Below New York City - 8:50am
Rina obediently followed behind Savior as they walked by teams of men and women hustling along to get their base setup. Savior acknowledged them all as he walked past, heading for what used to be a security office that he had claimed for himself as his private study. The room itself was a simple square. Neatly arranged on bookcases that stretched from one wall to the other were the mountains of books and preserved papers that Savior had collected. In the right hand corner, Savior had setup a desk which had a few books open on it and a small laptop computer. There were two chairs in front of the desk and one behind it. Against the other wall were boxes that were still being unpacked with other things Savior used in his study. They weren't important at this point, though. Rina sat when bided by Savior at one of the chairs in front of the desk. He sat behind it and brought the laptop out of its sleep mode.
"I've told you that story of the 10 demons probably a dozen times by now, Rina." Savior said.
"Yes." Rina replied politely. "How our ancestors sealed them away after they caused so much ruin to the world. They sacrificed their lives to seal them into the Dragon Bones."
Savior seemed to be half listening and half daydreaming as Rina was speaking to him. "Yeah. At one point, that is was I believed too, Rina."
Rina's face showed her confusion. "I don't understand. You don't believe your own records?" she gestured to his books on the table.
Savior smiled sadly, "A book can tell you a tale but it is your imagination that makes it a story. The tale that I've gotten is that they made this sacrifice in order to preserve the world and to keep it from being destroyed by these demons. But I'm beginning to wonder if that really was the case."
Rina wanted to press her leader further but felt she should just let him explain at his own pace what he was trying to say. He continued, "They sacrificed themselves to save the world and I only know this because of what I've pieced together from that period of time. But there are so many things that I cannot confirm."
Savior leaned back into his chair, staring up at the fluorescent lights above him. "There are still many questions about our past, Rina. I've begun to suspect it isn't as noble as I once thought."
"I don't understand."
"Rina, I began to ask more questions. These demons aren't natural. They aren't something that are native to this world. So where did they come from? What brought them here? What gave our ancestors the idea to seal the demons?"
Rina had a question of her own, "What made you question these things, Savior?"
Savior looked down at the box on his desk with the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle on it. "The appearance and the discovery of this. And the other 6 items that accompany it. I saw what this puzzle was capable of with my own eyes."
From behind him, Savior gingerly grasped one of the Dragon Bones and laid it on the desk next to the puzzle. "That puzzle was able to call out a monster in my duel against Sharp. Alive and more than willing to strike me if it needed to."
"Called a monster from where?" Rina asked.
Savior was quiet for a moment. "That…I'm not sure of. I was able to piece together from my research into Egypt that that move Sharp did was called Soul Burning. It's a method that uses the body and soul of someone to bring a monster to this world. But I'm also not sure where these demons that are within the Dragon Bones came from either. But they are similar, aren't they? An item from our past that contains a powerful creature. An item from the Egyptians that can call out to living monsters. There is a common thread there that I don't think should be ignored."
"You believe they were made at the same time?" Rina asked, seeing the picture that Savior was showing become a little clearer.
"No, not at the same time. I already know and can confirm that these Dragon Bones predate the Millennium Items by at least hundreds of years. Now that I have this Millennium Puzzle in my hands, I wonder about two things. One is whether the origin of the demons in the Dragon Bones are from the same place that these Millennium Items call these monsters from-"
"So if they did come from the same place, that means that our ancestors were duelists? Or that they were aware of this place, this…realm where the Egyptians called these monsters from?"
Savior nodded, "Very astute. But my other question is this. As I said before, the Millennium Items were created long after the existence of the Dragon Bones, and yet they do similar things. I wonder if these Millennium Items, for all the problems they are, are they the key to finally getting rid of these damned demons?"
Savior stood. "Rina. How long until we are operational?"
Rina thought for a moment. "There's probably another day left until we can be back to full operation."
"And your Rapiers?" Savior asked.
"The Rapiers always stand ready."
"Good. After we are back online, we will not wait around to make our next moves. The Dragon Bones are now our main priority. We'll delay sending out people into the local workforce. I must ask you and your Rapiers to perform a raid on the DXS."
Rina flinched. "Against the DXS themselves?"
