For days the blond had been at the novice’s bedside, once she’d been made aware that he had been placed in the hospital there wasn’t any other place for her to be. She’d barely become a new resident of the city before she’d taken up lodging, so to speak, here in the hospital next to the man she’d once been forced to call subject seventeen. Lucy had spent most of her time occupying a chair near the window of his room, staring outside into the snowy streets of Somni, wondering where the hell she and her handsome test subject had found themselves - it certainly wasn’t any city that she was familiar with and for the brief time she had spent outside with the folks of the area, she hadn’t gotten many answers.
When she wasn’t seated by the window, the blond had a tendency to occupy the edge of his bed, either filling her time with staring at the man and hoping he’d rouse or simply losing herself to the machines beeping around them. Lucy had asked the professionals caring for Desmond what it was that had happened, why was he suddenly lying in a bed in a coma - but no one seemed to have answers for that, either. She had decided she would just ask the novice what the hell happened but that required the young man to wake up. She had been informed that he was in his current ‘state’ for some time, it was only days for her however she had it brought to her attention that it had been weeks for him. It was heartbreaking, but the woman held a strong outlook for him and kept herself focused on his recovery.
Desmond would be alright, he always seemed to come out of things okay.
But it figured that the one time the woman allowed herself to take leave of his side, he would wake up. She had finally allowed herself to head to the hospital cafeteria to fetch a cup of coffee. Her heart skipped a beat as she approached the young man’s room having heard a thunk through the door. Grabbing the handle of the door, she yanked it opened expecting to see the young man in bed but instead saw him crumbled onto the floor.
“Desmond-!”
There was a clunk on the floor as Lucy dropped her cup of coffee, hurrying toward the fallen man. In seconds she was knelt on the floor next to him, extending her hands to cradle and squeeze at his own palms gently, attempting to calm him with her touch.
“Desmond-” The blond leaned forward, over him, walking her eyes over him to make sure he wasn’t going out of it again. “Desmond, can you hear me? Are you okay? Can you talk? Do you know where you are?”
She didn’t want to flood him with questions, but it would be best for him to be able to respond to them. The more he could answer the better she would feel about his mental state. After being comatose for so long it was always good to test brain activity, getting him to talk would be the best thing she could do for him right now. Sooner or later a doctor or someone from security would show up; she wanted to try and get him as stabilized as she could.
The light touch on his hand startled him and he gasped lightly as his hands were bring down to reveal the concerned blue eyes of his team mate. He blinked for a moment, not entirely sure what he was seeing was real or not, until he managed to figure out that her touch was warm enough to be real and not some figment of his imagination. He winced at the image of the Lucy in front of him changed to the one of her shocked expression as blood stained her shirt. Shutting his eyes hard and then opening them back, he was relieved to see her alive in front of him. Out of instinct, out of the need to cling to his reality instead of illusions, Desmond shifted his hold on her hand to touch the inside of her wrist, pressing there to find a pulse, firm and quick.
"Lucy..." he whispered as relief coursed through him, his throat still feeling too raw to be able to produce a sound. The novice's next action surprised even him as he pulled her into a tight hug, his face hiding into the crook of her neck as he did so. Sixteen had lied: she was all right, it all had been a nightmare, right? He was back in Rome by her side and the nightmares of him stabbing her wouldn't haunt him anymore, no? Still, something pushed him to mumble and apologized to her, though Lucy would have to strain her ear to hear it.
"I'm so sorry..."
The last thing he remembered was the temple underneath the Coliseum, though the memory blurred with a dreamworld, his bar and the feeling of stumbling forward. Would Desmond had been calmed enough to think clearly, he would have realized that would he really be back in his world, he wouldn't be remembering Somarium. But for now, he was caught in the impression that he was back home, back to his team and in a few hours they would be able to find the other Temples that by now, surely Shaun would have decipher the location of.
