The atmosphere did not change in colour as Thunderbird 3 headed towards the earth. It was dark down there now, and all that could be seen was the fading outline of the moon, now hiding itself away behind some clouds. Virgil couldn't help but feel that the hiding of the moon and the lack of atmosphere colour change symbolized what had happened to John. He was hidden, up in space by all of the clouds and the atmosphere around him never changed. Never did it get light up in space, never could John feel the warm sun upon his face. He had become distant from the family because of his distance from home. Virgil rubbed his hands over his eyes. A Tracy going insane was bizarre on its own, but John! That was even more so. John was the most level-headed and intelligent of the Tracy boys. If any, he should have been he last to go insane.
Muttered verse rattled the particles in the air of Thunderbird 3. Jeff and Scott had taken up singing old songs from when the boys were little; not very loud, but they were there.Up in the sky, all the stars are alive... Virgil wanted to join in, but as soon as he uttered a word, his head would turn to his unconscious brother, who was lay next to him, waiting for more advanced medical attention back on Tracy Island. Jeff and Scott were skipping a few words due to not knowing them, and Virgil couldn't help but think that if John were awake, he would know all of them. John always did know all of them, he never forgot a lyric or a tune. Even being the second eldest, next to Scott, John was always the 'big brother' figure. Every one of the Tracy boys looked up to him, literally, for help or guidance when they felt they couldn't speak to their father. Now, he was the one needing their help, severely.
It took forty minutes for Thunderbird 3 to reach Tracy Island from space. Not long in day-to-day life, but for the Tracy's aboard the rocket, it couldn't have felt any longer. Jeff had called ahead, to make sure that Brains was ready for the medical state in which John was in;
"Thunderbird 3 to Tracy Island."
"Tracy Island, S-s-s-... ." Brains replied, soon snapping onto the monitor before Scott and Jeff.
"ETA two Minutes, Brains." Jeff sighed, taking a quick glance behind him to see Virgil looking over his brother with a pained expression.
"Okay sir, I have equipped J-J-J-...Master Tracy's bedroom with all the Medical sup-s-up... Items in which I shall need." Brains stuttered.
"Thank you, Brains..." Jeff trailed off and looked out of the window.
"How is he?" Brains asked, looking at Jeff through the monitor. Jeff didn't reply, and neither did Scott. Both were still too scarred by the situation to speak of it. Virgil replied, switching Brain's view from the front of the rocket, to the back, so he could see both himself and John easier;
"He's alive, if that what you mean..." He mumbled, checking John's pulse for the 9th time in the space of three minutes.
"Virgil... I know you are capable of a more me-medi... detailed response." Brains sighed, adjusting his glasses.
"I know. He appears to have glass in his forearm, large shards. Well... there's glass stuck piratically everywhere over his chest and arms, bits in his one cheek... cuts everywhere, he's covered in bruises... He's lost a lot of blood..." Virgil's eyes began to 'water', as he listed the things that were visible. Who knows what internal damage there was...: his brain.
"Virgil!" Another voice called out over the comm system. Virgil looked up to the call of his name and saw and shorter, younger blonde than the one he was currently nursing.
"Alan." He said, forcing a smile at his youngest brother, who was obviously looking concerned.
"What's happened?" He asked, eyes searching Virgil's face for answers. He then noticed the bad state in which John appeared to be in. "John?"
"He'll be alright, twerp." Virgil said, trying to make his voice sound somewhat more lighthearted, "He's just had a bit of a rough time..."
"Rough time! I'm not a kid anymore, Virge... You can tell me what actually happened!" Alan retorted.
"Not now, Alan." Jeff butted in. "They'll be time for explanation later, we need to get John home and better first." The communication link ended, and Thunderbird 3 landed.
"How is he?" Jeff asked, when Brains finally emerged from John's room. He had been sat outside on the floor, leaning up against the wall since Thunderbird 3 landed four hours ago. Alan had been pacing up and down the hallway in front of him for most of that time and Virgil had fallen asleep, also leaning against the wall. Scott and Gordon called it quits and had gone to bed sometime ago and Tin-Tin and Fermat were watching a late night movie to pass the time.
"Stable." Brains replied, keeping his answers brief as not to worry any of the Tracy's, but a glance from Jeff told him to be more detailed; "He should be fine, externally. "
"Externally?" Jeff questioned, standing up and stretching his legs from their cramped position.
"I am unsure of why John would inflict such pain onto himself. The camera footage from inside Thunderbird 5 should shead l-l-l-... illuminate the facts a little more."
"Hes gone insane, that's what." Virgil yawned, looking up to Brains. It was obvious he had been asleep; there were lines on his face where his uniform had pushed against his skin, leaving indentations. Jeff shot Virgil a look. "Oh come on Dad, there's no point pushing away truth. Lets face it, we left him up there too long and he became distant. No phone calls, nothing... He then started to blame himself from the lack of contact and it drove him insane. I mean, who wouldn't be? Imagine staying up there, where no-one can hear your calls, where you have hardly any contact with people, for seven entire months. He's gone insane from it."
"Virgil! Stop. Now." Jeff warned. Alan shared a glance with Brains.
"May I suggest we go and l-loo-lo-... survey the footage from Thun-un-... the spacecraft?" Brains piped up.
"I think that would be wise, Brains." Jeff said, leading the two boys into the Control room where the footage could be accessed. John needed to rest.
"I can't believe it..." Jeff muttered, as he kept rewinding one piece of the footage over and over again. The cameras had caught every last move of John's up on five; the camera's that were initially installed for the moth problem which had somehow occurred up there, to see where they were moving to and from.
Again Jeff rewound the footage; watching John slice at his wounds over and over and over again before collapsing and losing consciousness.
"It's my fault..." He finally muttered, pausing it. Everyone stayed silent. They knew retorting would only make the situation worse. "I shouldn't have left him up there for so long, I should have made more time to talk to him, to see if he was okay... I was too wrapped up in my own selfish mannerisms that I forgot... I forgot about my own son, all those miles away up in space..." By the end of his short speech, Jeff had many a tear in his eyes.
"It's no-ones fault, Dad..." Virgil reassured, kneeling on the floor next to his fathers chair, "It just happened..."
"We'll help him, there's no point in blame..." Alan added, kneeling the other side. Jeff nodded and switched off the computer screen.
"...And it, of course, ended up with Alan being half-drowned in the swamp. It was hilarious, John... I wish you could have been there." Virgil half-heartedly laughed. He had been talking to John's sleeping body for most of the night. He couldn't sleep himself and thought that a bit of company would be good for John, even if he didn't acknowledge his presence. Just as Virgil wiped a stray tear from his eye, there was a knock at the door, and a smaller blonde walked in.
"How is he?" Alan asked, sitting on the opposite side of the bed to Virgil, crossing his legs.
"Hasn't stirred at all... seems to be sleeping pretty well... He'll be alright, Brains did a really good job patching him back together." Virgil moved a stray bit of hair from John's forehead. Even with all of the 'cleaning up', John's hair still had a tint of red from the blood.
"Yeah... Medically he'll be fine, but what about mentally?" Alan moved closer to John and lay down next to him. They had always been close.
"I don't know, twerp. I guess that one is up to us..."