Chapter 10: A Fresh Start
Nothingness, absolute, total, nothingness. No darkness, no light, no time or space, no existence, just nothingness.
Some call it Limbo, or the Void, it has many names; that state one goes into when on the brink of death. That state when you are not quite alive, nor are you dead, but that state when you are dying.
This place is neither heaven, nor hell, but somewhere in between, when one is deciding to live or die, even though they themselves do not know they are deciding.
That was the state Sketch had been in, even though he didn’t remember it, and he never would, like a dream you know you had but cannot remember a single detail, he will just know he was there, and that while it would feel like he had only been there for a moment, he would have actually been there for quite a while.
The last thing he had seen was BonBon, driving a kitchen knife into his chest, and the first thing he saw upon awakening, was the whitewashed ceiling, of a hospital.
It took a moment for Sketch’s eyes to adjust to the first light he had seen in a very long time, the first thing he heard was a steady, beeping, that of a heart rate monitor.
His body felt tired and he had a slight headache. He looked down at his feet to see a large bandage over the area where his heart was, upon looking at his arm he found it to have multiple tubes hooked into it.
Where was he? Why was he here? Had something happened?
Then it all flooded back in, like a tidal wave, without hesitation.
BonBon had been in his house, she had tied up Lyra and beaten her…then…there was a fight, and BonBon won, but…how was he alive, and more importantly, what happened to Lyra, Gears and BonBon?
Trying to keep himself from panicking, he looked slowly around the room, his heart rate monitor speeding up a bit, beeping faster.
However his nerves were calmed and his heart skipped a beat; figuratively, when he laid eyes upon the two ponies he loved the most in this world, Gears and Lyra.
Both were asleep in a large chair a few hooves from his bed, Were Lyra and Gears. Lyra was sitting in her usual, comical position, and next to her was Gears; curled up in a ball and snoring softly. They had both obviously been crying, their eyes were swollen and red.
Sketch let out a soft sigh of relief and lay back against his pillow. Slowly he brought a hoof up to his head, which had been heavily bandaged, most likely from his impact with the brick fireplace; his lower body was wrapped up, most likely from his ribs being broken.
How had he lived, how had Lyra managed to get help so fast? How had she lived?
So many questions were racing through his head, and he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t get up; he knew his body wouldn’t let him, plus he was hooked up to all this damn hospital equipment, what he could do but sit, and wait.
There was a sleepy moan, at first he thought it was himself who had made the noise, it wasn’t unlikely, but then it came again, this time more feminine.
He turned his head to see it was Lyra; she had awoken and was shifting around gently.
Sketch was just about to call to her when she opened her sleepy eyes and looked up at him.
They stared at each other for a moment, Lyra’s eyes bloodshot and tired looking, as if she had been mourning. It took Lyra a few seconds to realize what was going on, that Sketch was awake, that he was alive…that for the first time in four days, he was looking back at her.
Her eyes lit up and opened wide, her jaw dropped in a look of amazement. Without a word she slowly stood up, shaking a bit.
“Well isn’t this the best way to start the day…” Sketch croaked softly, smiling a bit.
Lyra couldn’t seem to find the words, in one swift motion she was at his bedside, hugging him gently. It hurt a bit, but he didn’t care.
He held her as best he could and stroked her mane gently, it wasn’t until then he realized she was crying.
“I…I love you…” She said shakily, nuzzling his ear.
“I love you too.” He said, starting to tear up a bit himself.
With a shaky sigh Lyra kissed his cheek, and then pulled away, allowing him to lie back on the hospital bed.
“How…long have I been out…?” He asked, as soon as Lyra had wiped some of her tears.
“F-four days…the doctors told me you had a good chance of a full recovery…but I was still…so worried.” She said with a sniffle.
“W-what happened?”
“Y-you don’t remember?” She said, still breathing shakily.
He shook his head slowly.
“Gears is the one who saved you really…when he got out of the house…he ran to the police, they got there with an ambulance just in time…it was a miracle, really.”
Sketch looked over at his little brother, still asleep on the chair across from the bed.
“B-but…what about you…and BonBon?”
Lyra looked away from him, avoiding Sketch’s gaze.
“Lyra…she didn’t hurt you did she?”
She shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes again.
“Lyra…what happened?”
Tears yet again started to pour from her eyes as she sobbed silently, all Sketch could do was stroke the hoof she had laid on the bed.
After a moment, Lyra tried to speak.
“I…I…” She choked up.
Sketch only continued to stroke her hoof as she sobbed…
“I…Killed her.”
He stopped, not believing what he had just heard.
“W-what?”
