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Chapter six
Chapter six
- Տtretcher wheels squeaked past the trio every once in a while to relieve the silent tension building up against the door of room 205 in the busy hospital.
Sunora squirmed, feeling the cool metal bench beneath her beginning to weigh on her patience. The door clicked, causing her to jump a little in her seat.
“She’s awake,” the viscet who came through the door announced, their features kind as he stared down at the faces of the anxious group. With a motion of the doctor’s paw, Sunora was the first to reach the door and enter. Behind her Arathorn and Murlé impatiently followed, their eyes eagerly searching the room. It was a quiet room, with a window to the side of a small bed with a burgundy table. Amidst the white sheets of the bed a childish face peaked out, her triple-ringed blue eyes observing them cautiously. For the most part, her fur was purple, but not nearly as vibrant as Sunora’s. It was more dull and grayish, with pale colored horns protruding from her head. Her mane fur was oddly cut, too, messily growing close to over her eyes.
Sunora took a deep breath in, slowly taking another step forward. “Hello,” she began gently, giving the girl a warm smile. “My name is Sunora, and my friends over there are Arath and Murlé.”
Her navy mixed with sky blue eyes continued scrutinizing them as she pulled her blanket further over her frightened features.
Sunora hesitated. “Is it okay if I ask your name and how old you are?” she asked in the same careful tone as before, hoping she wasn’t getting too ahead of herself.
For awhile, she stayed dead silent, appraising them narrowly. “Inkina,” she whispered finally, dropping her blanket shield slightly. “And I’m fourteen—I think,”
“You think?” Sunora ventured curiously, tilting her head. Inkina opened her mouth to speak, but then decided to close it. She could sense the fear in Inkina suddenly elevate.
“I—I don’t know, okay?!” Inkina exclaimed shakily, seemingly frustrated with herself.
“It’s alright, it doesn’t matter that much anyway,” she assured the viscet quickly, sitting on the bed next to Inkina to comfort her. Sunora glanced up towards Arathorn and Murlé, who both looked just as perplexed as she was. “Just tell me what you do know, how’s that?”
Inkina dropped her eyes. “All I know is they took ‘em away, everybody,” she said in a half murmur, playing with her paws. Sunora gazed down at her fragile figure, dreading what she knew she would say next. “They had on brown uniforms, and they took the whole village away,” she choked, her voice growing angry, and Sunora could feel it. “They separated all my friends and me from our parents purposefully, and the next thing I knew we were being driven away—far, far away,”
Sunora winced, closing her eyes for a moment and praying Murlé would keep it together.
“But then, the truck stopped . . . and he looked in,” Inkina continued, voice bitter. “He pointed at me and another about my age, I never did see the other again,” she trailed off, looking at Sunora. “Some soldiers took the both of us out screaming, it was all a blur. I have no idea how long its been since then,”
“Where’d they take you?” Sunora asked, noticing for the first time the close to white markings covering her face and arms. On closer inspection, they appeared to be shaped like stars; but she doubted they were natural.
“A better question would be what they did,” Inkina mumbled, staring behind her as something stirred. Sunora sucked in a breath at what looked like a deformed version of her own tail moved close to Inkina. She had made a point not to look too hard at it when they took her to the hospital, but now it appeared different. Like . . . it had a face.
“What the hell?” Murlé whispered from a few feet away as all four of the viscets did nothing but stare.
“I used to be normal,” Inkina confessed in a low whine, reaching out a delicate paw to stroke what looked like the “head” of the tail. It made a low rumbling sound in response, almost like a purr. Sunora stayed still, her eyes wide with intrigue. Since it didn't appear to want to hurt Inkina, she saw no real need to be frightened.
“What did they do to you?” she asked quietly, gazing into the troubled eyes of Inkina that grew watery.
“It’s what he did, everyone else was just following his orders like puppets!” Inkina said, balling her hands into fists as her tail growled lowly.
“Was his name Engaño? Did he have reddish fur?” Murlé abruptly cut in, shoving his hands into his pockets. Inkina looked up at him for the first time and paused. Shaking her head, she still studied him. Sunora held her breath, she thought for sure Inkina would have noticed Murlé’s FFA markings and start freaking out, but then she remembered the dark sunglasses he wore that mostly concealed them. Sighing, she knew why he had brought up Engaño, he was the leader of the FFA—former leader, that is. Arathorn had recently told her he went missing and was most likely replaced. So, who was this viscet Inkina spoke of with so much power?
“No one ever spoke his name, he was just . . . him.” Inkina confessed, the tail’s growling ceasing. It was as if it was looking at her, despite having nothing but some extra fluff in place of real eyes as well as a makeshift mouth made completely of fur. No teeth, no nothing. “They took me into this building, in a cage, and poked and prodded and pumped me with who knows what—” she faltered, swiftly turning away from them. “After months, years—I don’t know, somehow I escaped and ran for what seemed like days, until I ended up here.”
