• Chapter 15 - Along the East Walls

    We trailed off as the sun rose into the sky. "Ay- Er.. Mystery, north then east?" Mystery nodded. "Thank you for your generosity.. I will help you somehow..." Shadow tilted his hat to shade his face. "We... need to find.. a real sword. The holy, divine sword that can cut through the Shadow Lord." Aya or Mystery stared at him. "Well.... Within Aya's memory it says that you have it." Shadow shook his head. "It's fake..." "Oh..!" I realized what he meant. I couldn't find it because Shadow had disposed of it. "How did you know?" "There is a way.... But I have no right to tell you that." I rolled my eyes. There he goes again... being stubborn. "Ah..." Shadow limped a little. "Is it your back..?" I glanced at Aya's body, and at Mystery's soul at the same time. "I'm sorry... It's both an external and internal wound..." "Isn't there a way to fix it?!" Mystery/Aya looked as though she was thinking. "Yes. Yes there is actually. And that was the place I came from. To get a wound healed... Let's go before we recover my body." "Come on Shadow.." I said gently. I put his arm around my neck, and his arm felt as cold as ice. "He's... He's unconscious..! Let's hurry!" Mystery put Shadow's other arm around her neck, and his feet lifted slightly off the ground. We ran north. "How far is it?!" "Not too far from the east walls!" "Walls?!" "Yeah!"
    ******
    "Is.. Is this it?" I panted. Mystery looked up. "This is it alright.." We stood in front of a little house decorated with crescent moons and stars. It had a red cross in the middle. "Emergency! Hurry please!" We slammed the door open, and the workers stared at us, and came to help Shadow. Five of them lifted him, and put him on a low bed, and ran to an emergency room. "What the...?" The infirmary was filled with.. with cats. They were dressed up in a doctors outfit or a nurses outfit. "Hello-meow. Please check-in now-meow." I giggled at how one of the nurses said meow after each sentence. "Yes.." Mystery walked over to the front desk. "Our friend, Kage-san has an external and internal wound in one." The cat typed on the computer, and looked at Mystery. "There was a girl that came before with the same problem. But she was not unconscious." The cat typed again. "Name..? Or names of the patient?" "I am.." Mystery hesitated. "Aya Mikage. This is Monique Sakura." "Is that.. my real name?" "Yeah yeah yeah..." The cat typed fast, and told us to take a seat. "Arigatou..." We sat down, frantically waiting for Shadow. "Hey-meow! Acquaintances with Kage-san-meow, report to the first emergency room-meow!" We stood up, and followed the little doctor-cat. "Is he.. alright?" The cat nodded, scribbling on his clipboard. "The information the front desk sent says that external wounds and internal wounds have been caused?" I nodded. Mystery was looking around the little area. "Okay. The operation is going to start. He might or might not be okay. Our other patient, however, survived." The cat led us to a room with a glass window, showing Shadow, laying lifeless on a bed. His purple hair was messy. His red eyes were not visible. "Please Shadow... live!" The operation started. "You know what to give in what order-meow! Let's go-meow!" The cats worked in unison, first working on the internal wound. Something that resembled a tweezer came first. "Ah... Found it-meow!" The cat took out a green substance. He threw it out, and handed the tweezers back to get a different tool. The next tool resembled a spatula. The cat put some gunk on Shadow's back, and spread it around. He handed it back, and got something like a hair dryer to dry it off. The gunk turned into skin, and the wound was no longer there. But Shadow was still unconscious. "Hand me the electric-!" The cat was cut off, for the tool had been given. He turned Shadow around. "Clear-meow!" Shadow shook. "Higher voltage-meow! Clear-meow!" The lights were blinding and horrifying. It felt as though Shadow wouldn't make it. "Higher-meow! Clear-meow!" I collapsed. "Nika... He'll be alright!" Mystery encouraged. But I could tell she was on the verge of tears too. I broke out and cried. "Shadow..! He can't! If he does...!" I sobbed harder, and looked up through the window. The lights kept flashing, and Shadow's heart monitor only beated from time to time. "He's alive-meow..." "Thank goodness...." "But.. there is still a chance he can't make it-meow.." I shook my head in disbelief. "I'm sure... he'll make it. He's Shadow after all. It disappears. Then comes back..." "Lets hope so, Nika..." We stared as they finished. The cats thumbed us up, so he was in the clear. For now. They wheeled him to a room beside it, and we walked down the hall to see him.
    *****
    "Shadow.... Can you hear me?" I whispered. No one was in the room with me. It was 9 PM. hours from the operation. "Your alive.. I can tell... You can't respond right now... I love you... More then anything.. Don't leave me..... I need you. I never admitted to the fact that I.. I really, really need you in my life.. Without you.. I can't move on... So please.. live!" I felt his hand twitch, and it fell immobilized again. "You can hear me.... Thank goodness.... Stay alive... Love you... a lot.." I left the room, with a paralyzed Shadow behind me. It relied on chance now. If he didn't live, we are all doomed. But... Shadow will be okay. Right?