"I don't think that a cyber attack against them will work, especially now that we're not even fully set into our new location. The DXS have a wealth of information that we need, and I have it from good sources that the DXS have information regarding the Dragon Bones that I may not. I want that."
"Timetable?"
"Take your time, Rina. Scout your opponent, send men in for recon. It is a important mission but stealth will be your best ally with this."
"I understand." Rina stood up and excused herself in order to prepare for her mission. Savior sat behind his desk and scattered the Millennium Puzzle around him. He had no idea how long it would take for him to finish it.
But there's no time like the present.
Private Jet - Above US airspace 9:00am
"So we're clear on the plan?" Terry asked.
"A lot of iffs in this plan…" Natasha grumbled, not exactly enthused by it.
Terry glanced at her. "What's so iffy about it? Kwandao uses her ring to bring you guys to the ground now that we're back over the states. Done."
"There's two really big iffs in that plan of yours, Terry." Janet pointed out. "One is that you're asking us to put our lives in her hands with this Millennium Ring of hers."
Terry leaned back in his chair a bit, "Oh, is that all? You've all already taken one trip on that magic carpet ride. Didn't hurt you then, so why not now?"
"Then there's the other part of your plan." Jamie said, who was sitting right besides Terry. "Where you ride this plane by yourself back to the states and let yourself get taken into custody."
Terry rolled his eyes, not in boredom but exasperation, "Will you stop reminding me of it, Jamie? I gotta do it, otherwise, we're all marked. It's not like I'm thrilled to do this either."
"Let him be." Vega said, listening to the conversation but looking like he was asleep with his arms and legs crossed.
Knowledge looked at Vega with his one good eye. "I can't tell if you mean that because you believe in him…or if it's a way for you to save your skin, Vega."
Vega turned his head as if to look out the window. "Neither. That is his decision, so honor it."
Terry clapped his hands together twice to get everyone to focus on him. His eyes had a somberness to them. "There's no discussion in this, people. I'm going in and you're not. Deal with it. Especially you, Knowledge. You need medical attention for your eye."
"And how will you get out?" Kwandao asked. "You can't chase Savior from behind bars."
"Even if I have to break out, I'll get out." Terry said simply.
Knowledge shook his head. "It just doesn't make sense to me. You're going in to give them something to take the heat off the rest of us. But then you say you're gonna break out?"
Natasha said, "It sounds like a plan both Terry and Sharp would come up with."
That logic made everyone pause just for a second, because that did make sense. Terry stood up and moved away from the group. "Go ahead and get yourselves ready. I don't care what you guys say, you're going. Kwandao, you're set?"
"Prepared." was all she said. Natasha, Knowledge, Jamie, Vega and Janet all moved to stand in a circle around her. Kwandao worked to gather the energy she'd need to complete this. The others looked toward Terry who was facing them but not even really looking at them.
"I'd better not have to visit you on death row, Terry." Jamie quipped.
Before Terry could even muster a response, Kwandao's Millennium Ring filled the compartment with soft yellow light that forced him to squint his eyes. And once he opened them, both the light and his friends were gone. And all at once, loneliness hit him hard. It wouldn't last long. He knew that this plane was not more than some minutes away from landing. He reached for one of the in-cabin telephones, got past the operators and made a statement that got him in contact with the airport's security. It was like the whole time he was watching himself in the third person and thinking, 'what a idiot.' He imagined someone on the ground through so themselves. He thought, some 20 minutes later, the plane was making an approach to land but then started climbing in altitude again. When he looked out the window, he saw a few flashing lights over toward another landing strip and coincidentally, that's where this plane was heading.
The pilot made a second attempt to land and this time guided it down onto the ground smoothly. As soon as it touched down, Terry unbuckled himself from his chair and stood at the sealed door that led outside. He could hear the hustle and bustle beyond it of men giving orders.
With no ceremony when the door started to open inwards, he slowly dropped to his knees, hands clasped behind his head. He didn't want to look up. He knew that there were guns drawn on him so all he did was keep his head down and follow with their instructions. He felt the snap of handcuffs on his wrist. Almost right then and there, he began to lose it. He'd never been arrested before and now he was going in for something no judge would likely say 'I'll let you go, I'd better not see you in here again.' It's truly an experience to have your freedom taken from you.
