A/N: abc = a dream/memory
There is some heavy stuff in this chapter that could be a trigger for some readers.
Chapter 9: Trust
By the time Franz and Anthea entered Odd's hospital room, all four teenagers were asleep. Aelita had her head resting on Odd's bed, his hand still in hers. Yumi had her head next to Aelita's. Ulrich's rain jacket that she had been wearing was hanging over the back of her chair.
Ulrich and Jeremie were leaning back in their chairs, appearing as though they would slump right out of them at any second.
"Poor dears, they must be absolutely exhausted," Anthea said quietly.
Franz pulled up the last spare chair for her to sit at the foot of the bed. She gave him a small smile of gratitude before sitting down.
It had begun raining again and the clock on the wall read that it was getting rather late. After half an hour, Anthea stood up and said, "I suppose I need to get back home to get some sleep. I have to do a few flower arrangements for a wedding tomorrow."
Franz nodded and went over to the door. He opened it and Anthea walked out, but Franz looked at the unconscious form in the hospital bed for a few more seconds.
"Franz?" Anthea questioned.
He sighed and said, "I became accustomed to evil in the form of XANA. I became so used to it in fact that I forgot how evil mankind can be as well."
Anthea was silent. A low rumble of thunder sounded.
Franz quietly shut the door.
… … … … … … … … …
Ulrich woke up at six o'clock the following morning. Yumi, Jeremie, and Aelita were still asleep. Odd looked the exact same as before except some color had returned to his lips.
The brunette sat in the cafeteria with a cup of coffee in front of him. There were doctors, nurses, and other guests moving around him, yet, Ulrich paid no mind to them. His mind was far too preoccupied. It was not until Yumi and Aelita entered the cafeteria that he snapped out of it and looked up. Yumi went straight to the coffee pots.
"Good morning," Aelita greeted with a small smile as she sat down.
"'Morning," Ulrich said, giving her a small, rather unconvincing smile in return.
She studied Ulrich. He was deep in thought, staring at the dark contents in the cup before him.
"Are you okay?" Aelita asked gently.
"Mm?" Ulrich looked up at her.
"Are you okay?" she asked again. "You and Yumi had a rough time last night, I'm sure. You know, when…"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Ulrich said absentmindedly. "I'm not the one anyone needs to be worried about."
Aelita let out a breath and grinned at him.
"That's exactly what Yumi said when I asked her if she was okay."
A few minutes later, the three entered Odd's hospital room again. Jeremie was awake, reading a book with Albert Einstein on the cover.
"Hey, look, you're reading a book about yourself," Yumi joked when they entered the room.
"Ha-ha, very funny," Jeremie responded. "I got ahold of Principal Delmas by the way. He says our absence is excused. He did not seem happy about the fact that students snuck out in the middle of the night, though."
"Detention?" Ulrich asked.
"Actually, no," he said, accepting a cup of coffee from Aelita. "I expect he's taking it easy on us given the circumstances."
"Great. I'm not really feeling up for detention," Ulrich replied as he sat down.
"Because you are always feeling up for detention?" Aelita asked in a somewhat dry and teasing tone.
Ulrich smiled at her attempt to bring light to the room.
… … … … … … … … …
Blood was dripping from Odd's lip. A bruise was forming on the side of his face.
The opponent's savage glare was not faltering. The black-haired boy darted toward Odd, a knife gripped in his hand. Odd dodged the attack and punched his opponent with a kidney shot. He heard air leave his lungs and took the moment of weakness to quickly grab the knife from his opponent's hand.
When the opponent fell to the ground, Odd put his knee in the middle of his back, pressing him down into the dirt. He raised the knife in the air and brought it down into his hand.
His opponent let out a scream of pain as the blade stabbed through his hand and dug into the dirt, preventing him from getting up. Blood pooled around the blade and leaked onto the ground.
Odd stood and watched for a few moments before the match was declared victory on his part. The ones who lost money groaned while those who bet for Odd to win cheered.
As the money was being collected and given by people outside the ring, Odd crouched down and pulled the knife out of his opponent's hand. He tossed the blood-covered weapon to the side before walking away.
His opponent whimpered on the ground as he watched Odd with astonishment. He wondered why he had even let him survive, let alone remove the blade from his hand.
Romolo finished counting his money just as Odd walked up to him.
"About damn time you got here," he grouched. "Come on. I have you scheduled for more business."
