Ephemeral

Seeing You Again

Xavier woke up strapped to a steel table, a blinding light having been placed above him. He winced, acknowledging the brightness of it before deciding to look around the room he had found himself in. Testing the tight, leather restraints around his body, he found that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon unless he continued to strain the material by rubbing against it – it could possibly take weeks at most, and he doubted that he had that kind of time to waste.

A metal door creaked open, informing the Mathis that he was getting a visitor, whether he wanted them there or not.

"She cares about you..." Rafael stated, walking into the room. He had dark purple, rubber gloves in one hand. Slowly, he brought his other hand out and began to plop the glove on, wiggling his fingers through the material when it was fully on. "She even cared about me..." Rafael said as he approached the table that Xavier was laying on against his will. "It felt nice – to be cared about that way..." he placed his hands on the table, allowing them to spread out some to look down at his patient. "Doesn't it feel nice to be loved...?"

Xavier narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him.

"Knowing that they would sacrifice everything they have for you to live-?"

It was at that moment that Xavier noticed the three long scratch marks on Rafael's face that hadn't been there before, not to mention a darkly colored bruise on the other side of his face. Xavier couldn't help it when he smiled proudly, knowing that Arianna was definitely the one that inflicted those wounds to him. Rafael, who noticed his patient's change of mood, stopped his mocking for a moment and then shook his head and slowly smiled himself.

Rafael's sudden elation was enough to make Xavier's smile quickly disappear from his face.

"She didn't take kindly into finding out that I was taking you," Rafael said. "Although, if you think that my wounds are bad, then you shouldn't dare to imagine what I had done to her in return."

Xavier tested his restraints again, this time being far more violent than before. He lifted his arms up and let out a grimace at being unable to do anything in his current predicament. A few grunts escaped his lips as he turned his head left and right in a vain attempt at securing his freedom.

"No need to be so upset, my patient..." Rafael said as more doctors entered the room. "We're going to fix you up, after all...it is Arianna's wish."

Xavier noticed that they were all speaking in Spanish, and a few words he could easily translate.

Let's get this over with quickly --

I want to watch the game later --

What about the other two that he's been talking about-?

I saw the two of them at the port yesterday.

Xavier was especially interested in that last statement that was roughly translated inside of his head. He could only infer that the two people that one of the workers was talking about must have been Aidan and Isabella. He was a bit too side tracked and distracted that when a plastic mask began to descend upon his face, he tensed up and immediately turned to the side.

This caused one of the men to curse out and vent angrily in Spanish.

Another one ordered someone to hold Xavier's head steady.

"And, I will hold to my promise to her – I will heal you..." Rafael said. "Though, after I do so..." He slowly smirked. "Well, your life will be in my hands after that."