Dr. Jude slipped his hands into white latex gloves, letting them snap against his wrists, and prepared the syringe. He held his mouth pursed in a look somewhere between determination and disgust. The subject had fallen asleep in the chair, tubes and wires extending from her pulse points and forehead. Why weren't the drugs working? He couldn't fail after the results he'd promised to get this project funded. His life's work stood on the line. His escape from anonymity and the skepticism of the scientific community. The mind was his to work. Here, he was the god. So he'd decided to up the dosage. She'd thank him if it worked and if it didn't, well; death was preferable to insanity. Tsking to himself, he made to inject the needle into her arm. And nearly lost his religion once more when Chanel's eyes rocketed open and her arm shot out to grasp his wrist.
"No," she said.
In the days that followed all who came into contact with her were flabbergasted at the person some of them were meeting for the first time, and others hadn't seen since what felt like another lifetime. Nothing about her indicated that anything had ever been wrong, or that she was any different from any other girl her age. She was just Chanel and she wasn't perfect, but she could see. And she could breathe. Aiken was called as soon as it became clear this was no fluke or trick, and somehow, his sister was miraculously healed.
When he walked through the doors, wanting desperately to believe but afraid to be let down, it took one look into her blue eyes and his own blurred with moisture. Laughter bubbled up within him and he opened his arms the way he used to when they were younger and she ran into them, her long-silenced giggle mingling with his own.
"Missed you, Ken" she mumbled as she smashed her face to his chest. He didn't say anything, couldn't. He just squeezed her tighter and placed his chin on the top of her head so that she could feel his nod.
"Aiken," her voice took on a tone of seriousness. "Did something happen over there? Something you didn't want to tell me?"
He pulled in a shaky breath and squeezed his eyes shut. How could he lie? How could he ever lie to her again?
"There was an...experiment of sorts. A program that we could be a part of to test out this new drug. It was supposed to prevent shock and PTSD. It was supposed to help us handle what we saw. Nel, I don't know why-...how-"
She put her fingertips up to cover his mouth. She knew.
"It all came to me." she whispered. "I took everything. For you. But it was too much and I thought it would tear me apart. But just when I was about to lose myself I think...something else took it from me. And just like that I was free."
"They told me there would be no side effects." With those words his shoulders slumped and a little life seemed to go out of him. He could no longer meet her eyes and for a moment it was his turn to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"How could they know? About our bond? How could you know what it would do? You were going through hell" she said, lifting his chin to look earnestly into his guilt ridden face.
"I won't go back, Nel. I won't leave you alone again."
She smiled a little.
"Have you learned nothing, big brother? You were never alone. None of us are. It's a side effect of being human."
