lockon2urheart | [RL with Ten

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[RL with Ten - Waking Up]

[Lockon was lying in the hospital bed, like he has been for the past month. However, over the last few days, the EEG machine had been registering more and more brain activity, and the pain reaction tests had begun to get slight reactions. He'd even just about surfaced into conciousness a couple of times, although only ever momentarily, and not long enough for the experiences to be remembered as anything other than a part of the surreal dreams flitting through his unconcious mind. The times spent in the deep, unresponsive state had been getting smaller and smaller, though, and this time, when he opened his eyes with a deep breath, they stayed open.

His thoughts were muzzy and sluggish, and he attempted to collect them. Space, that was the last thing he remembered, being in space...and Haro, he remembered Haro saying something, and he remembered...pain, that was a pretty strong memory... and then it clicked, somewhat. He'd been leaving Haro in Dynames and going to face Ali Al-Saachez, he remembered with a jolt. He'd been taking a stance on the half-destroyed GN Arms, and....

and...

...he couldn't remember anything else, after that, just the odd unconnected image with no apparent link between them. What had happened out there, and where was he now?

He tried to sit up to get a better look, only to fall back down with a groan. His body had grown unused to supporting his weight, and it complained about the sudden movement.

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[The Doctor was sitting dozing on and off in a chair near the bed, an open copy of The Time Traveler's Wife dangling from his fingertips. Haruhi was still in Tamaki's world with Setsuna, and he'd sent Feldt off to get something to eat on the grounds that she was human and needed to eat, and that Lockon was not about to go anywhere.

But it was only a light sleep, so when he heard Lockon groan his eyes flew open and he looked up, dropping his book on the floor and leaping out of his seat with a look of shock that quickly turned into a huge grin.

He walked over to the bed and looked down, trying to contain his excitement. Poor thing just woke up, after all.]

Lockon. 'Lo.

[While that had hurt, the pain had only been a dull ache. With the thoughts of the pain that was rampant in his last memories, he was sure he was in better shape than he had any right to be.

Lockon recognised that voice, though, and looked at the Doctor. He blinked in confusion, and tried to respond, but all that came out of unused vocal cords was a croak. He frowned and swallowed dryly, before trying again.]

Doc... [His voice was hoarse and weak, but he persevered.] Doc...tor?

[He smiled a little wider. He could talk! Well, ish, but it was better than nothing. And he recognised him as well, which was a very very good thing. So he nodded, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet.]

The one and only. You've caused quite a scare.

[Lockon really did have no idea what was going on. If something had gone wrong in the fight - and it clearly had, if he couldn't remember it - shouldn't he be in the Ptolemy's sick bay? So why would the Doctor be on the Ptolemy?]

Wh...wha-at- [His voice cracked with effort.] 't're you... doin h're?

[He raised his eyebrows, face in "considering mode". Okay, Doctor, reign yourself in a bit. Poor man is clearly confused, and no wonder.]

That's a bit of a long story. So, before I start telling it, do you want anything? Drink of water? Or if you want to sit up, I think these beds work on some sort of remote control.

[As he spoke, he reached down near the side of the bed and picked up a sleek white remote attached to the bed, giving it a little wave to demonstrate.]

[That sounded kind of worrying, really. A drink, though, that sounded good. Maybe that'd stop his mouth feeling like someone had rubbed it raw with sandpaper, then filled it full of cotton wool. With another dry swallow, Lockon gave a small, grateful nod.] W'tr, 'lease...

[The remote was forgotten for now as the Doctor nodded, dropping it back into place and spinning round. He was sure that one of the nurses had left a huge jug of water and some glasses in here last time she checked in on them... ah! There they were, on a little table. He poured a glass of water and brought it back over.

Oh, now where did he leave the remote... oh, there it was! He picked it up again, tossing it in the air and catching it. Now, which one was the "sit-up" button, that was the question. Probably the one with the little drawing of a stick man and an arrow pointing at his back. That would be a bit uncomfortable, he thought vaguely.]

Okay, up we go!

[He pressed the button down slowly, not wanting to raise the bed up too quickly. Plenty of time for mucking around later.]

[As the bed rose, Lockon took the chance to get a better look around the room. His head movements were still stiff and somewhat sore, but at least he could move at all - and see that this very clearly wasn't the medical bay. In fact this looked like a regular hospital, and not one he'd ever seen before. What the hell..?

And there was the Doctor, standing there and practically vibrating with excitement. Something else just compounding the confusion. But he had water, which was a sight for sore eyes. Lockon tried to reach out a hand for the glass - he might not be able to sit up by himself, but he'd be damned if he couldn't hold a glass under his own power - but his arm hadn't been off the bed for two minutes before it fell back down. Lockon looked away with a small, aggravated sigh. A hated feeling of helpless stole over him.]

[The Doctor made an apologetic face as Lockon turned his head away, half shrugging in sympathy.]

Sorry, it looks like I'll have to play mother. You've been out for a while, you know. Quite frankly, I'd be more than a little amazed if you could move.

