[FIN] Picking up the Pieces

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Caleb tore down Camphoreon's streets on his way to the hospital, the wind whipped past them and chilled Abel's skin, leaving him feeling progressively colder despite the jacket he wore and the fire-type beneath him radiating heat. He paid the feeling no mind though, so desperately focused was he on urging his Arcanine to go faster and faster until the canine skidded to a halt in front of the hospital, its doors sliding open to emit his head. If anyone in the area wasn't startled already they would be in the very next instant when he loosed a deep, bass bark to draw attention and aid as Abel grabbed Zev and slipped off the Arcanine's back. Luckily for him people moved quickly - nurses probably, but he wasn't really paying them any attention - first to take Zevran and then to help Abel stand. It wasn't until their questions about his own wound made him take a moment to realize how he sagged against them, how his ear throbbed, how cold and light-headed he felt. They let him linger at the entrance just long enough to recall his Arcanine before they ushered him further into the hospital, and as they did so he found himself looking around for his boyfriend but they'd already whisked him away somewhere. Trusting the hospital staff to take care of him Abel allowed himself to be led away to have his own wounds tended to.

Eventually he learned that 'wounds' was really just one. With Zevran passed on his focus had shifted from 'get him to the hospital immediately' to 'sit still while they tended to his wound and his blood loss' so he quietly did just that. Questions were posed by hospital staff, both about himself and the young man he'd brought in, and he did his best to wade through the murky mess that was his mind to try and answer them as best he could. Once they'd finished a while later and could do no more for him, they bade him sit -- sit and wait, don't pace, just sit and rest for now. Begrudgingly Abel acquiesced and slumped down into one of the waiting room chairs rather than simply sat in it - his ear was numb down under the crisp white bandages but he still felt dizzy, his head didn't feel quite right yet - and flexed his fingers as he searched for the next item on his list of priorities. It took a moment or two to find said next item but once he did he shifted and pulled his phone from his pocket so he could send a brief text to Taavi, its contents but a single word:

//Hospital//

He really couldn't think of anything else to say in it, which he felt more than a little bad about, but with the simple message sent he pocketed his phone again and flexed his hands yet again, mentally groping for the next thing he needed to do, but it wasn't immediately apparent. When it wasn't he backtracked instead, going back over the list in full in his mind to make sure he hadn't missed anything, to see if doing so would suddenly shine light on the next thing he could do. He had shielded Zevran from further harm, had nullified an immediate threat, wrapped him up to slow the bleeding, had rushed him to the hospital, ensured he was whisked off to surgery, had himself tended to, answered what questions he could, he'd texted Taavi... That was it. There was nothing left for him to do, no other important things to address; he couldn't prioritize further actions because there were no more actions that needed to be taken. There nothing to do now but sit and wait.

Panic promptly sunk its claws into his heart and took root.  

[TawnyAngel]

It took about five minutes to reach the hospital by bird after he got Abel's text but then another ten to find somebody who could tell him where he was. He'd known something was wrong, badly wrong, and now it was badly enough to need a trip to the hospital and... Abel's texts were usually brief but just one word? His heart felt as though it had sunk into the pit of his stomach when he'd taken it in.

With Isaac beside him Taavi entered the waiting room a little out of breath from running between wings of the hospital - though not inside the buildings - to see Abel slumped in a chair with a dressing on his side of his head. Amigo was sitting beside him on another chair, his antennae were drooping but his wings twitched restlessly.

"Abel." Taavi crossed the room quickly and leaned down to put a hand on Abel's shoulder; the shirt didn't look like one of his. "What-" Maybe he should save the 'what hapened's for now. "We came as quickly as we could."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Isaac had no qualms running inside buildings but somehow managed to reign in the immense desire to -- until they found Abel, however, after which all bets were off as the Espeon didn't hesitate to tear across the room towards his friend.

In the time between sending the text and the moment Taavi found him, Abel's demeanor had changed from focused and a little uncertain to pure, barely suppressed anxiety. His best friend's approach drew his attention though and he turned worried colorful eyes first to his psychic-type and then to the human accompanying him. "Taavi." Slouching wasn't comfortable anymore suddenly, for some reason, so he shifted to learn forward and rest his elbows on his knees so he could stare at the floor. Isaac took full advantage of this to press his paws onto Abel's leg and bump his head into the blond's hands; they twitched momentarily before stroking the Espeon's large ears more out of a mechanical reflex than any active thought or desire to.

