~ Sanctuary ~

Chapter 12

My blood ran fully cold once those words fell. "Wow, I didn't expect this at all, I'm honestly shaken up about it," I uttered. I turned back to the crowd and nodded for them to continue with what they were doing before I arrived, and just like that, they dispersed to go work on their separate work. It was good to know everyone knew what I meant, when I didn't have to mutter a single word.
I felt a single tear, followed by one more run down my face as my eyes explored the sight of my now known brothers before me after I turned to face them. I couldn't be happier knowing that, even though I lost Charlie, I still had, in some form, a piece of her with me always. Through them. That may sound mean saying it aloud, and saying that they're a replacement, but you have your blood family and your chosen family. My chosen family is who I lost a while ago, and I miss her dearly, there was no doubt about it. But the fact that even in my community, there were ones of my blood fighting alongside me and fighting the same war, meant more to me than I had expected. And even though I don't know them much now, I'm sure I'll eventually get to know them and grow closer with them as a family. Especially since they're blood, and the only ones left who remembered the sorrows we suffered, and the battle we lost.
Although, now thinking about it, we didn't lose the fight. Just not everyone could get out. And if the goal was to save at least a couple lives, Charlie would call it mission accomplished. I'd hope.
I whipped around after my moments of consideration and admiration of my brothers, to see Sebastian beaming at my overjoyed expression.
"I'm glad we could bring you some pleasant feelings, Withers," he said. I cringed at the fact he used my last name. I wasn't used to it, frankly, because I never had a last name before. It also felt way too proper for Sebastian to be calling me Withers, because that's what you do when you're addressing a patient. But he's related to one of the many fallen of my, Fern, and Forrest's past. There's no way I'm going to go off of the first name basis we established when we first met.
"Please, call me Madelyn," I chuckled out. He nodded, before looking down at his clipboard and scribbling a couple things before looking back up to me.
"We probably should get you into surgery, that way we can make sure everything within you is running properly." I felt butterflies emerge in my stomach once he said those words, but I silently nodded, and he started walking, so I followed him. I couldn't help but feel uneasy about someone talking about a surgery. I mean, when you're forcibly strapped to a chair to be operated on, it can shake you up a bit in the mind.
"It should be a relatively easy recovery process, you should only need a couple minutes after the operation before you can operate on your own," he said as we walked among a couple hallways until we finally ended up in another operating room.
This one seemed a lot less unkempt than the ones we'd passed from before, so I felt a little more comfortable. And it also didn't look like the near torture chair Gordon had strapped me to. I looked to the cushiony operating chair, and I took my seat on it, leaning back against the back and headrest. He walked over nearby, before another unknown doctor strolled in, with a syringe in her hand.
"Injection or laughing gas, darling," he asked politely. I froze, but shook off the feeling. That nickname I'll have to fix in some sort of form of therapy, for sure. That way I'm not as heavily affected by it. Maybe. I don't know, I kinda wanna keep it and not let anyone else but Charlie herself be able to say it to me. But I can't be affected every time someone nonchalantly uses it. Because it would seem weird for me to have a recoil if anyone says the name 'darling'.
"Injection," I said firmly, trying to shake the thoughts and anxiety out of my brain. The doctor nodded and held the syringe to my arm, before injecting the liquid into me. The effects immediately kicked in, like cocaine to an addict's system, and my vision, very slowly, started to blur. Not too quickly, but quickly enough to not only feel, but see the effects as well that the amnesia was having on my immune system and body.
"Just count from twenty, should be out like a light, you can probably already tell that it's workin' quick" she said calmly. Her accent almost made me chuckle, but I was too out of it to pay that much attention. I closed my eyes, and out loud I counted from twenty, down. It might've been weird to count out loud, but I tried not to let the anxiety of said action get to me.
Twenty.
Nineteen.
Eighteen.
Seventeen.
Sixteen.
Fifteen.
The numbers went by me, and instead of trying to pronounce them out loud, I just said them in my mind. Once I hit one, curiosity filled me and I started opening my eyes, and I realized I was no longer in the doctor's office and operating room, but now I was in a bright field. More just a colorful meadow with a nearby sun making it bright to look at. And the sky above me was beyond beautiful. I sat up gently and looked around me, to see bright blue skies, growing provinces, with trees surrounding me. The surrounding trees led me to see that I was in a forest's opening. There was a daisy field I was laying in, with occasional purple flowers here and there. There were also tiny little buttercups next to the purple flowers, and sometimes buds of white flowers that immerse themselves amongst weeds and regular grass.
