Though We May Fall {An Aphmau AU}

Heartbreak

**Aphmau's POV**

    As I looked up at Aaron, my mind couldn't help but start to race. Aaron never looked at me like that. What was wrong? What. Was. Wrong? My heart started to pound again, completely undoing the past ten minutes Aaron had spent calming me down. I clenched his hands, trying hard not to panic.

    "Aaron," I stuttered, voice breaking slightly, "tell me what happened. Please." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before returning his gaze to me. He squeezed my hands lightly, this new Aaron still looking at me with pity.

    "Aph, it was... Look, you just woke up, are you sure you don't want to wait a little?" I shook my head vigorously, pulling my hands away from him and sitting up straight. He sighed, knowing that I wouldn't give in. He ran a hand across his face, obviously trying to postpone the inevitable. With his face in his hands, he took a deep breath before he began. "There was a gas leak in the second floor kitchen. It set off a chain-reaction throughout the entire building, and it started to crumble." He raised his face, gazing towards the wall behind me in an attempt to avoid my eyes. Was there still more? Was that not all?

    "But Aph... when the firefighters and police and detectives investigated the building to find the cause, they... they found something in-in Ein's dorm. Umm... well... Aph... they found that the-the smoke detectors in his dorm didn't, they didn't uh, have any batteries in them. That's why you didn't hear them going off until it was too late. Because the ones in his dorm didn't work." Aaron's voice pounded against the side of my head, and I could only hear my heartbeat in my ears.

    "No, no that's... that's not true. I... I had my headphones in and-and I was, I was asleep. That's why I didn't hear the alarms going off." My body began to shake, and I pushed Aaron away when he tried to grab my hands. "I know you don't like him, but don't lie to me about this! Why would he ever do something so stupid like taking the batteries out of his smoke detectors?! It doesn't make sense, and you can't convince me otherwise!" Hot tears burned my eyes, and my head was racing a hundred miles a minute. None of this even makes sense! How the hell could any of this have happened?!

    "Then why else did he run?!" I jumped at the strength in his voice, and I looked up to see his eyes full of fire and anger. "He's never been to see you, not even that first night when we thought... when we thought you were going to die! No one's seen him at school or anywhere in the past two months! If he really... if he really loved you, then he would've been here for you! He never would have disappeared if he was innocent!" Aaron pushed himself off of the bed, running his hands through his hair as he stalked towards the large window across from my bed.

    I gaped at him, eyes burning as my hands balled up the sheets under them. I could hear his breath coming fast, matching the speed of my pounding heart. Aaron's hands knocked against the window as his body shook from pure anger, and he seemed ready to break at any moment. It wasn't the kind of breaking I had done two, no, four months ago. No, this was all of his locked up emotions threatening to shatter the wall he had so carefully built up around himself. Aaron had always been so determined to never let go around anyone, yet here he was, so furious that he was about to lose control.

    "Aaron," I started, not exactly knowing where I intended to go. He shook his head, stopping me from continuing with that simple motion.

    "I'm... I'm sorry for shouting. Believe me if you want to. I'm... I'm gonna go. Glad you're awake Aph." With those final words, Aaron left the room, leaving me confused out of my mind. I watched him go, passing by Dr. Cameron in the hallway outside before collapsing on a bench, burying his face in his hands. I found myself copying his movements, hiding myself from the world in an attempt to understand what the hell was going on.

    The door opened and closed quietly, and I felt the bed sinking before me. "Aphmau, sweetheart, anything you need to talk about?" I shook my head, doing the best I could to keep even more tears at bay.

    "I really hate all the crying I've been doing lately." I laughed softly, swallowing hard and peeking out at Dr. Cameron. She was smiling, and she reached out to rub my knee before pushing herself to her feet.

    "I know sweetheart." She moved around to the other side of the bed, adjusting something on the monitors. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation... I don't know what happened that night, but I know that I have seen that boy, Aaron, right? I have seen him here every single day since you've been brought here. That first night, he waited until you were out of danger, fifteen hours later. He's been here everyday since, coming after school and staying all weekend, just sitting out there on that bench. I've never seen anyone more dedicated. He knew that it would be weeks before you would be able to wake up, and yet... he kept coming back, day after day, sometimes with friends, sometimes by himself. And I know that you are mad right now, but I don't believe that he would have said anything on purpose to hurt you. I think you have to trust him, no matter how hard it is to believe what he said." Dr. Cameron smiled at me, touching my shoulder gently before leaving the room and leaving me with a lot to think about.