So will Kevin die?
:D...maaaan am i pulling someone's chain here?!
Warning : this story contains boyxboy / yaoi
Disclaimer: I do not own any character of the series Ben ten alien force (u knw tht all too well, pal!)
ITS A WILD LIFE
Chapter twenty one: Rays of hope
Gwen and Julie watched in dismay as two unconscious bodies were rushed into the Operation Theatre, a bloody-shouldered raven and a limp, mostly-naked brunette dressed ibn torn jeans alone.
Everyone had their eyes on the lovers who were being escorted away by the two interns and the two doctors.
Max's fingers trembled as he raised his hand to wipe away beads of sweat on his pale forehead. Jack and Paulo still stood close together, Paulo gripping Jack's forearm in concern, their faces pale and shaken as well.
The girls slowly walked up to Max. "Grandpa... Kevin, he'll ...he'll survive, won't he?" Gwen asked, teary eyed. Julie hoped for a positive answer, but the look on Max's face said otherwise.
"I'm afraid the chances are so low that... Kevin is lost to us, Gwen", Max hung his head, his pride for Kevin having shot up to maximum again. Despite being knowledgeable of the fatality of going through TWO Decontamination Processes, Kevin jumped willingly into Death's Mouth to save Ben. Max could NEVER hate Kevin again, that is, if he ever lived.
"Why?! Why did he do that? We all were going to take down Ben eventually! He didn't have to hurt himself like that," Julie asked, wringing her hands together in frustration.
Jack's voice came scratched and deep as he answered, "Its 'cause he knew that the longer we stalled in curing Ben, the worse it would become to remove the virus, especially with the rare case that the victim, Ben, actually went through two Full Transformations in one month!"
Paulo looked very much troubled, he seemed to be hiding back tears as he swallowed the lump burning in his throat, "I hate to think if Ben woke up, and there was no Kevin..." and he visibly shuddered.
Soft silence prevailed for several moments; the five of them stared at the floor, while from the entrance door, the receptionist and Security Checks attendant gaped at the scene that unfolded so fast before their eyes. "Now, that's what I call drama!" Merissa muttered in awe.
And all that the five mildly-wounded and shaken people could do now was to gaze at the door that led to the Operation Theatre corridor.
Of course, there were many of those Theatres; Ben was taken into one, and Kevin was taken into another. Ben needed to be treated by Doctor Sands and Doctor Stacy, and hence Kevin was treated, or tried to be saved, by one of the Floating Xoar doctors. They were one of the best doctors around, although chances, as Max said, were so miserably low.
A young male dressed in a white suit stepped out from the door to the corridor. A young Caucasian male by complexion but obviously alien in blood, he had fiery golden eyes and rather odd purple hair that was neatly kempt. He walked up to the five and nodded at them, "Please come with me, I shall take you to the Visitors Lounge." As he spoke, tiny fangs were visible in his mouth, confirming his alien origin. Max nodded back at him and turned to his friends, "Let's go, guys."
Gwen turned to Paulo, "Your ship, Paulo? We promised to watch it..."
"It's ok, forget it for now; we need each other's presence at the moment", Paulo placed a hand on her shoulder. She nodded back at him.
Together they all followed the man in the white suit as he led them to the door. Through the door came the large wide corridor that looked like a glass tunnel. After a few minutes, they were led to another room; the Visitors Lounge, where several floating, black egg-shaped chairs were kept. Three walls and the floor were white; the ceiling was almost invisible being so far above because it was actually an illusion to create a sense of space for claustrophobic visitors, in case there were any.
There was fourth wall was completely made of glass. It had a door on it too, also made of glass with metal hinges and doorknob. Beyond this glass partition they saw the two other doors named "OP 1" and "OP2", obviously the Operation Theatres. There was distance of maybe two or four feet between the wall containing the OP doors and the glass partition, it was possibly built to remove any chance of inter-galactic germs or viruses that could travel from the visitors to the Theatre, by any small chance.
The five of them sat down on the seats in a heave, their eyes on the Operation Theatres. Their world was slowly falling apart into pieces, and within the two OP rooms, there was a chance, a hope, to string the pieces together again.
o.o.o
For three and a half hours, they sat dumb and silent, without talking. Not only were they exhausted, but also unable to decide what to talk about anyway. At times, one of them would pace about in anxiety, someone would sigh a little too many times, a few female sobs would issue every now-and-then, but otherwise, it was a stationary and quiet three and a half hours to endure in painful suspense.
