Hey! bestknight32 here! and im here wishing i had ps5 i really want to play elden Ring! it looks so good! But i guess im waiting at least i have skyrim to tide me over! and theirs a new chapter to tide you guys over! I also like to thank dahliingg for creating the base of the story and Tim Baril for making this chapter you two are the best! Alright thats all until next time! "Hello welcome t net how may I help you?" "Yeah can I get an order of Next with a side of Chapter? To go please"
With smiles and waves, Hayden and Amiya left Eyjafjalla to continue her classes with the children while the two of them made their way to the hospital.
Amiya spoke as they walked the corridors of the mobile base. "You've been missing and who knows what they did to you out there. Plus we had such a scary run back here. I think we really need to get you a checkup."
He heartily agreed. "Maybe we can shed some light on why my memories are missing. And investigate if I can get them back."
"Mm. Let's hope so!" She looked excited at the thought.
Hayden himself felt a touch nervous. The idea of regaining his memories was both appealing and frightening. He might be able to regain the person he'd been. But is that really what he wanted? It was frustrating having no memory of the past at all but a fresh start wasn't necessarily all bad either.
The Rhodes Island hospital was impressive, as one might expect for an organization with medical treatment at the core of its functions. Many personnel rushed about on this urgent business or that. Some were nurses and doctors, uniformed in white scrubs or suits. They carried instruments of various kinds, from bedpans to stethoscopes.
Others looked more like research staff, their white coats hanging open over casual clothing, computer tablets in hand as they interviewed or observed various patients. The patients ran the gamut, from those hardly showing any signs of difficulty due to oripathy, to those who were crippled and struggling, even laying in beds, close to death.
Amiya took him to the Admin desk. "Hi," she greeted one of the two clerks tapping away at their keyboards while coordinating with the many personnel rushing in and out of the desk area.
"Hi," the clerk replied, distracted by what she was doing on the screen in front of her. She glanced up for a moment, before resuming her work. "How can I help you?"
"I'm so sorry to disturb you. I can see how busy you are. But I'm here with Doctor Hayden. We were hoping we could schedule a complete personal diagnostic."
The clerk looked back up in surprise, noting Hayden's identity for the first time. "Ah. Doctor. Good to see you again."
"I'm sorry," he apologized, almost reflexively. "Memory loss. I'm afraid I don't recall your name. Or anyone's here for that matter."
"Oh. Really? I see. Um…" She seemed lost for a few seconds. Leaning over to her partner at the desk, she quickly conferred and managed to open up their tight schedule to fit him in immediately, which he was grateful for. She stood up and pointed down one hallway. "Room 125. Just down that way. I'll send someone in to see you as soon as they're free."
"Thank you!" Amiya gave her a friendly smile. "And again, so sorry for the trouble."
"No no. If it's for Doctor Hayden, I understand. I do hope everything works out ok, Doctor."
"Thank you. I hope so too."
Room 125 was an examination room that seemed to have all the tools one could dream of. Various monitors lined the wall opposite the patient bed. Machines whose job Hayden couldn't even guess at were neatly arranged around the head of the bed, ready for use. This included a huge, robotic arm that reached over the bed and, to be honest, felt a little intimidating.
There were two guest chairs. He and Amiya sat in those; Hayden felt awkward at the idea of climbing up onto the patient bed. He'd wait for the doctor for that part.
Shortly, the door opened and a familiar head appeared.
"Ansel!" Amiya exclaimed.
"Hello." The young man slipped into the room, his expression friendly, though he still had that undercurrent of nervousness. He held up a needle and gave Hayden a big smile. "Who's ready for a stamina shot?"
"No."
Ansel's face fell at Hayden's instant reaction. "It's just one shot—"
"No."
"A half shot then. Just a little—"
"No!"
"Are you sure? You'll feel great afterwards. I promise!"
"I said no. Why do you insist on trying to stick me with needles, boy?"
Amiya giggled.
Ansel looked put out.
She took pity on him. "Ansel, we're here for a diagnostic. Considering the situation, maybe it would be better to wait until after the examination? I mean, it might interfere with the results, right?"
Realization dawned on the young man's features. "Ah. Yes. Well, that's probably a good idea." He nodded to himself. "Probably best I didn't give you a shot then. Doctor Kal'tsit might have gotten angry with me. Again."
