literature

Spin Recovery, the Conclusion

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He trudged through the blowing snow, arms wrapped around his naked body, moonless dark surrounding him, the snow muffling all sounds save his own breathing.  He had been walking for a long time, though he couldn’t quite remember where he was going or where he had come from.  All there was, was the Cold and the Dark, surrounding him, engulfing him.  The idea occurred that if he stopped moving, the snow would quickly cover him, leaving a formless lump in this endless white plain.  It would be as if he’d never existed.   Strangely, the thought brought him no particular terror anymore.

Ru Ofanius, a gentle, familiar voice called out to him.  He turned towards it.  In the distance he could see the open entrance to a cave, a female figure silhouetted against a bright fire within it.  Ru Ofanius, come out of the cold to me.  

He walked towards the figure, stumbling into her arms as she covered him with a cloak.  She led him to her fire, sitting him down in front of it.  The bright orange light was proof against the cold and the darkness, and the gentle touch of the lady was warm, so warm.

Time to rest now, Ru Ofanius.  Her bosum was a pillow he gratefully laid his head against, her fingers stroking his forehead gently.  Rest now.

“Milady,” he breathed, seeing the bright spark of her fire even through the closed lids of his eyes, “I think I could sleep for a thousand years.”

If that is what will give you comfort, then you may have it, dear Ru Ofanius.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her.  “I can’t.”

You refuse my solace, Ru Ofanius?  Her question held no anger or reproach, only inquiry.

“It’s not that I don’t want it, Milady.  I do want to rest, believe me, but there’s so much left to do.”

She nodded in understanding.  Then do what you must, Ru Ofanius.  Then she helped him to his feet, wrapped her cloak around shoulders and gave him a bright torch from the fire to hold in his hand.  By these gifts I warm you and light your way.  Walk in my grace, Ru Ofanius Brushtail.  I will be here when you return to me.

“Thank you, Milady.”  She led him to the entrance of the cave and he walked back out into the Cold, not so cold now with her cloak, and the Dark, not so dark with her light to guide him.

* * *

…aorta tore completely open…

…that’s enough of that, Rufus.  You’re scaring your Auntie.

… possibility of brain damage.

…I’ll just stay here with him a while longer, Mother, alright?

…no, complete replacement is the only viable option.  It is risky, but the alternative…

…Holy Den Mother, forgive my arrogance and my blindness.  Please bring my son back to me.  Please Milady, I beg you, bring him back to me.

…have to have patience in these matters.

…Rufus, if you die before I get a chance to tell you what an idiot you are, I’ll kill you!


* * *

When he woke up, he found his eyes seemed to be gummed over and his throat was numb.  Something round and plastic was pressing his tongue down in his mouth, extending down into his esophagus and held in place by medical tape wrapped around his muzzle.  His one arm was strapped down to a board while his right had been removed to parts unknown.  Feeling trapped, he let out a gurgle of worry.

“Hold on, hold on,” he heard Hazel say softly.  A wet cloth brushed away the gunk from his eyes and he blinked them open.  He was in a hospital room, the area around his bed stuffed with medical monitoring equipment, a ventilator tube down his throat.  It was night, judging from the stars outside the window and the room was dimly lit from a single wall lamp.  Looking down, he could see his chest fur had been completely shaved away at some point, with new fuz just coming in to cover a massive incision in his chest.  “That better?” she asked.

Hurr.”  He blinked at her, wishing he had the strength to sit up and hug her.  She looked tired, her eyes heavy with fatigue.

“Hey, are you looking at me, Rufus?”

Hurr!”  He blinked again.

“Do you know who I am?”

Hurr hurr.

“Was that an ‘uh, huh,’ or an ‘uh, uh’?”

His eyeroll was answer enough apparently, for she let out a long sigh of relief.  “Okay, sorry.  Good to have you back, Rufus.  I suppose I should give you the summary of what’s been happening since you blew out your heart.  For starters, you’re really lucky the ambulance was already on its way to pick you up.   That poor medtech you bullied said you probably would have died if the EMT’s hadn’t been able to start pouring plasma into you while they rushed you to hospital.  They had to replace your heart with a mechanical one, so congratulations on blowing the warranty on the old one.  Though I want you to know I’m really not interested in some weird contest over who can replace the most body mass with plastic and steel.  Don’t laugh at that please, the doctors were very firm about you avoiding stress until the connections to your new heart are fully healed over, besides I'm winning anyway.”  She lifted up her stump.  Attatched to it was a baseplate, similar in function to the one set in his shoulder, plugged into it a cybernetic leg, gleaming chrome with black artificial claws.  

Hurr.

“Okay, maybe it's a bit tacky, but I figured if people were going to stare at my leg anyway it ought to look cool.  Dottie liked it anyway.  She and I have been getting along well.  She sent me flowers when I went back to hospital to have my baseplate installed.  Oh, I should tell you that you've been out for twelve days.  Artificial coma to minimize the stress on your new heart.  Blake found reason to actually be clear of Vulpine Prime orbit less than an hour after your heart exploded, by the way.  I imagine the squadron of fighters that escorted her shuttle up to her yacht was an encouragement.