Lucy didn’t realize what he was doing when he pressed to locate her pulse, she didn’t bother to question; she assumed he was just gripping onto something to tell himself he was within reality. She was still flooding him with questions when she let a soft gasp pass her lips as she was pulled down to press against him, tugged into a hug. For a time, she held her breath a bit awkwardly pressed against him, not entirely sure what to do with the position she now found herself in. Brows knitting together, the blond frowned rather deeply. Something had happened…
“Desmond…” The team leader’s voice went soft, most unlike her usual, a tone she tended to reserve to private moments with herself more than any other. She wasn’t sure what the hell had happened to him, but something had shaken the novice - why was he apologizing to her? Unsure what else to do, she slid her arms smoothly around the young man’s shoulders and set a palm to the back of his head to cradle him against the crook of her neck where he’d taken refuge.
The female assassin still didn’t know what he was apologetic about, whatever it was didn’t matter. There were a thousand things that Lucy could have taken the time to apologize to him for, many of them he deserved at least a sorry for, things she would probably never offer one for - she didn’t think he needed to offer her anything short of his best efforts when it came to their work, even though it would be impossible to work against Templars here in the city. All the events surrounding Sixteen, all the dives in the animus, constantly putting him into danger - Vidic…
She closed her eyes, setting her cheek to rest against the top of his head. Frowning, Lucy sighed gently. At the very least, despite having yanked all his tubing and IVs from his body, he was safe. Him being safe was all she cared about in that moment.
Quietly, she spoke: “You have nothing to apologize for, ever.”
For a moment, Desmond wanted nothing but to stay like this forever: tucked in her arms, safe and in peace. But her words reminded him that he couldn't have nice things and he frowned lightly. How could she not be mad at him? He had stabbed her after all, he had betrayed her even though it hadn't been on his own volition. Unless everything that had happened had been another trick of Those Who Came Before? An illusion to break his mind? Despite the fact that the bartender wanted to cling hard to that idea, something in the pit of his stomach told him that it wasn't really what had happened.
As much as he was comfortable hugging her, Desmond let Lucy go after a moment, leaning back against his bed. It felt strange to see her there, alive, it was almost...unbelievable. Still, the novice offered her a very small smile before he gave his room a look over. If he was with Lucy, it had to mean that the Templars were not behind his medical care, right? It meant that they were somewhat safe, no? Still, Desmond wanted to know how he had managed to find himself in the hospital, he couldn't quite remember what had happened.
"What happened? How did I get here?" he croaked before clearing his throat, wincing at the painful instinct.
Unfortunately for Desmond, while they weren’t anywhere that the members of Abstergo could reach them, they weren’t exactly safe. Pulling her arms from being around his body, Lucy sat back up properly and frowned, pushing a few loose strands of hair from her face. Gently, she shrugged to the man before herself. Like Desmond in this moment, Lucy wasn’t really aware of what the hell had happened. She’d asked time and time again and no one had any answers for her, but she did know how the man had gotten to be in the bed he was currently occupying.
“I’m not sure what happened,” she sighed. “I wasn’t here when, well, whatever happened to you happened.”
“I asked-” she continued, “but no one seemed to know what to tell me. Just that you suddenly fell into a coma and some people found you at what I’m told is your bar. They brought you here. Best place for you to be, comatose and all, wouldn’t you say?”
After she spoke, Lucy glanced away from the young bartender. She couldn’t help but feel like this was somehow her fault, that this had something to do with the animus and all the similarities to what happened with Sixteen. She pushed a nervous hand through her hair and fell quiet, uncertain what more to say to him. Was it her fault? Had she done it again?
He watched her move away from him in a daze, while his still coma-fogged brain tried to make sense of what she was telling him. What was Lucy meaning by she wasn't there when he collapse? She had been right there in the Temple with him, no? He frowned: "I....I don't understand....where were you?"
'His bar?' The last place he had own a bar was back in that strange dreamworld he had been living in for the past year. Desmond blinked and the crease on his forehead deepened before he reached for the hospital bracelet around his wrist. With slightly trembling fingers, he turned it until he could read the name of the establishment. 'Somni General Hospital'. There was no doubt now and he couldn't help the slacking of his shoulders and the slightly whining tone:
"No....I'm still here...."
