It's Morphin' Time – XIV

<== Scared of Change, Pt.1==>

((Warning! It’s a bit of a long post! But I hope you enjoy it! I promise part 2 will be shorter…. probably.))

How many moons does it strike now?
How long have I been this way?
How many bloody days have i spent in pain, in a pain i can’t eve describe to someone.
How many does am i gonna keep going..?

Questions. Those words, these questions that always seemed to cycle the little mutant’s mind during every waking hour of the day when her mind wasn’t taxed down by the nigh near millions of tasks that she was assigned, either by the Glass Network, or by her Ranger Duties. They ate away at her, viciously like wild and rabid dogs on a freshly hunted meal that was their first in days. The hunger for an answer drove her insane, her thoughts and mind swelling over and over till it all grew blank.

Belladonna sat alone in a long white hallway, her chair was of a soft cushion’d weave that sat her a fulm or two off the white tiling. Her feet would just slightly dangle were she to sit tucked into the chair itself. Doors lined the hallway in gentle indents, each own blank and without a handle on the outside.

A small stained glass windowpane decorated the upper half of every door. The design of the glass pane was ornate, each colorful in various different shapes. Every design telling a different tale of trial, and triumph that the ocean-side city had bore witness to. Despite the hallway being of a lone shaded hospital white, across the doorways sat large windows, two fulms high off the ground and climbing to the ceiling.

The windows mimicked the ornate stained glass designs that the doors had, each different to match what sat across from them. The late afternoon sun could be seen pouring through in vibrant colors along the white tiled floors. Bell’s eye idly danced along the shades of blues and reds, remembering each battle the told. She had lived through almost all of them, been present in some fashion, as a child or as a Ranger.

A painful sting of pride resonated in her heart as she recalled the perilous battles that she and the Rangers fought to protect their isolated city. The pride swelled only to give way and mix with sorrowful heartache as the memories faded and changed to the pain of losing them all to the same old war.

The bone spikes along her spine flared our quietly, stirring her her mind from dwelling too deep. In the distance, heeled footsteps could be heard clattering down the way on her left. The woman’s eye trailed the floor till it found the source, the nurse dressed in a white dress, an apron of vibrant skyblue and a white cap could be seen making her way towards the mutant. In their hand and arms sat a small magitek tablet, she was humming some faint and familiar tone.

A simple child’s song no doubt. Something that all children in Grisana were taught in some fashion at some point or another in their lives in the city academy. The nurse was young, her hair was kept in a small ponytail, tucked and hidden by the white cap she wore. Age hadn’t tarnished her young beauty, she was twenty-five, pushing twenty-six by Bella’s guess.

Belladonna sat as still as she could be, her hands together as her fingers intertwined, thumbs fighting the dreadful anticipation of simple waiting for news or even interaction. Her nerves despite her age were getting the best of her, her little heard pounding away in her chest causing the rest of her body to shiver in the seat despite the warm air of the city that crept through the hall.

The seconds droned on as the Nurse down the hall made steps closer and closer, the click and clack of heels echoed louder as she closed the distance between herself and Belladonna. The spikes along the mutant’s back were idly filling the otherwise silent hallway with their twitches and rattles as they shifted along Bella’s spine.

Bella seemed to tense as the nurse came close, nervousness plagued her face as she shied away and cast her one-eyed gaze to the floor, choosing the stare at ornate colors rather than the nurse as she arrived. With a sympathetic look, the young woman approached, a hand keeping her tablet close before lowering herself to a slight kneel, offering to have gentle eye-contact. Now near eye-level, Bella took in a shuddering breath as her head turned hesitantly over to the nurse, her body shifting and tensing more.

Despite this, the nurse offered a kind smile to the mutant. She paused to glance at her magitek device before nodding to herself. “Miss Slater..? The room’s ready.” Her voice was gentle, and comforting. Light as a feather yet could carry pride and the duty that she needed to as a medical professional. Bella gave a nervous nod to the Nurse before they spoke again. “I… recognize you from the museum. And your name’s pretty big in the city. It’s an honor to meet you. My name is Cecilia, you and the Rangers saved me when I was little.”  

