Chapter 4 is here! For those of you who read the original, you know what's going to happen now. For those who don't know, read to find out! On with the chapter!
Chapter 4: A Life-Changing Loss
My eyes slowly opened. My vision was blurry, but after a few minutes, it started to clear up. I saw a white ceiling with a few sets of fluorescent lights in it. I knew right away that I was lying down. I felt pain in my lower body and my head, so I knew I was still alive and awake. I heard a steady beeping noise, a few scattered beeps, clicks, and other sounds of different tones and rhythms, as well as a soft hissing noise. I could tell right away that I was in a hospital room.
I turned my head to look around. I realized I was hooked up to various machines, some of which included monitors for my heart rate, blood pressure, and other things that I didn't know the meaning or importance of, as well as an IV drip and an oxygen mask. I looked down and saw that I was wearing one of those stupid hospital gowns that are open in the back and barely cover my torso. They're one of the many reasons I hate hospitals. They never have a gown that's long enough to cover my body but short enough to avoid tripping me if I stand up and try to walk.
I tried to sit up, but I couldn't. I was still too weak. But my attempt at moving caught the attention of a passing nurse. She said something that I couldn't hear to one of the other workers before walking into my room.
"Oh, good. You're awake." The nurse said. "My name is Kira, and I am the nurse currently assigned to your room."
"Hi, Kira." I said, but my voice was so weak it almost sounded like a whisper. "I'm Dina."
I looked at her for a moment. Her appearance had a strange resemblance to mine, though she seemed a bit older. Her hair and eye colors were the same, but those were the only major resemblances that stood out, so I dismissed it as a coincidence.
"Nice to meet you, Dina." Kira said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Um… a boy and a girl stopped by yesterday saying they were your friends, and they wanted us to give you this." She put my medal case on a tray next to the bed.
"Todd and Pauleen, I'm guessing…" I said, my voice starting to gain its strength back.
"I don't know their names, but I'm going to just say it probably was them." she replied.
"So what's going on?" I asked.
"Um… I'm not sure how I should explain this…" Kira started. She took a deep breath. "When you got here, you were unconscious. Your left leg had been sliced off and you had lost a lot of blood. If the coat around your leg had not been there, you would have bled to death. We did a blood transfusion to fix the blood loss issue. However, due to the extent of the damage to your leg, we were unable to reattach it. Unfortunately, your left leg is completely gone. We tried to fix it, but the damage was so severe that we can't even make a prosthetic for it. Not without serious reconstructive surgery, that is."
"I was afraid of that…" I said sadly. I sat up and moved the sheet over my lower body. I saw nothing from my hip down on my left side. All that was there was a rounded patch that covered the hip socket. It was covered with gauze and cloth padding to hold the damaged section together while it healed, as well as to stop any bleeding. Large strips of surgical tape wrapped around it and across my lower body to hold it all in place. Judging by the lack of blood and the fact that the padding was clean and clearly brand-new, I judged that it had been changed at least once or twice since the surgery to close the wounds. This meant I had probably been unconscious for quite a while.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"You've been in a coma for about four days." She replied. "We were starting to wonder if you were even going to come back."
"Four days?!" I half-shouted. My voice was still too weak to actually shout.
She nodded. "However, that girl that was brought in with you is not doing too well." She explained.
"You mean the silver-haired girl with the orange eyes that got shot in the lung trying to protect me?" I asked.
"Yes." She replied. "She woke up last night. However, although she is awake and the bleeding has been stopped, her right lung has been disabled by the damage. She can't breathe well on her own because she can only breathe with one lung. She can breathe and speak to an extent, but she is in a lot of pain right now. We managed to close her other wounds and fix her dislocated arm, but her right arm was pretty much shattered. We put supporting plates in it for now, but we're hoping it will heal at least somewhat. We can't release either of you yet, but if you want, you can visit her, since she seems to be an acquaintance of yours."
"Okay." I said. "I wanted to talk to her anyways, but I thought she was going to die for sure."
"Okay." Kira said. "Hold on and I'll get you a wheelchair."