I was in a clearing of woods of some sort, with a flower field in it, it seemed. And it was peaceful. I felt safe here, and I didn't feel threatened by anything around me, at all. I'd never felt like that about any place but this. I took a deep breath in, and it's almost as if I could smell the scent of daisies, even sunflowers and their seeds. A bird zipped by in my vision, and I looked around to spot it. It flew around me, and as I tried my best to follow its path, it still seemed like a ray of color. It was more of an orangish red color, and it darted toward the trees. I looked to see a dark part of the forest parting, and the bird flew right into it. The bush started opening slowly, and I felt a slight bit threatened, but I hoisted myself off the ground slowly.
As the bush cleared, there she was. Charlie. In all her goddamn beautiful glory.
I felt my face turn into an upside down smile, and start bounding toward her. Tears started streaming down my face as I ran to her, followed by immediately leaping into her arms. She caught me with ease, and I could feel my chest heave back and forth as I crumbled to a ball of mush and comfort in her arms and grasp. I felt my breath heave up and down as she held me, and I didn't care. Here she was, right in front of me. She slowly lowered both of us to sit, and I remained on her lap for a while.
"I'm so sorry we couldn't save you, I'm sorry," I repeated, saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again. If Charlie was trying to speak to me, my thoughts and words seemingly drowned out hers. So she pushed against me, holding my shoulders to face her. I let my gaze go from my hands to her face, since I was fiddling with my hands while I was apologizing to her. Her eyes were as pretty as I remember them being.
Dark blue oceans, deep oceans. Or a starry night sky.
"It's okay, darling, there was nothing you could do to save me, and that's okay," she muttered. Enough for me to hear, but not loud enough to be prominent. I continued to sob, and she sat there with me, comforting me. It felt good to feel her embrace again. And to know that she's here with me. What I would give to see her in front of me for real once more. But I know that's just a silly dream. But I didn't want it to be just a silly dream that I'm in because I was forced into it, but with a good cause.
"I just wish I could see you again," I sobbed. I felt pathetic for crying as much as I was, especially in front of Charlie, but I couldn't help it. Blood or not, this was my sister. And she meant more than the world to me.
"It's okay, now you get to live your life that we were fighting for in the first place, love," she muttered. Is that what she was really fighting for the whole time...? Me of all people...? My crying started to slow, but by no means had stopped just yet. "Look at me," she said, guiding my chin to face her. Even the dream version of her knows that my mind drifts to bad places at a time like this...
I coughed a slight bit from crying so much, and trying everything to keep my composure. That way I could pay attention to what Charlie had to say. Because I only had so much time with her. "Every time you drift off in sleep, I'll always be here when you want and need me. So you're not going to lose me, and you'll see me every night, I promise," she assured. That made my breathing slow ever so gently, and that slowed the crying.
My even breathing returned to me, and I just stared into Charlie's eyes. They were as deep as they were when I saw them for the first time, when she took the mask off and showed me her beautiful face. And I could never forget that sight ever, because it truly was breathtaking.
"I must go, and so should you, I'll see you eventually darling," Charlie said, before standing. I couldn't bring myself to reach out to her for her to stay, because she was right. I had a life to live, and every time I'd retreat to bed, I could see her. But there's a whole world out there to explore first before worrying about retreating to the dream world constantly to see her. Reality is more important than imagination, and it's better to live your life to the fullest instead of worrying about past mistakes, or try and retreat to something more inward to yourself.
I sat there as she disappeared back into the bush, her words whispering, "I love you," before her silhouette disappeared. I muttered 'I love you' back, my words feeling like a whisper just outside of my lips and not even coming from me. The world swirled to a dark pit quickly, and I knew my consciousness was coming back. It was pitch black around me, until I felt a feeling come back to my body. Feeling my arms, legs, torso, head, everything. It ached, but I knew it was a good kind. Although, all aches are bad and sometimes painful, it just depends on what you were doing to deserve those pains. That way it could be classified as good or bad.
I fluttered my eyes open, which were met with bright surgical lights, and I turned to see a doctor's face I didn't know, and Sebastian's pleasant smile staring down back at me. The doctor was the one who put me to sleep, so after a couple seconds, I realized that.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead, surgery was a success," he said proudly. I brought my hand near him, and he took it like a brother would when helping his brother up from sitting or lying down. He shook it gently so as to not throw off my body's reaction to having just been woken up, which was considerate.
