Dude. I am so boss.

I love this chapter, and it's almost 4,000 words. Sometimes... sometimes I'm just so awesome.

It took me about... *checks watch* four and a half hours to write this, but it was pretty fun. I'm glad that last chapter didn't throw me out of my groove or anything.

Read, and if you don't review I'll get you! (And your little dog too!)

Chapter 15

The hallways were dark at night, but easily navigable with the columns of moonlight shining through the windows. In the touch of the silvery light, dust motes could be seen, lazily sailing from one end of the light to the other, sometimes getting caught in invisible waves of shifting currents and twirling, looping in the air. The night was calm and silent, except for two padding feet making their way down the dormant hallway.

The nights were long and frosty, he thought to himself, lying uncomfortably in a rather comfortable bed. He still wasn't used to the softness of hospital sheets, having grown rather used to sleeping in trenches, bunched up against his comrades in times of confined quarters, whether they wanted to or not. He'd spent too many seemingly endless nights trying to stay alive than actual nights which were silent and truly endless. It was too dark, too quiet, too calm for him and Evil couldn't bring himself to fall asleep in the security, which unnerved him into distrust.

Evil forced himself to shut his eyes. He'd been thinking about things, what had happened and what was to be. He'd been thinking for the past two days. Things were strange, different, bright in this new world and Evil wondered how Flippy could stand the sickly sweetness of it. He'd observed the other patients in their beds, and their carefree attitudes, despite their apparently horrid illness was in its own way disturbing.

In Evil's initial shock to interacting with the 'real world' for the first time, he'd neglected to notice some very important things about his body. He was glad to see that everything still worked the same, though he'd have to test one important aspect, he thought with an impish grin.

Flippy hadn't said too much in the last two days, having decided Evil would want to think things over for himself before the saner of the two bears got to explaining again. Half of Evil was thankful for the silence. He was quite intimidated by the thought of having Flippy explain anything to him again (it went so smoothly the last time). Hell knew that he didn't need to be driven mad by the complexity and confusion produced by Flippy's 'explanation'. There was something, though, that Evil did want to hear. Over the past few days, the more he'd been thinking about it the more he wanted to know. Evil knew that when he saw that porcupine female in his 'dreams', it was always when he was killing her. But… how could that be? If he was watching reality, than how could she still be alive? He fully intended to get some sort of explanation from Flippy, but the bear was treading carefully. He was hiding something and Evil knew it.

A soft whimpering sound reached Evil's ears, and without opening his eyes he stuck his leg out and kicked Flippy in the back, unsettling the bear from his nightmare. Flippy grunted, but didn't awaken; he rolled onto his other side and quickly settled back to sleep again. Evil rolled his eyes, though they were closed. What did Flippy have to dream bad dreams about? It wasn't like Evil was giving him nightmares anymore.

Evil thought these thoughts sourly. He should be the one tossing and turning in his bed. He'd been the one living in some false world in someone else's head, fighting a war that had apparently ended years ago. It wasn't a secret, even from Evil himself, that the bear had always loved fighting; killing, to be precise. But that didn't mean he didn't feel as if his life had been wasted. He had been killing, yes, but it was for an actual cause. General Tiger (the name made Evil growl deeply in his throat) was a menace, and had to be stopped. Evil was just glad his first memory of existence was when he'd slaughtered General Tiger and all of his men.

But what was there to do now that there was no one to kill? Evil could feel the craving, the itch for his fingers to wrap around his knife, a gun maybe, and shoot someone down. He imagined a tiger running from him on the field, and him running after it, knife in hand. It was poised, glinting harsh sunlight from its smooth, dotted surface as Evil caught up to the fleeing tiger. They turned, stared in horror as Evil grinned, pulling the knife and –

A sound jolted Evil awake. He hadn't even realized he'd drifted off, having been distracted with the thoughts of such pleasant events. He was rather displeased, though, at having been awoken in such a un-soldier-like way.

Maybe all of my reflexes were just a dream too, Evil thought bitterly, and blinked, keeping one eye closed and the other opened as he waited to see who'd entered the wing.

It was her. Evil deeply inhaled and tried to keep still so she wouldn't see he was awake. Slowly, like a wisp of snow, she walked over to Flippy's bed. Evil had been stationed right beside Flippy and was using one that was vacant from the other side of the room. Evil thought someone might have been using it before, because the mattress smelled like musk and dirt.

She reached Flippy's bed, and after glancing over at Evil, reached a hand from beneath the white blanket she had draped about herself. At her touch Flippy awoke almost immediately. He withheld a cough, but managed to sit up, whispering to Flaky in a low voice. Evil didn't try to listen, but Flaky's words were higher, hard to ignore as she whispered.

