Summary: It all came crashing down. And here we are, sitting on a pile of ashes.

I wake up in an ambulance. It isn't moving, so I guess my fall wasn't that bad. Couldn't be worse than the last time I fell down those damn stairs. My head's still ringing though. 

I blink, trying to clear up my vision. Everything is foggy. I'm not sure whether it's because of the concussion I got from bouncing down the stairs like a slinky spring, or tears still lingering in my eyes after seeing Naomi with her parents. 

It's better not to think about it right now. I should instead think of getting up, which I attempt to do. 

And I'm immediately stopped by pain, all over my body. The bruises I earned on the rooftop met a whole pack of new friends, and these are a mean fucking team. I grunt and hiss through gritted teeth, raising myself on my elbow. 

The paramedic - a tall, thin deinonychus - starts. He heard me. He turns then sticks the upper part of his long self into the back of the car. Oh hey, it's the same guy from earlier. 

"My dude, you should be careful." He smiles sympathetically. "I didn't put you back together for you to crack yourself like an egg." 

I snort at this remark. Egg. He'd go mental if he was there to see me tumble down those stairs the previous time. I wish there was a pretty dino chick tending to me right now though, not a wise-cracking smartass of a medical student. 

I shrug, which makes me wince. He shakes his head and gently lays me back down. 

"Egg, huh?" I mutter. "I may look like one, but I'm tougher than any damn egg." I chuckle softly, looking up at him. 

He smirks, then turns his head to someone coming from the side. I look up from where I lay and see Blue, leaning inside with her hand on the edge of the door. She looks down at me, then at the medic. She pinches the bridge of her snout and sighs, shaking her head. 

"We're taking him to the hospital." My new best buddy informs her. 

She looks up immediately, her eyes stabbing daggers at him. 

"The commissioner wants him in the station." She says, looking down at me again. 

I shrink away a bit. Facing Ripley, especially after walking in on him when he was at his weakest, does not sound like a good time. Nope. No. Nu-uh. I ain't gonna do it. Fuck off. 

"I hope the commissioner will be ready to explain himself if the witness dies of a brain injury." The deino crosses his arms, looking at Blue intently. "You've seen him tumble. He hit his head at least three times on the way down." He looks at me. 

I reach up to my head and feel around a bit. Indeed, there are bandages. And a lot of 'em. Fuck yeah, my ticket away from Ripley. A temporary one, sure, but you make do with what life gives you. Or however that saying goes. What matters is that the old man will get a chance to cool off before ripping into me. 

Though, I don't think there ever will be enough time for him to cool off, not after what happened. 

I shiver, recalling him rocking Naser in his arms. Fucking hell. Will he ever recover from this? I hope he doesn't go after me for what happened. It wasn't my fault. It was Fang's.

Or was it?  

I scowl at this thought. 

Of course it was, you fucking idiot. Did you steal her father's gun? Did you go to school and cap Naomi, Naser and the others? Naomi was a bitch and a half, and Naser always stuck his snout where he shouldn't, but neither deserved to die like dogs. 

She'd cap me too if she didn't run out of lead anyway. But, at the same time, she looked so shocked, so surprised to see me there. And when I saved her, she cried so goddamn much, so fucking loud- 

"Fine." 

The word comes out of Blue's mouth like a crack of a whip, snapping me out of the muse. I look at her. She's gripping the door and pointing at my new friend. 

"I'm coming with you. Got to make sure you don't fuck it up." 

"Like you guys fucked up stopping this?" He points with his head to the side. I don't have to see to know that he's pointing at the bodies. "Almost half a hundred cops, and you can't take out one angry kid with a gun?" 

Blue tenses up, and so do I. My hands clench into fists, so tightly that I can nearly hear my knuckles pop. I ignore the pain.

This motherfucker… If I wasn't all banged up, I'd kick your fucking ass to kingdom come. 

I glare at him with the force of a thousand suns, a glare which unfortunately goes completely unnoticed by either of them. I add a frown and a leer for good measure. 

At the same time, Blue's head shoots towards him, the tip of her snout stopping mere inches from his. He doesn't move, doesn't even flinch. He just looks at her, calmly and composedly. 

"You're walking on thin ice, dickhead." She hisses. "What the fuck do you know about our procedures, huh? Fucking lab coat wearing…" she pauses and snarls with an audible hiss. 

He shrugs, not flinching, even when she bares her teeth right in front of him. Ice-fucking-cold. Must've seen a lot. I stay silent myself. Don't want to get between a pissed off dino cop and her target, even if he's in my sights too now. Being tussled is not high on my to do list at this moment. 

"You getting in or not?" He asks. "You waiting for a fanfare?" 

"Bah!" She pushes past him and hops in. The springs creak slightly under her weight. 

They creak again when the deino joins in at her side. He slams the door shut and pats the wall of the van. 

"Step on it, Markie!" He calls out. 

The engine comes to life, and so does the siren. I just lay there, trying to be as still as possible, trying to ignore the pain, trying to not look at either of the dinos stabbing each other with their glares. I can't help it though. My eyes wander to the paramed, and I glare at him with burning anger. 

Angry kid with a gun . You goddamn son of a bitch, if you knew the half of what she's been through, you'd spit those fucking words out immediately. Fuck you. 

The ambulance turns sharply, jostling me to the left. I grab onto the carrier as it veers into the wall. The impact never comes, as the deino grips the cart and holds it. He turns to Blue. 

"We need to strap him up. Give me a hand." He turns to the driver. "Careful, Markie, we've got a live one here!" 

"Fuck's sake, Kurt, make up your damn mind!" Is the response. "I either drive fast or carefully, can't do both at once!"

So the dickhead now has a name. Kurt. Kurt Dickhead. 

I stare at him as he and Blue strap the cart I'm on to the wall. He ignores me. Probably thinks I'm still dazed, in shock or something. Good. Gives me a plentiful opportunity to leer at him without consequence. 

