Chapter 25: Havita

Jonas groggily opened his eyes to the bright white ceiling, he glanced around himself and saw that he was hooked up to medical machines of various functions, he wasn't sure what they did but he recognised the rhythmic beep of the heart monitor. He felt weak and the last thing he remembered was falling out of Silent Howl. He had no idea where he was or how long it had been since the battle for S.H.E.L.L Central, he began to panic a little when a familiar voice spoke to him.

"Ahh, you're awake. That's promising." Jonas turned his head and saw Miranda tending to the machines he was hooked up to. She wore the same clothes that she wore back in S.H.E.L.L, for Jonas it was a comforting sight.

"Uggh, my head. Where am I?" Jonas muttered.

"Havita infirmary. Must say Jonas, this is a nice place you have here."

"Havita? We made it?" Jonas tried to push himself up but his body protested.

"You're still weak from over exerting your body in that last battle. You've been unconscious since the rendezvous point."

"How long have I been out?"

"Three days."

"What?! Three days?"

"The amount of pressure you put on your mind during the battle was tremendous and not only that, after the battle you piloted Silent Howl for a whole day, that's what did the damage. If you rested after the battle you would probably have been all right after a days rest but you travelled exhausted for too long." Jonas gave up his battle of trying to sit up and fell back and let out a long drawn out sigh.

"Did anything else happen after the rendezvous?"

"Nope, it was smooth sailing from there." Jonas closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his face.

"That's good. When will I be able to get out of this bed?"

"Well, I don't see any problems, you can leave the moment you feel strong enough to walk. Just don't do anything strenuous, okay. You put yourself through far too much, so I don't want you to do anything, and don't even think about piloting for a while." Jonas found the news that he'd be out of bed soon reassuring, and in response gave a weak smile.

"That's good. Could you do me a favour Miranda?"

"Anything."

"Could you send for Ellysia please. And keep it low key, I don't want a mad rush of people when they find out I'm awake." Miranda chuckled at the request.

"Certainly, I'll get her myself. But you should speak to Jessie at some point, she's been visiting you at least three times a day since we got here. She visited only an hour ago." She pushed her glasses up her nose and left to complete her assignment.

"Thanks, I will."

Jonas glanced around as she left the Infirmary and a great sense of nostalgia flooded over him, he remembered this place, this infirmary. The bleach white walls, bright lighting and the rows of beds. As this was an Arms Fort construction facility, the infirmary was at least twice as large as the one at S.H.E.L.L Central. He smiled at the familiarity of it all and couldn't wait to get out and visit the rest of his former home, at least what was left of it after the attack by a rival company during time before he was a Lynx. However through all his nostalgic thoughts, he couldn't budge the image of Takaru and Lockheart before his demise. To Jonas, he may have been a smart ass but he was a good friend. And Jonas couldn't shake the upsetting feeling now that he was gone.

And Jessie, it annoyed him to a high degree that it took the apparent death of his friend to bring to the surface his hidden feelings for her, but now that she was alive, he had to tell her how he felt, but he didn't want to do it while in a hospital bed. He'd never felt this way about a girl before so it made him feel a little easier knowing that the revelation of his feelings would be done on his terms. He had had girlfriends in the past, but never felt anything this strong, it made him feel warm.

His mind had so many different thoughts fluttering around. Anger at the League, sadness for Takaru, love for Jessie and nostalgia for his old home. He decided to spend the time before he could walk pondering his thoughts and orderly arranging them so that he had a focused mind when it was needed.

Twenty minutes passed before Miranda re-entered the infirmary with Ellysia in tow. By now Jonas had gathered the strength needed to sit up. He turned to the pair that approached him and smiled.

"Heya."

"Hey Jonas, it's good to see you awake. I thought you died." Ellysia replied enthusiastically. She took a seat next to Jonas' bed and Miranda once again checked over the medical instrument monitoring his condition.

"You're looking good Jonas, you'll be out of here in no time. Well now that you're doing fine, I'm taking a break." With that said, Miranda promptly left the Infirmary, leaving only Jonas and his comrade.

"Thanks Miranda." Jonas called out as she left through the doors. When they closed behind her, Jonas turned to Ellysia and asked.