He did wonder, as they led him out of the plane and through the airport, how the news people had gotten here so quickly. Two or three cameras with bright, white lights were pointed at him as he made his long walk. Still, he kept his head down.
"Well, hero…" he said to himself, "Off you go to save your friends."
Millstone City - 9:45am
The air around the top of a particular building became electrified for absolutely no reason until a golden glow illuminated the area and out of nowhere, Kwandao softly touched the ground with Lamar Vega, Janet Rush, Natasha Chapel, 'Knowledge' Collins and Jamie Cantou surrounding her. She looked around and felt confident she'd ended up right where she wanted to be.
The soft wind caused the rest of them to open their eyes to see they were standing on the rooftop of a building somewhere. Out in the distance, they could clearly make out the skyscrapers of Millstone so they were in the right place.
"Where are we?" Natasha asked.
"Magnificat." Kwandao said.
"This is M.A.G?" Janet said with surprise, prompting her to take a fresh look at her surroundings.
Magnificat Academy for Girls. A prodigious private girls school located to the north of Millstone in a neighborhood called Tremont. It had been built in the 1970's as a private school that was nothing special. They gave good educations and had good staffing. It wasn't until later in the 2000's that they opened their doors to international students in a program called People to People. Exchange students came to their dormitories and lived there as they got an education and help in speaking the native language. This got them national and even international attention which allowed them to expand their campus, expand their staff and budgets and allowed them to include more diverse programs. One of key interest to the group was that M.A.G was becoming one of the first schools that offered programs to women seeking to make careers in gaming.
"Why'd we come here?" Vega asked.
"This is my school." Kwandao said. "It was the only place I could think of for the transfer."
"We're still wanted, Kwandao." Vega reminded her. "And you ran from this place to seek help from Sharp. Why would you return?"
Kwandao started walking toward the single doorway on the roof that led back into the building. "It's safe enough to hide out in now, I'd bet. The school closes for a week around this time. There's no staff here, and most of the students stay at the dorms or take vacations themselves."
"Good enough for me." Natasha and Janet said together.
"Wait." Knowledge said. "Just who made you the leader of this outfit, Kwandao?"
Jamie stepped in immediately. "Let's not even go there, Knowledge. I want to get you out of here anyway to get your eye looked at."
Kwandao looked behind her. "Vega?"
Vega harrumphed, but started toward the door, too.
Kwandao led them inside the door which led to some dimly lit stairs in a brick stairwell. At the base of the stairs was another door that led them into a grand library. Polished wood abound and high windows that looked out on the campus' front entrance greeted them. They moved through the library to it's entrance and were led to one of the main halls. The library was at the end of this particular hall and an exit was right next to them. They took it and went outside.
The outside of M.A.G was designed much like a cul de sac with seven buildings. After you walked up a hill that was where the road and parking lots were, the main campus was right in front of you. On either side of the main campus were their two science buildings that housed more than science classes. The two buildings at each end were the two dormitories that students used. The building on the left between the science building and dorm A, as Kwandao called it, was the sports hall. The building on the right between dorm b and the other science building was the school's restaurant/cafeteria.
"If you go right down the hill there, not all that far from here is a small hospital." Kwandao said to Jamie and Knowledge.
"Good. Which one of these dorms are yours?" Jamie asked.
Kwandao pointed toward dorm B. "I'm in room 218, on the second floor."
"As if there'd be a room on the first floor numbered 218..." Knowledge mumbled under his breath. Jamie shoved him down the hill because he saw that Kwandao heard him and saw that flash of silver in her eyes.
"I'll be back when I can." Jamie called back to them. Natasha waved to him as he went.
"Question." Janet asked, she looked at herself and the others. "Kwandao, this is a all girls school, right?"
Kwandao nodded. She followed Janet's eyes and saw she was staring at Vega. Kwandao didn't get what she meant.
Natasha looked from Kwandao to Vega and immediately picked up on it. "Ah, I got it. I'll take care of him."
Vega took a step backwards. "If one of you think you're gonna turn me into a girl, you can forget it."
