DOOM SAGA I - I'll be home tomorrow

Day 234

Argent d'Nur

Where was she, she thought. This wasn't her bed, it was way too small, and the blanket felt wrong. The pillow was weird too. She wiggled her toes and stretched her legs grumbled and opened her eyes.
The sun was shining. The beams of light stretched their fingers all over the high ceiling, higher than any standard room and had beautiful groin vaults with mosaics across it. It felt like an old cathedral or monastery building. She smiled drowsily, but a noise made her shriek. She turned her head and looked over the rows of beds, some partially covered by curtains, to the other end of the hall where a small group of men were huddling around someone. She heard the whining of a young man, barely more than a boy, and her eyes widened. Suddenly, her head hammered and her body ached in fire and ice as she writhed on the bed.
"No... no...", she pleaded quietly as her hand rose to the pain and her finger felt the row of stitches in the middle of a bald spot.
"No...!", she breathed before she broke down sniffling. It was real. It had happened. Perrin--
She didn't notice how much she was moving, her limbs numb, so she did not even shout when she fell out of the cot. The floor was cold, and hard of course since it was pure stone. She moaned and gasped for air as her insides wanted to come out, yet more than her stomach acid wasn't possible. She laid her forehead down, letting the cool soothe her dizziness for a moment when warm hands reached for her.
"Do you need help?", a known and kind voice asked, and as she peeked sideways she needed to blink a few times to connect the soft smile with the new very short-cut hair to the voice. She moaned without moving but her heart stung even more now.
"Perrin...!", she whined as her body curled and shook on the floor.
"No, it's okay, Io, it's okay...!"
His arms quickly wrapped around her, and he leaned against the bed taking her onto his lap and hushed her gently.
"I'll be fine!", he said brushing the strands of hair from her face.
"You saved me, Io. Me and many others! And you for sure opened the Wraiths hole!"
She paused and gaped up at him.
"The whole town is in turmoil. I mean... not just our town, but every city on the planet! They are hunting down every single one of them. And the weather was certainly on our side... as soon as you were in treatment a heavy blizzard came down the mountains and ravaged til last night! Every road out of town is unpassable so those fuckers were stuck here.", he huffed righteously.
"And... I knew I wasn't the only one, but I hadn't thought it was so many...", he sighed and nodded his head in the direction she had seen the group before.
"While you were... out... they came to him. One after the other came to tell what they had done, who they were, and... I don't know why, but for some reason, they trusted the Slayer the most. And dad--", he swallowed hard as he paused, and Io rose her hand to his cheek to comfort him. His eyes were tired and one was still a little smaller than the other, coloured in darkish blue and purple.
"Lorz is taking a break. As he saw how many... He believes it is his fault!", he grunted and turned his head away.
"But it's not! It's everyone's fault! Everyone's but yours!"
He pulled her tighter and pressed his forehead onto her head hard enough to make her rasp.
"You-- Why-- I wanted you to be safe! Why didn't you flee?!", he sobbed and though his grip hurt she did not complain. Instead, she wrapped her free arm around his neck and buried her nose in his nape.
"They could've killed you!"
"That's okay..."
"...or worse!"
"I know..."
"I'm here to protect you!"
"That doesn't matter..."
"But why--?"
"Because you have people that care about you...", she said and he raised his gaze to hers.
"Because you have your brother, and your father and mother, and your friends and the other Sentinels."
She took a shaking breath as her eyes overflowed. 
"And I..."
Perrin pressed his eyes shut pained and shook his head before he took her into his arms once more.
"Don't think like that.", he whispered.
"I'm here. And he's here. He won't leave you alone. We won't."
"But does it even matter to him...?!", she whined, "He's so old and so many have died but he can't die so how much could I matter for him..."
Perrin nodded and his stubby chin rubbed her as he giggled broken.
"I'm sure you mean more to him than you can believe..."
"But... I don't know... He is always so quiet and cold and he barely leaves the room sometimes and he doesn't sleep well and comes back late at night and... and..."
He chuckled more and earned her confused dog eyes.
"Io... He...", he began and his mouth moved uncertainly as he changed his thoughts.
"He works very hard to make things better and to keep everyone safe...r... Everyone and especially you."
He sighed briefly.
"I know he lead the dirty hunt that night, and I remember him watching over you when you came in from your surgery. He seemed... mad... I was scared at first, but... He had noticed me staring, and what I saw in his eyes wasn't anything evil. He was just... scared. Helpless, even. I heard that there is somebody out there killing the ones that are being hunted in cold blood, not giving them a trial like ordered, but... I don't know if I think it is good or bad, but it's not him. He was here, at your side, while some were... found...", he wouldn't mention that he was also covered in blood that night. He might not have murdered them, but maybe done much worse.
Io did not say anything further but shivered at a breeze coming through, and when Perrin popped his head over the bed he saw the nurses opening the windows to let in air and sunlight.
"Come, my butt is getting cold."

