Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy or any other reference that I put in here. I only own the things that I make up!
Ch. 4 To die and live again
In the hospital Elle's parents waited all night sleeping at her bedside. They just did not want to leave her right now even though they knew her brother was still at home by himself. They had called and left a message for him. At least that way he was aware of what was going on and they could tell him what he should be doing. They were going to call him every so often just to see how he was doing. They had no idea how long Elle was going to sleep. They did not want to leave her in their care just yet.
The doctors were trying to wait patiently for the specialist to arrive, but they were feeling a little more worried about the girl. Now that they had actually confirmed that something really was wrong with her they actually had reason to worry. They just hoped that there was something that they could do to fix it. The doctor hoped he could actually figure out what was wrong. He was catching an early morning flight and would be there in the afternoon. He was going to call once the plane landed just in case there was any change, but all of them doubted there would be.
There had been absolutely no change all night long and someone had been monitoring her the entire time. They were almost wondering if she was even going to wake up at all anyway. From the readings they were getting she was neither asleep or awake. It was very disconcerting. They weren't exactly sure what they were going to tell her parents once he arrived. None of them could imagine that going well. They seemed to be at wits end now and this, they thought, must feel like a repeat of her first hospitalization.
Elle was only five at the time. She was playing outside in the yard where they first lived. It wasn't exactly the best place to raise a family, but they were making it work. Her mother stood on the porch watching her play. Her father was at work. Everything seemed fine. Things were fine for the most part. Nothing appeared wrong, but life has a way of doing that. It can trick you into thinking everything is alright when it really isn't.
Her mother suddenly got an odd feeling. She suddenly felt that something was about to happen and not something good. She stood up and looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. For a moment the feeling subsided and she sat down. Elle was moving slowly a little closer to the street and she had noticed. "Elle." She shouted. "Don't get so close." She said. At that moment it happened.
She watched something horrible happen and to her it was slow motion. She screamed and it seemed to last forever. She could not stop and she could not seem to move. It mattered little though. She knew there was nothing she could do. It would be over before she could even leave the porch.
Elle disappeared as the car veered off the road. She screamed and it was cut short very quickly. It knocked her to the ground and continued the passenger side wheels going over her body. The driver tried to stop and tried to avoid her, but panic had set in and she did all of the wrong things. When she stopped she sat there for a moment trying to breathe. Then she hurriedly opened the door forgetting to take off her seat belt. After tangling with that she ran to the back of her car fearing what she might find.
As she reached it she head a loud and painful cry come from the house. She looked up and saw Elle's mother on her knees. She painfully went over to Elle and kneeled beside her. She reached out shaking thinking that there was no way she could be alive. She reached for her wrist trying to find a pulse. Anything. She was relieved to feel something, but she had no idea how long that was going to last.
She remembered that her phone was in the car and she saw her mother running over to her. She was going to take care of calling for an ambulance. She was shaking and could hardly dial the number and explain the situation. She was so shaken and worried that she did not really care about the penalty she might have to pay for this happening. She had hurt her, run her over, and she could die. That realization alone made her collapse and cry. She was just sitting on the ground leaning against the car door.
Elle's mother kneeled beside her sobbing uncontrollably. She could hardly think and had no idea what was going on around her. The world was silent and all she could do was cry and fret over her. The whole experience was numbing. She was afraid for her and had no idea what would happen. She faintly heard the sounds of someone else crying and talking, but she ignored them.
Ten minutes later sirens rang out as they approached the scene. No one had moved an inch. Elle was lying face down on the ground in the same position and her mother was afraid of touching her. They moved her away from Elle and carefully put her on the stretcher. Of course, she was going to ride in the ambulance with her daughter. The driver let them help her up and they put her in a car to take her to the hospital. She needed to be checked out as well even though there were no visible injuries.
It had taken her forever to regain her composure. That is when she called her husband at work to tell him what had happened. She teared up while doing that and he told her that he would be there soon. It was not very comforting for her. Once the doctors decided there was nothing they could do they gave up. Her parents begged them to find something...anything that could save her. They told them there was only one option and it was not guaranteed. It was not a tested procedure yet and they were sketchy on the details. Something like that had never been done before.
Her parents did not care what it was. It was something that they were very willing to try. Her mother especially did not want to lose Elle. Her father knew that losing her would be very hard and decided to try. They were going to lose her anyway. This could help someone else in this sort of situation.
This was the same hospital. It was not the same situation, but they had waited for days for her to wake up. It took a day for all of her data to be configured and then a day or two to upload it to her new brain. The person lying in the bed was not even real, but the way they felt sure was. This was very painful for them and the first procedure to save her life had been a success. They were going to remember the man that had designed everything. The first thing they had thought of was just getting them out of the room long enough for him to see her. They just did not want to worry them more.
