TA DA!!! A new chapter, and it's only been... *checks last post date* Four months!!! *sweatdrop* Well, it's a lot better than 9 months... which was how long it took to get out chapter 10... *sigh* Sorry this took so long, but I had to look up stuff to find out how some medical equipment worked... it would have been longer, actually; I haven't proof-read this chapter, so parts of it may not be so good. I hope they're ok.
But good news! I've been working out some of my writers blocks and fixing plot holes, so hopefully the story will improve for her on out. Romance is coming! I'm getting over my shyness at writing romance when I know that my friends are reading it. (That's right, you can blame... actually, I won't say who it is, I don't want her to get flamed!!! ^^ But when she found out my screen name, I got really shy about posting romance, which is one reason that the romance has been so slow in getting here.) Also, to those of you who feel that a romance between 17 and Serena is totally unlikely because who 17 is, I know what your thinking. Just please keep reading. It's certainly not a love-at-first sight romance, I can tell you that. It will be—
Trotter: *slaps hand over EMP's mouth* YOU'RE SAYING TOO MUCH!!!
EMP: *removes Trotter's hand* Look everybody, I got a MUSE!!!! Say hi, Trotter!!!
Trotter: .... *blush* too many people... *disappears*
EMP: Ehehehe... *sweatdrop* We're working on that...
Now, for the next chapter; don't expect it before late December. (I know, I'm sorry, I really am!!! But I'm so busy with school and stuff!! I hardly see my friends outside of school anymore!! Just ask shyne, dragonchik860, The Wanderer, and Silver Spider!!) But hopefully the chapters will be posted more frequently now that I'm getting rid of future plot holes, which leaves me free to write the story. I just got to make sure I got them all, but I think I— *spots plot hole* ACK!! *pulls out sword* DIE, PLOT HOLE!!!
Plot Hole: Eeep!
*EMP chases Plot Hole around, waving sword in the air*
Trotter: Er... EMP is sorry she isn't responded to reviews this time, but this AN is already super long, and she thought you'd want her to get on with the story...

Chapter 11

18 was thoroughly disgusted.
Sure, was worried about the girl (though she wouldn't admit it), but at least she wasn't going insane. Her brother had hardly left her for the past three days. He just stared at her for hours. And when he did leave, he wandered around like a lost soul, his eyes dull and lifeless. Trying to talk to him, she had to repeat his name several times before he snapped out of his trance somewhat to answer her. Once she saw him nearly walk into a wall.
The only time he was animated was when he returned to the infirmary to check on Serena. He would anxiously ask if anything had changed, and finding that nothing had, he would return to silently, indifferently watching her like a hawk.
As the days wore on, he grew more agitated. He went out for a long time, and 18 could only guess that he was out somewhere blowing things up. He hadn't gone out to do that since before Serena had come. 18 remembered when they used to go out all the time looking for fun— their idea of fun being wreaking havoc, of course.
After they had killed Gohan, Trunks had given them most of their entertainment. Sometimes 18 thought it was too bad that they had finally captured him; now they had to make due with people who didn't stand a chance. Very few ever tried to fight back. Not that she didn't like playing with humans, but some variety would have been nice. And the battles had been exhilarating.
When there were less humans to play with, it was still fun to blow up buildings. To prevent losing all their playthings, the androids didn't always kill the humans. Watching them scream and run from falling debris was almost as enjoyable. Both androids had their own hobbies as well. 18 personally loved fashion, and would often go to abandoned stores and malls to add to her collection. 17 was, for reasons 18 couldn't even begin to comprehend, obsessed with driving. He also liked amusement parks. Go figure.
18 still went out all the time. 17 assumed that at she was still killing people and destroying things. But in truth, she hadn't been able to have fun with humans for quite some time.
After she first borrowed Serena, her next trip didn't seem so entertaining. She had developed a grudging respect for the girl, pathetic weakling that she was. She refused to admit that she had actually enjoyed the day spent with Serena, but as she realized that she had less interest in killing humans, she had to face that fact.
Then she denied it and destroyed a whole city in Europe just to prove that it was wrong.
When she had gotten to know Serena better over the next week, she found it much harder to kill humans. Maybe it was because they seemed so much like the girl that 18 had befriended, or maybe it was something else. At any rate, her recent outings had been to add to her enormous clothing collection, and not to hurt people. She let 17 think that she was off on a killing spree, casually mentioning fictitious events that occurred on her outings to ensure that he didn't guess what was going on. 17 never had reason to question her.
How could she tell 17 what she was feeling after teasing him again and again about his weakness for the girl? It wasn't like she could explain it to him; she couldn't even explain it to herself. She was disgusted with herself, and that was bad enough without 17 being disgusted with her too. So she kept quiet and convinced herself that it was just a phase, something that would pass soon enough.

