Fantasia

LXXXIX

The elevator took too much time once more, so Eddy flew up the stairs while doing an excellent job at ignoring the sting in his left ankle. He'd never been this out of breath in his life when he made it to the eighth floor, having to prop his hands on his knees in order to not black out on the spot. 

No time. There was no time! Brett was fighting for his life downstairs, so he forced his burning legs to leap to room 838, opened the door with a bang and grabbed the case of his violin only to swirl around and run back the direction he'd come from. He tried his luck with the lift this time, the most painful four seconds in Eddy's life until the "ping" finally sounded. He bumped both his shoulders when he stormed in, too impatient to wait for the door to open entirely. The time in the cabin was used to quickly tune his instrument and when he finally, finally arrived on the first floor, he simply left the violin case on the floor of the elevator and leapt forward, his instrument firmly in his hands. 

"Eddy! What... what are you doing?", a surprised Mrs. Yang asked, tears making the sides of her face shine in the cold hospital light. 
"I have to...", Eddy took in huge gulps of air, "... I have to... try something."

There in the room, the medics were still fighting hard to get Brett's pulse back, but the whole Yang family's eyes were cast on him now, how he positioned his violin on his shoulder, how he tightened his bow and how he took another deep breath, before he launched into the Adagio. 

He doubted that there had ever been violin playing in intensive care and of course, it didn't take long for everyone able to move and turn their head to curiously and a bit disaprovingly glancing at the one who dared to make noise in such an environment. 

However, there was no way that even a tiny part of Eddy cared. His whole focus was on that man lying on the bed, whose heart they were literally trying to jump start. Every cell in him prayed that his music might reach Brett, might call him, tell him to wake up, to come back to them.

Another futile try with the defibrilator as the piece progressed and Eddy felt tears stinging in his eyes at last. Why won't it work? Five lines on the EKG, that must have been the five lines of the staff, right? So Brett needed music to fill the empty staffs, no? That had to be it! Why wasn't it working then? Eddy could see how any kind of hope slowly seeped out of the room, how the features of the medics got more and more apathetic as if they'd already given up and Eddy wanted to shout at them, tell everyone that Brett Yang wasn't gonna give up and neither should they. 

The Adagio came to an end. It was a miracle that Eddy hadn't been stopped till now. Brett's condition however, remained unchanged. 

"Shit!", Eddy hissed, just so managed to not straight out wail in the middle of the hospital ward. 
"Oh, Brett...", Mrs. Yang whimpered. Eddy finally dared to glance at Brett's family, at how Alan had burried his head in his arms, cowering down so he didn't have to observe the horrifying scene unfolding in front of them anymore, how Eric seemed to had entered a zen-like state, being so unfazed it actually scared Eddy to his bones and how Brett's mum clung to her tissue so hard her knuckles turned white.
"Shit..."

What had he missed? Eddy refused to accept that this was it. That he was supposed to simply give up after all Brett and he had been through. The world needed a Brett Yang.

Eddy Chen needed Brett Yang!

So Eddy propped up his violin again, closed his eyes and started playing another piece. One that had never been played, in this world, that was.

It was the Rhapsody Eddy had composed in the dream.

After all, the Adagio had been for Brett to go from that dream-world to wherever he was now. To at least escape the place he'd spent the last six months. Maybe he needed something else to bring him back. Maybe it had to be a different piece with a different calling, a piece which gave some kind of perspective and for Brett a reason to come back or something.

The long chords filled the room and the hallway before a single melody came in, still a hint of sorrowful, but also like a bird looking for a new path through the clouds, which were pierced with sunlight here and there. Eddy closed his eyes so he could at least try and focus on his playing and that's when one of the medics screamed something again. Through the notes of his violin, Eddy perceived a by now familiar high pitched sound before another electrical shock was sent through Brett's heart. While he forced himself to keep on playing, Eddy couldn't help but cast his gaze on the one this was all about. 

The shock came. Brett's body jolted from the bed and then...

Beep, beep, beep.

Time came to a halt as every person in and around Brett's room froze and just stared at either the patient or the monitor, which had just seconds ago showed the odd five horizontal lines. The regular waves on the EKG being displayed again however, weren't what caused everyone to hold their breaths.

It was the man on the hospital bed half sitting up, eyes clearly open and looking at none other than Eddy with the violin still on his shoulder.
Never in his life had Eddy seen eyes this... alive!

Eddy opened his trembling lips.
"Bre... Brett?", he croaked, doubting that anyone had just heard that. 
And then, Brett lifted his right arm very, very slowly, a miracle considering there was probably absolutely no muscle left, and took the oxygen mask away. 
"Eddy...", Brett whispered, and despite the fact that his voice hadn't even reached Eddy's ears, Eddy would have bet his life that this was exactly Brett's first word after his coma. 

There was not much time for a deeper exchange after this though. All the doctors and nurses around Brett started to half cheer half busying themselves with checking Brett's vitals and whatever one had to do after someone woke up from a six month long coma. They were talking to him, asking him all sorts of questions really slowly, detatched bags with fluids to replace them with different fluids looking exactly like the ones before. 

And like the play button had been pressed after a pause, Brett's folks unfroze. Mrs. Yang let out some kind of sob and shout, causing Alan to jump to his feet and hugging his mother fiercely while his tears wetted her shoulders. The facade of Brett's dad seemed to finally crumble too. He staggered backwards and almost tripped, if Eddy wouldn't have been quick enough to steady him with his violin-free hand. 
"You... you okay?", he used his creaky voice, his body moving on autopilot rather than him doing anything conscious at this point. Brett's dad blinked at him and his calmness from before definitely left the building with those big drops spilling from his eyes. 
"I...", the white as a sheet man stuttered. The other two lifted their heads and stormed over to hold Eric and together, they let all their worries, doubts and anxieties wash away by the countless of tears leaving their system.

Eddy chuckled, similarly to when he'd noticed Brett's disappearance in his dream and there was nothing he could do other than trying with all his might to catch a glimpse from his best friend through the fog of moisture in his eyes and the dozen of people running around him. 

Brett was back! Brett was finally, finally awake.

A/N: Dunno if I should stop apologizing at this point XD! I wanted to upload yesterday but when I started to literally fall asleep while editing around midnight, I thought this chapter and you deserve better. Thank you for your patience and I'm not sure if I'll be able to upload tomorrow, fingers crossed, guys! Love, author-san