Gone was the hope of Lucy being truly alive. Appearing in the dreamworld meant nothing: dead people had showed up all the time after all. The bartender gave the blond a torn look and instantly recognized the look she was giving him before she moved her gaze away from him. It was the same look Lucy always gave him whenever he would make a bad joke about his sanity: that look of guilt he wished so many times to find a way to erase it from her face.
"I remember falling down...I must have hit my head..." It was the lamest lie ever pulled by the novice, but he couldn't tell Lucy what he had collapse after seeing what had happened to them in Rome. Not when she was thinking this was all her fault.
“I wasn’t here yet. I got here sometime after you fell into this… Coma.”
The word ‘coma’ alone was bothering her. Frowning, she shook her head. Straight face, Lucy. she told herself. The woman had always been good at putting on a mask and hiding when she was feeling uncomfortable, that wasn't changing right now. Any discomfort that the blond would be displaying right now would be because of her worry for Desmond, anyway.
“Where else would you be?” It didn’t occur to her that one could vanish from here and return to their own world somehow, mostly because she thought she was stuck here based on things she had heard and learned from people in the town.
Again though, she frowned. That was a horrible attempt at a lie he had just told her, her chest panged with guilt just knowing that he was fibbing about what had taken place. She could only imagine what the hell had occurred to cause his sudden coma. What was he doing to strain himself? It couldn’t have anything to do with the animus as it wasn’t present here in Somarium, but the effects that it had on him were ever present - and were probably taking its toll on him.
“Desmond…” her voice was quiet, riddled with guilt and worry for him. Lucy was trying to think of how to say to him that it was alright for him to tell her what had really happened, what caused the problem and whether he thought he needed help with it. Whatever he needed, Lucy would have been more than okay with providing to him, but…
“So you fell. Better watch yourself if you’re falling and hitting your head hard enough to knock yourself out for a few weeks.” It was clear that she didn’t buy a word of what he just said to her, however she didn’t want to stir the pot if he didn’t want to talk about it. Instead of asking him about what took place, she bit her tongue and held back.
"Home. I thought I was back...home." The confession was uttered softly, in a defeated tone. Even though he had somehow managed on his own here for the past year, even though he had made a life of his own in Somarium, Desmond had always wanted to go back to his own world. If only to help his team, to see Lucy again, to save the world. And even though having the blond here with him was a small comfort, he was still disappointed he couldn't do much more than wait to be one of those that disappeared back to their world.
Half naked and freezing as he sat on the floor, Desmond moved to pull himself back into his bed, his eyes sweeping the areas to try and locate a shirt or a blanket before the goosebumps on his skin turned into shivers. He could easily hear in Lucy's tone that she wasn't buying his lie, not even one bit and part of wanted to smile at that. She knew him so well already and if he was being honest with himself, he had missed being called out on his bullshit. Grabbing the black T-shirt that was neatly folded on the bedside table, the novice slipped it on, taking in strides how the blond had willingly brushed away his attempt at slipping past an honest answer about his coma. He had no doubts that she would ask him again later when Lucy would think he was well enough to be grilled about the incident.
"Yeah, I was thinking of having the walls of my apartment padded to make sure this doesn't happen again."
He wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up in a real coma instead of sleep one, but he knew it had everything to do with the last memories he now had about their world.
“You mean back in Rome, don’t you?” The question didn’t really need an answer; she knew where he meant he thought he was. Honestly she couldn’t blame him, she would have done anything, paid any price, even taken up wishing on a star if it would guarantee that they could get back home and finish what they had begun when it came to their work.
Lucy, having arrived only to be told that Desmond was in a sudden coma, had fallen into a deep recess of fear and worry when it came to her other teammates. Shaun and Rebecca’s failures to be present in the random city she was currently occupying was weighing heavy on her conscience - did something happen to them? Like the emotions she was repressing when it came to Desmond’s sudden comatose state, Lucy was trying not to blame herself for what was going on here. For all she knew something had happened back in Rome, Abstergo had caught them and this was some crazed world Vidic had invented and immersed them all into via animus-like machines. Pushing back a frown, she watched as the bartender lifted himself and crawled into his bed once more.
