Lullaby

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 6: E.R.

The reflection of all the island-the buildings, the people, the grass, the trees, the beach, the ocean, and the gleam of the now setting sun on all of the roofs of all of the houses-seemed so peaceful as the black car pulled up the mountain, up to the hanger; where a large intelligent man, and a nearly fainting skinny man, could be seen gazing into a bright light, that now shined and cast its brightness, covering the reflection of the peaceful island, as it gave birth to a hellish combustion…

Nani stepped out of the car at the scene, only to arrive too late and see with her own eyes her little sister's absence, and the uproar of fire that came from the depths of the hangar. At first too struck for tears, for lament, and for grief, but just as she arrived to Jumba, who now was getting up from the recoil of the explosion, she fell onto his shoulder weeping.

Pleakley took the awestruck sister off of Jumba, to comfort her, as Bubbles stepped out of the car. He walked with a stern pace, his muscles tense, and anger surging through his veins at the scene; this was not the manner of a man who normally kept calm at these situations, but when it came down to a little girl, no man could keep calm.

"Where is she?" He asked, to Jumba, who looked at him in a calm, mature, expression.

"I could not save her in time." Jumba looked down, slightly, to Bubbles' mouth; he could not bear looking him in the eye, as he continued his report. "She, 626, and 523, were trapped inside…" He hesitated for a second, and then stared up at the eyes of his interrogator.

"In your own words, tell me what happened." He ordered, pulling out a recorder.

"How far back do you want? The fire or since we got here?" Bubbles' twitched his eyebrow.

"The fire, tell me what happened five minutes prior, and the cause of the fire, as well as what you did." Jumba took in a small breath, and began the story.

"626, was in a large fight with an experiment of Dr. Hamsterveil's, experiment was winning for a short time, but was then killed by 626. Hamsterveil then must have triggered a self-destruct mechanism, and as he fled the scene to Gantu's ship, a monitor stated ten seconds to explosion. I could not carry everyone out at the same time, I managed to gather Pleakley and 523, and was almost out, when 523 shot out of my arms and went back in, the force knocked me down, and at three seconds I was up and running out of there, ducking where you found me." The recorder clicked off, and bubbles turned around.

"Do you know they're condition?" He asked Jumba.

"No, I am sorry."

"I will call for a backup crew, I think we should take Nani home." Nani was now bawling over Pleakley's shoulder over the loss of Lilo and the loss of Stitch.

"So that's it?" She said, in a skeptical tone, "There's nothing more you can do?" she started screaming at Bubbles, "You can't go in, and see if she's there?" Bubbles kept his stern expression.

"Nani, you're getting irrational, you can't expect me to go in there, it's a smoldering hangar, and I'd be killed." Nani began to get angry, over the loss of her sister. She began to tremble, she did not want to accept any facts, and she believed that Lilo was alive. "Come on, there's nothing left here."

Taking Nani's arm, Bubbles quietly helped her to her feet, and took her along to the car. Jumba tried as hard as he could not to cry, his hope was giving into his reason; there was no way Lilo could have survived, but he didn't want to believe it. He started to the buggy, and motioned after Pleakley. Pleakley was bawling in silence, trying not to encourage Nani's sadness, he followed Jumba.

Everyone had lost his or her hope. Now everyone was convinced that there was no way Lilo could have survived. Bubbles had reached the door to help Nani in, and was just reaching the door handle, when a loud crash came from within the depths of the flurrying embers; all of them shot they're heads toward the mouth of the entrance and waited in silence.

For a long minute, nothing but crackling of fire, and a few sounds of scuffling could be heard. They saw nothing but flames, and were in doubt when the scuffling ceased for a long pause. Scoffing at their foolish behavior, they proceeded to enter the vehicles again, when another noise-a loud echoing step-leapt their hearts and turned they're heads.

Despite the failed heart risers, this time a plump silhouette appeared behind the wall of fire. It was slightly large at first, but with every step it resided smaller and smaller, until it was no bigger then a yard tall. Slowly, a blue figure stepped through the flames; in its arms a large bundle that it carried through, protecting it from the curtain of fire. The flames licked all around his body, but only for a small second as it proceeded through the wall, took a few more weak, and heavy slumped steps, and fell to the ground face first, dropping its bundle.

