I'm sorry for the extra long wait! Inspiration was hiding from me! Anyway, welcome to chapter 2. I'm just surprised that I haven't been shot yet. XD! If you're still reading this, even after what happened in chapter 1, I give you my thanks. This chapter is where Xemnas gets introduced in the story. Yays! Oh, by the way, I'm making him a 30 year old. Only 2 years older than Saïx so that's a pretty suitable age gap if you ask me. I just can't believe I made him a doctor. Pffft! Dr. Xemnas… God that makes me laugh every time… Once again, I'm VERY sorry for the wait. Please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. …Nyah…
Chapter 2: Hospital Stay
The overbearing aroma of antiseptics encircled him and clouded his senses as he was beginning to awake from his slumber. The rhythmic beeping resonance of heart monitors and other various machines within his proximity made Saïx open his eyes unenthusiastically in order to pinpoint where he was. He had to blink a few times to clear his vision of the blurs that were preventing him from seeing clearly.
There was an intravenous needle in his right arm, slowly pumping a clear liquid into his veins and throughout the rest of his body. Saïx was dressed in a thin cotton material and he felt the cool air on his legs, even with the bed's covers over top of him. His hands and parts of his arms were bandaged up, red streaks decorating the areas in an almost zigzag pattern where his injuries were the deepest. Taking in his entire environment all at once, he had no trouble figuring out his current location.
Saïx was in a hospital.
At first, he speculated as to why he was in an infirmary in the first place, but he quickly remembered what had happened to him. But that still didn't really explain how he had managed to get in the hospital. He had been unable to call for help and his neighbors had to have been asleep by the time he had started taking the heroin he had bought from Axel.
Had all the crashing sounds woken up his neighbors? Did they even check on him or did they just call the police in fear that a burglar had broken into his home?
There was no way for Saïx to know what had taken place after he had collapsed in his home, but he was being treated in a hospital now so did it really matter what had transpired?
Saïx took in a deep, calming breath and lowered his eyelids somewhat, too tired to even think about what had taken place. He hated being in a hospital, especially because of his carelessness and utter disregard to the consequences of overusing his drug. In all other aspects, he was calm and always thought things through, but when it came to his heroin; his own need for self-fulfillment overcame his better judgment.
"Oh, I see that you're awake now," a female nurse said when she walked into his room.
She strolled over to the right side of his bed, clipboard in hand, and took a look at the devices that monitored his heartbeat and various other things that concerned his bodily functions.
"How are you feeling?" the woman asked.
"I've been better," Saïx replied dryly.
"Well, don't worry. You'll be out of here soon. I'll go alert your doctor that you've woken up and he'll be in here shortly," the woman said, turning on her heel and walking out of the room.
Saïx leaned back further in his bed, trying his best not to just rip out his IVs, get dressed, and leave the godforsaken place he was trapped in. Hospitals had always bothered him ever since he could care to remember and the sooner he could get out of the wretched building the better. Saïx's attention was centered at the door when a tall man—that he assumed was his doctor—came in with the clipboard the nurse had been carrying.
The sight that greeted him almost made him want to tilt his head to the side, just to confirm that he was seeing what he thought he was seeing and he probably would have done it if he didn't mind looking like a curious dog eyeing something from across a room.
He was a well-tanned man that appeared to be at least in his thirties, his body muscularly built. Perhaps too muscular considering his choice of profession, but Saïx didn't think he had the right to judge someone else's prerogative since he was the one in a hospital bed because he overdosed. But the features that stood out the most were the man's eyes and hair. Long, silver tresses ran past his shoulders and down part of his back and his eyes were an unusual orange-ish color that practically pierced through whatever his gaze landed on.
And right then, his eyes were locked on Saïx for the briefest of moments before turning them away.
Saïx looked at the tag attached to the man's coat and he could only catch his name prior to his doctor walking towards one of the chairs in the room and sitting down, scribbling some notes on the clipboard.
Xemnas.
Saïx had never seen a man like this before. He looked almost emotionless, a cold, calculating air encircling his presence. He definitely clashed with Saïx when it came to the color of their skin, Xemnas being too dark and Saïx being too pale. Especially now that he felt so lifeless. He could only imagine what state he was in on the outside since he didn't have a mirror on hand and part of him didn't even want to know.
After a few minutes that mainly consisted of Xemnas writing quietly, he looked up at Saïx with a half-lidded stare. Saïx felt slightly uncomfortable under the man's scrutiny that seemed to center around the X-shaped scar on inbetween the bluenette's eyes.
"I assume you realize why you are here," Xemnas said, his deep voice like something Saïx had never heard before.
"Yes."
"Then I guess I won't have to go into too many details," Xemnas replied, standing up from the chair he was in.
"When you got here, you were practically dead," Xemnas continued, "We had to flush the heroin out of your system before we could even think about treating you. To honest, you're lucky to even be alive right now."
"How long was I out?"
"Almost a week."
After that answer, Xemnas went to check the machines just as the nurse had done before him.
Saïx didn't exactly feel very lucky, considering what he had done to get here in the first place. If anything, he was feeling rather unlucky because he had gone overboard with his so-called necessity.