***************

17 gazed at the terrain around him, examining his work. Heaps of rubble and debris were scattered everywhere. It was impossible to tell that a few hours ago, a large city had stood there. A eerie silence had fallen over the area, and not even the cries of victims pierced the air. Not because they were all dead. Because they're hadn't been any.
17 had tried to kill, but when he saw the scared faces of the humans, he was reminded of how much like Serena they were. She was one of them. And he couldn't kill them.
He was furious with himself. He had always told himself that he wouldn't let her interfere with anything, that she was just a plaything, to be used and discarded. He had always told himself that he felt nothing but lust. Wasn't that all he could feel for her? He wasn't capable of anything else— was he?
But then why hadn't he taken her already? He had been planning to seduce her within a matter of days, make her submit to him. But so far, he had hardly tried. Maybe it was because he amused him, and he didn't want to end that just yet. Or maybe because her behavior made him curious. Whatever it was, he certainly couldn't explain it.
And 18 couldn't find out. He couldn't explain it to himself, let alone her.

*********************

Amy entered the medical room to check up Serena, as she did everyday. She had been given permission to come in three times a day to make sure the droids were giving her the proper care and to see if anything had changed. Actually, it had been more like an order, but it was disguised as a reluctant favor.
She resisted the urge to look towards the corner of the room to see if 17 was there. The first day he had surprised her; he was covered in shadow and she didn't notice him until he spoke, asking about Serena's condition. When Amy left after finishing her tests, he was still standing there. Everyday after he was nearly always there when Amy came in. Today was the sixth day of Serena's illness.



