Work Text:
There was light, and pain, then darkness.
More light. Floating.
Dark again.
*****
“When can I see her?” Violet asked.
The slender CEO of DevTech took a deep breath and nodded sympathetically. “I understand this is very frustrating for you. But try to understand-“
“I understand that I’ve been in this room for the past two weeks,” Violet said, crossing her arms and throwing herself back against her pillows. “I understand that every doctor and every nurse I’ve asked has told me the same thing, that my results are perfectly normal, but the decision to keep me under observation was made by my parents because I’m still a minor. And I understand that Kar- that Voyd is alive but that’s all that anyone will tell me.”
Winston Deavor spread his hands and stepped forward. “We’re all just very concerned with what happened to you.”
“That’s the other thing,” Violet said. “No one can explain what happened to me.”
“I’ve talked it over with your parents,” Winston said. “They’ve agreed that it’s for the best not to discuss it with you until the specialists have had a chance to compare their findings.”
Violet blew out a frustrated huff. “Fine. That doesn’t change the fact that no one will tell me when I can see Voyd.”
“Look,” Winston said. As a shrewd businessman, he knew when to concede a little. Violet had just made a concession. So would he. “Let me talk to her doctors. I’ll see if we can’t arrange something.”
Violet’s eyes snapped to his face. She stared at him, not daring to hope, not even daring to breathe. When it seemed clear he was serious, she breathed again. “Thank you.”
*****
Light. Gray. Dark. Pain, so much pain. A breath. Two.
Falling, then floating. Sounds, somewhere. Repeating beeps. Darkness.
*****
An hour later Winston wheeled her down the hall and through a locked set of double doors, where they were greeted by a serious-looking doctor flanked by a pair of somber nurses.
Though she’d insisted she could walk, Violet was suddenly very glad of the wheelchair. Seeing their faces, and the safety protocols taken, hammered home how serious things had become.
“She sustained numerous internal injuries,” the doctor explained as the nurses led them through into a hospital bedroom.
Everything else was lost to Violet’s ears as she saw Karen lying, sunken and diminished, pale as death. Teal hair stringy and limp, clipped out of her face. Bandages were wrapped around her chest. Tubes led to her mouth and nose. Sensor wires were attached to her arms, her head, ran into the bandages. Machines set to either side scribbled readouts on ticker-tape paper. Others beeped rhythmically.
“Oh Baby,” Violet whispered, as tears spilled down her cheeks. “What did you do?”
She stood and went to the bed, sitting as soon as she could to keep her legs from giving out. Violet took Karen’s cool hand and lifted it to her cheek.
“It’s a miracle she’s alive,” Winston said quietly as the nurses checked the tubes and wires and the doctor read the ticker-tapes.
“Baby,” Violet repeated, ignoring him. “Baby please. Don’t.”
Violet kissed Karen’s palm, and silently wept.
*****
Darkness, floating, falling, light. Cold. Pain. A sound. Wetness. On her hand.
A sob.
Violet.
Violet was crying.
*****
A twitch of a finger next to her cheek and Violet gasped.
Karen’s eyes fluttered open.
“Baby?”
Karen tried to focus, but everything seemed too bright, too blurry. Violet’s face came close, her free hand wiping away the tears.
Something in her mouth kept her from speaking, but Karen managed a weak smile.
Violet’s answering smile filled Karen with joy and love and happiness… and relief. Relief so great she sank away, letting the darkness take her, knowing Violet was safe, was well, was healthy and whole and by her side.
*****
Though Karen didn’t know it until later, Violet spent the next three days by Karen’s bedside, waiting for her to wake up again. Just before supper on the third day, Karen’s eyes fluttered open. Violet was next to her in a heartbeat.
“Baby? Hey,” Violet smiled gently at her and taking her hand. “Hold on, I’ll get the nurse, she’ll take the tube out of your mouth. Okay?”
The thought of Violet leaving filled Karen with terror, and she squeezed Violet’s hand as hard as she could.
Violet’s smile turned into a grin. “I’m not going anywhere, Baby, I promise. Nurse!” She raised her voice and turned her head toward the open door. “Nurse! She’s awake!”
Nurses came in and removed the tube in Karen’s throat, triggering a coughing fit that hurt so badly that Karen nearly passed out. The soreness in her throat was just a note in the symphony of pain in every area of her body.
Violet held up a cup of ice chips and helped Karen sip a couple into her mouth to ease the dryness, thirst, and pain in her throat.
When she could finally face the inevitable pain of speaking, Karen said one word, in a raspy whisper: “Angel.”
Tears spilled from Violet’s eyes once again, but she was grinning. Karen lifted Violet’s hand to her lips and kissed it.
The next morning, in Karen’s room because Violet refused to leave it, Winston, Helen and Bob joined the girls. Winston held a clipboard, thick with papers and reports. Violet held Karen’s hand.
“So,” Winston said. “Our specialists have conferred and can confirm that Violet, you have a clean bill of health. You can go home.”
Violet frowned. “So why have I been kept here so long?”
“We needed to be sure that Timekeeper’s attack wouldn’t have any… negative effects.”
Bob took the clipboard from Winston and flipped through the pages. “All the vitals look normal, heart rate, brainwave activity… Hmm.” He looked at Winston. “So that’s what you meant.”
Violet gave her father a questioning look. “Dad?”
Helen sat on Karen’s bed and took Violet’s other hand. “Here’s the thing, honey. The specialists…” She looked at her husband, who nodded. “They’re all in agreement. Timekeeper’s temporal warp power didn’t have any negative effects. Except… “
“Except what?”
“Except… well, you’re perfectly normal.”
Violet shook her head. “What do you mean? My powers work fine.” She demonstrated by creating a baseball-sized force bubble, then blinking invisible and back.
“That’s not what I meant by normal,” Helen said. “The specialists have run every test they could think of, and even invented a few tests no one has ever had to think of before. They’re all agreed. You’re perfectly normal…”
Violet felt Karen squeeze her hand, sending her strength and love and calm, and Helen finished her sentence:
“For a twenty year-old woman.”