Corpses. Everywhere. Bodies litter the floor haphazardly as hazy memories flood vex as she stands motionless in the middle of the room, doing her best not to step on any of the corpses. This…reminds vex of something, but she can’t concretely place it. A haze surrounds her memory, though it shouldn’t. Her memory is normally rock solid. Soldiers or…doctors. Doctors? Her head feels off, like she can’t focus and…she slips, landing on her ass as she attempts to move, the sickly sweet scent of blood now on her.
TRIAGE INTERNAL; CODE YELLOW.
Silence. Odd. No footsteps, no shouting. Even after waiting a few more minutes, nothing. Her announcement over the speakers has done nothing. Betchel? She could try his number. Whatever is happening; he must be unaffected on his ship.
Ghala sits, staring up at the looming figure of their husband,
“You don’t need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders all by yourself, you know?” Arik looks down at them, wrestling a little furry shark fry thing they adopted, “...Let carry some of it. I know you haven’t stopped thinking of what happened with Eden.” Arik nods, and the little fuzzy baby zooms out and around the room. Ghala leans back on her hands, looking him over,”Your shoulders are the biggest tell you’ve got. They’ve been bunched together since the incident.” They sit up and hold their arms up to him,”Come here.” He wasn’t the best at vocalizing his emotions, especially the deeper ones…but since getting to know more and more of him, they’ve been able to pick up on all the body cues he has. He drops to the floor and wraps Ghala up in his arms, though not usually his way of conveying affection, they loved it. Not just the comfort of being in a nest of their partner’s strength, but just being as close as they can to them, “The princess is a teenager…and she wants someone to blame. She doesn’t quite understand the seriousness of what all happened, and you were the closest person around to point at. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad individual. I know you know this, but I figured I would say it as well.” They gently work their hands down his shoulders, attempting to unwind some of the tension, carefully working on the shoulder blades with the base of their palm. A sigh emanates from his chest as they continue silently, his head nuzzling into their neck. He’s…missed this. A lot more than he thought. They’ve missed this too, and making him a lot less stressed than usual is just a bonus. The silence fills the rest of the space, wrapping them in the comfort of the love and support they have for each other as Ghala continues to work, “I was thinking… maybe we could visit my parents sometime? I know how much you enjoy my mom doting on you.” a quiet laugh emits from his chest.
“More she likes tae dote on me. A'd like thon a lot. Once we get back tae the museum, thon weekend after? “ They nod, before letting the silence take over again. The occasional pet coming over to get scritches, and then to just…lay down with them. His phone rings, a sharp, quick succession of beeps. Neither of them move. Damn.
That can’t wait.
Arik hesitates, but his gut shoots his hand into his heavy duster.
“General Speakin.” He stiffens, hearing the voice on the other line,”...whit dae ye mean?” Ghala takes away her hands as Arik sits back up, worry creeping up her back,”...Are ye ok? i’m headin oot now, dae no move vex.”
Vexhalia?
Ghala looks worried now, and bolts up as he hangs up and stands,”Come wi me. There’s been a mass casualty incident.”
Glass panes separate reality to…whatever else is being mixed in. There’s a core of emptiness in the middle of her chest as she watches things happen in slow motion. Everything blurs together… Arik and Ghala running in tandem, a brown haired woman with a lab coat running for her life ahead of them. They don’t seem to react to her, but to…the bodies. Why didn’t the woman stop?
Ghala pauses, her brow furrowed in worry. Before she’s able to say anything, Arik quickly looks over to a cell, before taking out his phone once again- calling for backup, “Attention. Code triage. Security needs assistance i Solitary ward a12. A repeat -” He repeats it three times as Ghala looks around for something to reach Vex with. She’s…acting off, and doesn’t react to Ghala calling her name.
Vex just continues to watch as more doctors run for their lives in slow motion, something chasing them. Colorful smoke plumes into the room as the brown haired woman runs into the room, now donning a 9955 respirator, putting one on Vex before she takes off. The woman looks quite old, and for once- vex doesn’t remember her name,
“One day, you will be faced to face with whatever saw fi' to le' you exis' in the universe, and you will have to justify the space you’ve filled, vexhalia. “ The fear in her voice is palitiple as she darts off, distorted creatures now chasing after her. Confusion ripples through her just as she truly feels a hand on her shoulder. Warm, and quite a strong grip,
“Vex?” A shiver ripples down her body, then back up as Ghala stares into the dead eyes of someone she thinks of as a friend,” What happened? Are you ok?” The woman blinks a few times, looking around. The…creatures? The doctors? They…weren’t real? More confusion grips her being as she nods,
“I am fine. Yessy. I apologize; i do no' know wha' happened. I attempted to call a code, bu' there was quite no response.” Ghala sits on one of the cheap stools brought by the responding men as they begin wading through bodies, nodding silently,
“...you were covered in blood, unresponsive after you called Arik and we got here…and your eyes kept moving back and forth. What… what was going on in your head?” Vex thinks for a moment, but Ghala pats her shoulder and sits forward,”You know what? It doesn’t matter right now.” Ghala adjusts herself. Whatever happened really shook Vex to her core, and…asking questions was probably not the right move,”Right now, I just want to make sure you’re ok. Ok?” Vex nods,”Are you able to stand?” She nods again as she stands, still wobbly. Ghala puts an arm around her and looks to Arik,”I’ll take her back, try and get her cleaned up and run a system check.” Arik nods, looking over the bodies. There’s no way that man managed to do all this. Not in the shape he was in.
A thin, boney hand slowly makes its way to her throat, gently holding and massaging it as she sits perched atop a metal and wood stool. The light of the faux window reflecting a thunderstorm soothes her as she waits, Ghala having gone into the small kitchen to make her a drink after having her shower and change into something else, not covered in the blood of deceased soldiers. Her pajamas…though she wasn’t comfortable showing most people the markings of being a reverse cybernetic being, at the moment that wasn’t the most pressing thing on her mind. Her brow furrows as she attempts to remember what she “saw” back in the other room, but her memory doesn’t retrieve it. Why?
“Chai tea with vanilla almond milk.” Ghala sits beside her, watching as the blue black hands carefully grab for it and hold it against her wiry frame,”I’ll run diagnostics tomorrow, but right now…just try and rest. I’ve never seen you so spooked before.” Why were they being so nice? They have no reason, other than that she’s familiar with their husband,
“Thanky you. I…” she pauses. Now’s not the time to ask about that. That would really sound the alarm of what happened, and she’d like to understand it first.”found something of yours.” Ghala raises a brow as Vex places the bird shaped cup on the table and carefully brings a small, outdated recorder out from one of the drawers from her desk before perching back up on the tall stool, “Worry not, i didn'' listen to i'. I'm unsure of why you would use something so outdated and...damaged, bu' here you are.” A small, black micro-cassette recorder, probably made in the 1960’s or so. Scratched to hell and back…and definitely not theirs. Maybe their dad’s? She takes the recorder in hand and looks it over. Probably his, he loved outdated things.
“Thank you. I’ll let you be alone, but you have my and Arik’s number if anything else happens, ok?” Vex nods, picking up the mug again. Ghala retreats back to their ship, putting in the headphones that came with it. Arik will be busy with…everything that happened, and well…Vex is in no shape to do anything else. It’ll be nice to hear her dad’s voice before the dementia rocked their world. Gods. What they wouldn’t do to cure that awful-
That’s not their dad.
That’s Eden.
