Nursing Bitterness (Open)

[Dean]

((OOC: Three hours after Reanimation))

War took a tool on all involved, both physical and mental, and the results were never good. Friends as well as limbs lost, peace of mind and soul were tarnished together. Like the song said, war isn't good for nothing. One can't imagine anyone's dreams being pleasant in times such as these-

But Dean's mind was never a calm place, the addition of the world going to hell just seemed only to add some variety to his nightmares. Fire. Men, Women, and Children alike screaming. More fire. Bladed monsters appearing out of the darkness and smog only to be replaced by decaying friends long since past.

And now it seemed that Dean had a whole new set of nightmares, only these were on a never ending loop.

Seven faces stared at him:

A copper skinned teenager with a cocky smile.

A ragged and unshaven man with sunken eyes.

A family of five, two small girls, a clay-toned male youth with a shaved head, A like skinned calloused woman with long hair and a cold stare-

And a dark skinned man, shadowy eyes seeping with concern and disappointment.

Then all of a sudden they were all engulfed in black fire, and without a sound Dean left alone in the darkness, three words echoing in the nothingness:

They trusted you

Dean didn't know how long he had been screaming, but when he came to he was covered in what he thought was a cold sweat. He was sitting upright on a table and he couldn't feel his left hand, but his right was gripped around someones neck.

[Adrian]

Adrian was on baby sitting duty. Not that he necessarily minded. Supposedly the guy on this table was some sort of hot shot from Africa and some of his mystery and appeal was bound to rub off on Adrian after he was off duty. In fact, he half suspected that was why he'd been assigned to this post, not because Seiya cared about his dating life, but because he knew Adrian would take it in stride. Too many people were going just a bit crazy over the new arrivals as it was but Adrian had never been one for fandom. People were the same everywhere, stars, heroes or not.

Adrian leaned back in his chair and practiced sleight of hand with his deck of cards. His small book of magic tricks was ever expanding and he liked the small act of discipline involved in learning the different hand movements required for most of them. It was delicate work and gave him something to concentrate on in his spare time.

His concentration was broken when the man on the table began screaming his head off. Adrian wasn't ashamed to say it made him jump and his chair screeched on the floor has it was ground against it with his movement.

He pushed himself out of the chair as his breathing started to return to normal. He knew that you didn't try to wake someone out of a nightmare but the guy sounded like whatever he was dreaming about was terrible. Adrian leaned over him and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to sooth him. It didn't work and he didn't even seem to know Adrian was there.

He was about to turn and call for help when the body on the table surged up, eyes wide with terror and something else and his hand found Adrian's neck and began to squeeze. Thanks to Nineteen's training Adrian hands immediately went to the man's wrist and began pushing between his tendons to cause pain and to force his captor to let him go as he struggled to breath.

[Dean]

Time seemed to stop at that moment. Except for Dean's irregular breathing and the occasional noise from the bridge proper, all was quiet in the small room. Dean's eyes whipped around his surroundings, trying to get his bearings and determine his next course of action. He finally settled on the neck his hand was wrapped around. Realizing that he was back at the Academy, he released his hold on Adrian.

He tried to speak, but his voice cracked and burned illegibly. He held his hands up in what he hoped was a drinking motion--

"Son of a BITCH!" or at least that is was Dean tried to yell. It was probably more along the lines of "Sckkk fff aahh BICKKTT!". Dean had never lost a limb before, and it was a rather bewildering thing to discover. Even considering the circumstances. He waved his stump wrapped in bloody gauze, completely forgetting about a drink of water or anything else that was happening at the moment.

[Adrian]

Dean's eyes roved around the room widely before his hand sprung open, the pain Adrian was causing to his wrist instinctively forcing him to let go before his mind really had a chance to intervene in the process. Adrian stepped back and massaged his neck for a moment, not really concerned with the needs of the man who tried to strangle him.

His resentment softened just a little when he heard Dean's distressed cries as he realized his hand was missing. The arm of the stump kept moving and Adrian had the impression that the hand would be waving about widely if it were there. Adrian walked over and put a hand on Dean's chest to stop his thrashing, having to exhort more strength than he'd thought.

"Hey, woah," Adrian said as he might to a panicked horse. He'd learned that people in pain rarely acted "human" though Dean shouldn't be in pain so much as shock. He was on enough pain killers for a man twice his size, or so it had seemed to Adrian when he'd watched them administer them. "Dean, look at me." He was glad he knew the guy's name. "Dean, you're an animorph. It'll grow back. Calm down."

[Nineteen]

"Okay Adrian, shift's up." Nineteen said as she walked into the room, only hearing the sounds of a diminishing struggle once the door slid open. She rushed to where the other guy from Cape Town was convulsing on the table. Well, at least he wasn't dead. Nineteen was pretty glad about that. They'd assured her he was stable, but he'd been out for a while and it'd be just her luck for the dude to croak on her watch.

Without hesitating, she went to help Adrian restrain him. Hopefully he'd come down soon, because she was definitely not above using some kind of pseudo-judo move on a no-hand cripple. She applied a bit more of her weight into pressing him back to the table, willing it to calm him down. "Look guy-" Dean, that's his name! "-look Dean, cool it. You're safe now. You made it to the Academy. Chill out!"

[Adrian]

Adrian turned when Nineteen entered. He rolled his eyes at her where Dean couldn't see as if to say, your problem now before walking out of the room.

[Dean]

Dean didn't notice Nineteen when se came into the room, nor did he hear the exchange between her and Adrian. The two Animorphs exchanged stations, Adrian leaving without any protest, and Nineteen had sat down to watch Dean before he noticed there was some one new in there.

Granted, he was a bit distracted.

He jerked when she sat down, still more than a little off-kilter, and rasped "Who are you?"

[Nineteen]

Adrian rolled his eyes at her and left, and Nineteen looked at him indignantly. Really? Well, it was the end of his shift, but what a bastard. Now she was here alone with a dude that was having fits. Great.

Eventually though, he seemed to calm down. He was zoned out, not really saying or doing anything, so Nineteen decided to sit down on the edge of the bed. What else was she supposed to do? She'd just begun looking for a nurse call-button or something, when the guy asked her who she was.

"Um, my name's Nineteen. Like the number," she added out of habit. "You're not going to start freaking out again, right? Because I'll knock you out if I have to, but then Seiya would probably yell at me. You're Dean, right?"