Saviour

In hindsight, she realized it probably wasn’t the best idea to climb up on a thirty-foot scaffolding in the blazing sun with a fear of heights. In the moment, she hadn’t even thought about it. She wanted to see the whole crowd, so she climbed. It wasn’t until she reached the top and instantly got dizzy that she started to regret it. Her voice faltered and she glanced down and saw her bassist and best friend, Leila, staring up at her and looking concerned. She took a step downward and instantly felt the urge to throw up. In that moment, the sun felt extra hot, and the world felt extra whirly, and consciousness slipped away from her. Her limbs splayed out in all directions and she vaguely heard people screaming. She didn’t feel the impact on the stage, something she was very grateful for later.

It wasn’t until almost a whole five minutes later that her eyes slowly slid open again. There were a ton of people right over her and it made her anxious. Pain flooded through her entire body and ripped holes in her stomach and head. Blood pooled inside her mouth and she wondered for a minute if she was dying. She tried to sit up, but someone gently guided her back down.

“Why the fuck aren’t the medics here yet?” a frantic female voice that she vaguely recognized as Leila screamed from somewhere above her. She couldn’t see anything; between the blazing sun beating down on her and the pain throbbing through her body, her vision was blurred almost completely.

“Leila! What happened?!” asked a deep male voice that Aidan also vaguely recognized but couldn’t quite place.

“She fell. She climbed the scaffolding and she fell. Something cracked. Maybe more than one something. She’s bleeding everywhere and the medics are taking forever. I don’t know what to do!” Leila frantically exclaimed, and a moment later, a very blurry pair of bright blue eyes appeared right in front of her face.

“Aidan? Can you hear me?” the male voice asked, and she tried as hard as she could to nod. He seemed to recognize the movement, because a moment later he continued talking. “Can you move at all? Try to move for me, okay?” he said, and she did. She sat up slightly very slowly, and he made a noise in his throat. “Okay, your back’s not broken or anything like that. That’s all I wanted to know. I’m going to pick you up and carry you to the medical tent now, okay? Is that okay?” he asked, and she tried her hardest to mumble a small ‘yes’. A moment later, his arms were wrapped around her and he was hoisting her up carefully. He held her gingerly and she pressed her head into the crook of his neck for comfort, not even registering the fact that she was getting blood all over his shirt.

When she finally woke up again, it was six hours (and two surgeries) later and she was in a brightly-lit hospital room. Her head was extremely fuzzy and it took her a minute to figure out where she was and once she did, it took her another minute to remember why she was there. Once she figured everything out, she assessed the damage. There was a cast on her right arm and splints on three of the fingers on her right hand, both of her legs and her left foot were ridiculously bruised, her right foot was wrapped in thick bandages, there were thick bandages wrapped around her torso, and reaching up with her good hand, she realized that there was also a bandage wrapped around her forehead. She wasn’t in anywhere near as much pain as she thought she should be, and then she realized that she was probably on pain meds. Her whole body felt foreign and stiff, and she found herself hoping that the whole day had been a dream.

Suddenly realizing how big and empty the room was, she started to panic. She reached over with her good arm and pressed the call button three times. Moments later, a middle-aged doctor with a nametag that read “Dr. Marks” walked in holding a clipboard.

“Ah, Ms. Bower. It’s so good to see you awake. How are you feeling?” he asked her, and she did her best to give him an ‘are you fucking kidding me’ look.

It took her a minute to find her voice, and when she did, it was raspy and sounded like it hadn’t been used in a year. “I’m… I’m okay I guess. I don’t really feel anything. What’s the damage?” she asked, not really knowing if she wanted to know the answer.

“Well, it’s a long list. You broke your right arm in two places, you broke your pinkie, ring, and middle fingers on your right hand, you fractured your right foot and have some pretty bad bruising on the other foot and both legs, you broke two left ribs and two right ribs, and finally you hit your head pretty hard, but luckily it didn’t turn into a concussion or even worse, a fractured skull,” he rambled off, and she felt her eyes growing wide at the long list.

“Am I… am I okay though?” she asked quietly, and he nodded.

“You’re fine. You won’t be up on stage singing anytime soon, but you’re fine,” he said, and she instantly felt a protest rising inside her. She had to get up on stage. She absolutely had to. It was her band’s first time on Warped Tour. This was their big break, and if she didn’t sing, they might not ever get another big chance.