"We couldn't just have taken her out." Blue mutters as they tie the straps up. "She's the commissioner's daughter." 

"And that gives her impunity from bullets?" He shakes his head. "Some fucking justice." 

I can't fucking stand him anymore. I stare that motherfucker dead in the eyes and speak up. 

"You're talking about my girlfriend, asshole. Watch your fucking language." 

He starts, blinks, stares at me for a few moments, stiffens, and finally, slowly nods. Shock mingles on his face with compassion, the two emotions fighting for dominance. That lasts for several seconds before the latter wins. 

"I-" he takes a slow breath. "I apologize." His jaw set, he looks away, shame plain on his face. 

Blue looks down at me disapprovingly, which is checked by a hell of a lot of brevity. There's a twinkle of compassion in there too. Good to know that she feels for me, even if a tiny bit. 

Most of the way to the hospital passes by in silence, broken up only by the radio chatter in the driver's cabin. Most of it is related to what happened at school, though I do catch something about a car accident. Codes and names swirl in my poor concussed head, kicking up the familiar whirlwind of confusion. 

Alone with my thoughts, I give in to misery. 

Fang killed. She killed many people. Why? Obviously, the prom was a disaster, and she went mental when I spilled the beans about Naomi's scheming, but to go on a rampage like that? Hell, if she just found Naomi outside the school and took her out, I'd gladly take the blame. 

Like hell you would. - a tiny voice in the back of my head speaks up. - You didn't even have the balls to speak up when her bandmates shot her ideas down. Take the blame! That's rich!

I grit my teeth. My chest tightens. Shut the fuck up, conscience. I'm trying to think here. 

My thoughts turn to Stella. And Rosa. Fuck , fuck, fuck. They can't be dead, right? They weren't enemies with Fang, I think. They got along with her quite well actually. Or, she liked them somewhat.

On the other hand, Trish and Reed were supposed to be her best friends, and from how panicked Trish was, Fang was out for their blood too. And Reed wasn't even at school. Where the fuck is he? Why didn't he try to stop Fang? 

Why didn't Trish fucking do anything? 

I refuse to believe that Fang didn't send them that fucked up song verse. She trusted them, why wouldn't she warn them? Then why? Why did neither of them do anything to stop this? 

I push Trish and Reed out of my mind. Fuck them. I try to think of Fang, but the mere thought of her, crying herself into a stupor in a cold police station cell is enough to stir up a soft sob in my chest. 

Blue starts. Kurt looks at me, startled. I turn my head away from them, bruises be damned. Fuck, don't fall apart now, not in front of Ms. Up-tight and Mr. Wise-crack. 

Fang, oh god… why? Why did you do this? 

Stella comes up in my mind again, along with Rosa. Now Stella is a white mound, Rosa crying over her body. Now Rosa lies under the sheet, while Stella weeps. Now Stella. Now Rosa. Stella. Rosa. Naomi. Naser. 

Fuck, Naser… You didn’t deserve this. You were a good kid, man. A damn good kid.

I put my hand over my face, fruitlessly trying to stop the tears welling in the corners of my eyes. I choke back another sob. My whole body tenses up in a sharp burst of pain, but I don't give a fuck. 

I can feel the eyes of the two stooges on me. I suck in the air through clenched teeth and tense my body up to trap the sobs and stop the trembling. The pain is good. Real fuckin good. Takes my mind off the dark thoughts. 

What, you two clowns want a show? Fuck off. 

The ambulance jolting to a stop rips me out of my musings. I hear Kurt jump to his feet the moment the van comes to a halt, Blue following close behind. I don't see much of what happens then, my sight fogged up by the tears. Blurred shapes, colors. I focus on stopping myself from crying to try and tune out everything. I'm doing a damn good job at both fronts. 

Voices and sounds flood my ears the moment the staff wheels me inside. There's frantic activity all around me, patter of feet, crying, yelling, moaning, rattle of wheels. A busy day. I wonder why. 

I hold my face in my hands as I'm left somewhere. I don't know where. Nor do I care. 

One voice, rising over the hubbub, makes me start. 

"An-on, ¡gracias a Dios!" 

I look up, look towards the source of the voice and see Rosa, eyes red and swollen. She rushes towards me and throws her arms around me. I stiffen up, grunting. Damn fucking bruises. 

She jolts back with a gasp, her hands at her mouth. 

"Perdona, no era mi intención!…" she stops, wipes her eyes with her forearm, clears her throat and speaks up again, much more calmly this time. "I'm so glad you're unhurt, chico ." She tries to smile, but falters almost immediately. "I thought you…

"Rosa." I interrupt her. "Stella, how is she?" My voice falters, the mental image of the stego twitching on the floor stirring up a wave of nausea. "Is- is she…" 

She bursts into tears, burying her face in her palms. I can only see her snout, sticking from between them. 

No. No, no, no, fuck! I didn't like Stella all that much. She was one hell of a weirdo, but that didn't warrant a fucking execution!

"She's… she's fine." Rosa takes a short, shaky breath. 

Until the end of my days, I will never be able to put into words how much relief this sentence gave me. I don't know why. Stella isn't a dear friend to me, nothing like Naser was. Maybe it's the knowledge that someone you know has had a close call with a gruesome fate and escaped unscathed. Or some similar bullshit. 

Either way, it feels nice, knowing that that pear colored oddball didn't end up in a body bag. 

"She's unhurt, actually. Not a single bruise. Dios del cielo, protege a esa estúpida…" She swallows and coughs. "She… she's with a psychiatrist." She leans against my stretcher. "Can I stay with you for a while?" 

I nod. 

"Y-yes." I sit up and scoot to the side of the stretcher. 

Fucking hell does it hurt. But I don't give a shit. 

She hops on next to me. For a time, we watch doctors and nurses rush by, a mixed crowd of humans and dinos. Some of the nurses are wheeling patients, some carry armfuls of medical supplies. Doctors issue commands, shove nurses aside, it's a pandemonium. 