The door swung open and a stern woman appeared. Speaking of the devil…
Doctor Kal'tsit ignored Amiya and Hayden as she strode into the room, all business. She snapped at Ansel in a professional, no-nonsense tone. "Ansel. The man in 128 needs their medication. The woman in 104 needs help getting to rehab. And there's a bedpan cleanup in 109."
He cringed. "Bedpan—"
"Now, Ansel."
"Right, Doctor Kal'tsit. On my way." With a quick bow of the head to Hayden and Amiya, he fled from the room.
Kal'tsit didn't acknowledge them nor did she even look at them. She took the little swivel chair at the desk under the medical monitors and started pulling up what looked like Hayden's files.
Amiya cleared her throat. "Pretty busy today, huh, Doctor Kal'tsit?"
"It's busy every day. Are you going to make other obvious statements like, the sun is shining today and, yes, we're all breathing air today?"
Amiya cleared her throat again, this time in embarrassment. "Sorry. Just trying to make conversation."
Kal'tsit appeared to be going through his files rapidly, updating notes. Almost idly, she brought up a personal communicator and spoke into the small electronic device. "Warfarin. Report to room 125 for a blood test."
They all heard the voice reply. "On my way."
In the intervening minutes, Kal'tsit brusquely began a simplistic overview of Hayden's health. She peered into his eyes with a light. She took his blood pressure. She had him strip his shirt off and lay down on the patient bed, then began connecting electronic nodes to various parts of his head and upper body.
At the push of a button, a wide, glowing tube emerged from the wall and encircled the bed. Another button was pushed and something in the tube revolved around within it, probably scanning Hayden's body. The entire time she worked, Kal'tsit was brisk, professional, and almost entirely uncommunicative except to issue commands a couple of times.
Hayden couldn't help but feel very awkward. He didn't sense outright hate or anger from the woman, but there was definitely coldness. She wasn't being hostile at all, which was something, but neither was she engaging with him or even Amiya at all.
Amiya, after her initial attempt at friendliness, apparently decided it was better to just stay quiet as she watched from the guest chair, shooting Hayden an apologetic look because of Kal'tsit's behaviour, but also giving him an encouraging smile and thumbs up as he was tested.
Warfarin entered the examination room. She was petite and skinny and dressed in scrubs, a red cross emblazoned on her arm. Though her snow-white hair was pinned up, it looked like it was a temp style for work which otherwise kept her extraordinarily long hair out of the way. Otherwise, it would have reached her knees.
"Doctor Hayden. It's good to see you again. You too, Amiya." She bowed her head and gave him a very small smile as she went to a cabinet and began pulling things out. She moved as briskly as Kal'tsit did, the mark of a busy professional who was experienced at her job.
"Doctor Hayden," Amiya piped up, "this is Doctor Warfarin. She's one of our best field medics and our resident expert on all things blood related. As well as the overseer of the Rhodes Island blood bank."
Warfarin turned, needle in one hand, test tubes in another. She raised her brows as her short legs carried her to the bed on the opposite side of where Kal'tsit was still busy working. "You're introducing us? Aren't we all quite familiar already?"
"He's lost his memories," Amiya explained. "Either as a result of the injury or whatever they did to him out there."
"Oh!" She blinked. "That's…I'm so sorry."
"We're hoping Doctor Kal'tsit can tell us something about it. Or about what they did. When we found him, he was inside of some kind of machine I didn't recognize."
"And do you recognize a lot of medical technology?" Kal'tsit asked, engaging in conversation for the first time.
"Well…no, I guess not," Amiya admitted with amusement.
"And did you think to take pictures of the machine?"
"No."
"Did you bring me data from the lab that would help explain the purpose of the machine or what they were doing to him?"
Amiya slunk lower in her seat with each embarrassing question. "No, ma'am." Her cheeks had turned a darker shade.
Kal'tsit didn't reprimand her. It might have been worse that she didn't say anything at all as she leaned forward to consider something on one of the monitors.
Warfarin looked back and forth between Hayden and Kal'tsit. "I see some things haven't changed." With familiar expertise, she set up on a little mobile table next to Hayden's bed and began prepping.
