Chapter 9: Old End, New Beginning
(Lyon's P.O.V.)
The only indication that I was truly alive was the dull, insistent beeping noise of some kind of monitor in the background. I felt warm, but I felt like I was cold, but in the sense of knowing my body. I felt strange… detached from the reality around me, yet I was able to hear the sound of moving fabrics and hushed voices. I tried to understand and process all the new sounds around me, but I couldn't feel it… I couldn't feel the meaning of the words in my mind.
Next came smell, but just like the words, I wasn't able to feel specifics, almost like I forgot what the smells represented, though I could feel the different smells around me. The only form of feeling I was able to receive from the smells was a slightly stinging sensation, and that I was able to register as a feeling and sensation that caused dislike within my sluggish mind.
After I was able to discern different smells from one another, I was able to feel, but not just physically, but actually feel everything around me. It felt… different. My body felt warmer suddenly, and the fabrics I felt pressing down and against my body gave me that warmth. There was something warmer than just the fabrics, but I couldn't tell what this greater source of heat was, but I was able to feel it was on a single side of my body, just how I could feel the warmth shift as the sound of hushed voices died down.
Taste… by now I was regaining all of my lost energy, but what I tasted was bitter, and would have made me recoil had I been fully aware. The bitterness wasn't the only thing I tasted however, as there was another, tangy like taste within my mouth, and the more I dwelled on it, the more curious it felt, before a single word popped into my mind; copper. The 'copper' flavor made my mind writher painfully, but I only felt like my mind shifted to another subject, which it soon did.
Sight. A dull, painful pulsating white light was shining down against my closed eyelids, and by now, I recognized the beeping noise as a hospital monitor. The smell reminded me of bleach, which was provided from memories that were now surging into my empty mind, filling in every empty nook and crevice that had once before been empty. A dull ache began to filter into my head, but I pushed that aside as felt the warmth beside me shifting, and I recognized the warmth coming from what brought the image of fur to mind. It reminded me of someone that resembled a walking wolf or dog of some kind, but I wasn't able to tell as a masculine voice came to my hearing. It was quiet, and I wasn't able to make out exactly what it was saying. When a feminine voice came to my hearing, it was in the same area as the fur was, and the last of my memories hit me like a brick wall.
Snapping my eyes open as I bolted into a sitting position, I came face to face with a surprised face; a face that belonged to Rich. Blinking at the man in front of me, I looked over, and saw Samantha was looking at me with a surprised expression as well, albeit with a bit of fear. Blinking a few times as I looked at her, I looked past her, and saw a pair of MP's standing near the opposite wall, with both also looking at me. Confusion made itself known to me in the most obvious of ways, and I looked away from them all and in the opposite direction, and saw two empty hospital cots, along with a television bolted in the corner; turned on but muted. Blinking a few times at it, I saw something about a terrorist attack on US soil scrolling across the bottom of the screen, but I shifted my attention back towards Rich's face; which now held a curious and studious expression to it compared to the previously surprise.
"Are…" I stopped as I felt the scratchiness of my throat, and I closed my eyes as I forced my cough back down, as I knew that would only make it all the worse. The dryness of my throat made it hurt just to speak that one word, but someone thought about it and gave me a cup of cold water, and I looked up to see it had been Rich to give me the cup. Nodding towards him, I lifted it to my lips, and slowly drank it, until the last drop of the refreshing water had made its way into my system. Raising my hand that didn't have any wires or tubes attached to it, I wiped my mouth, before trying to ask the question I had been trying to before, "Are the Templar… taken are of?"
After I cleared my throat once more, it was Rich that had said, "Yes, they have all either been killed, or they ran back to whatever hell hole they came from." I looked back down as I nodded, and I felt exhaustion once more threatening to force me onto my back and into sleep. "Lyon… I need to ask you a few questions before anything else happens. One of the most important things I need to know is; how in the hell did you attract all this attention…?"