5 DAYS BEFORE: (The day after 17 brings Serena back)

After falling asleep at 5 in the morning, Amy awoke five hours later, at 10 in the morning, to find Serena's condition essentially unchanged. The droids were taking care of everything; giving Serena medicine, changing the wet washcloth on her forehead every hour, keeping readings of her temperature, heart rate, etc. Amy saw 17 standing in the corner as if he hadn't moved since she had fallen asleep the night before.
'He was there last night, too— but he wouldn't have stayed there all day and all night... would he? ' Amy wondered as she gave Serena another shot of medicine. The entire time she was there, 17 watched Serena intently, as if she might wake up at any moment.
After Amy was done making sure that the droids were following her orders, 17 ordered a droid to escort her back to her room, where she was permitted to sleep for another two hours. Afterwards, she was told, she would continue her work in the Medical Room until it was time to check on Serena again. Amy was surprised that she was allowed to have more sleep, and wondered if it was because 17 wanted her to be rested enough to take care of Serena properly. The fact that he had summoned her in the first place instead of letting Serena die hadn't been lost on her, and the blue-haired girl couldn't help but wonder if he cared about her friend, if only a little. The thought was quickly dismissed. The five girls were slaves, and we considered replaceable by the Androids. Serena was unfortunate enough to be adopted as his 'plaything', but any emotional attachment was out of the question.
The spy droid returned later that day. It brought records of the disease's occurrence as well as information on the symptoms, but no cure. The disease had hit the town hard and fast, and many people had died before a cure could be found. It didn't help that the medical employees been some of the first to fall ill. The town had also been fairly poor, and could not afford to put a lot of money into the research of a cure. Nearly everyone had died within two weeks. Luckily, Amy had the most modern equipment available; it was rare in these times after the Androids had come. It suddenly occurred to her that for the disease to spread so quickly, it was most likely highly contagious. She was suddenly fearful for her friends and all the people she had treated that day, as well as herself. But the scant reports did tell her that the disease was started by extreme water pollution, and was contagious only in the last stages of the illness, right before death. However, Amy wasn't sure how to recognize symptoms of the 'last stages', since the seemed to be similar to the symptoms shown throughout the illness. The illness could last from three days to three weeks after showing the symptoms that Serena had, and Amy hoped that in her friend's case, it would be later rather than sooner.
From the reports of the spy droid, Amy was able to get a vague idea of possible treatments. She could also guess that the illness was most contagious if it had been acquired from the water supply, and much less so if it had been caught from one who was dying from it. She took extra measures to make sure she didn't catch the disease, such as wearing a medical mask and using air purifiers in the room. The air was already being purified, but the extra purifiers reduced the risk of catching the disease. Since she took care of other people, Amy knew that it would be very dangerous to catch the disease. However, she was fairly sure that she was safe from it. Her main concern was Serena.
Serena had been doing better than she had the night before; her temperature was still 102 degrees, but her face was more relaxed, not twisted in pain as it had been the night before. Her skin was still pale, her cheeks still flushed, her skin clammy, but she slept more soundly and breathed evenly. She wasn't sweating as much. Still, the danger was far from over, and the girls were given a scare that evening when Serena began to get worse.
Amy had been summoned from her duties in the main medical room at about 8 in the evening. She hurried to the private medical room Serena occupied. When she got there, she saw that Serena's was wheezing slightly. She fought down panic, hoping that it was just a small problem and would go away. Several times that day Serena had had a little trouble breathing, but Amy had given her medicine and it had gone away. But each time had been a little worse, and it had taken a little time from her breathing to become normal again. And this time was the worst of all.
Not long after Amy had arrived, Serena had begun tossing. Fear stabbed at her heart as she tried to soothe her friend. Resting her hand on Serena's forehead gently, she discovered that the girl's temperature had risen. She gave quick orders to the droids and they set about their duties, getting wet washcloths and medicine, and injecting a sedative as Amy checked the temperature.
104. It had gone up again.
Performing tests as she waited anxiously for the medicine to kick in, Amy discovered that Serena's heart rate had gone up as well. The sedative had stopped Serena from tossing, but the other medicine didn't seem to be working. Sweat poured down Serena's face, which was again twisted with pain. Whimpers escaped her mouth, and Amy watched helplessly as her temperature rose steadily.
17 stood forgotten in the corner. His hands were clenched into fists, but he didn't notice. He wanted to yell at the blue-haired girl to do something instead of just stand there and let Serena get worse, but he held himself in check. Each cry from the girl on the bed tore at him, and all thoughts of not caring about a weak human were forgotten. As she began thrashing again, he took a step forward, ready to threaten the blue-haired girl to help her or die, but stopped as the girl acted on her own.
Amy put aside the dangers of using medicines too close together; there was more danger in not giving Serena any medicine. She was careful with what she used, however, making sure that she didn't use two medicines that were dangerous if used together. There was a slight risk, but no more than that.
"I need the other girls," she cried, hoping that one of the droids would have the authorization to get them. She was startled by 17's voice ordering a droid to get them, but was too busy to take much notice. She continued to try treatments.
The other girls came running soon after.
"Amy, what happened?" Raye cried.
"She's rejected the medicine! Her fever is rising, and I can't get her to calm down! I can't give her more sedative, she might go into a coma! Can you guys try to calm her down?" Amy knew that if anyone could calm her down, it would be the girls or herself, but she was too busy administering possible treatments. Lita snatched a wet washcloth from a droid and began wiping Serena's face, cooing gently. Mina put her hands on her friend's shoulders, trying to stop her from trashing, and Raye sat beside her and held Serena's hand, rubbing it gently. All three tried to soothe her with gentle words and touches. To the relief of all, it seemed to help. Amy didn't want to give Serena more medicine than necessary, fearing a seizure or coma, and was busy studying disease cells and testing them with different medicines over at a lab table. She wished she had known that the other medicine wouldn't work; she could have already developed a medicine to help, if not yet a cure.
'If the Androids would have let me miss duties in order to do that,' she thought. She was not sure that they would have.
A sudden scream jerked Amy's attention from the disease specimen back to her patient.
"Amy, what's happening?!" Mina cried. Serena was shaking uncontrollably, tremors wracking her body. The heart monitor was jumping like crazy. Amy ran over, abandoning the petri dishes she was examining.
"Damnit, her heart is fibrillating!" Amy swore. The other girls gave her blank looks. With a frustrated cry, she turned to a droid. "I need a defibrillator, NOW!" The droid scurried off and Amy turned back to Serena. She felt the girl's forehead and found that her temperature had risen yet again. The real danger, however, was the possibility of Serena going into a coma.

PRESENT

Amy had thought they would lose her then. Serena's breathing had been labored, her heart rate was erratic, her temperature rising, and the medicine wasn't doing a thing. Lita had to hold her down when she started thrashing so that she wouldn't hurt herself further.