Stitch winced at the impact from the fall, his back was slightly singed and black, overall nothing was burned. He remained in a curled ball, slightly plump and obese. He waited a second, and then opened his eye; his sight darted behind him, seeing Slushy face first on the floor. Slushy lifted his head, and did a small pushup; just enough to balance on his knees, as he stared back at Stitch and smiled.

Within him, a small cry of pain came. Uncurling his four arms, his ears, his feet, and putting back his quills, he released what he had grasped onto; Lilo rolled over onto the floor in deep aching tears.

"My head…" She said, in a whispering, suffering voice, "My head, I'm burning…" Nani was now rampaging through dust, toward her little sister. She picked Lilo up, and hugged her tightly.

"Don't ever do that again…" She muttered, in a relieved tone. Quickly Nani shifted Lilo and carried her over her shoulder.

"Nani, don't…" Lilo weakly cried, as the blood painfully rushed to her heard.

"What's wrong?" Nani asked, grabbing Lilo and looking at her in the eye, moving her quickly from her shoulder, once again rushing the blood in her little sisters' head. Another shrill cry of suffering pain, and molten tears, came from the little girl, Stitch jumped up to his feet, not being able to take the empathy of her pain.

"Achada! Lilo has a fever!" He ordered and cried to Nani. Bubbles, hearing what Stitch said, walked calmly and quickly over to Lilo, and put the back of his wrist to her head, and just as quickly took it back.

"We need to get her to a hospital, now." He told the group, slow and patently, not rising, but lowering his voice on the emphasis of the word "now". He sincerely opened the door, and let Nani and, her sister sit, in the front seat, Bubbles then walked over to his side, and opened the door. "The rest of you come along in the buggy when you're ready; I'm taking Lilo and Nani now." He nodded to the four aliens, as he stepped into his car, and took off, now completely cutting off the peaceful reflection on its black paint. Stitch ran to the edge of the mountain trail, and peered over, as the car reached the brush line, and disappeared.

"Come 626, I will drive." Jumba said very friendly. Stitch drooped his ears, sank his shoulders and walked toward the small red buggy, overwhelmed with worry over Lilo. Sluggishly he entered the car, right next to Slushy, who patted his shoulder and smiled at him, in a way that said, "everything will be all right."

Gazing blankly out at the scene, the vision that was already blurred was enhanced that much more as the squeaky cart wheeled down the hallway at such dizzying speeds. Men in blue suits, men in white suits, women just the same, gathered around while the cart sped down a row of doors, seeming to endlessly roll into in an infinite corridor.

All of the doors, all of the walls, all of the lights, and all of the colors seemed exactly the same. Voices, few and low, slurred and muffled, but voices could be heard. Not all of them, but some, were audible.

"One-hundred three degrees…" could be understood, and the rest was muted.

"Get some ice ready in room three-sixteen." Was heard, clear and brisk. Turning, sharply to the right, and bursting through a green door. The quality of vision was slow, and caused the motion of the door to be slowed down and multiplied, leaving a small after-image of a fast moving object.

"One hundred four, one hundred four…" Numbers, only numbers, what did they mean? Pain, rushing pain, as the ice was applied around the neck; the ice seemed to distinctly increase the pain behind the eyes, magnifying the rushing liquid of suffering agony. Darkness…slowly consuming, slowly overwhelming, detaching from the world "We're losing her, she's getting too hot, more ice!"

"…And because Hamsterveil used your DNA to make Achie-baba Kino, I figured that the same earth sickness that can kill you, could kill or weaken him. Is simple, no?"

"Eh. Miga understand." Stitch and Jumba sat next to each other in the waiting room, Jumba explaining to Stitch what he thought about Achie-baba Kino and whole situation; Stitch half-heartedly cared about what Jumba had to say, he always listened; now it was just that he was more worried about Lilo.

Bubbles sat across from Nani, trying to keep her from a hysterical cascading tidal wave of tears, over the tension and suspense of rushing Lilo to the E.R. On their way, in the black car, they were pulled over by an officer. Bubbles flashed his badge, and the officer seemed to understand and called the hospital to report the arrival of a sickened patient.

Pleakley paced around in a circle, which was not helping Nani's condition. Slushy sat in a very monkish position, hands on his crossed knees, staring outward at the group, trying as hard as he could to discipline himself from crying, laughing, or talking, unless it needed to be done, keeping very solemn but not enough to make anyone's skin crawl.