In between however, Paulo and Jack did have a small conversation, in private, without the rest three hearing them. Paulo had kept on looking at the side of the blonde's face, and when the later turned to him, he looked away. Until, Jack whispered impatiently, "You gotta stop doing that!"
Paulo's beautiful hazel eyes had never looked so...deep and dramatic, as he whispered back, "Why didn't you tell me earlier, Jackie?"
"Tell what?" although 'Jackie' knew very well what Paulo was talking about.
"Don't play dumb; why didn't you tell me that you actually threw yourself into my mouth when I was a Vulphorous?!"
"What use is it if I did or didn't tell you?! It's not like I can take it back or make it undone! Besides; I had to do it, 'cause you are my best friend, Paulo!"
Jack visibly blushed a bit at his own honest words, and Paulo added, "You coulda been killed by me! You think I could live with that, if I DID kill you?!"
Then it was Paulo's turn to blush when the blonde gazed at him with a questioning look. The tension stretching between them was too much of a smoulder that the both of them looked away simultaneously.
Paulo bit his lip, now worrying how destroyed Ben would be when he comes out all happy and cured only to find Kevin's corpse with a humungous bite-mark on his shoulder. Jack buried his head in his palms, praying to God to save that jerk of a Kevin who was the bravest guy he's ever seen yet.
And that was an hour ago. And it was all the two could talk, before sinking into the suddenly heavy silence, so dense that one could slice it with a knife into two smooth halves.
Then, the hour later, the OP 1 opened. The doctor, who was treating Kevin, stepped out. He was a little tan in the skin, with dark blue hair and small, wise, green eyes. The moment he had stepped out the room, the five of the protagonists jumped to their feet in fearful hope. The doctor walked to the glass partition and opened the glass door. He approached the fearful group and spoke, "You are all with Kevin, I presume?"
"Is he...?" Max asked his voice wavering a little.
The man smiled and stepped aside; directing a hand to the OP1, "See for yourself."
The last person on their mind calmly stepped out of the OP1.
Kevin Ethan Levin.
Completely fine and alive.
A great, collective, strangled gasp issued from the group as they watched Kevin walk from the OP 1 door to the glass partition and finally place himself beside the doctor. Kevin was all-smiles and happy; he was in his patient's uniform, the shirt a little too tight for his build, marking out the contours of his chiselled body, while his pants were loose and airy. He looked the same Kevin who had walked out of the Alex-Hepha ship, only this time, in different clothes. Also, he was not in any bandages or slings, which meant that he was absolutely, and completely, cleansed and healthy.
"KEVIN!" the girls pounced on him without a second thought the moment he reached them, and Kevin cheerfully embraced them with his muscular arms, smiling. When they pulled apart, both girls had tears in their large, feminine eyes. Meanwhile, Jack, Paulo and Max sighed like they could now die in peace.
"We thought you were..." Julie started, unable to finish her sentence. "We were so scared that you'd..." Gwen added, ending up in the same tongue-tied state as the shocked Julie.
Kevin smiled at them again, "Well, I'm alright now, ain't I?"
He turned to the rest three; Paulo, unable to hold back any further, decided to throw aside his pride and jumped into a hug, gripping Kevin tightly. He almost dissolved to tears, but he pulled back to stare at the face in melting warmth, "Kevin, you ass! Thank God you're ok!" At this, Kevin smiled sweetly in reply.
When Kevin turned to Jack, the blue-eyed DBS looked like he was struck down with a bolt of lightning. Looking rather miffed or embarrassed, the blonde muttered, "We were worried sick. Literally."
Kevin walked up to him and gave him a warm hug too, which the blonde at first froze in, and then returned in relief. Pulling back, he took one of Jack's hands and spoke, "I said some harsh stuff before; I'm sorry about that. I was so caught up in saving Ben, that I didn't watch what came outta my mouth."
Jack shook his head, "No biggie, Kevin; and what you said was...sorta true. Speaking of saving Ben," Jack turned to look at Max, who seemed like he was on the verge of fainting as he strained to keep himself into bursting to tears. Kevin offered him a warm smile, "Hey Max, you were worried about me, too?" at which the older man frowned in despair as he, for the first time ever maybe, enveloped his grandson's boyfriend in a warm embrace, "What you did has no equivalent, Kevin. You suffered two Decontamination Processes for my Ben; that is all I need to acknowledge your good side," and from within the bear-hug, Kevin's eyes sparkled as he held on to the large man.
