Chapter 24 - Cooperate?

After another half an hour in a car, they reached the BPRD center. The team settled Nuala and Nuada in the medical area, and then they finally went to get some rest.

After taking a long shower and thanking all the gods for finally getting rid of that dress, Adela tried to sleep, but failed miserably. Groaning, she crawled out of her bed, got dressed, took her blanket and headed towards the hospital wing. Nuada was placed in the same room as his sister, and a special medical crew was assigned to look after them.

Adela stopped at a coffee machine on the way and bought two cups of the strongest coffee she could find. Entering the hospital room, she spotted Abe. Smiling, she greeted him.

"Morning!"

"Huh?"

"It's 2 am, so technically it's morning" she said. "I had a feeling I will find you here, so I brought you some coffee" she continued, handing him a cup.

Abe looked extremely tired, but managed to smile. "Thank you! I couldn't sleep knowing she is here in this state".

"Join the club!" she said, after checking Nuada's temperature. "Where is the medical crew?" she asked, as she sat down on a chair, putting the blanket over her legs and drinking a bit of her coffee.

"They took a break; they already checked their wounds and said they are healing extremely fast. It's a matter of time before they wake up." After a couple of moments of silence, he added: "They will come for him as soon as that happens."

Adela lowered her eyes to her cup and sighed, then took a closer look at the twins. Nuala was dressed in a hospital gown, while Nuada still had his clothes on, the only thing missing being his shirt. She frowned when she saw that Nuada had his arms and legs tied to the bed, and the straps looked painfully tight.

She got up and touched his arm. "What is the meaning of this?"

Just then, a middle aged nurse came in, looking tired and a bit frustrated. Adela gave her an annoyed glare and asked again "What is this?"

"The boss ordered us to secure him to the bed, in case he wakes up and tries something", she muttered, not really paying her any attention.

Adela was getting angry. She was upset for many reasons, one being that Nuada was now a prisoner. She needed someone or something to vent the frustration, and the poor nurse was at the wrong place at the wrong time. "Did he order you to tie him so tight that he lost all feeling in his limbs?"

The nurse glared at her. "Look, girl, how I do my job is none of your business. You shouldn't even be here, so I will have to ask you to leave."

"Is that so?" Adela asked with a cruel look on her face. The nurse looked at her for the first time and what she saw made her take a step back. Adela walked closer to her. "Make me!" she sneered, her eyes flashing red for a moment.

She nurse shivered and started to babble. "I...I don't know who you think you are, but those are the orders. I…I can't do...anything".

"What's your name?" she asked with a grin.

"S…Sally, ma'am", said the nurse, still shivering.

So I'm now ma'am, not girl. Nice improvement!

"Well, Sally, tell you what you can do. You can loosen up the ties, if you don't want me to show you how it feels like to have the blood cut off from your arms. He will still be tied to the bed, so don't worry your little brain about that. And about me leaving...you'll have to change your mind, am I clear?" she asked with a fanged smile.

The nurse just nodded, and did as she was told. After she loosened Nuada's ties, she got out of the room at full speed.

"Still bipolar, I see," said Abe calmly, studying his coffee. "Lucky for you, the nurse has no idea you are more bark than bite," he smiled.

Adela sighed, collapsing in her chair.

"Sorry about that, but old habits die hard. I'm glad you didn't meet me when I was younger".

Abe looked her in the eyes.

"I didn't trust you in the beginning, you know. Nobody except Red wanted to give you a chance."

"I know that. It would have been quite dumb of you to trust a creature like me", she smiled. "That gift of yours comes in handy when you want to convince people of your decent intentions" she chuckled.

"It might have worked even better if you allowed anyone to touch you in the beginning"

"Hey buddy, I didn't trust you much either", she said playfully. "That, and I was scared of what you might see in me", she sighed.

Abe looked at her again. "I saw a lot of blood-lust and cruelty. But I also saw you were trying to change that, to control yourself. However, some corners of your mind are still clouded. You still have urges to kill, don't you?"

Adela was surprised. "I do. I'm still afraid of myself sometimes, but I can control it better. In the beginning, I had no idea how to do that, I just woke up in a puddle of blood, surrounded by corpses. I got sick at the idea that it was my doing."

"How did you learn to control yourself anyway? You never wanted to talk about that..."

