When Meghan's eyes opened, she was staring up at a pair of gray-green eyes and a cascade of black glossy hair. For a moment she thought it was Devika but then realized that the hair was too straight and the skin too pale for it to be the Indian woman. The eyes suddenly vanished and in its place was the a ceiling covered with fake pannels. The ceiling of the medical facility at R&R Inc. and then it all came rushing back to her.
"Caitlin?"
"Sorry Meghan, you startled me," the older girl said looking a little embarassed. "I was just checking on you to make sure you were okay when your eyes suddenly popped open. Good evening."
"Evening, what?" Meghan wondered intelligently. She turned her head and saw out the window that the sun was starting to set. Turning the edges of the sky purple. She also became aware that she was still fully dressed in her beige pants and green shirt, but her hair was loose around her. Her shoes were still on. "Oh, I fainted."
"Gave us quite a scare too," Caitlin smiled. "Jim and Andy freaked out pretty bad but after a quick look the doctor said you were just tired. You certainly looked tired. So we brought you to one of the rooms and let you sleep it off. From what Andy said, you had a pretty hard day."
"Devika! How's Devika?" Meghan asked, sitting bolt upright in the bed as it came back to her.
Caitlin's smile rapidly faded.
"It's... bad. It looks like the damage is severe and her blood type is so rare that there were barely any in stock and we haven't found a donor. It's not like this place deals with massive blood loss very often, or even trauma."
"Oh no," Meghan exclaimed and put her head in her hands. "She risked everything to save me and now... she's... she's..."
Meghan was surprised but comforted to feel Caitlin slide an arm around her shoulders and give her a squeeze. She smelled the faint scent of the shampoo Caitlin used as her hair mingled with Meghan's. In spite of herself, she leaned against the older girl grateful for the support but a minute later she straighted up.
"I have to see her," she announced and to her credit Caitlin only nodded and waited for Meghan to get up. When she did, the world tilted around her a little but it steadied soon enough and she was able to walk slowly if a bit gingerly to the door. Following Caitlin through the medical facility, she asked about the others.
"Jim took it pretty hard, he wanted to stay with her but Rick and Robin convinced him to come and eat something. They can get a hold of them as long as they stay at R&R Inc. if things change. Ryodjn and Crimson went off somewhere to talk about God knows what. Andy... well you can see for yourself," Caitlin finished gestruring. Meghan looked up to see the boy slumped in one of the chair's near Devika's door a can of soda on the little stand next to him staring dully at nothing.
"Andy!" Meghan cried. He looked up at her and she stopped a few steps from him, suddenly nervous. They stared at each other for a few seconds.
"I'm glad you're all right Meghan. Caitlin and I were taking turns watching you."
"Yes," Caitlin agreed. "But now that she's all right I'm going to find Jim and Robin. Call me if there's any change."
"She... just left," Meghan said puzzled. "That was weird."
"When the doctor said all they could do was wait, Caitlin tried a little bit of magic on Devika. But Devika's too weak, any kind of healing would kill her right now. At least, the kind Mint and Caitlin know."
"Damn, that was my next idea. So... she's really going to die then."
"I hope not, but--it looks that way," Andy replied tonelessly. Meghan shot him a quick glance for it, but realized that withdrawing some emotionally was Andy's way of dealing with trauma just as hers was a kind of apathetic sarcasm, though she surprisingly didn't feel that way now. Maybe it was the guilt.
"Can I wait with you?" she asked him, a little shyly.
"Have a seat," Andy replied, gesturing to a spot on the couch. Meghan took it and Andy moved to sit next to her. They leaned back, saying nothing almost touching. Several times Andy's hand twiched, and Meghan shifted a little closer but nothing happened and the sun continued to set until only the lights in the medical facility continued. In the distance they could hear some scattered radio broadcasts directing survivors and refugees to go to assembly points and way stations and for those with homes remaining to remain there. Just as Meghan was reaching for Andy's hand, he stood up. "I'll be right back. Bathroom," he muttered.
As Meghan watched him go, she stood up herself and looked at the door leading to Devika's room. A moment later after a quick glance around, she reached out and entered the room. Devika was naked, hooked up to an IV, and with numerous electronic monitoring devices visible through the thin hospital sheets on her skin. Despite her dark dusky skin, she looked pale and weak, fragile even and around her mid section were numerous bandages and strange metal shells that were one of the newer technologies R&R Inc. had developed for their private use.
Meghan walked up and stood next to Devika's bed, uncomfortably aware in the clean room, that her clothing was dirty and torn and she was covered in cuts and bruises. She looked down at Devika's face. It only had a few scratches on it, most minor, and her wavy glossy black hair spread out like a fan underneath her. She was barely breathing, shallow slow breaths, usually accompanied by a tiny wheeze of pain even through the oxygen mask. Even to her untrained senses, Meghan could almost feel that Devika was slowly dying. She reached out to touch Devika but stopped, unwilling to hurt her anymore. But as her hand hovered over the dying woman, her eyes caught sight of the ring. The band was dull now, the metal scored and the strange gem itself was covered in a lattice of tiny cracks but she could still see the seething whirling galaxy inside of it and she thought back to the words of the creature Andy and Crimson had called Asmodeous.
"With this ring, I can do... anything," she whispered.
Meghan stood there a long time staring at the ring.
Thu Jul 13 00:49:19 2006
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