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Traumatic brain injury.

All four of them had traumatic brain injuries.

Kaelen regarded himself in the mirror. His head was bandaged on the left side, his inky hair pinned back to make room for gauze and cotton. Bandages dotted his face in other spots, highlighting his sharp features and his sea-foam colored eyes. His left arm was in a sling, and he felt naked without his watch.

All four of them had traumatic brain injuries.

And he was the only one who didn't.

He was the only one who was home.

It had been four weeks since the accident. Three weeks since he was allowed home. Kaelen hadn't been allowed to visit his friends until today. He didn't want to do it alone, but his mother had to go to work, and his stepfather had to handle things with the billing office regarding Jude. It seemed they were going to move Jude to a long-term care center. Luckily, his friend - the only close friend of his who hadn't been in the accident, actually - was on her way.

Kaelen exited the pristine bathroom of the house his family was insistent he called home. It may have been home a long time ago, when he was a child. That said, since Kaelen realized his "father" couldn't be his biological father five years ago, it didn't feel like home. The man looked at him with such apprehension, such blankness, his entire life. Kaelen had to add the "step" modifier for his own sake, to know exactly where he himself stood in that man's eyes.

That man's name was Armand. His wife - Kaelen's mother - was named Venera. Though Kaelen was certain he himself was born from some sort of affair, Venera had never made him and Jude feel different. She always asked Kaelen what Jude wanted for Christmas, and Jude often would come to Kaelen, saying, "Hey, Mom wants to know what you want" in turn.

Kaelen absently wondered who she was going to ask if Jude didn't wake up.

There was a knock on the front door.

Kaelen walked briskly down the stairs, through his parents' opulent home. He saw a familiar figure through the sandblasted glass door and quickly pulled it open.

"You look like shit."

Kaelen let a smile grace his features. "We can't all be models, Rain."

The mahogany-skinned model grinned and pulled him in for a hug. Kaelen wasn't about to say no to Rain, as he buried his head in her curls.

"It is so...so good to see you," Rain said softly.

"You too," Kaelen murmured.

Rain finally let go. She was barely older than Kaelen, but stood a good inch taller than he did. Kaelen spotted that she had a scarf tied around her head, like a headband. It was dark green and adorned with painstakingly embroidered white roses.

"That's the one Briar made you, right?"

Rain nodded. "It felt right, even if she doesn't open her eyes."

Kaelen nodded. "Let me go grab my jacket?"

"Of course." Rain adjusted her own jacket - it might have only been September, but it was unusually cool that day.

Kaelen grabbed his leather jacket from the hook and his wallet and keys from the too-pristine porcelain dish by the door. He locked up while Rain went back to her car and turned the ignition. He entered the car.

There was a pause. A strange pause, like they both had too much to say but no words to say them.

"So," Kaelen said finally.

Rain put the car into reverse. "Let's go see our friends."

They drove off, not saying anything more.

CLICK. Shhhhhh...

Jude's ventilator clicked and exhaled rhythmically.

Kaelen stared at the body of his brother. The machine was breathing for him. The wounds on Jude's face had begun healing to the point that the bandages weren't needed anymore, but Kaelen and Rain could see bandages all the way up his neck and across his arms.

"I...I'm sorry," Rain said quietly. "It must be hard, seeing your twin brother like this."

"Not twins," Kaelen corrected.

"Basically twins."

Irish twins, they were called. 10 months apart. Late January to early November. That's what that meant, right? Two people born within a year of each other to the same parents, to the point that they might as well be twins. Not that twins could be half-related, like Kaelen and Jude were. But for Rain's sake, Kaelen simply nodded, going along with the fiction that surrounded them.

Rain looked at her friend, reached into her bag, and pulled out a hairbrush. She sat next to Jude and began to brush his hair, receiving no objection from Kaelen. "The worst part about someone being unconscious is how clean you can keep them," she said gently. "The last few weeks before my grandfather died, it was like this. Just trying to keep him clean."

"Do you think Jude is going to die?" Kaelen asked.

"Honey, we're all going to die. But no, I don't think he's going to die from this. I think he's going to have a long life, hooking up with various women, breaking their hearts, and narrowly avoiding getting sexually transmitted diseases."

Kaelen restrained a laugh at that. On the off chance his brother could hear him, he didn't want Jude to be annoyed.