When the old man let go before he choked Kevin to death, he spoke again, "Kevin, do you realise that you're a walking miracle?!"
Turning to the doctor who watched the spectacle with a warm face, Max asked, "It's not that we regret it, but how did Kevin manage to survive two of the Processes?"
The doctor replied calmly, "Any human or hybrid would not have survived, that is true. But the benefit of the proximity between the two Processes, that is, in other words, the time span between this Process and the one he had received before, is so small that it actually helped me in cleansing Kevin. You see, his Osmosian blood had actually mimicked or imitated some of the qualities of the drugs used by Doctor Sands and hence helped me cleanse him quicker, faster and efficiently, and it prevented any fatal injuries. He did not need anaesthetics to prevent pain, because his blood seemed to have already done that job, as surprising as it is! Usually the use of the virus-removal drugs on a body that has already used it would instantly result in the patient's death; but in Kevin's case, it came as a boon. I might add though, this was maybe his luck as well, and it does not have to happen again. Also, the better news is, Kevin may be the only individual of his age to have survived two Processes, so I suppose you are a very blessed teenager, Kevin?"
Kevin grinned at him widely, "My blessedness started when I met Ben a few months ago." Max winced a little at the innocence of Kevin's otherwise mature voice.
The doctor smiled seeing that the five wanted to spend time fawning and fussing over Kevin, so he spoke in his clear voice, "I shall leave you all alone for now", and the man nodded at all of them, before walking away back to the OP1.
Soon, they all showered Kevin with great attention, he was apologizing for putting them all in a state of frozen shock, and he even told them that he felt rather happy that there were people who actually worried about him so much. He now felt as if he had a family, something he was devoid of since the tender preteen years of his life.
And within, Kevin's heart soared as he thought of Ben who would soon be in his arms again, purring for a kiss.
Now that Kevin was alright, the five could anticipate about Ben. Paulo's face muscles hurt as he grinned ever so wide, feeling ever so happy. He saw a lot of himself in that pretty, little brunette and he only wished the best for him. Jack was glad that the tragedy he had expected was no longer valid. Gwen and Julie smiled wide too; Kevin was now a hero as important as Ben, and Ben himself was their own little friend/cousin whom they loved so much despite the odds.
Love and family-warmth flowed around the tightly huddling group, like a halo.
o.o.o
Kevin fetched his clothes from the doctor and the rest of it from the floor of the Hall where he had ditched it during his daring but successful attempt to quieten Ben-Vulphorous.
An hour later, the door to the OP 2 opened, and a rather anxious Doctor Stacy appeared, almost tripping over her own heels as she stepped out the threshold. Her white coat was a little blood-splattered but otherwise she was a bearable sight. Halfway to the glass partition, in a stressed voice, she spoke out, "Is Kevin-"
But seeing the raven amidst the group, healthy and well...alive, she stopped in her tracks, and let out a relieved sigh. Straightening up, she smiled almost apologetically as she said, "Sorry, I just, wanted to make sure I didn't have to give Ben bad news."
"And Ben...?" Kevin asked, stepping towards the glass partition as well. But the Doctor raised her hand saying in defence, "He is still under the final stages of treatment. Don't worry. I have to get back and assist Doctor Sands now."
Saying thus, she walked back to the Theatre in a rush, disappearing behind the door she closed after herself.
The group blinked at the glass partition, and then at each other.
A large hand placed itself on Kevin's shoulder. He turned to see Max who looked down at him, with a weak smile, "Ben's gonna be fine."
Kevin smiled back, "He's your grandson; so I guess he's got the survival skills in his blood."
Max shook his head sagely, "You got nerve praising me indirectly, boy!"
Kevin just chuckled in reply.
o.o.o
After another two hours, (in total, six and a half hours since Kevin and Ben were taken into the OP rooms) the door of OP 2 opened. Doctor Sands stepped out, a rather suave smile on his face. Seeing the group jump up from their seats, he almost grinned. He took a few steps from the threshold and stood aside. Looking into the OP 2, he whispered to the person within, "Come now, they're all waiting to see you; especially a special someone."
A small brunette stepped out shyly from the room, wearing the soft-mint green patient's uniform.
- End of Chapter -
okie, tht was a sorta small chapter, but its going out to all those who read my story till the last chapter and are decaying away by wondering whether kevin's dead or not! :P
yup, scylasama, u were rite abt kevins non-human side contributing to his successfull recovery! :3
pls stick around for the next chapter!
lots of lovey-dovey-ness to come! thnk u!