5 DAYS BEFORE

The erratic beats of the heart monitor suddenly became a steady buzz as the monitor waves went flat. Amy grabbed the paddles from the droid who had just returned and held them to Serena's chest. She gave orders to the droid to set the charge and to give the shock on her command.
"CLEAR!"
Serena's body arched as the paddles sent an electric shock into her body. The heart monitor remained flat.
"Raise the charge by 50!" Amy snapped. "Clear!"
As her body fell from the second arch, Serena gasped for breath. The heart monitor waves reappeared. Amy sighed in relief as Serena breathed deeply. She was still unconscious, but she was alive, and no longer having trouble breathing. The danger wasn't over yet, however; she was still in critical condition. Amy knew that she had to find a cure, or at least something that would help temporarily, and she had to find it fast. She had already injected more than a safe amount of drugs into Serena, and what was worse, the drugs didn't seem to be helping at all.
Turning back to her experiments, Amy gasped at what she saw in one of the petri dishes. The disease cells multiplying at a disastrous rate in reaction to a drug that Amy had considered as a treatment. Amy stumbled back as she realized that she had given some of that medicine to Serena. Not much, but it seemed that the disease cells didn't need much in order to begin multiplying at an unprecedented rate. That certainly accounted for Serena's relapse just moments before. The need to find a cure quickly had just become twice as imperative.
Luckily, another petri dish contained something that could possibly lead to a cure. The disease cells were slowly but surely being destroyed by a medicine that Amy had concocted from a variety herbs and drugs. The process of killing the diseased cells was far too slow; Amy knew that Serena would most likely be dead before a significant decrease of diseased cells was made, assuming that the diseased cells in her body didn't overwhelm the medicine. But it was a lead, and Amy was optimistic that she could properly modify the medicine to work within a few hours.
Quickly filling in the other girls, Amy set to work.

~~~~~

The piercing buzz of the heart monitor went back to a steady beep. As Serena began to breath again, 17 slowly unclenched his hand; he hadn't even noticed that it had been balled into a fist by his side until now. The muscles in his hand were sore, and he looked down at it in surprise as he felt warm blood where his nails had pierced the skin.

~~~~~


Three Hours Later

Glancing up at the clock, Amy was shocked by how much time had passed. It had felt like an hour at most. Checking on Serena, she injected part of the new medicine. After testing and modifying it again and again, it had become far more effective. Amy only hoped that it was enough. She would continue to work on it, but her options in ways of modifying it had become much fewer. In addition to that, time was running out. If the injection she had just given Serena didn't at least help her condition, than Serena would be too far gone for Amy to help her.
Over the next few hours, Amy was heartened to see that the medicine did help. Even so, she had to face the fact that there was a none-too-slim possibility of Serena falling into a coma, or relapsing, or dying in her sleep.


PRESENT DAY (5 Days Later)

Amy sighed as she felt Serena's forehead. It was much cooler than it had been the first day. If luck was with them, Serena would wake up soon. She seemed to be better, but still she slept. Amy absently handed the damp washcloth to the waiting droid and it sped off to rewet it.
Leaving Serena's care to the droids and the ever-watchful 17, Amy turned to leave. It was dinner time, and the other girls were waiting for her in the doorway. A soft sound behind her stopped her in her tracks. She turned back to the bed to see Serena stirring slightly.
With a joyful cry, she ran back to the bed, the other girls close behind her. They leaned over her, watching with held breath as she slowly regained consciousness.

~~~~~

Serena opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the unfamiliar light. She felt a dull ache throughout her entire body, and everything seemed hazy, as if it were all a dream. The worried faces of her four friends slowly swam into focus. She heard a noise, and it took several moments to identify it as a voice.
"Serena? How are you feeling?" Mina whispered.
Serena tried to speak, but her parched throat was too dry. She tried to sit up, but a fierce pain shot through her, and she lay still. She closed her eyes again, vaguely hearing the sound of voices around her. She opened them again when she felt hands supporting her, pulling her to a sitting position. Raye brought her a glass of water while Amy ran tests. Lita and Mina sat beside her.
"Serena? Are you feeling better?" Lita asked once Serena drank the water. The blond smiled weakly.
"I'm alright," she replied, not quite the truth, but she didn't want to upset her friends.
Unfortunately, they were already upset.
Mina practically pounced on her, crying and telling her how worried they had been and how glad they were she was ok. Raye and Lita pried her off, but then the three began talking to her frantically all at the same time. Mina kept asking how she was feeling and if anything hurt:
"Are you sure you're ok? How do you feel? Does your head hurt? Or your stomach? Are you too hot or cold?"
Lita offered to get various things for her:
"Do you need more water? A pillow? Some food? More blankets? A teddy bear?"
And Raye berated her for getting herself sick:
"How DARE you scare us all like that?!? Don't you ever, EVER DO THIS AGAIN!! You scared us out of our wits, you dumb Odango-atama!! Don't even think of pulling this again, I'm going to be watching you like a hawk!!"
Serena looked from one to the other, bemused. It was hard enough to focus on what one person was saying when that person was the only one speaking. She gave up trying to follow any of it in her disoriented state.
Amy pushed past the other girls to finish her tests. As the other three girls continued their verbal assault on her bewildered patient, Amy directed Serena.
"Open your mouth. Now, say 'Aaahh'.... good. Breath in deeply..."
The chattering settled down a bit as the four girls proceeded to fill Serena in on the past week. It wasn't that interesting, but they wanted to be a comfort, so they embellished a bit, mindful that in her condition Serena probably wasn't following much of it anyway.
As she looked around, still feeling slightly dazed, she caught sight of 17. His casual stance revealed nothing of his agitation over her illness. Their eyes locked, and everything else seemed to fade into the background.
As her friends continued to chatter excitedly, they failed to notice that they no longer held their friend's attention.

********************


Two days later, Serena was moved back into the room that she shared with her friends. She was still out of it, only partially conscious. Everything was still dreamlike and hazy to her, but Amy said that things would seem more real as she recovered.
The girls were working, and Serena was alone in the room. She slept most of the day, waking in short intervals now and again. She was mostly asleep now as she vaguely heard the door open and close lightly. She couldn't tell if the sound was real or a dream. She tried to lift her head, but found she had barely enough energy to move her eyes to see the person. He came into her view and sat in the chair beside her bed. For some reason, she didn't mind him being there. Usually she would have felt nervous or annoyed; but this time, she almost felt glad that he was there. However, she was too tired and weak to notice her change in feelings. Her mind barely acknowledged his presence.

