[Metal Tsubasa]: 95.The Story of Arashi.Nightmare

Arashi’s body writhed in pain as he screamed out. His fists clenched the sheets to the point that he was causing his fists to bleed from the pressure. “No!!!” He shouted; sweat dripping off of his forehead and rolling down the bridge of his nose.
Kitsune rushed in, followed by two younger male mercenaries. None knew what to do, this was far worse than any other night. “Should we hold him down?” one of the other mercenaries questioned. “This looks pretty bad.”
“No,” the female mercenary replied. “I can handle this.”
Reluctantly, the two mercenaries left. It was now just Kitsune and Arashi, who was flailing about as if he was on fire. Slowly, Kitsune moved towards the bed. This was bad, far worse than any other nightmare that Arashi had had. She went to touch the violent sleeper as he punched at invisible enemies, but apparently the enemy had become visible, and now Arashi struck at the other mercenary. “Leave me alone!” he shouted, eyes shut so tight they stung.
“Arashi!” Kitsune shouted, grabbing one of Arashi’s fists as he struck at her again. “Arashi! Wake up!”
It was amazing how easily Arashi woke from his nightmares, but it was harder this time. Even after hearing Kitsune’s voice, the male mercenary fought and screamed. It was only after Kitsune pulled him off the cot that Arashi awoke. He looked around, dazed and confused, as if he had been in a coma for most of is life. People looked different in the real world, they had faces that one could easily define.
Arashi paused, taking in a deep breath. His whole body shook and if Kitsune had not been there, holding his arm, he would have possibly collapsed. His body felt heavy, too heavy for his arms to support it. “It was just a dream?” he questioned, his ice blue eyes staring up at Kitsune. He paused, taking in another deep breath as he looked down at the ground. “It was just a dream…”
There was so much the Kitsune wanted to ask, but she didn’t have the chance. Arashi’s eyes quickly clouded over and he flopped onto he ground, motionless. This had happened before, Kitsune was used to this, but not when he was on the floor. For as tiny as he looked, Arashi was heavy. His body was like caring a car on Kitsune’s shoulder.
It took three other mercenaries to lift Arashi onto his cot and then two of them left. The other stayed behind momentarily. “What’s wrong with him,” the mercenary snapped angrily. “Can’t we get someone to take care of this? I’m sick of being pummeled by him in his sleep.”
“Just go,” Kitsune replied sternly and the other mercenary did as he was asked.
It wasn’t long after this that Arashi awoke for the second time. He looked around at his blurred surroundings. He had to blink a few times to get Kitsune into focus and even then he had to squint. “Thanks Kitsune,” Arashi said, sweat dripping from his brow, “for a moment there, I thought I had died.”
Kitsune drew the rag from a bucket of water one of the other mercenaries had left there, rung it out and then gently touched Arashi’s forehead. “You’re burning up,” she stated plainly. “What was it this time Arashi? You said you thought you had died. I’ve never seen you look so pale before and that shout of yours went up several decibels. I know your nightmares Arashi, and this was one of the worst.”
“I…” Arashi vision blurred slightly and he began to feel lightheaded, “I… I saw the future.”
Kitsune’s eyes widened. “The future?” she paused to drop the rag back into the bucket. “C’mon Arashi, I know you were a drug addict, but I’m starting to think it really went to your head.”
Arashi’s vision swam and his stomach began to churn. He doubled over in pain and Kitsune took her place next to him, holding him up while he covered his mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Kitsune questioned. “Arashi! Arashi are you all right?!”
The other mercenary said nothing more. He couldn’t find the words or even how to form them. The corners of his vision began to darken and just as it was about to go completely black Arashi grabbed Kitsune’s hand and then no feeling was left, nothing was left, only darkness.
“Captain!” Kitsune shouted as she rushed out of the tent. “Captain! Get a doctor! Quick!”
Captain stood up from his place, but motioned with one hand that Lydia should stay where she was. He walked calmly towards another one of the mercenaries near the fire and whispered something in their ear. With that the other mercenary got up and went off. “The doctor will be here as soon as possible,” Captain stated, his eyes unwavering. “I knew Arashi would do this one day, but I didn’t know it would be so soon.”
There was silence then, but when Kitsune turned back towards the tent she motioned for Captain to follow. Normally, Captain kept out of Arashi’s affairs, which was the reason he always attempted not to care, but when it was bad enough to the point where Kitsune would pull him aside, it was bad enough for him to start caring.
“How bad is it?” the older mercenary questioned as he chanced a slight glance at the now unconscious Arashi. “He sounded like he was killing himself in his sleep.”
Kitsune shifted slightly as she crossed her arms. She looked uncomfortable, as if she had caused Arashi all the pain that he had endured in the past few hours. Arashi’s words formed in her head as she tried to make sense of it all. “He,” Kitsune paused, shifting again, choking on the words she was trying to put out, “he thought he died.” Again she paused as she took in a deep breath; even coming from a drug addict, “he said he saw the future,” sounded insane.