Something about her confidence put Hayden much more at ease than the nervous young man had when he'd suggested the stamina shots, despite both approaching him with needles. His ease lasted until he watched his blood start flowing into a test tube—and the tiny woman licked her lips.
He frowned, thinking he must be misreading her. But her eyes, her very red eyes he now noticed, stared at his blood and her lips parted as she started breathing more heavily. "Excuse me. Is everything all right?" He shot Amiya a worried look.
Warfarin blinked for the first time in a while, eyelids fluttering. She, too, blushed, though not as much as Amiya had. "Sorry. Your blood looks as…good as always."
"Don't you mean delicious?" Amiya teased from her chair.
Hayden felt his alarm rise. "Delicious? What?"
Amiya laughed, back to her playful self. "You've forgotten that Doctor Warfarin is a vampire."
"Vampire?" He was confused, though he felt the idea tickle something in the back of his mind.
"They drink blood."
"They—!" He almost snatched his arm back.
Warfarin must have felt the arm jerk. She sent him a wry smile. "Relax, Doctor Hayden. I'm not going to drink your blood."
"Not unless she's drunk," Amiya pointed out, snickering.
Warfarin snapped a frown in the other woman's direction. "It was one time!"
He looked back and forth, concerned. "What happened then?"
"She—"
"Amiya!" Warfarin warningly scolded.
The warning was ignored because Amiya was having too much fun. "She got really drunk one night but hadn't eaten anything almost all that day."
"There's no reason to tell this story."
"She stumbled by the blood bank on her way home and drank, what, eight litres of donated blood she'd taken just that day?" The young woman laughed.
Warfarin pouted. "No fair. He'd forgotten. I wish everyone would."
"Especially given how unprofessional that was," Kal'tsit pointed out without looking at the others, her tone flat. "Much like this conversation. Are you working or chatting?"
Warfarin opened her mouth to speak, then must have decided against it, as she said nothing and continued her blood work.
After a few tubes of blood had been drawn, Warfarin took them out of the room. About ten minutes later, her voice came over the communicator. "Doctor Kal'tsit. I have initial test results. We…might have a problem."
Kal'tsit plucked the communicator up and answered. "I'll be right there." She left her patient and Amiya alone and exited the room.
"That's not encouraging," Hayden muttered.
Amiya looked distressed.
It took some time for the senior doctor to return. When she did, the look on her face had tightened.
"Is something wrong?" Hayden ventured.
"Yes," she answered, but seemed disinclined to offer any details.
"Can you explain?" he tried.
"Can you be patient? You never were before. It seems, despite your so-called memory loss, that that, at least, hasn't changed."
He felt annoyed by her attitude. This was his health, so, of course, he was both curious and worried. He had to remind himself that there had been old friction between them, so as not to get upset.
Eventually, Kal'tsit seemed to finish whatever she had been doing. She turned and faced him for the first time. She pointed to one of the monitors. "Can you tell me what's going on in this scan?"
He looked at the black and white image on the screen. "It's my body."
"Brilliant. Yes, it is. Can you tell me of anything significant apparent?"
He frowned. "I can't recall anything of whatever medical knowledge I once had. I apologize if this is inconvenient for you but, no, I don't know what I'm looking at or if there's anything wrong."
She stared at him for a long few seconds. Then she turned to the monitor. "This section here is your heart. The shape is abnormal and there appears to be a significant amount of damage to the organ that has only partially been healed."
"Oh my gosh!" Amiya leapt from her seat and came to the bed. "How bad is it?"
Hayden sat up in the bed, anxious to know himself.
She spoke frankly, without any warmth or concern. "Whatever they were doing to you in that lab, it appears that the process was interrupted. That's why your heart is in this state and, possibly, why your memories have been blocked or perhaps erased."
"Can the treatment be continued?" he asked with hope.
She dashed that by shaking her head. "I have no idea what kind of treatment it was or how they were carrying it out. As far as I'm concerned, you should be dead."
She sounded as if she might prefer that. He felt something flutter in his chest and wondered if he was imagining it. "What does that mean for me, then?"
"I don't know. There are still questions and I would like to run further tests. Warfarin has already started some on your blood. I'll need to do further diagnostics in the future. I'd like to check out your DNA profile to see if anything has been altered. I'd also like to do an in-depth brain scan. I believe there might be some scarring within the brain tissue. I'd like to take a closer look as well as run a few trials on your synapse paths. Unfortunately, there's no space for that today; the equipment has already been booked for others. We'll have to schedule a follow-up for a later date."