The nurse’s words stirred nerves and gave Bella a bit of comfort in the situation, her heart starting to slow and ease its thunderous beat within her chest. A moment passes between them before the mutant could respond, visibly she was at a loss for words and she was struggling to play catch up.  As Bella looked over, her voice audibly struggled, the nurse couldn’t help but smile and offer a hand in return. “It’s alright.” she said reassuringly. “I’m here to help you, we all are, Miss Slater…”

Without a verbal response, Bella rose a shaking hand to take the nurse’s as she came to a stand. The woman’s hand as strong, despite her gentle appearance, the firmness of it gave the mutant a  moment of reassurance through it. Bell was given an assuring squeeze before being let go. “The room’s ready, if you’ll follow me?”

Giving a nod, Bell slowly gestured for her to lead the way. Soon the hall was once again filled with the click clack of the nurse’s heels, but it was met and joined with the mutant’s rattling spikes as they made their way past several doors down the hallway. Their destination door held yet another ornate glass pane design on its upper half, the design spoke of the Ranger’s creation, that it was prophesied long ago in caves and ruins long forgotten on their island. It was a tale all too familiar with Belladonna. Something that she took to heart yet buried it away for as long as she could remember when she became a Ranger so very long ago.

Cecilia brought up her magitek tablet up to the door, a her right hand pressing against the flat metal door devoid of any actual detail aside from the ornate glass. A low chime of some melodic tone akin to a child’s rhyme, it was something similar to what the nurse was humming previously but yet still different entirely. A moment passes before the door yawns open, the door swinging outward. A stream of blue lights pour into the already bright white hallway from within the room beyond. The churning of magitek machinery could be heard humming in the room before they stepped in.

The warm air from outside was soon stripped away to give into the colder and cool air within the service room. The room was large and square, yet the corners were no where to be seen as if the design of it was made to give a feeling of endlessness as the lights dimmed along the walls to bolster that thought. Along the edge of the room sat medical console and tables with magitek machinery atop, screens blinking light greens and blues, displaying zeroed vital signs and medical reports of the would-be subjects. Medical staff were seen in the room, by Bella’s count at least eight others without counting Cecilia and herself. On the far side of the room sat some few chairs, a medical examination table and curtain that hang off a metal rail extending from the left-most wall. The curtain could curve along the metal railing, to provide privacy of the table and chairs.

In the center of the room sat a large magitek machine, the hum of it’s power source was what churned and seemed to be what was exhuming the truly cold air in the room. The machine itself was large, it stood from floor to ceiling, bundles of wires led from it to the machines and monitors on either side of the room along the walls and atop the tables. Within the machine, down its center was a clear glass pod, it was big enough to house the largest Roegadyn in the world no doubt about it. Belladonna could feel like nothing but an ant in comparison, yet even then that was an exaggeration.

“Miss Slater?” Cecilia spoke up, “Follow me to the back and we’ll get started.” Without another word she headed towards the curtain, with a nod to the other medical staff within the room. The doctors and nurses stood attentive to who walked in, silent for some small few seconds before turning back to their work. Few spying eyes sneaked glances to Belladonna’s rattling and flared out spike mutations, some curious, some fearful.

Slowly they stepped further into the room, passing the machinery. Bella’s singular eye, despite being hindered by the lack of sight, could still see fine details in everything. A small trait she had learned and picked up to try and adapt to what she had lost, and what had changed. She saw her own name along some of the monitors in passing, her medical history over the years, both Imperial and local. Height and weight changes, and even some slight documented facts of her mutation as well, nothing she didn’t know already.

Finally they reached the curtain, in which the nurse ushered Belladonna behind it, and moved it closed. “You can start removing your clothes here. When you’re done, Miss Slater, there’s a towel over by the table that you can use to cover up and then we can begin.” With a bow she stepped out of the curtain to give Bella privacy.

