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yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy · 3 years

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Magic and Miracles and BEYOND Chapter 15

Woooo! Behold, the reignition of Magic and Miracles and BEYOND.

So, in case anyone was wondering, why yes, yes this does come from personal experience. Being in a high speed car accident SUCKS. Being careflighted from the scene and having all your clothes cut off of you, SUCKS. Having a tube crammed down your throat and being put on a breathing machine SUPER SUCKS especially when your brain wakes up and you're screaming at your body to breathe AND IT WON'T FUCKING LISTEN, SSSSUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKSSS. Having your mother, who you love dearly and your world would fall apart if anything ever happened to her be in the passenger seat with you in said accident OH MY GOD, IT SUPER DUPER SUCKS and she was just as scared and freaked out about me as I was about her. And yes my mother's ribs were broken and it took her forever to recover. Because usually if your arm is broken, you put it into a cast and you don't use it or touch it, it's fine. But your RIBS? You need to breathe! Constantly. There is no putting it into a cast and not moving, you need them to move so you can keep breathing! And it FUCKING HURTS.

Also, there is a nod to canon FFXV Kingsglaive in this too.

@the-immortal-marshal this is for you. This is your chapter. If you had not shown me the ways of the angst and I had not gone through what I have, this chapter may have never been written because I couldn't write it from experience. So, to balance all of the previous sweetness, here is- the angst, the hurt, the sorrow, the fear, the terror, the anguish and all of the wonderful- put your stomach in a knot anxiety. Enjoy.

Magic and Miracles and Beyond

Chapter 15

Two weeks later-

“Ok, we’re on our way to pick up Grandma Edie and then we’ll meet you there ok? Love you, bye.” Selena informed Ravus as she and her mom Sabrina were on their way to pick up Edith to take them to the florist to pick out flowers for Selena’s wedding and just as they were about to go through an intersection for a green light, two cars, a red brand new charger and a brand new black camaro, who had been racing each other, driven by the now graduated William Ronchester, aka Billy, the former captain of Niflheim Academy's football team and one of his former teammates- Chad Frawns, as the cars ran the red light and t-boned them, hitting the passenger side of the car where Selena was sitting and crashed their vehicle into the cars on the other side of them and thus into the cars that were starting to come in from the other side, so that it involved the already ten lanes of traffic, two lanes of traffic plus a turn lane in each direction, in the impact and carnage, Sabrina’s car got crumpled and overturned, pinning Sabrina and Selena between several other cars and upside down.

“Selena!” Ravus yelled into the phone when he heard the crash and her blood curdling scream through the phone and then the call dropped and when Ravus tried calling her back, it went straight to voicemail before he got on the app that showed where they were and rushed to his mom’s office from his own.

“Mom! Selena just crashed!” Ravus boomed as he came into his mother’s office before Sylva’s eyes went wide.

“I have to call you back.” She said into her phone as she quickly got up.

“Where? Where did Selena crash?” Sylva asked.

“At Kilgore and Stadium.” Ravus answered as his heart was pounding in his ears.

“Ok, ok, get down to the emergency room, I’ll dispatch an ambulance.” Sylva assured her son as she hit the speed dial on her phone and did just that as Ravus nodded and turned and hurried out and called Gladio.

“Please tell me you are out on patrol.” Ravus pleaded with Gladio.

“Yeah, why?”

“How close are you to Kilgore and Stadium, Selena just wrecked, she’s with her mom.” Ravus answered as he practically willed the elevator to get to the ground level as fast as it could.

“We can be there in about seven minutes.” Gladio told him.

“Dad, Selena and her mom just wrecked. We got to go make sure they’re ok. Kilgore and Stadium.” Gladio repeated to his father.

“On it.” Clarus nodded and put the sirens on and just then, a call came in about the crash over the radio before other first responders got called in as Sylva quickly got rooms ordered and readied for Selena and her mom and whoever else was in the crash as Ravus called Dorian. “Dorian, Selena and Sabrina just crashed.” Ravus informed his soon to be father in law.

“I know, I just got the call from Sabrina, they got t-boned, two knuckleheads were racing each other and ran the red light. They’re alive, I don’t know how ok they are though. I’m on my way there now, call Nyx for me, I gotta drive.” Dorian requested as he hastily left work to go there.

“Will do.” Ravus answered before he called Nyx.

“Nyx, your mom and your sister just got into a car accident. Your dad said he got off the phone with your mom so they’re both alive, I just don’t know how hurt they are.” Ravus informed Nyx.

“Where?” Nyx asked.

“Stadium and Kilgore.” Ravus answered.

