Chapter 13 – Blur
1010101 -- signifies change in location (old one doesn't work) The rest of the afternoon had passed as a blur. Hilde could remember portions of the events, small pieces tracing her back to a larger fragment. She could remember the frantic wail of the approaching ambulances, weaving between chunks of metal. She could recall how Samantha had taken on a deathly pale color, her breath noisy and shallow. She could remember how EMS had looked so sad and had not expected Samantha to make it through the night. Hilde had come along in the ambulance, keeping Samantha company on the trip to the hospital. She had continued to sit outside of the emergency room, hands folded into each other, placed upon her lap. She had received a call from Duo earlier and had informed him where she was and how Samantha was doing. He told her Dorothy would be arriving at the hospital soon; she had important information she would want to hear. Quickly giving her a brief idea of what it was, Duo had to hang up in order to help Quatre and the other pilots take care of the rest of the wounded. And so Hilde sat on an old metal bench outside the operating room, trying not to think of the memories she could recall of the afternoon, how her close friend was lying on an operating table a mere room away. She kept turning over in her head what Samantha had told her moments before the ambulance arrived. "I-you...need t-to know..." she breathed strenuously, every word causing her great amounts of pain. "M-Merrick...he's da-dangerous. He wan-wants the g- Gundams...badly."It was almost a relief when Dorothy arrived. Upon sighting her, Hilde unclasped her hands from her lap and sprung forward, desperate for answers. Dorothy stepped forward quickly, grasping her friend into a hug. Both girls trembled, close to tears. It was Hilde who finally broke, holding tightly onto Dorothy as her tears began to fall. "How is Samantha?" Dorothy eventually whispered, slowly helping Hilde back onto the metal bench where she originally was sitting. Hilde dabbed at her eyes with a damp tissue, her lower lip still trembling. "From what the doctors have said, Samantha is lucky to be alive. They said they have the bleeding under control, and her left leg in a cast, but the damage to her right leg is extensive..." "Oh shit..." Hilde nodded in agreement. "They say they can repair most of it, but that she'll likely never walk on it again." Dorothy didn't know what to say to this, so she stared silently at her feet. The two girls sat in silence for a while, listening as nurses walked by with meals and medicine, patients wheeled around slowly in wheelchairs, loved ones conversed quietly in the waiting room. It was Hilde who finally broke the silence. "Did Thomas say who ordered him to do such a thing?" Hilde cried out, tears falling freely from her red eyes. Dorothy let out a pained grunt, slowly shaking her head. "He passed out before he could tell Quatre and me any more information." She paused, chewing on her lower lip. "He's in really bad shape as well, Hilde. I think whoever forced Thomas to attack Samantha didn't even expect he'd survive, let alone them both." Hilde nodded slowly. "Did you get ahold of Relena and Heero? Tell them what happened?" Dorothy replied, "Heero met us shortly after the first ambulance, the one Samantha was in, left. I got hold of Relena via her cell phone. She said she was going to be here soon." No sooner had she spoken the words, Relena appeared from around the corner, her coat trailing on the ground, hanging off one of her arms. She looked around slowly, and when she did spot her two friends, her face broke into tears. "Oh, Hilde, I'm so sorry for fighting with you! It was so stupid; you can have the magazines if you really want them!" she cried, sweeping the raven- haired girl into a bear hug. "Don't worry about it, Relena; I can give your hair scrunchie back too if you want," Hilde replied, fresh tears leaking from her eyes. Pulling Dorothy into the hug, the girls cried to each other, silently comforting one another. Relena stepped back for a moment, wiping her eyes with her coat sleeve. "How's Samantha? What happened at Diamro?" she croaked. Hilde and Dorothy began retelling her the events at the field. The three friends sat on the small metal bench, listening to the crisp click of the nurses walking by with meals and medicine, patients wheeling around slowly in wheelchairs, loved ones conversing quietly in the waiting room. When the story was finished, Relena sat in silence, allowing the information to sink in. Hilde dabbed at her eyes again, drying the final tears she had cried. Dorothy flagged down a nursing, asking him to bring them some coffee with cream and sugar. Hilde suddenly remembered that she had not told them of what Samantha had told her. She sprung up immediately, shocked that she could have let something so important slip away from her so easily. "Dorothy, Relena; there is something I forgot to mention to you. Samantha –"Hilde began, but was interrupted by the ringing of a phone. "Sorry!" Relena said sheepishly, reaching into her purse and pulling the jangling cell phone from within the mess. She hurriedly removed herself from the ER, knowing she would get in trouble for leaving her phone on inside the hospital. Dorothy looked to Hilde. "Well? What about Samantha?" "She mentioned something before she blacked out. She said that Merrick was dangerous, and that he wants something to do with the Gundams! I think Relena may be in danger!" 1010101 "Hello?" Relena asked into the tiny mobile phone, standing outside the hospital entrance. A few nurses were looking in her direction from inside; they continued to give her dirty looks, seeing how she had ran through the corridor with the wringing phone. "Relena!" a familiar voice called out. "It's me, Merrick. It's important that you meet with me urgently; I found some things out, some things that have to do with what Thomas said." "Really?" Relena asked excitedly. "Well, what are they?!" "I can't tell you over the phone – anyone could be listening to us. I have a car sitting outside the hospital right now. Could you go to it please?" As soon as he finished his sentence, a long, black limo flashed its headlights, signaling to her where Merrick was. "I see it! Tell me once I'm inside the vehicle." she replied. She ran towards the limo, shutting her cell phone off. Above, angry grey clouds began to stir, threatening to rain at any second. Relena reached for the door handle and stepped inside the vehicle. She breathed a sigh of relief, pleased she had missed the beginning of the rain. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around at the interior of the limo. Merrick was nowhere in sight. "Merrick?" she said uncertainly, peering suspiciously around in the limo. She sat quietly, thinking about the odd conversation she had just had with him. "Merrick, no one told you about what Thomas said this afternoon," She started slowly. "How did you find out?" Receiving no answer, she began reaching for the door handle in order to leave, but was startled when it locked itself. "Merrick, this isn't funny. Samantha is hurting in the hospital right now, and Dorothy and Hilde need me! If you don't tell me what's going on, or have anything vital to tell me, I need to get back inside quickly!" "I'm afraid," a voice replied, reaching out from the front of the vehicle, startling Relena and causing her to gasp with fright, "Master Merrick is not with us at the moment." The voice was deep and rich, a cultured voice. Relena suspected it was the driver of the limo, the same person who had flashed the headlights at her. The voice continued, "Master Merrick has, however, informed me where to bring you, young lady, once I had accosted you. He apologized for not being here in person, but he has other matters to attend to." "What do you mean?" Relena began, her voice quavering. "What's going on?" "Why," the voice replied, and Relena could almost see the malicious grin accompanied with the dark voice, "The beginning of everything." Relena uttered a scream as the limo began driving away, removing her from her unsuspecting friends within the hospital.
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In case you were confused by Relena and Hilde's conversation (involving the YM magazines and the scrunchies), look back to Chapter 11 Sorry, sorry, sorry, SORRY for being a slow updater! Big stupid writer's block keeps hitting me, and I can do nothing to stop it --. I hope that this chapter can tide you over until I finish the next one; I did a major overhauling and ended up changing how I originally was planning the story to go; it took me this long to realize how unsatisfying the original ending was, as well as to plan the new ending. So, That's All Right is actually going to be longer than I expected and filled with more of my stupid humor and excitement. Hope you all will stay to enjoy it with me. I have every intention to finish this story! Woohoo! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK! HUGS AND SCHNOOGLES TO YOU ALL!Kiwii