She left the room, then returned with a folding wheelchair about five minutes later. She unfolded it and unhooked a few machines from me, including the vital monitors, but she left the IV drip in my arm. Then she picked me up, carefully set me in the wheelchair, handed me my medal case, and started pushing me through the halls.
"Thanks, Kira." I said.
"You're welcome, Dina." She replied, a smile crossing her face for a moment.
After a few minutes, we arrived at our destination. Kira knocked on the door, earning a strained "Come in…" as a response. Kira pushed my wheelchair into the room. What I saw was actually better than I was expecting, but still bad.
The girl had the same types of machines hooked up to her as I did. Through the gaps in the sides and top of her hospital gown, large strips of surgical tape and cloth were visible wrapping around her upper body and her shoulders. Her right arm had a cast and was in a sling. As Kira said, she seemed to have difficulty breathing. Her breathing sounded more like wheezing and her voice was weak.
"You…" the girl said. "I told you to run…"
"And the way I was raised, I don't just stand by and watch people get murdered right in front of me." I stated. "I help them as much as I can. That's why I picked up your sword and knocked the gun out of her hand. She was about to shoot you again, and if she would have, you'd be dead for sure. She was aiming at your head… I wasn't thinking, and my stupidity cost me one of my legs…"
"No…" she said. "Your bravery may have cost you a leg, but it saved us both…"
"Actually, Rupert saved us." I explained. "He flew my Nycto Ace right into her and knocked her out. He called the paramedics to pick us up. He even used his favorite coat as a tourniquet to stop me from bleeding to death."
"You're a brave girl." The girl said. Her voice seemed to be gaining its strength back quickly, which I thought was strange. "Your friend is brave, too, but you're the one who risked her life to save someone you don't even know."
"Yeah…" I replied. "Speaking of which, what is your name?"
The girl sighed. "My name is Argis." She replied. "That's it. No last name. I'm just… Argis."
"That's an interesting name." I said. "My name is Dina Johnson. Why don't you have a last name?"
"Because I don't know who my family is…" She replied sadly. Her voice was almost back to normal, but it was quiet now because she was practically crying. "I never met them. My dad was killed before I was born and my mom died giving birth to me. I never had any siblings, either. Or at least that's what I was told by the people that adopted me… Even they said they didn't know my family's last name. No one did. So I just lived without one my whole life. Seventeen years without a last name or any records of my real family. But I do have a few qualities that are not what you would call 'normal…' I'll explain once I get my strength back though."
"You seem to be gaining it back already, judging by your voice." I said, slightly suspicious.
"That's one of my 'gifts.'" She replied. "I heal approximately ten times faster than an average human."
"Sounds like you have supernatural gifts." Kira said. "Try not to use them too much, especially around me."
"Why? Do you have unique abilities too?" Argis asked, sounding a bit surprised. "Or are you just an anti-magic kind of person?"
"My body can generate invisible auras that can have various effects on objects." Kira explained. "My major one is automatic. I can control its release and range when I need to, but otherwise it activates on its own. And if a supernatural phenomenon occurs inside that aura and I don't create it, it is negated. In other words, I have a tendency to accidentally cancel supernatural events…"
"Sounds useful." I said.
"Sounds dangerous." Argis said.
"It's both actually." Kira explained. "I should probably leave before I disable your healing powers…"
"First, I have one more question for Argis." I said. "Why did you save us?"
"I'll explain everything later, Dina." She replied with a sigh. "I promise."
"Okay then." I said. I turned my head and nodded to Kira, who turned the wheelchair around and pushed me out of the room.
"So people with superpowers actually exist?" I asked Kira when we got back to my room.
"In a way, yes." She replied as she helped me into the bed. "We try to keep it hidden as much as possible, but some of us are what you might call magicians or sorcerers. But just like in the movies, there are good magicians and bad magicians."
"Is there a way to tell the difference?" I asked.
"Not at first glance." She replied. "Their actions are the only way to define them as good or bad."
Just then, someone knocked on the door. We immediately agreed to change the topic of our conversation back to my recovery progress to avoid them hearing about all of this.
