Ronan: To the Moon and Back

Photography is something Raelyn has always loved. Every aspect of it; the simple, the complicated, the contrasts between subjects, continued to grow on her, makes a nice, warm home in her heart. There's everything the light touches, how it can illuminate entire photos, make eyes sparkle, smiles radiant, oceans glitter, make people almost feel the warmth of the sun. Then there's the opposite. The dark, the haunting, the shadows creeping around trees, hiding around corners. Raelyn has the ability to capture storms in her photos, clouds that turn dark once the lightening has struck. It's everything she loves, something she feels good at, an escape she can run too, lock her mind away in her photographs, be so absorbed in her camera that she forgets reality. It's a hobby, a passion that doubles as her comfort blanket, something she feels safe in, feels at ease and relaxed. That is, until the day the shadows in her photos seep into her reality, the same day her whole lit up world is ensnared with darkness.
****

Usually when Raelyn walks down the colorful, painted corridors of Humming Bird Children's Hospice, she has no evidence of a smile on her lips. She always has this feeling like she isn't allowed to be happy when the place is filled with masked misery, machines that beep loudly and dripping IV bags. Today, however, she finds that she can't fight the curling of her mouth as she clutches a small plastic dinosaur in her hand. She is ecstatic to see the reaction she might get out of the little gift. Despite the hovering gloom that seems to cling to the ceiling of the in-house wing over everyone in the place, today is her favorite day of the week.
Music day. The day were the dark clouds are replaced by beautiful colorful notes, acting as a rainbow in the middle of a storm. As Raelyn passes one of the patient's rooms, she hears guitar chords spilling out of the open door, the acoustic notes backing beautiful harmonizing voices. Doubling back to the room, Raelyn lingers in the doorway, next to a tall, buff man, watching the scene in front of her. The man shifts, pulling Raelyn's attention away for a moment to look up at him. She guesses he's a good 6'1 at least, with biceps big enough to crush her camera if it ever had the misfortune of falling between the man's arms. He must notice the visitors pass clipped to the hem of her shirt, because his borderline threatening gaze turns to normal, and offers her a friendly smile. Raelyn's returns it, dubs him as a bodyguard, and focuses back on the scene front of her
The backs of five boys face her, one with a black guitar strap slung over his shoulder, as they sing to the patient on the bed, who Raelyn now recognizes as the little three year old, Addie. No one can mistake the mile wide grin on the little blonde girls face as those boys belt out notes to a song she's heard several times before. Raelyn can feel her own smile grow bigger as Addie giggles; a chorus of tinkling bells, clapping her hands together. Addie suddenly stands up on her bed, picking up her feet, one right after the other in a little running dance. Her already concerned mother tugs gently on her daughter's arm, bringing her back down onto the bed so she won't overexcite her small body. One of the voices stop singing, replaced by a loud amused laugh at Addie's reaction. Her mother, smiling despite her daughter's jogging dance, acknowledges Raelyn's presence, returning the wave the mother gives her with her own. Taking one last glance at the day's musical guest, she turns away from the room, continuing to walk down the hall, stopping at another room four doors down.
Rae inhales a slow, deep breath. Be strong. Smile. Raelyn mentally preps herself, pressing the palm of her hand flat against her chest as a short spasm clenches at her muscles. She drops her hand from her chest to wrap her fingers around the sliver door handle, pausing to take one more deep breath, before exhaling shakily. Hiding the dinosaur behind her back, she enters the room, much less cheerful than the previous one.
Sitting on the bed is a little boy, legs criss-crossed beneath a blue blanket, decorated with red rocket ships and white stars. There's a nurse checking his vitals next to him, singing the alphabet while it looks like she's taking his blood pressure. The boys eyes shift from the nurse to Ralyen, and the second his blue eyes spot her, they light up brighter than the sun, instantly lifting the mood. The navy blue beanie he's wearing slips over his eyebrows, before he pushes it off his head completely. Raelyn makes a mental note to buy him a new one.
"Ra-Ra!" The boys calls cheerfully from his bed, faint dimple indented in his right cheek. The nurse, Jackie, who just finished the song and is now taking off the arm band, turns her attention to Ralyen, smiling in greeting before returning to her task.
"Hello Ronan!" Raelyn greets happily, ignoring the clenching of her heart and the drop of her stomach each time she comes in this room. "I've got a surprise for you!"
Ronan sits up straight, his eyes widening with curiosity. "A Lion!?"
Raelyn laughs, moving over to sit on his bed. "Not today," She answers, poking his nose.
"Lollipop!"
"No silly! Ittttsss..." She trails off, revealing the toy from behind her back. "A dinosaur!"
Ronan's surprised gasp and drop of his mouth is adorable, as he reaches out to grab the toy from her hand, clutching it to his chest. "RAWR!" He roars out unexpectedly.
