Chapter 23 part 2

Samuel

Muffled voices spoke in aggravated tones, many of them yelling. He could make out a clear difference between the ragged, slurred voices and the stern, professional ones.

Samuel couldn't tell what they were saying, he couldn't even really tell that he was awake.

A hand placed itself on Samuels shoulder, shaking him lightly. A much softer, calmer voice spoke out.

He finally snapped himself back into reality. He opened his eyes and looked around frantically, his surroundings seeming absurd and even impossible.

Crouched down in front of him was a sweet looking female cop with curly hair tied back in a bun and dark hair. Despite the fuzziness of his head he recognized her to be Officer Knight, who he had ran into multiple times before as the hero.

"Please stay calm, everything will be okay. We are going to take you both to the hospital very soon" she spoke slowly.

Samuel cleared his throat lightly and felt a quick pain come through his stomach.

"Both?" He asked, still testing his voice.

She glanced over to his left, a worried expression taking over her face.

And it didn't take Samuel long to understand why.

No more than three feet away from him sat Matias, leaned up on a wall with his eyes closed and his body limp. There was a stream of dried blood going down his neck and his legs seemed to be positioned in a particularly uncomfortable way.

But his chest was moving, and that was all Samuel cared about. The slight rising and falling of his chest brought immense amounts of joy and relief to him.

"He is unconscious, but we don't believe it will be anything long-term. Though we can't know for sure until we get you each out of here" she reassured.

Samuel nodded, but his eyes stayed glued to Matias.

Tears began trickling down his cheeks and his breathing grew unsteady, but he refused to look away. Matias was here, and he was alive, they were both alive.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when two stretchers were brought in front of him with cops surrounding them.

When he finally looked away from Matias he fully took in the situation. Finally thought through what was going on.

Behind the stretchers were many gang members who he recognized from times he'd rather not recall, handcuffed and all being supervised by cops.

"We are going to help you as much as you need, but do you think you can stand?" An unfamiliar woman asked.

He glanced over to see multiple cops already loading Matias onto the stretcher.

Samuel nodded, but when he brought his legs in and tried to shift his weight onto them he found them almost completely useless. They were so weak they were practically numb, and it was clear there was no hope of him getting up on his own.

A few cops got the hint and each grabbed onto one of his arms, pulling him off the ground.

Once he was on his feet he tried to use his legs once again, but they were still equally as useless.

The cops lifted Samuel up, with little help from him, and laid him on the stretcher. It was uncomfortable and Samuel felt like he would fall off, but he ignored it.

Matias was being carried ahead of him, the cops seeming more rushed than the ones handling Samuel.

Samuel had a number of questions and no answers. He didn't know how Matias got here or what happened to him. He didn't know how the police found them. He didn't even know if the police knew that he was the hero or not.

Not to mention he still longed more than ever to know how Ellie was doing.

Before he knew it he was carried out of the dark alley and into bright sunlight. There were two ambulances and too many cop cars to count. As he looked around he realized how many already had gang members in them, ready to take them to jail.

He watched silently as Matias was raised into an ambulance and doctors began working on him. His heart ached, but he didn't speak. He didn't even move.

He was loaded into his own ambulance and pampered by tired looking doctors, but he paid them no mind. He was concerned about so many things, he couldn't bring himself to be concerned about himself too.

The ride to the hospital felt short, almost too short, but he once again didn't think much about it.

When he was brought out of his ambulance he looked all around in search for Matias, needing to see him, even if it was just a glimpse, but he was nowhere to be seen. The ambulance Matias had been brought in was parked by the front door and Matias had already been carried into the hospital.

Samuels heart started racing in panic. He knew Matias's condition hadn't changed. He knew that seeing him wouldn't make him any better.

But he felt incredible worry regardless. He felt like if he didn't see Matias soon, awake and well, he was going to explode.

People were talking to him, trying to get answers from him, the whole way into the hospital, but he didn't even hear what they were saying.

His ears were ringing and his mind was on an entirely different planet.

Once he was through the doors the doctors wasted no time getting him off the stretcher and into a wheelchair.

The second he was in the wheelchair he felt increasingly worse. He was forced to look ahead, instead of up at the ceiling, and the people speaking to him felt more real now that they weren't hovering above him.

