Unsevered Ties

10. Pampered Pooches

Chapter 10: Pampered Pooches

Everywhere he looked, a brilliant purple radiated across his vision. The world looked pure and clean like nothing could pollute the air or destroy the trees. Even if their world held a separation from humans, they still shared the same planet, so their nature felt the same trauma as what resided on the human side. Yet here, everything seemed pure, like some force in the very air kept things from becoming tainted. He sucked in a deep breath, and the very air rushing into his lungs came with an intensely pleasant buzz that made his entire body feel clean.

Then came the hands. Sometimes they were good hands—hands that were warm and soft, hands that lifted him up and brought him closer to a beaming face with eyes that stared at him lovingly. Right now, though, these are bad hands. The hands that were cold and clammy, hands that, despite his constant screaming and wailing, gave him no comfort, These hands caused him terrible, incomprehensible pain, and he was deathly afraid of them. Those hands brought him to a cold place, locked away and full of scary things. People surrounded him, using the blinding light—the glow that brought life to everything but caused him such terrible pain. He searched as he screamed for the person inflicting such a terrible thing upon him, and all he could see were eyes staring back at him, eerily similar to his own.

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Naki woke with a great gasp of air, his lungs burning as if he'd been holding his breath for a long time. He sweated, his face soaking with perspiration as hot, erratic breaths escaped his mouth. He furrowed his brow as he glanced around, unsure of his surroundings at the moment. Was he having a nightmare? It seemed so, but like many of his nightmares, he only woke up with the fear and not the reason behind the fear. His brother had told him most of his nightmares were more than likely from the accident that he couldn't remember and that would be for the best if he didn't try to recall the terrible memories that only popped up in his dreams. Sometimes, though, when he woke up with such an intense feeling of fear rolling through his body, he couldn't help but wonder just what he had gone through.

Naki placed a hand on his head, trying to stop the spinning. He still felt hot and was still running a fever, but at least he was alive. How many days had he been cooped up in this room? He couldn't quite call it being cooped up. Half the time, he was deep in a feverish sleep that he couldn't escape. He no longer coughed up blood, though, so perhaps he had escaped the worst part of the disease? He lifted the covers up as the pain in his abdomen caught his attention. The bruising remained like something violently trying to escape from inside of him.

He glanced up as the door opened and a disheveled-looking Rafeo came in, his hand pinching the bridge of his nose and his head cast downward. Naki couldn't remember much from the past few days, but he had regained consciousness a few times. Rafeo usually sat by his side, but his brother had told him that Leion also became sick, and he knew that's where Rafeo was if he didn't sit with him.

Worry built up within Naki as he wondered if Rafeo looked so down because something had happened to Leion. He stared silently at his brother, who was still poised between the door and the room, not seeming to realize that he had awoken. Naki tilted his head, his wild locks sliding to the side as his ears perked up in questioning. Rafeo let out a sound of frustration and gave a shake of his head before he finally looked up and appeared a bit shocked.

"Naki, you're awake again."

Naki offered a small smile to his brother before nodding. "I just woke up. What's the matter? Is everything okay with Leion?"Rafeo smiled. Was he that transparent when it came to Leion? Everyone seemed to know when his mind thought of the other. "Everything's fine with Leion. They have discovered that a blood transfusion can hinder the progress of the disease, and the right medicine combination can banish whatever is left of the virus. The princes came together to give him blood, and he is currently slowly recovering."