Chapter 21
Hunter reached the clearing just I time to see Alexis pass out. "Oh, God." he muttered to himself when he knelt beside her. "Alexis?" he said again, softly this time. He brushed a piece of red hair out of her face. She looked peaceful. He carefully placed one arm under her legs, and the other around her back, to lift her up. When he rose to his feet, he turned and began to walk back, trying to go as fast as he could, but not too fast, because he didn't want to make the ride bumpy for the unconscious girl he carried. Alexis's body rolled slightly, so that her head nuzzled into his chest.
He was immediately noticed when he returned to the edge of the village.
"Alexis!" Josh shouted. He dashed over to Hunter, eyes intent on the red-head. "What happened?"
"I don't know, she passed out right before I got to her."
"We gotta get her checked out."
"By who?" Hunter said doubtful.
"Village doctor. Come on, I'll take her to the hut." Before Hunter could protest, Josh had snatched Alexis's unconscious form from him, and carried her into the village. He rolled his eyes and followed.
"Terric, I need you!" Josh called. Immediately, a bronze-skinned man emerged from another hut that was larger than avergae. "My sister has been hurt." Josh said, and Terric complied by showing the three of them into the hut.
The inside resembled what Hunter imagined some olden times healer's lab to look like. A fire burned brightly, the room was filled with shelves, all jammed with jars or makeshift containers holding different herbs and powders. Of the five cots, three of them were taken. Two men and a women were resting peacefully, Hunter assumed they had been hurt in the fight. Terric had Josh lay Alexis down on the cot closest to the fire, and began examining her. Josh and Hunter stood back, watching as the medic worked.
"Will she be okay?" Hunter asked finally.
"She will recover. She has exhausted herself. She needs rest." Terric replied.
Blake found Tori sitting alone by one of the unused fire places. She was staring intently into the unheated coals. Around them, people were recovering from the battle, and all the other places wer being used to prepare food. Blake guessed it was late morning.
"Hey." he said.
Tori looked up, "Hey." and after a brief moment, "Come, sit."
Blake sat beside her. "They found Alexis."
"Yeah, I saw Hunter bring her back. Um, Shane and Dustin haven't come back from looking yet. Josh and Dustin got back right before he did." another moment. "Is she okay?"
"According to Hunter, she'll be fine." Blake told her. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm just thinking about, stuff."
"Penny for your thoughts." he gave her a smile.
Tori looked at him, and let out a giggle as she smiled too. "It's just.. Alexis and Josh, after their parents...died, they were supposed to come live with us. My dad was their dad's brother, so he was legal guardian. But, well they didn't." Tori took a deep breath, and Blake encouraged her to continue.
"It was after the funeral. Their family still lived in California at the time, just a few hours out of Blue Bay Harbor. The reception was being held in beautiful area right by the cemetery. All the adults were, talking and drinking in this pavilion. Alexis and I were five, and we were playing. And, right as things were beginning to wrap up, this black limo pulled up. I remember it was different from the one we had come in, because the first one was plain and this one was one of those Hummers, you know, the ones that look like a big box." Blake nodded.
"So, Alexis and I just kinda watch it, and this guy gets out. My parents go over to talk to him, and soon one of them motions for Josh to come. Josh obviously knew the guy, so I asked Alexis, and she told me it was man her parents knew, named X. A few more words were exchanged, next thing I knew, Josh had come over to us, was giving me a hug, and said to Alexis they had to go. So she got up, hugged me, and left. I was so confused when they hugged my parents. Then the man just, picked Alexis up, helped her into the limo, climbed after her, and the three of them were gone." Tori sighed. Blake inched closer to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't see them again for four years. And it took me eight to figure out where he took them."
"The Volcano Academy." Blake said.
"Yeah, to train them into these intense fire ninja. And, I can't help but wonder, if he hadn't come that day, and they had stayed with us, would any of this happened? Would Alexis have ever met Hunter? Would she know how to be a fire ninja? Would Josh of been stuck here for nearly a year? Would she be hurt?"
"Hey hey," Blake interrupted. "Don't beat yourself up over this. Ninjas get hurt some time."
"It's just, their my family. I hate thinking about all the crap life's thrown at them."
"Well if it makes you feel better, it seems that every time life has hit them, they hit it back, harder."
Tori laughed heartily at his comment. He joined in. When they finally got their breath back, she smiled sweetly at him. "You know, it was really cool of you to do what you did. Making Hunter and Josh work together I mean."
"Well, they were both being idiots." he cocked his head slightly. Tori giggled again. "Can I ask a question though?"
"Sure." she replied, shrugging one shoulder.
"What happened between you and Danny?"
Tori opened her mouth, before exhaling from laughter again. "Well, a few years ago, he had come with Josh and Alexis for a visit over summer. We hung out a lot and, got along, really well. So we just kinda, started dating. But we ended it about a week after he went home. Long distance relationships really aren't my thing."
Josh and Hunter were in Josh's hut again.
"Thank you." Josh said finally.
"For what?"
"For helping my sister."
"I didn't do it because she was your sister." Josh looked up like he was about to retort. "I did it because I care about her."
Josh closed her his mouth and sighed. Hunter rolled his eyes. "Dude, what is your problem?"
"My problem is you. You, messing with my baby sisters head."
"I think your problem, is Alexis cares about someone you want her to hate."
"Well, that too. Look, Thunder, you can't just mess with the balance of things. Alexis is a Volcano, fire ninja. She was raised to hate Thunder Ninja, and better yet, she had a reason."
"And I was trained to hate Volcano Ninja."
