Yugifan2004: I am still impressed that you did that. o_o I am very happy you liked my old fic, and hope that you enjoy the new one!
Jon Soloman: _ _ Yup. And it might seem unfair, but Hope was gonna lose if she didn't get help. x_X;;; Hope you enjoy this as well!
Artemis of the Moon: Thanks! ^_^ Yeah, I agree, a little offensive to those religious. Well, it isn't meant to be. =/ I just wanted something original, and I succeeded, if I do say so myself. =P
Whispering Hope: Yep. Rough times ahead with Max like this. x_X Ah well. Lucky for you I update a lot, huh. _;;;
*Chapter 2: Fate's Cruelty*
Hope looked at the doctor immediately. "WHAT?"
"It's true…" he stated sadly. "Your friend has no memory of who he is, or who you are. He won't remember anything about his life either. One of the worst things that can happen to someone…"
"There's got to be some cure!" Hope protested.
"I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do. His family, and friends, will have to help him through this. Maybe, someday, he will recall… until then, I cannot say what will happen."
Hope sank back into a chair, holding back her tears. Poor Brandi… she will be crushed…
"The good news is that he can go home. Did you contact his parents?"
"…I contacted his sister. She's the only one I could reach. She'll help out. Until then, my mother will take care of all the official forms."
"That will work, I guess." He began to write on his clipboard. "Come back at around nine tomorrow. You can bring him home then."
"Thanks…" Hope rose to leave.
Max attempted to rise, but collapsed trying.
"You shouldn't be trying to move around," the doctor said to him gently.
"I don't… want to stay… here… alone…" Max whispered.
Hope stared at him for a few seconds, and then turned to the doctor. "Sir, can I please stay with Max tonight? He doesn't know what is going on, and maybe having someone nearby will help?"
The doctor looked at his watch, and sighed. "Normally, visitors are not allowed overnight, but I'll make an exception this time."
"Thanks," she replied. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Right; good night."
Then he closed the door, turning out the lights as he went. The moonlight from the window made it easy enough to see though.
Hope quickly called her mom. "Hey mom, I'm staying at the
hospital. Yeah, my friend, he has a serious problem… yeah, amnesia… it's really
bad. Can he stay at our house until his sister comes to pick him up? Yeah, only
a short amount of time… thanks mom, good night." She shut off the phone.
Hope then made herself as comfortable as she could on
the chair, and decided to try and fall asleep, knowing that Max needed the rest
as well. Still, she had to ask a few questions.
"Max… you don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"
He turned to her. "Am I Max?"
She nodded. "Yes… your name is Max."
"I… don't know… anything… nothing at all…" He thought for a minute. "Except… for you…"
"What? You know who I am?" Hope inquired.
"Not your name… but I knew… how you looked. That's why… I traveled… all this way… I knew you would help… I don't know how though…"
But why me? Why not Brandi? I mean, she's his sister! "Does the name Brandi sound familiar?"
"No…"
"…What about Jason? Randall? Rue? Will? Claire?"
"I do not know any of them…"
"Olympion?"
"Nothing…"
Hope shook her head. "Then… I don't know what to do…" She paused. "I'm called Hope, ok? Refer to me by that. Now we should get some rest… we're going to have some rough times ahead."
"…Ok…"
*****
Hope woke up slowly, hearing something. Her cell phone was ringing. Luckily, Max had not woken up, so she ran into the hall and picked it up.
"Hope here… hi mom. You're coming? Yeah, please bring the car, he shouldn't be walking that much. Thanks, see you soon." She then hung up, and walked back into the room she had left.
She was surprised to see that Max was tossing and turning, as if having a nightmare. Hope ran over and shook him awake.
"Are you ok?"
Max was panting, with a wild, frightened look in his eyes.
"A… monster…"
"What?"
"A big… blue… monster…"
"A big, blue monster? Do you remember anything else?"
"It… attacked me…"
What on earth…? What could he be imagining? I can only think of one thing that fits that description… the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Or maybe the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Could it be one of those?
"Try to forget about it," she advised. "Listen, my mom is going to bring us to my house, ok? You need to rest, so we'll help you recover there."