"Have you woken the brothers up yet," I asked groggily. He shook his head no.
"No, we were waiting for you to wake, so they wouldn't be as discombobulated when they woke up. They've been in a permanent coma since the transport from Sanctuary to our facility, whereas you'd been drifting in and out of consciousness that whole trip, knowing your surroundings. It's why it was so easy for you to take everything in, for them it might not be so easy," he shrugged. "We'd rather you be there to make them not panic as bad if they didn't have you, is the short story of it," he finished.
I nodded, before letting go of his hand and pushing my body weight up and off the chair so I could fully stand. My head ached and weighed more than expected, so Sebastian's arm came to my right and helped me stand up fully, and gently. I stood there for a couple minutes, regaining my composure before taking it upon myself to use my muscles and stand up right.
"Well, I know this might be a bit selfish, but I'd like to do something first, so you know you did everything right with my brothers, giving you all time," I said. Sebastian's head tilted, piquing with interest. "Would it be possible for me to have a tattoo here? Is there a tattoo artist on call and available?" I asked.
Sebastian's face twisted into a smile and a nod, before looking down at an iPad he'd seemed to switch from a clipboard. He entered some things, before looking back up at me. "It's scheduled, lemme walk you there myself," he offered.
Once I gained my bearings, I looked to Sebastian and nodded to him, followed by motioning to the door. I followed him out as he continued to walk, and as we walked, he slowed to be in line with me.
"What're you going to get the tattoo done of?" he asked.
I already knew what design I had in mind. And it was the most perfect idea I've come up with. Mostly because of the emotional resonance it'd have with me, but I also need to make the other tattoos look good. I knew I had the tattoos either from my past life, or Gordon wanted to experiment and started tattooing the human skin I still had before waking me after he reconstructed me.
"Of the Mercenary," I said with confidence after some thought of what to name the tattoo. I turned to him, and he nodded, but his slight smirk read that he didn't fully understand. But he didn't need to. Not unless he wanted to. We rounded a corner, and went through a couple winding hallways, before we reached a single room, and he opened his arm in direction to the open door.
I walked in and saw the tattoo chair, with inks and pens decorating the countertops and walls, with a couple decorations here and there of posters and art pieces. There were some rock band posters, along with some stickers littering the drawers of their workplace. This person definitely had taste. I heard some loud shuffling coming from an adjacent, and I jumped slightly, before Sebastian grounded me by putting his hand on my shoulder. That seemed to settle my startle reflex.
A woman walked out of the doorway, and seemed to have the same startle reflex I had. Because she just jumped, before clutching onto the doorframe and leaning a slight bit downward, before readjusting herself and continued walking through the doorway.
"Goodness you scared me! I wasn't expecting visitors! What's brought you two here," she said with a cheerful and bright smile, clutching her ink pen gently and walking over to the countertop, setting it down. "I was just finishing up cleaning my pens to start on a new customer," she explained.
"This is Madelyn, the miracle, as well as your new customer I scheduled you with," Sebastian said. This made the woman's face light up brightly, and she hopped over to me and happily shook my hand. I didn't realize she took it until she was already shaking it.
"I've heard all about what's been happening! And I also saw you get carried in and couldn't help but notice your beautiful tattoo design," she said, reaching her hand out to my left arm. I forgot that that was there for the time being, although I just thought about it walking here. I also don't remember if there wasn't any significance to the tattoo, it was just there. If my former personality got it, I wouldn't have remembered anyway.
"Yeah, unfortunately I cannot remember the importance of this tattoo on my body, but it's there, so might as well keep it," I shrugged. "And hey, it looks good, so I ain't complainin'" I joked, with a smile and another shrug. This made her chuckle, and Sebastian butted in with his introduction of this lovely lady, who seemed to be my tattoo artist.
"This is Charlie Bonheur, our most prized tattoo artist here at the facility, she's really well known for her work, and ever since she finished her apprenticeship, she decided to work here instead of your run of the mill tattoo shop," he said, gesturing to her. I turned to him with my eyes wide and jaw dropped. Charlie.
I turned back to her and held out my hand from when she shook it, not taking it away, trying to contain my excitement and curiosity. But I took my hand and pushed my jaw back up in place swiftly after I realized it was left ajar. "Now, I'll leave you two to put the tattoo on, then shortly after, once you're finished up, we'll wake up the brothers from their coma, good deal?" Sebastian said. Both me and Charlie nodded before Sebastian walked out the door, closing it behind him with a near silent click.