“She’s dead…” Lyra spoke in little more than a whisper
Sketch didn’t know what to say, however he soon found he didn’t need to say anything, as Lyra began to explain.
“A-after she dropped the Knife…it slid over to me, while she was busy fighting with you, I managed to cut the ropes that bound my legs…when she came back over to get the knife, I-I hid my hooves, so she wouldn’t see what I had done…after she turned back over to attack you…I went into the bedroom…I-I’m so sorry Sketch…this is my fault…I-I-“ Lyra was beginning so cry a bit louder now, and more profusely, again she looked away from him, trying to avoid meeting his eyes.
“This isn’t your fault Lyra…none of it…you can tell me…”
“I was so scared…maybe if I had just gone after her instead of grabbing it…things would have gone differently…”
“G-grabbed what?”
“Your gun…”
No…it couldn’t be…had she…had she shot BonBon?
“I pulled it out of the drawer and I ran back into the living room just as…she stabbed you, and then…” She said no more, she couldn’t, she was crying too hard, she sat on her flank and sobbed into Sketch’s arm.
He wasn’t sure what to say. Lyra had…Killed BonBon. Surely she wouldn’t go to jail or anything, it was in self-defense, and to be quite blunt BonBon wasn’t alive to make a case against her. Even so, she had killed somepony, Sweet, innocent, Lyra. He could understand that. However he could try to understand how she felt all he wanted, and right now, it still wasn’t helping him think up a response.
“I’m so sorry…” She said into his bed sheets.
“Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for…”
“Sketch…I-I killed somepony-“
“You defended yourself and me…because I wasn’t able to. You did what had to be done to keep yourself safe and its ok Lyra…” He tried his best to sound comforting, even though speaking hurt a little.
“Y-you…probably think I’m a monster now…” She said, still crying into his bed sheets.
“No, not at all Lyra! By my logic, weird as this sounds…I’m proud of you…you saved not only me, but you saved Gears and yourself from possible further harm…You did what you had to do.”
Lyra stopped crying for a moment and looked up at him slowly, he knew this would take a while for her to get over, but he had to try his best to help her feel better now.
“I…I-“
“I harbor no ill feelings towards you Lyra, I love you, and I always will.” He smiled a bit.
“Thank you...” She said, nuzzling him.
“Funny how the one in the hospital bed is the one helping others feel better…” He said with a smile.
Lyra giggled, something Sketch was extremely grateful for as he realized only after saying what he had, that it could have been taken so many other ways.
“Oh…shush you.” She said, smiling and nudging him gently.
He sighed happily and went to run a hoof through his mane. However, something was wrong, where was his mane? All he felt was bandaging, and underneath it…was what felt like bare skin.
“W-where…is my mane…?”
“They, uh, had to shave your head…”
“Oh…”
“You had a big timeskull fracture…as if your chest wound wasn’t enough, your head was bleeding everywhere, the doctors said the gash wrapped around quite a bit of your skull, they said they had to use staples…on that, It’s a miracle you didn’t get brain damage…”
“Oh…wow…do you know what else?”
She nodded solemnly, although her tears had dried up a bit.
“The doctors let me read the report after you got out of surgery, you have some broken ribs along with countless bruises, but what really scared everyone was the stab wound…”
“How so?”
“When BonBon stabbed you, it collapsed your lung. You would have died had the ambulance not arrived seconds after the stabbing.”
“I…Is that all that happened or…”
She shook her head
“When she…fell over, the knife got pulled in such a way that it nicked something…you started bleeding everywhere and…and…” She started to sniffle again, on the brink of tears.
“It’s alright…I understand. That all isn’t important now…what’s important is that I’m alive, you’re alive, and Gears is alive, and that we’re all here together.” He spoke softly as he stroked Lyra’s mane.
He rested his head on his pillow yet again and took a moment to take in his surroundings in more detail.
For the first time, he realized he was surrounded by a menagerie of Balloons, flowers, and “Get Well Soon” cards. Hung up on one wall of the room, was a large, hoof made, “Get Well Soon Sketch!” poster, that was almost as big as his bed.
Along with that there were multiple pink balloons; it didn’t take much for Sketch to guess who had brought those.
On the bed next to him was what appeared to be a very long, “Get well” card, sitting on top of some book.
“L-Lyra…Who brought all these?
“Huh? Oh the cards and all that?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh…you weren’t awake so you didn’t know. You’ve had so many ponies stop by and leave you things, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Applebloom and her friends made that huge poster on the wall, it was quite a sight watching them put it up for you.