What -- what? What happened, probably. "I'm fine," he assured him even though Taavi hadn't actually asked. "Just grazed my ear a little, that's all. S'fine." No, it wasn't bad at all, despite how much it bled - really, head injuries bled far more than they had any right to - so hopefully Taavi wouldn't worry too much about him.....

Taavi.

Latching onto that subject like his very life depended on it - or at least the remaining shreds of his sanity that hadn't been gripped or crippled by panic - Abel did his best to focus on his friend and the words he'd said, that he... still hadn't replied to. "Thank you," he said, after what was probably rather too long a pause. "For coming so quickly, I mean. I.. couldn't really think of much else to text you; sorry."  

[TawnyAngel]

As Abel hunched forward Taavi crouched down, hand still on his shoulder and pale green eyes searching his face anxiously. "It's okay, you don't have to apologise Abel, it was fine and we're here now." But Zevran wasn't here and Abel looked terrible, paler than he should be for something that had grazed his ear... What had grazed his ear? Was this about Patty? Somebody she'd known who wanted payback?

"I..." How did he ask this? "Is there anyone out there who... who we should be worried about? Do you need me to do anything?" There had to be something he could do, other than the next obvious thing which was to ask about Zev. Was Abel going to think he didn't care if he didn't ask? No, he wouldn't think that right? Abel would talk if he wanted to. Or maybe he needed prompting, needed permission to- to what?

As Taavi spoke the door opened again just a little and Swift slunk inside, having hung back to see if anyone was following his trainer. Now that he was pretty sure they hadn't he hastened over to the little group of humans and pokemon and rested his chin on the chair Amigo was sitting on; Abel had Isaac and Taavi, somebody should be there for the anxious looking Butterfree.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

It was fine, they were here now, everything was fine... Except it wasn't. It wasn't fine, nothing was fine, it--

Distracted from the beginnings of a downward spiral Abel blinked as he met Taavi's anxious gaze. "Anyone to... be worried about?" The Crows? Taavi wouldn't know about the Crows, and they were dead anyway... or, well, most of them were except the ones that had fled... ...they wouldn't come back to try and finish the job, would they? No, they wouldn't know where to find Zevran if they even thought he'd survived, and even if they did there wasn't any way they'd get to him before Abel could.

...oh, could Taavi do anything? Well he himself couldn't even do anything, so Abel shook his head. "No, there isn't anything to do. Except wait." Just sit and wait, that was it -- but how could he? He couldn't just sit and wait and do nothing, not when Zevran was-- and he didn't even know if he--

Uncertainty gave way to anxiousness again in his demeanor. His hands flexed again for a moment or two before they moved to the armrests so he could push himself to his feet. "I think I need to walk around," he said as he stood, but as his face paled even more than it already was one hand groped in vain for the chair before he sank back down onto it heavily with a vaguely frustrated, partially confused, "s**t."  

[TawnyAngel]

So whatever it was, it was over; that was a little reassuring but it wasn't really what he'd been worried about.

"Woah woah, take it easy!" Taavi straightened abruptly as Abel got up and grabbed for his arm as he wavered and sat back down again. Taavi crouched again feeling ridiculous for going up and down like a yo-yo but mostly and increasingly feeling sick with worry. He had to ask. He couldn't not ask.

"Abel... Um... Do you know... Do you want a coffee or something?" Oh great, cop out like always! Why not? That was just- No, he wasn't going to slink away from this. Taavi reached up with both hands this time and squeezed Abel's shoulders gently. "Zev's here too, right? Do you know how he is?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The question of coffee was quite a tangent, too much of one and Abel aimed a puzzled look at Taavi for a moment or two before he asked after Zev. Bewilderment promptly morphed to uncertainty and anxiety. "He's somewhere here, yeah. Surgery I think," he added. Licked his dry lips, anxiety mounting. "I.. no, I don't, I... I.... need to go walk around," he repeated as he pushed himself to his feet once more, Taavi's grip on his shoulders be damned; he was ready for the wave of dizziness this time - or maybe it just wasn't nearly as bad as it was the first time - and stepped around Taavi and over Isaac. He needed to walk somewhere, anywhere, it didn't matter; it was something he could focus on, something he could do and he latched onto it with all he had.  

