Convalescence Part 2

A dark vista of Iron City sprawls before you, fuzzy and intangible, edges frayed by the imposition of death. Upon a rooftop sits a cloaked figure with knees held fast in embrace, as a lonesome child would do. You observe this silent scene without the slightest hint of lucidity. The figure, a girl it seems, begins to cry, the city beyond rising and falling with her shoulders in perfect synchronicity.

And then it's gone. The rooftop fades and the city turns to dust, scattering skyward for a moment before settling into a starfield. The girl turns to face you. Or perhaps she doesn't. You never could say where a dream ends.

***

When you finally come to, she's there. Shirt caked with dry red blood, hair matted by grime and sweat, cheeks stained with tears — but so achingly there. As you crane your neck to meet her gaze, you expect her to explode with relief, perhaps give you one of those great big hugs you so enjoyed. But instead, she takes a single clipped breath and screws her face up horribly, fighting back a torrent of tears that quickly overwhelm her.

"I'm sorry...I'm...I..."

Her voice fades, still mouthing the words. You force a weak smile and reach out to comfort her, only to feel hot daggers drive deep into your side. The pain is unlike anything you've ever felt, and a bloodcurdling cry escapes your lips.

"Don't move! Please don't move!"

Alita is upon you in an instant with hands outstretched, hovering just out of touch with your body. The sorrow has been forced back, if only for a moment, by a wave of terror and adrenaline.

Out of the corner of your eye you see Doctor Ido rush into the room. After a pause, he breaks into a brisk approach with rage and fatigue filling out his features in equal measure.

"Unless you want to leave this clinic a cyborg, you'll stay right where you are. Understood?"

Still gritting your teeth in agony, you ignore his question with one of your own. A flicker of dread finds life somewhere deep inside you, black as death.

"What's the damage?"

"Broken. Broken everything: broken ribs, broken collarbone, broken arm, shattered orbital, fractured vertebrae, punctured lung...ligament damage, tissue damage, concussion, significant loss of blood...you could have died tonight."

He traces his finger across a monitor and shakes his head with a deep sigh.

"Should have, really."

It was a strange thing to fixate on, but...tonight? You had quite understandably lost track of time, but surely it was now morning; the old canal was nowhere near Ido's clinic — clear on the other side of Iron City, in fact — and fighting through traffic took hours on a good day. Surgery, of course, must have taken a few hours more, considering how extensive—

And then the flicker of dread becomes a raging inferno, and all other thoughts vanish like smoke.

Perhaps the sedatives were beginning to wane, or perhaps you had been so focused on Alita that you had forgotten yourself. Whatever the case may be, you're gripped by surging panic as feeling begins to return to your shattered body. Recalling Ido's words, you take gruesome inventory.

You slowly touch a finger to your face and quickly recoil in pain, skin shredded by the unforgiving canal concrete. You try to move your other arm, but receive no response. A quick peek down ends in agony as the cracked vertebrae announces itself. Even the slightest shift in weight sends a miserable lashing across the upper torso where your clavicle lies in ruin. You are immobile. And it terrifies you.

Fear quickens your breathing, and your breathing feeds the torturous fire burning white-hot at your side. Alita's face at the moment of impact flashes across your mind's eye. Fear.

Three figures enter the room and do you the mercy of turning your attention outward. Saku and Vela are first, both deathly pale as they scramble to your bedside. Following cautiously behind them is a slender girl you recognize as the final unknown racer, clearly concerned but content to hover in the background. Even the squeamish Greaser is there, peeking out beyond the door frame between bouts of retching.

For a good long while, only the machines speak. Time enough to summon forth whatever wit you have left.

"Expecting a corpse?"

The tension slacks, if only a touch. Unsurprisingly, it's Saku who finds his voice first; he was the chatterbox of the group and never failed to drive you up a wall.

"Kinda was, man. What the hell happened?"

It's a difficult question, and judging by the room's silence only Alita knows the truth. She stares at the floor, utterly crestfallen. You briefly consider pinning the blame on your muscle-bound starting mate, but knowing Saku and Vela they'd have him lying half-dead in an alleyway by sunrise. You didn't much care for the brute, but he did nothing to warrant a visitation of violence. So you take the easy way out and feign ignorance, claiming to have simply spilled off the highrail yourself. Saku shakes his head and, as always, makes things worse.

"No chance; I think your brain's playin' tricks. You were pulped out there, man, just pulped."

He scratches his chin in thought before setting a finger wagging in idiot's revelation.

"That cyberhand meatball son of a bitch must have taken you out when you weren't lookin'."

You begin to sound a protest, but Vela's words stop you cold.

"Saku's right; you were brutalized. If Alita hadn't been there to carry you back, you would have died in transit. We only just arrived."

Not giving a damn about the pain, you prop yourself up and look towards Alita, her head still tucked low in guilt. A thought crosses your mind that now seems so obvious: the blood drenching her shirt had belonged to you.

In an instant, all the pieces fall into place. You think back to your dream following the accident, with the crying girl and the Iron City rooftops, and realize you had been half-awake. Your heart swells and you shout out with no certain purpose.

"Alita!"

She looks up, grief-reddened eyes thrown wide with surprise. Tears fill your own as you give her the purest smile of your life before the pain returns tenfold. Through ringing ears you hear the monitors sound alarm, and Doctor Ido's needle ends your long night.