Life From Your Lips (Ruby Rose fanfic)

TEN (Iselen POV)

"No!"

"Madame, breathe slowly..." A voice that seems to come from a very distant place is whispering in my ear but I don't pay attention because it doesn't make any sense: I can't breathe, there's no fresh air here... The stone floor is hard and cold under my butt and my body feels sore, however, sweat baths my forehead and itches on my skin. Suddenly, someone puts something against my mouth pressing it hard against my jaw and I struggle to push it away desperately. "Breathe, madame, please... This is oxygen and you need to breathe slowly..."

"No... Ruby..." I whisper while tears run down my temples. I don't want to breathe, I want to go back, I want my princess... Some hands sneak under my body and lift me up firmly, putting me on a different hard surface but less cold. "No..."

"Madame, breathe slowly... She needs a line of saline and a tranquilizer, I think she's dehydrated..." I feel a little pain in my arm but I don't care because my eyes have found her on one of the columns: my beautiful princess, wearing her best dress and jewels while offering wine to Goddess Isis, her turquoise eyes shine under the torches light. The hands of some strangers lift me up from the floor again but this time they're taking me away from her.

"No, Ruby!" I try to cry despite the weird gag that they're pressing against my mouth, a sob escapes from my throat when I see her... The damned box full of bones in a corner covered with a white cloth that I put on top of it weeks ago, I try to extend my arm to get closer to her while tears fill my eyes and everything I see turns blurry. "I want to go back, please... Ruby..."

"Calm down, madame, we'll take care of you. You'll go back home soon..."

I close my eyes and shake my head, exhausted, while the paramedics carry the stretcher up the tunnel slowly despite it's steep. I don't have a home anymore... Everything I love became dust thousands of years ago.

*****

"Iselen, seriously, I'm sorry. I don't understand how no one noticed you weren't in one of the cars. Samir feels terribly bad..." Professor Mortimer Stephens keeps talking sitting on a chair next to the bed but I'm not listening to him, the door is slightly open and I can hear the typical noises of a hospital: a phone ringing, someone calls a doctor through the loudspeakers, a nurse runs down the corridor... But I ignore them all fixing my eyes on the white wall getting lost in the memories of another world: a palace with big gardens, a tiled pool, palm and sycamore trees, some green eyes and naughty smirk, the perfume of lotus flower on her skin... I know everything was real, it felt real. "Fortunately, you were in the tomb for 9 hours only till she rescued you and the doctors managed to stabilize you after a long and tense night, you were delirious with high fever but they told me there won't be long term physical damage and you'll be discharged soon."

"She rescued me..." I whisper frowning. The word has managed to make its way through my brain despite I wasn't listening to my boss.

"Yes, the girl who rescued you: professor Langenheim. That woman is a legend... I can't believe I've met her finally." Mortimer shakes his head and leans back on his chair, his blue bowtie catches my eye and my mind seems clearer than before, letting me focus on him and what he's trying to tell me. I make myself comfortable against the fluffy pillow and stare at him, bewildered.

"You mean... that professor Langenheim?"

"The one and only... Her crew was excavating the tomb located right next to ours, it belonged to Queen Isis, the wife of Ramses III, and she thought she heard your cries for help before her own workers sought refuge in the corridor of their tomb to escape from the sand storm. No force of nature could stop this wonderful archaeologist if she wants to keep working, that's for sure. The point is that she wasn't sure what she'd heard but felt uneasy and, the moment the sky was clear enough, she decided to investigate, breaking the lock and sneaking in our tomb to check if everything was all right. And she found you... Fortunately, there's always a paramedic in her crew when she's excavating and he gave you oxygen and saline till they managed to carry you to the hospital."