"Meditation...And divine help," she smiled. "I still think that man was an angel. He was an old monk, who chose to live his live in the wilderness, praying. I met him...well, he found me in his barn, passed out after I had killed all his animals. There was so much understanding in his eyes. I woke up to see him next to me. I expected him to run away or try to kill me, but he just started talking to me. He was the first human being to treat me normally in years, so I broke down and told him everything. He told me the best way to deal with evil was to acknowledge its presence and separate it from good. He also told me about Satan and God actually being the polar-opposites of the same force. At first I didn't get a thing from all that biblical mambo-jumbo, I just nodded, happy with the fact that someone was talking to me, and I left him, fearing that I might lose control again and kill him. However, in the following months, as I remembered our discussion, I realized what he was trying to say. Smart man..." she chuckled.

"So he gave you the idea of the split personality" said Abe.

"Yeah...God must have sent him, knowing I was too stupid to think about it myself. Meditation helped me reach that part of me and try to "make peace". It took me almost a century to succeed, and we're still not best friends, but we're like two roommates who learned to live with each other."

"I understand..."

Adela laughed. "This whole thing is like teaching a lion to eat tofu. But I won't lie, I love unleashing the "beast". That is why I joined you. Killing bad guys is still killing, it somehow satisfies my instincts".

"How come you never tried to kill him when you were in your other form?" Abe asked.

Adela blushed.

"To tell you the truth, Abe, killing isn't the only instinct the other side of me follows. My roomie was attracted to him, at first, and that's something I really don't want to talk about right now" she grinned.

Abe laughed and left it like that.

…

Morning came, finding her and Abe both asleep in very uncomfortable positions on their chairs. Adela woke up with an awful pain in her neck and shoulders. Groaning, she stretched and reached for her coffee. It was cold and awful, but anything worked. Looking towards the twins, she noticed a slight movement in Nuala's fingers.

Waking Abe up, she showed him what she saw and they both came closer to the beds. As Adela leaned closer to Nuada, she saw his eyelids flutter slightly, before he opened his eyes. They were a very fair shade of gold in the morning light. She never saw him in the sunlight before and he couldn't look away from him. He was ethereal. His eyes had metallic reflections, his skin and hair captured the light, making them glow.

He looks like an angel. It's a crime that such a being was forced to live in the sewers for so long. He clearly belongs in the sunlight.

He seemed confused at first, but then his eyes finally focused on her. He tried to move his arms, but the ties kept him immobile. Frowning, he tried to speak, but only a rugged sound came out.

"Shhh, your throat must be sore. I'll give you some water as soon as I find a way to lift your bed a little", she said, as she fumbled with the buttons on the side. Looking towards Abe, she saw that Nuala was also staring to wake up.

She managed to lift the bed and brought some water. Nuada was watching her every movement. He tried to move his arms again, pulling harder, but with the same result.

"I'm sorry about those, but the boss thinks they are necessary. Here, drink some water" she said, bringing the glass to his lips.

Nuada turned his head and refused the offer, managing to exasperate her. "Just drink the water, your majesty, we didn't bring you all the way here to poison you!" she glared.

Nuada finally gave in and drank. Regaining his ability to speak, he asked:

"Where am I, creature?"

She smiled at him "You're in a hospital, elf, and you're obviously better since I'm 'creature' again."

He moved his head towards Nuala's bed and spotted Abe. Seeing him made Nuada sneer. Abe ignored the prince and tended to Nuala. She seemed more exhausted than her brother, so Abe didn't lift her to a sitting position.

"How come are we alive, woman? What did you do to us?" he said, turning her eyes back to her, anger visible this time.

She was slightly taken aback by this "We didn't do anything to you, we just stopped the bleeding and bandaged you. The wound wasn't critical, so you have to blame your own body for healing. Nice thank you, by the way."

"Adela, I have to go tell the others that they are awake, can see for Nuala for a moment?" asked Abe, still trying to ignore the prince.

"Of course…And, Abe, don't rush if you don't have to!" she pleaded, looking him in the eyes.

Abe nodded before leaving the room, and silence fell upon the ones remaining in it.

The prince opened his eyes, but the strong light coming from the window blinded him for a moment. Light…Sunlight! Where am I?

Every single muscle in his body hurt, but the pain was stronger in his chest region. After his eyes adjusted to the light, he could see a woman leaning over him. It was her…the woman he took to his lair, the one who last talked to him before he…before what? Was he dead? If so, why was his body still hurting, and what was she doing here? And where exactly was here?

He tried to voice all those questions, but his throat was extremely dry.

"Shhh, your throat must be sore. I'll give you some water as soon as I find a way to lift your bed a little".

He tried to move into a sitting position, but something was restraining his movements. He was tied up! Frustrated, he tried to pull harder, but with no result. Anger was slowly building up in his heart. The woman brought him a glass of water, but he refused. He would not be treated like this!

The creature seemed frustrated with his refusal and said something about poison. That was the last thing on his mind. As degrading as it was to be helped to drink, he needed the water to ease the soreness in his throat, so he complied with her wish and drank.