[He was trying to be reassuring - but before he told Lockon exactly how long he'd been out, not to mention the other stuff, he was going to get him to drink. Omega only knew how much he didn't want water going all over the bed thanks to a shocked reaction. He gave another tiny apologetic half-shrug and moved to place the glass to the other man's lips.]

[He moved his head slightly to look at the Doctor at his comment. For a while... He wanted to know how long he'd been out, and what had happened, and all of that, but - questions could wait for a moment. At least until he could physically ask them.

When the glass reached his lips, he drank - first slowly, swallowing painfully, and then as his throat loosened he began to gulp it as fast as the Doctor's movement allowed. You always forgot how wonderful water felt until you were desperately thirsty.]

[He made sure that the flow of water was steady - plenty, but not too much - until the glass was drained. Then he removed the glass and pointed at it with a questioning look.]

Did you want any more, or was that enough?

[He took a deep, if still somewhat shaky, breath when the glass was removed. At the Doctor's question, he swallowed experimentally. It was better - not...entirely so, his throat still felt raw, but enough. He wasn't going to be fed like an invalid if he could do without. He responded with a faint shake of the head.]

Enough, thanks.

[He nodded.] Good.

[Having got that out the way, he set the glass down, dragged his chair closer to the bed and turned it round so that he could lean his chin on the back before he sat on it.]

So. Where d'you want to start?

[He had any number of questions, and they all seemed equally desperately in need of answers. The basics where probably his best bet, and he could try and work from there. He couldn't be a captured prisoner if the Doctor was here, but that was only a relief on the surface. None of the Ptolemaios crew appeared to be here either, and this wasn't a hospital he recognised, which begged the questions of how he got here and why the Doctor was - but first things first.]

...Where am I?

[The answer came promptly.]

In a hospital in 6543, on one of the quieter planets in the Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In my universe, that is. It seemed like the safest place and it was the first place I could think of at the time.

[...safest place? And - that he could think of? That makes it sound like the Doctor was the one who brought him here, but that shouldn't have been possible - even if he didn't remember beyond leaving Dynames, it was obvious enough that he couldn't have gotten back to Earth and asked for a rescue. The Doctor shouldn't have known, couldn't have known that he was in space - or that he'd need a 'safe' place to heal at all...]

...Alright, so...why am I here? What happened? [He spoke carefully. There might still have been a reasonable explanation.]

[... Well. Here it went. He took a deep breath before he spoke.]

Long story, so don't interrupt until I'm done, okay? Basically, the first thing you need to know is that I know about you and what you were doing. I've known for months, actually. Worked it out back in October, but that's not what's important.

[Stares into space.] Things went wrong, Lockon. And I mean very wrong. So wrong that Tieria had to try actually coding a world-hop through the community for everyone. That's how I found everyone, sent out a rescue team and saved them, but you...

[He sighed heavily.] You were the difficult one. [He glanced at Lockon, a wry smile on his face.] You don't remember, do you?

[He'd jerked slightly in shock at the revelation that the Doctor had known about his involvement Celestial Being, but he stopped himself from interrupting, letting the Doctor finish. As the Doctor continued, Lockon's expression clouded - for Tieria to even consider doing that, things must have been unbelievably bad.]

[He frowned, trying to dig up anything in his memory. It was futile - the only thing he could remember was the GN cannon, and the feel of the disconnected Gundam sight in his hands as he searched for the stolen Throne amid the space debris...and then, at the edge of the memory, pain, more than he'd ever felt - but he couldn't recall what had caused it. Everything in his mind cut out on the GN cannon apart from the pain. He closed his eyes and shook his head.] I don't...think so.

Hmm. Probably just as well, I wouldn't have wanted to remember.

[He hesitated for a second. Lockon was his friend, and he'd been through a lot - they all had... but no. He deserved the truth if nothing else. A pity the truth was a harsh and unfeeling mistress.] The thing is... you were injured. Really badly injured, in your last fight. You could have died. I picked you up floating in space just before some kind of explosion, but...

[He sighed.] You see, Lockon, for about 2 weeks, everyone thought that you were dead. Including me. I actually had to do a bit of the old time travel to get you back. Technically not allowed, messing with the time line, but time was in flux and it wasn't my own timeline I was crossing. Besides, I'm very clever so I'm allowed.

[The injury wasn't a surprise in itself. The memory of the pain was enough of an indicator that he'd been pretty badly injured somehow, even if the wounds he'd sustained from the destruction of Dynames weren't bad enough on their own - but if it had been that same fight then - hn. Saachez must have got off a shot, somehow. A direct hit would surely have killed him outright, no could-haves about it....

...and then he was jolted from his train of thought by the Doctor's next words. He blinked as they sunk in, and frowned again as he tried to make sense of them.] Wait, so - I...did die, but you...changed the past?

[He screwed up his face.] Oh, how to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux...

