*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter 22 - All's Well that Ends Well

*Darren Hodgson POV*

It's been seven hours. Seven long hours of sitting in the corridor waiting to hear news on Rebecca. Her condition is serious, we knew, but they hadn't been able to give us any update whatsoever since we arrived. We turned off our phones until we knew more as we knew that Raquel and Watson were safe as long as Rebecca was still alive and we were adopting the no news is good news approach.
I will forever have nightmares of seeing Rebecca sprawled across the road in a mangled mess, blood everywhere and her sword flashing beside her. She had been hit with such force, the medics said it was a miracle she had survived. Ashdown and Sawyer had stayed with Natalia and I until we had something more to go by.
Natalia was a shell. She looked so empty as we waited in the corridor, sitting there staring at the wall, her tears all dried up and unable to make anymore. I had been pacing up and down while Ashdown sat with Natalia, holding her hand and Sawyer stood leaning against a wall, biting his nails.
"They must have an update by now?!" I exclaimed, frustrated. "It's been ages. No one has come out nor gone in there."
"Hopefully they'll give us one soon." Ashdown said, rubbing Natalia's back in small circles. "Rebecca's a tough cookie, remember."
"Darren..." Natalia croaked out.
I stopped my pacing and dropped to my knee in front of her straight away.
"I'm here, Nats. What do you need?" I asked her, gently.
"Is Rebecca going to die?" She asked quietly, her large, sapphire blue eyes raising to meet mine.
"No!" I told her determinedly. "No, she won't die! I promise you."
"What if she does?" Her face scrunched up again and she dropped her head down. "I-I can't be without her, Darren..."
"You won't be. The doctors are doing everything they can! They will make sure that Rebecca pulls through, you'll see." I pulled her into a comforting hug.
"We've been together for ninety four years... I wouldn't know what to do without her." She whimpered into my shoulder.
I pulled away and placed my hands on her shoulder, shaking her slightly. "You cannot think like that! Alright? You must not ever think like that! Doctors will fix her, Nats. You will be celebrating you hundredth wedding anniversary before you know it!"
"How about we go and get a coffee, Natalia?" Ashdown cooed, soothingly. "The boys will stay here and will contact us as soon as they know what's happening."
I nodded. "Good idea, Ashdown. Nats, you need to distract yourself for a while. These things take time, but they'll make it work. I promise you with my life!"
Natalia looked at Ashdown. "I don't want to leave her." She said, pleadingly.
"You're not." Ashdown assured her, and pointed down the corridor. "See that blue sign there? That's the cafeteria. We should be able to sit in there while we wait. The boys will stand right here and we can bring them something back." She added persuasively.
Natalia looked down the corridor before looking back at her and nodded her head once. I helped her to her feet and Ashdown put her arm around her as they walked down the corridor.
For the first time in twelve years, Natalia looked her age as she walked away from us. She was hunched over, looking fragile and elderly, being led away by someone younger.
I closed my eyes and dropped my head.
"Do you really think she'll make it?" Sawyer said once they were out of earshot.
"I honestly don't know. But she needs to. I don't know what happens to the others if one of them dies, and I'm not willing to find out!" I replied, solomnly.
We waited in silence for another half an hour when the door finally opened.
"Is she ok?" I blurted out, desperately to the doctor as he emerged.
"She's now stable, but still in critical condition. It was close, but she did it." The doctor said, removing his face mask.
"Oh thank god!" Sawyer breathed.
"You may go in and see her if you want." The doctor smiled kindly, stepping aside. "But I warn you, she is quite bruised."
We nodded and slowly stepped inside, dreading what we were going to see.
It was worse than I could have imagined. Rebecca was strapped up to so many machines, you could barely see her. There was a tube down her mouth, both her arms and both legs were in casts and there was so many machines and different drips attached to her body and head, she was surrounded by them.
I felt myself break apart inside. This was the Protector of the Realms, in a critical condition, fighting for her life in a completely different way than she would have preferred. She always said, she would prefer to go on the battlefield and yet, here she was, reliant on machines to keep her alive.
"Do not let Natalia see her." I said to Sawyer.
Sawyer nodded and stared at Rebecca, his eyes turned glassy and his bottom lip trembled.
"Are the others like this too?" He whispered, stepping towards Rebecca.
"No, they'll be in a state of sleep until she wakes up." I hissed back, following him slowly.
