Chapter 11
Mike and Tala sat down in the living room opposite from each other. "You seriously know how to put Serenity in her place" Mike complemented Tala.
"I have no intension of doing something like that and honestly I don't order her around, but when it comes to her safety then that's the most important to me" Tala said, looking up Mike and sitting back in his seat.
"You have a lot of respect for her, how long have you known her?" Mike asked.
"About six years, we were room mates together from the first day we met and from the very first day she arrived" Tala said, thinking back to the first day they had met and realized how far they've come.
"Have you been sleeping together for that long?" Mike asked spitefully.
"Don't say that. I really love her and besides she's a big girl and she knows what she is doing. I respect Serenity a lot and I would never try to hurt her" Tala said honestly.
"Yes but she was still so young when she left here and she didn't know many things, like the consequences of all that she's been doing" Mike said.
"The abbey matured her and I know that she hates being treated like a child so you shouldn't keep seeing her as the little girl you took care of six years ago. She's not the same person and you have to realize that" Tala explained to him.
"Who are you to tell me how I should treat her?" Mike asked, almost yelling angrily.
"I am the person who knows Serenity more then you know her. I have known her for six years when you only knew her for about two years and you weren't even with her for half the time and you can't stay here and think that you know her" Tala said through gritted teeth.
Mike softened a little, "You're right, I can't. I know that Serenity changed a lot over the years and I wish I could just think that she was the same little girl I knew back then, but I still know that she isn't" he said.
"I know what you mean and I know that you probably don't trust me, especially with Serenity and I don't blame you but you have to trust me when I say that I wont hurt her" Tala said.
"I'll take your word for it" Mike said, smiling.
"What are you two talking about?" A voice asked.
Mike and Tala turned to the door and Serenity walked out of her room. "I thought I told you to go rest" Tala said.
"How long do you think I'd be in there for? I don't want to stay stuck on a bed for the rest of the day" Serenity said, sitting down next to Tala. "So what were you two talking about?" she asked again.
"Nothing important" Mike said, smiling.
Serenity raised an eyebrow when she saw Mike still smiling, "Where you talking about me?" she asked.
"Maybe" Tala replied, laughing.
"My dad and my boyfriend talking about me behind my back" Serenity said, thinking loudly. "It's a recipe for disaster, so you two better be careful around me" she said finally, getting up and going to the kitchen to get a drink.
"That a threat?" Mike asked.
"You have no idea; once she held a knife to a guard's throat - I think she's actually serious" Tala said.
"You held a knife to a guard's throat?" Mike asked. 'Wow, I guess she's changed more then I'd like to believe' he thought.
"Yeah, the guy was a jerk and nobody talks badly about me and my friends so he deserved it" Serenity said, pouring a glass of water and leaning against the counter and taking a sip of the cold water.
"You seriously changed Serenity" Mike said.
"That a bad thing?" Serenity asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not necessarily, you just need to learn to control your temper or else you could really hurt someone" Mike said.
"Yeah, yeah, keep talking like that and I'll hurt you" Serenity said, sitting down on the sofa again and placing the glass on the table in front of her.
"You see what I mean?" Mike asked.
"Yeah I do, now quit complaining" Serenity said, lying back and sticking her tongue out when she saw Mike glaring at her.
They all sat there in silence, sometimes Mike would ask about Serenity and Tala's experiences in the abbey and what they went through while there. They just talked about what life was like in the abbey and how they all began to deal with the way they were living. Almost two hours past and Bryan's bedroom door opened and the doctor walked out. Serenity walked up to the doctor quickly, "How is he?" she asked.
"He should be ok now, I cleaned the wounds again and wrapped them though tighter then usual which would be a bit painful but reduces the blood loss." The young doctor said, placing her medical bag on the floor next to her.
"But what had happened?" Tala asked, walking up behind Serenity.
"The wounds cut open, the gashes were already deep and could easily be cut through and widen. A form of sudden movement could have easily cut them open." The doctor explained. She took a file out of her bag and looked through it, "Blood tests also showed a strange chemical in his blood stream" she said.
"Chemical?" Mike asked.
"Yes. The chemical wouldn't survive for very long in a blood stream but when the blood was tested yesterday night it showed that the chemical was still very strong and so it must have been injected quite recently." The doctor explained as she scanned the documents in the file.
