//------------------------------// // My Angels & Demons // Story: Tales of The Forgotten: Firefly // by Orion97 //------------------------------// "STOP! PLEASE!" I heard a feminine voice scream in pain in my hazy state of mind. I couldn't see. I could only barely make out noises and voices. I think I was laying on sand or something. I could feel nothing but pain myself and the voice echoed it. I tried to call out, wanting to help the voice but I couldn't speak or move. The next thing I heard was a chilling laughter. “He..hehe...hehehe….hahaHAHAHAHA! Doesn’t that just bring upon a sense of irony Nephilis?!" The other voice said something else, and it sounded familiar...but warped. I had heard it before but it was as if it had gone mad. I heard more talking but I was only catching bits and pieces. "ALLOW US TO SHOW THEE THE TRUE MEANING OF HELL!” More screaming. “P-Please let me go. I promise not to attack you again! Please let me live! Please!” Those were the last words I heard from the feminine voice, whom I could assume might be Nephilis. “Never attack our family and expect mercy from us.” The other voice growled in a more sober tone, finally becoming clear to my muddled mind. Robert? What happened? Did he just murder her? A moment later I felt a pair of wet fingers touch my neck, and then I was being carried for a long time. The time felt like an eternity. I could hear my own heartbeat and felt a strange clarity of thought. My heartbeats grew just barely weaker and further apart, like the foot-steps of an individual too exhausted to go on much further. I was far from awake but I wasn't completely unconscious either, like I was caught in a limbo of consciousness. All I might have known was that I was tortured and Robert just killed someone begging for mercy...a terrible deed most would say...but I know how deeply he cared about me. I guess he could be considered a demon or an angel. Maybe both. At some point I became aware that I was in a bed, maybe a hospital bed. I couldn't help but desperately wish it was somewhere cozy instead. If I was dying, I'd rather be lain under a nice tree, in the evening or dawn...maybe with an old friend talking to me. Eventually I heard voices. "Doctor...is Michael okay?" A soft voice asked nervously. Yes! I'm right here! I wanted to shout. "I don't know, Fluttershy...he's stable, but unfortunately he's in a coma." "When will he wake up?" "We don't know...he could wake up in a few minutes, in several months...or never again." Suddenly I felt a weight on my chest, followed by the sound of soft sobbing. "I'm so sorry, brother...I should have been faster. This is all my fault. They came after you because of me." I heart Robert's voice in a defeated tone. Damn it! I can't do anything! Get me out of here! I screamed in my mind. I soon became aware of a number of voices in the room. I recognized the voices of the dragons I had met before as well as the royal princesses and the former element bearers. Princess Celestia spoke to Robert. "It's not your fault Robert...no one could have-" "LIKE HELL IT ISN'T! He might never wake up and it's my damn fault!" He howled back in response. "Do not berate thyself over this, Robert. Thou hath done all you could." Luna said in a soothing tone. In the background I heard the dragons talking among themselves. "I can't believe it...we were just talking to him a few days ago. Why would anyone do this?" I heard Telara ask. "I don't know. I heard it was more to get at the other human." Valerian responded. "That still begs the same question though." Nova said. The former element bearers sounded like they were scattered around the room, either speculating about relevant situations or whispering with others in concerned tones. I could not have believed before-hand about what a nightmare it is to be trapped, helpless in your own body, able to hear what was going on but doing nothing. I heard the sound of doors being opened nearby. A young nurse spoke up. "I'm sorry, everyone. Visiting hours are over. Fluttershy and Robert may stay however because of their knowledge of human anatomy and medical experience in case they are needed." Most of the room seemed to shuffle out quietly with the nurse following them out the door. I heard a gasp from Fluttershy after most of the others had left. "Did you see it! I saw a finger move!" "I didn't see anything." Robert said. