Voices

Memories

"Wait, you what?" I asked looking at him confused.

"I stayed alive for you."

"But...how?"

"I don't really know myself. My dad always said it was because I was a Shane, and that we're naturally like that. I think it was more than just being a Shane, I think it was because I would regret not letting you know I forgive you."

I looked at the ground, my eyes widened, "That's what they told me...they said they had forgiven me for what I had done. They didn't, those two left me here to die." I looked at Eli with fear, "Are you gonna leave me for dead just like they did?"

"No way! I'm not like that. I really do forgive you, and as I've said before I've never held it against you. And I never will." "You really believe that?" He nodded. I smiled. "Eli, can you please put your shirt back on?"

"Why? I thought you would've loved to see me like this."

"I do it's just, the scars bring back horrible memories..." my voice trailed off.

"Okay, I'll be back," Eli stood and walked over to my bedroom.

I watched the door close, then got up and sat on the sofa, relaxing. I could hear rustling from the room, but ignored it and closed my eyes. Slowly drifting off to sleep.

~

I'm running in a cavern that's dark. I cry for help but my voice doesn't seem to work, so I keep running. I wonder if anyone notices I'm missing, or if they can hear my silent screams. The cave comes to an end and a giant wave of red colored liquid rushes towards me. I feel it hit and I feel like I'm drowning. The water pulls me under. Something grabs my leg, I look down and see a hand with claws tightly gripping my ankle, and I get a slight look at the creature's face. Fangs and eyes with the whites turned black, blood red irises with a narrow slit for a pupil. The creature roars and pulls me down deeper into the deep, red liquid. I feel the monster's claws sink into my skin and I scream, but still there's no noise that escapes, just bubbles. The bubbles then drift to the surface and pop without a sound. The monster bears it's razor sharp fangs and leans in for the kill.

I jolt awake, breathing heavily and look at my shaking hands. A small noise catches my attention and I look down. On the floor lays the sleeping form of Eli. I smile and stand, walking to my room. Spark and Dreamer were both in the slug-sized bed chirping in their sleep. I lightly poke Spark on the head, causing him to slowly wake up. "Hey, Spark, sorry to wake you but I have a question." Spark chirped and looked at me with half lidded eyes. "A Boon Doc can cure the effects of the Dark Water, right?" Spark yawned then fell asleep in my palm. I sighed and placed him back into his slug bed next to Dreamer.

When I walked back into the main room I noticed that Eli was missing, but I heard one of his slugs squeaking from the sofa. I looked and saw that his Tazerling, Joules, was hopping on the sofa. I walked over to him, "Hey, little guy, where's Eli at?" Joules hopped over to where Kord had the mechabeasts and hopped inside to where Eli's mechabeast, Lucky, was. I looked around and saw Eli looking at a picture, his back leaning against the wall. I went to walk over to him, but he it seemed like he wanted to be left alone. I turned and walked back into the main room and noticed that Eli's Infurnus slug was waiting outside the door way. It looked up at me and squeaked then pointed over towards where all the slugs were. I followed it as it led me to the others. That's when I noticed the small light green and white Cyclops slug from before. It looked over at me and smiled. I didn't hear Eli come into the room and stand behind me until Burpy chirped excitedly. I turned and saw Eli looking at me while I held the Cyclops slug. I smiled and petted the slug lightly on the head.

"I thought you were asleep," he said in a somewhat surprised voice.

"Had a nightmare and woke up," I placed the Cyclops slug onto the ground. "I thought of something that I'd like to discuss with you. I'll need both your agreement and your Boon Doc."

"Okay," Eli sat on the sofa. "What is it you wanna tell us?"

"I think I found a way to be normal again."

"How's that?"

"Boon Docs can heal anything that's tainted with Dark Water, right?"

"Mhm," Eli nodded.

"I was tainted by Dark Water so, maybe he'll be able to change me back to normal."

"That could work."

"But there's a catch. He's not strong enough in his protoform, so-"

"I'll have to shoot him at you, right?" he asked sadly.

"Exactly, only I can't be myself, I have to be without my necklace," I look at him sadly, "We'll need a cage if both of you agree to do this."

"A cage? For what?"

"To keep the monster contained until the healing is done. I don't wanna hurt any of you, and I definitely don't wanna hurt you even more."

"But, if I shoot Doc at you won't you get hurt?"

"Most likely not, but I can't say that I won't try to put up a fight, so you'll also need Fandango's to keep him powered." Eli was silent for a minute then he looked at me with determination in his eyes, "Alright, we'll do it."

I smiled, "Thanks, Eli! I can't wait to be normal again."