"Can it do any damage to him?" Mike asked, when he noticed that Serenity looked like she wasn't even breathing with all the worry she was feeling.
"The chemical seems harmless as it will just dissolve under the pressure of his blood so it shouldn't affect him; he also has a strong immune system so it shouldn't be affecting him too much. He is in much pain from the wounds but unfortunately I can't give him anything to ease the pain since there is a good chance that it might affect the chemical and make things worse for him" The doctor continued.
"Anything we can do to help?" Serenity asked.
"Just make sure he gets a lot of bed rest and doesn't move too much for the rest of the day." The doctor replied, smiling sweetly at the young Japanese girl in front of her.
"That should be easy" Serenity muttered, "Ok then, thanks for coming on such short notice" she concluded, bowing her head a little.
"Not a problem" The doctor said, picking up her bag and walking out the front door.
"I better go too, you should really question Bryan on the chemical" Mike advised.
"Actually we already know a little about it" Serenity said quietly, frowning a little.
"What do you know?" Mike asked, interested in what they were going to say.
"Boris used to have his scientists and doctors constantly testing things on Bryan, though we didn't know that it had happened recently. He was always with us so we don't know when it could have happened" Serenity said.
"Yeah we do" Tala said, his voice trailing off.
"What do you mean? What does he mean?" Mike said, turning from Tala to Serenity.
Tala started, "Boris had called Bryan away from our room just before dinner, and he wasn't at dinner with us…"
"And he was already asleep by the time we got back from dinner" Serenity said, finally figuring it out. "Which means that scientists had experimented on him a day before we left" she whispered.
"Ok look, all of you stay here and keep an eye on him while I'll go get the warrant" Mike said before racing out the door.
"I can't believe I hadn't noticed it sooner" Serenity said, walking across the living room with her hand on her forehead.
"It's not your fault, you didn't know and neither did I until today" Tala comforted.
"But now he's really hurt" Serenity said.
"Let's just go check up on him and things will just get better" Tala reassured.
Serenity nodded and walked over to Bryan's bedroom door and slowly opened it. They walked inside and saw Bryan lying on his side in bed, his head resting on his arm. Bryan quickly opened his eyes when he heard the door closing behind Tala; he closed his eyes again as if ignoring the other two teenagers. Serenity sat down on a chair that was near bed, "How are you feeling?" Serenity asked.
Bryan had prepared himself for this question from the second the doctor had left the room, "I'm fine" he said in his weak voice.
"Can I get you anything?" Serenity asked kindly.
"No thanks" Bryan replied quietly, pulling the covers tighter around him and moving them higher up his shoulder.
Serenity took his hand and gave it a light squeeze, "Are you sure you're feeling ok?" she asked worriedly.
"Stop worrying cause I'm fine" Bryan replied, opening his eyes and staring up into Serenity's bright blue worried eyes.
"I don't know if you've really heard or even noticed but it isn't Serenity if she doesn't worry" Tala said.
"Shut up" Serenity said, playfully. Bryan laughed a little at the bit of flirting in front of him, Serenity's head turned back to Bryan when she heard the laugh and she smiled, "Wow! I was starting to think that you didn't know how to laugh" she said, laughing. Bryan stopped laughing and narrowed her eyes at Serenity at her stupid comment. He closed his eyes again and shifted his position in bed a little, Serenity saw that he was tired and got off the chair, "We'll leave you to get some rest, call me if you need me" she told him before letting go of his hand.
Serenity and Tala walked out of the room to let Bryan get some rest. They both walked to Serenity's room and she gave him a white top of Mike's, telling Tala that he could use her bathroom to have a shower and change. She lay resting on her bed and when Tala came back out she went in to the bathroom to have a shower and to change. She walked out a few minutes later in a white silk dressing gown that went above her knees. She tossed her clothes onto a chair and looked around the room but didn't see Tala anywhere. She opened her bedroom door and looked out to see if he was in the living room but no one was there. She closed the door and then pulled aside the blue curtains from the balcony glass and looked outside onto her large balcony that overlooked the sea.