Natasha seemed to turn the idea over in her mind for a moment, but then smiled sweetly at Vega. "Nah, your shoulders are too big for a girl, Vega. I guess the best thing to do…"
She slid in close to him, hooked her arm around his and gave him big, puppy dog eyes. "…is to let everyone know you're all mine while all the staff are away, baby."
Kwandao blushed so hard she looked like she got hit with a steam gun, but Janet was doubling over in laughter. Poor Vega, though, couldn't do anything but get dragged into the dorm with Natasha on his arm.
Hillcrest Hospital - 11:10am
Jamie was a wreck.
He and Knowledge had found the hospital easily enough, got checked in easily enough, and Knowledge was being tended to easily enough. Well, easily enough considering his circumstances. But for Jamie, the wait was killing him. No doctors or nurses had even passed through the area where he was supposed to wait. No receptionist either. Knowledge had left his side more than a hour and a half ago.
And right now, he was looking at a breaking news report about how the police had taken Terry into custody.
He had meant what he'd said about not having to see Terry on death row. He knew, and he imagined that Knowledge and Terry didn't, that this was serious business. It became something completely different when you stole from another country's government. Which is what they'd been accused of doing. They knew they were innocent, but the odds of proving it were low right now. They could be extradited to China to face their standards for breaking laws, as well as their own countries.
"Mr. Felix Anderson?"
Jamie had to remind himself to answer to that fake name he'd given the hospital when he brought Knowledge in. He had no idea if Knowledge had done the same. The woman that called his name was a older woman, likely in her 50's or so. A blonde with curly hair that came down to the middle of her neck. She had the appearance and attitude of someone that had seen a lot of sick people in her career; totally professional yet emotionally detached.
"Yes?" Jamie said nervously, extending his hand to shake with hers.
"I'm Dr. Danielle Busse. I've been handing the care of your friend Catravious."
He used his real name. Jamie thought to himself.
Dr. Busse continued, "Let's head to my office."
Jamie didn't like the sound of that, and his heart fell with each step he took. They walked what ended up being a short distance to the next set of doors in the hallway which was her office. She held the door for Jamie as he stepped in. A nice wooden desk that was neatly organized was off to the side with two seats in front of it. A chair for her sat on the other side and a small computer station was behind the desk. He took a seat for himself and she sat behind her desk.
"How are you today?" she asked.
"I've had better days…" Jamie answered truthfully.
"I can imagine." Dr. Busse replied, opening up a manilla folder she'd brought into the office with her. "Your friend, Mr. Collins, is fine right now. He's still recovering right now from the anesthetic we used when we treated his eye. I expect he should be ready to leave once we're done here."
"And his eye?" Jamie asked.
Dr. Busse paused for just a slight second.
"Can you save his eye?"
"I'm sorry." she replied. "It was completely ruptured. The first aid put on it helped to keep it from being infected but it's truly not salvageable. Not even the best surgeons in the country would be able to save his right eye."
Jamie felt the weight of the world on his shoulders at that point. "Oh, man…"
"What relation do you have to Catravious?"
"I'm a friend of his."
"And what happened to him to get him this way?"
Jamie thought quickly. "He got jumped. He was trying to protect some of his friends from some people and got into a fight with them. One of them drew a knife and cut him."
Dr. Busse leaned back into her chair. "Funny. That's not what he told me."
Damn…Jamie thought to himself. Aside from that, he kept silent for now. And he could feel Dr. Busse's eyes on him, like she was hunting him.
"You can tell me the truth." she said in a warm voice.
Jamie wanted to roll his eyes, but didn't. "You wouldn't believe it." Jamie said instead.
"Try me."
Jamie chewed on that, then decided to reverse roles. "How about you tell me how you're so believing."
"Well, that came from me trying to get that tennis ball away from him. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it fly through the air into his hands. Plus the fact I couldn't pry the damn thing from his open palm."
"The Millennium Eye…" Jamie breathed.
"So that's what you call it."
"Yes."
"So now that we're getting somewhere, how did your friend really get that cut over his right eye?"
Jamie exhaled deep. "Doctor, it pretty much happened like I said. Only…only that he was in China preventing two other people from being tortured. He put himself between them and their captor and she cut him."
Now the doctor bolted upright. "China?"
