Chapter XXII
Sorry again for the lateness of these pieces. Please enjoy and review if your up to it.
Drake
Shattered
Chapter XXII
Alex woke up feeling ill and disorientated, it was becoming a regular occurrence for the unfortunate amnesiac. Still groggy, he swept his eyes around his surroundings, it appeared he was still in the same hospital bed, although he was alone in the room this time and from the looks outside the dark window, it was late in the night. For a few minutes he sat in silence, not thinking about his problems, just sitting in the barely lit room. Yet, the itch to rediscover himself became too much, so he closed his eyes and tried to remember.
It took half an hour before he started to feel anything change. He was getting a flashback of...something, vague notions of who these strange animal people were, and flittering images, he tried harder to recall it all until he heard a voice, that let the images slip through his grasp and back into the void. "Hey brother how's it going?"
He opened his eyes to see another person standing beside his bed, a human like him, smiling widely. "Who the hell are you?" Alex demanded harshly, enraged that the man had stopped him on the brink of remembrance.
"How could you not remember an old friend?" The man asked with a hurt look on his face. "Its me, Santiago!"
"Santiago?" Alex muttered warily, he had not seen the man enter and had immediately become suspicious of his arrival.
"Yeah Santiago, you have to remember me! We fought together man, bled together!" The man prompted helpfully, although with some force.
"No sorry I can't remember, apparently I have amnesia, if you haven't noticed." He fired back caustically. This man pressed all the wrong buttons for some reason, something was...off about him.
"That really is unfortunate." This "Santiago" sighed. "I was hoping you would remember me. I just had to warn you."
"Warn me? About what?" Alex demanded, suspicious golden eyes glaring at the strange man that had come out of the blue and barraged him with words.
Santiago turned around briefly to stare at the whitewashed wall to the left of the bed, letting an unseen malevolent grin manifest on his face. "I wanted to make sure that even in your forgetful state, you were warned."
"About what?!" Alex shouted angrily, starting to lose his patience with this visitor.
"Oh, just that you can't trust these animals." Santiago replied offhandedly, turning back around to give him a serious look. "They are lying to you!"
"How?" Alex asked, not wanting to believe this guy, yet developing a little doubt in his damaged mind.
"They aren't telling you everything." Santiago whispered softly, that some how having a bigger effect than if he had shouted. "They have secrets, plans, for you! They can't be trusted!"
"Oh, but you can?" Alex muttered derisively, unamused with this man's attempts to sway him. "Frankly, I trust them more then some random man who says he's from my past,at least a few of them I somewhat remember!"
"You say that now, but I think your opinion will change." Santiago said confidently, as if Alex was a child that firmly believed in a lie, and will soon realize the error of his ways.
"Sure." Alex grunted and turned away to face the window, dismissing the stranger from his mind. He had nothing but ill things to say and honeyed words. Even without his memory, he knew a rat when he saw one. Still, no matter how confident he was, a sliver of doubt remained, festering in his mind. Perhaps he was right, and he was trying to warn him.
"Santiago" snarled at his failed attempt to crack the one who could make more of the markers. Dropping the disguise, it slunk back into the man's mind, like a snake back into its den, its ruse failed. No matter, it would try again another day, waiting patiently, it would have the chance to make its move. The signal always won in the end, only time could tell, and this time would not be any different.
Fay was out in the hallway, she had just finished up her late night meal, it had been bland and flavorless. She wasn't so sure it was just because it was hospital food. Fay thought back to the last few hours, and how frustrating and depressing they've been. The team had all left Alex's room after he fell asleep and went down to the cafeteria.
Since then they've just been sitting around, trying to figure out what to do and helping her and Krystal cope with this stressful development. It had been hell for the two females for the past week-and-a-half, from thinking he was dead to stumbling upon the shattered man himself. Yet the ever hopeful collie refused to let herself fall into despair, Alex would get better, she was sure of it! It was the only way she could still think about it. The best thing to do now would be to check up on him she decided firmly, picking up her pace to reach his room.
As she neared the room she heard a brief but heated argument coming from behind the closed door, but the strangest thing was she could only make out Alex's voice doing all the shouting. He sounded angry and annoyed. Concerned, she rushed to the room, thinking he was in trouble. As she got closer to the entrance, the argument stopped and it went silent. She opened the door hesitantly and walked in.
No one but Alex was in the room, and he was laying on his side facing the paned night skyline of the cornerian capital. Fay padded over to his bedside, boots tapping quietly on the continuously polished floor till she softly set herself down at the edge of his bed. She wanted to ask him about the disturbance, but decided it would be better just to sit with him and let him open up to her.
They both sat and laid there respectively, until he finally spoke up, fifteen minutes later. "The night sky." He mumbled vaguely, and almost offhandedly. She hummed, questioningly, making him speak again. "It's quite beautiful, the bright lights sparkling in the darkness with such beauty, like fireflies, and yet ever fearful that the power will go out, smothering them in darkness." Alex replied softly, not really talking to her, or even himself for the matter.
