Hello my fellow Classmates,

Yes, yes, I couldn't resist writing to you a companion piece to this story with Matteusz' POV. Because I love Matteusz. He is so great!

I hope you will like this part and this time it has even been corrected by my fantastic Beta!

Also, thank you all for all your love!

Enjoy!

Part Two:

The moment the meteor grabbed hold of Charlie, Matteusz learnt what it meant to feel his heart stop. Later he would wonder if that was how April was constantly feeling and then question how she ever functioned?

He had never felt more afraid than he had been at that precise moment. He had thought he knew fear. Fear of discovery when his father discovered he was gay. Fear of moving nto a new country without knowing its language. Fear of hostile aliens.

Fear of Charlie.

He had dealt with all of them pretty well.

But seeing his boyfriend about to disappear into a red-glowing meteor? Fear for Charlie? No. That, he couldn't deal with.

By the cries of the others, neither could they. So they all tried to hang on helplessly, but it was clear that whatever alien force was operating the rock prison was far stronger than the combined force of four teenagers.

His eyes found Charlie and in them he read the fear and love of his boyfriend but also his resignation. He understood that the Prince thought he was deserving this punishment. Was it because of what had been said in the past hour? Or was it a longer held feeling?

He would never know.

He wanted to say something. Anything. But he didn't know what. And it was too late anyway.

And then, a ray of blue light shattered the stone, resetting the time that had seemed to slow.

He gaped as Miss Quill entered the room looking battle worn.

The shock of her appearance rendered him numb as only one thought settled in his mind. Charlie was going to be fine. Miss Quill had saved him.

He would be able to explain. To apologize.

He would be able to learn what Charlie was feeling. Because he clearly had much to learn.

He said nothing as Ram, Tanya and April left, leaving him, Charlie and Miss Quill standing in the room. He took only one step forward, staying slightly behind the Rhodian, unsure of how his presence would be accepted now that the drama had settled.

Then, finally noticed the scared expression.

"How can you fire a gun?"

Matteusz frowned at the question. And then he understood. She wasn't supposed to be able to use any weapon. Even if the Prince was in mortal danger.

He watched helplessly as she threw a bloody bag at his boyfriend and they both understood what had happened.

Charlie had always said it was impossible but, somehow, Miss Quill had managed to free herself from the Ahn.

"What are you going to do now?"

The wet sound of the bag hitting the ground shook Matteusz from his wandering thoughts. It was a legitimate yet frightening question. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

He couldn't imagine any warrior forced into slavery for so long and who had helplessly watched their whole species die, react well to freedom.

Judging by her cold angry eyes, not reacting well was putting it midly.

In slavery she had done nothing to mask her hate for the Prince or her thirst for revenge against the Shadow Kin.

And now nothing stood between her and that.

He realized he had been wrong about fear all along. This, this was terrifying. So terrifying he felt stuck to the ground with it. Paralyzed. Only able to watch as events unfolded.

He watched as Charlie tried to make her talk, using his most authoritative voice, the one that always convinced Matteusz that his sweet boyfriend could be far more dangerous than he looked.

"I'm going to make you kill the Shadow Kin."

The sentence stood out in Matteusz' head. He had guessed that it would come to that but he had hoped to be wrong.

Charlie had made it quite clear he wouldn't use the Cabinet of Souls. That he wouldn't avenge genocide with genocide and lose his whole culture and his last hope.

Not even to save his boyfriend's life, his inner voice supplied.

He knew he was being unfair but the thought kept repeating itself at the most random moments. A constant questioning of: what if he wasn't enough for Charlie? What if he meant so little that Charlie could sacrifice him like that? Was that Charlie's real face? Ruthlessness?

That's what he was afraid of.

That he had been wrong all along.

"You think I'm afraid to die?" Charlie said as his former slave raised her gun towards him.

Matteusz almost didn't recognize his boyfriend's voice. Cold and unfeeling. Was he really not afraid?