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy." I heard the doctor say. "It was likely just a muscle twitch, it doesn't mean he's waking up but there is hope that he will. Coma patients are most likely to wake up relatively soon after being put into such a state, but after a certain point it gets increasingly unlikely." "Oh...right. I know. I just thought..." "It's okay, Fluttershy. Go home, get some rest. I'll keep watch over him." Robert said solemnly. "Both of you really should go home and rest." The doctor told them. "It's unlikely anything will happen and I will be here the rest of the night. I'll send a nurse for the both of you the very second I think something will happen." "Okay...only if you're sure...I'll come visit every morning." Fluttershy said meekly. I heard her leave through a nearby pair of doors after a long delay. "No." Came Robert's eventual response. "You need to. You haven't eaten since he was admitted. At the rate you're going we'll need to prepare a room for you as well, and you won't be any help to him in that state if he does wake up." "When..." He growled. "Sorry. When he wakes up. Either way, he's safe here. Princess Celestia is leaving a few of her best guards to keep watch. Get some rest, and come back in the morning." The conversation dragged on for a while with Robert being stubborn as ever until someway or another the doctor convinced him to listen, an incredible feat on its own. "Fine...I'll get something to eat...but I'm not leaving the hospital until he wakes up." "Security will remove you eventually if you remain after-hours." A moment of tense silence followed. "Will they now." "Stay as long as you like." "Thank you." After that, conversation in the room abruptly ceased as near as I could tell. Over time I heard visitors come and go, sometimes alone or in a group. Some whispered kind, thoughtful words to me or even left gifts I believe. Others might not have even said a word and just quietly kept watch, sometimes I felt someone hug me too. I have no idea how much time was passing by. Days, weeks, months, I couldn't be sure. I lost all sense of time. I don't know when, but sometimes I slept and dreamed, though I was unsure how I would have when I was asleep. Some were nice, some were not. On yet another day I heard visitors enter my hospital room. I heard Fluttershy singing to me in the morning, when I could feel the warm rays of the sun's first light on my cheeks. It was actually wonderful. I could only wish she's do it more often, it was like hearing an angel sing but I know she has animals to take care of at home as well. When Fluttershy was done I heard Robert retelling the story of how we met. How he still remembered, after all these years both impressed me, and showed me truly how much I meant in his life. Everyday I wanted to jump out of bed and tell them I was fine. Eventually I think Robert fell asleep after talking to me for quite some time. More guests came in but they were quiet and I couldn't make out exactly who was there. Eventually they left I think it was turning to night as I began to fall asleep. It's strange to think of sleep when I haven't opened my eyes in however long my coma had lasted but there were definitely times when I was more and less aware and in some sort of deeper sleep state. I stumbled through a violent blizzard, climbing up the steps to some long-forgotten place. I put one foot after the other but sometimes I stumbled and had to catch myself. An hour later I think I was nearing the summit when the blizzard abruptly began to clear, revealing a woman sitting on a rock just ahead, she was resting on a staff she had planted in the snow. "Well it's about time you got here." She took my hand and pulled me up the last of the steps. "Who are you?" "You can call me Spera. I know you a lot better than you think by the way. Now come on, we're going hunting. She picked up a compound bow with a quiver attached that had been hidden behind her and tossed it to me. "I hope you're still a good shot." She grinned and leaped off the edge of the mountain with a running start as she grabbed her staff. Just as she began to fall a pair of large, red, angelic-like wings sprung from her back and she continued in an easy glide to a clearing in the distance. She looked back at me and shouted. "Just think about flying! It's like a dream!" I shrugged and jumped off the mountain with bow in hand, following her example and sure in the fact that it was a dream. Sure enough, wings spread from my back like they did for her, only mine were blue for some reason. Soon I impacted the ground and pushed myself up out of the dirt, where Spera was already waiting. "What are we hunting?" "Hydra, trust me, the taste is worth it." "You're insane!" "I don't see you saying no." She wore a wide grin. "True..." "You know you like it, after all, I'm a part of you." "Wait, what?" "Too late! Focus! I can hear it coming. Quick, hide!" I did as Spera said and quickly ducked into a bush with her. "Ah...get your ass outta my face." "Shut up. It's because you're taking up too much space." "You told me to hide!" "Why didn't you get your own bush?" "This was the only one that looked big enough!" "Okay, okay. Now really, be quiet, it's getting closer." Now that I listened, I could hear the monstrous sized creature