A casual blink. A shift of her body. Sometimes a blank stare given to the man that was tortured because of her. Alexandra felt strange. More focused, less pained. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Stix smirking while Sam was getting the water. Distracted. That was good. The molecule manipulator tilted her head to the side, resuming the casual blinking and movements of her body. She looked impatient to leave the room. And she was, but, she wasn’t leaving the room without Stix’s head in her hand.

---

How many minutes passed? One? Two? Less? Alexandra wasn’t really sure. But she knew that in her hand, she held the remote that controlled the shock bracelet on her hand and the collar around Sam’s neck. One down. Two more to go. Thank you Sara. Inside of her mind, she grinned. When the camps will be over, she needed to contact Sara. Learn more about pickpocketing. Hell, who thought that this skill will become so useful, even when you had more than enough money?

Alexandra shifted her attention to Sam as the last bucket of water plus shock collar activation was used on him. She’d take care of everything. Maybe Sam wouldn’t get that from her eyes but that was what she wanted to transmit, anyway. Blue eyes traveled from Sam to the two guards who now turned around and looked at Stix for further instructions. How could she bring the guards close enough to her? The molecule manipulator narrowed her eyes.

An exaggerated sigh could be heard from her side. Alexandra turned her head to look at Stix, blinking lazily. “Remember Miss Kettler…” Stix pushed herself up and glanced down at the still seated mutant. “Everything that will happen in this room, will be all your fault.” Alexandra remained quiet. Oh, she could say the same to Stix. But, then again, she didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

Frowning, Stix moved away when her threats were ignored. She walked over to Sam, picking up the first blade that her eyes found upon the table. She eyed Sam, the smile returning on her face. Stix leaned forward. “Sam… I think Miss Kettler here doesn’t care about you as much as I thought.” She shook her head, bringing the blade closer to Sam.

On her seat on the floor, Alexandra frowned. She pushed herself up annoyed at this comment. Stix… she had no idea how much she cared about Sam. She cared enough to kill people in front of him. She cared enough to throw her disguise out the window. She cared too much for her own good. A hand slipped behind her, as the remote joined the blade. Eyes narrowing, Alexandra started to wrap the chain around her cuffed hand until there wasn’t anything to wrap anymore. Blue eyes grew dark as she watched Stix.

“Hmmm… let’s see.” Stix looked over her shoulder at Alexandra, the smile still plastered on her lips. “Perhaps this one would do good without his tongue? He does have a big mouth after all. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the silence.” The blade moved closer, pressing against Sam’s lips. Alexandra’s intakes of air became shorter and faster. “I warn you.” Eyes moved to the two guards. They grinned. They enjoyed this, yes? Well, they had no idea how much she’d enjoy killing them. “Stop it.” Eyes traveled to Stix, meeting the grin she offered. “Or… maybe his eyes?” The blade traveled up.

Alexandra flinched, her body having the intention to move forwards. The chain pulled her back. Her fingers twitched, aching to pick up the stolen blade. “Stop it.” There was that dark, menacing tone. One that Stix should have taken in consideration. And yet, the guard didn’t.

Sam smirked, he knew Alex cared about him but whatever he was doing here was clearly worth more than his life so he didn’t argue with the female guard, “Clearly she doesn’t so care to let me go now?” Sam asked curiously already knowing the answer to the question that he was sure would go unheard giving the fact that the female guard was focused on Alex. ”And most of it will be your fault,” Sam muttered to himself again wishing she didn’t make Alex carve him up anymore.

”I beg to differ!” Sam said quickly, ”My tongue is one of my most defining features.” he stuck it out in a joking manner towards the female guard as one of the other guards laughed slightly somewhere in the room behind him. He grinned slightly and watched the female guard try to break down Alex. The eyes, that was her next intended target in hopes to finally break Alex all together as the blade traveled up towards his left eye.

Instinctively Sam winced as the blade touched his brow and dug into the skin passing the layer of hair that was made to protect his vision from blurring due to dust and sweat. ”Just tell us what we want to know, I won’t ask twice” Sam moved his head back slightly trying to move away from the blade that was close to piercing his eye. ”And you, nothing witty to say?” he looked passed the blade and to the one holding it, ”Well not at the moment, but if you move the blade away from my eye I might be able to think of something,” Sam said quickly his left eye now closing all together trying to block the blade out of his vision.

It was a poor attempt of reasoning on his part; even if he couldn’t see the blade go into his eye he would still feel it when she would strike. ”Clearly I’m not getting my point across… you there come hold his head still I don’t want to go to deep just yet…” Sam’s head jerked trying to move from the new pair of hands that placed themselves on the sides of his head. ”Lady we are so not going on a date!” Sam said quickly his tone becoming more and more worried as he tried to shake his head free. Kicking his legs back and forth Sam quickly found them to be pinned as his arms were being held down as well.

He couldn’t tell who was holding him but his body seemed to go rigid as his left eye snapped open to see the blade skim over the eye and end up right above it. ”Miss Kettler, last chance!” Sam looked into the eyes of the female guard and saw nothing an empty void of nothingness she wasn’t human nor a monster she was just there, she was nothing. ”A shame to, you do have pretty eyes, I could have gotten lost in them.” Sam’s body jerked slightly as his voice let out in a scream as the blade pierced the top of his brow and traveled down to his eye.

It was weird the eye saw the blade and did nothing the eye lid was cut in half so he couldn’t blink the first thing he saw was red then the blade far to close for comfort till his vision in his eye went black. Again it was weird seeing one thing out of one eye and nothing but red in the other. He continued to scream as the blade trailed down the eye all the way down past his bottom eyelid, Sam’s screams continued as the muscles in his body tensed and rippled the skin around them, veins popping out of his neck and his throat growing hoarse with every breath. Despite the loud yelling though the female guard still had no problem looking towards Alex and smiling, ”Now, should we make him blind all together or are you ready to talk?” Blood dripped down Sam left eye in tears as his other eye felt leaked as well.

