Symbiosis

Chapter 11

((I know this chapter is also late, but this time, I've actually already had it ready for a couple days. The only thing stopping me from posting it is my proofreader got insanely busy over the past week. In fact, it STILL hasn't been proofread. That said, I didn't wanna make you guys wait any longer for this chapter, so I'm posting it now and I'll have the updated version next month, along with the new chapter for March. It's still going to have similar events either way. Also, to my proofreader, if you happen to see this, I do not blame you in the slightest. Life stuff happens, so don't fret about it. I still very much appreciate your help.

Also, I feel like this isn't my best chapter, but I guess it kinda had to be that way after previous events, and this is shaping up to be a long term plot rather than a quick adventure. Things are gonna pick up again, and as they do, Alex is gonna be in some hot water. As always, comments and constructive criticism is always appreciated. Thanks for reading, guys!))

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The first thing Alex noticed when he blinked his eyes open was the rhythmic slow paced beeping. The second thing he noticed was that he was not in his room again. The room was pure white and the bed felt a bit stiffer than normal. He tried and failed miserably to lift his head. He let out a stiff exhale through his nose, feeling an intense wave of pure fatigue wash over him. 'Oh fuck... what hit me?'

"Alex?" a familiar female voice spoke in a trembling tone.

Alex turned his head to meet the owner of the voice. He groaned and blinked through the tiredness, trying to focus. "Ungh... Cassie...?"

His sister's shocked face broke into a mix of emotions as her lip began to quiver and tears started welling up in her already red eyes. She halfway jumped onto his bed to embrace him and broke down crying hysterically. "Oh thank God you're okay! The doc said you'd be fine, but you were so badly hurt and it was days since then, no one knew when you were gonna wake up! And the way you got hurt was super scary-"

Alex grimaced as his sister went on, tapping her multiple times to get her attention. "Cassie! Ow ow, please get off!" he grunted as forcefully as he could manage.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" Cassie shot back up to get off of her brother, but she ended up kneeing Alex's side in the process, causing him to double over in pain. Cassie jerked herself back even further, losing her balance and briefly falling on the floor, before she picked herself back up. "Oh god oh god, I'm so sorry, oh god!" As Alex as he lay groaning in pain attempting to calm himself down, Cassie nervously hovered her hands back and forth over his body as if she wanted to help his brother somehow in spite of not knowing how. "Uumm... uuhh..." after several seconds of this, Cassie ended up just pressing a button on a nearby control panel and sat herself back down on a bedside chair, content to not mess anything else up.

After several moments of writhing in pain, Alex felt it start to ebb to a manageable level and straightened back up in his bed. "Nnf... first off, ow-"

"I said I was sorry!" his sister whined. She did look like she was in emotional turmoil. She was on the verge of tears.

Alex gave another grunt of discomfort as he settled back down and glanced at his sister. Feeling a pang of guilt, he let his head drop onto the pillow, giving a sigh, and he tentatively held out an arm for her. "Just... be gentle, okay? Everything hurts."

Cassie cautiously approached her brother, worried one wrong move would break him, and knelt down to tenderly rest her head beside his chest, letting out a single sob in doing so. "I'm sorry if I hurt you. I was just so scared you were gonna die," she whispered fearfully.