02. Memory
Alfred awoke to find himself inside the hospital; the stifling sterile walls were bland and mocked him. He swallowed thickly and blinked as he looked around; his gaze was bleary and he felt slightly detached.
"Al? Al, you're awake!" Matthew exclaimed, looking as if he might throw his arms around his brother's neck. Alfred coughed softly.
"'Course I am. You didn't think the hero was going to die, did you?"
Matt rolled his eyes, leaning over and giving him a ginger hug. "I'm glad you're doing alright! Francis and Arthur went to go get some coffee."
Alfred glanced around the room, feeling his throat close up slightly; he was in a single room, not in one that was shared by Kai. For almost a decade now they'd spent practically every night in the same room. "W-Where's Kai?" he asked after a moment, and Matthew patted his hand sympathetically.
"She's up another floor," he replied, with a small smile. "Don't worry, Al. They're taking good care of her."
That wasn't what was bothering him. A decade they'd spent their nights together; now they were in separate beds on different floors. Alfred suddenly felt very alone.
"I want to go see her," he said after a moment, beginning to sit up, but Matthew gently touched his arm and he laid back down.
"You can't right now," Matt replied. "The doctors are still treating her. The only people who have been let in to see her are the hospital staff and another fellow—Akando, I think his name was—and he hasn't left her alone since they let him in."
Alfred swallowed thickly, nodding after a minute. If he couldn't see Kai, he could wait. He'd spent forever and a day looking for her, so what were a few more days to him?
. . .
"You didn't put any wine in this, did you, you frog?"
"Non, Angleterre."
"Would you stop speaking French?"
"Well, it might be a little hard, seeing as how I am French."
"Yeah, well. Shut up."
Their usual banter had no fire to it, no real anger. Arthur couldn't really pick at Francis, not when the blonde had that troubled expression on his face. Not to mention his own responses were less than brilliant because of the sobering situation they were in.
They began heading down the hall. "We should check on belle Amérique," Francis said after a moment, glancing toward Kai's room. Both stopped outside, and both debated. Kai had been in horrible shape when she came into the hospital; and they knew that something, something bad, would happen if it was worse and Alfred found out.
Quietly, Arthur stepped toward the door and was about to knock when he heard a man's voice on the other side of the door:
"… I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy – myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame."
Praying. That Native American man was praying for Kai. Swallowing, Arthur stepped back.
"I don't want to find out just yet. Let's get back to Alfred."
Francis looked at Arthur, blue eyes sympathetic, and nodded, following the Briton down the hall to the stairs.
. . .
Alfred shifted in bed, uncomfortable. He wanted to go see Kai, get out of this damned hospital bed; day by day he was becoming more irritable and restless, and to say the least, it was grating on Arthur's nerves.
"Stop fidgeting, boy. You're going to ruin the work the doctors did on you."
Alfred shot Arthur a glare that exactly depicted his current feelings. The Englishman scowled back but didn't speak anymore until a doctor came by.
"Oi, what's going on?" he barked, just as eager to get out of the hospital as his American counterpart. The doctor looked startled, and Francis stood, holding up a hand in Arthur's direction.
"Non, non, I will handle this," he said, giving the doctor a patient smile and followed him out the door, closing it behind him.
After a few moments, Francis came back in. He had a tense smile on his face.
"What?" Alfred demanded. "What's going on? Is Kai better? Can I go see her?"
"Non, Amérique," he answered, that forced smile still plastered onto his face. "You cannot go see her. The doctor is still working on her."
"But it's been days!" Alfred shouted. He wanted to cry, but instead he was just angry.
"Don't use that tone, Alfred. I cannot tell the doctors to be done with her, just as I cannot demand she be healed as you might want me to."
Alfred glowered at the Frenchman, laying back on the bed. After a few minutes, Arthur stood, mumbling he needed more coffee, and Francis soon followed after. Matthew was still asleep, curled up tightly in the small chair that accompanied Alfred's room.