Anger. Fury. Loath. Hatred. Rage.

Was it possible for one to hold against the crushing force of this perilous cocktail of emotions?

It was like mixing bottles of alcohol expecting not to get drunk.

And she was intoxicated. But it wasn’t euphoria what she was feeling. No. Her blood boiled inside her body. Her heart beat at crazy speeds.

“Stop.it.”

Her warning went unnoticed.
Her body jerked forward.

“Last chance, Miss Kettler.”

An ultimatum.

Last chance… last chance… last chance…

Last. Chance.

Red. The color of blood. The color of hatred.

“STOP IT!”

The tears tickled her skin. She didn’t remember when she started crying. She remembered the red of the blood. She remembered the painful scream. It tore her soul apart.

”Now, should we make him blind all together or are you ready to talk?”

Alexandra growled.

Pain. It bore so little significance when it surged trough her body. Weak, her body fell to the ground, trembling under the effects of the shock bracelet. She gritted her teeth together. She… wanted to be strong. But she wasn’t. The grey of the concrete was replaced with a swirling black. It danced in front of her eyes until she slowly slipped into unconsciousness. The pain stopped. So did the movements of her body.

Inside of her quiet little world, Alexandra smiled. At least she was granted one wish.

---

Laughter. It was the very first thing she heard. A crystal clear laughter.

A hand moved. Then a leg.

The body… it was still weak. Eyes opened. And she took a deep breath.

Laughter. It amused her. And she promised that she’ll carve an eternal smile on Stix’s face.

She kept her head lowered as she moved. Hair hid most of her face. Good. This way they couldn’t see that she wore a smile on her face, too.

Slowly, she stood up. Taking small breaths until the body stopped being numb. Laughter still echoed trough the room. Her smile became a grin, behind the curtain of hair.

“Miss Kettler, that must have hurt.”

In response, she chuckled. Slowly, her head rose. Hair slid away from her face, revealing the grin plastered on her lips.

“It did. But guess who came out to play, bitch.”

Her chained hand traveled up. The same blue eyes were locked on Stix, amused. Her fist unclasped.

Clink.

And the chain fell to the ground, only the portion wrapped around her hand, remaining connected with her skin. She clenched her fist again as laughter died. So did any hint of amusement in the guards’ eyes.

“Nothing to laugh at, now?”

She tilted her head to the side. The other hand traveled behind her, clasping around the handle of the stolen blade.

What initially was confusion turned into shock. Then… what was that? Anger?

She smiled.

“Get her, you idiots! What are you looking at?”

The two guards moved, walking toward her, hands outstretched.

Idiots.[/color]

She shifted her attention toward the one who would reach her first. And waited, without making any movements. Just her eyes followed the movements of the man, a smile greeting his attempts to capture her.

Then, a swift movement forward and to the man’s side. Her free hand grabbed the guard’s hand, pushing it aside. The other, clasping the blade, moved up, aiming for the neck. The jugular. A perfect hit. The blade slashed trough flesh.

Red. The color of the blood. And the color of satisfaction. The warm liquid spurted out of the wound for a few moments, hitting her face. She didn’t turn, merely closed her eyes for a moment so it wouldn’t damage her vision. When she opened them again, she was already pulling out the blade out of the wound. She glanced at her prey briefly, just enough to have his image carved in her memory forever. The widened eyes filled with terror, the blood continuing to pour down from the slash as he started to descend to the floor, the horrible sounds coming out from his mouth… all these, a heavenly symphony to her senses.

Quickly, she spun on her heels, looking at the other guard. The man, taken aback by what he’d seen, stopped in his tracks, looking at the escaped prisoner. She blinked lazily, taking a step forward while raising the blood tinted blade and hand.

“Get her you imbecile!”

Like being electrocuted at hearing these words, the man moved forward, his movements sloppy and slow. She sighed. Were any of them going to be any challenge or what? She let the man come near her. Even extend his slimy hands toward her. Then with a quick movement, she grabbed the man’s hand and pulled while moving her own body so she would end up being behind him.

The blade sailed trough the air, while she released the man’s hand. Instead she placed it on his back, a finger pressing against his spine in search of the place where two vertebrae met. Smiling slightly, she removed the finger as the blade closed in, hitting the spot she had palpated earlier. The blade sliced trough the spinal cord with ease. Smiling, she pulled back her weapon and pushed the man to the ground.

For a second, she watched him fall to the ground. Then, she shifted her attention to Stix. A smile appeared on her face as the woman, with eyes widened in shock, patted her belt in search of the remote that activated the collar. When she didn’t found it, her movements became … oh, desperate? Green eyes glanced at her briefly.

And she started to advance toward Stix, quite amused. Ah, the sweet taste of revenge.
“I guess you are looking for…” Her hand traveled to the remote, retrieving it and then hold it in her open palm for Stix to see. “… this?” Tilting her head to the side, she tossed the remote over her shoulder. “No advantages. No help. Just you… and me.”

Words trailed in the air as slowly she advanced. The fear… she could smell it. Not even the priciest perfume could match the pleasing scent of fear. Stix moved. No. She ran toward the door, her hand outstretched to reach the hand scanner. Always, looking over the shoulder to see how close she was.

She moved faster. Smiling all the time. Grinning in anticipation as the device that was meant to keep her in check now worked against Stix. Quietly, she waited until Stix looked over her shoulder again. Then, her hand extended. The chain wrapped around her hand made contact with Stix face. Dumbly, the woman staggered backward. Another hit and she fell to the ground, her eyes unfocused as she glanced up to the ceiling.

Satisfaction visible in her eyes, she lowered herself on top of Stix, her knees holding the guard’s arms immobilized. The blade made contact with Stix’s skin, resting on her temple as she put on a thoughtful look. “Now… I know there must be a corny line I am supposed to say…” Blue eyes descended toward the trapped and numbed guard. Her eyes became more focused. And she smiled. “Oh yes… an eye for an eye… bitch.”

