Seeking Strays

Flashes came and went one after another. Bright lights flicked past me, screaming erupted, and shouted orders made my injured ears twitch. One moment I was struggling to get away from reaching hands, the next I was strapped to a rattling gurney. The fog of the Mire surrounded me, only to split and be swallowed by the golden light of an outpost.

I faded in and out in a confusing mess of memories. I was in an outpost, then loaded on an AV. Medics danced around me, only to vanish as the walls of Silverport came back into view. The cold of the Mire faded under the oppressive heat of the city once more, and darkness swallowed me.

The first concrete memory I had was of a pure white room. A monitor to my side beeped incessantly and lured me from my fitful slumber. A shadow of a man stood over me backlit by neon leaking in from the window. The flashing advertisements made his face swim in a nauseating mess.

“Did I wake you?” He asked gently, though his voice felt like it was underwater. No, I was the one underwater. Underwater and desperately trying to reach the surface.

“Mmm.” I groaned softly. It was the only noise I could make around a tube shoved down my throat. Warmth flooded in through every part of my body, and sharp pain slowly faded away.

”Go back to sleep.” He pulled his hand away, and with it an empty auto-injector. His other hand lightly patted the top of my head. “Everything will be better soon, Barghest.”

A shiver went down through my tail. I blinked a few times to push back the darkness encroaching on my vision. Outside of the sensation that everything was just out of reach, I was incredibly warm. And dry. When was the last time I felt dry?

The man pulled out a black wolf plushie, and set it down on a table next to me. The table was already overflowing with get well gifts of all kinds, though I could hardly see any of them. I could just make out a red-eyed silver wolf plushie next to it. “I’ll be seeing you.”

“Mmph…” I lost the fight, and dark water rushed in to drown my consciousness once more.

More flashes of light came and went. Alongside them came faces familiar and strange. Officials in suits, Quinn talking about her day, Sister Neriyov gently brushing out my tail—far more than I thought would show up for just me.

And, ‘course, my adorable sister appeared almost constantly. When I opened my eyes, it was like she was always there. Sometimes she cried, held my hand, or talked about her day. Throughout it all, her eyes were puffy and red. I longed to reach out and brush her cheek with my hand, but my body felt alien. It was like I was a passenger forced to sit through it all.

The next time I fully surfaced, it was during the day. Sunlight streamed in through the open window and created a glare that made my eyes throb. I breathed deeply, and for the first time didn’t have to fight with a tube shoved down my throat. No, not the first time. They removed it… how long ago?

I turned over on the bed. Regeneration had finally kicked in at some point, and I felt mostly fine aside from a little headache. My fur was even back to its glorious silver. I blinked a few times, and my eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light filtering in through the window.

A grip on my hand tightened, and I flinched toward a small figure bundled up at my bedside. Sylvie had passed out at some point while holding my hand. Her arms were up on the side of my cot with her head resting on them. Even in sleep, her eyebrows were pulled tight into a conflicted expression. Her frame was practically swallowed by one of my old academy hoodies. It was big on me back then ‘cause they bought it thinking I’d grow more after the experiments.

I tried to pull my hand away, but she just grasped it even tighter and whined low in the back of her throat. Fine, fine. I let her have it and instead gently patted her head. Her expression eased up, and she snuggled down into my hand further. Her tail had lost its vibrant sheen, and curled pitifully toward me.

”Vigil?” I whispered. My free hand shot to my chest, but he was nowhere to be found. Did they strip him—?

“Sylvie?” The door pushed open, and Quinn stepped into the hospital room. Her eyes roved past me idly and locked onto my sister. “‘Course I’d find you here—Reyna!”

The Guardian let out a startled shout as her blue eyes snapped back up to my face. Her halo popped out, and a dim blue glow scattered across the hospital room. My little sister’s hand tightened on my own, and she slowly stirred. The girl stretched out, and drowsily muttered, “Quinn?”

“How long have you been awake?!” Quinn pressed a button by the door, and stretched out a hand as if she couldn’t believe I was awake. It stopped far shy of reaching me.

”Jus’ woke up?” Sylvie rubbed at her bleary eyes.

”She was probably asking me.” I patted her hand lightly. “Not too long.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, that makes sense—Reyna!” Sylvie echoed Quinn, and jolted back in surprise. Her puffy eyes welled up with moisture. “You’re awake! You’re finally awake…”

“I’m awake, I’m awake.” I pulled her closer to me, and hugged her tightly. She returned the tight embrace without a word of complaint. Her shoulders shook, and tears dripped onto my shoulder. Just how long had I been asleep?

“How are you feeling?” Quinn asked.

“Fine enough.” I felt oddly light, though? I bit the inside of my cheek, and sunk into thought. This was real, wasn’t it? I blinked a few times, and turned a critical eye on my surroundings. My stomach felt like it’d been filled with stones. This could be another illusion. Did I really make it? Just like that?

“Pyre, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Sylvie mumbled into my shoulder while hugging me. Her arms wrapped even tighter as if she never wanted to let go. “You kept your promise.”

I soothingly rubbed circles into her back, and just let her cling to me. Even her scent carried exhaustion… and Quinn’s detergent. My Guardian kept her word and took care of my sister after all. ”Heh, ‘course I did. Your big sis is strong, you know?”