"Your mom...she must be a wreck."

"Dad too."

"Yeah, but especially your mom." Rain turned Jude's shoulder slightly. "No bedsores. Good. They're taking good care of him. Anyway, what I was saying was your mom has probably been a complete mess. She loves the two of you so damn much, it hurts sometimes."

"Your parents still love you."

Rain turned to Kaelen and smiled a...layered smile. Kaelen saw her typical playfulness, but profound pain as well. "How the hell would I know that, though? Not like ashes can talk to me."

Kaelen's eyes fell to Rain's pendant. To the typical onlooker, it just looked like an opal pendant in the shape of a teardrop. But Kaelen knew better. Mixed in with the crushed opal gems were flecks of gray carbon.

Kaelen sighed. "I guess you don't. You just have to go on faith, right?"

"Exactly. Which is why you have to have faith that Jude will come back. That your family will be whole again." Rain turned back to Jude. "You're all my family too, you know."

"Yeah..." Kaelen said wistfully. "Yeah, I know."

They saw Briar and Lysander next. Or, tried to.

Walking down the hall, they noticed Briar and Lysander's father, Milo, sitting outside their hospital rooms. He saw them, and his eyes went wide.

"Oh boy, here we go," Rain muttered.

Milo rushed over to them. "You two can't be here right now," he said quietly.

"Why not?" Kaelen asked.

"You know why. Edith blames you for the accident still, and she's not going to like you surprising her."

Edith.

The reason that Briar was doing pageants as a child. The one who dismissed Lysander's insomnia. The one who saw Kaelen as a problem child from a good home and Rain as a problem child from a bad one.

Rain glared. "Milo, they're our friends too."

"I know," Milo said apologetically. "I'll put you on the visitor's list before we leave."

Kaelen frowned. "We weren't already?"

Rain turned towards Kaelen and gave another crooked grin. "He's talking about me, K." Rain only called him K when she wanted him to back off.

Milo sighed. "I really, really am sorry. You know how she is."

Kaelen bit his tongue to prevent himself from calling Milo a coward.

Rain put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go. We'll come back later."

"Please do," Milo said as they were about to turn the corner. "They...they want to hear your voice. I know they do."

Kaelen nodded and walked with Rain down the hall. The last question Lysander had asked him once again rang in his ears.

"Did I...kill them...?"

They stopped in Wynne's room before leaving. Wynne's mother, Godiva, was present and was insistent that the doctors inform Rain and Kaelen about Wynne's condition.

"I know my child," Godiva told the medical staff firmly. "Wynne would want them to know what was happening."

Kaelen wished he'd been warned about the eyes.

Though their whole body was still and there was a tube coming out of their mouth, Wynne's eyes were open and blinking.

"Is...is Wynne awake?" Kaelen asked.

"We are fairly certain he -" the nurse began to say.

"Them," Rain corrected curtly.

The nurse froze, perplexed. "Pardon?"

"They go by they/them pronouns. I know that's not what it said on their license, but the family definitely would have mentioned it. Wasn't a secret."

"She is correct," Godiva said flatly. "That is how Wynne refers to themselves."

Kaelen watched as the nurse blinked, clearly not expecting the dressing down that she was currently getting. The doctor sighed and took over the conversation.

"I apologize. I have made it a point to include that on the chart, but with Wynne's condition improving, it must have gotten deleted somewhere along the way." The doctor turned towards Wynne's slowly blinking form. "Wynne has progressed to a vegetative state."

"That doesn't sound promising," Kaelen said.

"On the contrary, it is very promising. Four weeks ago, they were completely unresponsive to any sort of stimuli. Now, they have flinched when we have put the IV in and shown other involuntary responses. Waking up isn't inevitable, but it is more than possible at this stage."

Rain nodded. "Sounds about right."

"Wynne is not out of the woods yet," Godiva said, holding her child's hand. She and Wynne looked much alike - tan skin, dark hair, chiseled features - to the point that the intubation and the grown-out silver dye job on Wynne's hair were the only separate features. Even Godiva's hair wasn't gray yet. "But I know they'll come back to me."

Kaelen nodded, then turned to Wynne, whose hazel irises glinted in the light as their eyes blinked up at the fluorescents.

If Kaelen didn't know better, he would have said he saw tears in their eyes, too.