Once again he asked himself: Does he want to die? Does he think he deserves it?

Matteusz wished he could stop everything and ask those questions. He wanted, needed, to know the answers. And if those were yes then he would to do everything he could to change them.

He thought back to all the time they had spent together and tried to see if he had missed signs of a death wish in his boyfriend.

He didn't think so.

And yet, how many times had he woken up in the middle of the night to find Charlie sitting in front of an opened Cabinet, staring at the countless souls there?

How many times had he caught him with moist eyes lost somewhere in memories?

Every time Charlie had managed to brush his concerns away with a smile and a kiss but how much of it was just a coping mechanism?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Miss Quill's movement. In fact, he noticed she was pointing her gun at him only when he heard Charlie's panicked cry.

"Don't do that!"

He saw his boyfriend take a step forward and was reminded of the last time he had been held at gun point. He was getting tired of being used against Charlie. But this time he had a feeling it wouldn't end well.

"I told you. You have no orders to give me anymore."

Matteusz knew what was going to happen. He had accepted it last time. He wished there was a way to suspend time so he could tell his boyfriend that he loved him anyway, that this wasn't his fault and above all that he was proud of him for not using the Cabinets of Souls.

But he couldn't so he just closed his eyes in acceptance.

That's why he was even more surprised when he suddenly felt something collided against his side, making him fall down heavily, knocking the breathe out of him.

The thump and cry next to him forced his eyes open. They fell on Miss Quill's unreadable expression. She fled before he had the time to do anything else.

He turned back as his boyfriend's hand clumsily caught his side. His stomach dropped as Charlie's rapidly turned dark with blood.

"Charlie!" He cried out, panic rising so quick that he felt like he was suffocating with it.

He knelt next to the Prince, watching helplessly as he bled out, hands hovering, trying to make himself do something. Anything.

His mind was frozen.

What should he do?

Charlie was trying to push himself up. "Quill!"

It kicked Matteusz into reacting and he stopped his boyfriend. The answering pained groan made him wince.

"She ran out." He explained. He had to fight to find his words in English through the maze of panic he was still feeling. "Don't move. You need to hospital."

"No. No." Charlie was still weakly struggling, desperation clouding his eyes. "The Cabinet. We have to get it."

Matteusz shook his head as the Prince's eyes lost focus. He blindly reached to his side to find the shirt he had wrapped there. He took a deep strengthening breathe and pushed it firmly against the wound on Charlie's side. He had seen it done in almost every film he had ever watched and hoped it was the right thing to do in real life too.

It seemed to bring Charlie back to the current situation because his hands clenched against Matteusz forearms, warm and still wet with blood.

"Matteusz… Please. We… We have to… Get to it before her…"

Once again the Pole shook his head as tears filled his eyes. He wanted Charlie to concentrate on getting better. Not on some stupid object.

He berated himself again. Charlie was a prince and always would be. He had been taught time and time again that his people were more important him.

Even in death.

"Please."

Of course, he couldn't deny him this. He could never deny his boyfriend like that.

"Fine. Fine. I'll… I'll call the other."

There was no way they could deal with all this alone. He just hoped that who he thought of as their friends still were.

He reached for his thankfully close bag and began searching for his phone.

He saw Charlie's eyes close from the corner of his own and panic tightened its grip on his throat.

"Hey! Don't fall asleep on me!" He pressed on the wound as a reflex.

It made his boyfriends eyes open in a slit.

"I'm… Not…" The words were more mumbled than anything but it was enough for the moment.

He turned his attention back towards his phone. His fingers were shaking so much he struggled to just unlock it. He managed after three tries and went into the call history. He called the first number and prayed to a God he didn't even believe in to not be send to voicemail.

"What do you want?"

The relief at hearing his friend's abrupt answer made him lightheaded.

"Ram…" He managed to day in a breathless gasp. "Ram, thank God! You… You need to go to our house to pick up the Cabinet. Now."

"What? Why?"