Light drops of rain fell from the dark sky and Tala stood leaning against the railings in the light rain that fell on his back. Serenity slid the door open and Tala turned round quickly to look at her then turned back to looking at the raging sea when he saw who it was. Serenity walked up to him and leaned against the railings next to him and turned her head to look at him. She felt a cold wind blow and it started to rain a little harder, she then took Tala's hand and kissed it softly. "Come on, let's go inside" she said.
Serenity let go of his hand and walked back inside her room and turned back to see Tala still staring out at the sea. She sighed a little and sat on her bed, 'I don't have the heart to pull him away right now'
'But Mistress the weather is getting worse, you should bring him inside or else he'll get sick' Luna advised kindly.
'I know but he always needed sometime to think by himself and now I don't want to have to come in here and deal with me if he doesn't want to' Serenity fought back.
'Whatever you say Mistress' Luna replied before disappearing from Serenity's mind.
Serenity sighed when rain fell harder from the cloudy sky, she got up and walked to the balcony door and opened it again. She then called for Tala from there so as not to get wet. Tala turned round and walked to Serenity and stepped inside and Serenity closed the door behind him. Tala pulled his wet top off over his head and Serenity handed him a towel and he quickly dried himself off a little. Serenity took the towel from him and placed it on the chair, she walked up to him and placed her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek softly. "What's wrong?" she asked, pulling away a little.
"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm having trouble thinking straight at the moment but don't worry" Tala replied, dropping his hands down to her waist and looking down into her beautiful bright blue eyes that looked up into him with worry. He was even scared when he said that because then she might ask what it was that was upsetting him but even if he was really true to himself then he still didn't know what it was that was bothering him.
"Are you going to be ok?" Serenity asked, moving her arms down to his shoulders.
"Yeah, I'll be fine now" Tala replied, nodding.
"Are you sure?" Serenity asked again, moving a strand of red hair away from his face.
"Yeah, I'm sure" Tala assured, kissing her softly on her cheek.
Serenity moved his head a little and made him look into her eyes; she leaned closer into him and kissed him passionately on the lips. She moved her hand up to his cheek and stroked it softly. Tala leaned against the wall and pulled Serenity a little closer to him; Serenity pulled away a little and kissed his neck a little, kissing further down his neck and on his chest. She kissed him on his shoulder a little and then gave him another long passionate kiss on the lips and pulling away a little. She smiled a little at him and gently stroked his shoulder in a soothing manner. "Come on, lets go get something to eat" she said, taking his hand and walking out the door.
Tala sat down on the sofa while Serenity made them sandwiches for dinner. She handed Tala a plate with a sandwich and she sat next to him and they both ate quietly. When they were both done Serenity took Tala's plate and took them both into the kitchen before taking Bryan some food and telling Tala to go to bed in her room. Serenity walked quietly into Bryan's bedroom when she noticed that he was still asleep, she placed the plate of food on the bed side table and knelt down on the floor next to Bryan's bed. She took his hand and Bryan's eyes shot open, startling Serenity and making her fall back a little. "How are you feeling?" she asked, regaining her balance.
"Exhausted but fine" Bryan replied weakly, letting a measure of weakness show through his voice and his tired eyes.
"Any pain?" Serenity asked, pulling the blanket higher up his shoulder.
Bryan groaned and turned gently on his back, "Don't even get me started" he said.
"What are you feeling?" Serenity asked.
"A headache and the wounds are burning a little" Bryan whispered, trying to shift the pillow behind his head a little.
Serenity helped him shift the pillow into a more comfortable position, "Do you mind?" she asked, pointing to his bandaged stomach and chest.
Bryan shrugged a little, "It's not like I can fight you off" he replied.
"Don't think like that, I only want to help you" Serenity said.
"Still, go ahead" Bryan told her again.
"You going to be ok?" Serenity asked, sitting up near him on the bed. Bryan nodded before closing his eyes, wincing a little at the sudden movement of his head. Serenity placed her hand gently on the thick bandages and lightly placed her finger under one of the white bandages and then slowly slipped it back out again. "There's no bleeding thankfully" she informed him gently. "I really wish I could do something to ease the pain" she said.
"You could stop talking" Bryan said.
Serenity smiled a little and held back a laugh, "Ok then I'll shut up. First you should eat something and then you should continue resting" she advised kindly.
"I thought you said you were going to shut up" Bryan said, smirking a little at his sudden comment.
