Octavius

by Master Koschei

Chapter 10

Screaming.

There was a woman screaming.

Octavius sat up like a bolt of lightning, wincing as he strained his arm. He looked over to see Ditzy flailing in her sleep violently. He immediately pressed the alert for a nurse, calling for help as he did. Almost instantly, a man in a white coat and a woman in scrubs rushed in.

“Hold her down!” The doctor rushed to Ditzy’s side, trying to hold her left arm and leg down while the nurse held the right.

“No!” Ditzy struggled harder. “Not m-my Doctor!” She was screaming very loudly, desperately wanting away from the two people holding her down. Octavius moved to stand, but remembered he had an IV stuck in his arm. He thought for a moment on what to do, before he spoke up.

“Ditzy,” he said calmly between her shouting. “Ditzy, it’s me, Tavi.”

Ditzy seemed to lessen her struggle, but fought nonetheless. “T-Tavi, help me!” She was crying at this point, in complete hysterics.

“What’s wrong?” Octavius kept trying to calm the woman down.

“D-Doctor,” she said between gasps for air. “My D-Doctor! H-he’s h-hurt! He’s d-dying!”

“Ditzy,” Octavius replied, shaking the awful image of a broken, bloody David from his mind. “Ditzy, listen, I promise you, he’s just fine.”

“HE NEEDS M-ME!” Ditzy suddenly renewed her attempts for freedom, but soon realized they were pointless, and merely broke down crying. “I… I n-need him...”

Octavius motioned for the two to get off of the blonde, looking over at her sympathetically. “He’s fine, Ditzy,” he said quietly. “He’s going to come and see you right now.” Octavius looked expectantly to the medical staff, both of which nodded and left the room to contact him. “See?” Octavius smiled some at Ditzy, hoping to cheer her up. “He’ll be here faster than you can say, ‘where has he gone to now’?”

Ditzy sniffled, looking up at the cellist, smiling a bit. “Where has he-“

“Not that fast,” Octavius grinned. “But pretty fast.”

Ditzy relaxed slightly, looking up at the ceiling. “I m-miss him,” she lamented quietly, folding her hands over her stomach. She looked over to Octavius. “I c-can’t s-s-see him every d-day like I u-used to.”

Octavius looked over at her as new tears started to flow down her cheeks. He looked back up to the white ceiling, unsure what to say to help her. He didn’t exactly have much experience in the ‘soothing’ department.

They lay together in silence for about thirty minutes before the door slammed open, David running in like a mad man.

“Ditzy!” He rushed to her bedside, staring down at her. “Oh, dear, what happened?”

Ditzy hid her face in embarrassment, not wanting to meet David’s gaze. “I f-freaked out a bit,” she muttered.

David pulled up a chair and sat by her bed. “But why? The nurse told me you were screaming I was hurt, and that you had to help me. What scared you into thinking that?”

“I-I had a n-nightm-mare,” Ditzy said quietly, still not looking at him.

“What about?” David had nothing but worry for her in his voice.

“I-it was the w-w-wreck,” she whispered. “You w-were in m-my place. You got h-hurt. You w-were b-bleeding.” She raised her tear filled eyes to his. “Y-you were dying.”

David sat back in his chair, his mouth slightly agape; however, the man quickly regained his composure. He smiled at the blonde. “Well,” he said, placing his hand on her cheek delicately. “I’d never let something like that stop me.”

“I know,” Ditzy said quietly.

David grinned, trying to coax a smile out of her. “And why is that?”

Ditzy finally cracked a smile. “Because m-my Doctor w-will a-a-always be th-there for me.”

“That’s right,” David said, smiling down at her. “I’ll always be here. I’ll never leave you alone.”

Octavius’ face lit up at the scene that had unfolded before him. This was friendship. This was caring, and trust, and everything he never had.

And now, he realized, it was everything he wanted. And nothing he wanted to lose.

David turned to face the cellist. “Thank you,” he said, rising from his chair and approaching the other man. “They said you helped calm her down. I really owe you.”

Octavius waved this away. “You got me another chance to perform,” he replied. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

David grinned and said,” Oh, I think you could.”

There was a knock at the door. Looking over, he saw Vinyl standing there in her dress from the night of his performance, though it had the blood washed off and the tears fixed. She had on her leggings, and her white shoes, and her sunglasses. She was also carrying her laptop.

She approached his bed and pulled up a chair, setting the laptop on the bedside table and flipping it open. She opened a program, and then turned to face him.

“Hey there, Tavi,” she said quietly.

“Vinyl,” Octavius acknowledged, curious as to what she had planned.

“So you remember how we met, right?” She grinned slightly at him. “Elevator, dubstep, dead body, all that jazz?”

Octavius nodded.

Vinyl pulled out a pair of headphones. “You got me thinkin’ about somethin’.” She slipped the headphones over the man’s head, then turned to her computer and tapped the spacebar.