"I don't have time to explain. Just do it!" Distantly, Matteusz thought that he had never talked to anyone like that, not even during the worst arguments with his father.

It seemed to shock the other boy into silence too.

"Okay. Right." He finally said.

"And beware of Quill. She… She just shot Charlie."

Just saying it felt surreal. He never thought he would ever say anything like that. When had his life become this? Why? It felt like he was a character in a movie or some TV show.

"What?" Ram spluttered. "How?"

"Please Ram. Later."

"Yes. Of course. I'm going. I'm calling the others. Where…"

But Matteusz had already stopped listening to him as he noticed Charlie's eyes were closed. How long had they been like that?

He roughly shook his boyfriend in desperation and stopped only when a groan answered him.

"Hey! Hey! Charlie! Charlie!"

He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was crying. Or that his throat was so tight it was difficult to talk. He swallowed with difficulty as he watched his boyfriend struggle to open his eyes. It made his heart throb.

"I… I love you… I love you… So much." His voice was barely a whisper but the words were clear and Matteusz had to bite back a sob.

He sounded like he was saying goodbye. He refused to accept this. But he couldn't say anything.

"I know. I know. I love you too."

His accent was so thick he wondered if Charlie could even understand him. He put his free hand on his boyfriend's head and gently stroked his hair just like his grandmother had done to him when he was sick.

"We have to get you to hospital." He tried to reason again.

"We can't… Alien."

Matteusz closed his eyes. That didn't matter to him! He just wanted Charlie to get better. He couldn't lose him. He didn't want to imagine a world without his alien prince! He didn't want to face it. He wasn't sure he could.

"You can't die!"

"It's… Okay… Matteusz."

His name sent a new spear of pain through his heart that stole his breathe.

"No… No, it's not… I need you!"

"You don't."

Matteusz wanted to argue. Really. But he felt the Prince go limp so he just bowed his head and let himself sob against his boyfriend's chest, cursing the unfairness of it all.

"Oh my God! Charlie!"

The cry made him jump up and he stared as Tanya ran to the both of them, kneeling down. She was crying too but he wasn't surprised. She was more caring than she let on.

"We have to get him to the hospital!" She told him as if he didn't know.

As if he wanted to be here, watching helplessly as the most important person of his life slowly died.

He shook his head in despair.

"He says we can't. Because he's an alien."

"Nonsense!" She cried out but he could already see that she knew they were right and was thinking of a solution. "My mum's a nurse. We can take him to her."

Matteusz' jaw almost dropped as a flicker of hope entered his heart.

"You sure?" He had to ask because he couldn't give himself false-hope.

Tanya answered with a nod. She was not one to lose.

"I'll call Ram and tell him to meet us outside." She immediately took charge. "You can handle Charlie?"

"Of course." It was nothing if it meant saving his boyfriend.

"Matteusz…"

The whisper almost made him jump out of his skin as he shifted to get a better grip on the Prince.

"Shut up love." He heard himself saying like he was some hero in a film. "You are not dying on me. You understand?"

He made sure to meet his boyfriend's eyes, making sure he heard what he wasn't saying. I love you. I can't let you die. I won't. You better not abandon me.

"Good." He said as if they had come to an agreement without any words. "Now brace yourself. You are going to be fine."

Matteusz thought he might be trying to reassure himself more than Charlie. He ignored it and bent down to haul his boyfriend up into his arms.

The Rhodian was heavier than he looked but Matteusz was determined. He clenched his teeth and made his way out of the ruined room.

Thankfully, he saw Ram's car waiting in front of the main doors.

He ignored his friend's shocked expression as he struggled into the back of the car while trying to keep pressure against the wound on Charlie's side.

"Hurry up Ram!" Tanya cried out from the front seat. Matteusz hadn't even noticed her.

"Yeah. Right. Yes."

The drive was a blur for Matteusz as he focused on his boyfriend, feeling his rasping breaths against his neck and the warm wetness of his blood on his hands.