[TawnyAngel]

Surgery, and that was all Abel knew. It wasn't something small, you couldn't get surgery within a few hours for something that wasn't... And if it had been something fairly minor Abel wouldn't look like he did.

When Abel got up again Taavi didn't try to stop him but he did fall into step beside him. "Okay, do you want to stay in here or go down the hall?" There was a vending machine in the corner, maybe he could get Abel to drink a soda? He probably needed sugar and fluids, right? How long had Abel been here before he'd texted? It must have taken a bit of time to see to whatever had happened to his ear but how long? When would they hear something about Zev? "I can wait here if you want to walk further." And if he did, he'd send Dawn with him to make sure he didn't collapse.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Uh, out I guess," he answered somewhat uncertainly. Thankfully Taavi didn't try to stop him and was even coming with him, so he turned and headed out of the waiting and room and into the hall. Unfortunately he didn't know where to go from there, floundered for a direction for a moment, then just picked one at random and started walking. "I don't really know where to go, I just... I need to walk," the blond explained - or at least attempted to - as he hooked his thumbs into his pockets and kept walking, trying his very best to focus on walking instead of panicking. Walking, he was walking, that was something he could do; walking would help.

But would it really?

Abel forcefully shoved the thought down and kept walking.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi nodded. "Okay, I'll text you if anyone comes in with news." It felt like he was abandoning Abel doing that but if their places were reversed he knew he'd be... Well, he'd probably be grateful later when he wasn't tearing himself apart with worry. He was worried about Zev himself, worried sick, but whatever Abel was feeling had to be a thousand times worse.

As Abel headed for the door Taavi released Dawn from her pokeball and gestured after the pallid blond. "Go with him, make sure he's okay."

Dawn nodded briefly, she didn't need to know more than that, and loped after Abel. After a couple of moments she caught up to him and touched his elbow with one paw for just a moment, just to tell him she was there.

Back in the waiting room Taavi slumped into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs and rubbed Amigo's head.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Thanks," he said absently, not pausing his wandering to turn and look, he simply kept walking. The touch at his elbow startled him a little and his gaze darted to the Lucario at his side. Oh, it was just Dawn. Well, at least he wasn't completely alone... Did he want to be alone? ...no, no he didn't. He offered the brightly colored pokemon a soft 'hey' but after that his focus returned to the floor as he walked... somewhere.

Eventually his feet took him outside the hospital entirely to a grassy area with picnic tables spread around, but the moonlight wasn't bright enough for him to really see how many there were. Not that he really cared, anyway. Off to one side he saw the telltale sign of a lit cigarette and his feet took him in that direction. After bumming one off of the random stranger and requesting a light for it, Abel took a drag or two from it and... put it out on the nearby ashtray with a frustrated sigh. When had cigarettes started tasting awful? No, that was wrong; they'd always tasted awful but he'd grown used to the taste, even enjoyed it, though now it seemed using his vape so long now had kind of eradicated any taste for cigarettes.

Abandoning the cigarette and the stranger he turned and headed off again, his feet taking him around the courtyard in almost a full circle before he stopped and sank down to sit up against one of the buildings. Walking wasn't working. Why wasn't it working? It was something he could do, something to focus on besides the biting cold - and him without his jacket, bloody or no - and more to the point, something to focus on besides the fact Zevran had been shot twice and he had no idea how he was doing. No idea at all, none! Zevran could be dead now for all he knew, he could've died two minutes after arriving at the hospital. He could've died an hour after. He could die within the next few minutes, they might even have moved his body somewhere else. He had absolutely no idea how he was, if they were having any kind of success, or even if he was still alive. Not a single clue. Not one.

Abel drew his knees up to his chest and folded his arms over them so he could drop his head down onto them, his hands curled tightly around his arms. There was nothing he could focus on, nothing he could do; nothing at all except await news of Zevran's condition, which very well might be death. Even one bullet to the chest could very well be fatal, but two? There was a very good possibility that he'd already died, and he just hadn't heard yet.