”I’d believe that if you weren’t lying in a hospital bed.” Sylvie laughed weakly, and finally pulled away with her hands resting on my shoulders. She carefully inspected me as if she could drink in every detail. “I-I thought I lost you…”

”I’ll be here till you get sick of me.” I rested my hand gently on top of hers, and smiled up. I wished this moment could go forever.

This right here. This moment was what I dreamed and prayed about for so many sleepless nights. What I talked to Vigil endlessly about. Now that I was finally here, my heart felt like it’d explode with happiness… or explode outright if this really wasn’t real.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Sylvie eased out of my arms, but remained by my bed toying with her hands. Her amber eyes darted up to me before resettling on her hands. “C-can I sit here?”

”’Course you can.” I shook my head. Since when did she get timid about physical closeness? Just how had my absence affected the poor girl?

“Thank you.” She slid onto the bed, and smoothed down her hoodie. Her tail swished up and flopped into my lap as if she was staking her claim. “I really missed you. And then you came back, and your coma—“

“Ahem.” Quinn coughed into her fist, and sharply shook her head. “We’re glad you’re awake, Reyna.”

“Coma?” I echoed back blankly. This was everything I’d dreamed it to be. It was just… it was too perfect. I frowned, and stared down at my hands. Dreaming… did I really make it back across the Mire, or was this all a happy dream that’d fade away? Any moment now, I could find myself waking back up in the mud.

“I knew you’d come back.” Sylvie’s tail stilled on my lap, and the tip erratically twitched. She looked away from me, and tried to shift the subject. “You’ll stay with me this time, right?”

My eyes narrowed on her. That was what the fake her said too. I eyed her posture. From her ears, down to her shoulders, down to her tail, every part of her radiated an intensity that contrasted sharply against her joy. Guilt, maybe? Why would she feel guilty? “Am I really back?”

”You are.” Quinn’s tone brokered no argument. “You are back, Reyna.”

Heh… an illusion would say that too. My nails pressed into my palms tightly, and I worked at the inside of my cheek. Jolts of pain brought me some level of clarity. If I was still asleep, I would’ve woken by now, right? Good dreams didn’t last long. Maybe… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to accept this as real. Just until I figured out if it was or not.

A knock came at the door, and Quinn backed away from us. She looked back over her shoulder to the two of us. “I’ll handle this… give you two some space.”

“Thank you, Quinn.” I really, really didn’t want to deal with medical staff at the moment. It was inevitable given our location, but I wasn’t ready.

“Mhmm.” She slipped out of the door and closed the door softly behind her.

Sylvie reached out, and hugged my tail to her lap. Her hands went through the vibrant, plush silver. Her watery amber eyes stayed downcast on the fluff. “I… I brushed it every day, you know? Did I do a good job?”

“You did wonderful.” I had a few fragmented memories of her crying into it. Both Sister Neriyov and Sylvie had taken care of my incompetent self while I just lay here. “Are you… okay?”

“No, big sis.” She shook her head, and her hands stopped. The joy and worry bleeding out of her slowly melted into a more neutral exhaustion. She laughed mirthlessly. “I should be the one asking you that.”

”It's fine, it’s fine.” I shook my head, and my tail gave a playful wiggle under her warm hands. I hated seeing her like this. My Sylvie should always be happy and cheerful. Not… serious. She was still just a kid.

Sylvie’s ears pulled back slightly, and the delicate fur caught the stray beams of sunlight. “Pyre, sis, there’s so much I need to tell you.”

“And we’ll have all the time in the world for you to do so.” I reached out, and pulled her back onto the bed with me. She resisted for a moment before moving back alongside me.

“Promise, big sis?” Sylvie grabbed my arm, and lightly pulled it around her shoulder so I was hugging her to my side. She wormed closer until there wasn’t a bit of space left between us.

“I promise.” I hugged her just as tightly, and let out a light laugh. Right, she was still just a kid. I ran my free hand through the tangled mess of her tail and slowly smoothed it out.

Sylvie shifted it around to give me better access. “Don’t pull so hard.”

”Then you should’ve brushed it more.” Seriously, how many times did I have to pound self-care into her thick skull? Some things never changed, did they?

”Was busy brushing yours.” She wiggled around, and a low whine of protest came out of the back of her throat. “Not fair.”

“Fine, fine.” I patted the limb, and diligently continued to work. It gave me something concrete for my mind to focus on. “Thank you for being here when I woke up.”

“Thank you for coming back, big sis,” Sylvie muttered back. She rested her head on my shoulder, and her eyelids fluttered closed.

”If you’re still tired, you can go back to sleep.” It’d give me some time to think things through, anyway.

”Not… tired…” A yawn stretched her jaw so wide that her ears pulled backward, and she snuggled down next to me. Thirty seconds later, her breathing evened out.

The two of us lay there lost in each other’s warmth as it finally hit home. I was back. The fake Sylvie had fit perfectly against me back then. The real one had her elbow shoved into my ribs and stole my tail to use as a blanket. The real one drooled onto my shoulder and clung to me like I might disappear.

The Mire was behind me, and the future lay ahead. It could wait a few more minutes, though. My precious sister needed her rest.