"It's time for your medicine," she said to the bear, revealing a glass of water beneath the blanket. She set it down on the table and handed Flippy three small white pills. "Sniffles says you'll need to take them once very nine hours, to help with the throat and sinuses. He wants to check your ears in the morning."

"Thank you, Flaky."

"You're welcome, Flippy."

Evil frowned. They spoke each other's names in such a familiar manner. He couldn't help but suspect… But that female, Flaky, she seemed so… timid. Flippy was never one for timid girls. Or was that just him? It was hard to tell if his feelings and preferences were his own anymore.

Flippy took the pills and then settled back down – Flaky sat beside his bed until he fell back to sleep. She was sitting with her back to the wall so that her entire left side was visible to Evil besides her waist and legs. The porcupine's dark red fur contrasted sharply against the white of her shirt and blanket. Evil watched and listened as she sat in the silence, listening to Flippy's steady breathing. She tilted her head toward the window. There hadn't been one when Evil arrived, but Sniffles had Handy put one in for the Heavy ward a day ago. The anteater said they were using too much electricity to keep the room lit (because apparently the nights were getting longer). It was a misshapen window but had a certain charm to it, said one very sarcastic raccoon. Evil still wasn't so sure which was the shifter and which was the lifter.

The moonlight touched her with soft, hesitant fingers, and Evil almost scowled. He was not one for poetic description, but this female seemed to acquire a different eye. The light from outside outlined her face, giving her an ethereal glow much like a ghost. But her eyes were fogged with sadness and worry. It was beautiful, yet at the same time eerie.

Without thinking, Evil opened his eyes fully, rested on his elbow and quietly said, "¿Son una ángel o una fantasma...?"

Flaky jumped, hopping from her seat and stared at Evil with wide, scared eyes. The look in her eyes made Evil angry, but he tried to understand – if he had killed her before, than he supposed she had every right to fear him.

They were in silence for a few moments, with Flaky debating whether or not to fight or flee and Evil having every intention to keep her in the room for as long as possible. The bear blinked, and Flaky hesitantly lowered her arms, which she'd raised in instinctual defense.

"What time is it…?" Evil whispered softly to her, fearing that even the slightest noise would frighten her. The porcupine forced herself not to flinch and said just as quietly, "Around seven in the morning."

"Hm." Evil sat up slowly, still staring at Flaky, and then scratched a cut on his right ear. Flaky watched but didn't move. Truthfully, she wanted to get over this somewhat irrational fear she had of Evil right then and there. It really wasn't fair, especially when he wanted to talk to her (to apologize, she guessed, or at least understand). And he didn't act as if he was dangerous. He'd been rather quiet the past two days, contemplating what had happened, scrunched up in the corner of the heavy ward like a lost child; to be perfectly honest, Flaky felt a little sorry for the bear. She wondered what it would be like to be ripped from your own reality, thrown into a whole different world, a world in which you weren't the original and all you'd been living was a complete lie, the memory of another's.

She took a step closer, but all of a sudden she got a kind of invisible itch at the back of her head. Flaky turned, stared at the door and then looked back at Evil. His eyes were dark, as if he knew what she was thinking, and Flaky felt guilty again. She didn't want to leave, really she didn't – half of her was quite willing to stay and try to converse with the raggedy bear. But the other half of her was still itching, and Flaky's ear twitched. She hadn't heard anything, but felt like she was about to. Evil noticed and cocked his own ear towards the door, glancing at it expectantly.

A sound from upstairs. Flaky looked up but began walking towards the door, no longer worried over Evil. She opened the door to the ward, but was halted in her travels by a blur of green. Flaky squeaked as she was knocked over by the wind, only to fall into the hands of a green-eyed bear. Evil quickly pushed her back to her feet – no time for awkward moments, not on his watch – and gently pushed her aside to lean out of the doorway. But there was nothing. Whatever had passed was gone, and by the sounds coming from beyond, Evil guessed it had gone towards the kitchen. There was the opening of a fridge, the clattering of things in drawers and cupboards. Evil could hear whatever it was ripping open bags, laughing in delight and gobbling something hungrily.

Flaky came up from behind Evil. "That sounds a lot like…"

Suddenly, thudding, and a huge blue figure came bumping down the stairs. Flaky screamed shortly, having caught sight of the figures huge, pointy antlers as they descended, eventually meeting the ground floor. Evil saw that it was a huge blue moose, which was now upside-down, his antlers caught in the ground so that his whole body was suspended in the air. The moose panicked and reached his arms out to the wall to steady his suspended body.