Jamie nodded.
Dr. Busse consulted her notes. "That can't be…a wound like that would have at least scabbed over more if you were on the other side of the planet and just now came here."
Jamie didn't want to go too far into detail with her. "That's another story. Look Doctor, I feel like I can't lie to you if I want Knowledge to get better."
Dr. Busse leaned back into her seat, crossing her arms. "You could lie to me and it wouldn't matter whether I would've or wouldn't have treated Catravious. But I feel like you're not lying to me."
"I'm not." Jamie reaffirmed.
"Good." she said, taking the papers she had and shifting them to the side of her desk where a paper shredder sat over the top of a trash can. Jamie and her locked eyes as she took them and sliced them into ribbons.
"You probably don't realize it, but you and your friends helped out my daughter some time ago and I'm eternally grateful for it."
"Huh?" Jamie blurted out, just as confused as to why she destroyed those papers as to why she was telling him he helped her daughter out.
"Do you remember an incident downtown some time ago? A young girl that was taken hostage?"
Jamie thought about it, but it didn't take long for him to recall the memory of what would have been Terry's first encounter with Re'-Sha. Re'-Sha had taken a girl hostage in the public library and had demanded that the police send her Terry or else she would kill the girl. This all happened just prior to Terry receiving the Millennium Puzzle and the intervention by Shadi into their lives.
"Wait, you mean that girl-" Jamie started.
"Was my daugher. Elise Busse. She was at that library studying when that girl abducted her. Afterwards, she told me about the boy that saved her. At some point, Terry reached out to her again after she'd been released and offered whatever he could to her to help her get over that experience. Including help from you two."
Jamie swallowed hard and wanted to sing 'It's a Small World After All' aloud to himself, but didn't.
"When I heard on the news about how you boys had supposedly robbed a museum, I didn't want to believe it. That seemed so far from what I had come to know of Terry from my daughter."
Jamie spoke up, "Doctor, that wasn't us. That wasn't any one of us in that video they showed. So we're trying to clear our names by getting to the real thief. We had him in China, but-"
Dr. Busse held up her hand, halting Jamie from going any further. "Jamie, I believe you. I believe what you're telling me, even if it's pretty farfetched. But I do have to get back to work before I'm missed."
Jamie stood with the doctor and moved with her to the door. She gave him a business card. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me. Terry saved my daughter, so when you see him, please let him know I want to return the favor anyway I can."
Jamie looked the doctor over once more. He realized that he probably was right to say she was professional and emotionally detached, but only when she wasn't talking about something related to her family. She had cupped her hands over his when she gave him the business card and she seemed almost desperate to help Terry. It warmed Jamie that the good deeds Terry had done had reaped some rewards.
"I'll let him know, Doctor." Jamie promised as the two of them stepped out into the hallway.
"I'll have one of the nurses escort Catravious out to you. Don't worry about a bill or anything, though. As far as anyone knows, you never were here." she said, turning on her heel and heading into the hospital.
"Mr. Collins, are you awake?"
"…"
"Mr. Collins?"
"Yeah." Knowledge rolled himself off the side of the exam table, still waking up. He found his memory of the last couple of hours fuzzy. Once Jamie had led him here, he'd been seen to immediately, checked over by a nurse and carted off for one of their better equipped rooms. He remembered the doctor that had worked on him, Dr. Busse…
"Catravious Collins?"
"Yeah." Knowledge said from inside the exam room. He'd been shimmied into a hospital gown on him and his bandages removed from over his face. He felt, strangely, colder without them. The doctor came into the room, holding a clipboard that she was scribbling in.
"Mr. Collins, my name is Dr. Danielle Busse." Knowledge gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "I can see you've got a severe laceration according to my nurses' notes. BP checks out ok…vitals are stable…"
She droned on and on for a moment with more nonsense that didn't interest him, so Knowledge let his eyes wander and they settled over her nametag attached to her white lab coat.
"Danielle Busse? Why does that name sound familiar?" Knowledge mumbled to himself.