"Oh… thanks…"
*****
The trip to Hope's house was uneventful. When they got there, Hope helped Max get to her room. Since she had bunk beds, Max was allowed to sleep on the bottom one, which was currently occupied by a bunch of Lord of the Ring, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and RockMan action figures. Hope threw them all into her closet, and made it so that Max could actually sleep in it.
"Max, you aren't to move around for quite some time, ok? Just stay in bed."
"…Alright…"
Hope picked up Dracula and read for about an hour. By then, Max was asleep, and she was able to quietly slip out.
She held up her Soul Card, and allowed Gaston to emerge.
"So what's the deal?" he asked.
She explained everything to him.
"Awful… and we have no idea who did it?" She shook her head. "Then there isn't much we can do, right? Poor Brandi though…"
"Oh, that's right!" Hope exclaimed. "I forgot to call her again!" She dialed the number and waited. After a minute, she hung up with a sigh. "No answer… she must already be coming here."
"This will be devastating…" He sighed. "So, what are we going to do now?"
"You can just relax, or something. I'm going to play Gameboy Advance… I still need to beat FreezeMan's scenario in MegaMan Battle Network 2. With headphones, I can remain in the room if Max needs something…"
"I'll stay in the front room. If anyone makes it here today, I'll let you know."
"Thanks."
*****
It was the evening by now. Max had only woken once, and had soon fallen asleep afterwards. Hope was tired of not moving around, and walked out of the room.
"Curse that FreezeMan!" Hope complained. "I only have to go through the longest event EVER to get to him!"
"Dare I laugh?"
"No, you don't," Hope glared at Gaston. "I'm sick of staying in this house… I want to go for another walk. You up for it?"
"I guess…"
"Hang on a second." She grabbed some scratch paper, and wrote a small note. Then she put it on the nightstand next to Max. Then she closed the door behind her. "Alright, now I'm ready."
*****
"It's another nice night," Gaston noted.
"Yeah…" Hope looked around the park. "I hope nothing bad happens this time."
"It's doubtful," Gaston pointed out.
"Still… those wounds that Max has… I am getting a bad feeling about this."
*****
Running… running… running… and not stopping…
That was his only thought. He was determined to get away.
Blood fell from the wound on his leg. It took everything he had to ignore the searing pain that coursed through it with every step he took.
If he had been alone, even with this injury, he would have easily been able to outrun his pursuers. However, his companion was still unconscious. He was forced to carry her, and that slowed him down greatly. Combined with the wound he had received, most people would be surprised that he could move.
But he was stronger than most ordinary humans. And he had determination on his side.
"Over there!" He swore softly. They were catching up. If it came down to a fight, he would lose easily. Having to guard her and fight with an injured leg would not only make his attention divided, but he liked close range battles. And they had long range weapons. That negated any thoughts of turning around and destroying them.
"Awaiting orders sir!" one man shouted.
"Do not kill it! Aim for the other leg! I don't care how strong it is; it will NOT be able to run with two injuries to the legs!"
The gunshot echoed through the night.
Pain spread throughout his body as he collapsed. He noted with grim satisfaction that they had missed his leg, hitting him in the shoulder instead.
"Looks like he's down."
"You idiot! You hit the neck! He must be dead already!"
"The boss will NOT be pleased with this, you know."
"Forgive me! Moving targets are much harder to hit you know!"
"We know, but the boss doesn't. You're going to have to answer to him."
"Argh… but what about the other one?!"
"It's already dead, I wager. Took a hit right to the head. Nothing can save them now… let's go."
He heard the five men walk away, and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. Even if they had not made it out alive, they were free to die.
It was better than being captured by them.
*****
"What was that?!" Hope exclaimed as she heard the sound tear through the silence.
"A gunshot?" Gaston unsheathed his sword. "We'd best look into this."
"Yeah!" They ran towards where they had heard the noise.
Hope suddenly halted. "Gaston, over here!"
He sheathed his sword. "What is it?"
She was looking at some grass stained red. "Blood…"
"Does it trail?"
She nodded, and they followed the gruesome path quickly. Hope soon caught sight of two figures ahead.
"They must be the ones injured…" Gaston murmured.
Hope approached cautiously.
