Struggling to find a way to calm her before the full-blown panic attack took her, Adan spoke again, “Listen, Ilian's the one who was a healer and a scientist. He's the one who knows how these aliens even work. And he obviously thought it was worth further endangering himself to get this stuff. Which must mean he thinks it'll work too, right?

“But listen, I'm just thinking out loud. I don't know anything about what we are now. I'm no expert on aliens, or hybrids or whatever we even are now. I think, in this, we definitely should defer to his knowledge, right?”

Aura scoffed, though she hadn't totally succumbed enough to the panic just yet to keep from responding, “And Ilian's no expert on humans, or hybrids either, is he?”

“Still,” Adan began, though didn't manage to find more words for that sentence despite his previous attempt at comforting her.

Though neither of them had time to speculate further before the door to their room opened once more. Ilian moved to look over at them with a worried expression of his own then. Of course, seeing that look from him didn't do much to calm the two of them right then either.

“Have either of you seen--” His dark eyes then moved to the partially open bag that still rested near them on the bed. “I guess you have,” he finished his own thought as he looked from the bag back to their expectant expressions, seeming more at a loss for words himself then than he even normally was.

“Well, speaking of deferring,” Adan stated, though his words were a mumble as he awkwardly looked between his companions.

“Sorry?” Ilian was the first to respond to his comment.

“We were... debating something,” Adan took a moment to choose the word.

“You were?” Ilian replied, warily stepping into the room while looking as apprehensive as his companions right then, considering their behavior toward him since his rather traumatizing return to the bunker. “What would that be?” he asked, looking a bit fearful of their answer.

It was true that, on the surface, he would appear to be the one who had the real power over all of their lives and possible futures right then. But in actuality, there was still some, albeit tiny, possibility that the two of them could someday get their home and lives back, eventually. If his plan worked, anyway. For him, that would never be the case. He had lost everything.

Well, nearly everything.

In actuality, his two companions were all he really had left, in either of the worlds that he had known. And feeling that some wedge had formed between they and him now, had him feeling a bit more fear than he wanted to ever admit or show.

Adan looked between Aura and Ilian. Aura stared at the floor next to the bed, looking as though she was willfully holding herself together with every breath. Ilian just looked back their way as if forgetting to breathe at all as he waited on whatever their answer to his question would be.

Letting out a heavy breath, Adan knew that he was the one who would have to speak next, despite his current state, and the intense pain that was plaguing him still.

“I think we can all admit to why that weapon didn't actually kill me, right?” he began shakily.

“I think we have a rather sound theory about that,” Ilian admitted, his voice stammering nearly as much as Adan's.

Forcing himself onward, despite the confirmation, “So, in light of... that, we were wondering exactly how many other things will no longer... affect us the way they're supposed to,” his dark eyes turned toward the bag in an unspoken explanation for what exactly he was referring to just then.

Aura's cringe was visibly noticeable as she waited for Ilian's response, terrifying as it may be.

Ilian took a deep breath of his own as he realized that his original worry about their 'debate' wasn't actually the debate in question after all. At least not yet.

“You mean you're worried that the things I brought will no longer work for Aura the way they're supposed to?”

Aura painfully bit back her emotions at the prospect of his answer proving that fear true after all. Adan was the one to respond again though, “Well, we're obviously different now,” he gestured to the left side of his torso to accent the statement.

Ilian sighed almost inaudibly as he dared to move to take a seat at the foot of the bed. “I know it may sound strange after telling you how our kind procreate, but despite that, our reproductive systems are still quite... similar,” he offered.

“Really?” Aura scoffed, finally joining the conversation, her voice hoarse. “Cause that thing out there didn't look very similar at all,” she returned, her tone sounding more accusing than she had originally intended.

Adan then interjected, “I didn't get a very good look, you know, before the agonizing pain. But I mean, two arms, two legs, one head...” he offered, only to receive a glare from her in response. Ilian just averted his dark brown eyes that no longer even resembled the large pupil-free pools of black that were a decidedly dissimilar feature of the creature that had invaded their home only a day earlier.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Is that what you really look like?” Aura asked Ilian, despite Adan's interjection.

“Not anymore,” Ilian answered, though his words were nearly a whisper.

Aura scoffed again, “Yeah, now we're just stuck with you looking like Adan's dead brother!”

