Chapter 55. Retrieving Elie.
Elie's POV.
Things were far worse than I thought.
I took care of everything at home, shut down water and electricity, because I didn't know when - or if I would get back. I would try to contact Frances later, with a note or a letter, making some excuse about my leaving, but I would worry with that later. My mind was far more preoccupied with what would follow, basically.
I had the pretty basics with me, and felt nervous as hell. After considering the better way to travel to the meeting point, I ended up taking the car, because it turned out the place the coordinates retrieved was not exactly solid ground. It was somewhere in a forest bordering the suburbs, an area I wasn't very familiar with. I secretly worried me that the meeting point was in such a lonely, dark place in the wild - considering the rendez-vous would be at midnight sharp.
It was dark already when I left home and I followed the GPS blindly, riding slowly the car until there was no trail for the car. As to be expected, the road wasn't fit enough for a jeep, much less for an ordinary car like my own.
I sighed as I shut down the car and closed the doors, leaving the car to abandonment.
"Damn it, John, where did you take me to?" I muttered, and arranged my coat, my scarf. It was cold tonight, but thankfully there was moonlight - what made the walking travel way less scarier, but still. I smelled danger all over me.
I took one last glance at my car, lights out by the beginning of the trail. This was goodbye, I felt it. With a sudden gesture I turned the mobile flashlight on, just in case. The car would remain abandoned right next to a big tree, as I ascended through a rocky trail.
Only the sound of my heavy breathing was heard, and I resumed to follow the gps directions.
A kilometer ahead, there was a wide opening, and I nodded with a knowing smile, confident that it would be the place. As I walked, the GPS beeped, signaling I was approaching the area.
Ansiety took over me, and I checked the time: 11:58 pm. So, I had two minutes to find the exact place to be at, to be retrieved and back to my General's arms. The thought was warm and welcoming, encouraging me to proceed. However, I took my time realizing the wide rocky opening I was on wasn't just an opening. It was a cliff. Down there, there were trees and rocks, the road where I had passed with the car flashing below. I approached the limits of that opening, my feet meeting the border of the cliff, realizing I wasn't standing exactly on the place corresponding to the coordinates John had sent me. The gps warned me of it.
The exact place was accurately… on mid air.
I gulped down, feeling a wave of heat and hopelessness invading me.
"Oh my God." I whispered, my breathing ragged. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to do.
And, just like that, tears invaded my eyes, falling. A sob escaped me, as I stood by the edge of the cliff, coming to terms with the idea that maybe, most likely I wouldn't see Sephiroth again. Most likely, I wouldn't. And that made me despair.
"No, please, no." I cried, checking my wrist clock, feeling my eyes wet and my vision blurred with the tears that would fall. Seconds ticked to midnight, and only my breathing scored the night.
Until a voice came out exactly from behind me.
"Don't go, Elie."
I turned, my face facing… Patrick's. He was very close to me, so close it hurts, and smelled funny. His eyes were strange, as if darker than usual. it took me a painful second to realize that, if he touched me, I would fall down. Towards death.
"What?" I asked, appalled. "What are you doing here!?"
But the answer arrived with a strange noise. Ten meters below me, something flickered. A white light, turning greener… and bigger. My heart beat faster, and I knew it was happening. It was him.
He was here for me.
And from that moment on, instinct ruled over.
"Sephiroth!" I shouted, hoping he would hear me. "Up here! I'm up here!" I screamed loud, and my heartbeat was deafening against my ears.
A cold, iron grip hand grabbed my arm, and the face I saw in Patrick's complexion scared me. Something was different about him. He was changing - into what, I didn't know, and I didn't want to find out. Deep down inside I wondered if it had anything to do with Cloud's doings, but right now I had other priorities. My face turned down again and I saw Sephiroth's hair, half of his body showing as he probed the area, most likely trying to get balance. By now he must have realized there was no solid ground beneath him - he stood on air, and my retrieval wouldn't be easy. In any way.
"I need you here, don't go."