“I can be there in five.” Nyx said since that was closest to his work.

“Stacy! My mom and Selena were in a car accident, I gotta go!” Nyx hollered as he literally dropped what he was doing and made a run for the back door as Libertus picked up the dishes Nyx was about to finish before Nyx had dropped them and finished them and put them out before he quickly called Crowe to let her know what had happened since it was her day off.

Ravus finally got down to the ER and logged in to see which room Selena would be going into as he could see that his mom had already registered her to a room before he heard the code, it was an accident that involved several vehicles, one was overturned and first responders were on scene as many others were rushing in as dozens of ambulances were sent into the scene.

Ravus knew from the descriptions that the red overturned vehicle- was Sabrina’s before Sylva appeared in the ER only a few moments after Ravus did as she walked them to the nurses’ station.

“Sabrina’s car is overturned.” Ravus revealed to her as Luche came only a moment later.

“I’m so sorry Rae, hopefully they’re both ok.” Luche offered as Sylva nodded as she gently moved Ravus from the computer as she quickly got in there and made more arrangements in the computer and Ravus was too sick with fright to take notice of what was happening as Luche just put his arm around Ravus’ shoulder in an effort to comfort him. Remembering how sick with worry he was when Ada had been kidnapped before Sylva put them into the room Selena would be going into to get out of the nurse’s and doctor’s way in the nurses station.

Meanwhile Tredd had suited up and came with the other firefighters to the scene since his firehouse was only a few minutes away and his stomach dropped when he recognized Sabrina’s car and he was the first one off the truck as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him over to Sabrina’s car and recognized Sabrina as the airbags were deflating and hanging down as he cut them out so he could see them easier as Selena had passed out, her limbs had gone limp as her right arm hung down, clearly broken and mangled as her left arm hung as well while her legs were pinned inside the crumpled footwell, her promise ring and engagement rings sliding off her fingers and dropping to the broken glass that covered the mangled ceiling of the car as blood started dripping from all of Selena’s right side since she was the passenger seat.

“Get her out, get her out!” Sabrina screamed as she tried to reach over to touch Selena’s left arm to make sure she was still alive because upon impact, Selena had instantly screamed and when the car came to a stop, Selena had lost her phone in the wreck but Sabrina’s was still in it’s holder on the crumpled dash which allowed Sabrina to call Dorian but after that first scream, Selena went deathly quiet and Sabrina had feared for the worst and was screaming her head off for help. Tredd cut Sabrina out of the car and with herculean strength pulled her out and into the arms of the other EMT’s who had come to her aid before other’s came as Tredd crawled into the space where Sabrina had been to get to Selena.

“Selena!” Tredd yelled, hoping to get a response.

“Jaws of life! I need the jaws of life!” Tredd called as he tried to make sure she was still alive and felt some relief when she was at least breathing and had a pulse but he could see the blood seeping into her clothes as Selena's body simply hung there from the seatbelt.

“Come on Selena, you gotta stay with me, come on baby girl, pull through.” Tredd tried to coach as his fellow firefighters came with the jaws of life and crowbars to untangle the crumpled door and side panels to get her out as Sabrina was loaded into an ambulance and immediately taken to the hospital as Tredd held Selena's neck in place and kept his fingers on thumbs on her pulse to make sure her heart was still beating.

“The car is starting to smoke! It’s gonna catch fire! We gotta get her out!” His captain hollered as the others worked on breaking her out and what felt like hours but was in reality only minutes- they got the door and body panel off before Tredd let go of her neck as an EMT secured it with a C-collar and flipped onto his back to catch Selena once her seatbelt was cut as paramedics and Gladio came over to help get her out of the carnage and onto a stretcher before she was rushed to another waiting ambulance as Tredd had rolled over and noticed her rings and quickly picked them up and pocketed them and got out of there just as the car then caught fire just as Nyx ran to the scene.

“Selena!” Nyx hollered as he ran towards them.

“That’s her brother, let him through.” Gladio and Tredd told the paramedics who let him approach.

“Selena?” Nyx asked as he grabbed her hand and squeezed but she didn’t squeeze back as Selena was strapped into the stretcher.

“She’s not responsive, I got a pulse and breathing but it’s shallow and awfully quick and she’s unconscious.” Tredd reported to the EMT’s as Gladio, Clarus and him ran with the stretcher and EMT”s.

“And these came off of her.” Tredd said as he gave Nyx the rings as Nyx simply grabbed them and put them into his own pocket before he got in the ambulence with Selena as Dorian had already gotten into Sabrina's ambulence with her as Libertus got off work and drove Crowe to the scene to pick up Nyx's truck and take it to the hospital.

