#xande

Xande wakes to a terrible headache and a worse pain in his chest. He stares at what is in front of him for a moment, only to realise he's on his side, and that he is looking at the back of a car seat. Not a ceiling, not a car he knows either. Maybe if he was looking at a ceiling he'd feel less nauseous? The pattern on the fabric is making his head spin. There's something under his head, his legs are all in the wrong places, and something else is pressing against his ribs.

Wait.

Xande reaches out, grabbing at whatever is near his head. He ignores the sharp pain as he moves, hissing as twists it around. He does not care for the noise or the dizziness or the way his vision erupts into black and bright splodges, only for the threat. He is hurt, hurting! Something is touching him! He has to-

The thing is not resisting, and so he stops and squints and does his best to make it out.

What he finds is a familiar hand, fingers wriggling a little where they're held.

One moment as the pain floods in, and then a second…

"Gui?"

"Xande, God, Xande…"

Xande follows the arm up to find Guizo, lap under his head, hand hovering near his face and camcorder on the parcel shelf behind him. The van's first aid kit - the one Dara tosses at them just before they split up - is on the floor between his legs, open and spilling out bandages.

Memories filter slowly back in - the group had split up while looking, Chico with Dara, Lirio with Voytek, and Xande with Guizo. The two of them had found… something. His memories of the alien itself are patchy, but he remembers it pulling his skateboard out from under him. He beat back as good as he was given, but… at some point, it must have been too much.

He puts his fingers to his forehead, and finds not blood but bandages there.

Head injury, bruises, maybe broken ribs…? Something else about his chest? He looks back to Guizo, whose expression is… stressed. Worried? He's not supposed to look worried. The relief when he makes brief eye contact is better.

"The alien-?" Xande glances at the door of the car, scowling as he tries to think.

It's… he's pretty sure it's not their car? He doesn't remember a car like this. But the fight had been near an emergency exit. He thinks. Maybe? Hurts. They're on the wrong side of the building for the van, but he can see a door into it. He thinks? Everything is kind of fuzzy, and no matter how much he blinks or how carefully he breathes it refuses to clear up.

"It's dead. You kept it busy long enough for me to explode its brain," Guizo pats his camcorder twice, before tugging on Xande's shoulders. "But… how are you feeling, man? You should lie back down; Dara will yell if you're sitting up when she gets here."

"Dara's coming?" Xande does as he's told, and stares up at Guizo for news. Last he knew, the walkie-talkies were jammed by… something? He thinks? Maybe? Did someone fix it? He's not sure… his head hurts. A lot.

Did he hit his head? He probably hit his head. It was all concrete inside.

Guizo laughs, and it sounds definitely nervous, "of course that cheers you up! Yeah, she's coming. I managed to get you back and patch you up. Walkie talkies started working again about… a few minutes ago? Lirio broke whatever was jamming them. Dara's heading back to help, but she was pretty deep into the place so it could be a while."

That's… a bit more information than Xande wanted, especially now he is comprehending the headache he has. He tries to wriggle and get more comfortable, only for every little movement to make everything ten times worse. He groans, and Guizo grabs at him.

"Hey, don't move, Xande, lie still! You'll make things worse."

Xande isn't sure how he can make things worse - he's already dizzy and in pain and wants to be sick - but Guizo sounds scared and there's nothing he can beat up, and he's not sure he could even hold his bat if there was something right now, and he really really really wants to throw up.

So he stops moving, and stays still on Guizo's lap. No sooner has he done so than Guizo is grabbing more things from the bag, and pressing onto his chest again.

It kind of hurts, but not so much that Xande will interrupt his concentration for it.

… But then Xande has a sudden, horrible thought, and he /will/ interrupt Guizo for that.

"Gui?"

"Still here. What do you need?"

"Are you hurt?"

"No, no I'm not hurt."

He isn't? That… Okay that's good. It's good that Guizo isn't hurt. He doesn't like it when Guizo is hurt

"Wait!" Guizo shouts, before Xande realises that Guizo is capable of lying. "I should let Dara know you're awake."

One of the hands is gone again, soon replaced by the crackle of one of the walkie talkies.

It's a bright blue sort of noise. Sparky. It's not helping the headache.