The blade shifted position, resting now on the woman’s eyebrow. Her body started to fight back but without much use. She pressed her free hand against her forehead, keeping it still as the blade slashed trough the eyelid… and the eye… and it run down her cheek, curbing slowly until it reached her mouth.

Stix screamed? Oh yes, she had started a while ago. Maybe when her body started to jerk, trying to escape? She wasn’t sure, because all she could hear was her own laughter. “No more laughing now? But… this is so amusing!” The slash took an abrupt turn, traveling toward the woman’s ear. The blade didn’t go deep… no just deep enough that the smile she had promised would be there forever.

The laughter ceased as the slash reached the woman’s ear. This was fun, indeed, but she wanted her dead. She grinned, as the blade cut the skin on the woman’s neck. A bit more pressure and the guard would-…

---

Pain.

The smile disappeared, replaced by a pained expression. The blade slipped away from her hand. Her body felt numb again, as it trembled under the effects of the shock bracelet. Her muscles refused to listen to her commands. Shaking, she fell to the ground, the concrete hard and cold against her face.

Before the familiar swirling black appeared, she noticed the opened door. The guard, holding the remote extended in her direction.

Inside, the beast shrieked as she was being pulled back into the cage.

The screams echoed throughout the room not only his but Alex’s as well, were they hurting her? The shouldn’t they were doing enough to him right? Lifting his head before he got a head rush and was forced to lower it he saw that there was no physical harm upon Alex no, she was screaming for him. He smiled weakly and closed his right eye and savored the moment, not that she was crying out in his pain but the fact that he still had one eye to see what was going on.

He was floating or felt like it, he most likely unconscious again, sounds rushed together, laughter from Alex could be heard something he was sure didn’t actually happen. In and out his right eye opened and closed slowly as he looked around the right side of the room for the left was as he could tell black, which was what his left eye was registering.

A splash of blood shot in his vision and it caused him to raise his head again even though the stress on the neck urged him not to. He winked which was meant to be a blink and saw Alex bathed in the blood of one of the guards as blood spurted out from the hole in his throat, ”Weird” thought Sam as he looked at the blade in Alex’s hand, ”He didn’t have that in his neck before…”

Lowering his head back to look up at the ceiling he breathed and blinked again, no it defiantly wasn’t there before. His thoughts were sluggish and time around him was irrelevant he was to busy trying to process what he was seeing or rather saw. His eye shut closed for a minute he felt more blood sputter across his bare chest, it was warm to the touch and then that was when he realized fully what was going on. Alex was killing the guards.

He shook his head and couldn’t believe it his voice tried to find a way out of his shut mouth but couldn’t, it just wouldn’t open. He didn’t want any blood spilt, at least anymore than what was already being spilt, ”…s….t…p…” the word was a whisper as he heard someone else scream, he didn’t know who it was but didn’t care, no one should be screaming.

He closed his eyes and prayed for the second time in his life then and there hoping to what ever power governed the world to make sure that he and Alex got out of there alive, or at least Alex. It was weird as he laid there on the floor tuneing in and out he thought about the situation he was in, it was in a way Alex’s fault, and he should hate her for it, she was the reason he was here on the floor, cut open missing an eye burned, near death… but as much as he wanted to blame her he couldn’t.

He couldn’t bring himself to hate her, the more he though about the more he started to figure out why it was the only reason, how else could you forgive someone for personally cutting you open? Sam was in love… he loved her….

Screams filled her ears, awaking her from the peaceful slumber. She winced at the sounds, closing her eyes tighter in a futile attempt to go back to the comforting world of sleep.

The screams became louder and louder. She gritted her teeth and covered her ears. Another futile attempt to block the shrieking sounds from getting to her.

And then… they stopped. Silence. And light. A powerful light that hadn’t been there before. One she could feel even trough closed eyes.

Curious, she opened her eyes…

Just in time to see the boot closing in. Alexandra gasped, barely having time to close her eyes and roll on her back in an attempt to lower the damage inflicted. Instead of her stomach, the boot hit her side. She winced, opening her eyes to see who was hitting her. Two guards were looming above her and while one of them was just watching, the other prepared to take another hit.

This time, she didn’t have time to do anything. The boot connected with her side again, this time her ribs. Alexandra felt the bone cracking under the pressure applied.

It hurt. Bad.

Her mouth opened, taking a quick breath before gritting her teeth together to restrain a scream. Eyes shut tightly as she held her breath, doing her best to ignore the pain.

“That’s enough, what do you want to do, kill her?”

Alexandra slowly opened her eyes, letting the air leave her lungs slowly.

“Mutant scum. Doesn’t deserve any better.”

Eyes were narrowed at the man who had spoken. Perhaps, if she was in a better condition, she would have fought back. Instead, she kept her mouth closed, trying to dismiss the signals of pain her body was transmitting.

“Take her to the hospital wing. I’ll go get help to take these two.”

The other guard nodded with a frown, then with disgust evident in his eyes, turned to look at her. “Move, bitch.” To emphasize the order, the boot made contact with her hip.

Slightly growling, Alexandra forced herself up. From all the signals of pain her brain was receiving, the one from her rib was by far the most intense. Holding her breath, she pushed herself up, as quickly as she could so the guard wouldn’t have a reason to hit her again.

Dizzy. And lacking a good sense of balance.

Those were the first two things Alexandra noticed when she was standing on her own two feet. Her legs felt weak and jelly like. Muscles tensed to hold her body up and prevent her from falling.

She blinked a couple of times, in hopes that the blurry images she was receiving would become more focused. They did, and the first thing she saw was the face of the guard, frowning at her, his eyes narrowed. He looked like the typical bully. Hell, even a broken nose and a few scars across his face to prove that he was in many fights.