“We’ll clear a path.” Clarus offered as he and Gladio left with Selena’s ambulance as the others who had come and gotten their charges from the accidents as Tredd then took care of putting Sabrina’s car fire out before he tried to salvage what he could from it, like their purses and other personal affects and sent them with Crowe and Libertus who came shortly after Selena left as Tredd told them what he found when he got there before he got called back to help with the others who had gotten invovled in the crash.

Meanwhile on the way to the hospital, Gladio called Ravus back.

“Ok, Tredd got to them first, he got Sabrina out of the car and helped pry Selena out of it. The fire department had to use the jaws of life to get her out before the car caught fire. Ravus, she’s...she’s not responsive. She’s barely breathing and has a weak pulse and she’s bleeding, a lot, Nyx is following us to the hospital. Right now we’re leading the way to you.” Gladio gravely informed him as his own tears flooded his vision as emotion choked his voice, never wanting to find his friends like this.

Ravus simply closed his eyes and winced as tears continued to stream down his face as his heart dropped and gut knotted up anxiously as he sat down in the room that Selena would be taken to once she got there as Sylva was still orchestrating all the surgery rooms if there needed to be any surgery for Sabrina or Selena as she also pulled all available nurses into the E.R. because she needed all hands on deck for the sudden influx of patients.

Sabrina was brought in first as her clothes were cut off of her as she was checked over before Sylva managed to squeeze into the room as Sabrina answered the nurses and doctor’s questions as best she could as they checked her over.

“Has anyone heard anything about my daughter? She was with me in the crash, she wasn’t responsive when I left.” Sabrina asked as tears streamed down her cheeks from inside the C-collar neck brace.

“Sabrina, she’s on her way here, Tredd pulled her out of that wreckage himself, she’s alive, she’s coming straight here, right now, just focus on your own recovery. I swear on my life we will do whatever it takes to make sure she’ll pull through.” Sylva offered as she came into view from Sabrina’s head and held her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Thank you Sylva.” Sabrina thanked her before a roar of medics barking codes at the nurses was heard. “That’s her, I gotta go.” Sylva said as she quickly slipped out of receiving room into the others and simply stood on the wall and listened closely and watched as Selena was also cut out of her clothes, quickly intubated and rushed into a CT scan as she followed and Sylva’s heart was in her throat when she saw the blood pooling into Selena’s brain and had to cover her mouth to keep herself from crying out as Selena was then rushed into surgery as Sylva herself got prepped for surgery too and made sure she had multiple teams working on Selena as Sylva was silently praying like her life depended on for Selena to pull through as she did her best to kick into doctor mode since she had more than enough adrenaline pumping through her body and mind to do so.

Crowe and Libertus came and gave Ravus Selena's purse before going to Dorian to deliver his wife's purse as well as her phone that had been on the dash before they returned to Selena's room as they, Luche, Ravus, Nyx and Luna all crowded around the computer in Selena’s room as Ravus cradled Selena’s bloodied and scratched and damaged rings in his hands as Selena's purse was between his feet as Nyx had handed them to him before Pelna, Yasmine and Stella came rushing in, Yasmine, putting her own medical coat on since she was in the doctorate program already as she, Luna and Stella poured over the medical jargon.

“I got a call from Pashmina who heard from Gladio that Selena’s in the OR.” Yasmine explained before she got around to the computer to see everything.

“Fuck!” Yasmine cursed as she read through it.

“Everyone start praying, Selena will need a miracle. She has a brain bleed, but they're trying to relieve it by going in through her arteries and pulling the blood out that way, instead of cutting her head open, a brain bleed that means blood is rushing into her skull and putting pressure on the brain, if they don’t relieve the pressure, either artillary or otherwise, she’ll either be a vegetable or could very well die. Her seventh through twelfth ribs broke and they punctured her lungs and her liver, that’s why she can’t hardly breathe and she’s inundated and she’s bleeding internally because of the punctured liver and the broken ribs punctured her side, so she’s bleeding externally and internally. But good news is her spine doesn’t seem to be damaged, so far, so yay on the paraplegia and possible quadrapalegic, we’re still waiting to see if her legs are broken or not but her right forearm is definitely broken in two places, both the radius and the ulna, compound fractures but her top priority is that brain bleed and punctured liver and lungs.” Yasmine offered as the rest of them simply wept and prayed because there was nothing else for them to do.

Meanwhile-

Selena was having the most peculiar dream, she was on a beach as she saw a really blonde guy painting a picture as two little blonde kids played in the sand, making a sandcastle with their mom but they either didn’t see her or were ignoring her.

