Spoiler
Okay, so this chapter answers a few questions and straightens some things out--I hope. I read this one out loud, but that's a problem because some sentence structure still won't make sense to some readers because I know how it's supposed to be read. I tried though! This still leaves a lot of questions, which I was intending. Chapter three answers a lot, but I'm still tweaking that.
The medical sanction of the Hawk, Base 64's only airship nearly the size of a small barge. The medical sanction is small, and only three beds that slide into the walls when not being used are built into it. Medical cabinets lie on the far side of the room from the door under a window and sink, while cabinets in between the three slide out beds on the sides of the room are packed with their own collection of medical objects.
I remember Roger showing me this little room before. He said never had to put someone in here. I remember him saying the most he's come in the medical sanction for is a sedation shot, guaze, several band aids, and disinfectant for cuts. Frankly, I don't feel honored to be the first bed patient.
My neck is braced and my right hand is casted. Roger must've gotten to me while I was asleep, since he is the doctor and Leader of Base 64. I'm wearing gray sweat pants and a large blue sweatshirt instead of the tight guardsuit. Roger must have found the disks then, since I'm in new clothes.
There's no one else in the medical room (it's more of a room than a sanction really) with me, which is a little saddening. But I'm not disappointed for long.
"Z?" It's Jiro, right next to me on my left. This is when I realize that my left eye is bandaged and I've only been looking around through my right.
"Hey Jy." I sound hoarse but relieved.
"Z, I'm sorry." He whispers. I turn my head look him full in the face. Jiro doesn't cry a lot anymore. He used to cry frequently before he Chaged, mostly because he'd get so mad about things. But I can tell he was crying just now. His eyes are slightly pink and his face holds that angry, stoney look.
"Don't be sorry Jiro." I say softly. "Why are you mad?"
"Because I left you. I let them hurt you."
"You didn't mean to." I say a little more loudly. "Jiro, this isn't your fault at all--"
"Z, shut up. It is my fault and you know it. I left you, if I didn't try to be perfect you would have been fine." He snarls. We're arguing now, but not too loudly. We know if we raise our voices too much we'll get unwanted attention.
"Whatever. Think what you want Jiro, I don't care. The bottom line is, I'm alive, you're alive, and we won." I snap. I see his eyes soften and the disappointment in his eyes. "Besides, I told you to go." I touch his cheek. "I want you to be the best warrior you can be. You know I'll always stand by you in that." He looks a little more reassured, but his face is still hard.
We sit there for several minutes. My hand runs through his hair and his forehead rests on my shoulder. He's been hurting, and I don't know how long he's been hurting and beating himself up for something that's not his fault.
"How long was I out?" I ask.
"Only several hours." He answers. "We're not even back at the base yet." My finger pauses to play with one of his longer, curly coils of hair. I twist my finger around and around, thinking.
"Did you guys analyze the disks yet?" I go on.
"Mhm." His eyelids are drooping.
"Did you find what you were looking for on them?" I press. I'm not allowed to know why Base 64 wanted the disks. Honestly, I don't mind not knowing why, but even if I can't know what was on the disks, I knew in advance what they look like thanks to Iggy's showing me pictures of the disks before the mission.
"Did you get hurt?" I say so gently I can hardly hear my voice. His eyelids open again and he watches me unsurely for a few moments with his blue eyes. "Don't you act like it's not big deal." I growl. Jiro has always tried to avoid telling me when he was hurt or sick. Now, with such rigorous training and missions, he's often getting himself beat up, and trying to never tell me.
"Yes Z. I had to get bandaged up and I cracked two ribs." He answers sheepishly. "I'll heal a lot faster than you though." He closes his eyes again.
"Yeah." I admit jealously. I continue to play with his hair. His breathing becomes deeper till I know he's asleep. He snuggles his head against my collarbone and shoulder, the way he's done since we were little kids growing up together. I stop playing with his hair and realize I'm utterly tired myself. Despite being tired however, I suddenly realize something that I'd missed before.
If I had Changed, Jiro wouldn't have had to cry today. I probably wouldn't be in this mess, and Jiro and I would have fought side-by-side on the mission instead of me being told to wait on the Hawk. If I had Changed, I could have fairly take on Misha. A tear escapes the corner of my eye at this.
I don't want to Change. I know with all my being I'll be Fallen, regardless of the promise of being Blessed, and what Jiro and Roger say. I just know they're wrong. I'm not special, I'm not different. I'll be caught by the hands of the Devil and morphed into the enemy--a Fallen.
I close my eyes and see it perfectly, looking at myself in the mirror, unfurling wings that look like oversized bat wings; pinky brown, veiny, smelly, downright ugly, that's what my wings will be. Just like my dad's wings, the dad I never knew but trapped me in a curse.
"You are to be Blesséd." Roger told me several nights before my fifteenth birthday. He wouldn't lie to me about being Blesséd--being Blesséd means I would be the messenger of Base 64, the one who Superior sends Alyudar, the giant warrior wolf to fight the Cursed through. But me? The daughter of a Fallen? How can I be Blesséd if I won't even be an Exalt?
When Roger told me I would be Blesséd, I believed him at the time; I almost Changed right then. But even after that I didn't Change--and I still haven't. I start to stroke Jiro's hair again. Everything else has changed, why can't I just make the most important change of all? Even Jiro and I's relationship has changed. I'm his Meant, another thing about this Agkelos world I hardly understand.
I close my eyes. Meant, that means I'll be the wife of Jiro Angst; Blesséd, that means an Exalt, and the prize of Base 64; Fallen, that means none of it.
This chapter is good too. Not as action packed but sometimes you need those slow chapters, especially for your characters. If you want more people to review your work after you have started a novel, a good idea is to make a short summary at the start of every new chapter.
I forgot to include that, and I wasn't quite sure how too, but I think I know now. Plus this time around I was just too excited to post chapter two. Sorry by the way, for posting this as a short story first. I planned to keep it under short stories because, well I was imagining Reach to be a novel, but realisitically speaking it probably won't grow that big. Thank you so much Sannah, for all you've helped me with this far! 