All of the construction here had to be top of the line, because this type of establishment doesn't just run naturally. Because, for them to also house a tattoo artist, along with every operator, engineer, chemist, and surgeon known to man, maybe even more occupations than that, is just an insane thought.
"Now, what tattoo are we looking to get?" Charlie asked nonchalantly, walking over and inspecting the inks she had organized evenly on the wall. She also seemed to be simultaneously referencing the colors she had, just so I could see what I had to pick from. "And what colors, or will it just be straight black like this one was?" she continued.
"I was thinking of doing a symbolism piece of the Mercenary, and yes, probably just black and white," I elaborated. "The Mercenary is my team that I had back at Sanctuary. There were two golden bears, named Gunner and Griffin, then a golden bunny named Seth, then two red foxes, Fraser and Flynn, then two purple bunnies named Blake and Banner, then two yellow chickens, who are named Charlie and Cassidy," I explained.
I realized I was looking down at my feet while I explained, deep in thought, and when I looked up at Charlie, she seemed confused. I chuckled at myself lightly before considering whether I should continue. But, I ultimately decided to continue explaining, before taking a deep breath and continuing.
"All of them make up the team that helped us, me included, escape Gordon, who was also known as the Con Man in our community. And he was very heavily in control of everything, he invented way too many cyborgs for it to be healthy to invent. So it was just one of the most grueling processes to get out of containment," I finished.
I looked up at Charlie, and her eyebrows were raised in shock and impression. But more so on the consideration of how well thought out the piece was going to be.
"So this has to be one of the most majestic pieces I've ever done, got it, thanks for the physical description of each, and we'll just do straight black and white," she joked, then specified, before going over and preparing some gloves to start tattooing with, just so what she was working with was a clean surface and clean appendages.
"We can also do certain bright white highlights here and there where you think they'll pop," I said with a smile. She nodded and started to pull a pencil down from her art supplies wall that wasn't part of tattoo artist supplies.
"Where are you putting this tattoo," she asked, starting the rough sketch on her desk. I turned and looked around, seeing that there was a big full length mirror planted on the wall, so I walked over and studied my body. I turned around and looked at my whole body, and it was impressive to see how much I've held up. And as I inspected and tried to map out where I wanted the thing, the feeling of being able to hold onto a piece of it pricked behind my eyes. I took a deep breath and swallowed the sob that might emerge before letting myself speak up about a decision on tattoo placement.
"Probably a back tattoo, that spans over my shoulder muscles and a little further down, maybe somewhat stemming at the bottom of my spine, since it'll be a rather big tattoo anyways," I said, turning back to her. Charlie never faced me while she was sketching, but was listening the whole time. Within minutes, she came up with the most majestic tattoo I'd ever seen.
She took each animal's mask, sketched them as part of the shoulder muscle spread, and then took some metal material that runs down the spinal part, but also has fur patches along it, resembling a tail. Maybe if my fox persona I was gifted or given had a tail. And it all went down into the shape of a T, somewhat, before fading off right before it hit the bottom of my spine. At least that seemed like what she was going for.
I nodded, and she nodded back, and she turned back and started laying it on an ink transfer, so that it could stamp some ink onto my body when we're about to get the tattoo done.
"You might wanna take off your shirt so I can do the tattoo," she chuckled as she continued to work. I chuckled back before taking my shirt off, revealing a bra. She reached into a drawer and pulled out some nipple pasties, and handed them to me. I took them from her and put them on my chest and where they needed to cover underneath my bra before taking the bra off. Then once the bra was off and the pasties were secured, I laid face down on the tattoo chair and relaxed. I didn't relax quickly, but it was quick enough.
I felt Charlie's gentle grip and pressing of her palm on my back.
"Alright, it'll feel a little cold, I'm just putting some numbing stuff on where the tattoo will go," she specified. I nodded, and just like that, there was a small cloth that was cold as ice running along my back. It made my muscles tense a couple times, but once I got used to the temperature, they didn't tense anymore. She then took the cloth away, and laid down the tracing paper, which felt odd as well. She pressed down and ran her hand down my back, starting from my shoulders, as she made sure the transferred ink was in place, and then peeled off the back of what the ink was positioned on. The feeling of the rubber gloves she sported were odd, because I'd never felt that feeling before. I heard some buzzing, before it stopped again.
