Chapter 92: An Unofficial Goodbye

Chapter 92: An Unofficial Goodbye
Mirage’s P.O.V

The next morning, I went to Julian’s room alone to pay him a visit.

Julian’s fever had gone down after Freya used her magic to keep the black magic in check, but that was probably the only reason he was still stable. He hadn't woken up or shown any response to external stimuli ever since that day and with every hour that passed without him waking up, Daisy worried that it was only worsening his condition.

To say that I was worried about him would be an understatement. The big, blue eyed little boy, who had seemed to have an adorable crush on me, had been the first person in this pack, aside from Alex and Daisy, to actually try to make friends with me. And even though he was far too young, his friendship had been very much welcome.

I miss his shy smiles whenever he saw me and the way he would give me a kiss on the cheeks just to get even with Alex. And even though he hadn't known then that the flowers that he had gotten me had been poisoned, I had loved the gesture of him getting me those flowers.

He was such a sweet, pure-hearted soul. To even imagine something so horrible happening to him…it broke my heart every time I thought about it.

However, when I reached his room, I found that I wasn’t the only person who missed his company. Aside from Daisy, who was here for Julian’s regular check-ups, the blonde haired girl who I had often seen sticking close to Julian’s side and claiming to be his ‘girlfriend’, was standing next to Daisy, her eyes sad and no smile on her pretty pink lips today.

“Morning, Daisy.” I gave the healer a smile before turning to the little girl. “Candice?”

She merely nodded her head before her attention went back to Julian.

“How is he?” I asked Daisy when she arranged her equipment back into her bag and stood up from the chair.

“To be honest, not good.” There was sadness in her eyes as she looked into mine. “Julian’s condition isn’t improving no matter how hard I try and it’s making me frustrated. What’s the point of being a healer if I can’t heal a poor boy back to health?”

Daisy’s frustration was evident, but I took her hand and moved her away from the bed so as not to scare Candice, who was now looking worriedly at the two of us.

“It’ll be alright, Daisy.” I told her now, giving her hand a light squeeze. “You helped bring me back too; even when I was a rogue, you made me listen to you. You are and incredible healer and an even incredible person, never forget that. Trust yourself. That’s what we need right now. To trust our instincts and to believe that we will get through this. Together.”

Daisy let out a sigh and nodded her head. This time when she smiled at me, her smile actually reached her eyes. “Thank you.” She told me. “I needed to hear that.”

As I said goodbye to Daisy and watched her go out the door, there was peace in my heart that she wouldn’t need to be this worked up for much longer now. I was going to bring her the cure she needed to save Julian.

I then turned back to face the child whose concern for Julian went further than that of just friendship. I think Candice was a little in love with Julian and that had a chance of turning into something special when they grew up. As for Julian, I didn’t know if he returned the feeling or not, but if he didn’t, then I’d have to say that he was going to miss out on so much.

“Do you visit him often?” I asked Candice now, noticing how she sat quietly next to his bed, just staring at his face as if she was willing him to wake up. It was both a beautiful and heartbreaking thing to watch.

“Yes,” Candice looked up at me a little startled, as if she didn’t expect me to still be here. “I come here every day.”

“You miss him, don’t you?” I sat on the chair beside her, watching how Julian’s infected arm had been bandaged to keep onlookers from finding out the truth. “I miss him too.”

“Everyone misses him.” Candice informed me sadly, touching her fingers lightly to his bandages before removing her tiny fingers. “The guards, the teachers, even the kids at school miss him. He doesn’t talk much and he’s not easy to be friends with…but he listens to everyone. Even Joey, the boy that no one really talks to and sits in the back bench…Julian used to talk to him too. They even ate lunch together at school.”

It was then that I understood just how vital Julian had become to the pack. He wasn’t just welcome here because he was Freya’s little brother; but he was quite literally the heart of the pack. The human boy with the heart of the wolf.

Freya had done an amazing job of raising him as a child and now both her and Cameron were like the perfect parent figures that every child deserved.

I didn’t even notice until my vision got blurry that I too was crying for Julian. No…I couldn’t waste more time. I had to help him. I had to give in. My sacrifice would be worth it if I could bring Julian back to everyone. He was just a child who had a bright future ahead of him and he had so many people waiting for him to return.

“Don’t worry,” I wiped at my eyes and gave Candice my best smile. “Julian will wake up soon and he’ll be able to go back to school and play with everyone in no time!”

Candice looked up at me with hope in her eyes, her lower lips trembling slightly as she held up her pinky finger to me. “Do you promise?”

“Yes!” I linked my pinky finger to hers and pressed our thumbs together. “I promise.”

Candice had to leave soon after as well as she had to get back home to eat lunch and get her studying done. I stayed behind to look after Julian a little while longer.

“You’ll wake up soon, I promise.” I told Julian, because I now had not a single doubt in my mind as to what I was supposed to do.

Each and every member of a pack was precious. Each and every member of a pack was part of one big family. That’s what I’d learned upon coming to the Ocean Runners. They were one big family unit and the Alpha, despite his age, was the father figure and the Luna was the mother figure. They looked after their family together, catering to everyone’s needs. No one was ever left alone or made to feel insignificant. Such was the bond of this family.

I was going to miss it. I was going to miss this family.

I don’t know how much help the Council was going to be, but once I left to go to Alistair…I doubted I was going to survive for long.

But before I went out forever, I was going to make sure that this pack would never again suffer the ill effects of Alistair’s malice.

“Mirage?” Freya’s voice coming from the doorway broke me away from my thoughts. “You were here the whole time?”

“Yeah…” I gave her a small smile as I got up from the chair. “I wanted to visit Julian to see how he was doing.”

She nodded in understanding, probably because the entire pack had been to visit him at least once since learning about his sickness.

“Come on,” she held out her hand for me. “We’re all heading to lunch. Let’s go before Alex get’s out a search party.”

I laughed, taking her hand. Yes, letting go of these people will be the hardest thing I ever did in my life. But I’d sacrifice my life every day if it meant I could save them.

This…was my goodbye. Even if I couldn’t say it out loud.