Asuna sat, gazing out the widow onto the rolling ocean waves. That was all she could see, besides part of the deck bellow Kirito's room. They'd been on the ship for months; Rath wouldn't let her leave after she had broken her way in. But a lot had happened. So much that it overwhelmed Asuna to the point of tears. She turned away from the window and back to Kirito who was sleeping peacefully on the hospital bed next to her. It had been two weeks since he had finally come to, his severe brain damage not yet fully assessed. He had spoken to her a few times with a sleepy, faraway look on his face that had not yet assured Asuna that he was truly back to normal. But she had some faith in the doctors here, even if she didn't trust Rath. Kirito was alive after all, and they had thought that he might never wake up again.
"Asuna?" Kirito's soft voice broke her concentration and she turned to look at him. His eyes were half open and he looked tired and confused.
"Do you hear that Asuna? People running? Yelling?"
He barely got the words out before the door burst open and a doctor followed by two nurses rushed in, completely out of breath.
"Please, Ms. Yuuki you must come quickly!" He turned to the nurse beside him who was pushing a wheelchair. "We must bring Kazuto with us as well. Let's get him into that wheelchair, carefully nurses, carefully!"
"What the heck is going on! You can't move Kirito he's too weak!" Asuna dove in front of him as the nurses took each of his arms.
"Ms. Yuuki, one of the test subjects has woken up, we are in great need of both of you before we lose him. This test subject is more valuable even than Kazuto here."
"What do you mean by that? Don't hurt Kirito! He's weak!" Tears welled up in Asuna's eyes as the doctor helped her up.
"Asuna, I'll be alright," Kirito murmured as the nurses settled him into the wheelchair and looped his various IVs and cords around it. Then he looked up at the doctor, "I didn't know there were other test subjects here."
"There's no time to talk about it now, Kazuto, we must go! Nurse grab those charts over there too!"
Asuna grabbed Kirito's hand as they were whisked out into the hallway. At the end they were taken to an elevator and down. When they exited, the first thing Asuna noticed was the 'SECURITY CLEARANCE 1" sign on the door, which after the doctor took a retinal scan and typed in a code, opened, leading them down an empty, gray hallway. Along the hallway there were four doors, each looked closed and locked. However, at the end of the hallway they stood facing a fifth door with the words
"MAXIMUM SECURITY. TEST SUBJECT 5"
and another retinal scan and code, before the door opened.
"What the hell is this place," Asuna, now shaking turned from Kirito to the doctor.
"The foundation of Rath's research," he muttered, "Please, hurry, come in. But put these on first." He handed them both long white smocks and surgical masks.
The room they entered was small and cold. Two of the walls were dull gray, plastered with charts, notes and diagrams. The wall on the left was lit up as a screen, showing more charts, numbers, and a scene from a green meadow. In the middle of the room was a large hospital bed, partially covered by what looked like an older version of the STL that also took up the wall facing them. Half a dozen doctors and nurses were huddled around the bed and the screen to the left of it. In the bed lie a pale, thin boy about the same age as Kirito and Asuna. Neither of them could make out his face, which was obstructed by a respirator and other medical equipment, as well as the connections to the STL-like machine. From what Asuna could see he had soft, messy blond hair. Aside from the white blanket covering him to the waist, he wore a plain gray hospital gown and at least a dozen IVs were attached to his arms. The nurses backed away as they wheeled Kirito up to the bedside and he and Asuna could get a better look at the boy, who was shivering slightly. His arms, legs, and neck were in restraints that also seemed to be tracking his vital signs on the computers and screen next to the bed. A faded plastic band on his right wrist read,
TEST SUBJECT NO. 5. APRIL 2008. PROJECT ALICIZATION.
Asuna gazed at the boy for a moment in wonder. His skin was pale and his arms were thin and bruised from the IVs. His cheeks were hollow and his eyes sunken into his pale face, almost hidden by his dirty blond bangs and the STL gear on his head. She had let go of Kirito's hand in shock at the boy's appalling state, but suddenly felt him beside her grow restless and grab her arm.
"Asuna, Asuna, we, we know, we know him..." he stammered. "Look, Asuna, look, look closer...it's...it's..."
Asuna came to the realization as soon as the words left Kirito's mouth. This boy, though almost wasted away, looked more than just familiar, she knew him, Kirito knew him. They had fought side by side.