"Testing the pen?" I asked, my voice a slight bit muffled because of the way I was laying. I tried so hard not to chuckle at how muffled I was, I didn't wanna mess up Charlie's work cycle through laughing.
"Somewhat, just making sure ink isn't getting clogged or nothin', wanna listen to music while we do this?" she offered.
I nodded, and she pulled out some earbuds and handed them to me, followed by handing me a phone on a music app. I scrolled through some of the genres and chose the Rock genre. I decided to hit the shuffle button and loop the same album once I landed on one I liked, or thought I'd like, and it landed on Megadeth, on the Youthanasia album.
The guitar and bass, followed by the simplistic drums, made my brain more relaxed. I closed my eyes, and I didn't hear the buzzing, but I felt a tap on my arm. I took one earbud out, knowing Charlie needed to ask me something.
"Here's what it'll feel like, you're already numb," she said, followed by doing one to two strokes with the pen. It felt like a knife dragging across my skin, but not painful. It just felt ticklish, funnily enough. So I tried not to flinch too much.
"It feels fine yea," I said, before popping the earbud back in, but then I realized, if she wanted to have a conversation with me or I did with her, it'd be smart to have one earbud out. So I kept one out, just in case she had any questions, or if I came up with one for her. "So, how'd you end up getting a job, at a facility, for being a tattoo artist instead of being a tattoo artist in a regular parlor," I asked.
"I just didn't want to work in a generic parlor, and there were a couple ads for odd jobs at this facility, and tattoos was one of them. I went through a lot of training in college for being a tattoo apprentice, so they accepted me pretty quickly after I showed them my work and success rate," she shrugged, continuing to put the ink into my skin. "That, and the college I went to was one of the most high end colleges you could go to, period. I was lucky enough to have a high enough GPA to get in, frankly, because I didn't do too well in school. Probably because I sketched on every homework assignment I got," she chuckled to herself. I chuckled with her back about that before generating a response.
"Huh, that's cool. How's the rest of life been," I asked curiously. She paused and smiled, seemingly affected by what I'd said, before she continued doing the tattoo before answering me.
"It's been rough here and there, but that's how life will be, besides, I'm kinda encouraged to start rock climbing as a hobby, that way I have some sort of exercise in my system, since I sit down and tattoo people all day. Sorry if that was completely out of pocket though, do you know what rock climbing is," she explained and questioned.
Her saying that made me think back to Charlie scaling the wall of the Sanctuary twice. The first time when she was trying to see over the edge, but the spikes almost had her so we had to catch her the first time. The second time was when she flipped the switch to open the wall and free all of us. I remember when we caught her, all of us were nervous if we could catch her again, but thankfully, we caught her.
I realized that tears were slowly rolling down my face, and I had to wipe them away somehow.
"Hey, I need to wipe my face real quick," I said. Charlie stopped promptly and sat back, and I raised myself enough to wipe my face, before laying back down again. And Charlie seemed to notice that I'd done that.
"You alright," she asked, continuing with the tattoo.
"Yeah, you just remind me heavily of someone," I muttered. Charlie heard me, but seemed to know better than responding. She leaned back over and started back on the tattoo. And I realized I never answered her. "Yeah, I know what rock climbing is, sorry for not answering right away," I apologized.
"Oh no, it's no biggie, don't sweat it," she reassured. She continued working as she spoke, and her technique, I could tell, was as precise as can be. I knew I was in good hands for creating a masterpiece on my body.
I closed my eyes and focused on the guitar, and the song seemed to change from the first one. I turned the phone on for a brief moment, since I wanted to check and see what song it was, and the song off the album was titled "Addicted to Chaos". I turned it off before laying my head sideways, with the open ear upward and the ear that had the earbud in, against the head cushion. It's just more comfortable that way, since Charlie would've sounded muffled if I had put the open ear against the head cushion.
After a little bit of time into the tattoo, there were some pains that made me almost flinch, but I knew I needed to fight against the flinches, that way Charlie wouldn't mess up the tattoo. And god forbid, if I did that, I wouldn't like the end result much.
"You're doing so good," Charlie said, with a smile in her tone. I smiled from her tone, but then realized that smiling could activate muscles in my body. So I coughed a little bit with only my throat before readjusting and let her continue. "We're a little over halfway there, maybe give me another thirty minutes," she smiled again. That made me smile, and my eyebrows raised a slight bit. Finished that quickly, damn, she must work fast.