"Should I be worried?" he tentatively asked.
"Yes."
It was like a slap in the face.
She mollified her tone and continued. "Avoid vigorous activity for a while. I would avoid extreme stress and emotions as well. Try to keep calm at all times. Whether we can do more for you remains to be seen but the body does have the ability to heal on its own as well. Let it."
"I see." He felt down. This wasn't as bad as things could have gone but the news wasn't encouraging either. And he still lacked answers. He reached for his shirt and began donning it and doing up the buttons.
"Looks like you have an excuse not to take Ansel's stamina shots," Amiya joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Kal'tsit pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Yes. Obviously. Stamina shots for someone with a weak heart?" She sighed and shook her head. "That boy…" She looked up at both of them. "Do you have any further questions?"
Hayden studied at her. He saw the distance in her eyes, the professional mask put hard in place to cover her own animosity towards him. "Doctor Kal'tsit, I would like to apologize."
A faint frown creased her forehead. "For what?"
"I'm not sure. But I would like to apologize for whatever happened in the past. I don't know what I did to offend you or hurt you. I wish I did so that I could do something to make up for it."
She looked away, seemingly confused and disgusted at the same time.
He continued. "If you would like to talk about it sometime, air your grievances about whatever I've done in the past, I am happy to listen. Whatever happened, I hope that, should I decide to stay with Rhodes Island, we might have a better relationship than we had in the past."
She looked sideways at him. "You're thinking of leaving?"
He raised his hands in a helpless gesture. "I was apparently a doctor here but I no longer have any medical knowledge. I don't know how I could possibly be of any help. I'm told I was researching oripathy but I don't even know the first thing about it anymore."
Kal'tsit stood, straightening her jacket, likely more to give herself a moment than anything else. Stepping away, she appeared to be thinking things over. "Rhodes Island is on a mission of mercy. The work we are doing here is vital. I cannot overstate that. Vital. And we need every helping hand we can get." She crossed her arms and one finger tapped her elbow. "Perhaps you don't have the knowledge you once did. But we don't know for certain that it's gone. The brain is fickle. Some or all of your memories might come back in time. And, while I disagree with your heartless methodology, you were, or are, an intelligent man. I'm sure that you could find a way to be useful to Rhodes Island. Even in a new role."
Amiya looked thunderstruck. "Doctor Kal'tsit…" she whispered.
Hayden's spirits lifted with her words. She was still distant, but it felt like they'd taken a first step. "Having heard about oripathy and seeing a few of the people affected by it, finding a cure does seem like a noble cause."
She reluctantly nodded in agreement. Absentmindedly, she shifted one shoulder out of her white jacket and rubbed at her skin.
He saw a few black crystals embedded there. "Are you ok?"
The jacket snapped back into position and she glared at him. "I'm the last person you should be worrying about." She turned and headed for the door. "Someone will contact you about a future appointment." And with that, she was gone.
"Well…" Amiya gingerly ventured, "that felt like progress. Sort of. What made you want to apologize like that?"
"I just didn't like being the object of her ire. Maybe it's my fault, maybe not. But if we're ever going to have a better relationship than we apparently had, I think I need to be the one to fix things."
"She did come and do the tests on you herself," Amiya noted. "I was kind of surprised at that."
"She probably just wanted to verify that I'd lost my memories for herself," he reasoned. "She doesn't seem to trust me much."
Amiya turned hopeful eyes on him. "So, does this mean you're really thinking of staying?"
He eased himself off the bed and back onto the floor. "I haven't decided yet. But maybe we can continue looking around? I'd like to see more patients and learn more about oripathy."
"I've got a great idea," Amiya announced. "Maybe Ansel can help explain things and show us around. He's a student, so he's learning about all this stuff right now. And I'm sure he's anxious to find some way to get on your good side. I think that's what the stamina shots are really all about."
"Fair enough. But let's make sure he's already finished with the bedpans. And washed his hands."
She laughed.
They tracked Ansel down. True to Amiya's suspicions, he was thrilled to have the opportunity to show them around the hospital and answer questions.