"Eugeo," the name left Asuna's lips before the stunned Kirito could finish stammering. "But, how, what? Why? How is Eugeo, here?" She turned to the doctor beside her, as she and Kirito started shaking from shock and the chill in the room.
"Why is he here?! Tell me...TELL ME," Kirito raised his hoarse voice and grabbed at the doctor's arm. "What the fuck is all of this!? What have you done to him?! I thought he..."
"Please, calm down, Kazuto, Asuna," the doctor pulled his arm out of Kirito's grip and backed away nervously. "Please, let me explain to you."
"Explain what? I thought Kirito was the only test subject here?" Asuna snapped, "You said the STL and the Project Alicization were about producing artificial fluctlights and AI? What do you have, an army of unconscious kids down here? What the hell is going on?!"
"Please," the doctor bowed his head, "Please there is so much more to explain and not enough time for that now. All I can say now is that Test Subject 5 is one of Rath's original subjects for this project, even before the STL was fully produced. Five were chosen and from them Rath was able to study and clone the fluctlights needed for their artificial counterparts."
"You said they cloned the fluctlights of newborns," Kirito said breathlessly, "What the hell is a kid my age..." he stopped mid sentence.
"Test Subject Five is one of those original subjects whose fluctlights were cloned as a newborn." The doctor looked away from them and at Eugeo. "Like the other test subjects, Five was almost stillborn, child of a drug addict. He was revived shortly after birth, but his heart had stopped for enough time...we...we...weren't sure of the brain damage. Since he had to be surrendered to the state, we took custody in order to study and eventually clone his fluctlights. He wouldn't have survived under the care the typical hospital could provide."
"What...the...hell..." Kirito's voice breathed rage, "So you've kept him here as a comatose lab rat for what...18 years!?" He slumped back into the wheel chair, breathing hard. Asuna patted his shoulder, "Kirito, you're still weak, please, try to calm down." Then she turned back to the doctor.
"He's right though, what have you been doing with Eugeo for 18 years? How the heck has he survived like this?"
"Please, Kazuto, Asuna, I will explain more, but for now all you need know is that Test Subject 5, like the others, was placed in state of the art equipment," he pointed to the restraints around Eugeo's arms, legs, and neck, "that stimulated neural pathways, muscle and bone growth, as well as medication and hormone replacement. Aside from the 18 year coma, Test Subject Five has grown and developed like any other human would."
"That's another thing," Asuna cut in before Kirito could speak up, "Why do you keep calling him Test Subject Five? His name is Eugeo! And where are the other test subjects? Numbers One through Four? Why can't we see them?!"
The doctor looked taken aback at the mention of Eugeo's name but continued. "Test Subject Five is the only test subject who has survived this long. All the others succumbed to their health conditions years ago, only the clones of their fluctlights lived on in the Underworld."
"You MONSTERS!" Asuna gasped, "You let them die?!"
"Of course not Asuna. They had all the same state of the art care as Test Subject Five, and all came from similar circumstances. For some reason, Test Subject Five's brain wave patterns differed, however, from those of the others. At first it wasn't the case, but we began to notice it around the time the subjects were aged four to five years old. The others' brainwaves began to wane, but Test Subject Five's remained normal. Of course, the cloned fluctlights thrived in the Underworld, but part of the experiment was also to see if the STL could in fact reverse normally irreparable brain damage on living human subjects, a study which you also underwent, Kazuto. For the other four subjects, this wasn't the case, but however, Test Subject Five seemed to, in perspective of his circumstances, thrive. Those brain waves are why we brought you two here."
"Stop calling him Test Subject Five, his name is Eugeo!" Kirito glared up at the doctor. "I don't know what's going on here, but I know that's Eugeo, the same Eugeo I knew before! I don't know what the hell all of this means..."
"Kazuto, please," the doctor interrupted, "The reason you are here is because of the experiments. While you were in the STL, and while Asuna dove into the STL briefly, we monitored all your own brain waves and fluctlights closely. Not only did we compare them to the artificial fluctlights, but also we compared them to those of the test subjects, most notably, Test Subject Five, whom you call Eugeo. These brain waves formed like patterns, mirroring those in the real world when people interact with friends, family, or those familiar to them. Through much research, which there is not time to explain to you given the current circumstances, we've extrapolated that, somewhere in the Underworld, your own fluctlights and those of this boy, Test Subject Fi," he paused, "...Eugeo... must have interacted and known each other. Is that correct?"