Patrick's words bored me, took away my concentration, and I didn't want to. I was here to get back to them, to their world and there was nothing that would stop me. hence, I reacted.
"Let me go!" I shouted, trying to free my arm from his hand, whose grasp turned a little painful as he realized how determined I was. In panic, I looked down and finally locked stares with Sephiroth, his eyes hard on mine, giving me the sign to go with a nod.
I didn't think twice, took my coat off with a sudden gesture and jumped - towards the air where a set of holding arms was expecting me.
John's POV.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, amazed as Hojo could have bypassed security. "You don't have permission to get in here, how did you…"
I paused, hoping I could find an answer, only to fail completely.
Hojo eyed me, his stare accusing.
"This won't end up well. I know Sephiroth and Mako well enough to tell you that the structure cannot bear an overcharge of Mako!" He said, and before he could say another word, the clock beeped, alerting the seconds passing by. Second 6.
"What do you mean, overcharge?" I asked.
"Eleanor Stevens." Hojo declared. "Did you include the Mako she has inside her in the influx dosing?"
Second 7.
I widened my eyes at the man.
Second 8.
"Oh no."
Second 9.
"They won't make it alive." Hojo whispered.
Second 10.
The glowing orbit started shaking, neon green turning blue, until there was only white. I stood there, frozen with terror, panic, not knowing what to do, the noise inside the chamber getting unbearable. Clearly, it was getting unstable - and would, eventually, collapse.
With them inside.
Second 11 was, by far, the longest second of my life. I still had time to see something projected from inside the white orbit, falling on the floor like piece of paper.
The structure made a whooshing sound, collapsing and finally creating a shock wave that broke all the glasses around. I took cover, along with Hojo, getting up as soon as the noise stopped.
And then, our eyes were rewarded with two bodies sprawled on the floor.
Sephiroth and Eleanor.
Clearly, not breathing.
-/-
I stepped over the counter, jumping towards the PORTAL's chamber, since there was no barriers anymore. The glass was destroyed, and I landed on the ground, where Elie and Sephiroth laid dead. The thought actually panicked me.
"No, no, no, no, no." I muttered, not believing my eyes. I didn't know which one to go to first, but eventually Hojo decided for me , as I saw him open the door, the one that officially led to the PORTAL's chamber.
"Go to her, I'll take care of the General." He said, his right hand grasping something from his lab coat pocket and shoving it to me. "Here."
I caught a tube mid-hair, one of those used to protect the airways. I still had time to wonder why on the Planet Hojo would have Guedel tubes in his lab coat, but I guessed it didn't matter.
I landed on my knees next to Elie, and I didn't even think twice, as my medical background kicked in immediately. Basic Life Support went for some minutes until the monitors came in, connected the wires, pausing to show a flat line with occasional spikes of electrical activity. The sight depressed me.
"Damn it, don't do this to me Elie." I whispered, as the tears uncontrollably fell. I couldn't help it anymore. I was getting tired, spent, and thankfully a couple of Paramedics continued, as I controlled the monitor each time they stopped.
There seemed to be no end to those cycles, and I heard the defibrillating pads shocking someone across the room. Sephiroth. I saw how his body reacted to those discharges, the monitor beeping consecutively as Hojo ordered them around. Apparently, they weren't being very successful either.
"… 28, 29, 30." One of the paramedics said, out loud, and my eyes faced the monitor as once. "Evaluating rhythm."
There was a pause as we all tried to grasp what it showed: nothing. Another cycle began and I was starting to worry. How much time had passed? As seconds, minutes passed by, the chance of Elie making it without sequelae got feeble.
"Come on come on come on, Elie." I said, as I patiently waited for the next cycle to end. As they stopped to finally evaluate the rhythm, there was pulse.
Finally.
I breathed out in relief, as I heard Hojo saying out loud 'We have a pulse'.
Sephiroth left the area first, with a paraphernalia of stuff around him, monitor by his feet as they transported the gurney. His pulse was steady and normal, and Hojo informed me he would stay around until the General was stable.
