"Where are you now? Are you lost? Will I find you again? Are you alone? Are you afraid? Are you searching for me? Why did you go? I had to stay, now I'm reaching for you. I hear you crying softly, for the way it was before." I didn't immediately notice when things went quiet from the rest of the medbay. "But I reached and you were gone, sometimes I hear you calling from some, lost and distant shore. I sniffed wetly, hugging my knees to my chest, the pain a bitter reminder "I tried to walk together, but the night was growing dark, thought you were beside me." I sung softly, my voice quivering slightly when a sob tried to escape. But that never happened, instead, they spilled out like floodwaters, some never even touching my cheeks because of how heavy they were. Tears filled my eyes as I clenched my jaw, trying to regain control of my emotions. There was a space in my being that was empty and aching, a space that couldn't be filled again, because a certain hyper jokester wasn't coming home again. We all were still alive to fight a war for a Republic that didn't see clones as people. We were the unlucky ones and we all knew it. I listened to the sounds of the medbay, the medics attending the wounded as the wounded groaned and whimpered. I stared down at the ring on the chain in my right palm, frowning down at it as I remembered all of the good times with Hardcase. I took in a deep breath and sat up slowly, wincing when scabs and stitches pulled painfully.
When I woke, I was curled up on my side, the ring clutched tightly in my hand, next to my face.
I was thankful when darkness greeted me like an old friend and wrapped me in its embrace. I sighed and relaxed into the bed as I fingered the ring, no longer fighting the stim, and Kix continued to murmur at me. I panicked when I found my throat empty, looking around weakly until Kix slipped a cool chain and ring in my searching hand with murmured words that I couldn't make out.
I stared up at him as the hyperventilating stopped slowly, everything going fuzzy as Kix once again smoothed back my hair and I reached up to my neck.