Tie It With a Ribbon

I awoke to the sound of a frantic mother and even more frantic doctors as well as a hysterical Chastity. Breathing was quite difficult, and trying to sit up proved to be a bad idea as a scream escaped my lips and my hands rushed to my stomach.

“Don’t push it!” Chastity begged, pushing me back down. “You almost died! Do you have any idea? Any idea at all?”

“No, but I doubt I’m any worse than I feel,” I muttered painfully, sitting still—until I remembered something. I ignored my pain as I tried to clamber out of the bed. “Where’s Zanzibar?” I demanded, fighting against Chastity and all of the other doctors as they pushed me back into the bed.

“Sweetie…” my mother mumbled, a sad look in her eyes.

“Mom?” I asked, my smile disappearing, though it was soon replaced by a hysterical one. “What? He’s okay, mom. He’s okay!”

“Relax, Alena, you’ve been through a lot. Let’s worry about that later, alright? Right now we’ll focus on you. How are you feeling?” She was just trying to fill space.

“No! Tell me about—I was terrible to him! Do you know what I said? What I called him? I—I need to see him! I need to tell him that I love him so, so much,” I sobbed, shaking my head furiously. “Just tell me how he is! Please…” I pressed the back of my hand to my eyes, shaking my head even more as I cried. “Please!”

My mother reached out and caught my hand, something she had never done. That’s when I broke into tears and sickly sobs. I hadn’t cried over the death of my brothers, but I cried so freely for him, the man who had changed everything for me.

“Alena, they…” She looked away from me, shaking her head as she bit her lip. “They’ve done all they can. You were actually a lot worse than him, but they got the poison out of you. He has internal bleeding and a concussion, and… He hasn’t woken up yet.” She paused again, turning to look at me. “It’s been three weeks, sweetheart.”

“Oh, my God,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face. “I said that I hated him!” I wiped my eyes. “You don’t understand—I have to go see him, before it’s too late.”

I pushed them away, and Chastity actually helped me get away from them. I stumbled across the hall, hurrying into the hospital room to see Zanzibar’s family already waiting. Salina was crying into her mother’s shoulder, and her mother was crying into her husband’s chest. Camille was holding Zanzibar’s hand, and she was leaned over the bed, sobbing into his bandaged chest. I had to look away for a moment as I noticed the bandages wrapped around his head, which had surely cracked open when he had fallen.

“This is my fault,” I whispered, my lip trembling as I watched him. He was so still, so unnatural. “If I hadn’t stormed out, he wouldn’t have run after me!”

Camille looked to me with bloodshot eyes, shaking her head sadly. “He loves you so much, Alena. He just wanted to protect you, and I just hope he gets to see that he did,” she sobbed, crying into his chest again.

Grayson stood up carefully, looking to me through the same bloodshot eyes that Camille had. “Maybe we should give Alena some time with him,” he offered quietly, taking Salina into his arms and helping Cadence up with his free hand.

Camille forced herself to stand up, and she wrapped her arms around her mother as she practically fell apart. I pulled myself towards the hospital bed, crawling carefully into it and crying into his chest as I held him close, mindful of his injuries and his unresponsiveness. I only cried more as I realized that, crying myself to sleep.

I spent a week and five days just lying there with him, praying he would awaken as I cried myself to sleep every night. My mother always brought me food, but I didn’t eat too much. Alexandros was caught and thrown back into his cell at the Den, but it offered little to no consolation as I waited for Zanzibar to wake up or for his heartbeat to stop.

“Queen Alena, we need to talk,” his primary doctor told me, a grim look on his face.

I shook my head. “No,” I begged, holding him tighter at the thought of having to let go.

“He hasn’t shown any signs of progress in a month, milady. He is only alive due to life support, and his parents had the choice of whether to keep him on it or pull the plug.” A sharp breath of air rushed into my lungs. “They don’t want to see him like this any longer—they want to remember him as the man he was.”

“No!” I shrieked, sobbing into his chest. “You can’t do this! He could wake up! He could wake up, and you’re going to kill him? I never told him I love him! I love you, Zanzibar! Please, wake up! I can’t do this without you! What am I supposed to do? Just pretend like you never came along? I can’t do that, I just can’t.” I clung to him with my weak hands, crying as I was unable to hold on as a doctor pulled me away effortlessly. “You can’t do this!” I screamed. “I am your Queen! You are killing your King… I’ll have you killed!” I wailed as I tried to pry myself free of him. He took pity, because I rushed to his side and kissed him feverishly. “Zanzibar, you have to wake up!”

I screamed and cried as he reached for the machine keeping him alive, hurling as many threats at him as I could. I sobbed into his chest as the machines stopped working, and Zanzibar took his last breaths.

“I love you so much,” I cried into his chest. “I don’t hate you! I could never hate you. And I don’t care about Monica! You’re my world, and I wish I had told you…” I took in a choked breath. “What am I supposed to do now? What? You said you’d protect me, you’d provide for me! How can you do that now? How?” I screamed, tears pouring out of my eyes. “Remember?” I whispered, pressing my ear to his chest as his heartbeat slowed. “We were going to have sixty-two children. I was going to be a mom, and you were going to be the best dad in the world!” I sobbed, kissing his face feverishly. “I just—I love you, baby. So much.”

A long, monotonous beep filled the room, and I had to pull myself away from him, I just couldn’t bear the thought of another funeral. I shook my head, sending tears flying in every direction. I moved my hand to wipe my eyes, but something caught my wrist.

“I told you it was sixty-one,” he mumbled weakly, and I froze in my tracks.

I had to look at him, just to be sure. “Is that you?” I sobbed, choking on my own breaths.

“Are you okay? I didn’t get there in time, Alena. He could have killed you,” he said slowly, wincing against pain. In his hand was the IV cord, which he had apparently pulled out.

I shook my head, biting my lip as it trembled. “I love you,” I told him, stepping up to him and kissing his face gently. “I was afraid you’d never know…”

“I already know,” he promised, scooting over despite my protests. “I missed you.”

I crawled carefully into bed beside him, ignoring the doctors as they rushed out of the room. I smiled through tears as his arm wrapped around me, and I kissed his lips softly.

“I missed you, too.” I sniffled softly. “I thought I lost you.”

“No,” he murmured, shaking his head slowly. “You can’t. I just got you, remember?”