Chapter Text
The red ICU sign casts a shadow of red along the hospital hallway. The two sit in silence as they quietly wait, the front of their clothes splattered with dry blood. Their hands are clean except for the reddish-brown grit beneath their fingernails. Cheng Xiaoshi is moments away from pounding on the door. Frustration and worry line his face as his heart silently screams in agony.
He shouldn’t have made that jump.
Emma…
He shouldn’t have left Lu Guang and Qiao Ling alone. Then Qiao Ling wouldn’t be crying right next to him, seconds away from going catatonic. While Lu Guang…
Lu Guang was fighting for his life.
Cheng Xiaoshi wanted blood for the first time in his life, and once Qiao Ling could compartmentalize what had just happened, he knew she’d desire some blood too…
That monster killed Emma.
That monster killed hundreds of others.
If Lu Guang stopped fighting, then that monster would have killed him too.
Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling were lucky… They were so damn fortunate that Cheng Xiaoshi had gotten back to the present in time… So damn lucky that Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t break down crying as Qiao Ling—no, someone else had inhabited her body—loomed over Lu Guang’s bloody and almost-too-still body.
Cheng Xiaoshi remembers Qiao Ling coming back to herself as he stumbled over to Lu Guang’s form, hands reaching out to cover the wound. Lu Guang's blood had quickly soaked into his hands as he started to apply pressure against his friend’s stomach in hopes of stopping the bleeding. Yelling at Qiao Ling to call an ambulance while he monitored Lu Guang’s breathing and heart rate, Cheng Xiaoshi almost sighed in relief as he felt the smaller male's breaths against his face, even if it was abnormally short breaths. Lu Guang's pulse was almost nonexistent, and all he could do is focus his energy on saving his friend—no, his partner.
As the two painfully wait for an ambulance, Qiao Ling tries to explain herself. Except they have no time, and all Cheng Xiaoshi can do is tell her to take over for him as he forces himself to initiate CPR. Cheng Xiaoshi has to ignore the loud, piercing snap of broken ribs as he starts chest compressions on his friend in hopes of keeping him alive.
His mind is a mess, but Lu Guang’s dying, and there’s no room to think… There is no room for error, so he continues chest compressions and gives Lu Guang mouth to mouth every thirty seconds until the paramedics arrive…
From there, he remembers the paramedics using a defibrillator, applying some clotting gauze, and providing Lu Guang with oxygen because the younger male still struggled to breathe…
The two are silent, Qiao Ling especially so, as the paramedics take their friend away. One of them was quick to give the two of them details about the hospital that Lu Guang would be at; Cheng Xiaoshi barely remembers the expensive taxi ride that Qiao Ling was able to get. Her eyes rimmed with red and nowhere near ready to talk after Cheng Xiaoshi had silenced her; the two make their way to the hallway that they're currently sitting in now.
Lu Guang's been in surgery for hours, and neither of them is anywhere close to knowing how the other is... But as they wait, Qiao Ling eventually mentions the disassociation... The confusion... The feeling of being trapped in your own mind... Cheng Xiaoshi tenderly pulls the girl in so that she can lean into his chest; it's seconds before he feels her tears. Her hiccuping sobs are agonizing to his ears, and he promises her that they'll make things right... That they'll get that monster back...
The doors to the ICU open, casting a bright light that almost blinds them in the process; a doctor makes their way to the two of them with a small yet relieved smile on their face. Hoping it means what they think it means, Cheng Xiaoshi finds himself voicing, voice rough with a thousand emotions, as he asks, "Lu Guang?"
"He's very lucky, but your Lu Guang is going to be fine."
Finally, letting the tears fall from his eyes, Cheng Xiaoshi turns to Qiao Ling to pull her into a hug, as he is quick to mutter in her ear, "You hear that? Lu Guang made it... He made it!"
While Qiao Ling, thankful that she didn't end her friend's life--that she didn't end Cheng Xiaoshi's life, can only hug the male back as her tears begin anew.
Lu Guang’s alive… He’s actually alive, and in that moment, that’s more than enough.