There was a boy and a girl. The boy wore a black, short sleeved t-shirt, and black pants. He had no shoes, which struck Hope odd, but there were more intriguing features than that. His black hair was very long, going down to about his waist. His left leg was bleeding, as was his right shoulder. His arms were covered with scars, old and new.
The girl did not look much better. Her clothes were identical to the ones that the boy had, except they were white instead of black. She too lacked shoes, and her arms were covered with similar scars. Her long, silver-white hair fell at about the same location her companion's was. Although Hope could not establish why, as she saw no wounds, the girl was unconscious.
"Oh gosh… that boy… he's hurt really badly!" She ran up to him. "Two wounds… it's very serious!"
She reached out to feel his arm, when suddenly his eyes snapped open. To her shock, they were yellow, and seemed to pierce through her.
The boy growled softly, trying to rise, holding out his hand. Hope noticed then that his fingernails were longer than usual, and very sharp.
Then he collapsed, exhausted by a simple act.
"Gaston! We need to get these two to a hospital!"
"I agree." He picked up the boy, and looked at Hope. Again, she was stunned.
When he had been moved, the boy's hair had been moved away, revealing his ear. But… it wasn't human. Even though it was in the same location as a human ear, it was triangular, and covered with black fur.
"Gaston… his ear…"
He looked at it, and his eyes widened. "Geez… it's more like a dog's ear than anything. What on earth is he?"
Hope shook her head. "Change of plans. We can't have a hospital see this; just think about what they would say!" She was examining the girl, and noticed that her ears were in the same condition, except that they were covered with white fur. "We need to bring them to my house… I don't know how we can get both back at once though…"
"What's going on here?"
She looked up, and saw someone approaching. Four figures, actually. A boy, a girl, and their Soul Monsters.
"Rue! Ruecian! Claire! Perseus! Thank goodness you've arrived! I need your help… Ruecian, can you please carry this girl?"
He reached down and lifted her easily.
"Who are they?" Rue asked.
"I'm not sure… but we need to help them. I don't know how though…"
"Take them to a hospital, what do you think?"
"No!" She showed them the dog-like ears the girl had. He jumped back.
"Whoa! Ok, I see what you mean. Still, won't the boy die if he's left like this?" Rue asked.
"We can deal with that later!" Hope stated. "Let's get them to my house, and quick!"
"Don't worry about it," Claire interrupted. "I can heal him, with the proper equipment. I've taken many classes that involve healing, and I think I can help."
"That's really good," Hope nodded. "Mom can get the supplies needed. Now, no delaying!"
*****
In a few minutes, they were there. Hope immediately went to her mom, and urgently explained that she would be having four friends staying over as well, one of them injured.
"Four?!"
"Come on mom!"
"I'm only letting them in because one is injured! If any more come…"
"I get the point mom!"
They ran into the guest room, the Soul Monsters retreating into their Soul Cards. The girl was lain on one of the two beds there (one which was temporary-Hope's mom was still trying to sell it). Claire immediately looked over the girl.
"No problems here… just unconscious. Probably a head injury… we'll see how she feels when she comes around. The boy is much more serious." She began to lightly examine his leg. "A bullet wound… with the metal probably still imbedded. It will all depend on his physical endurance." She than opened the first aid kit that Hope's mom had lent, and stared. "Wow Hope… your mom must be a worrier by nature. Just LOOK at all these medications and tools! I have everything I need right here." She began to set aside certain ones that were necessary, and began working.
Rue soon complained that the tension was too much for him, and asked Hope if he could get on her computer. She absentmindedly said that it was in the office, and watched Claire continue her work.
"And… ok, I finally have it." Hope winced as Claire slowly drew out a bullet from his leg. "He's really lucky… if it had gone any deeper, I couldn't have removed it. The shoulder injury is fairly shallow as well…" After a few minutes, she extracted that one as well. "Now all I need to do is clean the wounds, and dress them…"
Finally, the long task was over. Claire pulled the sheets over the form of the boy. "All we can do is wait. I'm going to see what Rue is up to; you coming?"
"In just a second; I'm going to straighten up this first aid kit."
"Thanks," Claire said before leaving.
So much stuff had been scattered, that it took five whole minutes to put it in order again.
Hope slid it under the bed with a sigh. Then she stood, looking over at the girl's bed again.
And saw the girl slowly opening her yellow eyes.
To be continued…