"What's wrong, 626?" Jumba asked. Stitch drew his chin from his hand to Jumba in the eyes. Stitch's gaze toward Jumba was showing hopelessness, daze, lifelessness, and depression; as if his passionate soul was taken right from his body; his worriment of Lilo was far greater then anyone else's in the room. Worry that was so great, he would never allow himself to have peace of mind until everything was ok. "Stitch?" Jumba asked again, using his name, and not his number.

"Miga naga subra." He said, in an uncaring voice to further emphasize what he said to Jumba, answering the genius' concern.

"You don't care? Angel could have been killed by Achie-baba Kino; she was threatened death unless she lured you into the hangar." Jumba protested, trying his best to get Stitch out of anxiety. "Angel is fine," He began again, hoping that he was lamenting over Angel's assumed loss, "She probably escaped before the flare, I'm sure she's out somewhere in the woods recovering." Stitch looked away in frustration at Jumba. He was disappointed, at the fact that Jumba assumed he was weeping for Angel.

"As if I didn't care about Lilo; as if I hadn't tried to talk to Lilo." He thought to himself in disgust. "…Who am I kidding? I've been avoiding her the whole time…" Just as he was coming to his realization, a woman in a white dress came through the door, Stitch was too deep in thought to notice her arrival, however.

"Mr. Jookiba?" She asked, panning the room.

"Yes, ma'am, how may I help you?" Jumba said, eyeing Nani's expression.

"Lilo had a temperature of one hundred-four degrees," the nurse began, looking at her clipboard, "but, we've been able to bring it back down to just over a hundred. We're going to ask that we keep her here for the next thirty-six hours just to make sure things are ok."

"I see, then shall we be going?" Jumba questioned the group.

"Oh, well that's not all…" the nurse exclaimed, trying to get Jumba's attention, "Lilo's asked to see someone by the name of…" she checked her clipboard again, "Stitch?" Stitch's ears twitched at the sound of his name, and he was forcibly taken from his deep thinking, he had just now noticed the woman in white.

"Jabaeh?"

"Excuse me?" The nurse asked.

"Stitch sorry, what do you want?" Stitch said, switching languages. "Lilo would understand what I said." He told himself.

"Are you Stitch?" The nurse asked, pointing at him. Stitch nodded and shifted to the center of the chair. "Lilo wishes to see you, would you follow me please?" Stitch felt a small bit of dread come over him, but his depression shook off the feeling. Almost somnambulistic Stitch fell from the chair flat on his feet, and walked toward the nurse. He left to hear Nani's voice, screaming at Jumba for using his last name.

The hall smelled just as it should; an overwhelming odor of Latex and, to him, traces of gas and metal. The nurse's high-heels crunched and crackled deeply on the tile floor, no matter what Stitch tried he couldn't drain that noise out of his mind. Passing rows and rows of doors to the right and to the left in a small hallway that reeked, and echoed of the paging system, made Stitch feel as though he was on trial; a trial that he had no idea what to do, how to act, or what to say. His heart thudded with nervousness. "Why me? Why did she have to see me? What is she planning, is she going to yell at me?" His thoughts ended, as he and the nurse stopped before a door that read "Room 316".

"I'll come get you when visiting hours are over." The nurse said, and then proceeded back up the hall. Stitch stared at the door for a moment, sending the last pessimistic thoughts through his mind, before he came to the inevitable conclusion that there was no turning back, took in a deep breath, and turned the doorknob.

The small peeps and clicks of the machines were the first things to hit Stitch, as he stepped through to the slightly dark room. He glanced over to the curtains near the far wall, light blue with a white flower pattern tiled about them. He shut the door shut with a small creek, and a click that echoed throughout the room, he stood in silence, waiting to see if Lilo rustled or showed any sign of knowing his presence at all.

"Why am I so scared?" He consoled himself, confused and nervous, "I don't think I can see her now, not after how I treated her. But she wants to see me, she won't let me go." Despite his mind telling him to hold back and leave, his body disobeyed, and stepped forward with the soft yet loud clicking of his toes. He stepped up to the curtain, and with the most silent, tedious motion, pulled them aside. His heart now either stopped, or beat vigorously, he couldn't tell, he was too nervous to care.