"Ok, ok. Good night sweetie" Serenity said, taking his hand again and giving it a light squeeze before letting go and walking out of the room.
Serenity walked back to her room, closing the door behind her. Tala lay in bed with his hands behind his head, Serenity smiled kindly at him and walked over to her bed and lay under the silk covers. She moved closely to Tala and placed an arm across his waist and looked up at him to see him with his eyes closed. Serenity kissed Tala's shoulder softly and quickly on the lips, gaining his attention. Tala pulled an arm around Serenity, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. Serenity notices the bruise still on his stomach and slowly made light circles over the bruised skin with her index finger. Tala winced a little and Serenity looked up a little, "That still hurts?" she asked softly.
"A little" Tala replied, resting his head back and closing his eyes again.
Serenity rested her head back onto his shoulder and kissed it softly before getting off and laying her head back on her pillow. She slept quickly, her weak state draining her of energy especially with worrying all day. She had woken up again in the middle of the night and saw Tala tremble at times and she pulled the covers tighter around him and moved closer to him, her chest resting against his back, she slept again in very little time.
---Next Morning---
Serenity started to stir a little and she turned lazily on her back, stretching her arms and rubbing the sleep out of her tired eyes. She slowly sat up a little and looked around the room, no one was there but she saw a single red rose on her bedside table. She picked it up and held it in her hand and felt around on the soft red petals and smelt the beautiful fresh smell. She got out of bed and took a small vase from the dressing table and went to the bathroom and filled it with some water and placed the rose in it and placed it back on her bedside table. She opened her wardrobe to get some clothes out but remembered that all her clothes were far too small for her. She sighed and picked up her skirt and top from the chair and went to the bathroom for a cold shower. She changed into her clothes that fit her thin body perfectly and then she sat on the chair to put on her boots.
She got up and walked out of her bedroom and into the living room, she saw Tala already there and sitting on the sofa just flipping the channels. Serenity smiled and jumped onto the sofa next to him, she latched her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "What was that for?" Tala asked, smiling when Serenity jumped into his arms and kissed him.
"For being so sweet to me" Serenity whispered back, moving off Tala and sitting close to him. She got up and walked to the kitchen, "Do you want anything for breakfast?" she asked.
"No thanks" Tala replied, switching off the TV and looking at her from the sofa.
"Oh come on, we're finally out of the abbey so why wont you eat anything?" Serenity asked.
"I don't know, I'm probably not used to eating so much that I cant eat too much now" Tala replied.
"Well whatever the reason we're all too thin for our own good and I'd love to have a good breakfast after all these years" Serenity said, taking an apple from the fruit basket and taking a bite out of it.
"Well I'm not hungry at the moment so you don't need to worry about that" Tala reassured her, laughing a little at the end.
"I'll take some food to Bryan, any idea if he's awake?" Serenity asked, picking up another apple and pouring a glass of water.
"Yeah he was already awake when I woke up" Tala replied.
Serenity took the glass of water and the apple to Bryan's room and put them on the bedside table. Bryan just lay on his back, staring at the ceiling boringly as he had nothing to do and nowhere to go. Serenity out in laughter at the bored expression on his features, the face that always looked so strong and so uninterested in the things around that now just seeing him bored couldn't stop Serenity from laughing. "What do you think is so funny?" Bryan asked angrily, looking up at Serenity and glaring at her but Serenity still had trouble stopping.
"I'm sorry sweetie, I just can't help but see you so bored for once in your life" Serenity said, slowing down her laughter a little and holding more laughs that threatened to escape.
"Can you really blame me? I'm fed up of being here and stuck in bed" Bryan said, pounding his fists on the bed in frustration.
"No I can't but you have to rest and stay in bed or things could get worse so just have patience for a little while longer" Serenity said, sitting next to him on the bed. Bryan sighed and shut his eyes in frustration, "OK lets do this, if you stay in bed a little longer then I'll take you out of the room for a while and as soon as you're up for it I'll find someone powerful to battle you, deal?" she bargained.
Bryan opened his hardened eyes, still looking frustrated but this time he was desperate to do something, "Deal" he said, finally giving in.
"Good, I'll be in the next room if you need me" Serenity said, getting off the bed and leaving for the next room.
"I bet he complained" Tala said, looking up at Serenity when she walked into the living room again.
