A/N: Chapter 16, as promised. Shortish chapter, longish A/N at the end. I don't own Valve.
/'Hunter!'/
/"Help me! Oh god get it off-"/
/I'm sorry/
/Need another 200 cc's/
There's a light above me. It's too bright.
It makes my eyes hurt.
/"Nice kong-jump, man."/
My eyes hurt before. A long time ago. I tried to scratch them. To stop the hurt.
/"I'm Marzia"/
So many noises in my head…
"Dr. Pasteur, he's awake."
There's something over my face. Over my nose, over my mouth. I can't smell.
I want to take it off, but I feel tired.
Now there's something in front of the light. A shape.
"Can you hear me?" It says. It sounds funny, all stuffy in my head.
I move my head. Yes.
The shape says something else to some other shape. It's still too bright.
So tired…
/"What's your name?"/
"Don't worry. You can rest now." says the shape.
Now the shape stops making noises, and it fades out, and I close my eyes and go back to the dark.
In the hours before the inevitable, (There were four. I counted 'em) I was filled with the sort of unpleasant, creeping feeling of dread that comes before a big math test, or going to the dentist, or meeting someone you nearly killed.
Actually, no. This was worse; I'd take graphing vectors or a root canal any day.
It felt awfully lose-lose; either he would be in a state where he didn't even remember who I was, or he would, and I'd have to face the fact that the last time I saw him, I was about to put a bullet through his head.
Conversation doesn't get any more awkward than that, I'll tell you.
It was early evening when they brought him in.
They wheeled the bed in next to mine, close enough so that I could see his face. It was odd enough to see him without his ever-present hoodie, and seeing him stuck full of IVs, and his hands strapped to the bed (To prevent any 'incidents' presumably) made it all the weirder.
Still, you could tell it was Denver. No one I know has eye-scars like that.
I watched in silence as several miscellaneous doctors, nurses, and technicians adjusted equipment, checked vitals, etc. before finally departing, leaving one nurse monitoring him, who shushed me before I could even say anything. "He's had a long day." She said, in a voice that left no room for argument. "Let him sleep. You can wait a little longer."
So I did.
There's light again, but not as bright.
I can smell, too. It smells…like something I smelled before, like chemicals and cleanness and…
Her.
I can smell her before I can see her. I'm used to it being under the smell of wood and smoke other things, but now that's all I can smell.
There's noises in my head, too, but it's more quiet now.
Something's gone.
The red, hot thing in my head…the noises that said hunt and chase and bite are gone. There's more noises there, but the one that was in my head the longest… is gone.
It makes my head feel funny.
I try to turn to her, but there's things on my hands and arms.
Just like before…
"You're up."
I turn my head away. There's someone else there that I can't see.
"Can you hear me?"
Nod. My throat feels dry.
"Wt'r."
The person gives me some, from a cup.
It feels less dry now, but it still hurts. I still try to talk.
" 'S Mar OK?"
The other person smells confused, under all the chemicals. "You mean Miss Walker?" She asks.
I don't know who that is, but she's pointing to Marcy, so I nod. The other person nods. "Miss Walker is fine. Let her sleep—she's been up half the night."
The noises in my head keep getting louder, so I close my eyes.
It hurts to hear them.
/'Are you in there?'/
/"It's tearing at me! Get it off—"/
"Whr'm I?" I ask. "Wh't h'pnd?"
"You don't know?"
I remember…
I try to hear the noises properly.
/It's me, Marcy/
Smells...
/It would have been better/
Pain…
/KILL/
Open up my eyes.
I pounced on her. I hurt her.
I almost killed her.
There's wet stuff coming from my eyes, and it hurts them.
It happened before, but I don't know when.
"Are you alright, honey?"
The other person nurse is smelling worried, and she's looking at me funny. I shake my head.
"T'rd to k'll her." I say.
She sighs, and shakes her head. "Hon, you're better now. You're talking to me. You still remember who she is. You don't have to worry, she's alright."
Mar isn't hurt. It makes me feel a little better.
But only a little.
"W'll sh'..fr'gve me?" I ask.
The nurse smiles at me, in a nice way, like someone did a long time ago but now I can't remember. "She waited for hours for you to come, and then waited for you to wake up, until she passed out. Really, she needs to get a good night's sleep, the silly girl." She says, looking a Mar. "So stubborn. You should, too, and you can see her in the morning. And I promise, hon, she won't be angry at you. Just the opposite. She'll forgive you, no trouble. But for now, leave her be. Just wait."
So I do.
There's always a feeling of muzziness when you first wake up from a deep sleep, like a computer that needs to boot up. In any case, it usually takes a moment or so for you to wake up, shake the sleep from your eyes, and answer life's important questions, like, Where am I? What happened? Why am I wearing a lampshade and holding a pool noodle?
In this case, as it was, it took me a minute or so to get my eyes used to the non-celestial lights, scold myself for drifting off, and get my thoughts in order. I was still fighting drowsiness when a voice jolted me awake.
It was the voice that I heard remember how to speak, haltingly at first, and then fairly fluently as time went on. It was the voice that I unwittingly taught to say several curses, or that would shriek every time I fired my gun. It was the voice I first heard cry out for help, and the voice of the person I'd grown to love over the two weeks that seemed years long and eons ago.
"Mar." It said.
I knew that voice anywhere.
I jolted upright, turning to the source.
And there he was, lying on the next bed over, awake, his brown eyes open and friendly, and not trying to kill me.
And they recognized me.
"Den."
A/N: That's all for Chapter 16! Chapter 17 is coming in a couple of days, so keep holding on.
To switch topics a little bit, I have a big announcement. Some of you eagle-eyed readers might be noticing that though I am hinting that the end of this story is near, that there is still a lot going on; A bit too much to end a story so quickly. Well, that's because I've been keeping a little secret from you.
Until now.
Because I'm writing a sequel.
That's right. An action-packed, full-on story that follows the events of Acts of Mercy. There will be chills! Thrills! Questions answered! Even more questions raised! Insults exchanged! Enemies made! Friends found! Threats made to the author for being so darn dramatic!
When will it be released? Well...I don't know. I'm working on it now, so maybe 3 months or so? Just keep checking back here. Hang on for the end of AoM, and also for the crazy-long Author's Notes. I've got some (other) big announcements coming up, so heads up.
Thank you to all my reviews, favvers, and followers! See you next chapter!
-Author