Chapter XXI
Shattered
Chapter XXI
He woke up with a blazing pain in his side. He sat up holding onto his side, it hurt just to breathe. Where was he? Who was he? He looked up, to what must have been the strangest sight in his pitifully short memory. There were animals, bipedal animals! And they were standing around him.
There was an orange male fox, and two vixens, one red and the other...blue? What the hell? Also around him was a toad, some sort of bird, an old dog with two armored companions, a rabbit, an older and younger wolf, and finally some sort of feline and another dog, the last four looked like females but the disorientated man couldn't be sure. Okay what was going on? "Who the fuck are you guys?" He demanded of them, he wanted answered and he would get them!
For some reason they seemed confused, what the heck? He should be the one confused. "Uh....don't you remember us?" The male fox asked, with what looked to be a disturbed expression.
"No!" He grunted angrily before shouting. "I don't even remember my own fucking name!" They froze and looked to each other with distraught faces. He felt kinda bad and so lowered his tone of voice. "Why...should I?"
"Don't you remember me...us?" The blue vixen asked, voice cracking, and gestured to herself and then to the female dog.
For some reason he felt that he should, but he didn't. "I'm sorry...but no." He felt terrible as he said it, but it was the truth.
She visibly deflated and almost collapsed onto the linoleum floor. She was saved by the red colored fox woman and the feline, who held her upright. The little wolf girl was crying and being held by the older one.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" The avian growled angrily throwing his hands into the air. While they all looked like someone died, he looked down to his own body, it was suddenly wracked with jolting pain.
He groaned and clenched his chest with his remaining hand and snarled in pain, gasping. His heart felt as though it was being throttled. "Uuuaagghhhh!" He roared in pain and fell over out of the bed, and onto the cold tiled ground. The group in front of him froze as he seized on the floor groaning pain.
"Oh gods!" The blue vixen shouted in fear and ran to his side, and tried to hold his quivering form, soon followed by that brown and white female dog. Even in the delirious pain, the man looked to them in wonder. Who had he been to these two, to make them worry so? The pain became so intense that he jarred to a stop and blacked out.
As soon as Alex stopped shaking, Krystal began to cry over him. This was not what she was expecting, amnesia and sickness, it was terrible! Would he ever be the same again? "Its worse then I had feared." Peppy said sadly as he looked at the once strong human. The one who had seemed invincible, coming out on top of everything he had faced.
"Will he ever be the same?" Miyu asked, her eyes watery. (Penelope was still crying, holding onto her sister like a drowning man to a raft. Falco and Fox stood, with dark frowns on their faces. Slippy was speechless, staring at the amnesiac human on the floor. Pepper, had a tired expression, he had seen too much of this before. His two guards were slumped, but still standing. These had been the two to first speak with Alex before he joined Starfox, all that time, long ago. They had been elated to see him again, but they were not elated with what they had found.)
"I don't know...I just don't know." Peppy replied. They all sat in silence, having no idea what to do now.
The man awoke again, he had no idea how long he had slept, or even where he was. But he did know that his dreams where filled with those two animal girls, that vixen and that dog. They floated around in his mind, frustrating him when he couldn't place who they were. Once more he wracked his brain, desperately trying to recall who he was, who he had been. But for all his efforts, he did not find an answer.
He sat up (someone had kindly placed him back on the cot and draped a blanket over his body), and looked around. He thought he was alone until he heard a voice to his left. "Your awake." It sounded...downtrodden, that was the best way to describe it. He turned to see the blue vixen from before and the collie woman was sleeping in a chair. Her chocolate furred head in the other ones lap, with the vixen stroking it soothingly.
"Yes I am." He replied neither friendly nor hostile. He then stared at her, her forlorn muzzle tickling something in his mind. "I-I uh...." He struggled to say what he was thinking, distracted by her features. All of a sudden he felt a searing pain in his head, causing him to groan and hold it. With the pain came a thought, a brief flashing image that burned into his mind. The blue vixen, she was Krystal! "...Krystal?" He whispered quietly.
The cerulean vixen had locked up when he started to have an episode, not knowing what to do. She was worried that if she tried to comfort him, he would lash out. Krystal didn't know this version of Alex, not what he was capable of. But, before she could decide on a course of action, her ears twitched, she had head him say her name. In excitement she leaned forward "yes?"
With the migraine dissipating his head cleared, he looked up to her. "Your Krystal, that's your name!" He exclaimed happily, having remembered something of his past.
"Yes! Yes I am!" She squeaked elatedly. "Do you remember her?" The now identified Krystal asked anxiously, motioning to the sleeping collie.
His smile vanished quickly replaced by painful disappointment. "No....no I don't." He whispered, drooping his head, a single tear rolling down his face. He turned back to look into Krystal's emerald eyes with a ravenous hunger for knowledge. "Who was I to you?" His voice was laced with desperation as he mined for any information that could spark something else in him. "Who am I?"
She began to look thoughtful, taking a few minutes to try and answer. Krystal couldn't think of any easy way to explain it. But then inspiration struck! The necklace! Hurriedly she detached it and held it out to him, as it dangled in her grip, glinting in the light of the hospital reflecting off the jewelry, she hoped, beyond hope, that it would do something.