Not a pleasant view. Blank-faced, she shifted her eyes from the unkind face. They fell on something red… and liquid, laying on the floor. Blue eyes traveled from the miniature lake of blood up to the mangled face of Stix. Alexandra opened her mouth slightly, for a moment wondering what the hell happened. How, when… Then, she remembered. Sam’s scream. The unleashed rage. And then… blood. Lots of it. Metal and flesh, having a violent rendez-vous. The smell of death, floating heavily in the air. She remembered.

She did it. No. The other ‘she’ did it.

Sam-

Blue eyes traveled from Stix to the bodies of the other two guards. One, laying on his back, the expression of shock and terror forever carved onto his face. The other… laying in a pool of his own blood. Her stomach protested for a moment at the sights. Not because of the blood. Not because of the terror carved into their face or the torn flesh of Stix’s face. Because… she did it. And she wasn’t herself when she did it.

Sam!

Was he-

No. She turned her head around, looking for him. When she did found him, her heart shrunk inside of her chest. That… was hardly Sam anymore. The burns, the blood, the- At least… he wasn’t dead. She turned her head away quickly.

Just in time to receive a slap. Alexandra blinked a couple of times surprised by this unexpected hit. “I said: move, bitch!” Right. Swallowing back the boiling anger, she turned on her heels, careful not to see the guards or Sam anymore. With slow, shaky steps, she moved toward the open door. Before she could even reach it, she was pushed out of the room. Her hands reached out, touching the opposite wall to prevent her body from taking another hit. Her side cried in pain as she let her shoulder touch the cold wall and shifted her body weight to one leg.

Air left her lungs slowly. She felt so tired. She wanted to go back to the peaceful slumber from before. Maybe even let the other self take care of everything.

The moment of peace didn’t last long. A hand caught hers and pulled her away. Her legs revolted against being forced to move faster. At some point, she started to be dragged away. Her legs failed to move again and suddenly felt weak. Her vision started to be foggy again.

The guard stopped, turning to Alexandra with the same old frown on his face. Taking small breaths, she looked up, blinking to clear her vision. “You think we’re taking a f***ing walk, bitch?!” The question was quickly followed by a jerk, probably just to show her who’s the boss.

Rage boiled inside her once again and gathering up all her remaining strength, she looked up defiantly. “I can’t run, you-” idiot, imbecile, asshole. None of these words came out. She stopped abruptly, instead just letting a hiss out.

The guard tilted his head to the side, his expression suddenly blank. “I didn’t see you complaining about a lack of energy when you killed the-” Alexandra narrowed her eyes and her mouth opened before she realized it. “That-!” -wasn’t me… She sighed. But I would have probably done the same…

The grasp on her arm became weaker as the expression on the guard’s face changed again. He… grinned, as his grasp turned into a mere touch. Blue eyes narrowed as she felt slightly confused. “Fiery one, huh? Maybe…” And… confusion suddenly vanished in mid air as the guard’s hand moved from her hand to… other sides of her body.

Before thinking about making any movements, her fist was already clenched. By the time the guard’s eyes moved from the said parts of her body to her face, her fist was already half-way toward the man’s face. When her fist hit the guard’s mouth, it hurt. But she’d be damned if she cared. All that mattered was that it hurt him too.

Oh, she knew she’d regret that…

The guard’s hand quickly dropped as he staggered backwards. The other hand was already to his lip. He looked up, brown eyes filled with surprise at first. Then, as the hand fell down to reveal a swollen lip and blood surfacing, the look in the guard’s eyes changed. It grew darker. More violent. Alexandra just braced herself, waiting.

The slap was expected. It didn’t mean it hurt less. The force of the hit made her head turn to the side. She turned back, slowly, her eyes widened slightly, her breathing accelerated. The look on his face told her that this wasn’t all.

His hand extended and this time it grabbed her neck. Alexandra opened her mouth to protest but no coherent words came out. Her own hands moved, wrapping around the guard’s hand trying to push it away. Failure.

The remaining bits of nails she had dug into the man’s skin. No air, no air, no air… Alexandra panicked as she started to hit the man’s arm with her fists. Seconds later, his grasp tightened as he pulled her closer. “I’d kill you, you filthy mutant scum. Too bad they still need you.” And then, his hand was unclasped from her neck as she was being pushed away like a piece of useless garbage.

… but damn, she didn’t have any idea just how much…

She barely had the chance to catch her breath. Maybe half a breath, before her body acknowledged the hit. She wasn’t sure what she hit either. She knew that it wasn’t a wall. She felt the pressure applied on the damaged bone of her rib. She felt it snap.

It hurt.

But it was nothing… nothing compared to the pain that came after.

A scream reached her ears again.

Funny, she didn’t realize it was her own until it stopped abruptly in her neck.

She gasped for air but it was like something, someone was still choking her. She tried again, moving a hand to her neck, as if trying to remove the invisible fingers that were choking her. It didn’t do any good.

Every breath she tried to take hurt like hell. Every little one of them.

Her body slid down slowly as her attempts to breathe were met by failure. She felt desperate enough to look up for help but her eyes found no one. She was alone. And she felt like she was nearing an end.

Really? Mentally, she laughed at herself. Die alone, on the floor of a prison... Another round of laughter echoed trough her mind briefly. You’re awful, Alexandra Kettler.

Awful, awful, awful…

Was it strange that she was worried for dying alone sprawled on the floor of a prison rather than… dying?

She coughed. Blood. And she didn’t need to bring a hand to her mouth to know it. And yet, she did. She didn’t need to be a genius to know what the diagnosis was either. She didn’t need to think twice about the odds for her survival. The crimson red liquid sparkled in front of her eyes before blackness appeared at the edges of her vision and grew bigger and bigger. Her head hit the cold concrete as she fell to the ground, closing her eyes while still fighting for her each and every one of her breaths. Sounds became distant echoes as she held on to her life.

