Chapter Text
The last thing Marco recalled before the darkness had overtaken him was pain. Pain and the lifeless stare of one of the other car's passengers. It had been that image he ended up passing out to, once the searing agony had taken enough of a toll on him.
Actually, he remembered quite a few things about the accident.
There was rain; it was cold and felt like bullets on his back. Marco could also remember the huge chunk of metal that pierced his eyeball. Along with that, he realized that he was unable to stand back up; it were as if some unknown force were pinning him to the ground.
Marco's concerns, however, were not at all about himself. He was more worried about his ex-husband and best friend Jean. He'd dragged himself over to him and tried to awaken him.
"Jean," he croaked out, while making a futile effort to shake him back into consciousness. "Jean, wake up. Please, wake up! Please..."
By then, he'd finally passed out.
...
When Marco finally came to, it was to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling and the sharp smell of antiseptic. It only took a few moments to gain complete lucidity, before he was back to his original train of thought.
"Jean?!" He called out as he quickly sat up, his voice absorbed into the silence of his room. "Jean, where are you?! Jean?!" He was suddenly pushed back down onto the hospital bed he was in, then being held down by a nurse he didn't notice until that very moment.
"Mister Bodt, calm yourself!" She cried. "You're in no condition to do anything extreme. Please, relax; a doctor will be in shortly to speak with you."
Reluctantly, Marco did so. Still, he glanced about frantically, seeing neither hide nor hair of Jean. He was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't even realize there was a bandage wrapped over more than half of his face. When he did notice it was there, he reached up to carefully touch it with trembling fingers.
He was then left alone when the nurse left, waiting for the doctor to arrive.
-a few minutes later-
When Doctor Hanji did finally arrive, she seemed to be much too cheerful considering the circumstances. Even so, she did attempt toning it down for Marco's sake.
"You're lucky to be alive!" She said to him while filing through some papers on a clipboard. "You've suffered some significant injuries, but I'd say that's better than being dead, correct?" Marco just stared at her blankly before he said anything.
"Define significant."
Hanji went on, her grin fading. "Well, as you may have noticed, one of your eyes had to be removed. Piece of metal went right on through." Here, she paused and showed a few pictures of what evidently was supposed to be his face. The sight got Marco to flinch and hold the bandaged portion of his face.
"...What else?" He rasped out.
"Well..." Now Hanji tapped at her clipboard, before gesturing to his legs. "Another big chunk ended up getting you through your spinal cord, and severed it clean through. Kind of surprising it didn't go through any major organs. Still..."
No matter how many times Marco ran through his mind, he still couldn't process it. He didn't like how many times Hanji said 'through', either.