Typically the woman wouldn’t have been alright with joking about Desmond’s mental state, but in the moment she figured the jesting might help him feel a bit better.
“Yeah that might make the future falls a little cozier.”
"Yeah, I meant Rome" he said with a small nod. He then gave Lucy a long look, wondering if he should ask or not his next question, half fearing the answer. But he knew he needed to know and after a moment of silence, he spoke again: "What's the last thing you remember before getting here?"
Would Lucy ask about this world to the novice, he would have been able to put her doubts and fears to rest. A full year later after his arrival, he was starting to know the ins and outs of the dreamworld, and knew they had no reason to worry about the team mates they left in their world. Well, perhaps not, as Desmond had no idea how Rebecca and Shaun would have taken the fact that he had stabbed Lucy. Would they turn against him in the future? He would certainly not blame them if they did.
Though he was surprised that Lucy hadn't protest against his joke about his sanity, he offered her a small smile that didn't reach his eyes: "Yeah, though I think it'd be one Hell of chore to clean it. Too bad Shaun's not here."
He then fell into another silence, as his gaze remained on the blond. She looked exhausted and overwhelmed and he instantly felt the guilt gripping his heart as he knew he was the reason she was looking like that. He was torn about what to do next: part of him wanted to keep Lucy close so he could make sure she'd get the life she deserved to have: no worries, no long working hours, some time to have some fun. But there was still this insidious voice in his head that reminded him that he was the one that stolen that life from her, that she would never be able to have it if he stayed in her life. It hurt to think that the moment he finally had her with him in this world, he would have to give her away. But perhaps it was for the best. There was nothing showing on his expression about his mental debate when he finally spoke again:
When she wasn’t seated by the window, the blond had a tendency to occupy the edge of his bed, either filling her time with staring at the man and hoping he’d rouse or simply losing herself to the machines beeping around them. Lucy had asked the professionals caring for Desmond what it was that had happened, why was he suddenly lying in a bed in a coma - but no one seemed to have answers for that, either. She had decided she would just ask the novice what the hell happened but that required the young man to wake up. She had been informed that he was in his current ‘state’ for some time, it was only days for her however she had it brought to her attention that it had been weeks for him. It was heartbreaking, but the woman held a strong outlook for him and kept herself focused on his recovery.
Desmond would be alright, he always seemed to come out of things okay.
But it figured that the one time the woman allowed herself to take leave of his side, he would wake up. She had finally allowed herself to head to the hospital cafeteria to fetch a cup of coffee. Her heart skipped a beat as she approached the young man’s room having heard a thunk through the door. Grabbing the handle of the door, she yanked it opened expecting to see the young man in bed but instead saw him crumbled onto the floor.
“Desmond-!”
There was a clunk on the floor as Lucy dropped her cup of coffee, hurrying toward the fallen man. In seconds she was knelt on the floor next to him, extending her hands to cradle and squeeze at his own palms gently, attempting to calm him with her touch.
“Desmond-” The blond leaned forward, over him, walking her eyes over him to make sure he wasn’t going out of it again. “Desmond, can you hear me? Are you okay? Can you talk? Do you know where you are?”
She didn’t want to flood him with questions, but it would be best for him to be able to respond to them. The more he could answer the better she would feel about his mental state. After being comatose for so long it was always good to test brain activity, getting him to talk would be the best thing she could do for him right now. Sooner or later a doctor or someone from security would show up; she wanted to try and get him as stabilized as she could.
Reply
"Lucy..." he whispered as relief coursed through him, his throat still feeling too raw to be able to produce a sound. The novice's next action surprised even him as he pulled her into a tight hug, his face hiding into the crook of her neck as he did so. Sixteen had lied: she was all right, it all had been a nightmare, right? He was back in Rome by her side and the nightmares of him stabbing her wouldn't haunt him anymore, no? Still, something pushed him to mumble and apologized to her, though Lucy would have to strain her ear to hear it.
"I'm so sorry..."