I sat in the chair, unable to look at Rebecca anymore. I buried my face in my hands and started to cry. It's rare that I cry, but this was heartbreaking to see.
Suddenly, we heard running footsteps from outside and the door burst open.
A lady in a white coat and a white facemask came running into the room with a syringe.
"Doctor?" I said, standing up and looking at her terrified. Had one of the machines triggered another emergency?
The doctor ignored me, and poked the syringe holding a green fluid into the tap in her elbow. Once it was emptied, she turned round and shut the door. She removed her mask as she turned back to us.
"Hello, Sawyer and Hodgson." She grinned at us.
"Holy fuck! Booker?!" I blanched. "What are you doing here?!"
"Saving Rebecca's life with the health potion I got from Dean. You are bloody lucky Hunter called me when he did." She replied smugly.
"Oh thank you, god!" I breathed, sinking to my knees and putting my forehead on the ground with my arms above my head in relief.
Sawyer had dashed round the bed to Booker, picked her up and started jumping up and down, overjoyed that Rebecca would be saved.
"I won't be giving her an energy potion though, that would be too suspicious. Then again, she will have all the bones in her body repaired as well as the punctured lung. The internal bleeding with be stopped, too. Gentlemen, she's going to be a medical miracle." She chimed, laughing happily.
We watched over Rebecca for a while, eagerly anticipating her to wake up any moment.
"Now it's more of a wait for her to get better, than her to get worse." Sawyer said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Go and tell Natalia and Ashdown. But I don't think it'll be a good idea for Natalia to see Beccs until she's awake." I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Argh ann ahake!" Came a gagged voice from behind us.
Rebecca was trying to pull the tube out of her mouth, but because she was covered in casts, she was flapping her arm back and forth trying to bend her arm.
"Alright, Rebecca. Hold on. I'll get you out of all this." Booker rushed to her side. "Stay as still as you can, okay?"
As soon as the tube was out of her mouth, Rebecca couldn't stop herself. She immediately started trying to get out of bed.
"Where is my wife?!" She demanded. "NATALIA!"
"Beccs, it's ok. We kept her away while you looked like this so she didn't see you." I assured her.
Rebecca froze for a moment then relaxed and she breathed out a long sigh of relief. "Thank you!" She said to me, wincing slightly as Booker removed the drip. "If she saw me like this, she'd fall apart. She hates seeing me hurt just as much as I hate seeing her like it."
"She was really suffering. They didn't tell us anything until a little while before Booker arrived with the potion. She was terrified of you dying." Sawyer told her.
"Booker?" Rebecca repeated, slowly. "Potion?"
'Oh fuck!' I thought, mentally preparing myself for an outburst of anger.
Rebecca studied Booker as she removed the remainder of the needles in her body.
"You're Booker, I'm guessing?" She asked Booker in a void voice.
"Mmmhmm..." Booker replied, looking nervous.
Rebecca snapped her head round to look at me. "Get your fiancee on the phone now!"
I rolled my eyes. "Beccs, she just-"
"GET HER ON THE PHONE RIGHT THIS MINUTE!" Rebecca bellowed at me, lifting herself out of the bed from fury.
I growled at the back of my throat and left the room.
I pulled my phone out and turned it on. I had so many messages from Perkins, Green, Dean. But nothing from Hunter. Oh shit! HUNTER!
I hadn't spoken to Hunter since the message I had got from him telling me they were in the hospital, before I turned my phone off. I called his number straight away.
"Relxa?" came a male voice.
"Huh?" I looked at the screen, it was Hunter's number, then who the fuck was this?
"Hodgson?" Came the voice again.
"Xavier?" I blanched. "Why have you got Hunter's phone?"
"Raquel gave it to me while we were in the worm." Xavier answered innocently.
I pinched my septum. "Course she did."
"Is Rebecca alright?" Xavier asked.
"Yes. Yes she's alright. She's been given the potion and already is threatening people." I responded, placidly.
"Can we come and see her?" Xavier asked eagerly. "We know how to get around a hospital."
"Err, no, mate. Best you stay where you are until we get back. We won't be too long." I told him.
"Oh." Xavier sounded very disappointed. "Ok..."
"Listen I have to call Hunter, I'll call Dean in a bit ok?" I didn't wait for an answer, I put the phone down and called Hunter by Watson's phone.