“Selena,” the guy called her over as he smiled and waived her over. He looked familiar. Almost like a cross between Ravus and his uncle Vincent.

“Well hello there, it’s a pleasure to meet you, sit and rest a while.” He invited as he gestured to the sunchair next to him in the sheltered cabana after they shook hands.

“Your artwork is beautiful.” She praised as she saw it.

“Why thank you, no matter how many times I’ve repainted this picture, it’s never quite perfect.” He mused as he looked from the picture to the scene he was trying to paint.

“Repainted it?” Selena felt compelled to ask.

“Yup. I’ve repainted this picture many times, in more styles than I can count. But I always come back to this one, trying to make it look as real as I can, like a photograph. Like Paul Cezanne, painting his favorite mountain over and over again, trying to get it perfect.” He mused with a soft chuckle.

“Why this one?” Selena asked.

“Because this is one of my favorite memories. Ravus and Lunafreya aren’t arguing or fighting over anything, they’re getting along wonderfully. Sylva is happy and fully immersed into motherhood, the one thing she feels in her heart she was meant to do but her body wouldn’t agree. And she isn’t being pulled in a thousand and one directions, by her work, by her parents, or anything else. She’s simply present and enjoying the moment without having to always figure out and plan for the future. She always looks so young and her energy is equally so, but her soul is quite old, all the worry taxes her quite a bit. But she’ll always be my ray of sunshine.” He praised as he watched his family fondly, trying to make sure he got the hue of their blond hair just right as he mixed white with yellow with a pinch of gold and tan.

“Ravus and Lunafreya?” Selena repeated as she looked from the painting to the little kids and looked closer at them as she tilted her head and recognized them as children.

Suddenly her body felt really warm like it was getting sunburnt as the air got super hot and it was hard to breathe before the cabana stretched over both of them even more as the warmth and burning abated and it felt easier to breathe before pain started to seep into her body as she started to rock and clutch her middle like she had been kicked by a horse or something. Selena wanted to scream but she couldn’t.

“Selena, just breathe, just focus on my voice and the sound of the ocean, it’ll be ok.” He urged before the pain started to slip away again as she felt her body relax again before she noticed a strange bird nearby- chirping a beeping sound. It was kind of annoying but Selena was just grateful she wasn’t in so much pain now.

“Here, now you try.” He insisted as he handed her a canvas as a easel seemed to appear out of nowhere before helping her set up her own palette, sharing all of his paints and getting her set up before she started painting her own picture of them but one moment she could see Sylva, Ravus and Lunafreya as she looked from them to the canvas and, the next when she looked up, she could see Ravus only as an adult now, as he helped three kids build a sandcastle, two little girls, both as blonde and fair as he was, the eldest girl was only 5 or six, the other was only two, then a little boy, who looked to be about 4. He had her darker complexion and brown hair and was just darling as he was carefully sorting through all the seashells, organizing them according to size and kind while the youngest was simply squishing the soft sand between her chubby little fingers over and over again and giggling at the texture while the oldest worked most diligently with Ravus about setting up the base of the sandcastle as she pushed the sand into the bucket and drenching it and making sure the sand was dense and as solid as it could be before she dumped it very carefully where Ravus had directed to her as Selena just watched on happily before she felt a strange yet familiar weight in her abdomen as she laid back into the sunchair and noticed she was pregnant and watched as her feet were impossibly swollen as she simply resigned to enjoy the scene as she sipped on a refreshing but non alcoholic drink as she watched Ravus under his own big umbrella to shield himself and the kids from the scorching sun as it was now the artist in her cabana, the art supplies and canvases now long gone.

“Now, isn’t that a sight you wish you could make last forever?” The artist asked her as he watched the scene with happiness, pride and fondness with a bittersweetness in his eyes.

“Yes.” Selena answered happily.

“Now all you have to do is hang on, just hold onto life as hard as you can. Pain is coming, but you can endure it. If only to enjoy this. You’ll get there, you just got to endure the pain.” He advised her as Selena once again felt pain wrack her body and it felt like she couldn’t hardly breathe.

“Wait for the air, it’ll come, remember, three taps, they mean “I love you”, three squeezes, you can do it, three squeezes.” He urged her as he turned to her and held her left hand and squeezed three times before Selena mirrored the motion as air finally got pushed into her lungs as she breathed in as deep as she could before it was gone again, like it was being sucked out of her a moment later.