moving through the foliage, it was moving through the area fairly quickly as well and would be on us in well under a minute. "Now, my strategy is a little odd, but just follow my lead. Hope you don't mind getting wet." Before I could even respond I saw the hydra thunder through the treeline and stop abruptly. I saw in reach a couple heads down into a pit filled with something and begin to eat. "Once my staff is in its mouth you'll take this arrow." She said, handing me a specialized arrow carefully attacked to a very strong looking rope. "Stand in the mouth and fire in deep into the hydra's belly. Then you move it out of the jaw and but the bow under the jaw, it should stay there pretty well. That's in case you get stuck." She handed me a pair of knives next. "Then go crazy. Good luck!" With an eager call to action she ran from the bush and charged to one of the distracted heads. "Hey ugly! Right here! You know you want some of this!" Immediately one of the heads shot straight towards her while she held the staff vertically in a firm grip. One head caught her in its jaws but quickly found itself unable to close them, struggling against the staff. "Now! Get moving!" Nervously I ran up to the hydra, narrowly missing the other heads as I joined her on the one currently struggling to kill us with the staff in its mouth. Without hesitation I shot the special rope arrow into its belly and hooked the bow on the hydra's jaw. "Have fun! I'll keep lead it to the big field near Ponyville so we have a place to skin it!" She leaped out of the beast's mouth and ran like no one I had ever seen. The hydra was quick to pursue and started off running so fast I slipped and fell in. I grimaced as I fell into the creature's belly and tried to ignore the pervasive smell within. I thought about how nice a hot shower would be as I took Spera's knives and got to work. After taking more cuts than a ten-foot wide cake at a party, I could sense the hydra eventually slow down as I carved it up like one big turkey. Eventually the hydra stopped altogether and stop breathing. I could hardly believe that I had just killed a hydra. I also could hardly believe how bad I was going to smell after this. I took hold of the arrow that was stuck in the creature's belly and followed the rope out, climbing up in with all the grip I could manage. Eventually I came to the mouth, which was fortunately on it side and open. I retrieved the bow from the jaw and looked around the immediate area for Spera. Spera approached me from a nearby table where she had already peeled off a scale. "Great job!" "That was your plan!?" "And you made it work beautifully! Now, help me get some scales, we'll take them to my place and then give the rest of the hydra to the town for food from the meat and materials from the scales." Spera and I carried away as many scales as we could carry to some shack in the woods after she took a detour to tell the mayor about the hydra we left for them just outside of town. Once we were in Spera's cabin we set the scales down on a table and took up seats on a pair of old wooden chairs. "Look, before we start I think I should take a shower..." "Why? You're already clean." I looked down at myself and realized that it was true, in fact, my clothes were even cleaner than before the hydra. "How..." "Dream." "Of course..." "Let's cut to the chase. You're here for a reason." "If this all a dream, why didn't we just get right to that? Why hunt the hydra?" "When you slipped into the coma you wanted vengeance. That was basically blowing off steam." "Oh...well thanks. I think. Aren't I still basically just talking to myself? Why are you a woman anyway and not a guy? It doesn't make sense." "Yes and no...I can't explain that first part right now...you'll get your answer eventually though. And it does in a way, you'll see for yourself soon enough." She laughed a little. "Man, there's gonna be some crazy shit when you wake up." "Wait, you know I'm going to wake up! That's great news! Do you know when?" "Don't worry. It's sooner than you think." "How do you know this?" "Now where would the fun be if I told you everything." She grinned. "Besides, you'll have your hands full." "So. It's just me in the coma. Well you too I guess. I'm not even on Earth and people only care because I'm Robert's friend..." "Hm...sorta...you'll see when you wake up. And that's a load of crap. Are you kidding? You've only talked with them for a couple days and already they're taking a liking to you. Imagine a year from now. I know Robert, Flutters, Rainbow, and those dragons certainly miss you." "Really?" "Yes, really. Now, sorry to cut this short but I gotta go, we both have things to do. Don't worry, you'll see me again soon." She stood up from her chair and stretched. "Now you just have to do one more thing for me." "What is that?" "Wake up."