*unedited* as always, and this chapter is kind of garbage but I really needed to get an update for you all. hope it's not too terrible, lol. try to enjoy xx)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

EVELYN JOLTS AWAKE THE second she feels Harry move against her. She'd subconsciously been awake, awaiting the moment he did open his eyes, but she feels remarkably well rested, though it can't have been more than an hour since she dozed off.

Evelyn props herself up on her elbow, gently parting his hair to check the back of his head. The stitches have popped since the skin pulled itself together, so she removes the remaining bit of the thread, causing Harry to groan. He goes to sit up and she lightly pushes his head back down.

"Hold on," she tells him quietly, nearly in a whisper. She finishes undoing the stitches, then looks up for the nurse. She realizes everyone is asleep, including the two nurses. She starts to think she might have been snoozing much longer than an hour.

"I should punch you," she grumbles to him. "I won't since you did it to save Sasha, but I still want to."

He lays his cheek on the floor to peer up at her. He bats his lashes innocently. "I love you, though."

Her cheeks flush, but she replies easily, "And if I didn't love you, I would punch you."

He smiles a little and closes his eyes.

"You're so stupid. Stupidly brave," she murmurs, brushing his hair back into place with her fingers. "I don't know whether to admire you or hate you for it."

"I thought you loved me."

"Shush."

"You're love is abusive, Evelyn."

She crosses her legs and places her hands in her lap. "You scared me, Harry."

He pushes himself up onto his elbows, then lays his head on her knee. "I'm sorry, love."

Evelyn instinctively rakes her fingers through his hair while her eyes scan the darkened plane for Sasha. She finds the girl curled up next to Robbie, and a smile plays on her lips. "She's safe. That's what's important now."

"I agree."

He sits upright then, crossing his legs as if mimicking her. He takes her hands in his own, kissing the back of hers so lightly her heart falters. She yanks him towards her, wrapping her arms around his neck as she shoves her face into his shoulder. So close. She'd been so close to never feeling him again. So close to losing her dreams of a future because he wouldn't be in it. She'd been so close to giving up.

He rubs small circles into her back, then he places a featherlight kiss against her neck. Another on her jaw. Then her cheek. Her nose. Finally her lips. She craves so much, but she knows their limits. She can't kiss him too hard without the risk of turning. She wants to kiss him hard anyways, but she grabs ahold of her wits and pulls away.

He pushes his forehead against hers. "I need to get rid of these damn teeth."

"Yeah," she whispers, breathless even though their contact was brief. "You do."

***

It wasn't long until Maxie awoke, and Evelyn had already been feeling the need to speak with the younger girl. To thank her in the very least. Evelyn can't quite wrap her head around these powers of hers, but they had saved hers and Harry's life earlier today. Or had it been yesterday by now? The nurses are still asleep, and the windows of the plane are blacked out so it's impossible to tell the time.

Evelyn parts from Harry, who's taking another nap from pure exhaustion, and tiptoes over to Maxie's corner near Sasha, Robbie, and Caroline. Maxie is sitting against the wall, her knees pulled to her chest with her cheek resting against them. Evelyn is unsure about speaking with her at first, because the girl seems to be in deep train of thought, but she sits silently in front of her and gently taps Maxie on the leg.

Maxie jolts anyways, despite how ginger Evelyn had been.

"Sorry," Evelyn says quietly, not wanting to wake anyone. "How are you doing?"

"Okay," Maxie says uncertainly, rubbing her head. "I've had a migraine the past hour or so, though."

Evelyn frowns. "Does that have anything to do with what happened in the arena?"

Maxie nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry, Maxie."

"It's not your fault, Eve."

"I really want you to know how much I appreciate what you did. I know it must have been hard because you hate it but... you really saved Harry and I out there." Evelyn tries to smile as easy as she can, though it's proven difficult with her own tiredness wearing on her. "It was really brave what you did."

"You don't have to thank me," Maxie says. "I couldn't let either of you die. I wouldn't have."

"Still. You didn't have to."