The last thing he remembered was the temple underneath the Coliseum, though the memory blurred with a dreamworld, his bar and the feeling of stumbling forward. Would Desmond had been calmed enough to think clearly, he would have realized that would he really be back in his world, he wouldn't be remembering Somarium. But for now, he was caught in the impression that he was back home, back to his team and in a few hours they would be able to find the other Temples that by now, surely Shaun would have decipher the location of.
Reply
“Desmond…” The team leader’s voice went soft, most unlike her usual, a tone she tended to reserve to private moments with herself more than any other. She wasn’t sure what the hell had happened to him, but something had shaken the novice - why was he apologizing to her? Unsure what else to do, she slid her arms smoothly around the young man’s shoulders and set a palm to the back of his head to cradle him against the crook of her neck where he’d taken refuge.
The female assassin still didn’t know what he was apologetic about, whatever it was didn’t matter. There were a thousand things that Lucy could have taken the time to apologize to him for, many of them he deserved at least a sorry for, things she would probably never offer one for - she didn’t think he needed to offer her anything short of his best efforts when it came to their work, even though it would be impossible to work against Templars here in the city. All the events surrounding Sixteen, all the dives in the animus, constantly putting him into danger - Vidic…
She closed her eyes, setting her cheek to rest against the top of his head. Frowning, Lucy sighed gently. At the very least, despite having yanked all his tubing and IVs from his body, he was safe. Him being safe was all she cared about in that moment.
Quietly, she spoke: “You have nothing to apologize for, ever.”
Reply
As much as he was comfortable hugging her, Desmond let Lucy go after a moment, leaning back against his bed. It felt strange to see her there, alive, it was almost...unbelievable. Still, the novice offered her a very small smile before he gave his room a look over. If he was with Lucy, it had to mean that the Templars were not behind his medical care, right? It meant that they were somewhat safe, no? Still, Desmond wanted to know how he had managed to find himself in the hospital, he couldn't quite remember what had happened.
"What happened? How did I get here?" he croaked before clearing his throat, wincing at the painful instinct.
Reply
“I’m not sure what happened,” she sighed. “I wasn’t here when, well, whatever happened to you happened.”
“I asked-” she continued, “but no one seemed to know what to tell me. Just that you suddenly fell into a coma and some people found you at what I’m told is your bar. They brought you here. Best place for you to be, comatose and all, wouldn’t you say?”
After she spoke, Lucy glanced away from the young bartender. She couldn’t help but feel like this was somehow her fault, that this had something to do with the animus and all the similarities to what happened with Sixteen. She pushed a nervous hand through her hair and fell quiet, uncertain what more to say to him. Was it her fault? Had she done it again?
Reply
'His bar?' The last place he had own a bar was back in that strange dreamworld he had been living in for the past year. Desmond blinked and the crease on his forehead deepened before he reached for the hospital bracelet around his wrist. With slightly trembling fingers, he turned it until he could read the name of the establishment. 'Somni General Hospital'. There was no doubt now and he couldn't help the slacking of his shoulders and the slightly whining tone:
"No....I'm still here...."
Gone was the hope of Lucy being truly alive. Appearing in the dreamworld meant nothing: dead people had showed up all the time after all. The bartender gave the blond a torn look and instantly recognized the look she was giving him before she moved her gaze away from him. It was the same look Lucy always gave him whenever he would make a bad joke about his sanity: that look of guilt he wished so many times to find a way to erase it from her face.
"I remember falling down...I must have hit my head..." It was the lamest lie ever pulled by the novice, but he couldn't tell Lucy what he had collapse after seeing what had happened to them in Rome. Not when she was thinking this was all her fault.
Reply
“I wasn’t here yet. I got here sometime after you fell into this… Coma.”
The word ‘coma’ alone was bothering her. Frowning, she shook her head. Straight face, Lucy. she told herself. The woman had always been good at putting on a mask and hiding when she was feeling uncomfortable, that wasn't changing right now. Any discomfort that the blond would be displaying right now would be because of her worry for Desmond, anyway.