"Yeah but I made a deal with him that if he would stay there a little longer then I'll let him out a little later" Serenity said, sitting down on the sofa next to him.
"That's a risk even for you" Tala said, smirking.
"Yeah well even I can make risks" Serenity said, laughing and then poking him in the chest, "As if you wouldn't know" she added.
"So how are you feeling?" Tala asked.
"I'm ok, I keep feeling a little tired sometimes but I'm fine" Serenity said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Tala smiled, "That's good to hear" he said.
"Yeah well, I think I should go get Bryan or else we'll be hearing something that isn't so good to hear from him" Serenity said, getting off the sofa again.
"I guess you're right" Tala said, laughing a little at Serenity's comment.
Serenity opened the door to Bryan's room and stepped inside, "Come on grumpy you can come out now" she said. Bryan whispered a thank you and quickly pushed himself up into a sitting position and pushed himself out of bed. "You ok over there?" Serenity asked, leaning against the wall by the door. It seemed pointless to her to go and help him since she knew that even though he started trusting her she knew that he wouldn't accept her to help him walk but now he seemed to be fine.
"I'm fine" Bryan replied, grabbing his black top from the chair and pulling it over his head. He walked out the bedroom door, followed by Serenity that kept an eye on him in case he fell or was in pain. Bryan sat down in an armchair and rubbed his sore neck, 'Feels so good to be out of the bloody bed' he thought, almost deciding to whisper it.
"So how are you feeling?" Tala asked, sitting back in his seat.
"Tired" Bryan replied simply.
"Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you would have told us about all this sooner" Tala said through gritted teeth.
"Tala" Serenity whispered in a warning tone.
"No way, I want hear his excuse for not telling us sooner" Tala told her. Tala turned to look at Bryan again and glared at him angrily, "The day before you left the abbey Boris called for you, had his scientists experimented on you?" he asked.
"Tala is as stubborn as I am so you might as well answer the question" Serenity advised.
"I don't have to take this from you" Bryan said, pushing himself out of the chair and walking to his room.
Tala rushed up and stood in his way, glaring coldly at the younger blader, "You're not going anywhere until you tell us, did they or didn't they experiment on you the day before we left the abbey?" he asked coldly again.
"Yes, they did. Now please tell me what difference does it make to you?" Bryan yelled. Finally the pain grew in him and he felt light headed from the yelling and grabbed the edge a table that was by the door. Serenity walked up behind Bryan when she saw him about to fall but kept out of the argument.
"It makes a big difference. You should have told us earlier about it and we could have helped you but need to let us help you" Tala yelled back.
"I know, I can't take it on my own but I made a mistake. It was my mistake that I didn't tell you, I know that I should have told you but I didn't. I'm sorry I didn't trust you" Bryan yelled back.
"Took you long enough to admit it" Tala commented.
"Relax" Serenity said, placing her hand on Bryan's shoulder.
"Any idea what they were testing on you?" Tala asked.
Bryan turned round and walked back to the chair and sat forward in his seat, his arms resting on his knees, "I don't know what it was that they were using but they just used a shot and all I could say is that I couldn't feel, my skin went numb and I just felt like passing out. They didn't do much but they just injected different chemicals in me. When they were done I felt far to weak to even go down to dinner so I just went back to my room and passed out" he explained, choking back tears at times.
'So when we got back to our room he hadn't been sleeping he had passed out' Tala thought.
"How'd they inject it into you?" Serenity asked, sitting down on the arm of the chair he sat on. Bryan lifted the sleeve of his black top, first pointing to ten tiny pierced dots in his pulse and then lifting his sleeve up higher to show them a small bruise with another red blood spot in the centre. He pulled the sleeve down quickly and then sighed. Serenity gently rubbed his back soothingly and moved he hand up to his shoulder, "You ok now?" she asked.
"Yeah I'm fine now" Bryan replied. He looked up at Tala again, "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier but I…"
"Forget it, I understand but next time tell us when something is wrong" Tala cut in.
"Sure" Bryan said.
A/N: I give this the 'Most Boring Chapter Ever Award' This was a very uninteresting chapter and for that please forgive me. Please review anyway even though I know that this chapter sucked big time. Please review, reviews keep me sane! Please review!