To say that she was nervous still was an understatement, the spikes along her spine were rattling, they had been the entire time they entered the room, truthfully. Despite this, she took shaking hands to her clothes. Slipping out of her boots and socks, stripping herself of her clothes one by one, piece by piece till she stood bare. Even though she couldn’t truthfully feel the cold, the senses that remained, what little there was told her all that she needed to know of the air. Her body was beaten, bruised and scarred, something she had only slightly gotten used to seeing. Imperfect skin, blotches of discoloration, thin and thick patches in variation. Something she found disheartening in a way, a grim and bleak reminder that she could never be fully healed to a degree that could even be deemed “fixed”. It was a change that she found to be crushing in the weight of it all.

With a shaking breath, Bella walked over to the table. Her hand reaching down to take hold of the blue towel that sat neatly folded. As she reached out, she found that her arm, had seen better days. Her hands and arms were in a poor state, but the distraction of the nurse’s kind words and face were truly that, a distraction. It was another insult to injury, something she hadn’t noticed all this time. The fact that her condition was everywhere along her body, and there was no fixing it. Her skin looked burned, beaten and bruised, matching the rest of her body. Even if she had come to terms with seeing it on occasion, it was still just as jarring to see it elsewhere, whether in the mirror or places that make-up couldn’t hide. Her heart sank deep into her chest, the heartstrings she had felt like they were going to snap at any moment.

Pulling the towel to her chest, she sunk to the floor on the verge of a silence collapse as she curled in onto herself. Grit and clenched teeth as she fought back any sound that could’ve been taken as a sob. The hum of magitek machinery wouldn’t hide it if she lost herself now. On her knees, she curled in, a hand hiding her eyes as the other pulled the towel close. She was shaking, shuddering… crying in silence. She wanted to wail, she wanted to sob. The reminder that she was so poor in health, the reminder that she looked this way, this… freak… this mutant ate at her till she was a shell, always.

Did she ever tell anyone how she felt…?
Did she ever say anything to her sisters…?
Did she ever say anything to mother… to father… to her brothers…?

No.

Not even fabled all mighty Creator had been spoken to about it… Yet he knew. He somehow always knew.

Her mind was blurring into her sobbing shell, only to be interrupted by a gentle knocking against the wall nearby.

“Miss Slater? Is aught amiss?” It was the nurse, Cecilia.

Taking in a quiet yet heavy breath, she fought to calm herself, wiping her tears into the towel before uttering a small response. Moments pass before she pulled herself to a stand, wiping her eyes one last time before the towel was wrapped around her torso. With a small “yes" the curtain was pulled open gently, allowing Bella to step through.

Despite Belladonna’s best attempts, her fight to hide the fact she was in tears only moments ago resulted in failure. Cecilia gave a small frown, fighting her own expression to keep professional. A hand was held up to stop Bella from moving as the nurse pulled out a small set of tissues, moving to wipe around the mutant’s eyes before moving to her shoulder to give a reassuring squeeze.

"Right this way, okay?”

Leading the way, Cecilia looked to the other medical staff who offered a silent thumbs up to her as she guided Bella to the chamber in the center of the machine. Her hand along the mutant’s shoulder was firm, comforting, reassuring as she led her in.

“You don’t need to do a thing, there may be a few scary noises, and the lights within the pod might turn off, change color and a few other things.. but that’s normal. Okay?”

Bella nodded in silence as she stepped into the small chamber. The pod itself was of a glass make, the opposite door of the chamber seemed to harden, and fog up forcibly, offering some shielded privacy while the other door remained open. The floor was admittedly cold, a slight mixture of metal and glass. The entire chamber was spotless and clean. Overhead hung warm lights, coating the small pod in a wave of comfort, no doubt made by design to reassure patients before scanning.

The hyur’s heart was thundering deep within her chest, but the air of the small chamber helped to calm her to some degree. Behind her nurse Cecilia grinned, giving her small words of encouragement and assurance before pressing a few buttons along the door’s console.

“Just stand there, okay? The process will be over soon, I promise.”

“Don’t be scared.”

“It will be over soon.”

Part 1  [Part 2]