Octavius immediately recognized the opening strains of a cello solo; one of HIS cello solo’s. He looked up to Vinyl, who was simply smiling down at him. He listened attentively to the piece as it began to warp slowly, changing into something new.

However, unlike the loud rave music he detested, or the remixed orchestra he’d heard on their first meeting, this one was different. It kept the cello, and layered in other portions of the song, and even parts of some of his other works.

The piece ended how it started, with his solo. As it wrapped up, and the last chord faded, he removed the headphones, looking up at the DJ.

“Classical meets dubby wubs,” she said with a smile. “They worked beautifully together, didn’t they?”

“They certainly did,” Octavius answered, unsure of where exactly this was going.

Vinyl looked like she desperately wanted to say something, raising a hand and opening her mouth, but shutting it again. She looked down, clearly ashamed of herself, but looked back up. “I’m really glad you liked it, Octavius,” she said with a sad smile. She closed her laptop and stood to go; however, Octavius grabbed her hand, holding it tight.

“Stay with me, Vinyl,” he said, pulling at her arm. Vinyl smiled at him and sat back down.

“Whatever you want, Tavi,” she said.

The cellist grinned and looked over at David and Ditzy, both of who were smiling warmly at him and the DJ.

“May I ask why you choose that attire?” Octavius gestured to Vinyl’s rather nice outfit.

She grinned. “This,” she patted her laptop. “Was my performance to you, Tavi.”

“She spent all last night bugging Dash and I about it,” David said, causing the DJ to turn and playfully glare at him. “She worked very hard on it to make it the best it could be for you, Octavius.”

Octavius locked eyes with the DJ. “Really?”

She nodded, blushing some. “I wanted it to be perfect so you would like it. I figured since we missed your performance, I would give you one instead.”

Octavius smiled at her. “I’m honored, Vinyl. Though I’m curious, why my music?”

Vinyl scoffed, “Because you’re into the stuffy, uptight shit!” She grinned at him. “But, really, I figured that’d be the best way to ease you into the modern age.”

Octavius laughed. “I see,” he said, smiling at her.

“K-kiss h-her already, dummy!” Ditzy was cheering them on from her bed, earning a look from David. Octavius stared at Vinyl, who met his gaze.

And then their lips met, not in a heated lust, but in a loving embrace, gently feeling out the other. Octavius closed his eyes instinctually, as did Vinyl, who leaned a bit closer into the kiss. David covered Ditzy’s eyes, as well as his own.

After what seemed like an eternity, Octavius pulled back from Vinyl, meeting his own gaze in her reflective sunglasses. “Vinyl,” he said quietly.

“Yes, Octavius?” She seemed a bit out of breath.

“I want to see your eyes,” he replied. “David, shut the blind and turn off the lights, please. It can’t be too bright in here, or it’ll hurt her.” He remembered the day that brute had knocked off her glasses and the way she panicked when she couldn’t find them; how she complained of the light hurting her eyes.

David walked over to the blinds and closed them, then went and shut the lights off, nodding to Octavius. While it was dark, there was a bit of lit coming in through the slats in the binds. “Whenever you’re ready,” Octavius said.

Vinyl nodded and took a deep breath, then reached up. She gripped her glasses with slightly shaky hands and pulled them away from her eyes, which were closed tight. She slowly peeked one eye open a sliver, then the other, carefully adjusting them to the light around her.

Finally, after about a minute or so, both her eyes were open. She looked at Octavius, who was staring back into a pair of beautiful dark red eyes. “They’re lovely,” he said, transfixed by them. They almost reminded him of Dash’s eyes, though Vinyl’s were a bit darker.

Vinyl smiled. “I’m glad you like them. I’m also really glad,” she added. “To finally be able to see you with my own eyes, rather than through that filter.” She slipped her shades back on, hiding her eyes once more.

David turned the lights back on, and reopened the blinds. “Well,” he spoke up. “I think Vinyl and I have to go.” He motioned to the nurse, who was waiting patiently by the door with a food cart. “Seems to be about dinner time for these two.”

Vinyl leaned down and placed a quick kiss on Octavius’ cheek, and smiled at him. “See ya, Tavi,” she said as she left with David. Octavius waved to the two as they departed, to be replaced by nurse Redheart.

She walked over to Octavius’ bed, setting down his dinner tray. “She’s pretty,” she whispered with a wink. Octavius rolled his eyes and dug into his dinner.

Author's Note:

I'm definitely looking for some feedback here. The inevitable finally happened, and I want to know what you all think of it. I was thinking of teasing you all, but decided to be kind. Please comment, or feel free to message me. I'm constantly checking in to see if I've gotten any feedback from you all, because I love it when you help me out.

Comments

[Pinceau]

I really like this story so far, it's well writen and delightful. If I had to put one word to feedback this chapter it would be: smooth. ^^