---

Black. Just plain black.

Was she dead?

Her ears were filled with undecipherable mutters.

Her body registered light touches.

Angels? Demons?

Which one of them were coming for her?

“Punctured… lung… hospital…”

What?

“Healer… now…”

Dead people didn’t hear angels or demons talking about diagnosis. Angels didn’t need healers. Demons... what was the use? Dead people didn’t feel pain either. At least she was fairly certain that not the amount of pain she was feeling now… and dead people didn’t fight for their breaths… Yeah. Certainly, they didn’t need to do it.

She wasn’t dead. Not yet, no. She commanded her eyes to open, several times before they actually did.

At first, the light was so blinding that she didn’t manage to see a thing. Then, figures started to be contoured against the light. She focused on one only, blinking slowly. He was dressed in white. No, certainly not an angel. Not even a demon. Just a human. And he glanced at her, the shadow of worry passing across his face before issuing other orders to the blurry figures around him.

Alexandra blinked again, before closing her eyes. She was so tired. To fight with the pain, to fight with the death.

The blackness welcomed her with cold icy hands.

For a moment she wanted to be in Sam’s arms again. To feel the warmth, the safety.

Then, there was nothing.

Tired too, her heart gave a last beat.

---

The beeping sound of the electrocardiograph quickly grabbed Dr. Gram’s attention. He looked briefly at it, before turning to the assistants around him.

“She’s going into cardiac arrest! Someone bring that damn healer faster!”

Dr. Gram frowned at his assistants.

Clearly, today dinner was going to get cold.


[OOC: Ghosty, by the time you get in you can either find them still doing CPR or after they finished the CPR and she’s back again. Whatever fits you best. CS, I didn’t mention the time they needed to take her from the place in which she collapsed to the hospital wing so feel free to have CS drop in anytime.]

Ghost was holding the pan for a different surgery when the girl came in. Standing wasn't the biggest deal. It was tiresome. Lonely. Hard not to look at the meat on the tables. Harder to think of them as people. Except... when she recognized them.

After some of the blood was wiped away... that looked like Alexandra. She shook her dingy gray hair. Ghost had to be seeing things. Sam's girlfriend wasn't in Romania.

...

Was she?

Someone shouted something frantic in Romanian.

Didn't really matter if it was Alexandra. She was dying.

The doctor she was helping nudged Ghost that way, said something and then she was being shuffled toward the gasping woman. They took her hands and put them on the girl's bloody skin. No gloves, no nothing to stop the borrowed mutation from triggering. Guess they weren't too worried about her catching anything.

"S-sorry. I'm not errr... not really a healer." It just wasn't possible to talk around a collar that's making your throat convulse. Any movement that she made that indicated she might be taking her hands away, meant someone made sure her hands stayed put.

Pity that they didn't bother turning off her collar. Eventually tears streamed out the corners of her eyes. From the blurriness... it really did look like Alexandra.

Nothing and nothingness.

No pain, no sorrow, no guilt.

Not even darkness or coldness.

Just peace.

Something she cherished.

If she could have smiled, she would have.

But there was nothing there. No emotions. No expressions.

Time didn’t exist either.

Seconds, minutes, hours. It was impossible to count them.

Then… it was light.

She gasped, shocked, surprised that the comforting nothingness disappeared.

Pain returned.

Blue eyes were widened watching with shock the white clad figures around her. They weren’t angels, she remembered. The unbearable pain was at full force again. She wanted to scream but her mouth was covered. Sounds whirled around her ears, frantic yells and demands being thrown around. Too many, too loud. She couldn’t understand.

Air was forced upon her trough the oxygen mask that covered her mouth. She blinked, for a moment trying to fight the life-bearing gas that was being pumped in her body. It still hurt to breathe, even with the artificial help.

Light touches were registered on her body. Cold fingers dancing across her skin. She wanted to shiver but she couldn’t. She tried to move, only to find herself strapped to the platform she was laying on. She wanted to talk but once again air was pumped in her lungs. She didn’t fight it anymore.

A warm touch distinguished itself from the multitude of cold fingers. And with warmness, comfort arrived. Pain slowly started to fade away. Soon, she discovered that if she tried hard enough, she could breathe herself, no longer needing the oxygen mask forced on her mouth.

And she was curious. Who was doing that? Who was … healing her?

She blinked rapidly, trying to focus on at least one of the figures around her. She recognized the doctor that had been looming over her, concern carved into his features. The last image she had received before she slipped into unconsciousness… death? A frown was upon his features now but if she looked close enough she could see that his features started to relax.

She blinked again, this time slower, eyes searching for the possessor of the warm touch. Her eyes shifted quickly from the faces of stressed nurses and doctors. And she found her. The healer.

Ghost?

Most likely she missed the fact that she was a healer.

Tears streamed down the face of her white haired savior. For a moment, she couldn’t understand why. Then, her eyes fell on the accessory that adorned the neck of most of the camp prisoners.

What? Why?

Why were they forcing her to heal with the collar on?

Alexandra struggled from her confinement, body fighting off the straps that held it into place. More sounds, more hands forcing her to stay down. But she couldn’t. She moved her head, trying to get rid of the mask that stopped her from talking.

In the end, the doctor said something. A hand came into view before her mask was removed. “Collar…” She whispered in Romanian, tiredly and weakly. She wasn’t sure if anyone understood. The struggle had drained her body completely. The pain, still vivacious within her body tired her even more. She closed her eyes, just hoping. And breathing, on her own.

“She’s back. That’s enough.”

Alexandra opened her eyes again as the warm touch disappeared. She looked for Ghost again, trying to transmit an ‘I’m sorry’ trough her eyes. And … she wanted to…

Eyes looked to the side, trying to spy trough the small openings between the flood of white coated figures. They fell on a bed not far from hers. There weren’t many white coats around it. Just two, she noticed.