"How long has it been since you started," I asked.
"About an hour and a half, actually," she said, in a matter of factly attitude.
That shocked me, the fact that I've zoned out to the music for a whole hour and a half, and I signed into the phone and looked at the tunes that I'd listened to. I'd seemed to have run through the album since I started it, once, and then I relistened to a couple of them since the album was on loop.
I decided to try and zone out again, so the time would go by quicker, but then an idea flashed through my head. Because I may end up leaving with only the brothers if their process of being woken up goes well. And honestly, me coming across someone who's also named Charlie, and who has a similar build to my sister, is very hard to come by.
"Would you mind giving me your number? I feel like we could go rock climbing together maybe, or hang out when you're off your shifts," I said. Charlie paused and giggled a little as a response, before continuing the tattoo as she spoke.
"Yeah for sure, why not? I need more people to hang out with anyways, can't stay holed up in here forever," she concluded. I nodded to myself before closing my eyes again, letting the guitar whine in my ears from the earbud. "Reckoning Day" seemed to be playing, and the vocals were pretty good, I'll admit. The deep voice drops when they say the chorus line four times made the song really dramatic, but in the best way possible. I can also respect a majestic voice when I hear one. And the guitar's chugging from the rhythm guitar were also really prominent and fit the song well. The lead was obviously more prominent than the rhythm guitar, but I pay more attention to deeper things in the song, excusing vocals.
I turned the phone on and hit the skip button, and it landed on Family Tree. I must've not been listening to this one when I was zoned out earlier, I may have dozed off and not zoned out per say. Because I simply didn't recognize it, so I took a listen.
The beginning guitar, followed by the heavy bass, and just the simple straightforward drums, tied it all together, and the simple "talky" lyrics and vocals seemed like a good groove. I know I could listen to this after this appointment and after I meet the brothers. Because I'd totally headbang to this song. And that I will do when I get a moment alone, because I'm not sure that I look the best with my hair going everywhere as I headbang to the song.
Then I felt a tap on my arm as the second chorus concluded. I opened my eyes to see Charlie sitting back, and returning all her tools to their proper place, and with her back turned.
"Have a look, see what you think," she said, smiling down at me. I put my palms against the chair and hoisted myself up to a standing position, before walking over to the mirror and having a look. I turned around, and my face lit up when I laid my eyes on  the beautiful shading and heavy detail of the tattoo itself. It was truly a work of art. More beautiful than I'd imagined it, and saw it in my head, and even though it was better, it's like my imaginations of what it would've looked like came to life.
"If I'm getting another tattoo, you're doing all of my tattoos, period, like label me as a permanent customer, I'll even make the possible long drive to get a tattoo done by you here," I said happily. I turned to Charlie, and that seemed to force out a laugh from her, and she handed me a folded up piece of paper. I took it from her and wrapped my hand around the fingers that were holding the piece of paper. She lingered there before letting it go, seemingly taking a minute to gander at my appearance. I didn't tug on it, because I didn't want to speed up the time I had with her much. Because she reminded me so much of the original Charlie. Once I had it, I opened it up and it was a phone number. It made me smile, and I took the earbuds out of my ear and placed them in their case, and handed that to her, along with the phone she gave me.
She took it and put it on her desk with the rest of things there, sitting there and waiting for me to readjust and get everything back in its proper place. Before I knew it, Sebastian walked into the room, almost as if he was summoned as soon as Charlie was done with the tattoo. Thankfully I'd slipped my bra on when he walked in, and I made sure to do it carefully so it wouldn't disturb the newly inked tattoo. I also removed the pasties and handed them back to Charlie once my bra was fully on and secured carefully.
"That looks pretty good, Madelyn," he said with a smile. I nodded in agreement with his statement as I slipped my shirt back on.
"You should really be congratulating the artist, she was the one who brought my vision to life, and even more past that," I said with a grin. I tucked my shirt in as I saw Sebastian nod to Charlie in my peripheral vision, as a thank you. I turned to Charlie once I was done situating myself and reached out my hand to shake hers.
"Thank you for this, definitely seeing you sometime soon," I said brightly. She nodded, and took my hand, shaking it again. It wasn't as frantic and exciting as before, but I didn't care. Her grip was gentle but firm. And it was comforting. I pulled away, and she held out her hand in reference to the door.
