Chapter 43: Mental Fog
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David leaned over the couch. Scott, Daniel, Sharla, Joe, and Arizona watched quietly.
He'd been sitting there for five minuets, just sitting. He didn't seem to be doing anything.
David searched Dakota's mind, he couldn't be sure how badly he had been hurt; how much had been physical, how much had been mental. He found the confusion and disarray Xander had put Dakota's mind in hard to look through. Thoughts of Julia would appear, only then to be taken over by thoughts of Stephanie. At times the only thing on his mind seemed to be the fear of Xander and what he would do to his friends, at others guilt would reign.
Finally, David spoke through his thoughts. "Dakota, can you hear me?" He paused waiting for an answer.
Nothing.
Physically Dakota moaned and tried to push David away, but David grabbed his hands and held them still.
"It's David, not Xander, stop blocking," he commanded. He watched as the mess in Dakota's head slowly cleared, and the shields began to drop.
"David?" The voice came quietly, weakly, very distant.
"You okay kid?" He asked.
Again, no answer.
The clouds started to return.
David pushed them aside as carefully as he could. "Dakota, listen to me, You can't stay like this, you have to come out or you'll be stuck there forever, I can walk you out of this if you just listen," David said.
"I can't, I can't, I'm all ready stuck, I-"
"Stop it! You're not stuck yet-"
"I am-"
"Shut up, you are not." He paused listening to the silence. "Are you listening?"
"Yeah."
"You don't have to worry about Xander any more, he's gone for now, and if he comes back, you can fight him. You know all those bad thoughts you were having? Well they came from Xander. He's playing with your mind so stop listening. Do you hear me?" He waited.
Silence, then another voice.
"What are you doing now? You're putting your friends in danger Dakota. The person who's trying t' help you is gonna die, and it'll be your fault."
Xander.
"Don't listen to him Dakota that's Xander, he's wrong, listen to my voice not his," David said louder.
Massive clouds appeared again.
Dakota fell into confusion again. He had no idea who to listen to. He tried to put up his shield but both intruders stopped him, one forcefully, and one gently.
"David? Are you there?" He asked.
David could barely hear him. "Dakota?" He asked.
"Help," was all he could get out.
Xander's iron grip over him had become too strong.
"Dakota, just give up, you're going to lose. No one can help you now. You're going to die and you're going to take whoever else is in there with you." Xander said.
He still could not see David, nor he could hear Dakota's thoughts, he could only feed him things.
Something in Dakota snapped.
A new vision came in of Julia. She smiled. So beautiful and strong. Her voice broke into his thoughts, something she had said a long time ago. "Being brave doesn't mean that you're not afraid, and being weak doesn't mean you can't do something amazing. You can be a super hero no matter how many times you've failed, and no matter what the odds are. You have it in you because God's in you."
A sudden boost of strength shot through his mind. On Xander's end the shields shot up, the voice fleeted away. He pulled himself through the fog and clouds, and then, opened his eyes. His head pounded and every part of his body ached, but he could think clearly now, no more mist clouded his mind.
"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" David asked smiling. He crossed his arms and leaned back on his heels.
Dakota sat up painfully. "You sent that didn't you? The whole Julia thing right?" He asked.
"No, at first I thought you were thinking that up on you're own, but then I checked, someone else tapped in," David replied.
"Who was it?" Dakota asked.
"I still don't know, someone more powerful than me, I could see past their shields. They obviously didn't want to be seen"
"Huh?"
"Excuse me, us hi, remember us?" Daniel asked.
Dakota looked up. "Who are you?" He asked.
"You don't remember?" Arizona asked.
"No, come to think of it, where am I?"
David laughed. "Did he talk to y'all earlier?"
"Yeah," Scott replied.
"He was delirious, he doesn't remember a thing from the time Xander attacked him." David said.
"Sorry," Dakota shrugged.
"To make a long story short," Sharla said. "Scott saved you, we brought you back here, and called David."
"Sharla helped," Scott put in.
"Thanks, but how's you know to call David?" Dakota asked.
"You said his name, we put two and two together," Joe said.
"I remember you from the woods the other day." Dakota rubbed his head. "Well I assume that because David is not rushing me out of here that y'all aren't gonna go ballistic and send me to the Counsel."
"Nope, we're runnin' too, we had the same problems you had, sort of," Daniel said.
David stood up. "Well, I hate to rush out, but we do need to leave and I need to talk with Dakota, so," he stretched. "I will see you later."
Dakota stood up uneasily and David grabbed his arm. He extended a hand to Scott. "I owe you one man, thanks, hope someday I can return the favor."
"Hey rebel's gotta stick together right?"
Yeah, Dakota thought as he and David walked out to the car. We got no one else to trust.
