Hey Everyone ^_^
So I'm slowly going back through and editing, polishing and just making the chapters flow a little better. So please be patient and look out for the changes :D
Edited- 23/06/2017
Enjoy :3
Chapter 1
"They say it's a C7 and C6 break and the C2 is slightly dislocated. The doctor has ordered halo traction to realign her spine." Kira spoke softly outside the closed curtains of a semi-private hospital bed. It was three am, at least four hours after the accident. Kira was explaining everything to Lacus, who arrived at the hospital not long ago and Miriallia. He was careful how he worded everything. Even though he knew they would find out anyway, he was still guarded.
"She will be ok, won't she Kira?" Mir asked choking down the loud sob that wanted to escape and make her collapse on the floor. In the back of her left hand was an IV connected to a saline bag that was hanging off the IV stand she was gripping. She was in a hospital gown, a white dressing gown, and slippers. Her right hand couldn't be seen past the thick bandages wrapped around her hand and up beyond the cuff of the dressing gown.
"It's too soon to tell. Until the spinal shock goes down they can't be sure. Which could take days, maybe even weeks." Kira said, trying to remain strong for the sake of everyone. His sister needed him to be strong to help everyone around her and himself. The people of ORB would need help and answers about where their representative was.
"What do you mean spinal shock?" Lacus asked slightly confused. She was holding a white handkerchief to her cheek.
"It's not the spine they need to be worried about at the moment. It's the spinal cord. If that gets damaged then…" Kira said murmuring the rest of his sentence. He spoke so low not even Lacus heard him.
"What was that Kira?" Mir asked looking at him with a slightly worried expression.
The way Kira was acting was not normal. He usually was strong, and at times could be a real cry baby, but here he was having trouble putting a sentence together.
Kira inhaled a deep breath to calm himself before repeating his sentence.
"The doctor said that, if there is damage to her spinal cord," He paused for a second and closed his eyes before looking back at Lacus and Mir with tears in his violet eyes and continued, "then there is a chance Cagalli may never walk again." He ended letting his tears run down his cheeks.
With that statement, the world seemed to stop moving. Time slowed and nothing seemed to work anymore, like the world came crashing down around them. Mir just stood there, almost like she couldn't comprehend the news. Lacus had turned away and was sobbing violently into her hands.
Kira stood there holding every last piece of self-control he had to stop himself from breaking down. But he was slowly losing all hope and control. He reached out and took hold of Lacus's arm and pulled her into his chest.
"I'm sorry to say this but it's best if you go home. I have to change the dressings on Miss Athha. And you should be getting some rest too Miss Haw." She explained in a quiet, sad tone. She walked over to the curtain and pulled it back. Lying on the hospital bed was Cagalli. She had an IV in one arm, a feeding drip in the other. She was connected to a heart monitor, but the thing that stood out the most was the metal band secured around her forehead with screws that were tightly embedded in her scalp. The band was connected to steel rope that held weights at the head of the bed. Pillows surrounded Cagalli. There were pillows beside her arms and legs.
"The doctor says that the pillows are to stop Cagalli's limbs from moving. The slightest movement could make the traction useless." Kira said staring at his sister's motionless body.
The usually loud Cagalli was literally tied to a bed and couldn't move. The free bird was now caged so tight and her wings were broken.
"Kira we should go," Lacus said looking at the face of her best friend. She rested a hand on Kira's and he looked down at her tear stained face. He nodded and the three of them exited the room, but Kira exited last and stopped in the doorway. He looked back at his twin and a tear trickled down his face.
"I'll be back sis."
Wiping the tears from his face, he followed Lacus and Mir down the long white corridors of the hospital. They walked over the elevators and Mir pushed the button to go up. Once the elevator arrived she was about to step in when she stumbled a little but a hand steady her so she didn't fall. She knew the owner of the hand and she just smiled at Kira.
"We'll walk you back to your room." Kira said with a small smile.
"Guys, I'm fine. You should go home. You've been here for hours." Mir reasoned, noticing how exhausted the pair looked.
"You sure?" Lacus asked holding the elevator door open with her hand.
"Yeah, I just need to get some rest."
