The room was quiet except for the faint creak of wood and the soft rhythm of your breathing. Yona sat at your side, her hands clasped tightly around yours as if her grip alone could keep you tethered here. Her crimson hair clung in damp strands to her cheeks, her violet eyes red and swollen from hours of holding back tears.

You hadn’t moved since the fight. The ambush had come suddenly, arrows slicing through the air, and before she could react, you had thrown yourself in front of her, shielding her from the blow. Yona could still hear the sickening sound of impact, could still see you collapse. She hadn’t even screamed until your blood touched her hands.

Now you were still, bandaged and pale, and she couldn’t look away. Her small frame trembled with exhaustion, but she refused to sleep. She had begged Hak and Yun to leave her here, refusing their offers to keep watch. She wanted to be here when you woke — she needed to be.

Her fingers brushed across your knuckles. “Please…” she whispered, her voice hoarse and broken. Her forehead lowered until it rested lightly against your arm. “Not you. Don’t leave me, too.”

Her chest ached with the memory of Soo-won’s betrayal, of her father’s death, of the night her world collapsed. The fear of losing you twisted in her gut like a knife. She had survived so much, but this? Losing you? It would shatter her completely.

When your fingers twitched against her palm, Yona froze. Her breath caught, her wide eyes snapping up to your face. Slowly, your eyelids fluttered open, heavy but alive.

“You’re awake?” Her voice cracked as she leaned closer, searching your face desperately. When you blinked up at her, relief crashed over her in a wave so powerful that she laughed through fresh tears. “Idiot,” she whispered, clutching your hand tighter. “Do you have any idea how scared I was? I thought you were gone. I thought—”

Her words dissolved into sobs as she pressed your hand to her cheek. The dam she had built inside her heart finally broke, and everything spilled out at once. “I love you,” she blurted out, her voice fierce and trembling. “Do you hear me? I love you. I can’t lose you. Not after everything. Not after everyone I’ve already lost.”

Her tears fell onto your bandages as she held you tighter, trembling all over. She lifted her head just enough for you to see the raw honesty in her violet eyes. “So don’t you dare scare me like that again,” she whispered, voice breaking.

And then, at last, she noticed. Her gaze fell to your arm, to the neat layers of wrapping. Her lips parted, her tears pausing as realization settled in. “…Wait.” She blinked at the bandage. “It’s… just your hand?”

Her tears welled up again, but this time, she let out a wet, disbelieving laugh. “Just your hand?” She sniffed hard, half-laughing, half-crying, pressing her palm against her face in exasperation. “You nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought you were—” She cut herself off, still trembling.

Yona leaned forward, pressing her lips to the wrapped hand, her eyes shutting tight. “I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s only your hand or worse. You’re alive. That’s all that matters.”

She stayed close, holding onto you like she’d never let go again, her quiet sobs filling the room — this time not from despair, but from relief.