your l.o.v.e. is MINE for the tAkInG! (Echo)

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Instead of answering, he collapsed to the ground. Being a bird, he had forgotten about his wound, but now the pain flooded back into him.

[~echo~]

"We need to get you to a hospital," Rhea said, her seriousness returning quickly. Luckily, they'd landed not too far from one.

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

He blinked up at her. His vision was already starting to go dark. "I don't... I'm not sure I can make it."

[~echo~]

Rhea shook her head, beginning to feel panicked. "You have to. I'll carry you if I must!"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"You might... have to..." His eyes fluttered shut and then snapped open again. He couldn't keep them open. What was the point? He could hardly see anyway.

[~echo~]

Without answering, she hefted him up and started dragging him to the hospital. She made it there and gave him to a nurse. From there, she went outside, morphed, then flew uo to the top of the hospital.

[~echo~]

Bump

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

(Oops, sorry!)

The first thing the nurses did, of course, was remove 'John's' mask. A few hours later, he was stitched up and drugged up, laying asleep in one of the hospital beds.

[~echo~]

(No worries.)

Rhea walked into a hospital and walked up to a desk. "Do you have someone named... John?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

The receptionist frowned at her. "Honey, we have a lot of people named John here. We'll need a last name."

[~echo~]

"I.. I don't know. I don't know what his last name is. He was brought in, oh, maybe three hours ago."

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

The woman sighed. "Do you know what he was admitted for?"

[~echo~]

"Bullet wounds. Lots of bullet wounds," she said nervously.

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

The receptionist looked surprised, but started typing on her keyboard. "The only person we have admitted for bullet wounds in the last three hours is a man by the name of Torren Bates. Sorry, but no John."

[~echo~]

It felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Rhea clutched the desk tightly, trying to stop the world from spinning. "Torren. Oh, my God. What room number?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"216," she replied.

[~echo~]

"Thank you." Rhea practically ran to the elevator, pressed the button and arrived upstairs a moment later. She rushed to Torren's room and went inside without knocking.

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

The room was empty, other than Torren sleeping in the bed. His face was pale from the blood loss, but he looked peaceful.

[~echo~]

The mask was on the bedside table and that was the only confirmation that Rhea needed. She sank to the floor, scared to death that he would die.

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Torren made a soft sound and cracked his eyes open. He didn't see her at first, mostly because he was too caught up in the fact that he was in a hospital. Slowly, what had happened came back to him and he groaned. He hoped Rhea was okay.