"Hey, it's Guizo. Dara? You there?"

It takes a few seconds for anyone to reply. When Dara does, it's clear even over the shitty connection and with Xande's headache that she is out of breath. "Guizo! Is everything okay? I'm coming as fast as I can, just there's a lot of stairs. I'll be another ten minutes, can you manage that long?"

There's a hint of despair in her voice; Xande reaches for the walkie talkie, taking it for himself.

Or, well, he bats his hand around near it, and Guizo passes it over.

"Hi Dara." He says to her, just as soon as he's worked out where the buttons are.

"Xande!" A moment, and she sounds a bit better afterwards. "Thank God, you're awake. Guizo you should have started with that! After what you said last time! How are you feeling, Xande?"

Said last time? Just how bad is it? He looks up at Guizo, who is pointedly ignoring him.

Fine. Xande has a headache anyway; Guizo can deal with himself.

"Hurts," he tells her. "Feels dizzy."

"I'll be there soon," Dara promises him. "It'll all be okay, I'll be there soon… Tell Guizo that now you're up to give you two of the pink pills from the back pouch of the medkit, there should be some water there too. It should help a bit, at least until I can see you."

"Pink pills, back pouch," Guizo repeats back, turning to search the bag. Xande calls that a suitable reply, so doesn't bother with more words.

"Stay awake, and listen to Guizo," Dara keeps talking to Xande instead. "I've got to go, running and talking isn't really working for me. I'll be there soon."

She sounds… Bad.

"Sorry." Xande can, and does, apologise.

"We get hurt, it happens. Ten minutes, okay?"

"Okay."

Dara stops talking then, only for Lirio to make use of the connection instead. Xande decides he can ignore that one - it's probably for Chico anyway - in favour of sitting up. Guizo does not object this time, though his hands slow Xande down. He would bat at the hands, but… he's dizzy. Really dizzy. They're nice. Almost convince him he won't fall, even after they're gone and it's just a slightly wrecked car seat keeping him upright.

Guizo is quiet as he hands him the pills and a bottle of water. Xande takes them, swallowing the pills then sipping at the water. It helps a little with the nausea, so long as Xande takes it slow and doesn't think about it. He gets dizzier the longer he's upright, though. He doesn't like that. But that's okay. He doesn't like thinking right now.

Two thirds of the bottle later, Guizo still hasn't said anything. It's weird.

"You're being weird."

"I'm trying not to hurt your head more, idiot."

Xande does slap him for that one. Guizo pretends that it hurts - pretends that Xande manages more than a flail in his general direction - before moving to touch him again.

Always touching him right now, especially his chest.

"Stay sat up, or lie down again?"

Oh good he doesn't have to ask; giving into the dizziness Xande flops back down to the seat, making sure to land his head in Guizo's lap even as he tries to find somewhere more comfortable for his legs. This time he is on his back, not his side, watching a combination of the roof and Guizo's face.

"Better?"

"Better."

Guizo…

Guizo takes a deep breath, and then things bubble over.

"… Shit, man, you scared me; that was a lot of blood, and you weren't waking up, and I was out of ashes, and there was alien sludge all over you! I managed to get you out, and I picked the locks to get us some protection at least, but… But-"

The fear in Guizo's eyes is genuine; Xande does not want to hear this.

He doesn't want to see the tapes later, either.

"Sorry," Xande tells him, more of habit than anything.

"Nah, it's fine." It isn't fine. Guizo is scared. It isn't fine. "What else was I going to do? Leave you? I wasn't going to do that."

Xande could point out that maybe he could have not been the idiot who got knocked off his own skateboard, but if Guizo /says/ its fine, it's something to worry about and practice once his head stops hurting; maybe Lirio will be up for trying to tackle him off it.

Either way it's fine. Dara's coming, so it's fine. More importantly, Guizo says it's fine, and if Gui says it's fine, it's usually either sort of fine, or everyone is dead, and he doesn't feel very dead.

Cold, and dizzy, and sick, and ow, but not dead.

"You could have," Xande tells him.

"Nah, I couldn't," Guizo replies. "You're my best friend, I couldn't do that too you."

"Sap."