The man on the bed deserved more than a ‘sorry’ offered trough almost tearful eyes. He deserved much more than an excuse for the pain she had caused.

“Sam…”

She was wooly-headed. Only standing because sitting or falling would require her knees to unlock, to bend or to break. She was stuck in a cotton padded world. After so much electricity that was all that was left.

When they took her hands off the girl they instantly felt hot. Sebastian's mutation flared cold in her veins despite her actual temperature. Without its trigger her hands were so warm. So nice.

They shuffled her and plugged her hands onto the next in line. Cold and cotton. Really. Where were the real healers around here?

"Sam..."

Sam? She looked up, really looked up. He was a mess. His face especially. Horribly. Ghost's head whipped around. "Alex."

Her head got whipped back the way it came with strong fingers. It wasn't a slap. It was a message. Focus on the healing. Only she didn't know how it worked. And... her hands were starting to feel warm again.

Was the healing stopping on its own? "Sam." Was an 'I'm sorry' appropriate? There was some shouting. Learning Romanian had never seemed an appealing idea before this experience. She cringed as they took her hands away and then deliberately put them back on Sam again. Did she not heal him enough?

((OOC: feel free to be healed up to any level you so desire. This is the official end to Ghost's borrowed healing, though. *tear* I shall miss it))

The border he was there again the one between life and death. The one where a little nudge was all he needed to go in either direction the perfect balance between all the pain in the world and the eternal rest that would end it all. His mind was blank his eye was blank all he could do was watch idly as his body was shutting down. He spotted Alex moving about aiming towards the floor near him or at least he thought she fell near him. Regardless Sam’s hand twitched as he reached out to her only to fall short and out of sync with reality once again.

Sam was back on the beach it was warm again and the heat of the sun warmed every fiber of his being. The sound of waves echoed in his ears while the texture of the sand pressed itself against every nerve ending in his hands and feet. Lowering his back into the sand he was stopped briefly by a hand, which trailed up to his stomach and stopped at his chest. He looked over and spotted Alex in a light he had never seen her in before. Every aspect of her, every feature of her flawless body had a way about it. He could only think of it, as a glow for that was what she was doing.

The sun colored her body in a golden halo making it near impossible for Sam to look away; he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. Death it would be welcomed if it looked anything like this, instantly he forgot about everything, the camps the team his friends, everything. He blinked once and formed a goofy smile on his face and leaned forward into the angelic frame of the golden Alex. She smiled at him and spoke but the words were muffled and barely audible. Shaking his head quickly he spoke, ”What was that?” she spoke again but this time they were to quite to make sense of something about “unfinished” he frowned and leaned in closer to the golden Alex expecting her to repeat what she was saying.

She however said nothing but turned around and forced Sam down into the warm sand. Closing his eyes and being engulfed by the warmth he released the golden Alex who seemed to get brighter and warmer. Even with his eyes closed he could see her clear as day. The warmth from her body was placed on his chest, as the warmth of her body seemed to leak into his own heating the very core of his being.

It was then and there he heard a voice not belonging to Alex as his body was becoming warmer and warmer. It was Ghost’s voice and it was then and there he knew that he shouldn’t be here on this island where everything was perfect he couldn’t stay he again had to wake up from his dream and face reality.

Gasp. A large amount of air exhaled and entered his body his throat dried up instantly and he was aware of every ache and pain in his body. Immediately he tried to sit up but it was too much to fast. He lowered his head and opened his eyes… well eye he felt both eyes being opened however he could only see out of one. Closing them again Sam reached up to his left side of his face and placed a hand over it and tried to open it again. This time however when it opened Sam felt a scared surface that was what he could only guess as the remains of his eye.

”So that actually happened then…” rasped Sam to himself but loud enough so everyone could hear him. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a held back Ghost and he offered a weak smile as he turned his head towards her. Looking around with his right eye he traveled up and down his field of vision and then turned his head in the other direction to see whom else was in the room. Blinking with the right eye Sam forgot he still had little control over his left eyelid and made the scared socket open when he gazed at Alex. Sam closed both eyes and looked back up at the ceiling covering his blind eye and the said, ”Glad you’re alright…”

(OOC: Hope it’s alright your on his left side Alex, let me know if I need to tweak it, figured you’d get the full effect of the eye if you were on his left side.)

At least he was alive.

That was what she was trying to convince herself. That was how she was trying to get rid of the guilt. Blue eyes opened and closed, watching the slow process of healing. She felt tired and a part of her just wanted to go to sleep. Pretend like none of these was actually happening. Pretend that somehow she would wake up anywhere else but here. The room in the Mansion, her apartment in New York… It didn’t matter. Better than actually facing the fact that somehow she managed to loose everything.

There was nothing she could anchor herself to, really. No family, no friends. Not even Sam. Her parents were dead. That she could have handled. Her sister was missing. Perhaps she could have dealt with that too. Convince herself that wherever her sister decided to go, it was better. A lie or not, she didn’t know. And it was better.

At least she had some friends. At least she had a boyfriend. She wasn’t one who needed a shoulder to cry on but it felt oddly comforting knowing that there was at least one there, in case she ever needed one. Now, she didn’t have that either. How exactly would she be able to look in anyone’s eyes without guilt making her turn her head away… ashamed? How could she even dare to look at Sam knowing that she was the cause of all his pain and troubles?

Certainly, sleep would have been welcome. But her brain refused to let her slip away. Her eyes refused to stay closed. They opened, ready to receive another heart shattering image.

”So that actually happened then…”

Eyes opened once again, taking in the appearance of its owner. And he turned his head toward her, a mix of torn skin and blood greeting her as he claimed he was glad that she was alright. Was it alright if she felt angry? If she wanted to scream at him that he was crazy? Stupid, idiotic, moronic, whatever?! He should have been angry. Mad. Furious. Blaming her. Not telling her that he was glad that she was fine. She didn’t want to be alright. She would have preferred to be in his place now. Dealing with pain and a missing eye rather than dealing with pain and guilt.

