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It was a no-brainer that fighting was dangerous. Everyone had gotten quite a few battle scars to their names by now. It was expected to come back from most deployments with at least a wound or two, mostly small ones. The enemies often did get a few hits of their own in.
However, sometimes things were a little more dangerous. Sometimes the fights could end with more severe wounds. Though, normally the severe wounds were on the one the attack was intended for. Not someone else deciding to take the blow instead.
But, that was what unfolded during one battle. The Kyurangers had been alerted of a governor who was appearing to be taking his anger out on some innocent civilians. There was no hesitation in choosing a team to go help and fix the issue: Lucky, Stinger, Spada, Naga, and Tsurugi.
The five of them deployed with little issue. It had been a few days since the last mission. Jark Matter hadn't been very vocal about anything for a bit. As bad as it was to say, they were somewhat glad to finally have something urgent to do.
They arrived to find the governor and some indavers terrorizing civilians still. Didn’t matter the age or anything, if you were in the area, they were going after you.
"Stop right there!" Lucky was the first to speak, grabbing the attention of all the enemies quite easily.
"Kyurangers..." The governor growled, moving to face them. "You dare to interrupt my fun?"
"Terrorizing innocent people isn't fun. If you think it is, you might want to rethink what fun is." Tsurugi replied tauntingly.
"Beating you all up sounds quite fun." The governor responded, "Get them, you lot!"
The indavers moved to swarm the Kyurangers. Everyone quickly got into a fighting stance and began fighting back. During the midst of the fighting, everyone found a moment to transform.
The indavers fell with ease. It was not long before the only enemy left was the governor. He seemed very displeased that his minions had all died ready.
"We're going to make you pay for what you've done to these people!" Lucky aimed his sword at the governor.
"I'd love to see you try." The governor replied, his tone very taunting.
They all clashed together. Despite being outnumbered five to one, the governor was doing well to hold his own. The Kyurangers were not having the easiest of times getting blows landed. He was doing well to dodge a lot of their attacks.
In a swift motion, he knocked them all back and sent them sprawling across the ground. Everyone struggled to get back to their feet, but the governor acted faster. He prepared another attack, charging up a ball of energy in his hand.
He sent it off, the attacking seemingly heading straight toward where Naga was. Naga noticed, but didn't appear like he was going to be able to get out of the way in time. Before the attack could land, a shadow loomed over him. Lucky had gotten back to his feet and was trying to hold back the attack.
Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, the attack pushed through his blockade and hit him dead in the chest. He was sent flying back, rolling across the ground as he landed. His transformation shattered at the impact. He remained unmoving once he came to a stop.
"Lucky!" Spada was the closest to his current position and rushed to check on him.
The governor laughed at what had occured. He sounded very pleased with the outcome.
"I told you it wouldn't be easy to defeat me." He taunted them.
"You bastard!" Stinger got back to his feet and rushed at the governor, swinging his spear around wildly, but precisely. He landed quite a few blows on the governor before the governor decided it was in his best interest to flee, especially as Tsurugi moved and joined in the offensive attack.
With nothing more they could do about the enemy for the time being, the four of them all untransformed. Stinger and Tsurugi quickly came to join Naga and Spada at Lucky's side. The red Kyuranger was still unconscious. At least his chest was rising and falling with ease. It was hard to tell how bad the damage was at this time.
"Let's get him back to the ship." Tsurugi was the first to take charge of the situation.
They safely got Lucky back onto the ship and into the med bay. Raptor took a look at his wounds while Naga and Stinger watched from the corner of the room. Neither wanted to leave until they knew the condition of their boyfriend.
Once Lucky had been brought in, they got to see the full extent of the damage. Hidden underneath his clothes there was a large red and swollen bruised area on his chest. Some blood was there, alongside some open wounds in the area. It looked pretty bad at a glance.
"It looks worse than it is, thankfully." Raptor finally spoke, having completed her scan. "I should be able to use our technology to heal most of the wounds without much issue."
"That's good." Stinger replied. "Do you think he'll wake up soon?"
"I would assume so. I think he most likely just hit his head when he landed. I don't think the wound caused him to pass out necessarily."
"Alright... we'll leave you to it." Stinger nodded to her and then grabbed Naga by his hand and lead him out of the room.
Naga had been silent since the incident. Stinger had attempted to get him to talk while they were bringing Lucky in, just simply asking if he alright. Naga hadn't even answered him on that.
He seemed very lost. Perhaps guilty. Lucky had gotten hurt protecting him. Maybe that was weighing on him heavily? That was Stinger's best guess about the situation.
