Chapter Text
My hand hurts too much to ignore, but it looked fine to the naked eye.
"Tara-"
My throat feeling very parched. I feel warm.
"Yeah, Y/N?"
The world is spinning, Tara is getting blurry in my vision.
"I need...your help...I'm not feeling too...well-"
I feel weak, I bumped into a wall, my legs lost their strength, I slide down against the wall.
"Wha- Y/N!"
She tried to catch me, but was too late.
"Oh no, what do I do? Are you still with me?" Tara lightly touched my face and lifted my head up by the chin.
"I am...but I don't know long I can fight it...call a Taxi, Tara...take me to Akso Hospital-"
"On it. Hang in there, Y/N"
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Hunched over the back of the passenger seat, feeling weak, and the shaking of the vehicle is not helping in making me feel better. Tara worriedly rubs my back, hoping to ease the discomfort I am experiencing.
"But the hunter clinic said we all looked good to go before we went for dinner... Y/N we're almost reaching, don't worry."
"Alright we're here" said the driver. Tara immediately got off the car, and I heard some talking outside the car window right next to me.
Soon, my door was opened.
"Come, I got them to bring a wheelchair. I'm scared you'll fall again." She hold me by the arm and support part of my weight to sit into the wheelchair.
Stepping out of the dark car ride through the barely lit streets, onto the bright entrance of the hospital. I realized, it wasn't dark during the car ride. I lost some vision, I can sense light and silhouettes of people, but everything is blurred. It's so bad that I can only tell the colour of the wheelchair but I can't estimate how far or how big it is. I'm lucky that I have Tara with me, and I believe a security by the entrance was helping me to get into my seat.
"Thank you Mr Driver!" Tara closes the taxi door, and pushed me into the emergency department.
"I have your purse with me, I'll help you get the registration started, okay?" She parked me to what seems like next to a wall, before she tapped me on the shoulder to let me know she's gonna be away.
I was left alone, but the surrounding is loud and noisy. Children crying, doctors calling the next patient, nurses calling numbers, the sound of wheels on the hospital's floor. After what seem like forever, someone approached me.
"Y/N?"
I looked up, but realizing again that I can't see, I frown and squint my eyes at the nearest silhouette standing in front of me? Possibly by the looks of my reaction to my name being called, the person answers.
"It's Dr Greyson, you don't remember me?"
"I'm sorry, Dr Greyson. I do know you, but I, for some reason am left with blurry vision. I can't really see you..."
"You can't see? How many fingers am I holding?"
"I can see you raised your hand, but I can't see the shape of your hand, I don't know..."
"This isn't good. Hold on, let me get you on a bed to be examine. I will notify Dr Zayne in the meantime."
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Dr Greyson was able to secure a bed for me very soon, in the name of "Dr Zayne's patient", they gave me the hospital gown to change into. He ordered a lot of tests on me, and I was sent to do some scans. He told me to rest after I came back from the radiology department, and informed me that Dr Zayne will be here to tell me my results when they are done. A nurse guided Tara to the bed I was at, I thanked her and told she should go home and rest, since the medical staffs here somewhat know who I am, I will be fine here. She took on the offer since she still had to go into work tomorrow morning, she rubbed my hand, said goodbye and left my bag by my bed.
Feeling vulnerable in the hospital gown, I can't tell if I'm flashing anybody. Uncomfortable in a new environment, extremely bright light, can't see anything, at least there is curtains around, I curled up in a fetal position while I waited. Suddenly I heard a very familiar footstep approaching my bed, the curtains glide open for a tall figure to enter.
"Tell me what happened?" It's Zayne.
"I thought Tara...told Dr Greyson...everything?"
"Yes, but I want to hear it from you yourself."
"Ok? My left hand was hurting like throbbing pain, but I was in the midst of a mission. I thought I had strained it at one point, so I didn't use it that much. When we cleared the area, and ended the mission, I treated it like a sprain, had it checked at the hunter's clinic, and that was it. I went to get dinner with Tara, before going home, but Tara said I wasn't looking too well. All I felt during dinner was fatigue, then slowly, it became weakness, and confusion, when we paid and leave.
"Confusion, how?"
"I know what I wanted to say, like right now, but it's really a struggle to, form the words, and even the sentence. It takes awhile, for me, to think what is the right word." I needed to pause 3 seconds after 3-5 words, to think about the next word.
"How many fingers I am showing?"
"I can't see...I'm guessing 2?"
"Don't guess, say what you see."
"I can't see!"
"Is the hand still hurting?"
"Yes"
"Which hand? Show me" I raise my left hand. He gently holds in and examine. I squint at the sharp pain.
"It hurts, Dr Zayne."
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate it?"
"8"
"Honestly, it doesn't look any different on the surface, but I can give you something to manage the pain."
"Thanks."
"Dr Greyson ordered some test, and your brain scan showed some dots. He consulted the neurologist, it could be signs of minor stroke, but your blood test came back, you have a blood infection. Your kidneys are also in a bad shape, and you are severely dehydrated."
"I was in the mission for nearly the whole day...the wanderers never reduced in numbers."
"We'll do what we can to help you, but we need to do more testing and I ordered a blood culture. We don't know what exactly are you infected with yet, we need to find the exact bacteria." he sounds very stern. I feel scared, is he mad? I can't tell, I can't see his face.
"So that means I will be here longer?"
"Don't hope to go back to fighting wanderers anytime soon. You're a big mess right now, Ms Hunter. You're body is going to spike in fever multiple times, you ain't going nowhere, I'm putting you in high dependency unit."
"What? Can't I have my own room?"
"No, you're in a dire state, you need to be closely monitored, what if you fall? On top of that you can't even see right now. I got the nurses to help you."
"Okay, Dr Zayne."
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I was wheeled into HDU, got comfy on the bed, and was promptly hooked onto multiple wires. The nurse adjusted my bed, checked everything was responding as they should, and handed me the nurse button. They told me to abuse it since I am at risk of falling, and have no strength to hold anything on my own.
Surrounded by machines, this is a first; forced to depend on somebody, this is another first. I feel awful I have to boss people around.
Not long after, Zayne came to see me.
"How are you feeling?"
"Vulnerable, I can't see and check myself. I do feel breezy, hope I am not flashing you right now"
"Please rest assure, you aren't. Even if you are, it wouldn't bother me, you are a patient in a HDU, I'd pretend I never saw it and asked a nurse to help you adjust it. We treat all patients with dignity here"
"Huh, it doesn't reassure me that much honestly. Dr Zayne, before you go, could you tell me what is the time now?"
"It's 3 in the morning." A sudden guilt hits me, that I made him work overtime today, on top of making him worried enough that he doesn't sound pleasant this whole time. Well, it's not like I asked to be like this.
"I'm sorry..." I mumbled under my breath while fidgeting with my blanket.
"I'll come check on you again when the sun is up. Please call the nurses for assistance." I see his shadow turning and moving towards the curtain.
"I'm glad that I was still able to converse with you like this, it could have been worse."
...
"I'll try everything to get you back to health again, I hope you can cooperate till the end. If you'll excuse me."