When All Q Breaks Loose

Chapter Forty Five: How Dare You

Hiro gasped as he staggered back. Something had gone horribly wrong. He wasn't sure what, but something had. The pain still lingered in his phantom body, even though he'd let go of the memory strand he'd only momentarily held in his hand. Panting, he went down to his knees. "What was that?" he asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

Only vague impressions remained in his mind. The memory, if it was a memory, hadn't integrated. He'd not held on to it long enough to allow it to, nor was he sure he wanted to. This was so unlike any of the others that he couldn't help but wonder about it.

Tadashi was instantly by his brother's side. "You're pulse has increased," he announced as he held his brother in his arms. "This doesn't look good. Whatever it is you touched is trying to countermand your friends' attempts to help. I don't know how or why."

Hiro shook in his brother's arms, the pain lingering in his limbs, like it didn't want to let go, despite being cut off from the initial source. "Why does it hurt, Tadashi?" he gasped as it crackled through his body. "This isn't like the others."

But the older Hamada could only shake his head. "I don't know," he confessed. He gave the offending tendril a second glance, realizing it somehow looked different than the others as well. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's the lynch pin necessary to seal everything shut." At least that's what it reminded him of when he saw the phantom images floating just above the tendril's surface. "Maybe it would be wise to save that one for last."

Weakly, Hiro had to nod. The pain was slowly starting to fade, but he could feel his body more forcefully reconnect to his current reality. Apparently the drugs they'd used to induce the coma were either wearing off or weren't being as effective as they were supposed to be. He could feel his real muscles tense as his lungs heaved for breath. "This can't be good for my body," he winced.

Tadashi went more transparent for a moment before returning to the state Hiro had grown accustomed to. "It's not," he confirmed. "But they're trying to fix it, whatever it is. Maybe that particular memory triggered an increase in the energy outside your body. It's messing with everything else going on inside. At least that's what I gathered from what I heard."

Hiro shook his head, then his hands, as if to fling the last vestiges of the pain away. His whole astral body tingled unpleasantly. "If that's the lynch pin, I'm not looking forward to it," he admitted as he slowly got back to his feet. "In fact, I'd rather avoid it if at all possible."

"Which might not be possible," Tadashi sighed. "If my theory is right, you're going to have to grasp that one more fully than any of the others. But not until the others are all in place. And maybe not until you're awake again. I don't know. I'm sorry, Hiro. I don't have any real answers for you."

Hiro had to lean against his brother. His phantom limbs still felt rubbery after the encounter. "Definitely not looking forward to that possibility," he admitted. "Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens there. In the meantime, I'm going to avoid that one like the plague." He looked around for the next potential strand.

"Maybe you should give yourself a chance to rest first," Tadashi advised. "I don't know about you, but something like that is enough to rattle even the most hardened individual. You should take a break, let your body calm down now that whatever they're doing out there seems to be doing something."

The younger Hamada took a moment to evaluate the situation. He could still feel things outside his body, though he couldn't get his ears to work. His muscles were still a bit tense, his pulse slowing back to normal. He had no idea what else might be going on but decided his brother might be right. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll rest for a bit, give them a chance to figure out what's going on."