"Where am I, creature?" he finally managed to ask.

The woman…I remember her name…Adela …She seemed relieved and told him that he was in a hospital. However, that didn't explain everything. He was convinced that the wound Nuala inflicted upon both of them would kill them. It didn't make any sense. The pain in his chest intensified, as it confirming his supposition. What kind of magic was this?

"How come are we alive, woman? What did you do to us?"

She seemed surprised and he could not feel any deceit in her answer. So the wound wasn't critical. That only meant they took them away from the army chamber and tended to them. He had to be back at the center, and that only meant he was now a prisoner.

"Why did you do it?"

"Why did I do what?" she responded, getting closer to his bed.

"Why did you save us?" Why did you bring me here to be at their mercy?

Adela could not hold back a sigh. "I was not lying when I said that I don't want you to die. "May we all be alive at the end" included you and Nuala, I don't know why you are so surprised."

Looking down at the straps securing him, he concluded: "So you did it for revenge!"

She looked at him, startled. "What?"

"You wanted to see me in this position. A prisoner to the humans, at their mercy", he sneered.

He could see that the woman was getting angry. "Do you think I'm here to take pleasure from your situation? Is that the impression I gave to you? You are here because you are lucky. Fate has given you a second chance, you should take advantage of it!"

"Take advantage of it? How? By becoming the pet of the humans, like you all have become?" What on earth is she thinking? What kind of second chance is this?

Adela leaned towards him and touched his shoulder, pushing him back into the mattress. In a hushed tone, she whispered:

"Relax, please! Nobody is expecting you to become their pet or change your beliefs over night. However, you should be glad to be alive, since the humans would not care about the fate of your people. You are still their hope."

Their 'hope' is currently tied to a bed, needing special help to drink some water! Their hope died back in the army chamber, when I lost control over the warriors, it died in the same moment I should have died.

"Woman, my plan failed! There is not much I can do for my people in my position. I would have preferred death to this fate!" he said in a harsh voice, laced with sadness.

"Don't say that!" she replied in a sharp tone, applying more pressure on his shoulder. He was taken aback by her voice, but even more by her words. "That sort of death was not for you! It was dishonorable in every way, you are better than that!"

What she says is true, he thought sadly.

Adela sighed. "In a couple of moments they will come and take you away from here. They will lock you up in a forgotten room, since your bond with your sister won't allow them to kill you. You will not be able to do anything for yourself or for your people it you don't cooperate."

Cooperate? Nuada was getting angrier by the minute, but she pressed on.

"However, there might be a chance. The only hope we have lies in the fact that the humans broke the ancient truce first. Me, Red and Abe, perhaps even Dr. Krauss and Liz will take your people's side in this matter. Something will be done for them! I need you to be patient, try not to kill anybody and trust us!"

What is she saying? They are willing to defend the rights of my people? His eyes widened in disbelief.

"You hope to reach a new truce with the humans?" asked Nuada with a bitter smile. "Then the fate of my people is sealed. They will be killed before they get what is rightfully theirs."

"I know you do not trust the humans, but it's the only way out of this situation. We will not let them harm your people!" she said in a hopeful voice. "Once that is settled, we might be able to convince them to let you go or at least reconsider your situation."

Nuada watched her with disbelief written on his face, but didn't contradict her. She really believes in this. Her heart seems to be in the right place, but…

"What will happen to my sister?" he asked, more calmly, turning towards Nuala's bed. My sister…How could I blame you for your rash decision when my own reason was blinded at that moment? I underestimated you, Nuala…You are a fighter.

Adela gave him a reassuring look "She will be safe. She is free to join us. You'll be close to her. Now please pay attention. I will make it possible to visit you and keep you updated on the issue. We will try to start the negotiations as soon as possible."

Nuada looked into her eyes for a couple of moments. Yes, she believes in what she says. She hopes to make it better. Gullible child! He kept studying her expression for a while longer and then turned his face away.

"Sometimes, you make me forget how young you are, compared to me. You are still so hopeful and naive." With a sigh, he continued, looking into her eyes again. "I will not say anything against you plan, since any opposition would be in vain and you will try anyway. However, I know the humans better than any of you do, and I would not put too much hope into it. It would only break you when you fail."

They kept looking at each other for a few moments, in silence, until the door opened, revealing Manning and the rest of the team.

A.N. Thank you for the wonderful feedback, I'm glad you like this. Anyway, my inspiration is back, and the story is starting to flow. I will take advantage of this and write as much as I can before my muse gets bored with me and wonders off again.

Tell me what you think ;)