Last chapter!

Chapter 10 – Wake

What should have been green seemed to be completely colorless. What was once soft scratched at his skin roughly and where there should have been noise was silence. Everything was silent, everything was still.

A dead world.

Damien stood, looking around in silent horror. This was not the world he wanted to wake in. Where was his lover? Where even was he? It looked like the place he usually woke, but… Different.

He looked down at the ground and found the grass dead and grey under his feet. There was no color in this world, save for one.

Red.

He lifted his hand and stared his shock at the glaring red string around his pinky finger. It led to the ground and made a loose trail through the rotting grass in the opposite direction of the river.

Toward the cabin.

He swallowed roughly and gathered himself, prepared to take this journey. He followed the string through the greyscale wilderness and was amazed to find that it seemed to shrink to match his distance, rather than leaving a long trail behind him as well.

Before he knew it he was standing at a familiar white fence and looking into a dead yard. He passed through the gate and headed to the porch without hesitation, following the string right through the front door.

There were no bloody bodies this time, though he was momentarily startled and horrified to find Pip on the floor where his mother hand been, both legs resting on the couch and face toward the ceiling. The blonde turned his head to look at him when he came in though, so he wasn't dead.

The blonde looked completely drained though; worn, tired, sad, distant. He said nothing, merely went back to staring at the ceiling.

"Pip…" Damien sighed in relief as he stepped on inside and took a seat on the floor beside the blonde, "I missed you."

Pip merely hummed, unmoving.

Damien reached out and placed a hand on Pip's stomach, "I love you…"

"I love you too." Came his soft reply, followed by a small whimper, "I… I don't even know what's real anymore and what isn't."

"I'm real. Focus on me."

Another small whimper. Pip pulled his legs off the couch and sat up so he could shift himself and lay down in Damien's lap instead. "I want more than anything for you to be real."

"I am, I swear it." He stroked his lover's hair, "You're asleep, Pip. You need to wake up."

"Noo…!" He whined, "I don't like it there. I want to stay here. I'm safe here."

"But I can't be with you all the time here. I can't spend my life here. Wouldn't you rather be with me?"

"Why can't you though? We can do whatever we want here! It's better here!"

"I know, I know, but… There's so many things I want to do in the real world. So many things to experience. I want to experience them with you."

"Why can't you experience them here?"

"Because this isn't real, Pip! This is just a world you created so you didn't have to face reality!"

"Don't yell at me!" The blonde sat up, glare marring his pretty features, "You didn't have to go through what I did! You wouldn't want to go back there either if you had! So shut up!"

The outburst silenced Damien. He didn't know what to say to that. Pip was right, in a way, but it wasn't okay to run from your problems. "You had friends."

"I had one friend. Two at best."

"Don't they matter? What happened to you wasn't Kenny's fault, but he's tearing himself apart over it. He thinks you're dead. Don't you want to see him? To tell him you're okay?"

It was Pip's turn to hesitate this time. He eventually shook his head, "You can tell him."

"No! You need to do it!"

"Well I don't want to!"

"Too bad!"

"I don't want to go back there, Damien. I hate it there. They hurt me, Damien. I don't want to go back to that."

"They won't hurt you, I won't let them. You're not alone anymore, Pip." He grabbed his lover's hand, "I'm here. Soul mates, remember? Together forever. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore."

The blonde stared at their hands silently, conflicted look on his features.

Damien continued, "Please, Pip. Don't make me live my life without you, my soul mate. We're meant to be, but it can't happen if you don't wake up."

The tears began to form then and it was obvious this was a tough decision for the boy. "What if I wake up but I don't remember you? Or I can't get back here? Or I actually get killed?"

"We'll never know if we don't try. Those are risks that we have to take."

The blonde shook his head and crawled into Damien's lap, "Hold me."

"Of course." He hugged him tightly and buried his face in soft blonde hair. He could feel him trembling slightly against him, likely crying ever so silently.

The decision should have been obvious in Damien's opinion. But, Pip was right, he hadn't experienced the things he had. It was safe here and they were free to do literally anything they pleased. But, it all seemed so hollow without risk or random events or other people or the possibility of failure or reward. The real world was scary, but it was just that; real.

