The Dark Side

~16~

AN-
This (terrible) drawing is of "Astrid". She's a new character to be introduced in this chapter. I thought I'd draw her to help ya'll picture her. I'm sorry it's so bad...

This time when Neri'el woke up, she was in a completely new room. 

It was a white tiled room with beds built into the walls. Different machines were set up around the room, blinking multiple colors and beeping. Greys, blacks and whites decorated the room in a neutral color scheme.

"W-wha-"

"Calm down, child," a tough looking woman in a grey nurse uniform commanded.

Neri'el looked up at her and propped herself onto her elbows. Well, she tried to but couldn't when her shoulder throbbed. She cried out and fell back against her flat pillow as the nurse groaned.

"I told you, child. Calm down," the lady mumbled as she began hooking Neri'el up to one of the machines again. She plunged a needled into the girl's arm and Neri'el gasped slightly.

The older woman looked down at her and the blonde could see the age lines on her face. Her eyes were hard as she fixed the IV into Neri'el's arm.

"Just calm down," the lady said gruffly, "You'll be fine."

"T-t-thank you," Neri'el whispered as her eyelids started to flutter.The old woman was taken aback and momentarily paused. She shook her head as she finished her work. As she stood back, her eyes momentarily softened towards the wounded woman.

"You're welcome," she muttered before turning away.

The drug flooded Neri'el's system and her eyes closed completely as she surrendered her consciousness.

* * * * *
The constant beeping of machinery woke Neri'el up. She slowly pulled herself out of her stupor and tried to sit up again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" a new nurse said as she pushed Neri'el back down on her mattress.

Neri'el stared up at the girl, wracking her memory. This was not the same nurse from earlier. This girl was young, probably a couple years younger than herself. She was for one thing, blue, and had orange markings on her face. Her hair was black and tied back in a braid that gently rested on her shoulder.

"You'll pull your stitches out again!" the nurse said reproachfully as she studied a gray tablet with what Neri'el assumed was her medical record on it. She frowned at the tablet. "Olga will have my head for that."

Neri'el matched her frown as she laid back down.

"Where am I?" she asked in a raspy voice.

The blue lady giggled at her tablet before looking down at Neri'el. She giggled again when she saw the girl's clueless expression.

"Oh! Oh dear, you really don't know do you?"

Neri'el swallowed her frustration and merely shook her head slowly.

"You're on Star Killer Base, Silly!" the airheaded nurse laughed as she sat down on the edge of Neri'el's bed. She never let go of her tablet and Neri'el saw that it in fact was linked to a gossip magazine.

Mentally growling, she tried to coerce more information from the girl.

"How long have I been here?" she asked slowly.

The girl ignored her, so focused on reading an article on whether or not teleportation systems would mess up one's hair when transported through one.

"Miss, please-"

"Shh," the girl said holding up two blue fingers.

Anger began to rise within Neri'el but she fought it. Crushing it deep inside her, she thought over her options. Should she stand and try to walk out and risk being dragged back to her bed by the nurse or wait patiently for her to finish what she was doing?