But words, screams, everything got stuck in her throat. She swallowed, turning her head away. It felt like she would be insulting him if she even said “I’m sorry.” She blinked the tears away, focusing instead on the white robe clad figure of her doctor as he was checking her condition. She tried to speak but instead only managed to cough. Taking a deep, painful breath she tried again, blue eyes fixed on the doctor’s figure. “Sedate me.”

The doctor turned to her, blinking slightly confused, maybe wondering if she was talking to him. The stare that she was giving confirmed the obvious. He blinked again, confused, undecided? Then, he looked at the nurses around her bed, trying to decide if he should comply with her request or not. His bosses would have wanted him to let her go trough this pain, both mental and physical awake. She knew that. And she wasn’t sure what finally made him decide to take out a syringe and inject it into her IV. Something about his job as a doctor, she guessed.

As the drugs kicked in, she turned her head to the side again, trying to catch another glimpse of Sam, see how he was doing. She hoped that he wasn’t looking her way. Her eyelids felt heavier as seconds passed. In the end, she ceased to fight them and closed her eyes as she became oblivious to everything around her. If only it would have been this easy….

---

And when she opened her eyes again, the white, the light was gone. Alexandra met the dark grey of her cell once again.

Hands on. Hands off. Hands on. Hands off. Discussion.

Ghost was lead by the hands to someone still gurgling blood. Hands on. She tried not to look guilty. She also tried not to look back at Sam who was last seen attempting a grizzly smile.

After all this was over, she needed to give him a good hug and tell him to take better care of himself. Because after all this his face would be all better and he would be able to smile again for real.

Besides. Sebastian could heal. He could heal anything. What was a little hole in someone's face? Wasn't that less than guts? Or bullets?

A finger waved in her face. Ghost's focus was drawn from far away in the happy future to the here and now and in her face.

She looked at the person beneath her hands closely. Her eyes consumed every bruise and cut and mistreatment that should have been gone by now. She checked the pulse. Her collar hadn't gone of once. She moved to put pressure on a wound, any wound, but that finger that had been wagging in her face grabbed her wrists, both in one hand.

He put both her hands on a table. No big deal.
He pulled out a knife. Sort of not okay.
He stabbed the knife between her thumb and first finger. He missed. Maybe even on purpose, but that was so NOT okay.

Ghost pulled at her hands, but she may as well have been tugging at Mt. Everest. The knife pulled out of the table and across the backs of her hands. And then they waited.

No collar activity. No healing.

They pushed the button that made her body tense and useless.

Yep. They'd used her all up. A healer that can't heal isn't all that useful.

Alexandra was being dragged away when Ghost trudged out of the infirmary. Sam was still on the table. Still... not whole. "See ya later, Sam." Ghost didn't even bother trying to make that sound happy. There wasn't any cheer left in her.

Sedation he won’t accept it even if they would offer it to him. He didn’t want to be out of it he wanted to know what was going on, to see the oncoming danger that would strike him when he was down. With his good eye he watched the doctor sedate Alex and as soon as she went down he turned his head to Ghost and his expression resembled Slate’s. No emotion was on his face there was little he could do or say all he could do was sigh and then try and deal with the situation he and all of his friends were in.

For a moment he felt an emotion he hadn’t felt in a long time, depression but it was a fleeting feeling for he knew he had things to do any people who needed him so exhaling the thoughts of depression he looked to Ghost and then smiled to her it was a fake smile but he did his best to make it seem real. Even if Ghost could see it he knew she would know he was grateful for saving him with her healing powers which he still wasn’t exactly sure when she got them. It was a question for another time and another place.

He closed his eyes for a moment then eyed the guard grabbing Ghost by the writs and pulling both of them out of his line of vision. Getting worried he tried to move but fell down quickly due to a head rush. However when he landed again he was positioned better to see what was going on they were doing the healing test again this time when they cut there was no healing, what ever supernatural power of healing Ghost had it seemed she had lost it. Getting worried again he stared at Ghost with his lone eye. They dragged her out and she said goodbye, a tear rolled down out of his right eye and he really hopped there would be a later.

---

They carried him for he was too weak to walk, even with Ghost healing him he still was aching and his body was still sore remembering all the wounds he had acquired hours before. All he had was his right eye but it was enough to tell he wasn’t in the same cell as he was in before. His first clue to that was the location his original cell was on the opposite side of the wall and his second was the fact that there was someone else in the cell.

”Al…” whispered Sam as he eyed the IV running into her veins her eyes closed and her mind asleep. For some reason he couldn’t understand they gently set Sam down as they exited the cell and locked it on their way out.

Maybe they pitied him he did lose an eye and was on the verge of death. He didn’t have time to ask and even if he did they wouldn’t understand him. The guards walked away quickly and he looked about the cell to fully grasp his surroundings. Despite the condition of his left eye his right one still seemed to be functioning as well as before which made it possible to grasp the area. Slowly getting up and hobbling back to the corner of the cell Sam looked down at the sedated Alex and frowned slightly.

How could someone who caused him so much pain still be looked at with no ill will? A few years ago he would have severed all connections with her the second she took a knife to him but not now not the older Sam. He smiled weakly and sat down on the sorry excuse they had for a bed and then reached out and gently placed his hand in hers. His right side was facing her while is blind side faced away during the those brief few minutes of her out of it he placed his free hand up to his eye and felt the gauze and eye patch they placed over it. It wasn’t wet which meant the bleeding stop but that still didn’t make him feel much better.

Eyes snapped back to a closed position instantaneously, not allowing the molecule manipulator to actually get a glimpse of her surroundings. She just saw the dark grey that usually described her cell. It had to be her cell.