"Can you hear me?"

He finally managed to listen. He couldn't, however, form a response.

His eyes became heavy and his tongue felt too big for his mouth.

Before he knew what he was doing he had closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles, not taking more that a second to fall into a relaxing sleep.

He didn't know how long it had been when he woke up, but he definitely knew where he was. He was back in the place he thought he just escaped, the hospital.

This time, however, he wasn't concerned about the noise, or the brightness, or even the cold. The only thing he was worried about was Matias.

"Hero?" Somebody asked from beside him.

He wanted to believe it was Matias, but knew it wasn't. Matias wouldn't call him that.

Rather than Matias standing next to him like he wanted, it was a short male nurse.

Behind him was three other nurses and a police officer. One of the other nurses stepped forward abruptly so he was almost hovering over Samuel.

"Can you hear me?" The man asked slowly, but spoke loudly and clearly.

Samuel nodded slowly.

"Do you remember what happened?" He continued, sounding more serious.

Samuel paused before answering. He remembered the new villain attacking him, and he remembered Guzantee talking about Matias, but the next thing he remembered was the police being there, putting the two of them on stretchers and taking them to the hospital. The entire middle part was just.. not there.

"If you don't remember that's completely fine" another nurse reassured after seeing his hesitation.

But he did remember, he thought. He remembered enough.

He cleared his throat. "I remember."

The four nurses shared a glance.

"Well, the drugs they gave you.." a female nurse explained.

But Samuel tuned her out. He saw her lips continue to move, but her words had already ended.

Just hearing the words of what they did to him quickly refreshed his memory. He remembered the pills they made him swallow and the powder and water they forced him to drink.

He remembered how unforgivingly cruel they were to him and how amused they were by his struggling.

It didn't take him long to let his thoughts drift back to Matias, wondering what they did to him. Did they humiliate him the same way they humiliated Samuel? Better yet, what did they do that made him have dried blood running down his neck?

"Hero? Are you alright?" One of the nurses asked after seeing his lack of attention.

He nodded quickly.

"If you are experiencing any pain or discomfort please let us know, we will do whatever we can to help" a different nurse assured.

"I'm okay" he confirmed, even though his entire body was uncomfortable and he felt annoying pains coming from all over.

He could tell every person in the room, aside from the officer, had something to say, and was about to say it. And so he spoke up before they could.

"How is" he paused, not knowing if he should use his name or not. "How is Matias?" He finally settled. They knew who he was anyways.

The nurses shared subtle glances for a moment before the woman spoke up.

"Well, he could be worse. He has a concussion, but has regained consciousness" she said sweetly.

Samuel felt like crying, but held himself together. He hadn't seen Matias conscious since the fight with the new villain, and even then he was in bad condition.

"Can I see him?" He asked abruptly.

The nurses shared more glances, much more obvious and concerned this time.

"Please" he whispered in a desperate attempt.

He felt like Matias was the only thing holding him together. Just knowing that he was okay wasn't enough. He had to see him. He needed to.

The officer standing in the back of the room stepped up to stand beside the four nurses. Samuel was surprised he didn't recognize him, but tried not to think much about it.

"I'd be willing to safely escort him to the villains room" he calmly said, "if it's okay with you all, of course" he looked back at the nurses.

They looked at each other before one of them turned back to the officer and nodded.

Samuel perked up. He was seeing Matias. Awake and well. Out of harms way.

"Alright then. Can he walk?" He asked the nurses.

"I think I can" Samuel interrupted, not wanting the nurses to make the decision for him.

The officer still looked at the nurses for an answer until one of them nodded.

"He will probably need help, we wouldn't want any unnecessary harm to be done" the short male nurse spoke nicely, walking to the corner of the room.

When he came back he had a walker in his hand like you would typically see elderly ladies using.

Samuel didn't mind though. He couldn't bring himself to be focused on something so minor when he was about to see Matias.

He slowly pulled himself up, his stomach aching. He didn't let the pain slow him down though. He was overcome with excitement.

Within no more than a few minutes he was on his feet and gripping onto the walker for support. His legs were unsteady due to their lack of use and his wounds—especially in his stomach— were pulsing with pain.