“Where else would you be?” It didn’t occur to her that one could vanish from here and return to their own world somehow, mostly because she thought she was stuck here based on things she had heard and learned from people in the town.
Again though, she frowned. That was a horrible attempt at a lie he had just told her, her chest panged with guilt just knowing that he was fibbing about what had taken place. She could only imagine what the hell had occurred to cause his sudden coma. What was he doing to strain himself? It couldn’t have anything to do with the animus as it wasn’t present here in Somarium, but the effects that it had on him were ever present - and were probably taking its toll on him.
“Desmond…” her voice was quiet, riddled with guilt and worry for him. Lucy was trying to think of how to say to him that it was alright for him to tell her what had really happened, what caused the problem and whether he thought he needed help with it. Whatever he needed, Lucy would have been more than okay with providing to him, but…
“So you fell. Better watch yourself if you’re falling and hitting your head hard enough to knock yourself out for a few weeks.” It was clear that she didn’t buy a word of what he just said to her, however she didn’t want to stir the pot if he didn’t want to talk about it. Instead of asking him about what took place, she bit her tongue and held back.
Reply
Half naked and freezing as he sat on the floor, Desmond moved to pull himself back into his bed, his eyes sweeping the areas to try and locate a shirt or a blanket before the goosebumps on his skin turned into shivers. He could easily hear in Lucy's tone that she wasn't buying his lie, not even one bit and part of wanted to smile at that. She knew him so well already and if he was being honest with himself, he had missed being called out on his bullshit. Grabbing the black T-shirt that was neatly folded on the bedside table, the novice slipped it on, taking in strides how the blond had willingly brushed away his attempt at slipping past an honest answer about his coma. He had no doubts that she would ask him again later when Lucy would think he was well enough to be grilled about the incident.
"Yeah, I was thinking of having the walls of my apartment padded to make sure this doesn't happen again."
He wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up in a real coma instead of sleep one, but he knew it had everything to do with the last memories he now had about their world.
Reply
Lucy, having arrived only to be told that Desmond was in a sudden coma, had fallen into a deep recess of fear and worry when it came to her other teammates. Shaun and Rebecca’s failures to be present in the random city she was currently occupying was weighing heavy on her conscience - did something happen to them? Like the emotions she was repressing when it came to Desmond’s sudden comatose state, Lucy was trying not to blame herself for what was going on here. For all she knew something had happened back in Rome, Abstergo had caught them and this was some crazed world Vidic had invented and immersed them all into via animus-like machines. Pushing back a frown, she watched as the bartender lifted himself and crawled into his bed once more.
Typically the woman wouldn’t have been alright with joking about Desmond’s mental state, but in the moment she figured the jesting might help him feel a bit better.
“Yeah that might make the future falls a little cozier.”
Reply
Would Lucy ask about this world to the novice, he would have been able to put her doubts and fears to rest. A full year later after his arrival, he was starting to know the ins and outs of the dreamworld, and knew they had no reason to worry about the team mates they left in their world. Well, perhaps not, as Desmond had no idea how Rebecca and Shaun would have taken the fact that he had stabbed Lucy. Would they turn against him in the future? He would certainly not blame them if they did.
Though he was surprised that Lucy hadn't protest against his joke about his sanity, he offered her a small smile that didn't reach his eyes: "Yeah, though I think it'd be one Hell of chore to clean it. Too bad Shaun's not here."
He then fell into another silence, as his gaze remained on the blond. She looked exhausted and overwhelmed and he instantly felt the guilt gripping his heart as he knew he was the reason she was looking like that. He was torn about what to do next: part of him wanted to keep Lucy close so he could make sure she'd get the life she deserved to have: no worries, no long working hours, some time to have some fun. But there was still this insidious voice in his head that reminded him that he was the one that stolen that life from her, that she would never be able to have it if he stayed in her life. It hurt to think that the moment he finally had her with him in this world, he would have to give her away. But perhaps it was for the best. There was nothing showing on his expression about his mental debate when he finally spoke again:
"When did you arrive here? I mean, in Somarium?"
Reply
Leave a comment