Looking back up and into his eyes, I felt a smile tugging weakly at my lips, before I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I just have a gift…"
Rich shook his head as he said something beneath his breath, and even then I had a good idea what he had said. It was probably somewhere along the lines of me being a fool and always getting into trouble, but it wasn't until after I yawned did I realize how tired I still was. Rich seemed to notice, and he said, "We can discuss more of the specifics of what happened yesterday when you next wake up… I expect a full report next time we talk."
Shaking my head as I lowered myself back to my pillow, I felt the warmness starting to send me back into my slumber, and it was with a final sigh did I fully fall back asleep…
"… Yeah, so that is pretty much it…" I finished as I scratched an itch that just wouldn't go away.
Rich was standing across from me, and I watched as his expression remained as neutral as it had been when I had started the long tale of recent events. From finding the Templar man in the forest and finding Samantha already in my home, up to the first attack from the Templar, and finishing with how Sam had killed him with the weapon I had left in the cage with her. Everything after hearing those gunshots was hazy, and I remembered bits and pieces of what I remembered, or thought I did, and I supplied those scraps of memories to him.
Stealing a quick glance towards Sam as she had remained sitting on the edge of my bed, I let my thoughts drift towards her. She is a wolf keidran… one I haven't even known for a week; yet I had nearly sacrificed my life so that she would be able to live hers. Lyon, if you're not a good guy, then only God knows who is…
A cough from Rich brought my attention back to him, and while he was looking down, he flipped through a notebook, before he began to speak, "Alright… so here is the plan. For the books back home, we will keep everything you said the same, but there won't be any mention of a keidran or Samantha. You will have killed the lead Templar after managing to convince him that you were too injured to continue fighting, and if anyone ever asks; those weapons you received were airdropped to you as soon as we received word about your… predicament. Anything else, tell them to contact General Rich of the U.S. Army…" He stuffed the notebook into his back pocket of his relax fits, and it was when he did that did he add, "I will be seeing more of you at a later date Lyon… for now, I must fill out the necessary paperwork that will keep this incident under wraps from the civilians."
Turning around and marching towards the door, I watched Rich's back recede as he made it to the door, and when he suddenly missed a step, I knew something was wrong. When his head turned a bit to the side, I saw a smile now on his lips, but that only made me all the more worried; before I had retired from the military, Rich was one of those guys that had a huge humor. This Rich however wasn't the same one I knew from before, so my worry turned into a bit of confusion, until he called over his shoulder, "Get well soon Lyon… and try not to make any puppies…"
My jaw dropped as soon as he finished, and with booming laughter, he opened the door and left. It felt like a lead weight had just been shoved into my gut while a magnet was glued to the floor beneath me, while a flamethrower was being used just a few feet in front of me. We had made jokes before about not knocking up the local population when we were on deployments, but this was an entirely new level that I hadn't been expecting. Taking a quick glance over towards Samantha revealed that unlike me, she had no idea what he had just said.
Shaking my head as I forced my jaw to seal, I looked down at the bed covers, before Sam slowly crawled up the bed and laid down beside me. Par usual, she snuggled closer to me, but with what Rich had just said, it felt like she was doing so much more than that, even though I knew that wasn't the fact. Placing my arm under her back and letting myself pull her closer with her back, I heard her ask, "What did he mean by making puppies? Surely this realm of humans isn't capable of making pups…"
Feeling my cheeks burn even more in this once in a long while of blushing, I raised a hand up and rubbed it over my eyes, before I said, "No, humans can't make puppies… he meant something else; just don't worry about what he says too much."
When I felt her shift a bit beside me, I lowered my hand, but left my eyes closed, before she asked, "Lyon… if your home is destroyed… where will we go?"