I turned to the paramedics in front of me, preparing Elie to leave the area as well.
"When you're done, get her to the ICU."
Elie was the last one leaving the area, towards the Intensive Care Unit. And I, when I finally got up, felt my legs weak, shaking with all that had happened. And eventually I decided to myself that I was going to quit this job - for my own sake.
Hojo's POV
I was frankly worried if the General would have permanent lesions. His brain was advanced, it was a fact, but needed oxygen just like every human being. The basic life support maneuvers had worked fine with him, just needing a defibrillation shock to restart his heart correctly. He remained in a high safety wing, with limited access, namely me and John being the ones with free entrance. Not even the nurses and the techniques entered alone.
By the 3rd day of recovery, I convinced John it would be advisable to get him Mako infusions, and considering the burnings he had, he needed another type of healing. Knowing his physiology like I did, I was the only person capable of advising Medina of what to do in the General's case, which eventually ended in having the Shinra's finest in Mako infusion tube until he was fully recovered - inside and outsise. Those bruises and burns caused by the PORTAL's electric field when it got unstable would take its time and that was the ideal place to heal.
I visited the woman as well.
She was getting along fine, apparently without any trauma. I had checked her files as well, the scans showing nothing worrying. Apparently, most of the damage had been exterior, skin and hair, as well as the upper airways, given the corrosive breathing inside the PORTAL. I had my doubts she would react well to putting her inside a tube just like Sephiroth and decided I would leave her to bed rest for now.
However, I had no doubt Mako had saved both for a certain death.
And considering that, I didn't regret in absolute what I had done with Stevens in the past. Injecting her with Mako had been the brightest idea I had ever had… and besides, it wasn't exactly news to me that humans tolerated Mako: some humans more than others, depending on the category.
I smiled, amused. Well, another win on me.
"What are you smiling at?"
I turned to see John Medina, the bright doctor that almost got the General and Eleanor Stevens killed.
"I'm merely content at the outcome." I admitted. "They're both recovering fine. As it shows."
John didn't say a word, eyeing me with dislike.
"Don't get too comfortable, Hojo." John declared, gathering Elie's files. Ha. As if I hadn't seen those before.
"And I that thought that a truce might be possible between scientists." I declared, with sarcasm. "What a pity."
John narrowed his eyes at me.
"If I recall correctly, you were the one invading Elie's house and injecting her with Mako."
I took the chance immediately.
"Mako that saved her from being dead." I declared, smiling. "So I guess my little invasion was very convenient after all. Don't you think?"
John didn't say a word, and I decided to leave.
"You're welcome, Doctor." I declared, with a nod, leaving Eleanor's premises.
Elie's POV
The dreams were horrible. Felt terribly vivid, fire burning my skin, my mouth, my throat.
It was all neverending, in and out of consciousness, and I didn't know what was real or not. I didn't know if I was dead or alive.
Sometimes the aching feeling soothed, namely in the chest area. It seemed someone had been jumping of full feet all over my chest cavity. And I didn't know why and how, but every once in a while something warm inside my vein, filling me completely felt good enough, giving me the calm I needed to rest.
I didn't know how long I remained like this.
I dared to open my eyes once, taking my time to focus. My eyeballs hurt, my eyelids hurt, it was all painful for God's sake. Existing was terribly painful.
I saw lights. White, neon lights, a ceiling and someone by my right side, hovering.
Am I in a hospital?
I tried to think, recall what had happened, but there were parts missing. The only thing I remembered was taking a leap of faith… and that was just it. For moments I wondered if I had fallen to death.
I tried to speak, only to conclude nothing came out of my throat. Scary.
"No, don't try to speak, you're still healing." A feminine voice whispered, and I blinked, trying to grasp if I knew that face, only to conclude I didn't.
Yep. Totally unknown.
She smiled at me briefly, and made shifted her stare with the sound of a door opening. "She's awake."
Another face came to plan, this time it was a man. I knew it because the voice was clearly manly.
"Finally."
And I would recognize that voice anywhere.
John.
