Zack groaned, sitting up. 

It hurt to breathe. It felt like he'd been stabbed in the lungs several times.

... Oh.

Remembering the events of whenever he was last awake (how much time had passed??), he shuddered. 

Looking to his side, he noticed Warren, covered in bandages, sleeping with his head oat the edge of the bed. Reaching out, Zack gently poked him.

"Mmmpghhhmmn..."

Zack giggled at his husband's disgruntled grumble. "Hi."

Warren looked up, then launched himself at Zack for a hug.

"Whoa, how long was I out?"

Warren stared at him. "However long I was out plus four days."

Grimacing, Zack looked down. "Might be a good idea to just tell May we were on a business trip."

"She rescued us. She knows what happened."

Zack's ears went down. "Ooohh..."

Warren shoved his head into Zack's arms. "Give me attention, you've been asleep for too long."

Zack giggled, playing with Warren's hair. "Speaking of May, where is she?"

"She's with the Harrisons," Warren mumbled. "Shade's back at school, he recovered pretty quickly."

"If you want to sleep, you can."

"You jus' woke up.."

"You're tired. Go to sleep."

Warren sighed, then relaxed in Zack's arms.

Zack sighed, staring at the ground.

One good hit with her knife, and I was down. She used me as a gambling chip...

His ears went down, and his tail stopped wagging, hanging limply off the bed.

Shows just how bad of a hero I am.

Setting his head on top of Warren's, Zack shook away the bad thoughts.

He was the happy one of the family, the loud one, right?

He needed to be strong, for all of them.

Willing his ears back up, he forced a smile onto his face to practice, then fell asleep.

For having slept for four days, he was exhausted.

——————————

Now we know some of the inside problems of Zack and Warren.

Sadly, they're guys, and they're also heroes. They're supposed to be symbols of strength, supposed to be stoic and in control. They're the alphas.

This mentality has caused them both to hold back problems they have. Behind closed doors, they're just as weak as the rest of us.

All the heroes are.

People never seem to recognize that hero work is dangerous and sad. Imagine you have water magic. You go to a burning house. It's too late, the people who lived there are already dead.

You could have saved them.

You could have protected them.

You failed to do your job.

The people don't care, they still celebrate you because you saved so many other people, but the screams of the few people dying haunt you for the rest of your life.

You're supposed to be the strongest person around, but on the inside, you wish for everyone else to know you're just as weak as them. You're supposed to smile every day, but you're the only one who knows you're faking it.

It's a sad reality for them; they're painted with fame and glory, but they know they've failed, and lives they could have saved were destroyed, and they couldn't be brought back.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

See you in the next one.

Bye.