Maxie gives Evelyn her own smile, yet it's a bit wry and bitter. "Yes, I did."

Evelyn looks to her lap, fumbling with her hands, feeling oddly guilty.

Maxie speaks again before Evelyn is forced to. "You know what I really want right now? My notebook and a pencil. I haven't written in what feels like years. I was supposed to be writing the future history books."

"I wish I had it for you," Evelyn replies honestly. "But I'm not exactly sure where it is now."

"Yeah." Maxie sighs heavily. "I miss writing. A lot."

"You can always get back into it. We'll try to find you some materials, okay?"

"I know it's nearly impossible, Eve, but thanks for offering."

"I made Sasha's shoes sparkly again--for a little while, at least--so I can damn sure find you some paper and a pen."

Maxie smiles, genuine and earnest this time.

"Do you want some medicine for your headache?"

"It doesn't help. I might try to go back to sleep."

"All right. You know you can get me if you need anything."

"I do," Maxie says, then takes Evelyn off guard when she jumps up to hug her. Evelyn hugs back after a moment of being stunned. "I saved you because you saved me once," Maxie whispers to her. "I wouldn't be here without you or Harry."

Evelyn isn't sure what to say to that, so she smiles and gives the girl her space. Her brother is waking up in the corner when she's walking away, so she veers over to him, figuring she might as well check up on everyone. There's no chance of her going back to sleep. She felt pretty well rested when she first awoke, but it's become clear that however much sleep she had gotten still hadn't been enough to restore all of her energy. She's been going for far too long with far too little sleep for a few hours to change that.

Max gives her a little wave when he sees her approach. "What's up, little sis?"

"Don't do that."

"You still hate it?"

"You know I do or else you wouldn't have said it."

He grins, then pats the space of the floor next to him. "Come, come. Have some small talk with your favorite sibling."

Evelyn sits then nudges him playfully. "You're my only sibling, you idiot."

"That's the point. I have no competition, so by default, I'm your favorite."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Still, she lays her head on his shoulder because he is one of her favorite people. Despite them being biologically connected, she can't imagine a life without him as her friend. He was there in the middle of the night when her paranoia got the better of her. He was there when her stalker got more and more threatening. He was there whenever she needed someone to listen; he'll always been there. She has no doubt about it.

"I've never been on an old-fashioned plane like this," Max says. "Apparently these are drastically different from hovers."

"Hopefully you won't squeal like a girl when it takes flight."

"I might have to transfer to a transport just for the sake of your ears."

Evelyn chuckles.

Max lowers his voice. "Do you think the battle is still going on?"

"Well, we haven't left yet so..."

"How brutal do you think it is?"

"I'm not so sure I want to imagine it."

Max nods in understanding.

Then, as if on cue, there's a violent banging on the entrance door to the plane.

Evelyn jumps to her feet on instinct, reaching for her dagger before she remembers she doesn't have one. She curses under her breath, but luckily Micah and Gavriel had gotten to their feet at the noise as well. The knocking is consistent and loud with no pauses, like someone is desperate to get in. Gradually, everyone begins to wake up.

Micah has his eyebrows furrowed. "Not experiments."

Evelyn walks to the door despite Max's protests. "Who's there?" she yells over the raging knocks.

"A vicious ax-murderer come to eat your flesh and give your bones to the pigs so there's no evidence left behind," comes the reply.

Evelyn rolls her eyes at the familiar voice, unlatching the door. "You'd have to find pigs first."

Locke grins at her and jabs his thumb back at Erik behind him. "Found one."

Erik smacks him in the back of the head. "Everyone knows you're the pig."

"Yeah, okay, fair enough."

"Get in here, you morons."

Evelyn quickly locks the door again once they're inside. She got a glimpse outside of a fire raging from the bombs earlier and bodies littering the ground. She didn't want to see more.

"You're both okay!" a soft voice says before two little feet are padding down the length of the plane. Sasha jumps into Erik's open arms, then kisses Locke on the cheek.