Sunora paused, reaching her hand out to touch Inkina’s shoulder. On contact it quivered beneath her hand, but she didn’t move away.
“There is no need to say anything more—get some rest Inkina, promise me?” Sunora questioned softly, waiting to see if she would respond. Turning back, weariness could be seen taking over with heavy eyelids.
“Am I safe here?” she asked, vigilance returning to her eyes.
“As long as you don’t eat the food here, trust me,” Murlé remarked with a smirk, and for a split second Sunora could’ve sworn she saw a small smile break through her tense features.
“We’ll see you later,” Sunora said, letting her paw fall to the bed as she got up, making her way to the exit. Arathorn followed close behind, Murlé taking a bit longer.
“Remember what I said,” he warned playfully to Inkina, closing the door silently after him.
“Back to home?” she asked the two, her tone halfhearted.
“I suppose so,” Arathorn began, taking a moment to think before his face lit up. “We could take a walk around Amarilla first, like we used to do all the time?”
Sunora smiled, eagerly responding, “Oh yeah, that would be great! We could go to Fugaz beach, and the la Coyuntura reefs where we used to find crabs and—”
She was interrupted by a tap on Arathorn’s shoulder, one of the SSRC soldiers that had been trailing along with them all day was now whispering something in his ear, causing his demeanor to swiftly change. “I need a few minutes, why don’t you two go do something without me? It’s fine,” Arathorn asked with a sympathetic expression, looking from one viscet to another for support he knew he wouldn't get. Sunora bit her lip, eyes gravitating towards the ground.
“We could wait for you?”
“No—I’ll be too long, it’s okay, really, go on without me,” Arathorn quickly responded, trying his best to make himself sound casual.
“Arath, you promised. A day with no business,” Sunora countered.
“I know, but this is important,” he said in a strained voice, pulling her aside away from Murlé and the soldier as his tone lowered. “It’s about the new FFA leader! We have reason to believe he’s left Solo un to do who knows what, maybe to plan another attack or get up troops morale, we don’t know,”
“You can’t stop him, so why the big fuss?” Sunora replied stubbornly, putting one paw on her hip. Arathorn stood next to her, silent and still. He shook his head, taking a step back.
“I won’t let him do what Engaño did,” he said simply, unwavering and sure. With that, he wheeled away from her and followed the soldier down the bright hall.
“A lover’s quarrel?” Murlé questioned once they had disappeared around a corner, pushing his dark sunglasses further up his mostly white muzzle.
“Something like that,” she responded with a drained half-laugh, one paw rubbing her warm forehead.
“I’m sure it is important,” Murlé remarked in his best sarcastic voice, gazing down at Sunora mischievously. She didn’t respond, instead opting to walk in the direction of the elevator. Maybe Arath was right, or maybe he wasn’t. All she knew was one day without any work wouldn't cause the world to shatter.
There was nothing to be heard but the sound of their shoes tapping against the tile floor, echoing throughout the halls until the ding of the elevator signaled them to get on.
“It happened again, didn’t it, back at the village.” she said, her eyes meeting with Murlé’s that immediately stuck to glaring forward.
“Can’t a guy just have a casual mental breakdown without getting lectured by you?” he asked with a pretend irritated sigh, leaning his weight on the nearest wall.
“You admit it?” Sunora muttered half mindedly, honestly expecting him to dance around it for awhile like he always did. Murlé shrugged innocently.
“I’ll be fine. You have enough to worry about as it is, okay?”
“It’s not okay,” she quickly countered, forcing him to meet her eyes. “I’m tired of both you and Arathorn waving me off like I’m crazy, for God’s sake Murlé, this isn’t healthy—”
“And what exactly would you have me do about it? Go to a shrink? No thanks,” Murlé said with a hint of disgust.
“It’d help!”
“And what, have them stare at me too, like everyone else?” Murlé challenged with a snort, stiffening. She jumped as the elevator doors abruptly opened, taking the both of them by surprise. They were met by the faces of those waiting for the elevator, to which the pair swiftly stepped out and headed for the hospital exit. “Just look,” Murlé muttered under his breath, “Nothing but stares.”
Sunora gulped, attempting in vain not to notice the eyes of others peering at not just him, but her as well. She could even sense their inherent nervousness, as if they were somehow a threat.
“Don’t worry,” Murlé began again, glancing down at her. “They may be curious of us both, but there’s only one they actually fear,” he said nonchalantly, as if reading her thoughts. “I doubt there will ever be a time a stranger won’t judge me that way, it’s just the truth.”
Sunora averted her gaze away from him. “I don’t believe that,” she murmured, what little confidence she had in that statement dissolving into nothing. “Everyone will understand someday, what the FFA did to obtain their soldiers and what they did to them,” she added with a renewed sense of earnestness, straightening her posture.
“Yeah,” Murlé commented shortly, humoring her probably to get out of the argument. Propping his sunglasses up, they made their way out into the busy streets of Ciudad Amarilla.