Pip sat up after a moment and laced their hands together lovingly, "I'm an orphan. I hate the orphanage. Where will I stay?"

"With me. My parents can shove it. The orphanage won't even notice anyway."

"What about school?"

"You can just redo a grade. I bet they'll let you come back in January and finish your previous year."

Pip was silent awhile before slowly nodding, "Okay…. I'll try to wake up. So we can be together."

Damien smiled brightly and pulled him into another hug, "Thank you! You don't know how much it means to me. I love you so much, Pip. I want to spend every waking moment with you."

Pip hugged him back just as tightly, "I love you too, Damien."

Damien jolted awake and quickly sat up. He was confused for a moment before remembering that he was in the hospital. How long had he been out? He wasn't sure, but the nurse hadn't returned as far as he knew, so probably not long.

His eyes fell on his beloved's peaceful face. He silently willed him to twitch, blink, move, something. He squeezed the hand he still had a hold on and watched him closely.

Please…

Eyelids flickered, drawing a gasp from Damien. A pretty face scrunched slightly before brilliant blue eyes opened. They looked around in confusion before landing on Damien. "Where am I?" His voice was rough from going unused for so long.

"You're in the hospital." Damien explained gently, "You had an accident." He had no idea how much Pip remembered or if it would come back to him, but he didn't want to risk pushing. Best to just answer questions and assume he knew nothing.

"An accident? Oh, dear." He lifted his hands, which Damien had to let go of, and rubbed his face, "Well, I can't stay. I have a test tomorrow I have to study for." He sat up with some effort, but Damien was quick to push him back down.

"No, you can't do that. You need to relax. There's no test tomorrow, Pip."

"What? Why not? Was it canceled?"

"No, no… You were in a coma. It's October."

The blonde stared at him in shock, then horror, then he seemed to gather himself and calm down some, "Oh, my… Okay… Well, there goes my perfect attendance record… Oh, dear."

Damien couldn't help a small laugh. Figures Pip would be the type to put school above all else.

Blue eyes fell on him again, "Who're you anyway? You're not dressed like a nurse or doctor."

"Um… I'm… A friend from school." It hurt to realize Pip didn't remember him. But, they could rebuild. As long as Pip could see the string they would certainly be together.

"Oh, you must be new." Pip noted, nodding some. His cheeks tinted pink in a blush, "This is going to sound so weird, but I had the strangest dream, and I'm so sure I saw you in it."

Damien couldn't help a smile, "Does that make me your dream guy?"

The blonde gasped and flushed in embarrassment, an adorable sight. His eyes fell to their hands, likely looking for the strings in an attempt to comfort himself. Damien was quick to reach out and grasp his hands again, hoping maybe Pip would understand that he knew they were connected, knew they were meant to be. Blue eyes searched for a moment before another soft gasp escaped him and he looked at Damien in wonder, curiosity, and confusion, searching his features for something. The older male offered a hopeful smile, silently begging his lover to remember something, anything.

There was a long silence before Damien saw it. A sudden spark in Pip's eyes just before he gasped as though he were coming up for air after a long dive, followed by a desperate shout, "Damien!" The single word was enough to make Damien lurch forward and wrap the younger male in a tight, desperate embrace. Pip hugged him back just as desperately, clinging to him for dear life, "I love you so much!"

"I love you too, baby, so much."

They held each other for what seemed like an eternity and likely would have continued to do so even longer if the nurse hadn't come back in. A sharp gasp finally made them part just before she ran out the door calling for a doctor.

Damien smiled softly at his lover, "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah." The blonde nodded, "I'll be even better when I get out of here though… I'm still staying with you, right?"

"Of course." Damien pecked his cheek.

"Good." Pip smiled brightly, "I can't wait to meet your parents."

Damien merely hummed, looking over a beautifully familiar face and silently making adjustments to his future plans, allowing plenty of room for one Phillip Pirrup.

Well, I hope you guys liked it! Sorry if it was kind of out there... Let me know what you thought and if I should continue writing more in the future.