Location: Sky Lakes Medical Center
Sebastian's eyes were glued shut by blood, sweat, and tears. The first time he awoke, he couldn't open them, but he couldn't tell if it was because the bond over his eyelids was too strong, or he lacked the energy necessary to even lift a finger. The pain didn't even process for the first few moments. After a little while, the dull aches slowly crept into Sebastian's consciousness. The pain in his throat from screaming, the soreness in his limbs from dragging himself across the forest floor, the deep aches from the claws and teeth of the wolf, the sharp discomfort that came from shifting ever so slightly.
Eventually, he faded into the darkness again. When he awoke, he could hear the soft snore of Syleste across the room. The Siren's eyes opened with great difficulty. They were already adjusted to the darkness, and as such, he could clearly make out the silhouette of a man sitting at her bedside.
Gage...The idea of having someone to hold his hand in the darkness, in the pain, was comforting, but it also brought an ache of a different kind to his heart. His father probably didn't even know he was in the hospital. He wouldn't be hearing about the attack until he read the news tomorrow, assuming he even checked his phone. Sebastian had planned to spend the following day with the group, and not return until late the following night; his father probably wouldn't even notice anything was amiss until at least two days from then-
A sharp pain in Sebastian's leg caused a sharp intake of breath as his thoughts were cut short. The monitor next to him beeped softly, gently administering drugs through an IV cord tethered to Sebastian's arm. As the pain faded, so did Sebastian's energy, pulling him into the darkness, the last thing in his vision being Gage's form, stoic as ever, sitting next to Syleste...
"Morning you two. I brought some visitors."Sebastian's eyes fluttered open at the familiar voice. At first, he was disoriented with his surroundings, feeling quite a bit of pain throughout his body. It took only a moment for the events of the previous evening to come flooding back to him. His heart rate spiked, displayed by the monitor as it increased its beeping by a moderate amount. Sebastian took a deep breath and looked over at the door, his eyes searching out the face of the man who spoke.
Xerxes. The faint ghost of a smile crept onto Sebastian's features as he saw the doctor, as well as his daughter and Miranda. It was good to see familiar faces. To have someone check on him, even though Xerxes was required to.
It wasn't exactly a fun experience growing up as a Siren. He was in constant fear of people finding out who he was, finding out
what he was. To carry a secret since as long as he could remember, scared of telling people for fear of them pushing him away... Hunting him for it. That, and growing up as a homosexual Siren. Any feelings of isolation he felt were amplified by the other issue, and they built off of each other, creating an entire complex of secrets and anxiety. He still remembered finally being comfortable telling his friends about his sexuality, but he could
never tell them what he was. Until now.
Sebastian wasn't fully aware of the current situation until Cassie hugged him. Pain shot through his body and he gave a small gasp, but he tried to hide it, gently hugging her back as he leaned back into his pillows, hiding a grimace. As he finished waking up, the others talked about Syleste and the events of the night before.
Sebastian watched Xerxes the entire time. Sebastian had always known there was something different about him; being able to sense the presence of Supernaturals was one of his abilities. He could hear their abnormalities, the way they resonated differently from the world. In hindsight, it was obvious that Xerxes wasn't human. The odd dissonance that accompanied non-humans always appeared whenever Xerxes was around, but he had chalked it up to being slightly nervous around Xerxes. He was a tall, muscular, intelligent, capable, learned, kind, responsible-
Sebastian stopped himself. The list went on. He was always nervous around people like Xerxes.
“We are here if any of you guys need us, anything you need let us know. She will be okay Gage, she is a tough young woman. Okay?” Miranda's voice brought Sebastian back to reality. He smiled kindly over at Gage and Syleste.
"You know she'd get rather pissy if she heard you thinking she was weak, Gage." Sebastian's voice was hoarse, more of a croak than a clear sound. Syleste was always oddly fiery when it came to her being just as tough as everyone else.
The Siren slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position so he could see the group better. As Cassie came back into the room, he managed a full smile.
"Thank you guys for coming." His voice was weak, but his sincerity was unmistakable. It felt good to have someone come visit him. The rest of the times he had ended up in the hospital during his childhood, it had just been his dad showing up every now and again, usually getting called away to work for some reason or another.