He finally arrived and the doctor rushed out to meet him and explain things to him. He understood there reason for discretion. He remembered the family well and had not forgotten the strong reactions they exhibited. He understood telling them it was best they not see him right now.
It was hard to arrange. They refused to leave, but they were in luck. The nurse was a smooth talker and she convinced them to leave long enough for him to come in. She was to go with them to make sure they did not come back early.
He went in and checked out everything. He went slow checking the readings while having a look at her. The doctors just stood outside watching. None of them wanted to get in the way.
Meanwhile, Elle woke up to a buzzing sound. She got up and looked around. She did not see anything out of the ordinary, but the characters were acting different. Each of them walked towards the hallway. Vincent reached it first and instead of walking on he turned into a streak of light zooming off to the right. She guessed this meant someone was playing the game now. It also made her wonder what exactly would that be like for her.
She couldn't see Tifa anywhere. Looking at herself she realized that she had already taken over her body. For now she was in charge, but she got the feeling that would not last long. She was right of course and a few moments later she was following the others. Part of her felt a little bit of panic. She did not like the feeling that she wasn't in control of herself. She was the last one to reach the hallway.
As soon as she did she was blinded by light and she felt energized. She definitely felt like she was flying off somewhere. She had no idea what she might see when the game started. Her brother had a file too and he was further than her. He had mentioned that he might want to play when she downloaded it. He had lost a lot of things when the computer crashed and some of his games were among them. She guessed she would get to further the story, but she wondered how big a gap there was going to be.
A few seconds later she could see again. Everyone was standing in the middle of a town. She could see a large building and she only knew where they were thanks to the conversation. They were in Junon. She remembered her brother telling her about it when he played it for the first time. He really hated this part of the game. She knew that he must be angry having to start from right here.
She listened and talked when she was suppose to and then faded as the main character walked around town and did stuff. She really did not care about what he was doing. She was interested in the story not his wanderings. Finally he went to a different area and for a moment or two everything was dark. They were by the water watching some girl play with a dolphin. A monster came and ruined that so they went to fight it. She was actually glad that she was not in his party. It looked a little scary from this angle.
After the fight they were all there standing around the girl and they were telling Cloud to give her CPR. She thought it was kind of funny. She noticed that he really did not want to do it. There was something about his eyes that caught her attention. They looked different from what she had seen before. He was different. Wait. He was acting strange before. Someone must be in there just like me. Now I wish my brother would pause the game!
She got her wish and before CPR began he paused. She gave a sigh of relief finally able to move on her own. Cloud seemed to be doing the same thing, but was shocked to see her doing so as well. "So I'm not the only one!" He said. She just shook her head. "What happened to you?" He asked. She gave him the very short story and then was surprised to hear almost the same thing. "That storm suddenly appeared off the coast and came right at us." He said.
"Same happened to me. I wonder why." She said.
"I've been thinking about that. I'm not sure if the IWC is doing this. They aren't allowed to have rogue storms like that. I think the storm formed on its own." He said.
"Maybe, but how would it be that big?" He just shrugged.
"I'm not sure." He said thinking. He suddenly seemed to realize something and started apologizing. "Sorry, got so excited to know I wasn't alone here I forgot my manors. I'm Henry." He said offering his hand.
She shook it feeling a bit awkward. "Elle." She said. He gave her a weird look, but said nothing. "You think I have a weird name."
"No, not really."
"So now all we need to do is figure out how to get out of here."
"I don't know. I'm guessing that the shock from the storm fried my circuits or something. I guess since anyone with full prosthetics is connected to the net this happened." He said.
"Wait! You have a full prosthetic body?" He nodded.
"Don't you? It explains why we would be here. Although technically this should be impossible." He said. She just shook her head no.
"I don't have a prosthetic body! I'd know if I did." she said angrily.
"Would you really? It feels the same as my body did before. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if my parents hadn't told me. I guess that your parents decided to keep you in the dark about it."
"They wouldn't do that!"
"How do you know?" He said. "Your memory could be altered. You would never remember whatever happened to get you that body." He told her. She turned away wanting to cry. He can't be right about this! She told herself. It was a horrible thing to hide from her. "It's not all that bad." He said feeling bad. "It just means that they love you. They did this because they did not want to lose you."
"They didn't have to lie."
"You may have been too young." He said shrugging. "It could've been anything."
Finally the game unpaused and they continued with the game playing their roles. She got to watch Henry give that girl CPR. She laughed a little seeing his discomfort. It made her feel better after everything he had said. She still wanted to cry and it made her wonder about something. Does my brother know
Author: Now there are two of them. They aren't completely alone anymore. Sickness and laziness keep this story going slow. My other story is my baby. this was just an idea, but yay if anyone likes it. I'll take any reviews and promptly only pay attention to the good ones while laughing at the bad ones. (Cause they are just too funny.)