In another second, a second figure seemed to fly by, except this time it was light blue instead of green. Flaky gasped, finally recognizing what was happening and she stumbled out of the room. Evil watched with interest as she started after the flying object only to pause, look back at Evil and then call out, "Splendid! Splendid, come here!"

A wind blew by, and before Evil could blink there was some kind of squirrel standing before her. He tried not to smirk and roll his eyes when he saw the cape, the heroic pose that the squirrel – Splendid – struck as he stood before Flaky. Fists on hips, feet spread apart, head settled to one side as his cape fluttered from the wind he had produced. "Yes? Who is it that has called on I¸ Splendid?"

Flaky rolled her eyes and asked, "Splendid, you're alive? And so are Lumpy and Nutty?"

"Indeed, citizen," Splendid said politely enough, though the use of his 'hero voice' was beginning to pull on Evil's nerves. As if his ears didn't ache enough. "We awoke but a few hours ago, disoriented, for we knew not where we were. Eventually Nutty got stir crazy and burst from the room without the okay from Sniffles. I thought it my duty to follow him downstairs and secure him once more. I know how he is…"

"That was Nutty?" Flaky asked in disbelief. But only four days ago he was too weak to stand, let alone run around like that. I don't understand…" Another thought stuck Flaky. "Oh gosh! He's going to eat everything in the kitchen. Splendid, would you mind?"

"No problem," Splendid said, turning and flying into the kitchen. The sounds of fighting and screaming could be heard as Splendid dragged Nutty away from the food. Flaky sighed and turned to give Lumpy a look. The moose raised his eyebrows and tried to shrug. "Don' look at me, I didn't do nothin'…"

"What the hell is going on?" Both Evil and Flaky turned at Sniffles's voice, coming from the kitchen. The anteater must have walked in on Nutty and Splendid fighting. Flaky winced as she imagined Sniffles trying to stop it. She hurried over to the kitchen, but Evil stayed where he was, trying to think things over.

About thirty minutes later, Splendid managed to tie and gag Nutty with chains and had thrown the hyperactive squirrel over in the heavy ward. By then everyone had awoken. The blue female skunk was practically fawning over the Nutty, Evil noted, and he watched as a yellow rabbit with pink bunny slippers – Cuddles, Flippy had called him – went to go fetch a filer for Lumpy's antlers the second Flaky started urging him. The blue anteater, Sniffles, was standing at the doorway, leaning against it with a claw over his eyes. Flaky was standing beside him, whispering, concern etched on her face as Evil watched from afar. The anteater spoke back but did not remove the claw.

Flippy had awoken and was exiting the bathroom when Evil leaned over and said, "So, what's the deal with four-eyes over there? What's he exactly?"

Flippy sat on his bed and looked over at Sniffles. "He's kind of our doctor."

"Doctor? Kind of?"

"He's really smart and he has a lot of medical experience," Flippy explained. "He's the one who's been giving us check-ups and medicine and all that good stuff."

"Ah. And the chica?"

"Flaky," Flippy said, giving Evil a look. The darker bear didn't seem intimidated. "Si, that's what I said. La chica?"

Flippy rolled his eyes and said, "She's been helping him out around the hospital with all of us. She's kind of like a nurse."

"Ah," Evil said again, nodding. The room was still dark, no one had turned the light on, but everyone was comfortable with just the moonlight from outside.

"I still don't understand…" Sniffles muttered to Flaky, who stood by his side, hands folded. The porcupine shrugged and put her hand on Sniffles's shoulder, saying, "I don't either. But it seems like a good thing – Nutty's better! And so is Splendid, and they were two of the worst."

"But it took three days for them to return," Sniffles said. "The period of rebirth has never been so elongated. It concerns me. I'm beginning to consider… that there isn't anything typical about this illness."

"Don't worry about it," Flaky insisted. She was eager to find a reason, any reason, for Sniffles to relax. "You shouldn't think too hard about it, especially… especially if there isn't anything you can do about it."

"But there has to be something–"

"Sniffles." Flaky stood before the anteater and hesitantly crossed her arms. "Listen. You've been working too hard – much too hard, and don't try to tell me otherwise. I'm worried about you. And besides," Flaky gestured around her, at their friends who were talking, even smiling in the dim light of the moon. "Everyone's getting better. Nutty, Lumpy and Splendid are back – Nutty more sugar hungry than he ever has been, and Splendid has his powers back."