Odd looked confused. He rarely even used his voice anymore, so whenever he did his sentences came out short. After all, what was the point of using a voice that only seemed to get him some type of punishment?
"Another fight?"
"No," Romolo said as he began walking away from the ring.
Odd knew that Romolo could only mean one other thing. There were only two ways he made Romolo money. One was fighting, which Odd hated. The other was something far more personal, which he hated even more.
"About damn time," a man's gruff voice said from inside the tent.
Odd was waiting outside, his nails digging into his arms as he anxiously waited.
"Sorry," Romolo said from inside the tent as well. "The fight went on for longer than expected."
"Did he kill the opponent this time?"
"Tch, of course not, the stupid little prick."
"At least he wins though. Especially after the problems you had with him in the beginning."
"That is true," Romolo agreed. "Making a ton of more money than I did the first month of bringing him here."
Odd watched a group of birds fly overhead. They chirped as though they did not have a care in the world.
Romolo emerged from the tent and put his hand on Odd's head.
"You're booked for five hours," he said to him. "You know the drill. Do whatever you're told. Got it?"
Romolo's tone was less angry than it usually was, which was only because he had made his money for the day.
Odd nodded.
"Good," Romolo said. "I expect you back to our site no later than fifteen minutes after that. Don't be late."
Odd nodded again.
The sun was setting when Odd made it back. He immediately crawled into his dog house and brought his knees up to his face. Bruises were already forming on his arms and legs. He closed his eyes and tried to forget the sound of heavy breathing and horrid stench of sweat and other bodily fluids.
… … … … … … … … …
Jeremie was reading his book while Aelita worked on extra credit for class. Yumi and Ulrich were having scattered conversations when they could actually think of something to talk about.
It was during one of their silent moments that nurse Manami entered the room.
She smiled at them before asking, "Could you please step back? I need to put in a nasogastric tube."
Everyone moved back and watched silently as the nurse slipped the tube through Odd's nostril and, with skilled hands, moved it gradually down the esophagus to the stomach. She taped the tube up behind his ear. Once Odd was successfully hooked up to the nutritional formula and the oxygen mask was placed back over his face, she stepped back.
"There, all done," nurse Manami said. "Dr. Enzo will be in shortly as well."
Everyone sat back down in their self-designated spots. Instead of getting back to reading and homework, Aelita and Jeremie decided converse with Yumi and Ulrich. It was not until a few minutes later that Aelita mentioned something about calling her parents.
"I guess I should too," Yumi said.
Just as the two girls stood up to do so, Dr. Enzo entered the room and greeted them with a smile.
"Hello, how are you all doing today?"
"Fine," Yumi answered for everyone.
Aelita nodded and said sweetly, "Thanks for asking."
As the two girls left, Dr. Enzo walked up to the bed and began inspecting various equipment that Odd was hooked up to.
"So, Doctor Enzo…" Ulrich started, causing the doctor to look at him. "When do you think Odd will wake up?"
"Well, it's hard to say. I would expect sometime between today and the next couple of days," he answered. "You must remember that your friend has been through quite a long and difficult ordeal."
Ulrich did not answer as a slight stir came from the bed, instantly alerting everyone.
Odd's eyebrows were furrowing slightly and his head was slightly lolling. His left hand lightly clenched the bed sheets.
"Odd?" Jeremie questioned, standing up with Ulrich.
Outside of the hospital, Yumi and Aelita were talking on their cell phones. When Yumi hung up, she turned to Aelita to see that she was still on the phone. She waited another two minutes, enjoying the natural air that did not smell of antiseptic.
"Ready?" Yumi asked, walking up to her.
Aelita nodded in response.
The elevator gave a "ding" as it reached the desired floor. Yumi and Aelita began walking down the hall toward Odd's room when they saw Nurse Manami run past them with another nurse in tow.
"What the-" Yumi started, but froze when she saw them rush into Odd's room.
Wasting no more time, the two girls ran down the hall. When they entered Odd's hospital room, however, they froze yet again.
Ulrich was standing off to the side with an almost pained look on his face. Jeremie was next to him looking extremely concerned. Dr. Enzo was speaking hurriedly to the two nurses who had just entered. Yet, they were not the ones that made Aelita and Yumi come to a stand-still.
Odd was still in bed, but wide awake. He looked frantic, confused, and scared. His sightless eyes were looking around the room, but unable to gather the information on who was around him. The breathing mask that had once been on his face was off and lay neglected on the bed. The doctor and nurses were trying to speak to him to calm him down, but to no avail.