Alexandra still felt sleepy. And numb. But slowly, as the effects of the sedative that the good doctor had pumped into her bloodstream wore off, she began to feel more awake. Her feet felt like thousands of ants were crawling under her skin when she tried to move.

Exhaling slowly, she moved a finger. The same sensation flooded her hand, making Alexandra frown slightly. She tried again. All fingers, all toes, both hands, both feet. The feeling intensified as blood started to move faster trough the vessels in her limbs. Then, not surprisingly, it toned down until she could move, and feel.

Again, she exhaled slowly, as she tried to turn her hand into a fist. One hand managed to comply with the command. The other, it met resistance. Funny how she didn’t realize from the first moment that certain parts of her body were receiving other type of information than the rest. The warmth around her hand, the soft pressure on the side of her leg and the increased temperature.

Blue eyes snapped open in realization. There was someone inside the room with her. Frantically, they looked for that someone. And she froze, as Sam’s profile was slowly contoured against the grayish background. On instinct, she pulled away her hand, as if it had been touching a hot stove or something alike.

Confusion, shock, surprise, a cocktail of emotions appeared on her features as she placed the hand on her chest. The other joined it too, as she rubbed them slightly against each other. “What are you doing here?” Certainly, not the most loving, caring and even rightful words that should have come out of her mouth. But, it was what it concerned her the most. This was perhaps one of the rare moments when she would have appreciated the solitude of her cell. To be left alone to lick her wounds, hoping that they’d heal instead of having acid thrown on them. Because, Sam being here was like acid on a raw wound.

She let her eyes shift from Sam to her legs. The small portion that his body was touching again felt like it was being touched by a hot stove. Quiet, and half expecting him to jump at her throat or at least blame her, yell at her… something, she pulled her legs away while trying to sit up. She found the movement quite hard, the fractured rib having its say in the movements she made. Bruises across her body sent signals of pain to her brain as she managed to get herself to a seated position.

Disturbed, Alexandra removed the IV from her arm as it had bothered her enough when she had tried to move. She had no idea why exactly they even allowed her to have an IV. It wasn’t like they were very fond of her. Bitterly, she watched her hands, covered in blood. Dried, but blood nonetheless. She was fairly certain that not all was hers. Stix, the other two guards, and hers. Quite a mix.

From disturbed, she got to disgusted while trying as hard as she could to ignore Sam’s presence in the room. She observed the dark spots on her pants as well. More blood. Hell, she looked like a vampire who had just had a feast. Well, it was actually no surprise that no one actually bothered to remove the amount of blood that was covering her figure.

She sighed, blinking rapidly, trying to gather enough courage to look up and face Sam. Sure there was little she could say if he decided to yell at her. No, she wouldn’t even say ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘Forgive me’. How exactly could she hope to be forgiven? No. Stay silent and face whatever was to come, that was the right thing to do. Gritting her teeth together, she finally looked up… and waited.

A lull of silence fell over the room as Sam focused on Alex’s breathing and started to sync with it in turn. However when she suddenly awoke and pulled her hand away from him as quickly as possible and then questioned what he was doing there his right eye stared her up and down and he said nothing. He blinked once then twice and allowed Alex to remove the I.V. from her arm. He was trying to find a better way to start the conversation the situation left him with little to work with. The tension could be cut with a piece of paper.

His right eye trailed over her own as she eyed the blood she had on her person. He was about to speak but decided to wait until Alex looked at him which she did eventually and reluctantly. Keeping his left side from her field of vision his lips quivered for a moment until they pulled into a weak smile. ”Morning…” he said quietly as he lifted his hand from her bed where he was holding hers moments before. She clearly wasn’t alright with him being in her cell, which might have been the reason why she questioned him like she did.

”I can’t answer that…” Sam said calmly as he turned his head inward to the wall and away from Alex to keep his left eye hidden even more. He hadn’t been with Alex long but he knew she would be blaming herself for it and he didn’t like to worry her. ”I’m guessing they wanted to keep us here so they wouldn’t have to go far to get us both if they wanted to…” he didn’t finish but sighed and scratched the back of his head and gave a fake smile.

Then turned his head to Alex forgetting for a moment that his left eye was still bandaged and covered in an eye patch, ”You alright?” Sam asked pointing to the blood, ”You were pretty fearsome…” the smile remained even if it was a fake one.

He had seen scenes earlier that he wasn’t a hundred percent on but the blood that stained her skin and her clothes had only confirmed what had happened. She had killed two guards that he could have seen the number might have or might not have been more but that was a mote point at the moment. Even if she had killed someone he could have been mad at her she was after all doing it to protect him.

Eyes simply narrowed at the man in front of her before being turned away to stare at the grayish tint of the wall. Sam was a rather curious specimen. Alexandra paused for a long time before she could answer any of his questions or remarks. In the end, she took a sharp breath. “I’m fine.” Her voice was dull, lacking any form of belief in what she was saying. The truth was… she was far from fine.

Eyes were kept away from Sam although the urge to look at him prodded her mind constantly. Alexandra tilted her head to the side, letting her temple touch the cold concrete. The cool sensation felt refreshing as her head was overwhelmed with various events of the past hours. She blinked slightly before closing her eyes, pondering on what she should say.

Words, however, got stuck to her mind before even the slightest signal was transmitted to her muscles. Was Sam waiting on an explanation on what happened in the torture chamber? Alexandra wished she could offer it to him but it was hard to explain that someone had taken over your body and did that. Sam was oblivious to her problem and that was how Alexandra wanted him to stay.

Yes, it might have been considered unfair, seeing what she had caused him to go trough. Perhaps he deserved the truth. But the truth was too much, even for her. So she remained quiet. Moments passed and she was fairly certain that at least one minute had passed since she had spoken. She knew she was supposed to say something but her mind was blank. Nothing that could comfort any of them came into her mind so she chose the most awkward question she could have asked.

“How are you?”

As if it was hard to notice.