At one moment, I feel Rosa's head, resting gently on my shoulder. Her hair flows down my back. She sighs shakily. I look at her. She does not reciprocate the look. 

"She and Fang met at the school today." She mutters. "The last thing she said she remembered before running was begging her to stop." 

My eyes shoot wide open. 

"Raptor Jesus…" I mumble. "That must have taken a lot of courage." I shake my head. "Stella never struck me as…" 

"As brave?" Rosa smirks through dried up tears. She shivers and shuts her eyes. "Eso fue estupidez, no valentía." She mutters out angrily. 

"Stupidity and valor often go hand in hand." 

Autist. The fuck you're doing, quoting Claw of Duty. Idiot. 

Rosa smiles. 

"Huh. Well put, Anon." 

Oh, Rosa, if you only knew.

"Anon Y Mous?" 

I look to my left. A dark green triceratops in a doctor’s uniform, holding a document pad, is looking at me expectantly. I sit up straight and nod. Rosa moves away from me and looks at the doctor too. She then looks at me. 

“I’m doctor Evan Jones, I’ve been assigned to look after you.” he writes something down. “Come with me, we need to run some tests.”

I nod and hop off the stretcher. 

“What tests?”

“We’ll start with an MRI.” he smirks reassuringly. “We need to know if everything’s alright up there.” he taps his temple with his pen. “Come.”

I nod and give Rosa a short wave. She nods and smiles at me. 

“Give Stella my best wishes.” I turn and follow the doctor. 

For the next couple of hours, I followed him all over the hospital. It's a cycle - I follow him to a doctor's office or a lab, he leaves me there, I get the check-up I need, he takes me someplace else. Rinse and repeat. 

I wouldn't exactly say that I enjoyed it - I was all banged up, which made moving around a bitch and a half - but I gritted my teeth and endured. It kept my mind busy. It kept me from thinking. A welcome reprieve. 

Jennifer hangs around the hospital in the meanwhile, checking on me from time to time. She even brings me a cup of coffee. 

She tries to put on an air of indifference, but at the same time, she keeps bothering the nurses and doctors, asking about “when will he be good to go”. She’s quite nervous about it. I almost pity her. Almost. 

She does work for the enemy. 

Doc Jones does not take too kindly to this. After I think the fourth time Sarge Blue started pestering him about me, he put his foot down. 

“This can not be rushed.” he told her off. “If your superiors shall take issue with my modus operandi , they are free to reach out to me here. That is my final say in the matter, so please.” he gave her the meanest death stare. “Stop bothering the staff.”

She stared at him for a few moments before deflating and apologizing. She then gave me a sidelong look and fucked off somewhere. I don't care where. As long as she isn't here, I'm not reminded of Ripley. Of the big scary, pissed off ptero who absolutely fucking hates me. 

Of Ripley cradling his son's body.

Fucking hell. 

"I'll need to take a look at the results." Doc Jones tells me late in the afternoon. "Nurse, take this young man to the lobby." He whips his head towards a young stego passing by. 

She stops and looks at me, waiting.  He looks me in the face. 

"Do you need someone to talk to? I can get you a psychologist." Evan proposes. 

I shake my head. 

"I'm fine, doc, thanks. But I'm bitchin' hungry." 

He smirks.

"There are some snack machines in the lobby." He points towards the end of the corridor.  

I nod.

"Thanks, doc." 

He nods back. Then, he's gone, leaving me with the stego. 

"Follow me, please." 

The corridor is almost silent. Only a few nurses, going about their business. The frantic activity I watched with Rosa slowed down somewhat. There is only a muffled buzz of sound, coming from somewhere within the hospital, voices and noises melding into a kind of a murmur. 

I start down the corridor and, following the nurse, arrive at the lobby. It's almost empty, with only a couple of dinos sitting here and there. Huh. Must be a different part of the hospital than the one I've been wheeled through. 

I get a candy bar and a can of soda from the snack machine and sit down to enjoy my sumptuous meal. As I crunch down the sugary goodness, I start brooding. 

Where will it all lead to? Fang will surely get a life sentence. Does this county have a death penalty?

I shake my head. Don't fucking think thoughts like this. You want to start crying in front of strangers again?

To take my mind off things, I whip out my phone and start mindlessly browsing the web. 

I may be seriously retarded. 

Every news site I visit is overflowing with the news about the shooting. Of course it is. The same goes for YouSnoot, Cavebook, Grabbit, it's everywhere. Even the certain online forum for the world's angriest irishmen isn't safe from it. Fuck, there's even a megathread. 

I go in, out of sick curiosity and regret it immediately. Of course I'd fucking regret it, but I paroose it anyway. 

Photos of bodies, clearly taken by some of the cops and paramedics. There they are, the corridors. The blood. The body bags and bullet holes. 

Among the sea of shock photos and edgy comments, one reply chain catches my eye: 

 

A good dicking would have calmed her down. 

 

>wanting to fuck a meteor dodger

Couldn't be me

 

You ever fucked a ptero? That pussy grips like a gorilla. 

 

Motherfuckers… 

I tap on the first post of the chain and start furiously typing away, intending to tell that dickhead to go fuck himself with a cactus. I don't get far, too angry to come up with something coherent, so I give up and watch as more and more people in the thread join in on dunking on Fang. Fuck them. Fuck them all. 

This ain't your first rodeo. - the tiny voice in my head speaks up. - Not so funny when someone you know is on the receiving end, is it?

I lock the phone with an angry grumble and nearly throw it down, but someone's hand clasps around my wrist mid-swing. I look up. 

It's Rosa. She looks concerned. 

"Calm down, Anon." She lets go of me.

I let my arm fall onto my knee. With a shaky  sigh, I start rubbing my temple. She sits next to me, takes my hand in hers and sits in silence, while I digest the emotions swirling like a hurricane inside my head. 