"So what's the situation? What did I miss?"

"We're all set up here. Jessie has been leading the re-homing of everybody here, finding places for everyone to sleep, where equipment should be stored, where the Next's go and the like. She knows the place the best, you and your crew used to live here after all. With that and visiting you loads, she's been rushed off her feet." Jonas smiled at the thought that Jessie was leading the efforts to get them set up at their old home.

"That's good to hear. I can't wait to walk around familiar ground." Ellysia' face turn into a sly grin.

"Pretty sneaky though Jonas, leaving supplies here in case you returned. Planning to leaves us were you?"

"Oh that, it was a contingency plan. In case you tried to kill me." Ellysia laughed when she heard this. "I had planned on coming back here to pick everything up at some point, the extra supplies and food. But when I got settled into S.H.E.L.L Central, I'll admit, I forgot."

"Well it's a good job you had this stash, it helped loads in getting us settled."

"Ahh good, glad to know my secret stash of food is all gone now."

"We saved you a bit, got the leftovers stored up for when you recover." Both of them laughed causing Jonas to cough. When it died down, Jonas moved onto his next line of questioning.

"What did we lose? What made it here in one piece?"

"Most of the movable equipment was on the first drop ship, so we have everything we need to maintain our Nexts but we couldn't get the ammunition loaded on time. I'm buying ammo from some black market contacts, we have to stay off the radar.

"Black market? Can they be trusted?"

"As much as any black market, this isn't the first time we've dealt with them and they've come through in the past. The less of a noise we make the better, it doesn't take a genius to figure out where we've run to."

"I suppose you're right. But if they do know where we've ran to, why haven't they struck again?"

"No idea, I'm taking it as a blessing that they haven't made a follow up attack yet. Maybe they're happy with just crippling us." Ellysia shrugged.

"Sounded like they wanted to eradicate us back at S.H.E.L.L." A quiet descended on them as they both thought on how lucky they were. As the quiet went on, Ellysia looked more and more sullen, to the point where her eyesight was fixed on her shoes.

"Well anyway, the second drop ship, the one we lost. We had half our personnel on there."

"Oh my God. I didn't know it was that bad."

"I wasn't told until the rendezvous, we left the evacuation to the guys in the base so we could focus on fighting." A slight pause occurred between them when Jonas noticed tears begin to well up around her eyes. "And Takaru, we lost him too." Jonas sank a little into his bed, losing the will to sit up. The quiet descended upon them again.

"We won't forget him." Jonas muttered as Ellysia regained her composure.

"Look at me, I'm fine for a couple days then as soon as I talk to you, I get all mopey."

"I have that effect on people." Ellysia laughed at him.

"So when are you going to tell her?" A sly grin reappeared on Ellysia's face.

"Tell who, what now?" Jonas looked confused.

"Jessie, when are you going to tell her you love her." Jonas jumped out of his skin, his face going red.

"Wait? What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, you can't hide it anymore, the way you acted when you thought she died. And what Takaru said, it all fits into place." Jonas grabbed the quilt and looked sheepish.

"You know, it's weird. I only figured out how I felt about her after I thought she had died."

"Sometimes you don't realise what you've lost until it's gone."

"You're right. Does she know?" He fatefully asked.

"I don't think so. She didn't see what you did during the battle and she didn't hear what Takaru said either. And I told her that you're exhausted because you fought the hardest to protect us." Jonas breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, I don't want her to know until I tell her myself, and I'm going to wait until I'm out of here before do."

"But what if she comes in here, you can't hide it forever." Jonas looked Ellysia straight in the eyes.

"I need you to keep her distracted until I get out. Tell her anything, just make sure she doesn't come here." Ellysia's sly grin reappeared.

"So I have to be a part of your conspiracy huh?"

"Please." Jonas clapped his hands together and begged.

"Okay, but you owe me."

"Thanks Ellysia."

"You know, Takaru always knew about how you felt about her. He told me about it on that day in the bar when Seth opened it." She said as got up and prepared to leave.

"Funny, I think that was the day she tried to tell me she had feelings for me."

"Hmm, see, he was right." She winked at him and left, leaving Jonas to his thoughts.