Asuna's jaw dropped in surprise, "You could tell that just by brain waves?"
"This experiment and project go deeper than Rath would let on," the doctor said, "Again I am not at liberty nor have enough time to explain the why and what, but from the fact that you and Kazuto are calling Test Subject Five by the name of Eugeo, you must have some neural connection with his fluctlight from the Underworld? Yes?"
Kirito and Asuna nodded.
"Then this is what I need from you. The way this project was set up, none of the Test Subjects were predicted to live very long, much less completely survive in these conditions. We only sought to make them as comfortable as possible for study and let them die peacefully when their time came. However, Test Subject Five has done more than just survive under these conditions, he has grown, and..."the doctor paused and looked back at Eugeo, "he has regained consciousness after 18 straight years in a coma."
Asuna gasped and grabbed Kirito's arm. "You mean he's really alive? Can he hear us?" She looked, eyes widened with fear and wonder, on the pale boy, seemingly unconscious lying beside them.
"He has been heavily sedated," the doctor turned back to them. "The shock the body incurs coming out of a coma that long, when he has never even breathed on his own... well, it's enough to cause cardiac arrest or a seizure. Luckily, we were able to sedate him enough in time that we can slowly bring him back to consciousness without such a shock on his body. What we still aren't sure of are the psychological affects of being in a coma for this long. While the STL does not allow a subject to retain much, if any, memories of their dive, we have not tested this theory on subjects who never functioned outside of the STL's care. I believe based on the brainwave scans and the fact that you know this boy by a name, that he knew you in the Underworld at some point and may still be able to recognize you if he regains consciousness in this world. Not only would it reduce stress on the body by providing the sight of familiar faces, but, we've hypothesized that fluctlights of those who have been bonded in friendship and familiarity will recognize each other, even under extremely different conditions. I'm sorry I can't explain more, but we are losing time. If we keep this boy sedated like this for much longer, we may lose him all together."
"But," Kirito gazed at his friend, tangled in a mass of wires and medical equipment. "What if he can't survive, even if he recognizes us? It's not like he can breathe or function on his own, and no one should be forced to live in this reality, hooked up to all this equipment."
"That's a risk we must take," the doctor bowed his head, "We've done many experiments and tracked the vitals of this subject for so long, even before he was placed in the STL, but there is no way to truly tell if the artificial growth hormones, and neural stimulation really worked... if they really mimicked the actual growth and development that humans go through. From what we can see here, they have to a great degree," he turned to the nurse and nodded his head. She turned and typed in a code on the pin pad next to the monitor that showed Eugeo's vitals. With a slow, loud hiss, the confines on his wrists, legs and neck released and the other nurses bend towards him, gently removing the sensors from his head and chest. The other doctor gently eased the tubes out of his nose and throat, and while Asuna turned away in fear as they pulled the respirator out through his mouth, Kirito kept his eyes fixed on his friend without blinking.
"Alright," the nurse said as she turned the respirator off and the doctor finished pulling it out of his mouth, "Let's see if he can breathe on his own."
For a moment, Eugeo was still, neither his chest, nor his mouth moved. Then his whole body gave a violent shudder and he began gasping hoarsely for air.
"What the hell!" Kirito yelled, "Do something! He's going to suffocate!"
"Nurse wait," the doctor held his hand up as the nurse tried to put the tube back down the gasping boy's throat.
"He'll DIE, doctor," Asuna fought back tears as Eugeo's cheeks tinted purple and blue, "He can't breathe on his own! You did this to him! Let him be at peace!"
The doctor continued holding his hand up as Eugeo gasped and shuddered for air. Suddenly, he stopped and heaved a huge breath in. They all stood in shock, as the boy seemed to run out of air.
Then...
He gave a huge cough, another shuddering gasp, and took one more breath of air in and out.
"Nurse, the oxygen," the doctor said in a low voice. The nurse pulled a regular oxygen mask over Eugeo's nose and mouth. They stood in silence watching as the pale color returned to the boy's cheeks, his chest stopped convulsing and evened out into a series of short, but steady breaths.