"HODGSON! THEY'RE AWAKE! BOOKER GOT TO YOU!" Hunter screamed down the phone cheerfully.
I chuckled. "Yes, she did. In regards to that, Rebecca wants to speak to my darling fiancee." I said in a falsely stern voice.
"Oh shit..." Hunter breathed down the phone. "But it wasn't her, it was me."
"I appreciate the honesty, Hunter. But really, it's best Watson takes this for you." I chuckled dryly.
"Oh jesus.. Ok..." I heard Hunter talk in a low voice and the unmistakable voice of Watson reply "Oh fucking bollocky shit wank!"
"Hello, baby." I said, smiling at hearing her voice.
"Put her on the phone..." Watson drawled in dread.
I went back into the room and saw Rebecca being taken out of her casts.
"I have her here." I said, holding out the phone to her.
"Does it look like I can fucking hold it, you smarmy twat?" Rebecca snarled at me. "You're going to have to hold it to my ear."
I grimaced. "I'll put her on speaker phone." I said.
I put Watson on speaker and put the phone at the end of the bed. Sawyer left the room to go and get Natalia in case things went sour during their little conversation.
"Erm. Hey, Rebecca. You alright now?" Came Watson's nervous voice.
"Alright now?!" Rebecca growled. "Booker! Potion! How?"
"Erm. A small flaw in your plan?" Watson replied, cheekily.
"FLAW IN MY PLAN?!" Rebecca bellowed, trying to get to the phone, but the casts were stopping her.
"Booker, can you hold back from removing the casts until this conversation is over with?" I asked Booker amusingly.
"No! You fucking remove them now!" Rebecca shouted at her.
"No, don't Booker!" Came Watson's voice, chuckling. "Keep her there until she's calmed down, please. Or at least until she's seen Natalia in her mini skirt!"
I burst out laughing. Rebecca did not look impressed.
"Right, you! Where are you?" Rebecca snapped at the phone.
"Uhhh, Tooting." Watson replied.
"I beg your pardon?!" Rebecca blanched.
Watson laughed. "It's a place called Tooting. We're in a hospital too. We were visiting Goodwin when it happened."
Rebecca's face softened at that. "Ah. Right. Is Raquel still with you?"
"Yup." Watson popped the P. "She's doing her Tension Release in her hospital gown. Trust me, it's not pretty."
Rebecca snorted in spite of herself. "I bet Tommy's enjoying himself."
"He's actually out of the room. He's gone for a fag." Watson replied.
I rolled my eyes. Rebecca started fidgetting around, trying to look behind her at something.
"What's the matter?" I asked her.
"There's something scratching my back." She said.
"Oh, hold on." Booker helped Rebecca sit up and removed a needle from her back.
Rebecca stared in amazement at the size of it. "Why was that in my back?!"
"You broke your spine. We had to put a tap in it." Booker replied matter of factly.
"Right, well. If you don't need me, I'm going to disappear so I can get out of this room before Raquel moans about her gown again." Watson's voice came through the phone.
"I forgot you were there." Rebecca replied, smiling. "Alright, you go save your eyesight. But I want a chat with you later though."
"Figures." Watson grumbled and the line was cut.
I picked my phone up.
"Is Cometfell still there?" Rebecca asked, looking worried. Booker set about removing the casts again.
"No one can lift it up, Rebecca. It's still there but it's in the middle of the road." I replied.
Rebecca grimaced. "Shit, I don't really want to be anywhere near a car ever again."
"What happened, Rebecca? I thought you were heading to the hotel?" I asked her.
She shot me an awkward look. "Erm, well. I don't remember."
"You don't remember? What was the last thing you remember?"
"The phone call with Ruth." Rebecca admitted, looking sheepish.
"But that was at least two hours before the accident happened." I exclaimed.
"Yeah, well..." Rebecca stopped when she looked at Booker, who was watching her intently, listening to the conversation.
"Have you been having long periods of time where you can't remember anything?" Booker asked her slowly, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
"I already know I have dementia, ok?" Rebecca responded, coldly. "The medic already confirmed it."
"What medics? We haven't been able to run any scans on you yet." Booker asked her, stepping foward to resume removing the casts.
"Not your medic, my medic. Bianca has already run her tests. She said she's surprised it's taken this long to show itself, really. Should have at least shown the signs fifty years ago."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" I asked her, feeling shellshocked.