 I'm shivering. My hand shifts from my temple to my face. I squeeze it, feeling my eyes get all watery. Am I going to fucking cry again? Why am I such a wimp today? 

"How-" I swallow slowly. "How's Stella?" 

"She's sleeping. Doctor gave her some pills." She shifts in her seat and sighs softly. "Her madre came in half an hour ago." I feel her shiver and squeeze my hand. "How about you? Estás aguantando?" 

"Huh?" I wish I knew Spanish.

She sighs again. 

"Are you okay?" 

I smile bitterly. 

"What does it look like?" I mumble. My voice is wet and weak. Fuck, I'm going to cry. "My gee eff committed mass extinction, my bro is dead, people who I thought were my friends for the past six months hate me, and to top it all off, Fang's father-" 

I grit my teeth and clench my jaw shut. Keep that long tongue of mine on a short leash. Real fucking short. She made enough bad memories today to last her a lifetime. No need for me to add to the pile. 

"He wants to interrogate me." I swallow down my tears and turn to her. "As if I caused it somehow." I smack my knee. 

Rosa says nothing. She only squeezes my hand that little bit harder. I sigh through clenched teeth, and with a shaky voice, I continue. 

"Fuck, of course I did." I turn to her, letting my hand fall away from my face.

She leans away slightly, her eyes widening. There's so much compassion in her eyes. Why? Everyone were fucking right about me. That old bastard and that purple trike, everyone. I don't deserve any consolation. 

"I was a piece of shit of a boyfriend, and a selfish dickhead, but I didn't…" I swallow again,  putting my head down. My mouth is wet, my eyes are wet, my face is hot, my lips squeezed together. 

She says nothing. The grip of her hand growing to the point of being painful is the only indication of what she's feeling. She's completely still outside of that. 

"I didn't make her do it, did I?" I look at her, pleadingly, beggingly. "Did I? Please, Rosa, tell me is-" I clench my jaw, trapping a sob in. "Is this my fault?" 

Her jaw quivers, her eyes are wide open, she's staring at me as if she's seeing me for the first time in her life. 

And then, before I know what's happening, she's cradling my head against her chest. Her hair falls over us both. That, her shaky breath and the slow, hard beating of her heart is what finally breaks me. 

I start crying. No, weeping. Bawling like a fucking baby. Tears flow from my eyes in thick streams, while I cling to Rosa, my body wracked by sobs and trembles. She holds me tight, firm as stone, rocking me slowly back and forth. 

I weep. I weep for Naser. For Naomi. For Stella. For Rosa. For all those other poor sods.

I weep for Fang. For her the most I think. Oh, my sweet, sweet girl. You didn't deserve any of this. I didn't deserve you. Why was it me whom this world put on your path?

For how long was I crying? A minute? Ten? Half an hour? I don't know. But, it felt good. By the end, I feel lighter, as if a huge weight was lifted off my chest. In a way it has been. 

I cling to Rosa for a time, until the last of my sobs die down and I can sit up. I look her in the eyes. They're full of tears again. But she's smiling. It's a calm, reassuring, warm smile. I give a shaky smile back and nod, finally pulling away from her fully. 

"Thank you." I mumble and swallow wetly. "Sorry for the dress." 

She looks down. Her dress is drenched in my tears. 

"Está bien, estúpido, estúpido niño." She waves me away, looking away for a brief moment. She breathes in and out, then turns back to me. "It was ruined already anyway. I'm just glad I could help a friend." She puts her hand on my shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze. "You'd do the same for me, An-on." 

I'm not sure about that, but I know better than to bother her with my bullshit. I nod and wipe my face with my forearm. 

"You know it." I chuckle. 

A friend . Neither Reed nor Trish ever called me that. I was a skinnie , a bro . But never a friend . Maybe I stuck with the wrong fucking crowd the whole time.

"Rosa! " 

Rosa's head whips towards the door. She gives a quiet cry and jumps to her feet, then runs, crying and laughing, into the arms of a very large, very tough looking and very relieved dark yellow ankylosaur. 

"¡Papá! ¿Dónde está mamá?" 

"Está de camino. Llegará muy pronto."

I watch the two reunite with a soft, warm smile. Rosa's dad squeezes her against his wide chest in a hug that would shatter the bones of any lesser creature.

The only effect it has on her though is a burst of relieved laughter, mingled with plentiful tears.

If only my parents gave that much shit about me. Not a call, not even a text since morning. 

As if to answer my thoughts, my phone starts buzzing. I check the screen. 

 

INCOMING CALL

REED

 

Better late than never I guess. 

I scowl and answer the call. 

"Dude, are you okay? I saw you on TV-" 

I scream, cutting him off. 

"Where the fuck have you been, Reed?! Do you have any fucking idea what happened?!" 

He's silent for a long moment. It's a tense silence. 

"I-" he swallows hard. "I've been out cold, dude." 

Of fucking course he was. Goddamn druggie son of a bitch. His friend screamed to him for help, and what did he do? Take enough carfentanil to knock himself out for two and a half days.

"Is Fang okay?" 

His voice, tensed up, worried and what's the most important, fucking sober , brings my train of though to a screeching halt. I grip the phone so hard that my hand starts to hurt. Well, more than it already was, bruises and all. 

"She shot up the school, you damn junkie!" I scream. 

Heads are turning towards me now. I don't give a shit. 

"Your friend is making the worst mistake in her life and you're cooking your brain with that carfe shit?!" I grit my teeth, inhaling sharply through my nose. "Some fucking friend you are!"

"Dude-" 

"Fuck you!" 

I end the call with a nasty leer, throw the phone into the chair next to me and grip the sides of my head. The damn phone starts buzzing again. Fuck you, Reed. I'm done with you. And when Fang hears of what you were doing when she needed you, she will be too. 

I look up and see Rosa. She's pale. 