He closed his eyes, wishing for Ram to go faster.

At some point, he heard Tanya call her mother.

"Mum, please. I promise I'll explain everything but we really need you!"

He couldn't hear the woman's answer but he could guess she wouldn't be happy. At all.

"Yes… Yes… We'll be there in five. Thanks."

She hung up, looking pale as she turned to Ram.

"She'll meet us at the back with a doctor."

"How angry was she?

Tanya shrugged.

"I guess I'm probably going to be grounded for the next twenty years or so."

The end of the ride was spent in tense silence and before long they arrived at the back entrance of the hospital where Tanya's mum worked. The door to Matteusz' side was opened and hands reached inside.

For a second, he had the instinct to hold onto his boyfriend. It was stupid and useless but his panicking mind didn't want to let Charlie go where he couldn't see him.

He forced himself to let go and it felt like his heart was being wrenched out as the doctor and Tanya's mum ran inside the building.

He sat there shell-shocked, staring unseeingly at the automatic doors, until Tanya appeared in front of him. She placed her hands on his shoulder.

"Come on Matteusz. We'll go to the waiting room."

He found himself nodding and followed her like an automaton. He was disconnected from reality, like he wasn't there anymore, like his whole self had stopped existing until he received news of Charlie.

She led him into a thankfully empty room with plastic chairs and greenish walls. A window let sunshine in, illuminating the room with warmth.

Matteusz still felt frozen in fear and uncertainty. He shivered.

"I'm… I'm going to find us some tea." Tanya announced. It was clear she was uncomfortable but Matteusz didn't have the strength to care anymore.

He bowed his head and stared at his hands, for the first time noticing the red blood on them. He had to swallow hard against the rising sickness. There was so much blood.

What would he do if Charlie died?

His fists clenched. He forced the question away. He wouldn't think about it. He just wouldn't. Charlie was going to be fine.

He had too.

Tanya came back and offered him a steaming cup.

He accepted it without a word, wrapping his cold hands against it.

"Don't worry. My mum and the doctor will save him." She encouraged, squeezing his shoulder again before sitting down on a nearby chair.

That made Matteusz look at her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm sitting down." She answered like he was a particularly dull child asking stupid questions.

"Why?"

She stared at him for a few seconds, eyebrow raised.

"You don't expect me to just leave you here alone, do you?"

Heat rose in his cheeks. It's exactly what he had been thinking. In fact, after their detention he hadn't really thought any of them cared much about each other anymore.

"Well you're wrong." She carried on. "He… He saved us. And… You're my friend. Both of you are."

He didn't know how to answer that. He was touched.

"Thank you." He final said, his voice rough with unshed tears.

It took almost two hours for Tanya's mum to come back and since then Ram had come back with April in tow. Matteusz had remembered that he was supposed to have the Cabinet of Souls and had asked about it but Ram had flat out refused to say where it was, claiming it was safe and would stay that way as long as they didn't know where it was.

It sounded oddly logical so Matteusz had let it rest like that. And anyway, he had more important things to worry about. Like his boyfriend. Whose condition was still unknown.

The more minutes passed the more worried he became. His leg kept bouncing up and down and more than once he found himself praying. His father would be proud. Or maybe not as he was praying for his boyfriend's life.

"Matteusz?" The unfamiliar voice made him jerk and he scrambled up on unfeeling legs.

He tried to deceiver Tanya's mum expression. It felt like he had stopped breathing.

"You can come and see Charlie if you want."

The relief at the news was so intense that he stumbled. He hurried to follow her.

"How is he? Is he alright?" He asked, struggling to find the correct words.

The woman nodded.

"He's still unconscious but he should be fine. He needs rest."

They had arrived in front of a door and she opened it, holding it open for him.

He felt scared to go in. He still vividly remembered the last time he had entered a hospital room to find his grandmother hooked up to so many tubes that he had barely recognized her.

He felt a hand on his elbow.

