Chapter 52: Planning and Waiting

Amy was the first one to wake up. Shade was still fast asleep on the couch, still locked in his straight jacket. She looked at the vials on the back of the straight jacket. They were half empty. She knew that the liquid wouldn't last much longer. She looked longingly at his trapped arms. She missed when Shade would hold her close and comfort her when she was upset. And now she had to do that for Shade right now. He was obviously paranoid now. When she entered the room and saw him sitting there and scared him into flinging himself against the wall behind him. She saw something in his eyes she thought that she'd never see in Shade. It was fear. Fear of the pain? Fear of the Doctor? Or was it fear of death? Just as she was asking herself these questions, Shade started to wake up. He grumbled something to himself as he sat up on the couch. Amy smiled at him and spoke. "Good morning sleepyhead." He looked up at her and gave her a weak smile. Amy wasn't showing it, but she was deeply concerned that the liquid was altering him. She sat down next to him and asked, "How are you feeling?" Shade cleared his throat and spoke softly. "Better." Amy was smiling on the outside, but on the inside she felt like crying. Seeing him like this. Shade refused to show her any weakness, but Amy felt his pain. She could see it in his eyes. He was hurting. Even if the jacket wasn't activated at this moment, she saw that he was still feeling the affects of the toxins. But that wasn't it, she saw something else in his eyes. But she couldn't tell what it was. All this time in deep thought caused Amy to be silent. Shade was a little worried. "Amy?" She snapped out of it once Shade had said her name. "Hmm? Oh, sorry. I was just... Thinking." Shade smiled. "Me too." He said while standing up. Amy stood up with him. "Thinking about what?" She asked. "A way out of this hell-hole." They walked over to the other side of the room. "So how are we going to do it." Shade chuckled. "That's the thing. I have no damn clue." Amy frowned. Then a lightbulb went off in her head. "Can you still fight from the straight jacket?" Shade nodded. "Good, which means that... No, it's a bad idea." Shade stood up "What is? tell me." She looked around the almost empty room. Only almost empty because of Her, Shade, and... "The Couch." Amy explained. She walked back over to it. "What about the couch?" Shade asked her, wondering where she was going with this. "I can hide behind the couch so that the doctor doesn't find me, and you cause a distraction big enough as to where the guards will all come in. I'll run out, grab the keycard, come back, open up the straightjacket, and we could escape." Shade nodded "Sounds good to me." Amy let out a sigh and sat next to him. "Shade... You do know that you might get some of the toxin again, right?" He smiled and nodded. Amy saw the pain in his eyes, remembering the excruciatingly painful stings of the toxins. "Shade, you don't have to do this, we can come up with another plan" He shook his head. "No, you know that there isn't another plan. I'm willing to take the hit." Amy felt like crying. "Shade..." "No," he cut her off. "I know that you're worried for me, but this is the only way. If I just let you walk out there, then I wouldn't be protecting you. That is my job after all." Amy then started to cry softly. She threw herself against him, wrapping her arms around him. Beginning to sob. "C-Cant we think of something else?" Amy pleaded. "I just don't want to see you hurting like that again. I-I..." Shade leaned in and kissed her on the lips. after he released the kiss, they pressed their foreheads together and Amy closed her eyes, still sobbing. "Amy, I'll be fine. I just gotta brace myself this time. I gotta make him angry, and all of his attention will be on me." Amy pulled away, dried tears marking her face. "O-Ok." Shade smiled at her. "Everything will be fine, just wait." She smiled up at him and buried her face into his chest comfortingly. Wrapping her arms around him. She took in a deep inhale of Shade's scent. It comforted her, with his scent, a small acknowledgement of existence. It allowed her the knowledge of being aware of her own presence, almost as if Shade was an extension of her, her other half. It made her happy. As well as Shade. He loved having her so close to himself, purging any lonely feelings that he had, as he had always experienced while Being a solider at Jolt's Barracks. Amy waited a while before letting go of Shade. They were just happy right now, realizing that they both needed each other, never wanting to leave each other's side. But they would have to in order for the plan to work. "What do we do for the rest of the day?" Shade shrugged. "I don't know. Just talk, play a game or something?" Amy smiled. "Talking sounds nice." They both sat down on the white cushioned floor. After a while Amy moved over to the couch to lay down. Shade just sat in the same spot, thinking about what he was going to do in order to draw the attention of the guards outside. Then, there was a sudden beeping noise. Shade's eyes went wide. "Oh Shi..." The tubes on the back of his straight jacket changed from Red to purple. Shade started screaming out in horrible pain, falling onto his back. "SHADE!" Amy screamed before running over to him. He flailed around in horrible pain, the toxins in the tubes burning his muscle tissue. Amy started to cry. She felt helpless, unable to do anything about his suffering. She could only watch as he flopped in pain. Then after a good three minutes, it stopped. The tubes went back to normal. Shade laid on his side, panting. "Shade?" Amy asked in concern. Shade grit his teeth together in anger. "Shade?" He then jumped onto his feet and screamed. "DAMN IT DOCTOR! YOU FUCKING COWARD! RELEASE ME FROM THIS JACKET AND FIGHT ME YOU FUCKING PRICK! HIDING IN THE SAFETY OF YOUR OFFICE! NOWHERE WILL BE FUCKING SAFE FOR YOU WHEN I'M FUCKING HUNTING YOU DOWN FOR THE REST OF YOUR FUCKING BULLSHIT LIFE! FUCK!" Shade started to yell at the top of his lungs as he rammed his shoulder into the padded wall of the room repeatedly. Amy stood there. Shocked. the other thing she saw in his eyes before wasn't just fear. It was rage. Hatred. Anger. All of that because of the doctor. Shade continued to ram the walls. "Shade!" She ran over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders. She managed to pull him to the ground, and climbed atop. Shade thrashed around, shouting still. "Shade! Shade! It's ok! It stopped!" Shade panted for a minute looking around the padded room. He started to slow down his breathing. "It's ok. I got you." Amy said comforting him and wrapping her arms around him. After a few minutes Shade spoke. "It's ok. I'm alright now." They both got up off the padded floor. Then, without warning, the lights all went out."I think we should go lay down now." Amy spoke softly. "Yeah... We should." Using Shade's rings, they navigated their way back to the couch. They laid down on the couch, once again, Shade laying in Amy's arms. "Good night." they both said in unison, before falling into a deep sleep.