Feeling a smile grow on my lips, I said, "I will fix my home up, as for where we will be staying… well, I will worry about that as well." Letting out a sigh, I felt a yawn suddenly take hold of me, and I said, "For now, let us simply go to sleep… I'm still too tired from all the action…"
When Samantha put her muzzle right under my chin, I forced myself not to swallow as nervousness actually made itself known to me, and while that was being held back, she let out a yawn as well, before she nodded her head, and I felt myself drifting into slumber…
Smiling as Samantha and I looked at our new home, I knew it was going to be so much better than the previous house that had resided where it now stood. It had been a month since the events that had changed my view on the forest around me, and even then I knew that if those Templar ever did decide to show up again, they wouldn't have a chance to even fight me. The layout of our home had remained the same, except now; the weapons I had stored around this home would guarantee our survival until help arrived. The walls were even harder than before, and with all the new additions to the interior, we wouldn't be just living safely, but comfortably as well. I had two quads as my off roading vehicles now, as if I ever went out, I would prefer four wheels versus only two; but I still had yet to even get Samantha on a quad.
Looking up towards the second floor, I knew what was up there already, but I couldn't help but go through it in my head again. I had three bedrooms, two baths, and a massive assortment of shampoos in one of the closets; Samantha had been engrossed with Shampoo as soon as she learned it came in different scents. Unlike human skin, her fur retained the smell for the entire day.
Next, hidden away behind my clothes in the closet upstairs lay one of my newest toys… a functional Browning Light Machine gun; with a stand of course. The weapons I had received, amount of ammunition, and the means of which to maintain them had been staggering. My basement wasn't storage anymore… it was a full-fledged armory that could supply not only the needs I needed during the first engagement, but that which would help keep anything, and everything from causing harm to Samantha or I.
Smiling wider than before, I leaned over and placed a kiss in-between Sam's ears, and when she looked over at me, I asked, "Samantha… this is the beginning of our new lives…"
.
.
.
A.N.: Hello to all my faithful readers, I sadly say, this is the ending of my story. It has been a ride… one which I wish I hadn't started when I was still so dead tired from writing 'The Fabled World'. This story might not have been spawned originally from my own idea, but I must say, it has been a pleasure to write. Now, here is the thing, This is an ending… the New Beginning… well, whomever decides to try and undertake a task of writing a 'sequel' to this story, go ahead and ask me if you want to, but I'm pretty certain that if someone feels the need and/or want, go ahead and try to write something that goes off of this story. From Templar returning in greater numbers, or Samantha and Lyon living happily, or maybe even something as simple as having Lyon and Samantha go visit the TK realm instead; any of these ideas and your own, feel free to write about. This will most likely be it for me for this archive… I might scrap the TK/Halo idea, or I might just save it for a later date; unless someone can prove to me that they have the skills and means to write it and follow through with it. I have 8 chapters outlined in a notebook of mine for that story, but if you do ask to write that story for me, I will require you to show me that you have the skills of writing how I do; I don't want a good idea going to junk…
P.S.: Sorry that this chapter was rather short… last chapter was supposed to be the evil ending in mind, but I didn't feel like leaving you all hanging just like that… or at least not yet that is.
GrimlockX4: I'm a sucker for looking for good war vehicles to put into my stories, so glad you enjoyed it.
Maturedeath: There goes your ending, hope it was somewhere along enough to close up this story for you.
K.S. Reynard: Short, complete, and if I dare say myself, has closure to everything you listed. Sorry for the wait.
3-D Jak: Dude, I had finished a 111k story, and now this is added to that word count, as I started this soon after finishing that one… though I must say I am impressed with myself. Over 40k words done in 9 chapters… only 1 other story of mine is like that, and that story got SHIT for attention, and it was a sequel! Sorry, I try not to use cuss words too often in my 'T' stories, and this is the first cuss word I used in a reply to a review, but that word sums it up for how horrible that story did. Writing for the Rio section might have been a horrible waste of time for the stats on those stories…
-Everyone, thank 3-D Jak for suggesting this story!-