"I couldn't die without taking an opportunity to annoy Eve again," Locke tells her.

Evelyn gives him a look.

He grins goofily, showing all his teeth. "Come on, you know you missed me."

"Missed your absence, maybe."

"Ah, how I missed your tough love."

Evelyn smiles then and gives him a pat on the back. She will admit she missed him a little. She wouldn't have wanted to find him dead, at least. So that counts for something, she supposes.

Erik sighs in relief. "Man, is it good to see all of you."

"Thanks for watching after Sasha," Evelyn says, though she doesn't deny his hug when he wraps her in his arms after putting Sasha down.

"She might as well be my little sister now," he replies, stepping back to hug Sasha again.

Locke notices Micah over Evelyn's shoulder and waves stupidly. "Micah, buddy! How ya been, pal?"

Micah groans in response, walking off.

"Aw, you're still a grouchy little thing."

Killian snorts with laughter which makes Micah glare at him. Killian shrugs innocently and says, "Well, he's not wrong."

Erik addresses Evelyn again. "You wouldn't have happened to see Davon, would you?"

"Unfortunately, no. He's smart, though. I'm sure he made it out fine."

"He has a daughter," Erik tells her, making Evelyn's chest go cold. "I'm just worried one of them--or neither of them--escaped."

Before Evelyn can think of reply, there's another round of pounding on the door. Harry is at her side in an instant, though she can see him wince with pain still in his head. She wants to scold him to go lay back down, but his eyes are narrowed in the way they always are when he hears something he doesn't like.

This time, however, Evelyn doesn't have to open the door or call to see who it is. Leo hollers to be let in, and the male nurse rushes to obey. Leo tumbles in, a round of gunshots firing at the metal of the plane in reply. Monique slams the door shut just as more bullets come flying. Harry had instinctively crouched over Evelyn despite the fact that both of them are standing. Leo rushes to the pilot's room and yells to get the plane started.

Evelyn wants to demand what's happening, but a shower of bullets cuts her off. They are loud against the metal of the plane, almost deafening. Sasha clutches Erik while Robbie runs and attaches himself to Evelyn's hip. Maxie coddles Caroline while Micah, Killian, Max, and Gavriel all clutch the bars overhead for balance as the plane lifts off the ground. Evelyn stumbles, but Harry is there to catch her, and he wraps an around around Robbie's neck and around Evelyn's middle, holding them both.

Surprising everyone, Leo bursts out into hysterics. "We did it," he breathes, grabbing Monique's hand and squeezing it. She's laughing breathlessly. "I can't believe we actually pulled that off."

"May I ask what exactly you pulled off?" Evelyn interrupts, having to raise her voice to be heard over the noisy engine of the plane.

Leo either doesn't hear her or ignores her. He cups Monique's face and kisses her hard instead, then pumps his fist in the air in victory.

"Hey!" Evelyn shouts, a little frustrated. Leo blinks at her, as if remembering she's there. "What the hell happened?"

Leo grins, moving closer so he doesn't have to speak so loudly. "We won our first battle of many," he tells her. "And we've got a so-called king in our possession to prove it."

Evelyn gawks at him. "You captured Wolf?"

"He was the goal, after all," Leo explains. "We've got two transport ships full of refugees behind us too, by the way, just so you don't think we forgot about the rescue part of this mission."

Harry is suspicious. "How did you capture him?"

Micah cuts in. "I'm also curious. Wolf isn't the best fighter, but he sure as hell isn't the worst. He wouldn't have gone with you willingly."

"Of course he didn't," Leo says. "We had a gun full of tranquilizer darts to help. The hardest part was getting in close enough proximity to use it. He had a load of guards around, yes, but most were too busy manning the front gates with the attack from my soldiers. It wasn't too hard to slip in unnoticed. Took a long time to get rid of all his guards, though. Lost a few of my own in the process." His face darkens at this, but he still holds the aura of victory.

"So," Evelyn starts, "what exactly do you intend to do with him?"

Leo smirks. "Oh, I have quite a few ideas in mind."