[He settled for a small nod to start with.] Well... yes and no. You see, time isn't exactly a straight line, it's more like a. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey ball of stuff. I should get that copyrighted, really... It's a mess, basically. So once I piloted the TARDIS - rather daringly, I might add - and scooped you up out of an impending explosion, the thing that I was trying to prevent - namely, you dying - never even happened in the first place.

Edited 2009-02-11 16:44 (UTC)

[Lockon frowned again in concentration, muggy mind trying to process this, before he decided he didn't need to understand it too clearly. He'd rather not dwell on the idea of his own death, anyway. He could have died and didn't, that was was mattered.]

Sounds like I owe you my life, Doctor. Thank you.

[A thought occurred to him, and it wasn't a pleasant one.] But the others - you rescued them too. Did you have to change their pasts as well? [Would they have died too, without you?]

Edited 2009-02-12 08:34 (UTC)

Don't mention it.

[For a moment, the Doctor's face registered complete shock - clearly that thought hadn't even occurred to him.] What? Oh, no no no. I didn't have to do anything like that for them. Just get them to safety. They're all hiding on other worlds now. Well, except for Feldt. Actually, she's here in the hospital right now.

[Well. Not everyone, and that thought made him bow his head a little.] ... there were two that I couldn't save, though. Lichtendal and Christina were already dead when I got there. Saving them would have meant crossing my own timeline, and even I can't do that. I'm sorry.

[While he'd jerked forward slightly at the mention of Feldt - she's in the hospital? She's hurt?! - he froze at the Doctor's next words. When he spoke, it was with a quiet, incredulous horror.]

Chris and Lichty?

[A quiet No... escaped him, and he sagged back against the bed. Chris and Lichty, dead..? It was unthinkable - he may have known the risks of Celestial Being, but even so and even if he hadn't stayed optimistic about their chances - Chris and Lichty were the last two people he would have even considered -

He turned to stare unseeingly at the blankets for only a moment, before his eyes closed. He spoke numbly, tone almost dull with barely controlled emotions, the only outside hints of which were the creases in his brow and the clenching of his hands.]

It's not your fault, Doctor. You tried. That's more than you had to do. [He tried to say and they understood it was a possibility when they joined, like all of us, but the words stuck in his throat. All he could think of was Chris' face when they'd all regrouped after that first mission when the Ptolemy had been endangered. Pale, with red eyes where she'd clearly been crying, and a smile full of relief that they'd all made it through. She'd not been prepared for death. There was a world of difference between sort of knowing something might possibly maybe happen in the hypothetical future and actually knowing, mentally preparing yourself for the worst-case scenario.

He clenched his fists harder in the sheets. They were so young, how could they know? He remembered Lichty had told him once about his crush on her; had he ever managed to confess? They were...they'd been so young, and cheerful, and full of life. The world wasn't fair, when bastards like Ali Al-Saachez lived until adulthood and good people died when they were barely teenagers. He felt sick to his stomach.]

Yeah, well.

[He said no more as he looked away. He didn't have to; his tone of voice said it for him. People could tell him that it wasn't his fault all they wanted, until they were blue in the face, but he would still feel responsible, couldn't help it. He hadn't had the pleasure of knowing Christina and Lichtendal, but other people had. People who were his friends. He didn't usually stick around to see the consequences of things; it always cut too deep after so many times. And this was it right up close and personal. Grief was such a private, such a personal thing that even just sitting in the same room suddenly felt like an intrusion.]

[Even mired in the loss of his coworkers, his friends, Lockon registered the other man's unconfortableness after only a minute. This wasn't the Doctor's grief, and it wasn't fair to make him feel awkward when he clearly felt guilty enough. He deserved more than that.

Lockon did what he'd done too many times before, in the days before Celestial Being, when he'd had comrades in war who'd fought and died alongside him. He pushed the grief down, forcing it back until an appropriate time came and he could deal with it.

He took a deep breath.] Doctor, you said Feldt was in here too. How is she? [She would have been on the bridge too. He felt worry coil in him, rising from where shock had overpowered it.]

[He gave himself a mental shake. Come on, Doctor. Now's not the time.]

Feldt? She's doing fine, considering everything. She wasn't injured, if that's what you mean. I've been looking after her since. Well, since it all happened, but she's spent more time sitting here in this room than anywhere else. [He smiled fondly; Feldt really was a good kid.] Actually, I just packed her off to get some lunch about ten minutes or so before you woke up, or she would never have moved.

[That garnered a smile from Lockon as well, relief adding warmth to it.] Good. That's...good. Thanks for taking care of her, Doctor.

[Fears about the other members of CB - Chris and Lichty aside, with a a suppressed twinge of pain in his heart - assuaged, he was free to think a little harder about what the Doctor had said.] So all this time, you...you knew what we were doing. [He shook his head with a sigh and the beginnings of a wry smile. Suddenly, certain things from that one virus where they'd all been kids made a lot more sense.] You know, that explains a lot, now I think about it.

'Fraid so, yeah. [His tone became slightly teasing.] What, you mean "a lot" like me suddenly turning up on your little island with a model?

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[RL with Ten - Waking Up]

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