“Aura,” Adan attempted a calming tone, though it fell short. “I get that things are fucked up. Really fucked up,” he added softly. “But he did just risk his life for us, didn't he? And you just seem, really, really angry. Why?”

“Because, he almost died! You almost died! You still could, even! And I felt that blue poison in my lungs when the door was open. I could have almost died too. Any of us, could have just been gone, and I hate it! I hate that I'm worried about losing either of you even more than I ever cared about losing me! And it could happen at any moment, of any given day, and there's just nothing we...” her words deteriorated into sobs as everything seemed to finally hit her all at once.

Adan instinctively moved to take her in his arms to try to offer any semblance of comfort he could. Though the terrible pain immediately stopped his attempt as he bit back a sound of anguish as best he could. The last thing he wanted to do right then was draw any more attention to the still precarious state of his own health.

Reacting quickly to the entirety of the situation, Ilian instead moved to do what Adan couldn't and wrapped his arms around her shaking body. She tensed at first, but her anger had somehow finally made way to despair, as she wrapped her arms around Ilian in return, sniffling into his shoulder as she finally let out so many of the feelings she had been trying so hard to contain for so long.

Adan swallowed hard as he looked over at them, reaching out his right hand to gently caress Aura's shoulder as Ilian held her against him, as that seemed to be the only physical comfort Adan could offer her himself right then.

Ilian then murmured against her hair, “I know it doesn't make it any easier, but that's exactly why I did go out there and risk my life. So you'd hopefully not have to lose either of us. And we wouldn't have to lose you,” he added even more softly as he moved to gently grip Adan's wrist in a gesture of comfort to him as well then.

* * *

The charged emotions of the day following Ilian's return did do well to convince Adan to rethink his previous stance on how to combat the still very intense pain he was in. Realizing that, in that state, he couldn't even comfort Aura as he had desperately wanted to when she had needed him, he gave in to finally taking something a bit stronger than the over the counter painkillers that had provided next to no relief since he was shot.

He had taken an Oxycodone shortly before Aura solemnly returned to their bed after her shower that night. “Feeling any better, at all?” he asked her quietly as she entered the room.

“Shouldn't I be asking you that?” she scolded, though gently. “Is the Oxy helping at all?”

“More than the other shit did,” was the only answer he managed as she moved to the bed, a slight scowl at his less than enthusiastic confirmation. “Still not thrilled that now that I'm actually not buried in Hollywood bullshit, now is the time I decide to start hitting the narcotics,” he scoffed.

“This is exactly the time when people are actually supposed to use them, Adan. Is being in unbearable pain actually a better solution? Really?”

“TBD,” he mumbled as he slightly readjusted to lay back on the pillow with only a slight wince this time.

She sighed softly as she also moved to lay upon her side next to him, but still several inches away, making sure not to jostle or touch him in any way as she did.

“I'm not made of glass, Aura,” he looked over at her with a sad smile at the distance between them.

Her breath caught as she tried to keep her emotions in check, difficult as that ever was for her. “Do we know if there are actually any internal injuries though? Because those could--”

Adan sighed heavily before answering as best he could, “Ilian thinks that if there were, I'd be having a lot of other complications, besides pain, by now.”

“I'm sure there's some kind of x-ray equipment with the medical supplies though. Shouldn't we--”

“I'll make sure to suggest that to him tomorrow. Unless of course you wanted me to try and make my way all the way to the other side of the bunker tonight.”

“But couldn't waiting--”

“Idea,” he interrupted. “How about you try to get through just one sentence that doesn't begin with the words 'but' or 'what if?'” he told her with an attempt at a playful smile.

She moved to speak, then caught herself before starting again, “Sorry,” she settled on, averting her pretty blue eyes sadly.

“Or that,” he teased further.

“So you just don't want me to talk at all?” she returned with a less than serious glare on her face.

Adan shared another soft smile, his pain at least dulling enough now to allow him to manage that again, “Right now, I just want you to slide closer, so we can fall asleep next to each other again.”

“But--”

“Uh uh uh,” he told her in a playfully scolding tone as she started that sentence.

She scowled back, “I thought we were done playing that stupid game.”

“After one round? I know you have more stamina than that,” he snickered slightly at the innuendo.

"Sex jokes, really? I guess the pill is finally starting to kick in after all.”

“All the more reason to slide over here. I can still hold you with one arm. And that's something I really, really wanna do right now.”