"THAT, is the issue. You were both born and bred to hate the other, and now your trying to have something between you. Does that sound, like a relationship that will work out. Or better question, do you think you could ever really forgive Alexis for what she did to your school."
Hunter stood quiet for a moment. Josh had thrown a curve ball and he had no idea how to hit it. Did he forgive Alexis? No, not fully. Did he want to? Of course.
"Hunter, I'm about to say something, and that something better never leave this room. As a guy, I respect you. I can see your a good person, and you'll make any girl happy. But as a ninja, I hate you. It's just the way things are. Your the kind of guy I always wanted my sister to be with, but I can't not think that because of the kind of ninja you are, she'll get hurt. And I won't let her get hurt again."
The two men just watched each other, analyzing their opponent. "Josh, I can respect what your saying."
Josh smiled and nodded, "Thank.."
"But unfortunately I can't comply. I care about Alexis, and I know she cares about me, so I'm not going to let anyone, including you, tell me how to live my life. And since you care about her so much, you need to let her live her own life. I can promise you though, I won't hurt her."
Josh stared, stunned at the opposition. From his expression Hunter could tell, Josh was used to getting his way. The tension was interrupted however.
"Tana, whats wrong?" Josh asked the girl who had burst in.
"Papa." she replied.
"Papa?" Hunter asked.
"Terric, he's Tana's dad." Josh quickly explained.
"He says somethings wrong with Alexis. Apparently, according to her vitals she should be awake, but she's not, and he says she would have recovered by now, but she's still sleeping and he can't wake her."
No one missed all the blood draining from Josh's face. "No." he breathed. "Oh God, no no no." Before another word could be spoken he ran out of the hut and to the Medical Hut. Hunter quickly followed.'
When Hunter arrived, Josh was already over Alexis, shaking her violently. "Alexis!" he screamed at her. "ALEXIS, wake up damnit!" Alexis did not stir. "No." Josh said as he sat on the side of the bed. "This can't be happening." His face was in his hands.
"What's happening?" Hunter asked. He would be annoyed at Josh if he wasn't so concerned.
When Josh finally looked at Hunter, his eyes held nothing but grief. "I said, there were a lot of things about Alexis you didn't know."
"And I take it this is one of them."
"Yeah. Have you ever heard of Idiopathic Hypersomnia?" Hunter shook his head. "Well, it's this condition. People who have it, fall asleep, and when they do, they can't wake up."
"So Alexis has it." it wasn't a question.
"Mmhmm. But she has a very advanced, very rare, form of it. I mean like, the majority of the general public who'd even know about the original condition, don't know about this one."
Josh stopped, but the one look at Hunter told him to elaborate. "It doesn't affect her everytime, most nights she sleeps peacefully and wakes up in the morning as normal. But when it does affect her, it's a lot worse. Once she's in a deep enough sleep, nothing can wake her. She'll sleep until finally her body wakes on its own, but it could be days, weeks, even months."
Hunter was a bit taken aback by the information. He began to process it all in his head. "The first night we were here, Alexis was having a nightmare or something, and at first I couldn't wake her up, but then she did."
"She probably wasn't deep enough asleep yet. Her being unconscious was basically getting to that deep part without all the time it normally takes." Josh explained.
Something new dawned on Hunter. "Wait a minute, you said she could sleep for days?"
"Or weeks or months, yes."
"But, if she doesn't wake up soon... she'll starve."
Josh pressed his lips into a tight line, looking back at his sister. "Yeah."
Hunter stood shocked. He finally knelt by the head of the bed, running the back of a finger down the side of her face. "Whats the longest she's ever slept?" he barely breathed out.
"There was a time, when she finally roused. She said, she felt like had been out a couple of hours." Josh bit his lip. "It had been three months."
"So what do we do, just wait for her to wake up?" Hunter's angry side was beginning to show.
"We can't." Josh replied, also becoming angry. "At the Volcano we could keep her fed, we could keep her alive, but we don't have any of the equipment we'd need here." he too a deep breathe.
"We're going to force her awake."
"Didn't you just say, nothing could wake her."
"No outside force in the world can, no. We need to go inside."
"Inside?"
"Did Alexis show you the trick were a Volcano Ninja enters anothers mind?"
"Well, Danny forced his ways into hers when he was being held captive."
"That's what I'm talking about. It's a trick only the VA teaches. Most everyone else thinks its too dangerous, so it was lost to them long ago."
"Dangerous, because if done wrong it could fry the mind, right?"
"She's asleep, it'll be fine."
Hunter wanted to protest, but Josh caught him before he could. "Hunter, if we don't wake her soon, she, will, die."
Hunter thought about it for a moment. He looked back to Alexis, who was sleeping, so seemingly peacefully. "You said we, not I."
"Do you want in or not?"
"What do we have to do?" Hunter replied as his answer.
"Do you trust me?"
"No." Hunter answered honestly.
"Good, it'd be weird if you did." Josh replied just as honestly. He had picked up Alexis's hand, gently squeezing and unsqueezing. "But do you trust we both want to save Alexis right now."
"Yes."
"Alright then. Take her other hand. This might be a bit uncomfortable."
A/N- HI EVERYONE! So, the part where they are in Alexis's head was supposed to be in this chapter, but I decided it was already really long, so your just gonna have to wait until next time, which will be after Thanksgiving, but def before the winter holidays. I hope you all like it, and thanks for the votes, by the way total of those.
Josh-1...Hunter-10, I was really hoping that'd be closer.
Alright so remember REVIEW. I got 19 reviews on these last two chaps in a matter of days. That is why this was up so quick.
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