“Just wait, it’ll come right back. Just keep your eyes on them, just focus on them , your family, they're worth living and surviving for. The air will come. Just hold onto them. Don’t lose your focus. You have to get through the nightmare before you can make this dream a reality. You can do it Selena, I have faith in you, I’m so proud of you and I am so grateful and thankful for you to come into my family’s lives, you’ll be ok, it’s not time for you to leave them yet, not for a good, long while. Remember, I love you- three squeezes, one, two, three, three taps, one- two- three.” He insisted as he did it again as she did it back.

“Just don’t let go.” He repeated before Selena could hear yelling and machines and the beach started to fade to black as she tried to hold onto him.

“Selena, come on, pull through. You can do it.” The artist’s voice morphed into Sylva’s voice.

Sylva had been talking to Selena, begging her to pull through as she held Selena’s hand as she watched her face before Selena’s hand squeezed her hand back in a pattern of threes as Sylva’s eyes went wide as tears continued to flood her vision as a hopeful smile soon threatened to bloom as Sylva squeezed back three times, like all the times she and Victor would squeeze and tap each other in their way to say ‘I love you’ back when they first met and because Sylva had never heard ‘I love you’ spoken to her often, she had a hard time saying the words so Victor and her worked out that three squeezes, three taps, meant “I love you”. She knew Ravus knew about this, she just felt that he must have told her about this as she hopefully returned the three squeezes before Selena did it back again, over and over again back and forth.

“Atta girl Selena! You’re doing great! We’re almost done, hang on! Just hang on a little longer. You can do it!” Sylva encouraged as she kept squeezing back three times as much as she could.

“Just keep squeezing my hand, let me know you’re still there Sweetheart, listen to my voice, you’re on a breathing machine, just wait for the machine Darling, the air will come.” Sylva coached as she noticed Selena struggle to breathe on the monitors as Sylva and Selena just kept squeezing back and forth as Sylva cried tears of happiness and relief that Selena wasn’t lost mentally. Everything else could be fixed as the doctors were setting her right arm back into place as the surgeons were stitching up her sides from setting her ribs back into place and fixing her punctured liver and lung as it was a miracle that her legs were not also broken. She was almost done with surgery and Sylva had been praying the whole time for Selena to pull through and it seems her prayers had been answered.

Once the surgeries were done, Sylva noticed Selena was crying from her eyes and when she was unplugged from the breathing machine, she started gasping for air, trying to catch her breath.

“She’s breathing on her own, just let her catch her breath.” Sylva ordered.

“We’re done Selena, the surgery is done, we’re going to the room now.” Sylva told Selena as she kept a firm hold of her hand and wouldn’t let go as they kept squeezing three times back and forth.

Selena was brought back to her ICU room in the Emergency room where Ravus and Luna and everyone else was eagerly awaiting them.

“She’s ok, she’s tapping!” Sylva announced happily through her own tears when she saw them as Selena was put into place in the room.

“Tapping?” Ravus and everyone else repeated.

“Ravus you did so good by telling Selena about the tapping and squeezing in threes to say ‘I love you’ the way your father and I used to all the time when you were growing up, Selena was able to squeeze that over and over and over throughout the surgery. She’s there, we didn’t lose her. She’ll be ok.” Sylva announced as Ravus just stared at his mother in confused shock.

“Mom...I never told her about that…” Ravus confessed as Sylva let go of Selena’s hand so that Ravus could hold her hand so Sylva could get changed out of the special operating room scrubs before Selena grasped Ravus’ hand and squeezed three times before he squeezed back in kind before he completely broke down in tears by the bed as they kept doing that back and forth.

“Well then did you?” Sylva turned to Luna who shook her head no.

“I completely forgot about it, I never told her either.” Luna professed as she looked to Nyx.

“I’ve never heard of it either. Dad?” Nyx turned to his dad as everyone else looked at each other in surprise but everyone was at a loss because they had never heard of that kind of thing either.

“No, we don’t have anything like that in our family either.” Dorian shook his head no.

“But she’s squeezing it over and over like her life depends on it.” Ravus confessed before he let Dorian feel it and return it then Nyx got to then Luna got to also, all of them crying tears of happiness to feel it though.

“Maybe she’s trying to say ‘I’m still here’. Three words, ‘I’m still here’.” Regis offered.

“Oh, maybe.” Sylva allowed as she frowned.

“Selena, can you open your eyes?” Dorian asked as he reached out and wiped the tears from her eyes from the other side of her but all Selena did was scrunch her eyes shut as she continued in her labored breathing. It hurt so bad to breathe but her lungs and her body were screaming for air.

“Hey, it’s a response.” Sylva allowed as Ravus got Selena’s hand again and squeezed three times again as Selena’s toes then started tapping together like she was standing up and tapping her foot, three times.

“Yay! Her legs still work!” Dorian cheered.

