DOOM SAGA I - I'll be home tomorrow

Day 165

The Fortress

With a worried frown, he stepped down the corridors to her room. She had been in distress for a minute, now her heart rate was still above her current normal. Her breath was chaotic, her body temperature had risen a bit. As the door opened with a swish he saw her slumped against the window, the blanket pulled behind her off the bed. She was wriggling uncomfortably, rubbing and hitting her head against the pane. As he kneeled in front of her she whined.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
She hiccuped weakly and he reached to grab her head to embrace her, but she moved away and pushed her arms against his chest to make space in between them again.
"No... no, no..." she shook her head dazed. He saw her cheeks flushed bright red and her pupils were wide black holes in her reddened eyes.
"I'm sorry..." she started again.
"I'm sorry I'm w... -eak... weak...", she whimpered heavier, "I tried... I tried so ha-hard... I tried to be like... like y-you. I tried - I tried to be strong. I tried... to be... But I'm not... I'm a burden to... to everyone... you... a problem... worth- less... useless... even to... for... you... You... do so much for me... you saved me... but I can't give... any-ugh-anything back... to you..."
This time he did not let her escape and he pulled her face against his, feeling her hot forehead on his own. She did not want to open her eyes, let him see her hurt, her weakness. He caressed her cheeks, wiping away the streams of tears.
"No."
Confused she opened her eyes, blinking as she saw his green-blue eyes look deep into her. He gently shook his head, their skin brushing against each other.
"No."
He wasn't whispering, yet he spoke unimaginably soft. It echoed in her chest like distant thunder and her heart ached suddenly.
"No.", he repeated. His eyes still locked on hears she saw everything he was feeling inside them.
Her face grimaced as she broke. Cries of anguish burst out of her as she longed for him, pulled onto his knees, one leg to each side. His fingers ran through her hair as he pressed her head to the crook of his neck, his face still touching hers. She hollered like a heartbroken child, and he felt his own breath shake from hurt.
"I died!"
He pressed her even harder into him, rocking her back and forth.
"I died - I died - I died!"
She repeated it over and over and over, it was the only thing she could say anymore. He nodded, trying his best to contain his own tears, swallowing. 
"I know.", he croaked and kissed her head, hushing her softly.
"I know, Io." Her cries subsided into a quiet whimper. Her body had lost all tension. She was already exhausted.
"I died..." she breathed voiceless the last time.
He held her for a little longer, feeling her body burn, fine sweat build on her skin. He watched her temperature rise in the commas on the little display on his arm, her body shuttering increasingly. Only when she had fallen unconscious did he allow himself to panic. His teeth gnashed with an awful sound as he still rocketed her, his face still pressed into her head.
He should have expected that. Should have been more careful. He leaned her back in his arm to take a look at her, a shallow quick breath coming from her open mouth, wheezing. It could be dozens of things - a virus, an infection, an inflammation from her wounds spreading... He could only guess, but without any proper medical treatment she might give in to the fever in no time. He had some medicine in his pile of loot from Phobos, but in her physical state being just the smallest way off the mark could overload her frail organism. Her immune system was probably still pretty much inactive, and there weren't a lot of places he could go with her for help.
He had wrapped some damp towels around her calves and laid one on her head. She didn't wear many clothes, only her underpants and an oversized t-shirt, so he couldn't take any more off for now. Her temperature was high, luckily not terrible, and stable. He laid down at her side, only the bridge of his nose against her shoulder.
For the first time in what might be decades, he prayed.
How could it be that he, who had battled Makyrs and defeated Davoth, saved the realms from inevitable destruction through them, not be able to save one single girl? It felt like something, maybe reality itself tried to end her. Was it because of her origin? A mistake that needed correction? But that would mean that some force, maybe even the same that had brought her here, knew who she was and what she would cause in the future. Yet if it was a mistake in the first place, why was he awake then? She had spoken about a voice once telling her what to do, but also that it was quiet now. Maybe the Father trying to help her? For sure he just knew that something like her did not just happen by coincidence and that he would do anything to keep her alive. There was only one thing he hated more than demons - using innocent as a tool.