Most people wouldn't say that he was fortunate, but rather that he was given a second chance. Another chance to clean up his act and repent for what he had done. Saïx had heard enough religious bullshit from his parents to last him a lifetime and he didn't feel like following their teachings now, even though it was the proper thing to do after surviving an encounter with death's door. Was he really supposed to throw away what the lifestyle he had gotten used to just because he almost died? What would be the point since he was meant to die some day anyway? Some would think this was morbid, but Saïx was a realist who knew where he would be headed.
"I want to go home."
Xemnas didn't look at Saïx as he said, "I'm sorry, but I can't allow that."
"And why is that?" Saïx asked, narrowing his eyes in anger.
"Hospital policy. You will have to enlist in our rehabilitation program to get over your heroin addiction."
"I don't want to."
"You should just be glad that I haven't decided to turn you over to the police," Xemnas said calmly, "I'll be back in five minutes Your choice had better be made by then."
Xemnas nonchalantly walked out of the room, not once glancing back at Saïx to see his reaction.
Saïx's fists balled up in the sheets. The cuts on his hands were stinging under the pressure, but he ignored it completely. He had never met someone that could irritate him so much in such a short period of time. That man had never even addressed him by his name while he was here. He looked at him like he was a lesser being compared to him, stared at his facial irregularity like he had never seen something like it in the past. And he was practically bossing him around, which Saïx didn't like in the least. Just because he was his doctor did not mean he had the right to order Saïx around. Weren't doctors supposed to be caring and considerate individuals who were nice to their patients?
Xemnas was probably just judging Saïx by his dependence on drugs.
Saïx closed his eyes and tried to calm his racing heart. There was no point in him flying into an uncontrolled rage in the middle of a hospital. He laughed quietly to himself, wondering if the infirmary he was in had an anger management program as well. He listened to the heart monitor's beeps slow down to its previous steady pattern.
Five minutes had apparently went by pretty quickly because when Saïx opened his eyes, Xemnas was standing at the foot of his bed.
"Well…have you made your decision?" Xemnas asked
Saïx looked intently at Xemnas. He hadn't really made his decision, too busy with mentally flipping out to think uninhibitedly.
Saïx sighed and said, "I have a question first."
"What?"
"You just think I'm some filthy, drug addicted idiot, don't you?"
Xemnas smiled sardonically and said, "So you are smarter than I originally thought you were. I must say…I'm impressed"
"I'm not like that," Saïx said, glaring at the tan man.
"Oh really? Then prove me wrong."
Saïx continued to look at Xemnas angrily, his hands once again clenching into fists. Then he made his choice; a choice that could very well change the rest of his natural life forever.
"Fine. I'll do it."
"Hmph. That's what I thought."
Xemnas walked out once again, the nurse from earlier standing outside, practically on pins and needles. She rushed up to him swiftly as he started to stride slowly away from his new patient's room.
"Did it work?" she asked hopefully, strolling alongside him.
"Of course it did. Reverse psychology always works when I employ it."
She chuckled lightly before saying, "I guess that's why you're the head doctor here. And one of our best therapists."
"Who could possibly be a better help for someone like him?"
"I wouldn't ask for anyone else, Doctor. But I just hope you can cure that poor dear of his terrible addiction."
"Well, we'll just have to see how much of a 'poor dear' he is when he gets started."
Xemnas couldn't help but be somewhat interested in how Saïx was going react to the treatment. His mind was already trying to piece together the puzzle that was Saïx. The scar on his forehead had initial intrigued him. He had been wondering how the man had even received such a thing. Perhaps it was somehow linked to what had caused him to start experimenting with heroin? What was the event that had started it all?
Maybe it was because he was a therapist that made him ask all these puzzling inquiries, but the questions would only continue to perplex him until he could take the time to uncover the answer. Would Saïx persevere through what was ahead for him or would he buckle under the grueling pressure of drug withdrawl? Xemnas could only wonder these things as he moved on to his office to start getting the paperwork in order.
Back in Saïx's room, he was thinking deeply, mostly about himself and what he was about to endeavor.
Saïx would attempt it, if only to show that there was more to him than his drug obsession. He never liked having to prove himself to other people, but this time would have to be an exception to his morals. He had talked himself into doing something he didn't want to do before, when he had first tried heroin five years ago.
Heroin had been a key part in his life for so long. That poison had helped make him the person that he was today.
But now, Saïx was going to make up for his past mistake.
Author's Notes: I would like to give some shout-outs since I wasn't sure how this story was going to do at first (you know, with all the drugs and stuff) and these fine individuals reassured me that people will read your story, no matter what it's about.
To My Gay Lover!! (a.k.a. CrazyDumbassBlonde9110. He was too lazy to login. -.-'!)—Not really for anything. I just enjoy laughing at you when you freak out in all capitol letters. You didn't have to read this story, you know. But you're going to keep reading this anyway so nyah. It's just a story; get over it already…
To Diviner's Superior—For liking angsty XemSaï. I think you might have hit the jackpot here. But the whole thing isn't going to be dripping with angst obviously. But I have a bit of an angst fix as well so yeah… .
To Izzy-Lawliet—For reading this story, despite the fact that you don't really read drug stories. And for PM chatting with me as long as you did, even though it had absolutely nothing to do with this story. XDDD!
To Murderous Fuck—For giving me some encouragement by being one of the first people to R&R this fanfic. Of course the fact that I told you about it after I published it helped, too.
Please Review!