"Incredible," the doctor muttered slightly louder. Then he turned to Kirito and Asuna. "This boy has never breathed a breath on his own, and look."
Asuna, tears streaming down her face, couldn't answer, but Kirito, though weak, looked the doctor in the eye and growled.
"If you ever let him suffer like that again, I'll make sure you die."
The doctor cleared his throat and continued, "Since we are going to gradually bring him back out of this coma, as I was saying, we want the two of you to be what he sees, since the interaction of fluctlights will be beneficial not only to his physical but psychological well being. We are not monsters Kazuto, we are medical professionals. I have watched this boy's development in a coma for almost eighteen years, and if I can return him to a normal or somewhat normal life after all of this, then I have done my duty as a doctor." He turned again to the nurse, "Please, turn off IV 6, let the sedative work itself out." The nurse pressed another couple of buttons and a loud beep issued from one of the machines as she carefully pulled one of the many IVs out of Eugeo's arm.
"The sedative will wear off momentarily," the doctor said, stepping back.
Asuna, wiping her eyes on her sleeve gazed back at Eugeo, then she looked down at Kirito and gently pushed the wheelchair up to the side of the bed. Kirito leaned forward and placed his hand softly on that of his friend.
"Call his name," the doctor added, "Please. We'd like to see if he can respond to the name you called him by in the Underworld."
Kirito nodded and gave Eugeo's hand a gentle squeeze. "Hey, Eugeo, can you hear me? Eugeo, hey, it's me, Eugeo, it's Kirito...Eugeo..."
The boy's eyes fluttered slightly.
"Eugeo," Asuna added breathlessly, "Come back to us, please Eugeo!"
Voices.
He could hear them, but not make out what they were saying, or whether they were even human or not.
"Eugeo, come back to us!"
Yes, they were human. This one sounded... female.
"Alice?"
The voices grew louder. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open. Gray shadows loomed before him, but the color and clarity returned much quicker than last time.
Dark and light hair.
A girl.
Alice?
No, not Alice.
A dark haired boy.
Eugeo's eyes fully opened. The walls of the gray room surrounded him, as well as a dozen or so faces, staring blankly at him. One of these faces was closer than the others, a dark haired boy about his age. The features slowly came into view, a serious gaze, gray eyes, and dark bangs. Eugeo knew him, he knew him.
Kirito.
He tried to open his mouth to speak, but it was restricted by the mask that covered it. Eugeo twitched and tried once more to move his arms. This time he could, they were no longer restrained, but his arms were so weak and sore that he could barely move his fingers. He grasped, desperately trying to raise his hand to rip the mask off his face, but his arms and hands wouldn't move. His head swam with pain and dizziness. Suddenly, another face came close to his and muttered something while carefully removing the mask from his face.
Words met his ear.
"Doctor, what if he can't breathe?"
Breathe?
Eugeo panicked for a moment before taking a huge gasp. The air he breathed in was cold and dry. His eyes opened wider and he could clearly make out the face of his friend.
"K...k...ki...kiri...kirit..." he gasped, "Kiritoo..." his voice was so hoarse it was barely audible but he took another jagged breath and forced his weakened vocal cords to obey.
"Ki, Kirito..."
He took another breath of air in and the cold, dry feeling hurt his lungs. He shut his eyes momentarily as the pain overwhelmed him, but slowly re-opened them to meet the gaze of his friend, who looked terribly worried.
How was Kirito here?
Eugeo tried to open his mouth again but exhaustion overcame him and he grit his teeth against the pain welling up in his lungs.
Why can't I talk? What the hell?
Kirito leaned closer to him, "Eugeo you can hear me?"
Eugeo gathered all the strength he could muster and slightly nodded.
"He's very weak," the doctor's voice cut in as the nurse bent over Eugeo's arm, checking the IVs.
Weak? What the hell happened to me?
Eugeo focused hard and opened his mouth again, the pain was incredible, but he was able to speak one short sentence before the pain and exhaustion overwhelmed him into a stunned silence.
"Kirito, where... am...I?"
His breath failed him and he began wheezing hoarsely. The face of the nurse appeared again and covered his nose and mouth with the mask that brought warm, soft air back to his lungs.
Kirito sat, stunned. Eugeo's voice was barely audible but he could make out the words.
"Where...am I?"