"Kinda've like my mind, I lay here, in terror, that the pitifully minuscule memories I have managed to painstakingly tear out will seep back into the depthless insanity of my amnesia riddled brain, like water over splayed fingers." He whispered the last part softly, as he brought his calloused hand into the dim light of the window, staring at it intently. He only gave his left stump a cursory glance. It was at the absolute bottom of his list of concerns.
Fay continued to be silent, but watched him with sympathetic eyes. She felt for him, and more then that, she cared for him. Still, she waited for him to say more, to break out of this introspective cage that had been beaten, smashed and slashed into him by the demented ape scientist, and perhaps recover some more of his memories. When they find Liedman, nothing would protect him from her rage.
As she studied Alex's tortured expression she couldn't help but climb into the bed and snuggle up to him, wrapping her warm fuzzy arms and body around his chest, squeezing him comfortingly, trying her best to do what she could for him now. He was shivering and his body was clammy, even under the mound of blankets, but when she went under the covers and hugged him to her chest, it stopped.
He didn't reject her closeness, rather he embraced it, and her, hugging the collie back fiercely, as if she was his lifeline to his return to normalcy, and in point of fact, she was. "And though there will always be darkness, at least for now there is light." He whispered that last line, and turned to face Fay, staring into her dazzling sapphire eyes. His golden orbs crying out for help. Fay couldn't help herself, she linked her pure white paws around the back of his head and brought him into a deep kiss, mashing her muzzle into his mouth, almost with desperation, her long canind tongue stroked the inside of his mouth gently, soothingly. They laid like that, lips locked-together for a long time. It was her first real kiss with him, and she loved it.
After awhile, she reluctantly broke away from the intimate gesture, somewhat breathless, panting softly. Alex looked to her with a thoughtful expression, "hmm....so that's who I was to you."
"You were, and are, more then that, so much more." She replied, her usually boisterous and bright voice subdued, speaking for the first time since she entered the room, and hugging him even tighter. "And you always will be."
Alex pondered at that. She was clearly being serious, he was something very important to this woman and no doubt the other. So then why was this Santiago fellow trying to make him not trust them? Something was very bad about that man, maybe she would know more? "Uh...Fay..." He asked with a halting tone, making sure he said her name right.
"Yes Alex?" She replied, her muzzle lodged comfortably under his chin and over his broad shoulder. She was laying down and enjoying the snuggling, and was surprised to hear him talk to her directly and with a point.
"Do you know of a man named Santiago? He was here a little while ago and talked with me. I didn't and I particularly enjoy what he had to say." He felt her stiffen up under him, and began to feel a little nervous that what he said upset her. And a small part of himself began to whisper, reminding him of the man's words. Alex brutally stomped it down into the proverbial dust. He would not let the voices in his head drive his actions and thoughts.
Meanwhile, Fay was panicking internally, If she remembered correctly, Santiago was one of Alex's friends, and he died a long time ago. That was not a good thing, it meant that his dementia was coming back, they would have to take care of it, and soon.
But the most vital decision right now was wether to let him know, or keep it a secret. If they kept it a secret, then he would almost certainly be furious if and when he uncovered the deception. On the other hand, if he was told, there was no guarantee he would believe them or if he would begin to distrust them. It was a hard decision, one she wish she didn't have to make. But considering he asked now and she couldn't just leave or brush it off, she would have to. So Fay steeled herself and made her choice.
"Alex, when you still had your memory, you told us that he died along time ago, along with the rest of your species, humanity." She winced, waiting for the fallout that would he sure to come from such a bombshell of a revelation. What happened instead was a relieving announcement, that was a solid five minutes in he making.
"I.....believe you." Alex said slowly. He had come to a decision to trust these people over the mysterious new man. It also made some sense considering he had apparently materialized from no where, just because he did not remember everything did not mean he was an idiot, but that did shed light on another more worrisome problem. He was talking to things in his head and the apparition of a deceased man. He was not only an amnesic, but he was an insane one. To compile it even more, he was apparently the last of his kind. All that was allot to digest at the moment and threatened to overwhelm his scattered and befuddled mind.
Fay, with her animalistic intuition, could detect Alex's troubled disposition. In response she hugged him tighter, using her whole body. He could feel the pricking claws of her paws and hindpaws as they encircled him. "Its great that you believe me, and your not crazy, I know it!" She yipped and nuzzled deeper into his muscled chest.
Alex chuckled softly at the way she phrased it, those encouraging words and her passionate embrace, it allowed him settle down. He was feeling tired again, and he knew it was happing way too often to be a natural phenomenon. It felt like his soul was slowly leaking out of his body, and it was killing him. He didn't want to worry Fay so he pushed it away and focused on her, when he did the feeling of death receded, allowing him to relax comfortably. They soon drifted off to sleep like this, both delighted by each other's contact and company. The lonely night was not so much so anymore for the human.