Requiem [Sirius the Jaeger]

Chapter 5 - Moments of Happiness

"Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth."
~Menachem Begin

The man was walking through the dark night he called his home. It was one of the rare moments he wasn't working down in his basement. Normally, he would spent this unusual free time with his little daughter, but she was sleeping peacefully as she should around this hour. He hated himself for neglecting her this much, although he loved her with his whole heart. After his wife died, he fell into a deep dark hole. He has been down there for so long; he didn't even know where was up and down, left and right. When he walked forward, it felt like he was moving backwards.

No matter what he did, he couldn't rekindle the happiness that died with the love of his life. Everything he could do was to hold onto the science. If his plan worked, no one would ever have to die of a failing heart. Although an artificial heart sounded more like a science-fiction dream than reality, it didn't need much more.

Even if all the experiments failed, it was only a little fragment that was still missing. He simply knew it; he felt it. It couldn't be long until he found what he was missing and if he did, he would finally be happy again. He could finally spend time with his beloved daughter again, be there for her and watch her grow up.

But right now, he needed fresh air. He had been in his basement all night again and needed some oxygen to think. The experiments failed again like all the others before. Nevertheless, he wouldn't give up, couldn't give in.

As he strolled through the empty streets, something unusual caught his attention. It was nothing more than a little peck of color in the dark night that didn't belong there, but the Doctor was curious. Slowly he approached the shore of the dark river, stopping dead in the tracks as he saw what the other people simply ignored.

There in the tall grass of the shore, lay two teens, unconscious. Not able to ignore another's misery, he hurried down the slope and towards the two. It was only now that he could see the state they were in.

At his feet lay a male and a female, both unmoving. The male had messy black hair, one strand decorated with a white only fresh snow would have. His light blue coat was drenched in water and sticking to his body. The doctor was surprised he managed to resurface with something like that pulling him down. Despite being unconscious, there weren't any injuries visible at first glance. What worried him though was the woman in the figures arms.

Her head was covered in brown hair that faded into the same snow white that decorated the males strand. Her clothes were drenched too, applying weight to her small form. Alarming was the huge bloodstain on her left shoulder. The cloth was ripped, much like her skin. If he didn't know any better, he'd say a bullet shot right through the poor girl. The man wondered what happened to these two to put them in the state they were in right now. But one thing he knew with certainty: If he didn't treat both of them, they'd probably die.

Sighing, the doctor stood again, walking back the direction he came from. He wouldn't abandon them, he simply went to get his car. After all, he wouldn't be able to carry two unconscious teens all the way over there. Once he got them in there, he needed to head back home as fast as he could.

The girl was probably losing a lot blood right know. In addition, he didn't know what height the fell from. It was more than possible that both of them had inner bleedings, something that would inevitably lead to death if it remained uncured. It was also uncertain how long they remained underwater. Did they immediately lose consciousness? Did they managed to fight their way towards the shore? Where did the girl get that wound?