Another hour passed as Jonas made small talk with Miranda, gathering the strength to get out of the bed he was still in. After a while, he swung his legs around and tested the floor with his bare feet. He was wearing his ordinary clothes, minus his top. Wires ran around his torso which attached to his chest with suction cups. It only just occurred to him they must have got him changed when they got the heart monitor sorted.

"Take your time Jonas, one step at a time. You haven't used those legs for ages."

"I know, I know." Jonas finally planted one foot on the floor followed by the other. He slowly slid off the bed and when all his weight was on his legs, he would have fallen if Miranda hadn't been there to brace him up. He steadied himself with all the effort he could muster. Every second, he gained more strength, slowly moving from obstacle to obstacle around the infirmary until finally, after an hour of almost tumbling and grabbing onto things for dear life. He could finally stand under his own weight. Walking was a struggle but Miranda handed him a pair of crutches to help him around. And with that, he was ready.

By the time he got out of the infirmary, it was evening. Miranda had removed all the needles and wires attached to him so that he could move freely. He explored his old home, letting the feeling of nostalgia once again fill his senses. People greeted Jonas as they walked passed him. Some hugged him, some shook his hand, some only nodded. But they all thanked him for saving their lives. However, with the loss of the second drop ship, he just couldn't consider their escape a success. They lost too many friends and he almost lost Jessie.

Jessie...

His legs began to shake at the mere thought of confronting her. It had to be done however, he told himself to calm down. Logically speaking, she wouldn't turn him down. He knew just how she felt about him so nothing bad could come from the upcoming visit. He knew exactly where her old room was so she would probably be there. His room lay on route, so he thought that he would at least stop by and get a shower. He had been in a coma for a few days. So he headed for his room. The way was nothing special, the walls were bland but as they were in the business part of the facility, it conveyed a sense of professionalism and wasn't hit hard during the attack that crippled the facility.

It took longer than he liked to get anywhere with the crutches, he was getting used to them and his strength was returning but it would at least a day before he could get anywhere without the aid, maybe longer. On the walk to his room he realised that it was always him that was getting injured, He had had his arm broken by White Glint and now this. The thought of White Glint brought nothing, but steeled determination to beat it. No cold sweat, no panic, just determination. He would have to fight to redeem himself.

Inside his room, it was exactly as he left it, he had left a couple of odd bits and ends to keep the room familiar if he ever needed to return. He breathed in the stale air deeply, drinking it all in,. No-one had ventured in here since he had left for S.H.E.L.L so long ago. Many good memories were had in this room with Jessie and his old friends back when they started being mercenaries in the wake of the Bernard and Felix Corporation's abandonment of the complex. The construction end of the facility was being used as a Next docking bay but it was grossly huge. Considering that it was being used to build parts of the Spirit of Motherwill, it was no surprise that it could house a small army of Nexts. In his room he took a quick shower to rid him of the smell that three days of coma had brought around. He had commandeered the rooms of the administrators who ran the facility when the bailed and each room came with it's own shower. It was a step up from the room he had back at S.H.E.L.L, but when he joined them, he never thought he was downgrading himself. But he appreciated the return of luxury.

He remembered that he left one spare change of clothes before he left just in case. In hindsight, his contingency plan in case things went bad with Seth was well planned, he left a lot of things behind. Which he was happy about more than ever considering his things at S.H.E.L.L never got onto the drop ships, they were probably cinders consumed in fire after the attack. He awkwardly got changed and began his trek to Jessie's room, he never forgot where it was, he just hoped he didn't bump into her on the way there. He planned this logically and he didn't want his plans foiled. Butterflies fluttered around in his stomach, destroying any sense of appetite he had but this was something he had to do. There was no telling what could happen in the future and if something happened to her before he expressed how he felt, he would never forgive himself.

It took him a short amount of time as they didn't live to far away from each other, which gave him little time to prepare. Logic dictated that he think everything through but emotion dictated he winged it. The emotional side of him was winning, so standing outside her door he abandoned all logic and planning and knocked on her door.

"Come in?" He heard her call. He gulped down a lump in his throat and opened the door, crutches held tight.