~~~~~

He closed the door softly behind him, trying to ignore the thump in his chest when he saw her laying there. Her golden hair was spread over the pure white sheets, creating an almost angelic effect. Her eyes were half closed from weariness. He sat beside her and watched as her eyes moved slowly to meet his. He didn't say anything at first; he didn't want to break the silence, though he wasn't sure why. He knew she was still too weak to talk.

~~~~~

He reached out and took her hand, holding it so lightly that her hand was lying on top of his more than it was being held. She barely felt his hand. He talked to her softly though she didn't hear most of it, and couldn't remember a word of it later. Her half-lidded eyes drifted down to the bed again, as if it was to much work to keep them up.

~~~~~

He told her about how bored he was without her there to amuse him, even though he knew she probably couldn't hear most of what he was saying. He talked in a soft, gentle voice that he couldn't remember having ever used before. A strange feeling stirred inside him as he watched her laying there, looking so lifeless. It started as an uncomfortable feeling, but slowly grew to a pain in his chest. He wished she would look at him and smile, or insult him, or at least roll her eyes at him. He wished she would do something to show that she was the same as always. He wanted to know that she heard him, and understood him; without that, she seemed to be a fragile doll without sight or mind. That wasn't how he wanted her to be. When she had made eye contact, it was alright; for though her eyes were hazy, he had seen recognition in them. He realized he had stopped talking, but couldn't think of anything else to say.
She was his, damnit. She couldn't be this way. He wanted her like she was before.
Keeping his face passive and void of emotion was a great talent of his that could infuriate Serena to no end. This talent came into use now as he felt her hand closing gently over his. Her half-lidded eyes told him that she was probably still delirious— and if she wasn't, she was at least half-asleep— so he knew that she was not aware of her own actions. He held her hand more firmly, but gingerly. Shortly after she fell asleep once again.
He stayed for a long time by her side, gently massaging the back of her hand with his thumb. He wasn't aware that he was doing for quite some time, and stopped as soon as he noticed.
He had wanted to move her from the medical room to his own chambers, but the room he was having made for her was not yet ready. He knew that despite her current condition, she would forcefully object to staying in his bed, and he didn't want to risk her hurting herself. So he let her move back into the room she shared with her friends, fully intending to have her stay in his rooms when she was fully recovered. He had waited to long to make her his, and she had almost been killed. He was reminded of how vulnerable humans could be. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. He had moved slowly enough with her; too slow. Now she would be his.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! Since so many of you requested that I e-mail you when I post the next chapter, I have started a Yahoo! Group for this story. People can join to receive update information, reports on my progress of a chapter, etc. You can also post questions, comments, and suggestions, which I will respond to directly. Just go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/direworld/
... Gee... I just quickly glanced at my Author's Note for the first chapter... My warning on many sexual references... ehehehe... looks like those didn't ever turn up... *sweatdrop* And yes, that comment was totally unrelated to the announcement I just made. I do that sometimes. ^^

Another SUPER QUICK unrelated thing: Do you like X-men? If so, read my friend's new story!! It's at http://fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1034670

REMEMBER TO REVIEW!!! PLEASE?!?!?

P.S. Sorry about not having tabs, my program if having some problems… I'll try to fix it.