"I did. I told Ruth." She replied.
"She didn't tell me!" I exclaimed.
"That's because she's trustworthy." Rebecca said, cocking her eyebrow. "Anything you tell Ruth, stays with Ruth. She will not share anything unless she really has to. That's why she's my favourite."
I smirked, proudly, at that. "That's my girl."
"REBECCA!" Came a high pitched scream from outside the door and Natalia flew through the door. "Oh, my love! You're alive!"
She ran to the bed and launched herself on top of Rebecca, who was forced back into the bed. Rebecca groaned in pain against Natalia's lips.
"Oh my. I'm so sorry!" Natalia cried out, starting to climb off.
"You're not going anywhere!" Rebecca purred, grabbing Natalia and leaning forward for another kiss.
"I'll leave you both to make up, then." I said, jerking my head at Booker to advise her to leave too.
I closed the door behind us and headed for the cafeteria.
Sawyer was sitting at a table, with Ashdown on his lap, both kissing intensly.
I cleared my throat loudly as we got closer.
"Sorry, we were celebrating." Sawyer smirked at me.
"Yes, well. We've just left Rebecca and Natalia to celebrate, we don't need you doing the same." I grumbled. I was missing Watson immensly and with all these couples making out with each other, it was like rubbing salt in the wound.
"Oh, I've called Dean and that lot. Apparently Hunter organised everything while we were too busy worrying about Rebecca." He told me, looking impressed.
"Yeah. At least someone had their head screwed on." I muttered, raising my eyebrows.
Booker was listening to our conversation, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"I must admit, I'm surprised to see you Booker." Ashdown said to her. "How comes you remember us?"
Booker smirked. "Do you really think I was that stupid to drink the wine they gave us after asking if we chose home or FREE?"
My eyes widened. "You didn't drink it?"
Booker scoffed. "Fuck no! I didn't want to forget about anything. I knew the drink was dodgy, so I tipped it out under my foot into the snow and pretended to drink it when everyone else did the toast. There was a woman there who I think was Sugo's mum."
I chuckled. "Erm, that was actually the real Sugo." I told her.
"Really?" Booker gasped. "How comes she was older?"
"Sugo is actually eighty years old. But because she Realm jumps, she stays the same age pretty much. Just like how Watson and I look like we did back in Astrovia. For some reason, it just puts the aging process on hold."
"Most of the aging process, you mean." Booker looked serious. "I am worried about Rebecca. Where does she live?"
I cringed slightly. "Um, not on Earth..." I replied.
Booker gave me a fed up look. "I gathered that. Where is she from then?"
"It's complicated." I replied. "She comes from Neonia, then she was sent to Deathea, then to Atania, then to Cristis..." I rolled my hand around to exagerate how long winded it was.
"How old is she?" Booker asked, thinking with a finger on her cheek.
"Oh fucking hell. Uhh, I think she's a hundred and thirty odd now." I said, scratching my head. "I know her and Nats celebrated their nintieth wedding anniversary last year."
"Wow." Booker breathed in amazement. "She does look good for that age. It's amazing that they've been together that long. How did they meet?"
"You wouldn't understand if we told you." Came a cold voice behind us.
Rebecca was standing there with Natalia, holding hands together. Rebecca had changed out of her hospital gown back into her clothes, but looked a state because they were all filthy with dirt and blood.
"I'm going to need new clothes." She made a sheepish expression at us, noticing everyone staring. "If we're going to be here a while, we need to do some shopping so we're not stuck with one outfit."
Natalia let out a high pitched squeal of excitement and Rebecca ducked away from her, clutching her head. Natalia guiltily covered her mouth with both of her hands.
"I'm so sorry, my love." She said, looking ashamed with herself.
Rebecca came back to her and took her hand again. "Just wait until the potion has finished working before you do it again, ok darling?" She said to her, gently, although a little reluctantly, pecking Natalia's cheek lovingly.
"Can we go back yet?" Natalia asked, looking at Booker.
"Well, I can lie on the paperwork. Thing is I have no idea how to explain you getting better so quickly." Booker said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Say I died. I can even get a body for you to make it realistic." Rebecca smirked at her own dark humour.
"You wouldn't be able to if you don't have your sword." I reminded her.
"No. No body will be necessary. Just leave it to me." Booker assured her, looking a little shocked. "You get home and get some rest. You've had a busy day."