He led Naga to him room and nudged him to sit. Naga numbly did as asked. He didn't even look at Stinger. His gaze was unfocused and pointed toward the ground.
Stinger crouched down to forcibly get into his field of view. "Naga, are you alright?"
Naga met his gaze this time, but didn't respond. Well, not verbally, but he did react a bit to the question and that was just as good. There was definitely guilt on his face.
"It's not your fault. Lucky wouldn't want you to feel bad about this." Stinger stated gently, grabbing one of Naga's hands and squeezing it.
"It was supposed to be me..." Naga said quietly, once more averting his gaze. He gripped Stinger's hand tightly.
"Lucky decided he didn't like that."
"He could've gotten hurt worse."
"You could've gotten hurt worse if he hadn't done this." Stinger argued back.
Naga went silent again at those words. It was always hard to read his feelings, but Stinger could see the conflict going on in his head. Naga didn't know how he should feel about this.
"I'm sure Lucky will tell you the same things when he wakes up." Stinger said, "Do you want him to see you like this?"
Naga shook his head.
"He won't want you to blame yourself. So please, stop being so hard on yourself." Stinger moved up and pressed a kiss to Naga's cheek.
"I'll try..." Naga replied in an almost inaudible whisper.
"That's all I ask."
"Can we cuddle...?"
"Of course."
Stinger invited himself onto the bed and waited as Naga shifted around to curl up beside him. Stinger wrapped an arm firmly around him. Naga was quite stiff, but slowly loosened up. Stinger leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
They would stay like this for as long as he needed, Stinger decided. Or at least until Lucky woke up. Once he was awake, they'd go check on him and then Naga could hear Lucky say for himself how he felt about the matter.
...
It was maybe two hours later when Raptor came and informed them that Lucky was awake and well enough to talk. Naga had fallen asleep at some point while they were cuddling. Stinger gently roused him, informing him that it was time to go talk to Lucky. Naga was hesitant, but followed along as Stinger brought him back to the infirmary.
Lucky lit up at the sight of them entering. He was sitting up on the bed, his wounds wrapped up in bandages as needed. He didn't appear to be in any pain at the moment.
"How are you feeling?" Stinger asked, coming to a stop beside his bed.
"Alright." Lucky gave him a smile and a thumbs up. Stinger rolled his eyes in reply.
Naga had slowly made his own way over to the bed. He refused to look at either of his boyfriends. His gaze remained fixed on anything but them. Right now, it stared at the blanket that Lucky had on his lap.
Lucky looked at him, and then at Stinger. There was a questioning look in his gaze. Stinger just motioned at Naga, hoping Lucky would understand. He needed to start the conversation.
"Are you alright, Naga? None of that hit you still, did it?" Lucky asked. He seemed to have understood what Stinger was asking of him.
"I'm fine..." Naga answered quietly.
"What's wrong?"
Naga didn't answer right away. He remained silent, though his face showed he was thinking. Perhaps pondering how to actually explain what was wrong? Or maybe trying to think of a way to dodge around the question?
"Why did you do that?" Naga finally said.
"Because? Do I need a reason to protect you?" Lucky replied.
"I... don't like that you got hurt for me..." Naga said.
Lucky smiled fondly, reaching over and gently forcing Naga to look at him. "And I don't like the thought of just sitting there and letting you get hurt if I could do something about it."
Naga's eyes widened a bit. He tried to pull away, but Lucky's grip remained firm enough on his face. Naga averted his gaze since he couldn't move away.
"Naga, look at me." Lucky said in a gentle tone.
Naga hesitantly returned his gaze.
"I love you. And I will do what I can to protect you. Even if something like this can happen." Lucky stated. "I'm sure you would do the same. And I doubt you'd want me to feel that way."
Naga nodded, lowering his gaze in shame. Lucky let out a small sigh and pulled him into a kiss. Naga let out a small squeak at the sudden contact, but quickly recovered.
"Stop feeling guilty for something I chose to do to myself, okay?" Lucky flashed him a smile after they separated.
Naga nodded. "Okay..."
"Hug?" Lucky held out his arms.
Naga had to slightly climb into the bed, but did accept the hug. Stinger was just observing everything for the most part, glad that Lucky had gotten through to Naga. And then Lucky had reached over and tugged him down into the hug as well.
Stinger sighed, but obliged and wrapped his arms around the two of them. They stayed like that for a while, until they heard the sound of footsteps coming toward the room.
Raptor returned. She nodded to them all and then proceeded to launch into a rundown of Lucky's condition and what he could and couldn't do for the time being.