“And it’s still in threes, ‘I’m still here’.” Regis insisted as he clasped Ravus’ shoulder because Regis had surprisingly been the one to offer the most comfort and support to Ravus through all of this because Regis had been through the same thing several years earlier before Dorian left to tell Sabrina the news that Selena was ok, and asked if Sabrina knew about the tapping or squeezing three times thing and Sabrina as well as everyone else was also at a loss to explain it but Sabrina was relieved to know that she had not lost her daughter and was grateful Selena made it through surgery and was still alive as she was in the next room over as her parents and siblings had come to the hospital and were currently in her room and none of them could come up with a solution either before Selena stopped squeezing and instead tried to sit up before Ravus and Sylva gently tried to push her back down.

“Selena, you’ve been in a really bad car accident, you’re in a neck brace and we need to keep you as flat as we can to make sure your spine is ok. Your right arm is broken and in a cast right now which is why you can’t move it. You also broke some ribs, they hit your lungs and your liver so that’s why your right side probably hurts as bad as it does and we had to intubate you because your ribs hit your lungs, that’s why you can’t talk. But we’re so happy that you’re alive.” Sylva informed her as Selena tried to chew on the tube itself before she got a good bite on it and just kept crying but she was able to lift her left hand as everyone turned their attention to her hand as she held up her index finger to indicate 1 then made a fist.

“One squeeze?” Ravus asked as Selena signed ‘yes’.

“One squeeze means yes?” Ravus asked as Selena signed yes again before she then held up her index and middle finger to indicate two then made a motion of two squeezes and signed in ASL ‘no’.

“Two squeezes say no?” Ravus continued before Selena signed yes again as she felt the strength in her arm start to zap but she needed to get this last bit across if it was the last thing she could do. So then she held up three fingers and slowly spelled ‘I L U’.

“Three means I love you?” Ravus asked as he smiled through his tears before he wiped his falling tears off her face before Selena reached for his hand before she found it and gave one squeeze and then three more squeezes before she gave him a pained smile.

“So it does mean I love you!” Sylva beamed.

“Are you in pain?” Ravus asked and he got one squeeze.

“How much more pain killers can we give her?” Ravus asked as Sylva came over to check Selena’s eyes for a concussion and saw the signs of a small one.

“Her left pupil is larger than her right which is a sign of a concussion.” Sylva realized before she lowered the lights in the room so that they weren’t blinding Selena before she ordered more pain meds before she went and got them herself from the ER pharmacy and came back and administered them herself as Selena took a deep, and steadier breath and began to breathe easier before she squeezed Ravus’ hand four times.

“Is four times ‘thank you’?” Ravus guessed before Selena squeezed one more time as a ghost of a smile spread on her face as she tried to blink away her own tears before she signed ‘mom’.

“Your mom is ok, she’s banged up but not nearly as bad as you Sweetie, she’s in the next room.” Dorian answered before Selena signed ‘ok’.

“Thank the heavens for ASL.” Luna murmured as she wiped her relieved tears from her own eyes as she and Nyx held each other tightly as Gladio and everyone else nodded and murmured their agreement to that before the surgeons made back into the room and gave the family updates on what they found and what they did and about how long it would take for her to heal as Selena raised her hand and pointed to the tube and made a motion to pull it out over and over again.

“How about we move her to a room and make sure she stays stabilized and then we get the tube out.” The surgeons advised.

“On it.” Sylva answered before she had the nurses help get Selena prepped for moving as Sylva also ordered for Sabrina to moved to a room too before they all followed Sylva who moved Selena’s bed herself to the elevators and up to the VIP rooms of the hospital before in a few moments, Sabrina was moved in right next door.

And thankfully once Selena moved and was stabilized and all the results came back that her spine had not been damaged and she could sit up, they sat her up and took off the C- collar and made her comfortable before Sylva helped remove the breathing tube.

“Now, very little, slow sips of water.” Sylva urged as she disposed of the tube as Ravus handed her a little cup of water so Selena could drink some.

“Thank you.” Selena thanked him as she squeezed his other hand three times which brought a little wry grin to his lips as he squeezed back three times. This was going to be their new little thing.

“Tea.” Selena requested as she winced as the way the ice cold water assaulted her throat.

“On it.” Luna practically lept from her spot on a sofa and immediately went to the cafe on that level and got four cups of hot water and two of every kind of tea they had before she came back and listed them off before Selena chose one before Luna got that going for her before Tredd came in since Stella had been texting him updates ever since she had come in with Yasmine, Tredd still in his work uniform and not looking cleaned up at all, but he was clearly still anxious and worried even though he had gotten several texts from everyone about the update throughout the rest of his shift as he was so relieved and grateful that Selena made it through while Billy and Patrick were still downstairs in the ER getting attended to as he handed Selena her phone which had actually been ejected from the car itself upon impact but thanks to it's protective case, which had taken a beating, the phone was still functional.