"Hmm…" was all she said. She came close and without asking permission gently pushed Knowledge onto the table. The table was nothing special, but the headrest had a motor function to it that let the operator raise or lower it. Dr. Busse raised it and Knowledge squirmed around a bit. He was looking right up into a set of lights and all at once, every bad movie he'd seen where the patient woke up with the head connected to their butts came to his mind.
Knowledge saw the doctor at the counter off to the side washing her hands all the way up to her elbows and placing clear plastic gloves on. She walked over to him and laid one hand on his forehead to steady him. The other wedged open his right eye with her thumb and forefinger.
"Mr. Collins, how much can you see out of your right eye right now?"
Knowledge closed his left eye and focused on the right. "Honestly…"
"I can tell it's light in front of me. That's it."
"Hmm…" she hummed, and then reached for a machine that looked a lot like the scope doctors used in peoples' ears, but this one had a light on it. She looked into his right eye, then his left, then his right, then back to his left. She didn't ask, but Knowledge still didn't see much.
She then seemed to pay attention to the cut going across his face now. She asked him to scrunch up his face, blink and squint his eyes. "Well, this cut is shallow up here…" she traced her finger from the top of the cut to his eyebrow. "But it gets worse."
Knowledge felt a feeling similar to a rock dropping into his stomach. "How worse?"
She placed a finger right over the top of his left eye. "There are tiny muscles in your face that control your facial expressions. They're small, thin and not very strong all in all. I think one of them was cut. If you looked at your facial expressions on the left side versus the right side, there are differences."
"Big or small?"
"Moderate."
"…keeps getting better and better." Knowledge grumbled.
The rest of the exam was done with quickly and Dr. Busse had Knowledge sit up on the edge of the table while she took a chair in front of him.
"Mr. Collins. Let's talk about your eye now."
Knowledge inhaled, trying to prepare his heart.
"I'll tell it to you frankly and spare a lot of the medical terms on you. When you were cut, it cut into your eyeball and the cornea. Your retinas will not focus either. There's too much damage there that medical science cannot fix. Simply put, you're blind in your eye, Mr. Collins."
You're blind in your eye.
He suspected it to be the outcome, but its completely different when its someone that's trained telling you that as opposed to your mind. He bowed his head, closed his hands into fists and rested his forehead on them. Bitterly, he thought to himself, it still seems like I can cry out of both of them just fine.
Dr. Busse noticed but didn't seem to take heed of the fact her patient was crying. "There's still bleeding, and I know you can probably feel it. I want to put you under for a little while so I can stitch up your eyelid and the gash on your forehead."
"Doc, I gotta ask. What's the chances of me getting my vision back?" Knowledge asked desperately.
Dr. Busse looked him straight into his eye. "I'm sorry. There's practically no chance."
"…I see." Knowledge said.
"Why did you say my name sounded familiar?" Dr. Busse asked in a way to steer the topic away from this.
Knowledge grunted as he leaned back and laid up against the wall the table was against. "I just know that last name of yours for some reason. I wanna say 'Elise' for some reason."
Dr. Busse's eyes got wide. "H-How'd you know that?"
Knowledge jumped back at her reaction. "Hey, calm down, doc!"
"The police never gave out her name, I want to know how you know her name!"
"The police?" Knowledge said, and then it clicked in his mind. "Wait, doc, wait, wait. Calm down, and I'll tell you."
In a rare twist, the patient was now consoling and calming the doctor. Knowledge got up so he could stand. "Elise was one of the hostages that we're being held at the downtown library some weeks ago when a maniac took it over. That maniac was a girl named Kw-" Knowledge stopped himself. "A girl named Re'-Sha Shiyth. She demanded to have the police bring my best friend to her."
"Terry Hairston?" Dr. Busse asked.
"Yeah. He came and they played in a duel. As Terry had told me, Re'-Sha had bound two hostages to a machine that acted as a counter. As their life points got lower, these needles that were filled with acid or poison or something got closer to them. He played Re'-Sha to a draw and saved them both. When he told me about it, he said one of the girls' names was Elise Busse."
Dr. Busse seemed to choke up just slightly. Knowledge couldn't tell because she got up from her chair and opened up a cabinet next to his table. "She…she's my daughter. She told me about a boy that came in there that day and saved her. I couldn't go out to find him and thank him for that because the police were trying to protect my daughter from the media."
