CHAPTER FOUR
Hesitant Spirit

Maria and Gabe sit together in the chopper, with Maria at the pilot's seat and Gabe at the co-pilot's. While Maria is trying to keep the craft airborne, Gabe is trying to distract her at all means.

"So," he says. "You were so stubborn they had to come help you?"

"Why'd you have to say it like that?" Maria growls. "But… yeah."

"You're such an idiot," Gabe sighs. "What's so bad about relying on others? Just think of them as tools to be used for your own devices."

"That's not the problem here!"

Maria and Gabe make an unusual pair, sitting in the chopper. One serious, down to the point, tanned first response expert, and another playful diagnostician with a cigarette sticking out of his mouth.

"I just can't stand the fact they they saved my ass," Maria continues.

"Well, I can definitely sympathize," says Gabe. "In my line of work, you start to see what people truly are. They're selfish and ignorant. It makes me not want to help them. Still, if you needed help from them, what does that make you?"

"I-I'm not really…" For once, Maria is lost for words.

"But, well," Gabe sighs. "What's wrong with a hero who isn't perfect?"

"Huh?"

"We're doctors. Our only goal is to save people's lives. If making a fool of yourself saves lives, isn't it worth it?"

A few seconds is spent in silence as Maria tries to soak this thought through. Is it worth it? Before she can come up with a reasonable reply, a radio transmission comes over, blasting static in Maria's ears as they come through her headset.

"Can you hear me? This is Cumberland Dispatch Center! Resurgam 01, respond, over!"

"This is Resurgam 01," Maria replies briskly. "What's the matter?"

"There's been a bombing at Portland Airport! Heavy casualties! Get there immediately! Over!"

"Roger that," says Maria immediately. "Resurgam 01, heading to the scene. Over!"

The chopper lifts up into the sky, and Gabe flattens in his seat. This is the absolute last time I ride with Maria Torres, Gabe thinks darkly.

"What… is this?" Maria whispers in shock as she arrives at the scene. Bombing… burning buildings, blood everywhere, and the sounds of people's last breaths fading away in the air… sirens wailing, planes crashing, and screams making every uneasy.

"There's no time to think!" Gabe orders. "Start caring for the victims!"

"Yeah!" Maria says. It's only because she has known Gabe for a long time did she not swear very loudly at him for giving her obvious orders. "We're with Resurgam First Care!" she yells at the paramedics already assembled. "Gather the victims here! We'll start treatment on them as they pass through triage!"

Foreign objects. Cuts. Burns. One patient has a steel beam stuck in his chest, and Gabe tells Maria to run for help.

Deciding to try it out for once, Maria yells for hydraulic cutters, and to her surprise, someone hands a pair to her with ease.

All the bomb patients are treated successfully, but it doesn't mean that it had to be easy. By the time Maria has finished with her patients and the choppers have cleared out of the area, leaving her and Gabe alone in the deserted airport, her clothes are soaked with sweat and her hands are trembling.

"Hey," says Gabe. "You did good."

He holds out a bottle of water for her, who seriously needs it.

"Hmph," Maria grunts, but swipes the bottle and takes a long sip.

"So," says Gabe. "How did it feel to make a fool of yourself again?" he asks, referring to the hydraulic cutter incident.

Maria only sighs.

"You know, we're humans," says Gabe. "We only have two arms. No matter how good you are, you can't do everything."

Gabe expects a turn of personality for Maria, either softheartedness or swearing. But what he doesn't expect is her sulking off, bottle of water clutched in hand.

"You going home?" he asks, eyebrows raised.

"Hanging around with you tires me out," Maria mutters. "Later!"

While he didn't get a spoken victory from Maria, Gabe knows that he has won this round. The smirk on his face tells the story itself

Back at her home, back at the crackling flames that warm the place. Maria sits in her armchair, watching and waiting, for she knows that the girl will come tonight.

And she does.

The same girl as always, but no purple shape covers her this time. No, she fades in from the very beginning.

Maria takes a deep breath. She doesn't swear. She doesn't throw things. Instead, she utters one word that seems the most un-Maria-like in the world, something only Gabriel Cunningham will say. And maybe not even then.

"Yo."

Rosalia doesn't say anything.

"Hey," says Maria. "It takes guts to ask someone for help, huh?"

It feels good to talk to someone, even if she's only a hallucination.

"I don't even know how I'm supposed to do it," Maria continues, chuckling softly. "Is that why you're here? You… want to be saved, too?"

"Hey…" Maria sits up suddenly. "I've seen you before."

She has. The white-haired girl? Pink eyes? White dress? Yes. She recognizes her… from the past… from the orphanage days.

Something in Maria's heart has always known that it was her, from the very first time Maria had seen her from the beginning, at that fire… Before, it was only an unconscious thought, thrown away in a few seconds… but it's only now when the realization sparks into the doctor, when she finally realizes, consciously, that it's Rosalia Rossellini.

Rosalia sighs, and her eyes half-close in relief, as if finally relieved that Maria knows.

"Hey, turn around!" Maria cries. Too impatient to wait, she stands up herself and walks next to the wavering girl, who is talking… the same word. "Beginning? What's beginning? Dammit!"

Rosalia's eyes close entirely, though this time… could it be from disappointment? She withdraws into the world where she came from, leaving Maria alone in her home.

"Hey, wait!" she cries, just as the last few imprints of the girl is fading away. "Hey!"

It's too late. Rosalia Rossellini is gone.

Well, this is great. I just remember that Maria isn't supposed to know who Rosalia is until now. Oh well... ignore all previous Rosalia-comments, mkay? I'll edit those out when I've got the time and patience to re-upload everything and replace them. *yawn* For now, off to doing whatever stuff fk does... mainly trying to beat fr at that posting race...