“I have to get on stage. I have to,” she mumbled, and he shook his head.

“I wouldn’t advise it,” he said, and she decided not to push it anymore with him. She didn’t care what he advised. She would be getting back up on stage.

“Now,” he began after taking a few notes on his clipboard and looking back up at her. “It’s after visiting hours and normally I wouldn’t do this, but since you’ve just woken up, I will just this once. Would you like Mr. Biersack to come in and visit with you for a while?” he asked, and she was instantly confused. Mr. Biersack? At first she had no idea who he was talking about, but then it hit her. Andy Biersack. The frontman of fellow Warped band Black Veil Brides. That was the deep voice she’d heard when she fell, and those were the bright blue eyes she’d seen. He was the one who’d rescued her.

“Oh… yeah, I’d like that a lot,” she said once she’d put it together.

The doctor gave a short nod and then left the room. A few minutes later, there he was. Tall and slim, short dark hair, and those bright blue eyes. He walked in silently and sat down in the chair next to her bed. He was very obviously still wearing the shirt he’d had on earlier; it was stained from top to bottom with her blood. He studied her for a moment and then when he seemed to be sure that she was okay, he grinned at her.

“Hey,” he said, and she tried to grin back, but she didn’t do a very good job.

“Hey yourself,” she replied quietly. She really had no idea what to say to him; they’d really only ever talked at most a handful of times before. Plus the fact that she’d had an intense crush on him since the second she’d met him because he was absolutely gorgeous and one of the most genuinely good guys she’d ever met. She’d been making jokes with Leila for weeks about how he was going to be hers someday, even though she knew that probably wasn’t true. It was just a joke, but now that he was sitting in her hospital room, now that he’d possibly saved her life, that joke was all she could think about.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Oh… I’m okay, I guess. They must have me pretty drugged up because I don’t actually feel anything,” she said, and he chuckled.

“Yeah, been there. A few years back I had a similar but less lethal flying experience myself. You’ve definitely got more battle wounds than me though, all I did was break some ribs,” he said, and she felt herself getting more comfortable around him by the second. He was just one of those people that made you feel good when you were talking to them.

“I’ve got some of those. Four, actually. Also a broken arm, some broken fingers, a fractured foot, and a nice big head bump,” she said, and Andy clapped shortly a couple of times.

“Bravo. You fucked yourself up pretty well,” he said, and she chuckled and nodded slightly.

“Thank you, thank you,” she said dramatically, and he laughed again. They were silent for a few moments, and then it dawned on her that she was being ridiculously rude by not thanking him for possibly saving her life.

“By the way, I just really wanted to thank you,” she said, and he cocked his head to the side.

“For what?” he asked, seeming genuinely oblivious.

“For kind of saving my life earlier. Who knows what would’ve happened if you hadn’t swooped in and played knight in shining armor,” she said, and he shrugged slightly.

“I do love a damsel in distress,” he said with a smile that made her want to melt into a puddle.

“Seriously though. I might’ve bled out right there on that stage if you hadn’t gotten me to the medical tents, so thank you. A lot,” she said, and he shrugged slightly again.

“Don’t even mention it. I was walking by and I saw you lying there, and I just couldn’t leave you. You looked so small and helpless and scared and I knew I had to help you. I would’ve hated myself if I hadn’t,” he said, and again she wanted to melt into a puddle.

“I’m sorry I ruined your shirt,” she said, and he glanced down at it as if he hadn’t even thought about it.

“I hated this shirt anyway,” he said, and she nodded sarcastically.

“Sure you did,” she laughed, and he laughed with her.

They sat there for ten more minutes laughing and talking together. She felt like she’d known him her whole life, and told him so, to which he responded with the same sentiment. At about the twenty minute mark, a pleasant enough nurse came in and gently told him that it was time for him to go. He wrote his phone number on a small pad of paper next to her bed and told her to call him the next morning when she woke up, and she promised she would. He turned to walk out of the room, but when he reached the door, he abruptly turned back around and strode back over to her bed. Once beside her, he leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek.

“Feel better,” he whispered, flashing another giant smile. He turned again, and with one last wave, exited the hospital room.

She lay awake after he left, thinking about him and those eyes and that deep voice. She looked at the piece of paper he’d scrawled his number on and realized he’d quickly doodled a princess hat with the word ‘damsel’ underneath it, which made her beam from ear to ear. When she finally drifted off to sleep, her head was filled with visions of those bright blue eyes.