He leaned forward and placed his hand gently on his friend's shoulder as the nurse replaced the oxygen mask over the gasping boy's face.
"You're safe, don't worry," his voice wavered with emotion, "Don't try and talk too much, Eugeo, you're weak."
The pale boy stared back at him, his green eyes looked confused and frightened as they darted from Kirito's to Asuna's faces' and back and fourth among the doctors and nurses who were all excitedly whispering to each other.
"It's unbelievable that the boy could even speak," one of the doctors muttered as a nurse quickly took notes. "The growth hormones and neural stimulation weren't projected to produce speech, perhaps the STL..." their voices faded away as Kirito, shaking, turned back to Eugeo, who's eyes were shut against the pain.
"Doctor, don't you see, he's in pain, what the hell?"
"Nurse, IV 3, please," the first doctor turned to the nurse closest to the machines.
"We are giving him a heavy dose of painkillers, he will probably fall asleep."
Kirito and Asuna watched nervously as the nurse plugged in numbers on the screen and a loud hiss, followed by fluid running down the IV into Eugeo's arm accompanied it. The boy's green eyes became hazy and he seemed to fight off the affects of the powerful painkiller, but quickly succumbed as his eyes fluttered shut and his breaths became longer and more relaxed as he drifted off into a manufactured slumber.
"Well, what are you going to do with him now?" Asuna turned back towards the doctors, her fists clenched and her eyes on fire. "Are you just going to leave him like this or do something more to help him?"
The doctor smiled vaguely as the rest of the nurses and doctors began gathering charts and leaving the room. "The boy is in a relatively stable condition now, it will take a lot of time for him to gain the strength to talk and even move on his own. But we are determined that he will, Miss Yuuki, Kazuto. For now though, he must rest, the pain his body has incurred just from simple breathing must be more than most healthy humans can bear. For now he will have to be heavily medicated and monitored closely. We will of course, be moving him to one of the state of the art medical rooms that housed you, Kazuto, with a more updated STL and equipment." His voice trailed off as the nurses began unhooking and reconnecting wires and IVs. Eugeo, though sedated, was still shivering.
"He's cold can't you see that!" Asuna exclaimed. She quickly removed her sweater and draped it across the shivering boy's chest. The nurse closest to Eugeo looked surprised and reached to pull the sweater off, but the doctor held up his hand and replied
"Nurse, it's alright, let the boy be."
Then he turned to Asuna and Kirito. "Remember, this boy has been kept alive all these years by advanced medical equipment and the STL. His body has never had to regulate his own breathing or temperature even. With much patience, we believe that he will be able to survive on his own, but it will be a long, hard recovery. He will endure much pain, more than you can possibly imagine, but I believe that if his mind and will have kept him alive for this long that he will be able to make it."
Asuna turned away, tears rolling down her cheeks as one of the nurses gently escorted her from the room.
Kirito kept his eyes locked on his friend's face. As the other nurse leaned over to pull his wheelchair back, he reached out again and grabbed Eugeo's hand.
"I won't leave his side, doctor. I won't let you take him from my sight!" As the nurse tugged gently, Kirito tightened his grip on Eugeo's cold, bony hand.
"Kazuto." The doctor placed his hand on Kirito's shoulder.
"Do you hear me?" Kirito's voice swelled with rage, "You WON'T take Eugeo away from us again! I'm not leaving his side, you hear me? I'm not LEAVING! I won't abandon my friend, you can't make me!"
The doctor stood taken aback for a moment before shooing the nurse away.
"Very well then, Kazuto. From what I've seen, you and Miss Yuuki are vital to Test Subject Five's survival and recovery. However, I hope you know this means you will not be leaving the care of Rath anytime soon."
Kirito's eyes locked with the doctor's gaze, "I'm staying here as long as it takes." His gray eyes burned with emotion. "I won't leave Eugeo's side until he's well again...I promise."
Notes:
Since fluctlight acceleration takes place in the most recent version of the STL, obviously Eugeo wasn't placed in that equipment until more recently. As the doctor explained Eugeo, Test Subject Five, had been in their care for 18 years and had been placed in various versions of the STL and studying with other equipment. The clones of his artificial fluctlights were altered and only in the latest working version of the STL was he able to meet Kirito and Asuna. He has no memories of former lives before.
Chapter 3 is on its way!