't believe in.
"Here goes," he muttered, golden eyes focused on one tiny window. Thankfully the blinds were open, or Foramen might have been in big trouble. "Foramen Rift, Slice!"
Stepping through the blue-and-black tear in the air before him, Foramen appeared in a small hospital room. His nose wrinkled as it was immediately assaulted by the smell of antiseptic, bleach-based cleaner, and the uncoverable, ever-present scent of death. (It did exist. Foramen was 100% sure of this. Just ask anyone who had to walk through the patient wards of a hospital.) A steady beeping filled the air. Foramen turned to find the source.
A small blue-haired teen lay in a sterile white bed. Crisp white sheets covered him to under his shoulders. A mask was held in place over his face, forcing oxygen into his lungs. An electronic readout hanging to one side of the bed mapped out his respiration and heartbeat.
"Zac," Kirin whispered. He crossed to the other teen's side, hovering by the bed. He didn't dare to turn on a light that the night orderlies might notice, but the open blinds let in a faint glow from the lights of the city outside. A crescent moon hung in the sky. As much as Foramen didn't like the fabled Moon Princess, he thought it was a good sign.
"Only for you," Foramen sighed as he turned his full attention to Zac, "would I actually part with any of these." From the starry folds of his not-quite-a-skirt he withdrew the handful of starseeds that Moonstone had dropped earlier in the afternoon. Foramen had never actually tried to return a starseed before, so he wasn't sure what the usual procedure was. None of them were reacting in any way to being in the presence of the blue-haired teen. Resting them on Zac's chest above his heart didn't give any response either.
Cursing under his breath, Foramen pulled back the sheet to Zac's waist. He was still covered by a hospital gown. Foramen wasn't sure he wanted to touch that, so he steeled himself and reached out to press a hand to Zac's chest. A huff of breath escaped as Kirin felt the solid muscle and bone there. He gave a shaky laugh. All of that for nothing. Zac wasn't missing a starseed after all.
"If they'd only let me in earlier to confirm that," he sighed, pulling the sheet back up into place. He sat on the edge of the thin hospital bed. "It would have saved a lot of trouble and worry. Not that I'm not still worried," he told the comatose Zac.
For a few minutes, Foramen sat in silence, staring at the star-sprinkled sky outside. Nothing but himself, Zac and the night sky. It felt like they could be the only people in the world right now.
But eventually, he couldn't stand the beeping and the hospital smell any longer. "Hurry and wake up, would you?" he asked, a fondness in his tone and smile that were never present when anyone could see or hear them. "There are things I need to tell you, that you should know, if we're going to... And I want us to. I need to tell you that. Among other things."
He stood. A vase of flowers sat on the nightstand next to the bed. Foramen retrieved another item from his skirt (which might have actually been his portal to subspace). A strangely-coloured carnation was placed among a gift from someone else.
Foramen didn't dare risk disturbing Zac's mask. Bending low over the teen in the bed, he pressed his lips to Zac's cheekbone, a fleeting whisper of a touch. "Wake up," he again encouraged Zac. "Things will be better, I promise."
It was a promise that would hold true for Zac, if not for Foramen. For when Kirin returned the next day to hear Zac was awake, it was also to learn that Zac's blond roommate was now also Zac's boyfriend. Kirin never made his presence known that day. Stone-faced, he turned and walked out of the hospital. He would not call Zac, or indeed see him again for nearly a year.
Reply
