<==Scared of Change, Pt.2==>
(( Warning! It’s still sorta a long post! I promised to try and make it shorter, sorry about that! I hope you enjoy it! ))
“It will be over soon…”
“Don’t be scared.”
“Don’t be scared…”
“Don’t be…”
Those words echoed into the chamber as much as they did her mind. Yet even with those few comforts, she found herself shuddering, shaking, on the painful verge of tears as she retreated to the center of the pod, awaiting what came. There was fear in her eye, and the nurse knew it. One could even say that guilt and perhaps their own tinge of uncertainty lingered as she closed the door behind Bella. The pod sealing itself air-tight. There was a churn of machinery as the magitek machine revved back to life.
Bella couldn’t see much of the room from inside the pod, only foggy shapes as the glass doors sealed and shifted to become a foggy cloud that kept her away from the unknown shapes of the world outside. A cold sweat broke out upon her upper brow as a hand moved to cover her working eye to hide the fact that she was tearing up. As she retreated to the center of the chamber, her knees begged to buckle under the weight of a nervous heart. The thunder in her chest was deafening as the machine’s lights within the pod grew dim and gave to darkness. The only true light came in from the outside’s cool blue light behind the foggy glass.
A shuddering breath was all she could muster as the spikes along her back silently flared out to their full length. Despite the towel that wrapped around part of her body, the spikes and their sharp edges poked through and ripped the threads till there were slots to be filled by her mutation. With arms wrapping around herself to keep some semblance of steadiness in her heart, Bella could hear the sounds of shifting panels within the pod itself as the machine’s features showed themselves.
Wall and ceiling panels gave way to small capsules, each glowing a different color. Shades of blues, reds, greens and purples began to illuminate the small pod, every color giving the woman a different feeling of sickness all together. The whirr of magitek machinery humming above all else made her heart sink despite their purpose. The lights bathed the small chamber and cooling and warming auras, enough to churn the hyur’s stomach even more as her nervousness came through.
Suddenly, as red lights began to fade she felt a sharp pain shoot right through her. It felt like a heated cattle brand stuck through her gut and pierced straight through her body. The pain screamed at her senses as a hand reached forward to grab the close yet distant wall as she fell to the floor, curling onto her knees as the other hand grasped desperately for her stomach.
Searing pain was all she felt as her stomach seemed to churn and twist within. The lights pulsed save for the missing red within the chamber, the pulses quickened for some few seconds before slowing to a gentle heart’s beat. Yet despite this, the pain traveled along her body and spread to every corner of her person. No inch of her was left alone by the pain as it ached and stabbed at her mind over and over, driving her to the floor in a sob. Tears were fought back as she cringed and tried to forget the sharp pain as it ate at her.
For so long had she be bereft of pain, any injury she had sustained in combat or elsewhere was met with a muted numbness that she felt ever so disturbing. Yet even as she was without such a factor, she could still feel it. Whenever the spikes along her back would fall out of place and grow back, the pain she felt as they grew back to full length was indescribable. Belladonna never mentioned it to her friends, her loved ones that she felt this pain, she never would. Even as she would be healed by a conjurer or something other,the magic they wield caused more pain than heal.
This, what she felt in the pod was something so close to that, eerily close. One by one the lights began to fade properly, the panels slid to a close, yet as the lights faded, the stabbing and searing agony she felt surged more and more. It drove her to heave, choking on her own air as she retched what little she had onto the pod’s flooring before her. Choked sobs were all she could muster now as she attempted to wipe her mouth clean, a hand gripping at her gut.
Time passed as she folded in onto herself, trembling as the pain began to subside. The waves of anxiety, fear and the crippling ache washed over her as her meek heart clocked over-time to keep the little mutant alive. The humming of machinery thrummed in the background as the results came to the medical staff in droves while the nurse and assistants stood at the door, ready to retrieve the patient when the process was done.
Slowly the doors gave way, opening the small pod to the rest of medical staff. What they saw was bleak, an ill-promising outlook on the woman’s condition entirely. The poor mutant was curled up along the floor, trembling as the spikes were flared out at full length. A mix of vomit and blood turned red pooled the floor of the pod as tears trickled down her face. Without so much as another word of utterance, the staff stepped into the small pod, and lifted her. One after the other nurses and assistants would help the woman to her feet at as the others worked on covering her up once more in a larger towel, guiding her back to the curtain where her she could be cleaned and change back into her clothes.
As the time ticked away, Bella was given the help she needed to come back to her fairly regular self. Nurse Cecilia remained at the mutant’s side throughout the ordeal as others came and went. Bell sat in one of the chairs, still recovering from what she had experienced in the chamber. Her mind drifting to the faces of the staff, their expressions, their reactions to her and the data that streamed to the monitors from the machine.
Not long after, a man in a pristine white coat parted the long curtain to step in. A knock against the wall signaled his entry. “Miss Slater.” He gave a bow. “The report is ready for your viewing.” The doctor stepped forward as nurse Cecilia returned the bow, scooting to the side as he handed the mutant a small magitek tablet. Written on the viewing screen were the results of what transpired, of what the machine did to Bella.
Her eye traced over the data, the resulting graphs, and even the descriptors of what each and ever light did. Much of what she saw… unfortunately she already had guessed and or knew. Each graph she glanced over gave her less and less confidence as each defined a piece of her that would never be fixed. That her condition was truly, and officially… irreversible, unfix-able, and unending. That if, and when she steps back onto the field, the more injuries she sustains the harder it will be for her to keep going, that traditional means of healing… practical and without magic might be her only source of true health… As true as it could be. How she looked now would be permanent and, her age, truly registered at fifty-years plus, yet she looked ever so young. The scars will never truly heal, the pain from injuries untold will always weigh her down… and her mutation… is forever.
In the end, she knew that. She knew it all along, the mutant didn’t need something to tell her that she was going to be a monster, that she wouldn’t be able to feel the shining sun or the pouring rain for what they truly were, that they would only be whispers in the the wind to her. This day just confirmed it, sealed it with a cruel mark. It brushed away any uncertainty that she may yet be… feel… even seem “normal”.
She wouldn’t be.
She couldn’t be.
“Miss Slater…?” With a sharp inhale she blinked back up to stare at the doctor, a weary expression painting her face in all manners of sadness.
“Is there anyone you would like to send this medical report to…? I’m sure that there’s st-”
“N-no.. I’ll take it, don’t… d-.. there’s no one to send it to.”
“A-ah… I see.” The Doctor came to a stand, nodding his head solemnly “I understand.”
Moments pass before Bella’s bid farewell by the doctor and the medical staff. With Nurse Cecilia at her side, she’s escorted out back into the white hall beyond. Before Cecilia exits the room, she’s flagged by the Doctor yet again. The man hands her the small tablet and steps away.
“See this to the Creator.”
With a silent nod, she slips it hidden before joining Belladonna in the hallway. The nurse gestures back down the hall, and with small steps they make their way out.
“Don’t be scared, Miss Slater..”
“Don’t be scared of the change..”
Scared of Change – – – – [ E N D ]
[Part 1] Part 2
It's Morphin' Time - XIV 