"Oripathy," Ansel explained, "is a progressive, terminal infection caused by direct or prolonged exposure to originium and its industrial derivatives. It does, temporarily, benefit the infected by increasing their ability to use Arts. However, using that power causes the body to deteriorate faster, hastening death."
"Then it must be even more dangerous for you guys to be out in the field and fighting with it," Hayden surmised.
Amiya made a sad smile. "Some things can't be helped. Especially when lives are in the balance."
Ansel continued. "Once the infection reaches the point where crystals begin appearing on the body, transmission rates increase exponentially. The dead also spread the illness."
"Has any progress been made on a cure?" Hayden asked.
"No. Not yet." He led them into a patient room. A teen boy lay on a bed, sleeping. "This is Vr'den. He contracted oripathy very recently, likely from working with unprocessed originium. For now, no symptoms are visible. But soon, hardened skin will develop which will darken and rise like a scab. It will burn as the spot slowly crystalizes until it looks exactly like an originium crystal."
"So it's like cancer?" he asked.
Ansel looked approving. "Yes! Similar. You do retain some medical knowledge then, Doctor Hayden?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe some common things?"
Ansel nodded. He led them into other rooms, with patients are varying stages of the illness. "Crystallization spreads throughout the body, causing discomfort and then pain. It inhibits breathing and can reduce the body's ability to take in enough nutrition from food, making the body generally less efficient at many operations." He checked his watch and then became even more serious, even sad. "I…no, perhaps I shouldn't."
"It's ok, Ansel," he assured the young man. "There's no need to hold anything back."
After a moment's hesitation, the doctor-in-training nodded and led them to a special room. They entered a very small space with a glass window that looked into the next room. A nude patient lay on a steel slab, her body riddled with black crystals. In fact, the entire room was nothing but bare steel.
"What's this?" Hayden asked though he had his suspicions.
"This is what happens when someone dies of the disease," Ansel told them.
The three watched as the patient breathed only very faintly for some time. Then the breathing stopped. Before their very eyes, the body began disintegrating. The crystals glowed and the flesh around them seemed to combust. Smoke and crystal dust wafted into the air, swept up into a hooded vent overhead.
"Most of the time," Ansel told them, his voice heavy, "people just fall apart like this. They burn up from the inside, turning to dust that infects more people. But sometimes the crystals destabilize and cause an explosive, chain reaction. It turns the dead into living bombs that infect everyone they don't kill."
Hayden watched in stunned silence as what was once a woman fell apart. Glowing, orange lines turned to blackened flesh and ash and then, in minutes, there was nothing but a small pile of black ash and sand on the slab, the rest of her having vanished up into the vent.
Amiya looked away and wiped a tear from her eye.
Hayden felt himself choking up as a horrid realization hit him, hard. "This—" He had to clear his throat and start again. "This is going to…this is going to happen to you, too, Amiya?"
She looked up, a brave smile on her face despite the water in her eyes. "It'll happen to most of us. Well, not to you. You seem to be immune, we think."
The world became unsteady. He had to put a hand on the wall to keep himself upright. In his mind, he pictured sweet, lovely Amiya, so innocent and playful and friendly. He imagined her fracturing into burning lines and then turning to dust and ash. It made him sick. A violent surge of hate tore through his body.
Ansel put a hand on his shoulder, concerned. "Doctor, are you ok?"
After a second, he nodded. The idea of losing Amiya to this disease, indeed of losing Ansel and everyone he'd met thus far, appalled him. None of them deserved to die like that. Or to die young at all. "I'll stay."
Amiya, trying to collect herself, looked at him in surprise. "What?"
He straightened and turned to her. "I'll stay. With Rhodes Island. I don't know what I can do or how I can help but I'll do something. Something to help find a cure."
Her cute face broke out into a huge smile and she impulsively threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you! Thank you, Doctor Hayden!"
He hugged her back. He'd stay and help. And help fast. Because he was all too aware that Amiya, like the woman who'd just died in front of him, was a ticking time bomb. Who knew how much of her precious time she'd sacrificed by rescuing him? And how little time she had left?
He needed to find a way to give the girl back her time. He needed to find a way to cure this cursed illness.
A/N For this fic The Doctors blood will be normal and red….(Subject to change mabey)