Quizzically, he reached for her paw, when his hand connected with her paw, he felt a jolt. As if that signified something meaningful that he could not grasp. Now wary, he grabbed the necklace and twisted it over, spying an inscription on it. "Alexander...." He mumbled softly, tracing the thumb from his only remaining hand over the etched lettering. "Is that me?" He asked, turning to her for confirmation, eyes shining with hope.
"Yes." She answered softly, for the first time since this all happened, she smiled, canines flashing as her muzzle spread wide.
"Alexander...Alexander....Alexander." He whispered the title to himself, trying to get a feel for what must be his name. At long last, he knew his name, it made him joyous beyond belief. He had a name! With a name came a life...with a name came purpose...with a name came hope! Things he thought he would never have thought to have again. But now, there was a chance he could regain it all. "I....I am...ALEXANDER!" He exclaimed loudly and exuberantly, waking the slumbering collie, making her shoot up, and alerting everyone outside his room.
Fox was the first one in, and when he saw the human up had a hopeful expression on his face. "...Alex?" He asked hesitantly. The others waited on their claw tips for his response.
The man turned to him slowly. "That's my name!" He said proudly. "I have a name!" His voice was innocent in its giddy wonder, as if he had just discovered the meaning of life.
"So you remember us all now?" Fox asked anxiously.
"Well no, but at least I have my name." Alex said rather sullenly and defensively, upset that these people didn't appreciate the greatness of that personal achievement.
"That's great!" Krystal said encouragingly, giving Fox and the others a dirty look, telling them with it to take it easy. She didn't want anything to hamper or stall his recovery.
He looked back down to the necklace and handed it back to Krystal slowly. "Here this is yours...Krystal." He said pleasantly, savoring the sound of her name on his lips. The necklace gave him a small idea of what she meant to his old self. And, of what the other woman meant, he a looked to the collie that had a depressed expression, plastered on her muzzle that had aligned itself with the floor. She must have been feeling a little left out of everything. "And you're Fay right?" He asked gently, making her head look upwards at the sound of him addressing her specifically.
"Y-yeah." She stuttered, unsure of what it was leading to.
"Its nice to see you....again, even if I don't remember." He said with a playful smile. Even if he didn't recall her, he could still be nice. She smiled widely at that, making him grin mirthfully. He didn't want her to look sad. He felt compelled to make her happy, even though he was not sure what she was to him. It was an odd, yet warm feeling, one he liked.
He turned to the others apologetically. "I'm afraid that you all still remain a mystery to me. No matter how much I wished it wasn't so."
They all looked somewhat disgruntled at that. But the Fox guy grinned through the pain. "Well in any case, its good to see that your remembering something!" He forced a cheerful tone out of his mouth. Alex... (ah, to have a name again! It was a good feeling. ) knew that the vulpine was dissatisfied, but couldn't fake memories, and act like he did remember them. Still even though he knew that, he was upset. All these holes in his mind, like Swiss cheese, angered him. And if he though too hard on it, he began to feel disturbed, as if something else occupied those parts of his mind. It was not...nice. He avoided those parts for now, sometime later he would try to access them.
Suddenly, he found himself exhausted, falling back to the bed. Whatever prevented his suffering had dissipated, rekindling the fires of pain. With a groan he hit the soft bedding. It became too much for him to bear. His chest began to feel restricted, his right shoulder was sore, and his legs held a deep resonating ache. "I fear I am...not so good right now." He mumbled, his voice was strained.
"It's alright, you just rest now." Krystal said soothingly, beginning to softly rub his uninjured cheek with a furred paw. She began to hum a beautiful tune, lulling him into a deep slumber. Soon the man fell asleep, with a smile on his face.
Krystal sighed and leaned back, sure it wasn't how she wanted it, but at least some headway had been made. She felt better then earlier. Alex had recalled her name, that was good. Perhaps, with luck, he would recover swiftly.
"Well...I guess that is better then nothing." Fox said, eyeing the sleeping human.
"Maybe he'll be back to normal by tomorrow!" Slippy exclaimed hopefully, looking to his friends.
"I pray it is so Slippy." Peppy exhaled quietly, patting the amphibian on the shoulder.
"Big brother is going to get better?" Penelope asked tearfully. It was hard for her to understand amnesia, but she tried valiantly to.
"Yep, he will be back to cracking jokes and making food in no time!" Falco stated confidently, trying to cheer up the little ebony ball of fur. Lupa gave him a grateful smile, which he shrugged at, acting like his usual tough self.
Miyu didn't say anything, but she was concerned that it would not be that easy, for some reason they had seemed to forget his condition. Not only was he dying, but she saw that he was not wearing his amulet. It would only be a matter of time until his dementia reared its ugly head. And when it did occur, it would not be pleasant for any party involved.
Fara on the over hand was surprisingly optimistic. She thought that he would make a full recovery by the week's end. Surely, all his efforts and kindness would be rewarded by the deities overhead. They would help him and the others through this most difficult time.
Pepper pulled Fox to the side, he also had not forgotten about Alex's condition. "What are your plans in case he loses it?" The hound asked, not attempting to be gentle about it. He was concerned about the the chance of it occurring.
"I...hadn't thought about it." Fox replied uncertainly. The vulpine had not considered that yet, nor did he want to.
"You should Fox, just incase." Pepper warned and turned to leave. "It never hurts to be prepared."