"Go on dear. Don't worry."

She sounded so sure that he believed her and entered.

Charlie was lying on a typical hospital bed, eyes closed and skin pale. Matteusz almost ran to him, reaching for his left hand to find it a bit cooler than usual but still warm. He observed the rest of his boyfriend, noticing the IV in his other hand and the cables stuck to his chest.

"I'll leave you alone. Don't hesitate to call if you need any help."

Matteusz only nodded, unable to look away from the most important person in his life, letting himself bask in the knowledge that the last Rhodian was going to be fine.

He found a nearby chair and sat down, never letting go of Charlie's hand. He knew that his boyfriend hated it when they weren't touching in some way. Especially when they slept.

He folded his arms around Charlie's and rested his head on them, enjoying the smell of his boyfriend's skin and the feel of his moving chest.

He fell asleep without noticing it.

Two more days passed and Charlie was still unconscious. Tanya's mum kept saying it was normal but Matteusz had a hard time believing her anymore.

He had barely left the room, flat out refusing any suggestion of going to get some sleep. He wouldn't leave his boyfriend alone.

He spent most of his time sitting on his chair rubbing Charlie's hand or reading to him, hoping it would make the Prince wake up. Or, at least, that it would let him know that he wasn't alone. That he wasn't lost.

He was sitting with his head pillowed next to Charlie's uninjured side when he felt the Prince shift next to him with a soft exhale.

He jerked up, letting go of Charlie's hand.

"Charlie?" He asked as the heart monitor registered an increased heartrate. "Charlie, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here."

He placed one hand on the side of his boyfriend's head, the other reached to gently stroke his hair in a familiar movement.

"Come on Charlie, wake up for me." He pleaded with a sigh, his heart beating too fast and his eyes stinging with tears. "Please Charlie… I need you."

He let his head fall against the Prince's neck when no answer came.

He had been so sure that he would wake this time.

The soft call of his name made him freeze. Had he imagined it?

He jerked up to see his boyfriend's eyes open. He stared for a long time before grinning. He began rambling without even noticing it, relief making his accent thick and nearly incomprehensible. He didn't care. Charlie was awake. He was alright. He was alive.

He snapped his mouth shut when he felt the Prince's hand on his wrist. He looked in his boyfriend's eyes, trying to convey all the love he felt in that one look.

He watched as Charlie shifted on his bed.

"You shouldn't…" He tried to say before being interrupted.

"Come here."

The voice was still low and raspy but the command was clear. Yet Matteusz hesitated. He looked at the room's door. He should inform the nurses that their patient was awake. They would want to examine him.

He felt a tug on his wrist and sighed quietly, shoulders sagging. Yes, he should call the nurses. But he needed to be close to his boyfriend more. He carefully lay down on the bed and didn't resist when Charlie made him hug him. He closed his eyes and kissed his boyfriend's slightly dirty hair.

He had missed that. The feeling of love and proximity with another being.

The feeling of security and home.

"Matteusz?"

The name broke the silence. The Pole answered with a hum.

"The Cabinet…"

Of course, Charlie would be worried about his people's souls. Matteusz wanted to kick himself for not thinking of that sooner.

"Ram got it before coming to take us to the hospital." He explained. "He's hidden it but wouldn't tell me where."

"Quill?"

Matteusz tensed, his mind flashing back to the last time he had seen her. Hatred burned in his heart.

"We haven't seen her since."

He expected more questions but none came. He let himself relax again, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of his boyfriend in his arms.

For some time, he had thought that he would lose Charlie and it had been the most terrible thing he had ever felt. He never wanted to feel like that again.

It made him realize that his fear of Charlie and what the Prince could do if he so wished was nothing compared to his fear for Charlie, his fear of losing the most important person in his life. The one that had changed him beyond recognition. For the best.

For the first time in days, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Aaaand that's is! Don't hesitate to tell me what you thought of this in a review or a PM (or if you just want to talk about this Finale...)