"Anon-" 

"Not now, Rosa, please." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Fuck me…" I shake my head, my eyes clenched shut. "Some friend, huh?" I let out a short, shaky, angry chuckle. "He and Trish can fucking go to hell." I mumble, clenching my fists. 

My legs are shaking, my hands are shaking, fuck, my whole body is trembling in a silent, cold rage. That piece of shit… I better not see him today, or I'll kick his ass. Break his arm or something. And kick him in the head for good measure. Dickhead. 

I look up. Rosa still stands over me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her dad, watching me as well. I shake my head and throw it back, pressing myself into the backrest. 

Can this day get any worse? 

The loud, familiar thud of heavy footsteps answers me almost immediately after this thought materializes in my brain. I close my eyes. I don't want to look. I don't want to see that old bastard. 

But I hear him, loud and clear. He's coming from the left. He's exiting the corridor. Now he's coming towards me. Rosa steps aside. I hear his breathing above me for a few seconds before it gets lower and closer to me. There's a hint of wetness to it. He must've been crying very recently. 

"How are you, kid?" He asks, his voice coming from right in front of my face. 

"I'm waiting for the results." I reply, surprisingly calm. "Doctor said I cannot leave the hospital before they arrive. Ask Sergeant Blue, sir." 

He is silent for a moment. 

"I did speak to her." He finally says. "And I've decided that I will wait with you." 

Fucking wonderful. 

"No offense, sir, but what happened at the school is more important-" 

He cuts me off with a soft hiss. 

"It's being attended to. I want to make sure that you don't run off somewhere." He takes a seat next to me. 

What, is he going to talk about how he wants to murder me, like he did the first time I came to his house? What the fuck is his problem? I didn't fucking kill his son. Why won't he talk to Fang, since she's the one who did it? I know he despises me, but what's with the obsession? 

That and many other thoughts twirl around in my brain like snowflakes in the wind. I try to tune out the giant of a ptero sitting right next to me, but I simply cannot. His presence alone makes me shiver. I shouldn't be trembling this much, especially after what I saw today, but I cannot help it. I'm simply terrified of the guy. 

My phone starts buzzing. Fucking hell. 

"Someone's calling you." Ripley says. "Are you going to pick up?" 

"It's that drug addict." I mutter. "Reed." 

I can almost see him tense up upon hearing me say that. Fuck. 

"Reed is a good-" 

"How can you say that, sir? He didn't try to stop Fang from doing what she did." I interrupt him angrily. "He chose to get high on carfentanil instead of stopping Fang-" 

He hisses again. 

"Her name…" he leans towards me. "Is Lucy, you ape-faced son of a bitch." 

I shrink into my seat a bit. But nothing more follows, so I continue. He seems to be listening. 

"He decided to drug himself into a stupor, while Lucy…" my voice falters. "Did what she had done. How can you say that he's a good guy while he did what he did, sir?" I grip the armrests of my chair. "And Trish? Lucy warned us from coming to school today. And neither Trish, nor Reed did anything to stop her." 

He tenses up again. I can almost feel his beak brushing against my face. Don't open your eyes. Don't open your eyes. Don't open your motherfucking eyes. If he sees your fear, it's over.

"And what did you do?" He asks.

I grit my teeth. What did I do? You dense motherfucker. 

"I saved her fucking life!" I open my eyes and look right at him. "That's what I did! Reed didn't show up, Trish didn't do shit, only I did something!" 

He leans away slightly, clearly surprised by my sudden outburst. But that doesn't last. His face quickly contorts back into the familiar leer of contempt and disgust. 

"You atoned for the damage you have caused." He sneers. "And even that is debatable ." He accentuates the last word with a clench of his fist. 

Ah, there they are. The alerts, my old friends. 

I do my best not to shiver, which involves flexing the whole of my body. Painful. But I can't let him know that he has any advantage over me. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rosa with her father and mother. Upon hearing me and Ripley, her face twists into a myriad of grimaces, none of them pleasant. She takes a step towards us, ready to open a can of verbal whoop ass. 

No, I can't let her be dragged into this.

I give her a hard look. Don't interfere. It's between him and me.  

She stops. For a couple short moments, on her face, I can see a struggle. The need to stand up for me mingles and pushes back against the fear of repercussions from doing so. Her body shivers in suppressed anger, her fists clenched tightly, her eyes stabbing daggers at Rip.

Finally, she relents. I just barely catch a sad sigh from her as she turns back to her parents. Her father is looking over at us both, while her mother pulls her into a single-arm hug.  

It's fine, Rosa. I got this. Your folks are more important than some loser from bumfuck nowhere.

"What damage?" I turn back to Rip.

"You've seen what happened." His eyes bore into mine, the ptero unfazed by my feeble attempts to keep my composure. "I shall determine your role in all this."

What, you're gonna put me in jail for being a shitty boyfriend? Fuck off, you fossilized turd. 

On second thought, he may actually be able to do that. Who knows what connections he has in this city. Not to mention every high class son of a gun I met here having a mean case of casual racism. Sentencing me would probably be nothing but a simple formality. 

Stop shivering, damn coward. Don't. Shiver. 

It's a good thing he didn't walk in on me while I was crying my eyes out in Rosa's arms. I'm sure he'd get the most wrong idea possible and cuff me up right there and then. And, while I am, and forevermore will be grateful to Rosa for the support, I don't feel like spending the next few days in a police station cell because some asshole of a fossil had a whim. 

"And I'll be very fuckin' glad to clear my name, with your help, sir." 

He frowns, but says nothing. At this moment, I hear doctor Evan walking into the lobby:

"Ah, commissioner, you finally arrived. Have you seen mister Mous?" 

I lean forward, so he can see me from behind the mountain of a man sitting next to me and wave to him. The triceratops gestures at me to come over. 

Fuck, finally. I can get away from that- why is he standing up? Wait, is he coming with me? 

Doc Evans frowns. My paleness and the look of uneasiness I can't quite manage to stamp out must've alerted him how I feel about this whole situation. 

