[A/N] This chapter is the reason I choose Hurt/Comfort as the sub category. I came up with the idea while I was writing the scene in Faux Hunting where Judy and Wolfard go to meet the tiger dancer in the hospital. He just seemed so sad that I thought, hey, there has got to be a story here somewhere. So I sat down to explore that idea and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy this little tale.
Chapter 3 - Broken Leg
The room was cold, it was always cold. Even with the sweltering summer heat outside, the grey and white walls still seemed to suck in all the surrounding warmth. A large bed sat at one end of the private room with a big flat monitor on the wall next to it. At one end of the bed was a comfy plush chair and small table with a bright vase of flowers. Neither the soft chair nor the colorful flowers could bring any warmth to the ever present chill.
In the bed lay an orange mammal with long black stripes and tiny round ears. The tiger rolled over and tugged at the thin white sheets that were wrapped around the rest of his large body. One of his paws was chained to the side of the bed with a large steel ring that rattled whenever he moved. A tiny tube was taped to his left arm that ran up to a clear plastic bag hanging from a tall silver pole that stood next to his bed.
A loud beep came from the monitor on the wall and a huge paw reached from under the sheets to cover one of his small ears and he let out a soft groan. The monitor displayed several large numbers along with a few jagged lines that represented the tigers current health. After a very brief moment the monitor beeped again causing the tiger to shift and stir.
Charles Rayahs had only been in the hospital for a week, but it had felt like the worst week of his life. The doctors and nurses all claimed that was due to the withdrawals, but to him it felt like he was dying. For days his paws and legs shook, or felt like they were being stabbed by sharp needles. The bed was extremely uncomfortable and the room either felt like an oven or an ice box and no one in the hospital did anything to help his discomfort, not even the ZPD officer that guarded the door.
Today was the first day that his paws didn't shake, but the room was still freezing cold and the chain on his paw, that cuffed him to the bed, seemed to steal the rest of his body heat. Despite the discomfort, it had been a good day. The rabbit officer who had found him sleeping in that trash pile under the bridge had come to visit him earlier. Her visit seemed to be the only warmth in the room since he had been brought here by the cops a week ago.
The spark in the rabbit's eyes reminded him of his mate. Tiffany had such beautiful, caring eyes. They were always so full of life and love. He remembered drowning in those dark brown pools the last time they were together. She also had a fierce determination that would not let anything stand in the way of what she wanted. The small officer had that same look when she hopped up on his huge bed and asked him about his gazelle.
Tiffany never once showed any sign of fear for him, even when they first met. Looking back at their school years he remembered the curiosity in her eyes. He was only one of a few predators in a school dominated by prey. As the second largest pred in the class, many of the smaller students were afraid of him, even the other predators. He learned early on to never show his teeth or claws at school, not even around the teachers.
Sure, he could have gotten whatever he wanted from the other students with only a little intimidation, but he just wanted to be friends. Most mammals, when they saw his size and his teeth, would shy away and avoid him. It was tough for him as a large predator and he would often get blamed for causing trouble even when he wasn't even there.
Charles had always loved dancing to music. Almost any kind of music would set his paws to moving happily. Every student was required to take a music related class, but a dance class was not available so he decided to join the marching band. That way he could keep his feet moving while the band played, but he found the stiff movements of the march to be too stifling and never signed up for a second semester.
Everything changed when Tiffany and her sister joined his class one spring. The only empty seats in the room were next to his and both gazelle marched calmly into the room and sat next to him. They even introduced themselves to him warmly without a single hint of fear. From there they became good friends and he eventually asked her out. Or was it her that asked him out? Sure, it was he who finally said the words and paid for the movie tickets and the popcorn and the cab fare, but he remembered quite clearly how she encouraged him. This tiny, meek ungulate convinced the big, scary tiger to ask her out on date.
"Do you want to ask me out?" she had said to him calmly one day, while they were studying for an upcoming history exam.
He could still hear the sound of her voice like she was here beside him, like he was back in that school room again. Her soft, warm voice calling to him like a silver bell ringing through the jungles of the Rainforest District.
"Charles," the voice was like a whisper in his small round ears. "Wake up," she called.
Lifting his head he saw the most beautiful creature he had ever seen drift through the doorway and into his room. His gazelle stood with her arms stretched out towards him. She wore a flowing iridescent dress that seemed to float in the air around her sleek form and her spiraled horns seemed to sparkle with a light of their own.