Another twelve she counted as she gazed over the dark room. Only a few candles were dimly lighting the hall at night, otherwise, only soft moonlight was bringing clarity to the world. Most of them were still young, and none of them was of any higher rank. Of course, easy targets, unlike the ones that came down on them. She grumbled disgruntled and pressed her twitching eyes shut as the memories were popping up once more. Her knuckles cracked as she bent her fingers. She hated it.
She couldn't sleep, but they could. They were giving them medication to help them get through all of this easier, and she wondered why she didn't get any. Her heated body wouldn't lay still, and after hours of watching the night crawl on she needed fresh air to help her cool down. 
Her arms wrapped around her chest she stood in the wide open window that reached the top to bottom and only had a little railing to keep her from falling. But the stars glittered friendly. She took the sharp cold air in through her nose and embraced its effect and her burning blood finally calmed a little. 
Maybe she had a fever? She has had a gaping wound on her head anyway and maybe it got infected? Did they even know about these things? Was their healing process the same as hers? She tried not to fall deeper into her fear again and focused on the gentle breeze. Her calendar said it must march tomorrow, or was it already today, so spring couldn't be far away. She smiled contently as her brain managed to think about something else for once, and she yawned.
Spring already -- How much longer would it take her?

All of them were asleep. He sighed and sat down quietly on the floor next to the entrance. Io moved restless, just a little, in her bed, but he would not like to disturb this least bit of sleep she finally got. Under such circumstances, there was nothing unexpected about it.
He let his tired head hang and grunted as he felt the ache of his body rise. It was soon to be morning, the darkness already lifting. The knuckles of his fingers began to swell and stiffen from the hustle of the past few days, and for a shameful reason, it made his lips quirk upward.
He could feel some pain, at last, still, nothing compared to them.
He stretched his fingers and curled them into tight fists and relished the stinging that rushed through his arms.
"Slayer...!"
He nearly jumped at the closeness of the guard.
"We've been looking for you.", the man whispered and leaned closer.
"We have him."
Immediately a sigh of relief and maybe also pity left his chest. He nodded, but as he did a step the hand of the man stopped him. His eyes scanned the room quickly.
"Slayer... It's... It was Tobin.", he whispered cautiously.
"We have him in a cell in the empty vault. Nobody knows yet. He came to us..."
The man's hand left his chest as the taller Slayer stared at him aghast before he gathered himself and nodded.
"I'll tell them.", he said and the guard left without any further word.
He threw his hands up in despair and folded his hands to a brief prayer before he turned to look for Io and Perrin. Murder meant death.
"Io...?", he whispered as he arrived at her empty bed. His eyes went around the hall, over and over, but he couldn't see her. He walked to the bathroom, but there was nobody inside. The blood fled from his face as his stomach churned with a bad feeling.
"Io!", he yelled loudly and began looking under the beds and tables hastily as the rest of the men woke up startled.
"Where is she?!"