"Mister Aaron, your presence will not be necessary." 

Ripley stops, but only for a brief moment. 

"I need to keep an eye on him." He puts his hand on my shoulder, forcing me to take him along into the corridor where Doc Jones waits.

I wince. Fuck, why is he squeezing so hard?

Doc Jones meanmugs Ripley. And man, that's a nasty fucking leer. Even the old man is impressed, so impressed in fact that his grip on me loosens. I, of course, immediately take the chance to slip away and almost jog towards my hero and savior. 

"And that involves scaring and abusing him after he," Doctor Evan motherfucking Jones rips into the Executioner . "Went through a traumatic event and hurt himself?" He shakes his head with a look of disapproval. "I know what happened to your son, commissioner..." 

Ripley growls through clenched teeth. Suddenly my legs stop working. Weird, that.  

"You have my sincerest condolences." Evan lowers both his voice and his head. "But please, act how it befits a chief of police." He looks up at him again. "Not like a common street thug." 

Is every medical practitioner in this city an ice cold bastard? Raptor Jesus on a dancing pole. 

Ripley's silent for what feels like eternity. I can feel his eyes, stabbing, ripping into my back, while I attempt to keep my composure - which involves standing as still and rigid as a statue. 

"Don't take too long." The old cop finally says. He's calm, but it's a thin veil. I can almost hear the seething rage bubbling underneath. "He's a vital witness." 

"Then I hope you won't abuse him during the interrogation." Doctor gestures to him to leave. "Because believe me, I do have the means to stop you if that shall be the case." 

Note.txt has been successfully created. 

"I will treat him how deserves to be treated." Ripley says, coldly and harshly. 

Don't cower. 

"If it means continuing your current modus operandi -" 

"It doesn't." Ripley interrupts him. 

Yeah. Okay. I bet he'd love to beat the answers out of me - literally. Not that he'd have to, but something tells me that he'd still test his nightstick out on me for the hell of it. 

"I'm glad to hear it." Evan repeats his gesture. "Now leave, please. I have something to discuss with my patient. " 

One moment there's a serious killing intent behind my back, the next it's gone. In the silence of the corridor, my ear catches a couple curses muttered by Fang's old man, of which fucking trigger is the least vicious. 

I deflate completely - panicked breathing, legs turn to jelly, I need to lean against the wall not to fall. I'm shivering as if in a fever, and my stomach must've done a dozen barrel rolls in the last thirty seconds. In short, I feel like screaming. 

Doc Jones is unfazed by the barrage of insults. Well, mostly. After Rip leaves, he sighs and shakes his head. 

"Poor man. He lost his son today, and to his own daughter." He looks at me. "Don't think badly of him. He's not in the right state of mind right now."

No shit, doc. You should get a Nobel prize for that discovery. 

"I saw him cradling his son's corpse." I mumble out before I can bite my tongue. 

Evan takes a step back. He stares at me with wide open eyes for a moment before composing himself and clearing his throat. 

"I…" I swallow - or at least try to - through a clenched throat. "I get what he's going through. But he's still fucking scary." 

He nods, putting his hand to his crest 

"Yes, mister Aaron can be overbearing." He clears his throat again. "But, we need to discuss your test result. Come with me." 

I follow him to his office. We enter, he points to a chair and I sit down. I glance around the small, yet neatly furnished room. Shelves filled with books, two filing cabinets in the corner, a clock on the wall.

"Now, your results." He opens a folder. "They are within norm…" 

I wince, my chest tightening. Fuck, I'll have to go with Ripley then. 

"...But I would like to keep you here for a few days, for observation." He parooses the papers. "You don't seem to be hurt badly, but you hit your head a couple of times, not to mention, those bruises will make it next to impossible for you to move for several days." 

I nod, a wave of relief washing over me. It must be quite clear on my face, since he nods and closes the folder. He puts his elbows on the desk, puts the tips of his fingers together and looks at me over this little makeshift bridge. 

"What about Rip-" I pause. "About mister Aaron?" 

"I will talk to him. He's a reasonable man, I'm sure he'll understand." 

No. And no. 

"Now, I'll call a nurse." He reaches towards a desk phone. "She will lead you to a room. I recommend that you go and lie down." he presses a button and puts the receiver to his head. "Those painkillers you got earlier will start to wear off soon."  

I nod along to what he says. Doc, you literally saved my life at this moment. 

A minute later, there's a knock on the door. 

"Go." Doc Jones nods at the door with his hand. "I will come and check on you shortly." 

"Thank you, doctor." I slowly stand up. I turn to the door, but hesitate. "Uh, doc?" 

"Yes?" 

"There's a girl in this hospital, a friend from school." I look at him over my shoulder. "Can you, uh… see, if she's doing alright?" 

He murmurs and nods. 

"What's her name?" 

"Stella. She's a stego." 

He writes it down on a piece of paper. 

"I'll try and see how she's doing. Now go." He repeats the nod. "You had a very long day, Anon. Go and rest." 

A very long day indeed. The longest fucking day in my life. 

I exit, and indeed, there's a nurse waiting for me. She takes me the opposite way to the lobby. 

I soon end up in a hospital gown, alone, in a bed. The room is nothing special, a bed, a tv on the wall, all the basic amenities. Feels like home. Though, the food's probably gonna be much worse. 

Doc Jones was right. The painkillers start wearing off not too long after I lay down. First, numb throbbing, creeping from my limbs and spreading slowly all over my body. Burning and pinching follow shortly after. I can't even lift a finger without my whole fucking body tensing up in pain. 

Good. I can focus on that. Not on Naser. Not on Naomi. Not on the white mounds. 

Not on Fang. 

I blink and look to the side. There's a nurse at my bed, and the good ol' doctor. They're putting me on a drip. Funny. I didn't even feel the needle go in. What's another bruise in a sea of those? 