"What's going on? Why do you look like he just forced you to swallow a frog?" Arthur asked Francis once they were safely out of earshot. Francis swallowed thickly, as if to accentuate Arthur's question, and sighed softly.
"She does not remember anyone," Francis explained after a moment. "The doctor says she won't speak anymore and she spoke before, she did not remember anyone or what had happened. The doctor suggested we keep Alfred away until she regained her memory."
Arthur quickly grew silent and grim.
When they returned to the room, Alfred was struggling into a wheelchair while Matthew soundly slept.
"Alfred!" Arthur exclaimed. "Get back in bed!"
"No," he growled back, gritting his teeth against the pain. "I have to go see Kai. Right now."
"You can't see her, Amérique," Francis sighed, touching his arm. "The doctor prohibits it."
"I don't care!" he snapped out, settling into the wheelchair despite Arthur's stifled protests. "I want to see Kai. If Akando can be in there, then so can I. I'm equally as important to her as he is!"
Francis soothed him gently. "Shhh, of course you are. But the doctor does not want too many people seeing her—"
"Two people is not too many. Take me to her."
"Alfred, that's not a good—"
"I. Don't. Care. Take me—"
"She doesn't remember you, boy!" Arthur shouted, stopping Francis' futile attempts and Alfred's stubborn voice. Alfred looked at him, eyes wide, and his expression looked like Arthur had just slapped him in the face.
"S-She… She d-doesn't…"
"She doesn't remember you."
Francis scowled at Arthur. "You could have been gentler, Angleterre."
"He wasn't getting the bloody message, Francis!"
"All the better, actually! That's the reason we were told to keep her from his room, so he wouldn't have to find out like this!"
Alfred's throat was closed up tightly and he was staring at the floor. For a moment, the two other nations quit their bickering to look at him, sobered quickly.
"Alfred, boy, I didn't mean to be so harsh," Arthur began, touching his shoulder, but Alfred shook his head.
"No, I'm glad you told me, Arthur. I still want to go see her, though."
Arthur shot Francis a look –you see? I did the right thing—and nodded. "I… Don't see why not, not anymore at least. Francis?"
"If he insists on it, we should allow him this one thing."
Gently, Francis woke Matthew and Arthur pushed Alfred out the door, sighing quietly as they headed for the elevator. When they came out on Kai's floor, Alfred exhaled thickly, fingers white against the arm of his wheelchair.
They stopped outside of Kai's room, and heard Akando's soft voice, fervent and frail, repeating the prayer again. Arthur swallowed and knocked on the door before entering; Akando, sitting on one side of Kai's bed, held her hand and whispered the prayers over and over. Alfred stared at her—she was sickly looking, her sun-kissed skin looked as breakable as paper against her bones, and her dark eyes were half-lidded and fluttering back and forth around the room. When Arthur parked Alfred on the opposite side of her bed, the American gently reached out and touched her free hand, stroking her hair. He thought he might start crying when she fixed her gaze on him, but he held it back.
"Where have you been?"
The voice startled everyone, making Akando cease in his prayers and four pairs of eyes focus on Kai. Her voice was infinitely fragile, so soft and wispy that Alfred could hardly hear her. But she was looking directly at him, weakly intertwining their fingers.
"W-What?" Alfred asked. Not only did she remember him, but she was speaking. To him. He heard Akando exhale sharply when she parted her lips.
"I've looked for you forever and a day."
Alfred couldn't hold back the sob that came from him, and he brought her fingers to his lips, closing his eyes tightly and fighting to keep the tears back. But they came anyway, and Kai pulled her hand from Akando's and touched her boyfriend's hair.
"Don't cry, Alfred," she whispered softly. "It'll be alright."
He only cried more, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. His tears stained her hair but she didn't care, closing her eyes at the touch as he whispered over and over again, I love you.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whew, this was fun (and sad) to write. I might add one more chapter after this, if I can get myself to do it. XD Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this~ Don't forget to review!