"Tiffany," the large predator cried. He stood and walked across the room to greet her. Taking her hooves in his huge paws, he gazed at his gazelle and once again found himself drowning in her deep brown eyes. "I am so glad that you are here now, that we can be together again."
"Charles," the ringing of her voice filled his heart with such light that he could no longer feel any pain in his arms and the room was no longer chilly. "I cannot stay long," there was a sadness in her eyes, but the warmth never left his heart.
"What do you mean?" He pulled on her hooves, but the effort felt weak like his arms were heavy and sluggish. "I don't know how to go on without you," he cried.
Suddenly, a white tailed deer rushed into the room followed by a badger. They completely ignored the couple standing at the doorway and instead rushed over to the bed.
"Charles," her voice was like an angel's, it filled him with such joy that he longed to hold on to her forever. "You have to stay a little while longer."
Two more nurses rushed past his angel with horns, one of them was pushing a cart that held a machine he did not recognize. The other carried a round plastic, oblong ball with a mask attached to a long articulated tube.
The large tiger reached for the tiny gazelle but he could barely close the distance. They stood merely feet apart and no matter how hard he tried he could not get any closer to her. Everytime he took a step it felt like something held him back. Something that felt like a rope around his heart.
"I am not strong enough, Tiffany," tears flowed freely through his cheek fur. "You were always the strength in my life. I still need you by my side."
"You are much stronger than you think, My Love," she caressed the side of his cheek where the tears ran through her fingers. "Look inside yourself and you will find what you need to carry on, but I cannot be with you any longer."
"No! I won't let you go," with the sheer force of will he took a step forward and the weight on his arms and legs seemed to lessen.
"Were losing him doctor," a faint voice cried from what seemed like a vast distance, but he ignored it to gaze into the beautiful brown and white muzzle of his one true love.
Tiffany raised her dainty hoof and gently placed it over his heart. Her simple, light touch was like a mountain of bricks, stopping the much larger tiger in his tracks. "You have to go back," she urged.
"I can't!," he yelled at the shimmering form before him. "There is nothing back there for me. It's my fault that you left me. I won't go back."
"Cleer!" an urgent voice rang clearly behind him followed by a sharp tug on his heart that tried to pull him back. He held onto Tiffany's hooves with all his might and was barely able to resist the pull. Her form seemed less solid than before and his paws felt wet and slippery.
"Charles," the bell rang sadly now. "You know that's not true. This was not your fault." She let go of his paws and slowly drifted into the hall outside the hospital room. "There are many mammals who still need you and many who still care about you. You need to stop being so selfish and let them help you."
Turning slowly he looked back at the hospital bed and saw several mammals standing around it working on something familiar that lay there. A large orange shape that he could barely make out lay cold and alone on the sterile white sheets. He somehow knew that the reclining form belonged to him and a shimmering blue rope connected him to it.
The glowing gazelle placed a small hoof on his huge orange shoulder. "Go back, Charles. You still have many wonderful years of life to live.
He grasped her hoof and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I am afraid," he finally admitted.
"Everyone is afraid, My Love, even me," she whispered in his tiny round ear. "When you get back I need you to look after my sister for me please."
"Gazelle?" he asked curiously.
"Yes," she nodded. "She is going to need all the support she can get to help this city through these troubled times." The tiger's eyes met the gazelle's and she planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Know that I still love you and will watch over you."
"CLEER!" The badger's voice was much louder now drowning out the gazelle's words as she gave the huge tiger a slight shove and then she was gone.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw a dark brown badger in a white robe staring down at him. The badger flashed a bright light in each of his eyes. "Can you hear me?" he called to the tiger. After a quick nod by the larger mammal the doctor continued his query, "What is your name? Do you know where you are?"
"Charles," the tiger stated calmly. Sitting up and brushing the badger aside he looked around the cold room for a second before declaring, "I need to make a phone call."
After the white tailed nurse handed him the cell phone that had been kept with the rest of his things he quickly dialed a number and waited for the other end to pick up. "Hello," he answered when a female voice could be heard. "This is Charles. Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to everyone here." He nodded to the room full of kind mammals that had just saved his life. "I think I am ready to speak with your lawyers now."