“Oh…that’s kinda nice…I mean I can understand AJ or maybe-“
Wait, Applejack had been here? Had she told Lyra about what happened? Or would Sketch have to? Would-
“Don’t worry about it.” Lyra interrupted his thoughts.
“About…what?”
“Applejack stopped by, she explained everything. She told me after you left she decided she should come clean to her family, she showed up to your house just after Gears and I left with you, she stopped by the hospital soon after you went into surgery.”
So she had decided to come clean…good for Applejack, of course, what would come of her farm, he wasn’t sure, but to be quite honest that was the least of his concerns at that moment.
It felt nice having so many ponies come to check on him, and put so much effort that they brought cards and flowers, as he slowly looked around a thought crossed his mind.
“Did…my parents come to visit?”
Lyra frowned a bit.
“Well…your dad did…he showed up yesterday, he left the second the news of what happened reached Canterlot newspapers. He stayed here all day yesterday; he brought his work with him and sat at the foot of your bed all day. He had to leave-“
“For work…I know.” Sketch frowned a bit and sighed.
Lyra frowned as well.
"If it means anything, he's paying for your hospital bills…and I think he knew he was leaving you in good hooves.” She smiled down at him and giggled.
“Good hooves indeed.” He smiled back up at her.
There was a click to his side, Sketch turned his head to see a nurse trot into the room, she looked rather surprised when she looked over and saw he was awake.
“Hey…” Sketch croaked.
“Uh…You’re…You’re awake…” The Nurse said in disbelief.
“I noticed.” He replied with a weak chuckle.
“Well, this is very good!” The Nurse said as she recovered from her surprise.
“Well…I had a good caretaker.” He turned and smiled up at Lyra, who gently squeezed his hoof with her own in response.
The Nurse moved over closer to him, checking all of the tubes and devices hooked up to him, after a moment she nodded with a happy grunt. Then without warning, she pulled the bed sheets off of Sketch slowly, causing him to fluster a bit.
She then spent the next few minutes carefully checking his bandages, and after she was finished allowed Sketch to cover himself with the bed sheets again.
“Well, the good news is your vitals look fantastic, I think you’ll make a full recovery!” The nurse beamed.
“R-really?” Lyra stuttered happily, laughing softly in joy.
The nurse nodded.
“Sketchy…you’re going to be alright!” She was crying again, but this time they were tears of happiness. She bent over and hugged him, a bit too firmly; he cringed at her show of affection.
“C-careful, Careful!” He croaked, chuckling a bit as Lyra gasped softly and pulled away.
“Sorry…” She said with a light chuckle, wiping tears from her eyes.
“It’s alright, you didn’t-“
“Huh…L-Lyra?” There was a tired voice that broke in, a familiar voice.
Sketch looked over, past Lyra, to see Gears stirring; he lifted his head and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of eyes before staring into space for a moment, his eyes half shut. He looked over at his older brother, staring at him for a moment, he quite obviously wasn’t fully awake, and not processing his surroundings.
“Hey Buddy…” Sketch said with a smile.
Gears stared for a moment longer, and then it dawned on him what was happening, his eyes widened and a large smile crept across his tired face.
“S-Sketch…?”
Gears leapt of the chair and scurried over to the bedside of his brother, jumping up and using his front hooves, pulled himself up to sit on the bed next to his brother. He did all of this before Lyra could even attempt to help him up.
Gears hugged his brother tightly, it stung him a bit but he didn’t mind that much.
Gears’ body shook as he held his brother; Sketch brought a hoof up and wrapped it around him, only then realizing that Gears was sobbing into his brother’s chest.
“I…I thought you were going to die!” He said, muffled by both his sobs and Sketch’s chest.
“Nope…You saved me, buddy.” He said, stroking Gears’ mane gently.
“I-I did?” He sniffled, pulling away from Sketch a bit and sitting upright.
“It’s true…” Lyra chimed in, “If it wasn’t for you…Sketch probably wouldn’t have made it…you saved him.”
Gears smiled, happy his brother was alive, and that he had helped save him, he felt proud of himself.
“Well…of course I had to help you…if you died, I wouldn’t have anypony to show my inventions to huh?” He sniffled, trying to sound confident.
Sketch chuckled and stroked his brother’s mane softly, saying nothing.
Gears let out some sort of happy noise and hugged his brother again.
“I love you bud…” Sketch said.
“I love you too…”
Sketch turned his head to see if the Nurse was still in the room, but apparently she had snuck out during the little reunion that had just taken place, as she was nowhere to be found. He turned his head over to look at Lyra, her eyes wet and red, he took her hoof in his and squeezed it gently, letting her know he was there, that he was always going to be there.
And for the first time, in a long time.
He truly felt, everything would be just fine.