"Ok. We'll come by tomorrow and we'll go see how Cagalli is."
Miriallia just smiled and waved as Lacus moved her hand and the elevator door closed. Mir stood still as the elevator began to move and watched as the arrow pointed up and counted till it reached her floor. She stepped closer as the doors chimed and opened. She stepped out into the darkened ward, only a few lights were still on around the corridor and the nurse's station.
"Are you ok?" A nurse came up to her with a torch in her hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I'm coming in so late." Mir said, keeping her voice low.
"That's ok. Let's just get you to bed love." The nurse gently placed a hand on Mir's shoulder and guided her back to where her room was.
"How's your friend?"
"We won't know much until… the spinal shock?"
"Yeah, they have to wait for that to recede before they can tell how much damage has been done."
'How much damage has been done?' Mir thought, sinking back into the pillows on the bed.
The clock on the bedside table flashed when it hit three am, the green numbers glowing in the darkness of the room. The only sounds were either the occasional beep from the heart monitor or the muffled footsteps of the night nurse walking up and down the corridor.
A small tear escaped from Cagalli's eye and trickled down her face and down to her chin. Her eyes slowly opened and met the ceiling of the hospital. Her eyes held unshed tears as she stared at the roof. She scrunched her eyes up and the tears started flowing down her face.
'What's going on? Why can't …I move …my body…?' She felt so confused.
The nurse who was checking the heart monitor looked down at Cagalli's face and she stopped moving.
"Miss Athha, you're awake?" She asked quickly in a whisper. Cagalli just blinked and the nurse bolted out of the room across to the nurse's station. She picked up the phone and dialed a specific number.
"Hello, doctor. Miss Athha is awake." She explained trying hard not to scream it down the phone.
"I'll be there in five minutes." Came the reply before the line cut out.
The nurse replaced the phone to the cradle and walked back into where Cagalli was. When the nurse entered the room Cagalli's eyes immediately went to where she was standing. Her eyes followed her back to the side of the bed where the nurse started checking the wound on her leg.
Cagalli's eyes then were drawn to the curtains hanging over the opened window. She stared as the wind gently swayed the fabric.
"They're having a war." She said in a dry rasped voice. The nurse looked up at her with confusion and gave a small huh.
"The flowers on the curtains. They're having a war. Knotting themselves together, and then struggling to prise themselves from one another." Cagalli said moving her gaze from the curtains back to the nurse. The nurse stared into her eyes and saw not the strong leader of her country, but an injured and scared twenty-year-old woman.
The nurse smiled lightly and then returned to the dressing. She knew that the representative was trying to distract herself. She see's it a lot and doesn't try and stop them from saying anything. It's usually all they have left at this point. It's their way of coping with this.
"There's pain somewhere. It's just floating above me and it's not coming any closer. But it's not going anywhere either. I can't figure out why I'm here. People coming and going and they put me in this thing." Cagalli said using her eyes to indicate to the traction band around her forehead.
"I keep closing my eyes and opening them only to see this is the reality. This is my reality. But why can't I move my body? I don't understand this. " She continued, staring at a spot on the roof.
"Everyone who comes here feels the same way. They ask why me and what's going to happen now? I wish I could answer any and all those questions but I can't. I wish I could tell you Miss Athha that this is just a dream, and that you need to wake up from it. But it can't help you any." The nurse said taping down the gauze over the wound. The nurse stood up and looked down upon her head representative, gazing straight into her eyes.
"But I do know this much Miss." the nurse continued. Cagalli shifted her eyes back to the young nurse.
"And what's that?" Cagalli asked in a quiet yet curious tone.
"You can't give up. I saw your brothers face and I reckon he would be torn apart if you were to give up. Plus your country needs you." The nurse said with a strong, determined face.
"Yeah, like the country needs a cripple running everything." Cagalli said rolling her eyes sarcastically. Her gaze looked the nurse right in the eyes and the nurse returned the stare with equal vigor.
"If you think the people of ORB would give up on you just like that, then you don't know this country like you think you do." The nurse stated. Without waiting for a reply she walked out of the room, leaving Cagalli alone with that last statement.
