I could not catch it all, but here are a few highlights of the amazing 2v1 fight that followed the best tag team match ever. “Flying” Sam Cotter + Astoreth Dunemaw vs Zahguhk the Mute.
(Our heroes won, but barely! Zahguhk is one hell of a fighter, even when he’s not using one half of the team to beat up the other!)
Isabella stood in the doorway, unsure if she should enter.
It had taken so long to pull herself away last time. She had slept here, at his bedside, and then had lingered for hours after. Eventually, though, she had pulled herself away for a bit. To eat. To check in on Nikson and Kirae. To do her job.
She sighed and walked through the threshold. The others would have to get along without her for a while.
The steady, rhythmic beeps of hospital equipment broke the eerie silence in the room. In the center of the room, laying in the hospital bed, was Samuel Cotter.
What remained of him, at least.
Most of his body was covered in bandages, thanks to the burns. His legs were gone, as was his right arm. A menagerie of tubes and wires connected him to the equipment all around him, tethering his mortal coil and keeping him from the brink.
He hadn’t woken up yet. He was unlikely to wake again for a very long time.
Isabella sat down in the chair by his bed and gently took his left hand, holding it in her own.
“Morning, Samuel,” she said weakly as she ran her thumb along the back of the man’s hand. “How are you?”
Cotter, as she expected, said nothing. Did nothing. Not a sigh, not a grunt, not one movement of the eye. She looked at him, feeling empty and hollow.
“... Nikson’s doing fine, if a little beat up,” she continued. “They came in to see you last night, along with Ijio. I don’t know if you heard... Kirae gave us a scare, but she’ll be fine...”
Sinclair closed her eyes tightly. “They’re all fine. It’s over. You did good, Samuel. You won. It’s... it’s all over. It’s time for you to come back... have your fresh start.”
Nothing. To response.
“... Terri’s decided what she wants, from her fresh start. She wants to be like you. Brave... selfless... she wants to help people... you’d be proud...”
The machines continued to beep away, their watch over the man never ending. She looked down at the hand she was holding and, with a great deal of hesitation, let go.
“You’re not alone anymore. There are people here that care about you... I... I care about you...”
“... please come back to me.”
A cold silence fell over the room as she watched the man. His chest slowly moved up and down as the machines breathed for him. It was the only real sign of life about him at the moment.
They had won, she thought. They had won and everyone had gotten their happy endings.
Except for him. Except for her.
Isabella reached into her bag and pulled out a book, it’s hardback cover worn from age and heavy use. A rendering of Cassus’s star system was embossed on the cover and outlined with gold paint that had flaked off over time.
“So... my mother use to read to me, when I was young. This was her favorite book, and she’d read from it when I was sick or was going to sleep...” She opened the cover with a creak and licked her fingertip, turning the pages.
She looked at the remnants of Samuel Cotter and took in a breath.
“The Spheres of Longing, Chapter One... ‘To this day, as I write this, I still remember it vividly. The first time I saw the stars. Looking up at night, at the sky, in no way prepares you for the real thing. For being up there, in a sea of black littered with diamonds shining bright. In that moment, among the stars, looking down at home, I knew that I wanted to fly among the stars forever and see them all...’ “
Isabella would sit there, reading to him, for several hours. She would linger, sleeping in that chair for hours longer, just waiting for him to wake up.