"Come in." I said, covering my leg with the sheet again. Two people that I immediately recognized walked in. I sighed in relief after realizing it was just Todd and Pauleen coming to check on me.
"Hi, guys!" I said excitedly.
"DINA!" they both excitedly shouted at the same time.
"You're finally awake!" Todd said in excitement.
"How are you feeling, digadig?" Pauleen asked.
"Better than I was before…" I replied. "So you heard what happened, right?"
"Rupert explained most of it to us." Todd replied.
"We know that you lost your leg, but we'll try to help out however we can, digadig." Pauleen said with a slightly saddened tone on the first part.
"It'll be tough, but we'll manage." Another familiar voice said. Todd and Pauleen turned around and saw Rupert standing behind them.
"How long have you been there?" I asked.
"About thirty seconds." Rupert replied.
"But I didn't release you." I said. "Did you guys?" Todd and Pauleen shook her head. Kira looked confused.
"I released myself." Rupert said. "I just found out I can do that."
"Okaaaaay…" I said. "Good to know…"
"What are you guys talking about?" Kira said. "I'm completely lost."
"Rupert is a human that I turned into a vivosaur by reviving him with the revival machine." I explained.
"That's impossible." Kira replied.
"Nothing is impossible, Kira." Yet another voice said. Another familiar person walked in, much to our surprise.
"Why are you here, Argis?" I asked, a bit confused. "A few minutes ago, you were in your hospital bed with a hole in your chest and a broken arm… Now you're back in your normal outfit and the cast is gone…"
"I told you I heal quickly." Argis replied. "I've even been cleared for release already."
"That was way faster than ten times the average recovery speed." Kira said. "And I'm surprised they already released you. You just woke up yesterday and you just finished recovering… And how do you know my name?"
"Again, I'll explain later." Argis said.
"So your name is Argis?" Rupert asked. "That's an interesting name…"
"You'll be hearing a lot of weird names soon if you're being attacked by who I think that girl was." She said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I'm not sure why yet, but it's possible you're being hunted by magicians." Argis said.
"Magicians?" Rupert asked, obviously skeptical.
"Yes." Argis said. "Magic is real. I'm a magician and so is Kira. And if I'm right, so was that girl we fought."
"Who do you think she was?" I asked.
"Yami Sentōki." Argis replied. "An elite necromancer and aeromancer whose name is Japanese for 'Dark Fighter.' She wasn't even using her magic."
"Necromancer?" I said questioningly. "As in a death magician like Zongazonga?"
"Yes, only stronger. And an aeromancer means she can use various forms of magic involving the air." Argis explained. "Again, I didn't confirm it, but I'm almost sure it was her."
"Why would magicians be hunting us?" I asked.
"I don't know." Argis said. "It could have something to do with you killing Zongazonga though."
"But why wait four years to strike if that was the case?" Todd asked.
"I don't know, Dina." Argis replied. "But if they attack again, I'm willing to protect you again."
"But I don't want someone to die just because of me…" I said. "I'm not worth dying over."
"But you don't deserve to get killed either." Argis said.
"I'll be right back." Kira said suddenly. "I'm going to try to convince the staff to release you. If you're being hunted, they may know you're here, which could put you in serious danger."
"Okay…" I said, confused and trying to let all of this sink in. Kira returned after a few minutes.
"Done. Now let's get out of here." She said. She helped me into the wheelchair and started to push me to the exit.
"Wait…" I started.
"Before you ask, yes, I'm going with you." Kira interrupted.
"Why would you help us?" Rupert asked.
"Do you want to be vulnerable if someone attacks you with magic, or would you rather I be there to negate the attacks for you?" Kira asked.
"I see your point." Rupert replied. "Let's go."
With that, we ran to my house, since it was the closest of our homes. We knew we wouldn't be safe for long there, but it would keep us safe for now. The real question was how long it would keep us safe. We needed to find a safe place ASAP, but we didn't know if such a place existed. They knew where we were when they attacked, so we knew there was a high chance that we were being watched at that moment. All we could do is wait and pray that we didn't get attacked again.
That's chapter 4. Keep reading and reviewing!