The words echoed in Cagalli's head as she thought about ORB.
'How can I rule the people like this?' She thought to herself as she began to think about how this could affect everyone. Not just herself. Her people, Kira, Lacus, everyone. She thought over how much this would affect them if she would never walk again.
Then terror hit her when a picture of Athrun appeared in her mind. How could she tell him? What would happen if he were to find out? No, she couldn't tell him. He hardly watches the news so he wouldn't find out there. And hopefully, just hopefully he doesn't read a newspaper or a magazine for a while. She didn't want Athrun to find out.
The panic obviously was not a good idea cause her head started pounding. The pain was seething and made Cagalli's eyes water. She couldn't massage her head or do anything about it. She closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the light coming from outside the room. Every sound made her head thump and pulsate.
She heard footsteps approach her but didn't bother opening her eyes and after a little while she started to feel sleepy.
Cagalli P.O.V
Like a huge, dark wave over my senses. I can feel sleep coming. If I sleep, Ill wake up and feel better. I want to sleep. I need to sleep. I can feel the soft, velvet like fingers of sleep stroking me giving me warmth. I'm sinking down and down…
End
The doctor checked the heart machine and wrote something on the chart and slotted it back into the end of the bed. He placed his pen in the pocket on his lab coat and stood there observing Cagalli sleeping. The nurse came back in and asked how she was.
"She would almost be peaceful, if this contraption wasn't on her." He answered walking to the side of the bed and gesturing his hand to Cagalli's forehead. The doctor had watched Cagalli grow up into the strong leader she was. But to see her like this dealt a great blow to him.
"You know, the most serious injury I have ever treated the Representative for was a fractured wrist when she was seven. I never thought in a million years that this would happen to her." He said resting his chin on his palm.
"Uh Sir, Miss Athha has been booked in for a CT scan at nine am this morning. They have labelled her scans as top priority." The nurse said handing him the form. He took it and read it over. It said the usual and he just handed it back to the nurse and looked back down at Cagalli.
She face was calm and it looked like she was having a dreamless sleep. Her hair was in need of a serious brush but that wouldn't happen for a while.
"Well nurse, we better get some sleep. We are in for a rough day tomorrow." He said turning to the nurse who just gave a nod. The two exited the room and turned out the lights in the corridors.
"Kira, are you going to tell him?" Lacus asked while they got changed for bed. The pair got married no more than two months ago, had begun to plan a future together.
"I don't know. If I don't Cagalli might be happy with me, but then again he might find out in the news. I just... don't know." Kira replied sitting on the edge of the bed in an almost defeated manner. Lacus walked over to him and sat next to him. She placed a hand over one of his and rested her head on his shoulder.
She knew how he felt. They were talking about Athrun, which for Cagalli could be at times a very touchy subject.
"I'll just tell Merna, Kisaka and mom for now. I'll think about telling Athrun later." Kira said looking down at their hands and giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"What about Dearka?"
"He's catching the next flight down. I think as soon as I said Miriallia and accident he was halfway out the door." Kira smiled, earning a small smile Lacus, who brushed her fingers through his hair.
"What is it Kira?"
"I just don't know what to do Lacus. What happens if Cagalli never walks again? My baby sister." Kira said, anger and pain came out with each word he spoke.
"I don't know Kira. I can't answer that question, especially when its my question too. All we can do is be there for Cagalli because she is going to need all the support from her family and all her friends. She needs to know she is still loved and that we haven't abandoned her." Lacus said burying her face into Kira's neck, seeking out warmth and also to hide the tears developing in her eyes.
"Thanks Lacus. You're right, But we can be of no help to Cagalli if we don't sleep. It's already three in the morning. I'll make the calls in the morning." Kira said turning his head and kissing Lacus on the top of her head, inhaling her shampoo while he did so.
They both climbed into bed and embraced each other as they gently fell asleep. When they fell asleep the rain started falling and steadily got heavier. The wind howled outside and the rain soaked the ground providing moisture to the plants and life around. But it was also almost like they were crying for someone. Like the heavens were crying.
To Be Continued
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Till next time
xoxox Cagallirocks