Every time one of them tried to get close to him, he would back further and further into the back of the bed. There was nowhere else for him to go, but somehow he managed to make himself look smaller each time he moved back further.
Odd did not know why he could not move his right arm properly and why it felt bound to his chest. He did not know what was going through his nose and down his esophagus. Nor did he know who the people urging him to calm down were; he did not recognize their voices.
"Odd..." Aelita breathed out and stepped forward.
"No! Stay back," Dr. Enzo ordered. "He has already tried to stab me once with one of his IVs."
It was then that Yumi and Aelita noticed that his left arm was missing one of the needles.
Yumi got out of her state of shock and stepped forward anyway, despite Dr. Enzo's protest.
"He doesn't know who you are," Yumi said in a low, serious voice. "If he knows we're here he'll calm down."
"I don't think that would make any difference," the unknown nurse stated with annoyance. "Let the professionals handle-"
"Nurse Moreau!" Dr. Enzo scolded. "Perhaps she's right, but only one of you at a time."
Ulrich, Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi all looked at each other, but it was Ulrich who stepped forward first. The others did not protest.
Dr. Enzo and the two nurses stepped back, but did not leave in case Odd lashed out again.
Ulrich slowly made his way forward, but made his presence known so as not to surprise his best friend.
"Hey, good buddy," Ulrich said in a soft voice as he edged closer; it was a tone of voice that the group rarely heard him use.
Odd's eyes darted in his direction, though not landing directly on him. He was so incredibly confused, but he knew that voice.
"It's me, Ulrich."
Odd's breathing had become ragged as though it was becoming more difficult to breathe, but his expression was smoothing out as he dared to believe what he was being told.
"We're all here."
"Odd," Yumi said as she stepped next to Ulrich. "It's okay. It's just us."
"U-us?" Odd said in a horribly raspy voice, as though he had not used it in years.
Yumi nodded, forgetting he could not see the gesture. She followed it up with, "Yes. Jeremie, Aelita, Ulrich, and me…Yumi."
Odd was silent.
"Don't you remember collapsing in my backyard?" Yumi asked. "That's where Ulrich and I found you."
Aelita and Jeremie had walked up next to their other friends.
"Please, Odd," Jeremie urged. "It's us."
"We've missed you so much," Aelita said, tears threatening to fall.
It was then that it all came rushing back to him.
The burning of the camp. His ride in the truck with dead bodies. His fight in the woods. Walking and tripping over something unknown to him and falling, then nothingness. Through the nothingness, however, he had heard faint, yet familiar voices. It was Ulrich and Yumi.
"Y-you…" Odd stammered, voice still scratchy and quiet from disuse and the pneumonia racking his system. "You're really h-here…"
Suddenly, a warmness enveloped him as Aelita rushed forward and hugged him. He did not attack her like the doctor and nurses feared. Instead, he sat rather rigid, but he knew her scent and realized it truly was her. With that embrace came three more over top of the first.
It was in that moment Odd truly knew it was not a dream or some cruel hallucination. This was real. His best friends were really there. He could feel them. He could smell them.
It was something he thought he would never experience again with the people he believed he would never again be with.
Finally, the awkward stiffness of Odd's body dissolved and he melted into the embraces. He brought his hand up and could feel soft hair on his hands that could belong to only Yumi or Aelita.
Aelita put her hand on his as he touched her hair. She wondered if he knew it was her through the touch. It pained her to think that he would never again be able to actually see them.
It was not until Odd began letting out small choking sounds that the friends ended the embrace. Odd began violently coughing as the pneumonia began attacking his lungs once more. He was also visibly in pain, the IV that he had ripped out had been the one that was supplying him pain killers.
Dr. Enzo rushed forward to retrieve the breathing mask, but Jeremie beat him to it. He placed it over Odd's mouth, who protested by weakly gripping Jeremie's wrist.
"It's just me, Odd," he said. "You need the oxygen. You have a bad case of pneumonia."
Odd's sightless eyes were on Jeremie's face, but not meeting his eyes. In those clouded eyes came a look of trust as he released Jeremie's wrist.
"There ya go," Jeremie reassured. "Dr. Enzo is going to put another needle back in your arm. You're going to need those pain killers. Everything will be okay. Trust me."
Odd nodded and said, "Okay."