"Thank you for saving my life." Selena thanked Tredd as the two hugged.

"Are you kidding, the shit Ravus would give me if you had died on my watch? He would harrass me and make me pay- eye for an eye and all that shit. You would haunt me yourself from beyond the grave, I have bad enough karma as it is, I don't need any more." Tredd tried to tease and play off as he wiped his relieved tears from his eyes but his happy and relieved smile still showed how deeply he still cared.

"But you're welcome." Tredd offered lowly.

"But don't you do it ever again, I don't have that much good luck to doll out to just anyone and everyone, you got L-U-C-K-Y, lucky girl." Tredd added as Selena just snorted a laugh because actually laughing would hurt too much as she gave him a grateful and appreciative smile before Luna came over with Selena's tea.

“Thank you.” Selena managed to whisper to Luna with a grateful smile once the tea was given her as she took a sip of it with her left hand since her right was still laying on her in a cast and a sling.

“So we have some updates.” Gladio came back into the room with his dad.

“William Ronchester, aka Billy, the former captain of Niflheim Academy's football team and one of his former teammates- Chad Frawns, who just graduated in May, were the drivers of the cars that smashed into you, they were racing each other and ran the red, we have them on the cameras from the intersection, going at least 80 in a 35.” Gladio reported.

“Fucking Nifs!” Nyx, Luche, Ada, Tredd, Crowe and Libertus all growled as Craig just shook his head and groaned in frustration.

“Of course they were, Chad and Billy were always doing stupid shit like that, it’s always a pissing contest between those two.” Craig offered up.

“So that’s two attempts on the Ulrics by the Niflheim football team, by the same people, by the same, exact fucking people, great.” Luna grumbled angrily as she and Nyx had flashbacks to when that football team was hired to have it out for him.

“But the important part is both of them lived through it. As long as Selena doesn’t get any complications from any of her surgeries, she should make a full recovery.” Sylva consoled.

“Well is it too early to start pressing charges?” Ravus asked as Gladio and Clarus grinned wryly.

“No it’s not.” Clarus answered before he got Selena’s statement to add it to Sabrina’s and once it was clear that Selena was going to be ok, Nyx went back and spent more time with his mom as Dorian had done the same as they hung out as Gladio and Clarus went back downstairs to check up on everyone involved in the wreck as the other officers were at the other hospitals where the other patients had been taken to and finished the rest of their jobs as well as inform Billy’s family as well as Chad’s family of who they hit as Clarus and Gladio saw the color drain from their family’s faces as their eyes go as wide as saucers.

Ravus was adamant that he wasn’t leaving Selena’s side as Luche simply went to Ravus’ office and packed what he could from Ravus’ office so that Ravus would have some of what he needed there before Luche left and he and Ada went to Ravus’ and Selena’s apartment to get what Selena and Ravus would need for staying in the hospital for at least a few weeks and simply got their dogs and brought them to their own yard. Sasha being all too happy to play with her siblings Kona and Kahlua while Bunny simply laid down forlornly.

“Mommy’s ok. I promise, she’ll be home soon.” Luche offered to Bunny as he pet her affectionately as Duchess simply took command of the tallest level of Luche and Ada’s cat tower as Luche pet Duchess affectionately in turn before Ada went through her own tea collection to get what she thought Selena would like and once they were ready they went back to the hospital just as Sylva had ordered dinner for everyone who was left as Selena very slowly ate the soft foods that the hospital prepared for her as Sylva made sure that her pain medication was always given on time so that she wasn’t in too much pain in any one time and was of course administered the best pain medicine available.

When it was late and after everyone but Nyx and Luna went home to rest and Ravus was getting ready for bed himself, Sylva made one last check up to see if Selena needed anything before Selena simply reached out and gave Sylva’s hand three squeezes sleepily but smiled sweetly nonetheless, despite her pain and exhaustion.

“Where did you learn that?” Sylva asked curiously.