A small tingling of metal stirred Lilo's ears. With barely a grunt, she used all of her concentration to open her eyes. Her head was heavy, as was the rest of her body, and she could barely feel her lips, her nose, her ears, or anything below her neck, she could only assume that her body was functional. A soft click hit her ear to the right. She turned her head slowly, slightly, to catch a figure in her blurry vision. She could barely tell who it was, because of the glare that came from the light above the desk that was behind the silhouette, but she did register the panicked pause in the figure's step as her eyes rolled toward it.

"Stitch?" She asked the figure, meekly and with a slightly low-crackled voice.

"Eh." Stitch replied, forcing past the knot of nervousness in his throat, trying to sound as clear as possible.

"Is that you?" She questioned his first answer making sure.

"Eh, miga Stitch." He replied again, still in the surprised standing position. Lilo looked at him so lazily, so helplessly, lying there in the hospital bed, her hair drooping across the pillow. Stitch tried his best to relax, but couldn't, something was holding him with fear, but he didn't know what caused him to be so afraid.

"I can't see you, I don't think you understand..." Lilo said, so sadly. Stitch took in a shivering breath, and silently walked forward. He grasped the cold bars of the bed, jumped up, and leaned over her head, staring into her eyes. "Now tell me," she asked, in a serious and stern tone "Is that really…you?" She moved her hand from her side, and out from under the sheets to brush his cheek. His blue head was still blurred, but a bit clearer behind the closer, dimmer fluorescent ceiling light that was behind him.

"Iba ju emplasa?" He asked, unsure of the answer she was looking for.

"Are you still mad?"

"Why…would Stitch be mad?"

"When you were fighting Achie-baba Kino," She replied, suppressing tears, "you were hateful and mad, I was terrified…"

"Terrified? At miga?" He asked, surprised. She nodded, shifting her weight to her right side, so she could stare at his face better. "Why?"

"I was…afraid…" She trailed, clenching her arms under the sheets. "Afraid that I was going to lose you." She told him honestly, looking into his eyes.

"Miga here, naga charuta." He reassured her, trying to hide his feelings from her to cheer her up.

"No, that's not what I mean…" Stitch leaned in closer, and sat on the bed by Lilo's side, to listen as she went on. "When I saw you so angry, so hateful toward Achie-baba Kino, and then when I saw you go through that rage, I knew that something happened inside of you; kind of like what happened before, when you went against what you were programmed to do in the first place."

"Be destructive?" He identified.

"Uh-huh," she continued, "When you changed from being a destroying alien to a friend, I was glad. But now, it's like your changing back again, but in a different way." Stitch looked down at himself, screening what happened back in the hanger.

"Was Stitch really that terrifying…?" He asked, looking up at her, and in disbelief toward himself. He did not remember what he had done after he saw Lilo being thrown against the wall, that part of his memory was fogged and forgotten. She nodded to him. He looked down again, his ears drooping in his own grief. "Then, what does Stitch do? Stitch doesn't want to scare Lilo again…"

"Then just be normal, be like the Stitch that I know. I was frightened that I was going to lose the Stitch that knew me as a friend, and gain a Stitch that would run away and leave me. I thought I was going to lose someone close to me." Stitch kept his gaze downward, he didn't want to look at Lilo after causing her such sadness. They went without saying a word for a long time, after a while Lilo laid back her head. In the end, it was she who broke the silence. "Did you see if Angel made it out ok?" Stitch's lips tightened.

"I don't care…I-" The door to room 316 opened loudly, causing them both to jump with shock.

"Mr. Stitch, visiting hours are almost over, I'm going to ask you leave within the next three minutes." The nurse called from outside of the door, and instantly shut it with a click.

"Stitch sorry." He said, meaning he was sorry he had to leave, and sorry for terrifying her so much. He began to jump off the bed.

"Just promise me one thing…" she started, he turned his head to her, and she looked him in the eyes.

"Anything." He vowed.

"Never change like you did while fighting Achie-baba Kino again.." She pleaded, on the verge of tears.

"Stitch promise." He reassured her, and gave her a small hug; one that meant he'd see her again soon. He looked at her face, one last time, jumped off the bed, and started for the door.

"I love you, Stitch" She told him, lying back down.

"I wish I could say the same…but then I don't know if I'd be lying…" He told himself, thinking of Angel, he smiled and shut the door quietly. Outside he stood pausing at the door and holding his breath, to hear the muffled tears of relief falling onto a hospital pillow, and the soft clicks of the machinery…