After a moment his shoulders trembled as the tears started to fall.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dawn followed silently from then on; ears pricked up, eyes alert, paws noiseless on the ground. When Abel finally came to rest against a building and curled in on himself she sat down close beside him to share a little of her warmth but her reserve and a feeling that Abel would not like it kept her from putting an arm around him. Perhaps she was wrong but it was the decision she made and she owned it without hesitation.

The passage of time wasn't something that troubled Dawn much; she'd never quite understood how other creatures managed to become bored, when there was nothing to do she could retreat inside her own mind and live there quite peacefully.

Somewhere in the shadows a Murkrow croaked its throaty declaration of territory but beyond that the night was still.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

On some level Abel was grateful for Dawn's presence, her warmth, her silent companionship. That level was not anything conscious though, especially not at the moment, not with how lost in miserable uncertainty as he was. Eventually his shoulders ceased trembling, the tears stopped flowing, and he straightened up a little with a sniffle or two. He rubbed the heel of his hand over his eyes to wipe away any stray tears, sniffled again, and then convinced his aching, protesting muscles to move. Rather than shoot up like he had in the waiting room and almost certainly get dizzy again - if not pass out or something - he shifted forward to kneel for a few moments before carefully, slowly coaxing his cold muscles to let him stand while he pressed a hand against the side of the building for support. Once he'd successfully stood and avoided another light-headed spell, he sighed wearily, hooked his thumbs into his pockets, and shrugged at Dawn. "Let's head back inside, yeah?" His voice was soft and a little hoarse, but devoid of the restless anxiety that had plagued him before. The cold and the tears had effectively drained any remaining energy he'd had from the evening out of him completely. He waited a moment or two for Dawn to stand before turning and slowly making his way back into the hospital.

After entering it he realized how cold it really was outside - for some unfathomable reason he didn't really notice it before, because it wasn't like he was distracted or anything - and he found himself hugging his arms over his chest as he made his way back to the waiting room. As he returned and moved towards the row of chairs he offered Taavi a weary "hey" before he sank back down into the chair. It wasn't comfortable, and he'd rather be outside than in the sterile hospital, but he was not about to argue with how much warmer it was inside than outside. Plus inside was where he'd hear news about... about Zevran. After a moment or two he added somewhat lamely and because he felt obligated to say something, "S'cold outside." Well, maybe he should've said something more than that but that was all he had energy for.  

[TawnyAngel]

When Abel stood Dawn rose as well, and she nodded to his instruction.

It had been a restless twenty minutes or so inside, Taavi found himself checking the time every minute or two and failing to occupy himself with apps in between times. People came in and went out but none of them had news about a man with tattoos on his face. He waited.

When Abel stepped back into the room shadowed by Dawn Taavi got quickly to his feet and offered him a tense, worried smile. "Hey, no news yet." When Abel sat down Taavi shrugged out of his jacket and slid it around his brother's shoulders. "I'm warm," he replied, and then he pulled Abel gently into a hug.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

No news yet; he wasn't sure if that was good or bad. ...probably, maybe good? If he'd died then they'd probably let him know... But would they? He wasn't blood-related or anything, did they withhold patient information and stuff from friends -- boyfriends? He didn't know, not at all, and now he was right back at square one: Zevran could've died or maybe he hadn't, and he had no idea at all.

When Taavi gave him his coat and pulled him into a hug, Abel reacted more out of instinct than anything else to return the hug. "Thanks." A moment or two later the gesture hit him, the words hit him, everything hit him all over again like a truck slamming into him on the freeway. He tightened his embrace, his fingers gripping the fabric of Taavi's shirt as Abel's face dropped down to his best friends shoulder and he struggled to withhold more tears that wanted to fall. Funny, he thought he'd shed them all outside, but it seemed a few more remained. This time though he managed to contain them - at least for now - and merely sat there hugging his best friend tightly while he tried to control his breathing and keep the tears at bay, immensely grateful for Taavi's presence, his compassion, his friendship -- just, everything. Abel tightened his grip a little more; he hoped Taavi knew how much he appreciated him, because his throat had closed up at the moment and prevented him from voicing it.