“When I was in surgery, I think I was dreaming, or in a coma, or something. I was on a beach. I was in the picture that’s in our living room. Only, it wasn’t finished yet. I saw you playing with Ravus and Luna, only they were little. And..this artist, he looked like he was a cross between Ravus and Vincent, he was painting the picture, he asked me to sit and paint with him. He said that it was his favorite painting, that he had repainted it over and over and over again, trying to get it perfect, trying to make it look as real as a picture. He said it was his favorite memory because Luna and Ravus weren’t fighting and you were there and not being pulled in a thousand directions at once, and that you just got to enjoy the moment with your kids and being a mom. He said that you were an old soul from worrying about everything all the time. But that you were always his ray of sunshine. I think my imagination built Victor. He’s the one who held my hand and told me that pain was coming but that I could endure it. He held my hand and said that three taps and three squeezes meant ‘I love you’ and we just were squeezing it back and forth and then his voice morphed into yours in surgery.” Selena confessed as Sylva, Ravus and Luna were utterly sobbing.

“That’s nothing short of a miracle.” Lunafreya cried as she soaked up her renewed tears.

“I don’t think it was your imagination. I’m pretty sure you met him in the afterlife, he always told me that- that was one picture that he would give anything to redo and repaint over and over again because it was the perfect moment and he wanted it to last forever and he was sure that he could get it perfect eventually.” Sylva revealed as she sobbed before she held Selena.

“We’re so happy you lived and you made it through Darling.” Sylva cried into Selena’s shoulder.

“Ditto, I would have lost my mind if I lost my best friend.” Luna confessed as she hugged Selena next before Nyx came over and hugged her tight before they bid her goodnight and left Ravus and Selena in peace before saying goodnight to Sabrina and Dorian who were in the next room over.

Ravus waited until it was just himself and Selena before he slipped Selena’s rings back on her hands.

“They fell off in the accident. Tredd picked them up and saved them from the wreck.” Ravus told her.

“Only Stella and your mom could have seen the great man underneath the asshole, turns out he was exactly who was needed in that moment, I owe him big.” Selena noted as she looked at her rings affectionately.

“We both do.” Ravus had to admit. “He saved your life today, I never would have thought that he of all people would have been the life saving type.” Ravus admitted.

“But he was a natural wasn’t he? From what Gladio said he saw, Tredd knew exactly what to do and how to do it and do it in the nick of time. Another moment later and I would have been toast, literally. The car caught fire for crying out loud. For as much as Tredd is a pyromaniac, being a firefighter is strangely a perfect fit and he’s a natural.” Selena murmured tiredly, but fondly all the same.

“He told my mom that he wants to become a paramedic too after what happened today.” Ravus informed her.

“He’d be good at that too. Nyx isn’t the only one with a hero complex apparently.” Selena nodded as Ravus nodded his agreement to that too.

“There was something more to my “run in” with your dad though.” Selena said as Ravus sat on the bed next to hers.

“Oh?” Ravus asked.

“When he gave me my own canvas and invited me to paint with him, I looked at the scene of you and Luna and your mom on the beach to the canvas and began filling in where the sea met the sand and when I looked back up, I saw you with not one, or two, but three children, our children while I was pregnant with number four.” Selena revealed as Ravus’ tears came flooding back to his eyes as his smile was heartbreakingly beautiful.

“Really?” Ravus asked.

“Yup, two little girls, the oldest was five or six, the younger girl was only one and a half, maybe two, the middle, was a boy, he must have been only four or so. The girls were just as fair and blonde as you are and so precious and beautiful, the boy took after me and was quite handsome himself. You were all under a big umbrella so none of you would burn, you were all building a sandcastle, the oldest was doing most of the work, gathering all the sand into the various buckets, getting them wet then draining them before turning them over in the right spot, the boy was organizing seashells and the youngest was just squishing the sand between her chubby little hands. Your dad told me that he was grateful and thankful for me becoming a part of your family’s lives and that it wasn’t my time to leave yet and that he was proud, and happy and that- that moment, with you and our kids on the beach- that was going to be my ‘want to last forever’ moment. And that I could get there as long as I held onto life as hard as I could and warned me that the pain was coming, but that I could endure it. I just had to hold on and keep tapping three times, I love you, over and over and he held my hand and we did it back and forth as long as we could before things faded to black and his voice morphed into your mom’s in the surgery room.” Selena revealed as she held Ravus’ hand and squeezed it three times as he returned it over and over again as Ravus knelt down next to the bed with Selena’s left hand in both of his as he pressed his forehead to her hand and continued to cry and mentally offer thanks for the miracle as his faith in God began to flicker back to life.

“Then that’s what will happen. It’s worth waiting for.” Ravus insisted as he lifted his head and kissed her hand as firm as he dared.

“It will be.” Selena repeated as she was fighting sleep.

“Get some sleep, you need it Darling.” Ravus encouraged before Ravus to get into bed himself, reaching out and still grasping her left hand and giving it three little squeezes as she gave three little squeezes back before the two finally fell asleep.

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