Hurr.”  

“Yeah, I thought it was funny too.  Anyway... uh, what was I going to say next?  Oh, messages!  My dad hopes you get better soon.  Um, your mom said as soon as you woke up to tell you she loves and that she's sorry... oh, Goddess, how did she put it?  “I'm sorry for my arrogance and my defiance of the Holy Den Mother's will, in putting duty to our House above duty to our House's people.”  Beth, she's a sweet girl by the way, Beth wanted to know whether you were serious about talking to the Holy Den Mother back on Blake's cruiser.  I told her people can't lie under interrogation drugs, and besides you weren't in a position to make up a creative story right then anyway. Oh, and that lawyer vixen, Ms. Fieldmaster, said you should never, ever give testimony without legal represenation present.  Oh, and Count Longear has killed your drug solicitation charges, and is working on the smuggling one.”

Hurr,” he said, in what he hoped was an encouraging manner.  It occured to him that was a new aspect of Hazel he'd never seen before.  Usually her conversations were sharp, almost curt.  He'd never actually seen her babbling in relief before.

“Just to let you know, personally, I think you're fragging crazy, but I figured that out when you got the bright idea to take the one and a half of us flying in that antique.  Aunt Dottie believes it's charming and that you were very brave baring your soul like that on the Speaker's Stage.  They were worried about another stroke and brain damage you know.  Persoally I think the best thing to do would be to wrap that blasted ventilator tube around your throat and give it a good squeeze.  I figure it if we can give you enough brain damage maybe you'll come all the way around to sane again, but I'm not counting on it.  Besides, Beth and your mom outvoted me on the idea, with Dottie reserving judgement.”

Hurr,

“Anyway.. anyway...”  Hazel snuffled once, then climbed into the bed beside him.  She wrapped her arm awkwardly around his chest, dodging tubes, hugging him tightly as she buried her muzzle in the nape of his neck.  “If you ever do anything that stupid again and survive, I'll kill you.”

Hurr, hurr.

A knock on the open doorframe leading out into the hallway made Hazel jump back up suddenly, as a nurse walked into the room.  “I was just... ah... he's awake now.”

“I saw that on the hall monitors, dear,” the nurse said, with an indulgent smile.  She looked down on Rufus.  “All right, you're awake, that's good.  Ready to start breathing without help?”

Hurr, hurr,” he replied, trying to nod.

“Good.  Here we go.”  She pulled the tape off his muzzle, then eased the ventilator tube out of his mouth as he tried not to gag.  It was perhaps the most disgusting sensation he'd ever felt in his life, at least until a moment later when she pulled out his catheter.  “There.  How do you feel, milord?”

“Tired,” he breathed.  Then he tried to swallow.  “Thirsty.  Hungry.”

“I'll get you some gelatin.  You won't want anything more hardy until your throat has a chance to recover.  Miss Hazel here can feed you if you like.”

“Could I have my arm, please?  I could feed myself then.”

“The consulting doctor advised that we leave it off for now, so you don't try to overstrain yourself.”  She tapped the board that bound his forearm to hold the tubes entering it in place.  “And if you try to pull that off we're to use restraints.”

“Right.  Er, Hazel?”

She grinned evilly, held up an imaginary spoon and cooed.  “Here's the shuttle coming into the landing bay!”

“Har, har.  I'll take that as a yes.”

“No need to get embarrassed,” she said, once the nurse had left to find the gelatin.   “Believe me, you've got nothing to embarrassed about.  I should know, the nurses let me help bathe you a couple of times while you were unconcious.”

“Ah, really?  How... educational.”

Her smile grew wider.  “Oh, quite.”

He cleared his throat, swallowing down some gunk that had coated the tube.  “Hmm, speaking of educational, I wonder what they did with my old heart?”

“Probably incinerated it by now.  Why do you ask?”

He smiled at her.  “I just had the most disgusting idea for an engagement present.”

“Engagement...”  Her jaw dropped open.  “Is that an offer, Rufus?”

“Well, I suppose it is.  Interested?”

“Interested?  Interested?  What makes you think I'd be interested in a loonie Farm Noble with one arm and a drug habit?”

“Well, I am quite wealthy,” he pointed out.

She seemed to consider that one seriously for a moment.  “There is that.”

“And, I can take you flying again.”

“Ah, that makes it a temptation.”

“You don't have answer right away.”

“I don't intend to.  For one thing, the last couple of weeks might have mellowed out your mother considerably, but I'm still no Farm Lord iin her eyes.”

“Well then, we'll have to demonstrate your other merits to her.”

“What merits?”

“Well, for one thing, you gave me a reason to come to back to the land of the living.”

Her eyes widened.  “Did I now?”

“Yes.”

She went over to the door and closed it discreetly, then climbed back into bed with him.  “Well then, before we call your mother to let her know you're awake, let me give you a few more.”  Then she hooked her leg around his waist and kissed him.

Hurrrrrrr.

The End
Rufus receives a just reward.

Terinu and related characters, plots, images and situations are copyright :iconchaypeta: and used here without permission.
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