Raelyn and Jackie exchange startled glances, neither of the two women expecting that amount of volume to emit from his mouth. They both can't help but laugh aloud at his reaction though. Raelyn checks to make sure Jackie is finished with Ronan's vitals before pulling her brother onto her lap.
"Do you like it?" Raelyn asks him, watching him twirl the dinosaur in the air. He nods, smiling at her. He touches the dinosaur's nose to her own, quickly pulling it back.
"Tex gave you a kiss."
"Tex, huh? How about you then? Do I get kiss from you?" Ronan places the toy beside him, reaching out to grab her face in his small hands. He presses his lips sloppily against her squished cheek with a loud smack.
She mimickes his actions, gently placing her hands onto his pale, cherub cheeks. "An' wha' do we shay?" Raelyn's attempt to form full words fails.
"Thank you, Rae!" "I love you, Ronan." Rae's able to get that much out clearly. Those three words being more important than anything else she could ever tell him.
"To the cheese and back!" Ronan giggles happily, loosening his grip.
"To the moon and back, little brother." She corrects, smiling and ignoring the weight on her heart.
*
Only a few minutes, there's a knock on the door. The siblings eyes averting over to the new visitors, Raelyn's face still mushed in Ronan's hands. They can't see who's behind the door, for the blinds are closed on the window, but whoever it is, they're waiting for the all clear to come in. The nurse opens the door, quickly informing the visitors and Raelyn that lunch time is in ten minutes. Rae's eyes widened in recognition, a little baffled on how the hospital was even able to book one of the biggest bands, and how she completely forgot she saw them earlier. Ronan drops his hands from his sister's face, already clapping in anticipation of the music to come.
"Who's that?" Ronan asks, in what he probably thinks is a whisper, bordering on a little too loud.
Rae attempts to hide her chuckle by placing her hand over her mouth for moment. "They're called One Direction, Bud. They play music."
"Hello, there." Someone says, pulling the siblings attention back to them. "I'm Liam". Although Liam sounds cheerful, there's a bit of timid nerves underlining his tone that Raelyn picks up on. "Mind if we play some songs for you both?"
"Yeah. Yes. That would be lovely." Raelyn smiles, shifting around with Ronan still in her lap, to face the them.
"What's your name, buddy?" Liam questions.
"Ronan!" He answers brightly, then grabbed the ends of his sisters hair in his fist, tugging twice.
"Ra-Ra!" Raelyn softly kisses the top of Ronan's bald head. She then extends her hand out to shakes Liam's. "I'm Raelyn."
"Hi, I'm Harry." Harry introduces himself next, shaking her hand with both of his, then gives a high five to Ronan. "Nice to meet you both."
After proper introductions are over, the five boys rearranged themselves around the bed, as Niall begins to softly strum his guitar. Raelyn wraps her arms tighter around her brother, gently rocking him side to side, swaying to the music. Several times throughout the chorus of a few songs, she has to calm Ronan down. He just gets so excited over music and new people who become immediate friends to him no matter who they are or how soon he's met them. She has to carefully watch him so he does't overexert himself and make his vitals go haywire. Raelyn hates that he has to be so careful. A four year old shouldn't have to be calmed while enjoying music. They shouldn't have to be stuck in a freezing hospital room, with visiting hours and scheduled meal times. They shouldn't be hooked up to machines monitoring their heart, or assisting their breathing and stuck with needles that give them medication to numb the pain. Four year olds shouldn't have to deal with the cancer that plagues their bodies. So, if sitting in that cold hospital bed listening to the music of One Direction distracts her little four year old brother from his bleak reality, if only for a moment, then Raelyn will take that over anything, any day.
Raelyn frowns and sneaks one hand off of Ronan and onto her chest, pressing as hard as she can while remaining subtle. She tries to will away the spams in her chest, and force her thoughts into the back of her mind. She refocuses back on the music, her gaze catching the blue of Louis' own. He seemed to have noticed the way her hand grips at her chest, and the slight frown pulling at the corners of her mouth, and offers her a kind smile. Raelyn drops her hand and smiles back at him, accepting empathy from a basic stranger. Louis turns his attention back to the song, flawlessly singing his solo. Yes, Raelyn thinks, as Ronan is softly clapping along with Zayn, if they could distract Ronan, make him happy for thirty minutes, she'd take it in a heartbeat.
***

Notes

(I put the R rating mostly due to language.)
Hello! I wrote this story three years ago, so the timeline is a bit off 1D album wise, but it's set before Midnight Memories comes out. I got this idea loosely based off of the song "Ronan".

Disclaimer: I don't any name or titles in this story, including One Direction, except for my own original characters. This story is fiction.

Trigger Warnings: Panic/anxiety attacks, minor character deaths, cancer, hospitals, nightmares, unintentional self harm. I'll put a warning before any chapter that includes those triggers. If I miss anything, please let me know.
(Also, I am not British, nor have I ever been to any part of the UK, sadly, so forgive me for inaccurate languages/words/places/roads/weather.)