Hearing John right here by my left side mean a lot of things. First one, I was with them - so Sephiroth had successfully got me back, to their world. Second, I was alive, and the mere thought of it - the happiness and the elation of finally be next to them after all that happened resumed me to tears.
Warm tears fell from my eyes, hurting my skin. I shook, trying to move my hands, and I felt something warm meeting my left hand.
I recognized the touch at once - John's skin had a very specific texture. I squeezed, trying to grasp if this was actually real or not.
"Easy, you're recovering." He said, as I tried to open my eyes to actually see the man. "Don't make any effort, you're getting along fine. It's been a slow recovery, Elie."
Slow, had John said. I had no idea for how long I had been like this, and I wanted so bad to know where Sephiroth was.
No one talked about him.
Nurses and technicians got in and out, the beeping from the monitor driving me crazy at night. Conversations were null, no one dared to look at me, much less say something to me.
Slowly I began moving. It all hurt but I started making some progress, even if lying on a bed, strapped as a mummy.
I realized I had recovered my voice when I tried to clear my throat once. It felt rasp and my voice wasn't near what it used to be, but still. It was better than being mute. My eyes scanned the green, transparent stuff shoved inside my vein, falling from a bag right next to my bad at a lazy rhythm.
I still wasn't able to make complex thinking efforts without giving me headache but I didn't need much to know that it was Mako. But of course.
Sleep won me over by surprise, right after some effort I had made. It was like a natural reaction, and I couldn't do anything to prevent it.
Hours, days, fused into a timeline I didn't know how to manage.
The next time I woke up it was different.
The room wasn't the same - this one was blue and softer. There wasn't so many machines around me and thankfully the beeping wasn't loud.
I looked around, realizing I could open my eyes, move my neck. My limbs. I had only cotton around me, and I realized I must have an hospital gown dressed on.
Curiosity dared me to try getting up - even if I had, still, a catheter inside my vein in my left arm and Mako - most likely - infusing, again, inside me. The green stuff felt rather warm and I was used to the feeling already.
It was with great effort that I realized I could actually move - slowly, but I could. So, all my efforts joined in the determination I had to know where on the Planet Sephiroth was.
The place was silent, and I wondered if this was nighttime.
With fragile footsteps, grabbing the Mako suspensor for support, I exited the bedroom I was in, at a slow, agonizing rhythm.
The area, sterile and devoid of movement, allowed me to pass along unnoticed. I looked around, seeing perfectly in the dark. There was a sense of presence I didn't know how to explain, in the west wing of this area.
It wasn't far. I felt it.
And it only took me a couple of turns for me to find the source of that presence.
Sephiroth.
Inside a tube, his hair flowing, bubbles coming out of a mask he had on his face, eyes closed and tubes all over him. Naked, floating in something I didn't know how to name. I approached the structure slowly, barely making to get there, feeling my muscles weaken. With my right hand I touched the glass, thick and warm, staring at the man of my life inside that thing, wondering the state he was in. Would I see him again? Would I feel him again, stare inside his eyes, listen to his voice?
Before I knew it the dreaded words came out.
"Is he dead?"
My voice, rasp and fragile was barely audible, as I gradually felt strength leaving my legs. Three persons in a white coat came out of nowhere, their eyes widening as they took me in.
"You shouldn't be here, miss Stevens." One of them said.
"Who let her out of her premises?" A female's voice asked, in shock. "Security!"
And, out of nowhere, there were red lights all over us, like a psychedelic circle around us. And, from there, they seemed like ants coming out of holes.
But, somehow, I didn't care. I just stared at the woman and asked again.
"Is he dead? Please, tell me." My voice broke by the end of the sentence, tears falling uncontrollably.
And, as a couple of white coats took me away from that large, huge room, I just stared at that woman's complexion, vacant and neutral, devoid of emotion.
She wouldn't say anything, and I still had time to stare at the tube again. Not knowing if Sephiroh was alive or not made my heart hurt.
Terribly.
A/N - And another chapter, hope you liked it.