Another chapter ya'll.
Falling… fleeing…
"Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!" As he spat his empty words, he approached us, slowly drawing a gun from the inside of his jacket.
"How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!" He shrieked, pointing at us with his gun, then the machines. The bitter tang of this reality made my mind reel and my knees threaten to buckle.
No, there was something holding her down. And this only sent her into more frightened convulsions. What was going on? Why was everything shaking? Why wouldn't somebody just make it stop?
Nicol had been awake for some time, though it wouldn't appear that way. But with a carefully placed frown and occasional little toss of his head, the doctors simply thought he was in the midst of some injury-wrought sleep. From the commotion coming from the cot nearby, it was safe to assume that someone else had been injured. He just hoped it wasn't Dearka.
There was a daunting silence. The rustling sheets stilled and the medics held their breath.
"She's stabilized. Pulse is still up-"
"Tighten the restraints-"
"Where's that morphine?"
"-anemia...hypopnea..."
Nicol fought the curiosity to look at the other patient. The voices grew louder, and were now accompanied by footsteps. 'They're coming over here.' Nicol thought frantically. As long as he remained still, they wouldn't notice. "This one's still stable. Anesthesia should wear off in a few hours." One of them stated. 'Or a few hours ago.'Nicol thought dryly.
The footsteps retreated and were gone with the sound of a door sliding shut. Moments passed by in the uneasy silence within the infirmary. There was a muted noise to the right. Muffled and yet so piercingly painful. Nicol cracked his eyes open to the ceiling, blinking a few times till everything came back into focus. He turned his head to look over at the cot next to him. Nicol's mouth unhinged itself, and he hurried to re-gather his wits.
Well.. it wasn't Dearka… In fact, it didn't- or rather- she didn't look like any soldier he had ever seen before. She was wearing a flight suit of some kind. But it didn't resemble any of those used by ZAFT or the earth forces. Apparently the medics couldn't remove all of it for some reason, so only the sleeves had been cut away for the IVs. The suit was white with silver chest padding and gold streaks running down from the collar. Nicol's brows creased. "Strange" he murmured to himself. There was no insignia anywhere- or at least anywhere he could see…
Another muffled whimper brought his attention back to the other patient. She was trying to curl up against the restraints. The blankets were a crumpled up mass at the end of the cot. "Hello?" he called to her in a hushed tone. At the sound of his voice, the girl tensed and pulled against the bonds even more.
There was a great shattering, akin to the breaking of a thousand mirrors...
The girl's eyes shot open. Wide and unseeing. They darted about frantically- searching blindly.
"How did we do that?" Sho asked, looking over at Pari. "I dunno. Where are we going? It just said 'auto pilot' and then started to move. We'll be shot down. I don't want-"Pari's scream swelled inside the cockpit even after her picture blinked to darkness."What happened to-" Sho's voice cut off and the picture disappeared.Her breathing increased as she pulled against the bonds, reliving some horrific event within the compounds of her fevered mind. Nicol's compassionate nature screamed at him to help. But, as he had earlier noticed, he was similarly restrained, only much…much tighter. He didn't even feel the gunshot wound in his arm anymore. When had that happened? Was it yesterday? Nicol shook his head. He felt horrible not being able to help. "Hello" he called again. This time much softer, cajoling. Like how one would soothe an upset child. To his relief, she stopped thrashing against her restraints. Her head lolled to the side so that she was facing him. It was like being shot all over again.
Only a thin rim of blue had yet to be devoured by pupils that reflected so much fear and rage. Her mouth was slightly agape, framed by disheveled copper hair that lay splayed out over her thin pillow.
Nicol's stomach did a nauseating flip. Something terrible had happened. And he shuddered to think of what it was. "Who are you?" He asked gently, turning his head to return the strange girl's gaze.
"Who I am…" she breathed airily. "Caiohme…" while her mouth moved ever so slightly as she sighed the words, her eyes remained fixed and unseeing on Nicol.
Whether it was the results of the drugs or of her ordeal, something was wrong. Nicol decided to probe deeper. "How did you end up here?"
Again, she answered softly in a sing-song voice, "diamonds and rubies dance over deadly secrets in the house where madness dwelled." Her empty gaze was averted to the ceiling listlessly. "Fell from the sky... a fallen Seraph."
"The sky? Are you from PLANT?" Nicol tried to prop himself up, failing miserably.
"PLANT? Running... Maius..." Her eyes clouded and her speech became incoherant.
Nicol watched her eyes roll back as she succumbed to sleep. This was greatly disturbing. His thoughts were interupted by footsteps outside the infirmary door. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut and let his body fall limp moments before a pair of medics walked in.