Even so, Captain was calm as he always was. “He did it,” the larger man said as he crossed his arms over his broad chest, “Arashi finally broke. I always knew that those drugs would get to his head and now they have.” Captain caught Kitsune looking at him, questions in her eyes. He sighed and shook his head. “As for his vision, we’ll let the future decide that.”
The doctor was there in about an hour and both Captain and Kitsune were ushered out of the tent. They sat by the fire for what seemed like hours. All sat in silence, no one looked at another; it looked as though someone had died. After a while, the doctor finally reemerged and stated that the young mercenary would have to be taken to the hospital.
“I’ve checked him out,” said the doctor as he rubbed his glasses on his sleeve, “but I need to run a few more tests to make sure…” and his words trailed off, there was silence again.
Kitsune looked between Captain and the doctor for a moment and then questioned, “Make sure of what? Is he going to be okay?”
“Again,” replied the doctor, “I need to take a few tests back at the hospital to see if I’m right, but…” there came a pause and then, “I do believe there is something in his brain that is causing these night attacks, more so than just the drugs, or perhaps it’s just the after affects of them. As I said, I need to check.”
There was no argument, though Captain knew that Kitsune would have made one had he not taken her back to her seat at the fire, and Arashi was taken to the hospital by jeep. The doctor said that he would possibly have to stay for a few days or even a month or so. Arashi wouldn’t agree to that.
But there was no way for him to disagree. A good deal of the Raven Squad arrived at the hospital a few days later, Captain, Kitsune and Lydia were all there. They had all expected to walk into the room and see Arashi glaring angrily back at them, but he was completely unconscious.
“He woke up for a few minuets,” the doctor said as he joined the group, “but since then he’s been comatose. We’ve been running all sorts of tests and he still shows no sign of waking.”
Kitsune’s eyes shifted sharply towards the doctor. “You mean he’s in a coma,” she stated. She had never cared much for these kinds of doctors. They secured themselves in suburbia, and they just couldn’t handle it when military or mercenaries stayed there with them. They figured they were better than that.
The doctor shifted slightly, rubbing his hands against each other. “Yes,” he replied, “he’s in a coma. He’s muttered a few words here and there, and his limbs sporadically twitch. So, his brain is sill functioning, but it’s almost like a dog in its sleep; it’s more subconscious than conscious.”
A few of the other mercenaries stayed talking with the doctor, but the rest followed after Captain, Kitsune and Lydia. They pushed past the doctor and into the room. There sat a bed, covered in delicate white sheets that covered a not so delicate figure. His body marred and tanned with battle and his feathery black and blue hair draped over his face. So many wires and tubes attached to any vein possible, his breathing assisted and the heart monitor steadily beeping, as if keeping time. Nonetheless, the beeping was slow, unlike a normal heart beat.
It was unnatural for Arashi to be so motionless. All the stood there were waiting for the male mercenary to wake up and start swearing at everyone and everything. They could have waited all day, and it would never happen. He remained as he was, his mouth slightly opened. Arashi was just not Arashi lying in a hospital bed like this.
Lydia had started to cry by then, and Captain, along with the other few mercenaries, moved her out. Kitsune stayed behind and in a slight glance, noticed that Captain would keep everyone else out. He knew it was the right thing, he knew that Kitsune would want to be alone with Arashi.
There was silence then as the door closed, or almost silence, except the steady beeping. Kitsune moved slowly closer to the bed, crossing one foot in front of the other. She stopped next to the bed and gently placed her hand on Arashi’s. Those same hands that had been so rough on her before, those same hands that had been bleeding and scared over all that his life had inflicted on them. She wanted his to grab her hand right back, then at least she would know that he wasn’t dead.
As he was now, Arashi was dead. He wasn’t swearing, he wasn’t carrying his gun about; he wasn’t looking through the forests for any spies that normally hung in the trees. This wasn’t Arashi, this was just a shell of a figure that somewhat resembled Arashi.
“You have to wake up,” Kitsune said quietly as she brushed her fingers over Arashi’s hand. “This is so stupid Arashi. C’mon, you’re not a child anymore Arashi, this is so stupid.”
He couldn’t hear her however, he didn’t even know where he was. Arashi was off in his own mind. Standing in the darkness for… well, he didn’t exactly know how long it had been. There was simply nothing, nothing but darkness and he was getting very sick of it. He had walked and walked, but he hadn’t gotten tired, but he had never found anything that made himself feel as though he had gone anywhere. The darkness continued on and on, until Arashi finally found himself looking at a small light, far off in the distance. He continued walking towards it until the light became bigger and bigger, showing it’s shape more and more. The shape finally turned to something Arashi could recognize… the shape of a gilded mirror, standing in the midst of complete darkness.
The mirror’s frame was richly decorated in delicate gold patterns, but the mirror was old and cracking, simply due to old age. But unlike a mirror, this mirror did not reflect Arashi as he was now, but as he was when he was child. The smiling, happy, green eyed, Kennet that had once loved life so much. It hurt to look at him.