"Lumpy's still dumb as a doornail, though," Sniffles said. But there was humor in his voice, and Flaky smiled at him. "See? Things are getting better. Ever since Evil came, Flippy's been better too. And even Petunia – you know, she hasn't even asked me to change her sheets every day. She waited a whole day before asking."

"Really…?" Sniffles sounded happy, hopeful, but there was a peculiar look on his face. Flaky frowned, but before she could go on trying to convince him things were going to be fine, Handy walked up from the stairway. Sniffles frowned, but Handy spoke, "Now, before you get angry with me Sniffles, lemme just tell you that the boys upstairs were the ones who sent me. They wanted to know what it was that tore through the upstairs hallway and woke us all up."

Handy was halfway in the room and finally noticed the three people who had been dead only a few hours ago. "Hey, it's Nutty! And Splendid and Lumpy! When did they get here?"

"This morning," Flaky told him, "a few hours ago. And they're perfectly fine, too! Besides a bit of coughing, they're their regular old selves."

"Well that's great…" Handy said. "I'm glad they're back. I was worried they were gone for good. But it sure did take them a while, didn't it?"

Flaky frowned at the orange beaver, but movement caught her attention. She, Sniffles and Handy looked over to see the Mole, who was stirring for the first time since Flaky had first entered the ward. He sighed, his silky purple pajamas whispering as he sat up and stretched, feeling for his cane. It had surprised Flaky the first night they stayed, because she learned that the Mole always wore his shades, even when he was asleep. She supposed he could risk it – he had more than one pair. The mole, however, paused in his search for the cane and grunted in distaste, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses.

But when the Mole removed his hand, his eyebrows rose above the edge of his shades, and Flaky was astonished to see the mole looking around, as if he was actually looking around. "Sniffles," the purple mole called suddenly, his voice urgent but calm at the same time. Sniffles quickly went over to the Mole, and Flaky's breath stopped when the Mole seemed to follow Sniffles's movements, turning his head. Handy, who stood beside her, was speechless as well. By then everyone in the room was watching with curiosity. "What is it Mole?"

"I see… shapes…"

"Shapes?"

The purple mole nodded. Sniffles removed the Mole's shades to inspect his eyes, but the mole winched, hissed and tried snatching them back. Much to everyone's surprise, he succeeded. Handy gasped and walked over to Sniffles, both of them staring at the Mole with wonder. The Mole himself was intrigued by his own reaction, and carefully, slowly began to open his violet eyes one by one. It was agonizingly slow, for he kept wincing against the moonlight and closing his eyes again. Handy frowned, took hold of the Mole's shoulders and turned him so that he was facing Handy and his back was to the moonlight. The mole opened one eye, held it, blinked and then opened his other one.

The process repeated a few times before he was finally able to open both eyes and keep them open. Flaky stared in wonder. She'd actually seen the Mole's eyes once before, and they hadn't been such a brilliant color purple. Before they had been a dusty, foggy sort of purple, more blue than anything else. But now they shone like amethysts, sparkling though they didn't face the light.

The mole blinked, stared and then leaned forward to inspect Handy's face. The braver kept completely still. Flaky could see out of the corner of her eye Evil lean over and whisper something into Flippy's ear. Flippy frowned and then whispered harshly back, only to have Evil chuckle in response.

"You… can see me?" Handy asked, almost hesitantly, and Flaky thought maybe a bit fearfully. The Mole leaned back and said, his voice its regular deep, smooth self, "You aren't half as ugly as I thought you were. I'd go as far as saying you aren't ugly at all." Ignoring Handy's astonished face, the Mole looked down and spotted Handy's hands – or rather lack thereof. "And you really don't have hands. Hm. All this time I thought it was just a gag or something. You fix things so well, among accomplishing other things. I'm surprised you can do half of the stuff you do without them."

"What do you mean not as ugly as you thought," Handy said eventually, recovering from shock. Flaky and Sniffles exchanged a look, but the situation was quickly becoming quite amusing. Even Flippy, who usually kept out of other's quarrels, leaned forward a bit. Whether it was from Evil, who leaned eagerly over his shoulder or not Flaky wasn't sure.

"Well, what with me being blind, I had to assume," the Mole said. "I mean, usually when one is blind, the other's taking advantage of–"

"Shhh!" Handy said angrily, putting a nub to the Mole's face, his face falling into its familiar scowl of frustration. "We'll… talk about that later."

"Talk about it now," Evil called from the back, and as Flippy gently hit his identical other on the head, Evil muttering angry curses in Spanish, Flaky couldn't help but laugh.

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