Verdigris sat with Rixs in their room, in a bean bag chair in the corner. Dino hadn't come back to the room. Rixs had her arms around his neck while he had his arms around her waist. With her head on his chest, Rixs could hear how heavily he was breathing. Not only was he worried about Nitrous, he couldn't stop thinking about the fight from a few days ago.
She looked up into his eyes, her hand going to his cheek. He looked down at her with gratitude in his eyes, as he turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm.
"You can't blame yourself." Were the first word said after such a long silence.
" how can you say that? One of my major decisions as the leader of this team was the fight with them, without question. And because of that it cost one of my teammates a limb and quite possibly her life" Verdigris's voice was thick with grief and regret. " I'm not fit to be a team leader if I make such rash decisions"
Rixs stretched up to his face, kissing the corner of his mouth. " you made a decision that everybody thought was right at the time. Hindsight is 20/20."
Verdigris shook his head. " even if you can say that it wasn't my fault for getting into that fight it was still my fault that Nitrous lost her leg. If I hadn't made that beast serum for her to use she would have had all of her aura.
Rixs looked at him, puffing out her cheeks. "Verdigris Julian Dartmouth, at this point it becomes a guessing game. If you didn't give her that serum, who's to say that we would have made it out of the fight with the deathstalker. You have to be confident that every decision you make in the moment is the best possible decision." she cuddles close to him "I trust you. After everything that's happened in my life it's hard for me to truly really trust someone. You are the kindest smartest man I've ever met. I trust that every decision you make, on the battlefield or not, is the best decision that you think you can make in a situation."
Verdigris stop for a moment to think about everything she said and to reflect on the situation. Giving Nitrous the serum definitely gave them the upper hand in the fight against the deathstalker. At the time and made sense to try to subdue the opposing people and then ask questions. He looked down at the tiny Fox fanus sitting in his lap. Sure she was feisty but she's had so many terrible things happen in her life. And at the end of the day she was just as human as he or Nitrous or Dino. But she trusted him. Dino trust him. And Nitrous trust him. And he was going to make it his goal to never make them down his trust. He looked down at her. " hey Professor Alistair told me that nitrous was in stable condition and that we could visit her. how about we go to see her?"
"That sounds perfect." Rixs tapped his nose
Downstairs in a hospital bed in the infirmary, Nitrous laid in the bed still asleep. She hadn't woken up since on the airship ride back to Haven. Dino was sitting right next to her holding her hand tight. It had been 3 days since he left her side. His usually clean and slick pompadour was a disheveled mess. Any makeup he had on had faded off at this point. His eyes were puffy from crying and bloodshot red as the entire time he did been crying he had fail to take out his contacts. Even now light streams still came from his eyes and small whimpers escaped his mouth as he held her hand tight.
Verdigris and Rixs were shocked when they came into the infirmary room she was being kept in. "Whoa dude you look like a trainwreck." Verdigris said plainly. The two of them also immediately grab their nose as their enhance fanus senses kicking in.
"And you need a bath too!" Rixs grabbed him by the sleeve and was pulling him out of the room
"nonononono I can't leave her what if she wakes up?" Dino pleaded as the door closed
Verdigris sat down in a chair next to Nitrous the he heard a voice.
Looking up he saw Nitrous looking as him. "N-N-Nitrous." Her name was the only thing that would escape his mouth as he was on the brink of crying
Nitrous let out a weak laugh. "Hey there gassy. No need to cry over little ol' me."
Verdigris looked at her " Nitrous I'm so sorry. It's my fault you're like this. If I had been a better leader I could have realized how strong they were. If I were a better fighter you wouldn't have had to come and rescue me. If I was a better scientist that serum wouldn't have eaten through your aura and you would have been able to protect your leg."
Nitrous shook her head weakly. " It's not your fault, I don't blame you. Sometimes bad things just happen if you knew all of those things I knew them as well. I knew my aura was gone. I thought I had an upper hand so I was reckless. I have no one else I can blame but myself." she looked at him with tears in her eyes "You're the best damn leader I could ever ask for."
Verdigris quickly jumped up wrapping his arms around her gently and hugging her close crying into her shoulder. Nitrous wrapped her arms around his shoulder crying into his as well. This stood there hugging and crying for a moment before Rixs and Dino walked back into the room. Seeing a Nitrous awake, the two of them ran over to her with tears in there eyes. The four of them stayed huddle together for what felt like forever just crying and holding each other.
