(Warning. Slightly detailed discussions of gore occur in this chapter.)

———

"Is he still breathing?"

"Yes, and his pulse is still going too!"

Cole only half listened to the paramedics as he ran alongside them, still holding his balled up suit shirt against Jay's abdomen.

They had finally reached the hospital, after a slightly anticlimactic ambulance ride. People were everywhere, each of them with their own problems, their own lives. Their own maladies to look after and seek help for.

A couple of individuals clearly recognised him as the Black Ninja - judging by their mutually excited and perplexed expressions - though rather luckily, it seemed that the lying down position along with the speed made it rather difficult to identify Jay.

The incessant beeping from every direction bore into Cole's ears, sending his already thundering heart into a frenzy.

Time moved so quickly, yet so slowly at the same time. The ambulance drive seemed to take no time at all, however, entering the hospital and finding an available operating room did not.

The hallways stretched on and on, twists and turns, constant winding passageways.

All while, Jay got progressively paler, as Cole's shirt used up the last of its dry space, and became too saturated to hold more blood. It began to leak then, despite his best efforts to keep the tiny hole plugged up.

So much damage... from such a tiny incision.

Red was stained everywhere, most still wet and deep crimson, but a few patches had begun to dry, turning into a gross red-brown colour.

"Here we go! Quick, get him inside!" The nurse leading then yelled, directing the gurney into a room, and then rushing away to find a doctor, leaving Jay with two other nurses, one of the paramedics, and Cole.

"Alright, we need to lift him over to the bed! Mr. Brookstone, can you keep pressure while doing that?"

He swallowed nervously.

"Y-Yeah I think so!"

"On my count, one, two, three!"

Together, the four of them lifted the top of the gurney onto the bed, and the nurses immediately started work. Checking his pulse, his blood pressure, and then, attention came to the wound.

A doctor rushed in, and quickly took over the pressure job from Cole, sending him a grateful nod as he did.

Finally, he could step back, and relax his arms. After constantly pressing down for so long, all his joints had stiffened up and he was aching. He stretched his fingers out as far as he could, desperately bringing feeling back into them.

A sigh of brief relief escaped his mouth, until reality came crashing back down like a boulder down a mountain.

Jay.

His eyes flashed back to the operating table, which he stared at in horror. He knew there was blood - and quite a lot of it at that - but... it seemed to have soaked through Jay's entire suit. There was more dark reddish-purple material than blue.

It was already making its way into the medical bed, soaking into the fabric like water in a sponge.

Slick, wet, dripping.

His... hands.

Cole looked down, opening his palms, to realise that the gory liquid had covered him up to the elbows. Jay's blood.

There was so much.

There was too much.

Surely... he'd lost too much.

This amount... Cole could hardly come to terms with it. Dripping, splattering, covering the floor. Was he hallucinating? Was there really that much?

There... couldn't be.

Cole rubbed his eyes, then almost choked on his own tongue when he remembered what his hands were coated with.

They shot back down to his side, shaking.

... but that didn't matter. All that mattered right now was whether Jay would make it.

"I-Is he going to be ok?" he asked out loud, praying for anybody to answer.

Alas, there wasn't one.

"... p-please... please tell me he's going to be ok..."

One of the nurses noticed his clear discomfort, and gently touched his upper arm, gesturing to the exit.

"Sir, could you please step outside?"

He tried to protest, but no words would come out. He wanted to stay. He wanted to be able to help more. He wanted...

"... the doctor can save him, but he needs to have space. You can come and see your friend once he is stable."

Cole looked back, gritting his teeth, willing that everything would turn out fine. Praying that some sort of higher power - whether they existed or not - would step forward now and help.

"... Sir?"

He nodded, forcefully pulling himself out of the room, breaking the psychological bonds he had to the space, and collapsing into a hard plastic seat outside.

Hospital staff rushed by. Alarms flashed on and off. Alerts and beeps all chiming together into white noise.

The blood on his hands began to dry, and crack sadistically, constantly reminding him of how much danger Jay was in. His body heat fluctuated, sweating beyond control at one moment, then shivering the next.

"... Cole!"

Somebody called down the hallway, gaining distance and coming steadily closer.

"Cole, are you ok?"

Zane slowed down, coming to a stop at his side.

"... Kai and Nya are outside, Lloyd is on his way up. How are you feeling?"

He didn't know what to say. Lips trembled, hands raised, only to fall back down to his lap.

Zane put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. The blood all over his hands, and smudged around his face had caught the nindroid's eye.

"... I'll fetch you a towel."

Zane managed to find one in good time, and came back to Cole with a damp paper towel before even five minutes had passed.

"Here. Clean yourself up."

He passed him the towel, and he gratefully took it, cleaning the dried blood off his face and hands.

It was a relief, and left him feeling much fresher than before.

"... Jay will be alright. Thanks to you. There is no need to worry." Zane spoke.

"... why thanks to me?" Cole replied, finally engaging in verbal conversation.

"Weren't you the one who kept him from bleeding out for the past hour?"

Cole shrugged, leaning back in his seat.

"... I... guess."

Hurried footsteps grabbed Cole and Zane's attention, who turned to see Lloyd jogging down the corridor.

"Cole! The police really need a statement from you. Are you alright to come back down with me?" He asked, slightly out of breath as he came to a stop.

Cole turned to Zane, clearly at loath to leave Jay's vicinity, but his friend nodded.

"I'll stay here, and make sure nothing happens to him. It won't take long for you."

With Zane's reassurance, Cole felt comfortable enough to left his seat, and followed Lloyd back down the winding routes and endless staircases.

Incessant beeping. Bustling. Cries of grieving loved ones. Laughs of those gaining good news.

It all faded into nothing in Cole's head, fat too preoccupied with his own intrusive thoughts.

Even though the blood had been removed from his body, cleaned away with a dampened towel and hidden behind plain white curtains... it still stained his mind.

The image of Jay's helpless, motionless, body, burned itself to the front of his brain.

This was all their fault... and now, Jay was paying the price. Poor, innocent Jay, who'd done nothing to deserve the horrors flung upon him.

They should all have listened to him from the very start.