"Easy there, Anon." Doc puts his hand on my shoulder as I start stirring. "Sleep." 

I do sleep. And it's the best damn sleep I had in a long time.

 

***

 

I awaken to Rosa by my bedside. 

"Rosa?" I try to sit up.

Nope.avi  

With a grunt, I fall back down onto the sheets. She starts, her hand at her mouth. She jumps to her feet, and before I can stop her, she's already outside. 

" ¡Enfermera, enfermera! " 

"Oh for god's sake, Rosa… I'm not fucking dying over here!" I protest. 

Though, as the memories of the last four days start seeping back into my consciousness through the mists of grogginess, I start to think that being a dead man doesn't sound all that bad right about now. At least I wouldn't have to think about… everything. 

Fuck. 

The nurse rushes in, soon followed by doctor Evan. I raise my hand and shake my head at them, smiling through the throbbing pain. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Rosa's overreacting." I give a shaky thumbs up. 

Fang flashes in my mind. Fang, slipping and falling as she tries to get off the prom stage. Fang, trashing my apartment. Fang, coming back the next day. Fang, with a gun. Fang, gunning down everyone. Fang, screaming into my face as we fall to the roof's floor. 

Trish, screaming at me. Naomi, in a body bag. Ripley, cradling Naser's body. Bodies, blood, bullet holes. Naomi's mom, screaming. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Clenching my eyes shut, I look away from them both. I'm crying again. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. At least I'm not bawling like a child this time. A manly, silent cry, yeah. That's it. 

"I'm sorry, I just-" I inhale sharply. "Sorry, just give me a moment-" I grit my teeth, my breath quickly growing short and panicked. "Oh god, oh god, oh god!" 

My vision starts blurring. My heart starts racing, pounding against my ribs like a drum. Shivers grip me, along with waves of cold and hot crashing through me in tandem. I start smacking the sheets, crying and laughing, both at the same time. A panic attack. I'm having a fucking panic attack. 

Two pairs of hands suddenly grab me and hold me down. One of those pairs is Rosa's. Even through blurry eyes, I can see that color had left her face. She's pale orange now. And her eyes are twice their normal size.  

"Nurse, midazolam." Doc Jones orders. "Quickly!"

Pain in my arm. I thrash around for I don't know how long, before, gradually, pain, anxiety, fear, trembling - all stops. My breathing calms down, my body relaxes. 

I think I blacked out. When I open my eyes, it's early evening. Rosa's sleeping at my bedside, her head resting on my hand. I don't move. Don't need to wake her up. She looks so calm when she's sleeping.  

"How strong was this stuff?" I mumble to myself. 

I hear the door slip open. Looking there, I see a twenty something ptero in a t-shirt and jeans slipping inside. He notices that I'm not out cold anymore, and he freezes mid step. There's a camera dangling from a strap around his neck. 

Don't fucking tell me he's a journo. 

"Are you Anon Y Mous?" He asks in a whisper, glancing at Rosa, shifting in her sleep. 

"Who the fuck is asking?" I murmur angrily. "How the fuck did you get in here?" 

"Paul Claude." He fiddles with the camera nervously. "Volcaldera Times." 

A fucking journo slipped into my room, cloak and dagger style, not even expecting me to notice him. I nearly recoil in disgust at this realization. 

Fucking vulture. Something tells me he won't be the last one. How did he find out I'm here?

"Get the fuck out." I glare at him, long and hard. "I am not giving you an interview. Nor allowing photos. Get the fuck out." 

He steps back, surprise clear on his face. He fiddles with the camera again, looks at me and gives a stifled, nervous chuckle. I simply keep looking at him. It's enough to make him squirm. Good. Dance, dance for me, you fucking worm.

"I'll give you ten seconds to skedaddle the fuck out of here before I wake up half of the hospital wing." 

He takes a step towards the door. Another nervous chuckle escapes him, the shaky laugh making my blood boil. I move my hand, not even thinking, intending to flip him off. Why is it so heavy? God damnit.

Then, I hear Rosa stirr. I freeze. The journo freezes. We both stare at the ankylo raising her head and rubbing her eye.  

"¿Hm? ¿Anon? ¿Estás despierto?..." She trails off, seeing the journo, frozen in place, mouth open wide in surprise. 

All hell breaks loose. Rosa jolts up, going from groggy and sleepy to full awake and absolutely nuclear within a blink of an eye. She rushes at the ptero, arms waving, face red from anger, teeth bared, tail swishing. I think that maybe I should try and stop her, but nah. I'll just enjoy the show. 

"¡HIJO DE PUTA! ¡FUERA, FUERA, FUERA!" She grabs him by the shirt and shoves him outside.

Between her shouting and the sounds of him madly trying to scramble away from the orange fury, I hear my own chuckle.

"SI TE VUELVO A VER POR AQUÍ, ¡TE METERÉ ESA CÁMARA POR EL CULO!" Rosa shouts, her voice echoing in the corridor with a force of an active volcano. "¡FUERA! ¡FUERA! ¡FUERA!" 

I erupt into a loud fit of wheezing laughter. Oh god, how I needed that. Rosa, you absolute treasure. 

She soon returns, slamming the door shut on her way in. Her face still red from anger, she shakes her fist at the door.

"Hijo de puta…" she grumbles, her tail swishing angrily from side to side. She looks at me and starts, seeing me in a fit. "Anon, are you okay?" Her anger is gone in an instant. 

"I…" I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye. "I'm fine. Fucking hell, Rosa, I hope you didn't kill him." 

She smirks, puts her hands on her hips and leans forward slightly. 

"I kicked him in the ass for a head start." She nods slowly, hearing me snicker. "Good to see you in better humor, chico ." 

"I have you to thank for that." 

She snickers. 

"I'm glad I could help." She sits at my bedside. "How are you?" 

"I'm better than before." I rub my neck. "Though I think I'll be having nightmares for a long fucking time." I shut my eyes with a sigh. 