But he said nothing and let the officer lead the way through the hospital down to Matias's room.

"It's only a short walk. He is just down this hall" the officer clarified, pointing to a short hall that Samuel could already see the end of.

Samuel had been so excited before that he hadn't even considered if Matias even wanted to see him.

I mean, the entire reason Matias got involved in the first place is because Samuel needed his help. And then Samuel got himself into even more trouble with Guzantee of all people.

He didn't even want to think about how he had kissed Matias, but of course he did. He admittedly loved Matias, but he didn't think he had any right to kiss him. He was fairly certain Matias didn't feel the same. Hell, Samuel didn't even know if Matias was attracted to guys in the first place.

Shame washed over him as they reached the end of the hall. The officer had stopped walking and was facing a closed door with blinds blocking the view in from the window.

"Well, head on in" the officer spoke casually.

Samuel nodded, but only took one step towards the door before hesitating.

He knew the chances of Matias feeling differently about Samuel now were high, and he could only pray that him kissing Matias didn't ruin their friendship forever.

And so he took two more steps forward and opened the door.

The door made no noise when it opened, not so much as a creek. The two doctors who were in there though still turned their heads to stare.

Samuel wasn't focused on them though.

He was focused on the brown haired man with a bandage around his head and a hospital gown identical to his own.

He was looking away from the door, his head turned to look out the window on the other side of the room. Samuel realized for the first time that they must've been at least one the third floor, likely higher.

The officer must've signaled something to the two doctors in the room because before Samuel could even enter the room they both came scurrying out the door.

Samuel inched his way into the room, his steps small and his breaths even smaller. He was over took by fear and anxiety, but his heart still sped up with joy. He felt like he could faint from just his intense emotions alone.

His walker was loud as he continued into the room, the door closing behind him, but Matias paid him no mind. His head stayed turned, his eyes glued to the window.

If it weren't for the tapping of his fingers and light bouncing of his leg Samuel might've thought Matias was sleeping.

He continued to walk towards the bed that Matias laid in, mesmerized by just the sight of him. His relief was overwhelming and he felt tears flood his eyes, threatening to drip onto his cheeks.

When he was only a few feet from the bed he finally spoke, doing it quickly before he could change his mind.

"Matias" he nearly cried.

Matias finally whipped his head around, meeting Samuel eyes for the first time in an eternity.

"Samuel" Matias whispered back, almost sounding more like a question.

Samuel couldn't hold it back any longer and let his tears run down his cheeks. They came flooding out of his eyes, rolling all the way down his face and onto his neck. A few quiet sobs escaped his mouth.

"Samuel" Matias repeated, sounding both more confident and more desperate.

"Matias" Samuel called out loudly, a clear longing in his voice.

In an instant Matias moved himself to the edge of the bed so his feet were hanging off and meeting the floor and Samuel nearly threw the walker to the side, taking one large step towards Matias.

Matias stood quickly as Samuel took his final step towards him.

The two crashed together, their arms wrapping behind the others back tightly and their faces buried into each other.

Samuel positioned his face where Matias shoulder and neck met and felt Matias putting his own face down into Samuels hair.

Samuels anxiousness evaporated as soon at he was in Matias's arms and Matias was in his. His thoughts drifted away from the kiss and all he could think about was how he was here. He was here, right now, and he was with Matias. That's all that mattered.

The two didn't take long to lose their balance, both of their injuries making it hard to stand, and they collapsed back onto the bed.

Matias sat back down straight and Samuel twisted himself to land right beside him. Their arms never left one another, Samuels grip tightening around Matias's lower back and feeling Matias's grip tighten around his upper back.

He could feel the injury in his stomach screaming in pain, but only ignored it. He couldn't bring himself to care about anything but Matias.

He wasn't sure how long they had sat there, hugging each other tightly, when Matias broke the comfortable silence.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled into Samuels hair.

Samuel pulled himself away just enough to look Matias in the eyes, but still kept his arms as far around him as he could.

"For what?" He asked genuinely.

Matias shook his head slightly.

"I couldn't prevent this"

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REUNION CHAPTER!! 🎉🎉