“Since Arath will be awhile, let’s take a walk,” Sunora remarked cheerfully, deciding it was best to drop the subject. He may not know it now, but things were going to change eventually—she’d make sure of it.
For awhile they walked without saying a word, observing the many busy viscets hustling and bustling from one place to another, shoppers ducked in and out of stores, and the restaurants were full since it was getting close to dinner time. Streetlights illuminated the pair as she watched their long shadows cast against the colorful buildings, with the warm summer breeze blowing through the city rustling at her fur. It felt peaceful in the start of nighttime, despite all the noises that came with the city, it was peaceful.
At that moment she felt a shoulder brush roughly against her. Looking back, she spotted the culprit who hurried past.
“Hey, watch it buddy!” Murlé growled at the male who momentarily turned to face them.
“Oh—apologies,” he said quickly, staring at Sunora for what seemed like an uncomfortably long time. She shifted from foot to foot, it didn’t help that this viscet happened to be out of the streetlights in a way that made it so all she could really see were his keen eyes and a rough outline of a looming, dark figure.
“Forget about it,” Sunora told Murlé in a hushed tone, urging them on their way. Murlé’s expression stayed the same, protective of his friend and hyper alert. Thankfully, they headed away from the other viscet, and before long he was back to normal for the most part. “Those eyes,” she thought, a little baffled. “I can always tell a personality from someone’s eyes. But not this time,” her mind continued to jump to conclusions, but soon convinced herself that none of that mattered.
“We should head back, Arathorn is most likely waiting for us,” Murlé suggested, letting out a yawn. Sunora nodded, strolling in the opposite direction and stealing a glimpse at the lively night sky cloaked in stars.
A dull metal clang of something falling onto the concrete sidewalk echoed in front of them, Sunora’s blood going cold. She quickly glanced at Murlé, heartbeat racing.
“I’m sure it was just that pesky viscet-eating spider,” he remarked with a chuckle, appearing unfazed, but the way he moved warily up the sidewalk afterwards told a different story. A ways up, there were two trash cans tipped over with no viscet in sight, still Sunora stayed tense and breathless. She didn’t feel anyone that close by, so that was a good sign. Then again, she only felt those when their emotions were running high.
Click
Her heart suddenly sank, ears twitching in the direction of glass crunching beneath someone’s feet. It was an alleyway, next to where the trash cans had fallen from and blanketed in shadow, a musty smell of rotting garbage greeting her nostrils.
“Come out, whoever you are! Before I come in after you!” Murlé exclaimed while showing his teeth, voice reverberating eerily off the walls. There was another crunch, and suddenly a dark figure zoomed past Sunora, but not fast enough as she heard two viscets smack onto the hard ground behind her. Whirling, her eyes met what she had dreaded. It was the viscet from before, Murlé had tackled him and was now pinning him down. Curiously, he didn’t struggle, besides being bigger than Murlé.
“Why were you following us?” Murlé snarled, the side of his face illuminated by light full of anger and suspicion.
“I did not mean to alarm you, it’s hard to explain,” the male replied hesitantly, looking up at Sunora pleadingly. There was something about him, something almost metaphysical. “Please—just let me try?”
Crossing her arms, she sighed softly, returning the viscet’s gaze. For some reason, she felt like he was telling the truth. “Let him go,”
“What?!”
“I said let him go.” Sunora repeated to Murlé, his bewildered features turning bitter as he released his hold on the male, muttering something under his breath. “What are your reasons?” she asked sternly, furrowing her eyebrows skeptically. The viscet said nothing, rising to his feet and brushing off his clothes. He cleared his throat uncertainly, looking from one viscet to another, his strangely colored greenish blue and purple fur hard to see in the dim light.
“I’m not from around here. I simply came to experience the sights, tourism and whatnot—”
“Get to the point,” Murlé snared, to which she shot him an annoyed glare.
The male nodded, his words slow and pronounced, almost like how a foreigner spoke or just someone who was deep in thought and cared about what they spoke. “I never could have dreamt . . . to find another Solanae,” he stopped, saying the last word with such dreamy enthusiasm it was hard for her not to feel a rush of dazed anticipation. “You see, I’m like you. My fur is that of the galaxies that used to lay above my ancestors heads, somewhere distant and unobtainable from those on this earth,” the viscet smiled, speaking with a contagious excitement that almost made Sunora want to cry with joy.
“My . . . my home planet?” she savored the words like candy, they barely felt right on her tongue—this only happened in her dreams, she used to always wonder of how it’d be meeting another of her kind, what they’re be like, how they talked.
“Yes, our home planet.”
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I hope anyone reading this is enjoying my story so far ! Sorry updates come so slowly, it's hard to be helped with school and other temptations. :p But either way, I love these characters and I just want to do them justice, so that's another reason these take so long.. I'm a perfectionist. XD