Knowledge nodded, with a smirk on his face. "Terry's like that. Always looking out for others before himself. He told me and Jamie that he gave her a means to contact him or me or Jamie afterwards if she needed anything."
Dr. Busse had pulled a syringe from the cabinet and had filled it with what Knowledge noted to be a sedative. She gently pushed him back onto the table.
"Then…that must make you Knowledge?"
Knowledge scrunched up his face, unused to an adult addressing him by his nickname.
"Yeah."
"Elise told me all about that day as well as the boy that offered to help her out…" she said quietly. "Catravious, I don't mean to be rude, but I really want to stitch your cut up as well as put some medicine on your eye. This is just something to help you sleep so you won't feel pain. May I?"
Knowledge offered his arm and as she injected him, she spoke. "Catravious, I heard on the news about how you supposedly robbed a -"
"No, that wasn't me. That wasn't us, any of the people you saw. We were setup."
"Your friend saved my daughter and I don't think I can ever repay that debt." she pulled the needle out and stuck a cotton swab over the puncture. "This should let you sleep very soon."
Knowledge nodded, and it probably helped that he hadn't slept much on the plane trip back to here because it wasn't but a few minutes later that it got harder and harder for him to keep his eyes open. Before he closed them, he noticed Dr. Busse fumbling with something in his hand.
"Catravious, let go." she asked.
Knowledge tried to lift his head to see what she wanted. He saw the golden sphere of the Millennium Eye in his hand.
"Cant…won't let me…" he mumbled before his eyes closed.
Knowledge shadowed behind the nurse as she led him through hallways and eventually back toward some stuff he recognized. But all along the way, he could see other staff for the hospital taking not-so subtle glances at him. He ignored the first few, then he just kept staring at whoever he caught until the looked away. He guessed he didn't look real pretty without a bandage over his cut.
Before long, the nurse stopped and motioned for him to head to the end of the long hall he found himself in. He nodded to her, stuck his hands in his pockets and did as he was asked. He felt something in his pocket, but just as he was about to inspect it, he paused and doubled back when he passed a mirror in the hall.
He ran a hand through his hair to the top of his head to get the bangs out of his face. He got a good look at the work Dr. Busse did for him. The cut, like she said, had been sewn together but his skin around where the cut was was extremely red and stood out plainly against his white skin.
Knowledge sighed deeply, looking out of one good eye at his reflection. He saw the item that was in his pocket was something Dr. Busse must've placed there. An eye patch. His vision on his right side was screwing with the vision on his left. He slipped it over his eye and adjusted his hair slightly so more of his bangs covered the patch. The black patch was easily visible through his hair, but the scar was almost all covered. A little of it slipped past the bottom of the patch.
He noticed through the reflection Jamie had snuck up on him. "What?"
Jamie shook his head. "Nothing."
Knowledge turned to him. "Jamie, can I ask you something?"
"Shoot." he said, guiding him toward the exit.
The two of them stepped out into the day. "I went across the planet to save a guy and a girl that don't even seem appreciative of it. And for my effort, I lost my eye and have this to remind me of it for the rest of my life. Was it worth it?"
Jamie was quick with his answer. "Yes."
Knowledge looked at him with an eye that begged for more than that for an answer. "Knowledge, if you had asked me, you rescued a girl that is losing herself within herself. And you rescued a rival that is lost in himself. Your job's not done yet."
Jamie turned so he was facing Knowledge. "Terry can do a lot of things and he's amazing in his own right. But only you can truly save them, Knowledge. They're still in pain. And if you give up on yourself, you're giving up on them. Don't look at that scar as a reminder of your failure, because you haven't failed. Look at it as a means of connecting yourself to them. A sacrifice that you made for them that you, she and he will have to remember for the rest of your lives."
And just like that, Knowledge felt just a little better about his situation. Because everything Jamie just said made sense.
"How you feeling now?" Jamie asked, hoping he wasn't as moody as he looked.
Knowledge inhaled, "Better, I think. Not 100%, but better than when I walked into that hospital."
"Good." Jamie said, then held out his hand. Knowledge looked down at it quizzically.
"What? You thought that pure, sagely wisdom I imparted on you was free?"
