*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Earth's Knight - Ruth Watson* Part 2 - NARTHWICH

Chapter Ten - A Rude Awakening

*Watson POV*

I can hear someone crying, someone saying something, but I can't understand them.
I'm surrounded by darkness, and all of my senses feel very dull. I can't smell, I can't see, I can't speak. I can barely hear. My eyelids feel too heavy to lift and my body feels stiff, refusing to move at all. Not even a twitch.
What happened?
I remembered the Razorsnare, being stabbed by its tail, then... Am I dead? Or was I in limbo before and this is truly death? If so, why can I hear distant noises?
Something drips on my hand, and I focus on it. What was that? I want to wipe it away, but another lands on my hand and it's wet. Water? It must be, as it's trickling down, tickling my skin. I want it gone, it's annoying.
I feel my hand twitch in response.
"She moved!" I hear someone say, but it's a very muffled, female voice.
I'm not alone? I'm not dead? Why can't I move again to let them know I'm here and I can hear them?
"Hey, hun? Can you hear me?" The muffled voice asks.
Yes. Yes! I'm here! I can hear you!
"Do you think she'll make it?"
I don't know whose voice it belonged to. Dean? Green? Goodwin? Mum? Oh my god, was it my mum?
Finally my eyes shot open, blinded by the light, making me close them tight shut again. Slowly, I eased them open again, blinking to clear the blurriness.
I was in a room, the wooden ceiling above me. I craned my neck to the left, a wall with no window. I painfully twisted my neck to look the other way and Goodwin's face came into focus, her face holding a happily amazed expression.
"Go..." I couldn't speak. My mouth was drier than the Sahara Desert, and felt just as gritty.
"It's ok! You're safe!" She cooed, taking my hand and stroking it. She looked away, grinning widely at someone and my eyes searched for who she was looking at. Someone was standing by an open door.
ASHDOWN!
I immediately tried desperately to sit up, but couldn't as I was too weak. It didn't help that Goodwin held me down. Ashdown rushed over and took my other hand, sitting on the edge of the bed I was laying on.
"I'm here, Watson." She soothed, swiping away the hair that was covering my face.
"A..." I breathed, laying back and starting to feel tears prickle my eyes, my lips forming a smile at seeing my friend alive.
I flicked back and forth from Goodwin to Ashdown and back again, taking in the happiness that radiated from them. I gently squeezed both their hands weakly, my smile growing.
"I'll go and tell the others. You've been keeping us waiting a while, Watson!" Goodwin smirked, before getting up and leaving the small room.
I watched her go before giving my full attention to Ashdown. I bunched my eyebrows together at her, forming a fake stern look at her. She chuckled.
"What? Do you think that you guys should get all the fun?" She shrugged, jokingly. She briefly let go of my hand to sit in the chair that Goodwin had left vacant and took hold of my other hand that was closer. "I wanted to see what you guys see. But it went wrong," she sighed very heavily, gazing down and her face fell. "Very wrong."
I tried to tell her I knew what happened, but I only managed to let out a small squeak. She looked back to me, a small smile on her face again.
"I went on an outing with a few guys. They had come to me for some armour and weapons, so I asked them what they were up to. When they said they were going to explore and see what it was like out there, I leapt at the chance. Particularly as Walsh, the head of the guard, was going. Thing is, something happened to Walsh. He disappeared for a moment then reappeared with glowing gold eyes. He killed one then moved to another. I tried to run away with Russell but Walsh caught up to us. Russell distracted Walsh and told me to run, so I did. I then got very lost and was out there for a few days all on my own. Then Goodwin, Hewitt and the others found me!" She suddenly started bouncing in her seat as she remembered something. "Oh, Watson. I'm so happy you're awake! I've been waiting until you woke to tell you."
I cocked my eyebrow slowly at her, waiting for her to tell me.
"I'm getting married!" she made a happy sob, tears forming.
My eyes widened so much, I felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets. I cracked a toothy grin at her, and tried to reach up to hug her in congratulations, but I still felt too heavy to move. She gripped my hand tightly.
"I've been delaying the wedding until you woke up, but you took your time." She chuckled dryly.
I wiggled my eyebrows at her, wanting more details. She giggled, shaking her head at me, but knowing what I wanted to know..
"You already know him." She winked. "I'm going to become Mrs. Sawyer."