She squeezes my hand. Rosa, whoever you'll marry, he will be the happiest son of a bitch in the world. 

"How long will you be here?"

"A couple of days." I lay back onto the pillows. "Doctor said that they'll need to make sure that uh, I don't have brain damage or something."

She nods. 

"He's the first." I nod at the door, behind which the minor pandemonium Rosa's outburst started, was slowly dying down. 

"I'll keep you safe from those buitre." She flexes her arm. "I'll tell the doctor too. You need rest, not to be pestered by those idiotas." 

I nod. Then, a thought pops into my head. 

"Do you think they'd let me see Stella?" I pause when she tilts her head. "Or let her visit me. We'd keep each other company. You can't sit here all day." 

She rubs her lower jaw. 

"I'll go ask her tomorrow. Now sleep, chico." She pats my cheek. "You need rest." 

I do. I really fucking do. 

"Can you go ask someone to give me something for sleep?" I give her a pleading look. "Something strong." I add with a soft shiver. "I… I don't want to dream." 

She gives a short nod and leaves. She's back very soon, with a nurse and the good ol' doc. She's explaining to him what happened. He sighs and shakes his head slightly. 

"I was hoping this wouldn't happen so soon." He looks at me. "You're all over the news, young man. They crowned you a hero." 

I scoff. Some fucking hero I am. Rosa sits at her usual spot and looks me in the eyes. 

"You stopped-" 

"She was done by the time I got to her." I cut her off. "Literally. She wanted to fucking kill herself, Rosa." I look her dead in the eyes. 

She looks back at me, her eyes wide, shock plain on her face. Strangely, I don't feel like crying. I just feel numb. Spent. 

"I-" I smack the bed. "I didn't want her to die. Was it a good decision? I don't know, time will tell." 

She frowns. 

"You did good." She grips my hand and squeezes it hard. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, An-on." 

I shrug with an angry snort and look at the other two, who were just looking at me in silence, both frozen in astonishment. I tap my elbow pit. 

"I want to sleep. Out cold. Can you give me something strong?"

 

***

 

The next couple of days are a stream of faces, words and meals, all melded together into a single indistinct smear, divided by the periods of unconsciousness brought on by the strong sedatives. One event stuck out to me out of the tangled mess. 

It’s Stella, visiting me the day after Rosa showed that damn journo the door. 

She's changed. Passive and silent. And nervous as fuck. She jumps at every loud sound, and she sounds like she's about to burst into tears at any moment. It hurts my heart so fucking much to see this pear colored oddball so dejected. 

So I do what I vowed not to do and reveal my power level. Autism mode on. 

Fuck it, as long as I can take her mind off things, I don't mind. We talk and talk, spending hours discussing animes and mangas of all kinds and genres. I don't remember half of the names by the time she's gone, back to her own little room. But she looked more relaxed and happy than when she came, so that's a win in my book. 

The next day I learned from her that Fang still had ammo when they met.  

"S-she…" she paused, gripping the sheets with her fingers. "She took a shot at me… I think." She looked me in the eyes, her own filling with tears. "I heard her hiss and then the bang…" 

Fucking hell. Well, Rosa method. 

I leaned towards her and gently wrapped my arms around the stego. She started at first, but then relaxed and pressed her snout against my chest. 

She cried, a little bit. But hearing her cry, even so quietly and for such a short time - it didn't even last a minute - was like having a spike driven through my heart. Here she was, the energetic weirdo, dejected, broken and crying. 

What the hell happened to us? 

Fang's killing spree. That's what happened . - the tiny voice in my head answered.

The rest of my stay goes by without any major hiccups. There are more journalists trying to speak to me, but the combined forces of Dr. Motherfucking Jones and Rosa hold them at bay. Good work, troops, here's a medal for your efforts. 

Ripley doesn't show his face, choosing instead to send Blue to make sure I didn't try to recreate The Fugitive in real life. Fuck them both. 

But, as much as I'd prefer that day to never come, the day of my discharge from the hospital finally arrives. 

And, of course, Ripley attends.

 

***

 

"If he goes too hard on you, call me." Doc Jones slips me a piece of paper. "The commissioner is not a bad man, he's just… rough." 

I can't put to words how grateful I am to him for this. I nod, stash the card away safely in my wallet and extend my arm. We shake hands. 

"Thank you doctor." 

He nods and waves me goodbye.  

I leave my savior behind and enter the lobby. Seeing me, Ripley gets up to his feet immediately. 

"You're out?" 

I only nod. 

"Good." Ripley nods at the door. "Follow me. We have a lot to talk about." He gives me the meanest fucking grin I've ever seen on a man, making a cold shiver run down my spine. 

"I want to go home first. Catch some sleep, sir." 

"Do I look like a goddamn cabbie to you?" He growls. "Besides, you had plenty of sleep." 

"Then I'll just call a cab and-" 

"No." He turns his head to me. "You are going to the station with me. We'll collect your  statement and you'll be free to go." The disappointment in his voice doesn't last. The viciousness is back when he continues. "But don't think I'll be letting you off the hook that easily." 

I only swallow, choosing not to speak, lest my voice cracks or falters. 

I follow him outside. It's cold, and it's raining. In the parking lot, there is a police squad car. To protect and serve , says the sticker on the front bumper. I don't think Rip believes in that, at least, not in my case. 

I was never in a cop car. Well, not in the back of one at least. Even at my peak at Rock Bottom, when I was quite a nuisance, I never got more than a harsh talk from the principal. I got a fuckton of detention, sure, but this feeling… this feeling of sitting in the back of a police car, watching a mean motherfucker leer at you through a chain link mesh as he backs the car up, this just doesn't compare. To anything. 

I feel like a convict already. Toss me them bracelets chief, I'll cuff myself up for you. While you're at it, blow my brains out so this fucking nightmare can finally be over. 

One last look at the hospital, and we're off to the station. 

Sticks and stones, here I come.