Broken Together (MCYT au)

Chapter 18: Simply Lonely

She breathed heavily and pulled her hood up, picking up the pace as her dark boots ran down the dirt paths of the village. Arriving at the back door of the clinic, looking at the bustling doctors working around the clock.

The clock was everything here. When you enter these doors, time is your enemy. To beat time is to save a life, to lose is to say, "I'm sorry for your loss." It was always time, always the clock. Their job was to beat time and the injuries and diseases brought to them were supposed to beat you.

Her eyes lay on two of the assistants standing at one of the counters, stressed as usual. Walking around for the woman she was looking for, avoiding the medical staff running around. Heading to the front of the room watching her mother speak to two people. One with dark hair with a white headband while the other had a black hood with red highlights.

Peeking her head through the counter and watching them leave, neither an expression of happiness nor sadness. It was like watching the shells of people walk in and out. The same as always.

"Oh, hello Iris!" Dr. Alloy smiled and walked up to her daughter, taking off her gloves and hugging her child tightly. "I've been giving them an update on their brother's condition, the case I ask for your advice on sometimes," she mentioned, handing a few files to another fellow doctor.

Iris nodded, fidgeting with the bracelet fastened around her wrist. "Oh, speaking of which, I saw one of the people you mentioned, Dream." Iris smiled at her mother, who couldn't help but squeeze her left cheek tightly.

Her mother, Denise Alloy, was always on the more eccentric side. A genius who switched personalities like the tides in the ocean. Going from sweet and carefree to a force of darkness that would terrify even murderers. The odd duo but a bond of titanium, nonetheless.

"Hope he is okay, well what did you think?" Denise smiled at her daughter, happy about the break in the never-ending shift of work.

"Well, he helped me train yesterday, he's weird," Iris sighed and looked up to see her mother being called out to perform other tasks. Nodding and quickly walking around to see the patients in the most intensive care unit. Poking her head through the little glass barrier that separated the bustling halls, each person unconscious with doctors keeping their eyes on them.

Her eyes lay on the current patient her mother was working on, a young man in his twenties. Iris was well asleep when he was brought in, but the stories the other doctors told gave her a vivid image. Three boys came in at the late hours of midnight, holding that man that clung to life ever so daintily.

Mother had told her what she believed had happened. While Iris had found it quite hard to believe one of her silly predictions, the reaction she described was quite odd. His eyes were closed, and his breathing could hardly be considered stable. Wrapped in bandages with a patch over his right eye. His dark hair was ruffled and his skin paler than natural.

"He's not doing too well," One of the doctors mumbled as they walked out of the room, another taking their place. "I do hope it all ends alright."

Iris nodded, looking down at the little charm attached to the bracelet and putting a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I hope so too."

~

It has been four days since George was admitted to the clinic. Raindrops continued to fall throughout the days, adding to a much darker time. Dream hadn't seen Bad or Sap since the incident. They got an update every day unless something happened, and he would go at a separate time to get the same.

It's helpful he was able to access George's medical information but other than that, nothing ever seemed to improve. It wasn't like Dream to avoid his closest friends. Regardless, he only did what he needed to survive.