My mouth dropped open. Sawyer and Ashdown? REALLY?!
I bunched my eyebrows at her again, hoping she'd understand that I wanted to know how long I had been out for.
She did. "You've been out for two weeks. It's been horrible watching you go through what you went through. Thank god Sugo was there when she was."
I raised my eyebrows. Sugo? Who the fuck was Sugo? And go through what, exactly? But, fucking hell! Ashdown was getting married!
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Sawyer was a tough guy, Ashdown was a tough girl. She had made his armour, so they had definitely crossed paths. But how did it come about falling in love?
I opened my mouth to ask her, but once again, my voice failed me. I made a weird gurgling noise at the back of my throat and gave up, feeling annoyed.
"The others are coming." Ashdown reassured me, misreading my noise. I shut and rolled my eyes so she couldn't see. She had been doing so well with predicting my noises, and now she had lost her touch.
I heard footsteps and looked at the door expectantly. Goodwin entered the room again, quickly followed by a hysterical Green, then Hewitt, Sawyer and Dean. They all squeezed into the small room, beaming at me.
"Welcome back, Watson." Sawyer grunted, standing behind Ashdown and placing a hand on her shoulder, smiling down at her.
Green burst into tears and collapsed over my legs on the bed. "I thought you'd never wake up!"
I very slowly raised my free hand to pat her on the head. I looked at Dean. She had her hands covering her mouth, crying happily at seeing me awake. She lowered her hands when I made eye contact and took a shaky breath.
"Orange potion," She said and I gave her a confused look. "It's an antidote. If you hadn't have run in to save Sugo, we wouldn't have known that orange potion was an antidote for Razorsnare stings."
I formed an 'o' with my mouth. So that was who Sugo was, the Razorsnare's victim. I lifted my head slightly to see if I could see anyone else, but there weren't any new faces.
Hewitt cleared her throat. "She said she will see you after we're done." She took Dean's hand in both of hers.
I licked my lips, but realised I was too dehydrated. I needed some water.
Dean got the hint and reached around Ashdown and Sawyer to get a jug and a glass from the side table beside them. She filled it with water, then moved Ashdown out of the way so she could help me drink it. The cool fluid coated my tongue, instantly relieving my dry mouth. I drank the whole glass and Dean put it back on the table, before stepping back so Ashdown could take her seat again.
I smacked my lips together before I tried to speak again. Frustratingly, still nothing but a squeak came out.
"Are you hungry?" Dean asked me.
I gave her a longing look before nodding.
"I'll get you something to eat." And with that, she bustled out of the room with Hewitt in close pursuit to help her.
I looked down at Green as I stroked her hair, before looking at Goodwin, raising my eyebrows to ask what had happened. She took my hint.
"After you ran off, we quickly lost you. We had no idea where you were but kept going straight, hoping you'd stop soon and we'd catch up. However, we got attacked by a group of Coffinhounds. There were loads of them! Much more than we'd ever come across before. While we were fighting with them, Pearce got dragged away by one and Dean went running after it. Green tried to follow too, but she got blocked off by more of the bloody things. When they were all dead, we couldn't tell what way Dean had gone nor the way we had come from. The sun was in the middle of the sky, so it was useless trying to figure out her direction from that!" She paused, looking upset. "Russell died in the ambush, and we still don't know where Pearce was taken to, but we know she won't have made it. We chose a random direction and walked on, after giving Russell a burial, hoping to find hints of where you or Dean was. We heard someone crying and ran to see who it was, and found Ashdown."
She grinned at Ashdown who smiled back at her, then up to Sawyer. Goodwin continued.
"We made camp, but none of us slept that first night without you or Dean. We were worried sick!" She gulped. "It took us three days to get back to Narthwich. When we got back, no one had seen neither of you. We thought you were gone. It wasn't until two days later that Needham came knocking on the door saying Dean and Sugo had made it back and that you was in a bad way. They put you in the infirmary, which is where we are now. We came to see you, but you weren't well at all. You kept coughing up blood and having fits. You had a constant high fever, and even though you had been given the orange antidote potion, nothing else seemed to be working on you..."
She looked down at her feet, sniffing. Green turned her head towards me to see me and I gave her a grave smile.
"You calmed down after a couple of days, no more coughing, no more fits, but you were so pale. Your breathing was barely there and neither was your pulse. I got so scared you were going to..." Green shed more tears as she spoke but broke down again at the end.
I stroked her hair more and sunk back into my pillow.
Goodwin patted Greens back, before carrying on. "Finally, you were starting to get some colour back in your cheeks. Your breathing became easier. A week later and here we are." She grinned at the end, but fell when she saw my face was frowning sadly. "What's the matter?"
I took a deep breath.
I tried to asked for Alpin but I could only force out a small "ah, ah" noise.
I wanted to see him. Why wasn't he here?
Goodwin gave me a reassuring smile.
"Alpin is in training at the moment. I'm sure he will come round to see you soon." Ashdown murmured.
I gave her a quizzical look and she sighed.
"He wouldn't leave your side for the first few days, but watching you convulsing and coughing blood upset him too much. He's been keeping himself busy, telling us to let him know as soon as you awake."
Sawyer scoffed, but didn't look at me.
"Knock knock," came a soft, slightly accented, female voice from the doorway. I tried to see who it was, but Goodwin was standing in the way.
"Ah. Watson, this is Sugo." Goodwin said, moving so I could see her.
I took such a sudden intake of air, I choked on my own spit.
For a split second, the woman with the black hair wearing the suit and makeup was standing there. I blinked and she was now a young asian girl, about my age. I looked her up and down. She had the same straight hair and pretty face, the same brown eyes and perfect skin. She wore a teal coloured dress with a piece of rope around her middle to elaborate her tiny waist. She was the same person, just lost 25 years in age.
I looked at Green, my eyes huge. She looked back and forth from me to Sugo, completely confused. I nodded at her, trying to tell her without speaking who I had thought she was, who she strongly resembled, but Green was lost. I gave up.
"We will leave you to have a chat." Goodwin said, quietly. She tugged on Green's arm to make her get up and they all filed out of the room, leaving me alone with Sugo.
She cast me a shy smile and moved to the chair that Ashdown had just been sitting in. My eyes stayed wide, staring at her, studying her every move. She sat down and looked awkward.
"How are you feeling?" She mumbled shyly.
I nodded once, not taking my eyes off her.
"It's good to see you finally awake, never thought I'd see the day," She chuckled awkwardly, trying to ease the tension.
I didn't respond and she sighed, bowing her head slightly.
"I-I know, it must be weird for you. I mean, you just woke up, saw all your friends and now you're left alone with a complete stranger..." She glanced up at me briefly. "But I can assure you, I'm not a threat. I'm a friend."
She smiled warmly, but I still didn't move. I narrowed my eyes at her, and hers grew wider. She cleared her throat.
"Y-you're lucky Dean carries those potions." She stuttered, shifting in the chair. "If she didn't, you wouldn't be here now. Although, we should have done it sooner. The poison had coursed through your body faster than I thought it had."
I blinked. The only person I knew who had the knowledge of what the potions did was Dean, and she only knew what the green and the red one did. How did she know which potion to use?
"It was quite awkward carrying you from the field back here though." She continued, looking down at her hands in her lap. "We had to leave your bag behind. Sorry." She flashed me a smile to apologise.
I opened my mouth to ask her who she really was, only able to muster a gurgle followed by an annoyed grunt as my frustration of not being able to speak got to me.
She seemed to clock on that I was trying to accuse her of something because she suddenly stood, opening a drawer in the side table, reaching in for something.
I watched her movements and my heart started pacing. I expected her to kill me, to stop me from giving away her identity to the others. Instead, she picked up a bottle of red potion with a spoon.
I made a face and she laughed.
"You need to take this, Watson." She poured out a spoonful. "It'll help you feel better instantly."
She held the spoon out for me to take but I didn't open my mouth. I glared at her, suspicion etched all over my face. She sighed.
"What's it going to take for you to trust me?" She asked, defeated.
I looked at the door, and nodded my head. She sighed again, placing the potion and the spoon on the side table.
"Ok, fine. Please make sure you take the potion though, wont you?" She said softly, looking hurt. "I guess I'll see you around, Watson."
With that, she left and I felt like I could breathe again. I know who she really was. She was that same woman from the funeral. I was sure of it! How I wished I could have asked her all the questions I wanted to. I wanted answers. Suppose it'll have to wait until I have my voice back.
Distraction finally arrived in the form of Dean's cooking. She had made me my favourite Full English which I eagerly wolfed down, before laying back and falling back to sleep.