"You have brothers to attend to, go wake 'em up," she said, smiling. I nodded, keeping my gaze on her while I walked out until I was all the way out in the hallway, with Sebastian walking ahead of me. I didn't know when I'd be getting a phone, so I made sure to keep the piece of paper in the back of the pants pocket I had. The hallways we'd walked before to get to the tattoo room was a blur. I knew I'd walked through it before, but I just don't remember much of it when we were walking back to the operating rooms. Because all I had my mind on was the brothers.
My brothers.
Once we'd reached the room and gone through the doors leading to the room, I followed him back to the tables that Fern and Forrest were sprawled carefully across. I got a bit of a nervous feeling in my chest, like butterflies if they could reside in my chest instead of my stomach. I wasn't sure whether it could've been a good feeling, so I hoped it wasn't a bad one.
I've never had to do what Charlie had to do for me and the others. I'd assume she was the first one who got pushed out, but she had such a calming attitude within her, I'm surprised hysteria didn't hit her. And the way she held herself and reacted to seeing me, it seemed like out of the group, I was the last to fall. I guess we fell out just in time before she would've reached that point. I mean, talk about golden timing, right?
I walked up on the brothers, and looked at them one last time before I'd have to assume Charlie's role. When I woke from being pushed out of the factory, Charlie knew how to handle my discombobulation. Time for me to learn it right away, and right here, right now.
I felt my hands flap in front of me, the overwhelming stimulation of anxiety in my chest and stomach was getting to my body heavily. "Let's go ahead and wake them, what're we waiting for?" I blurted out with anticipation. As soon as those words grazed my lips and out of my mouth, doctors went and grabbed two oxygen machines and wheeled them over beside Forrest and Fern each. They held the oxygen masks up to the boys' mouths, and turned the machines on. With a couple bumps and whirrs, I saw their chests rising as their hearts and lungs started working again with proper oxygen flowing through them. The meters on the machines also started beeping more rapidly, as their heartbeats could be monitored better now that they were waking up and receiving oxygen in their system.
I breathed slowly, calmly, so when they woke up, the calmness could also spread to them, and not just remain within me. That way they won't wake up too entirely panicked. And it was hard to push down the anxiety of seeing them nervous and anxious of what was around them. But I managed as much as I could.
Their eyes fluttered as their consciousness slowly arrived to them, and the doctors promptly pulled the oxygen masks off them a little bit after, so if they jolted up, the equipment wouldn't be harmed. Because that would be an aggressive wake up. Fern seemed to be more with it and arrived to consciousness quicker, and woke up, his eyes widened. Not surprised, he's the younger one.
He hurled his body upward and out, and targeted an innocent doctor, seizing him by the coat collar. The doctor, of course, panicked, before I stepped in, by placing my hand on Fern's arm, with a stern look to me. I furrowed my brow immediately and held my grip on Fern's shoulder. Fern whipped his head around, and he laid eyes on me and immediately relaxed. His grip of the doctor's collar released, and the doctor fell on his butt.
The other doctors helped him up and out the room as he was scrambling away from me and Fern, probably to check if he had any somewhat serious injuries. I didn't really think so, but if it's protocol, it's protocol. I took my hand off Fern hesitantly and slowly, and Fern turned his body around to completely face me, seemingly just as hesitant and slow as I was being.
"I don't know why I feel like I know you but I feel like I'm about to," Fern muttered, loud enough for me to hear but not anyone else. A miniscule smile crept onto my face when I heard that, but when I heard Forrest rustling in his seat, I knew he was about to spring up too, like Fern had done. So I immediately returned to a stern appearance with my facial expressions. Fern seemed attentive to this, and went over to his somewhat unconscious body. I followed him and positioned myself to face Forrest, and I was on his left, while Fern was on his right.
Fern seemed to understand that he needed to help me with his brother, even though he didn't know me just yet. So we assumed positions, arranging ourselves to block him from pouncing if his reflexes decided to do as such. And block him, we did.
He launched forward toward us, and me and Fern's shoulders, with our arms grip caught him and ricocheted him backward, before our other arms caught him and stabilized him. So he didn't go back against the bed, and we just held him. He looked between me and Fern, and I could tell he recognized Fern, with a bit of hesitancy on me. I don't blame him, Fern was similar in that way, but Fern and Forrest alike seemed to understand that they were going to find out the significance of why I was there.
Once we knew Forrest was calm, we all took a deep breath and let him go, letting Forrest stand on his own.
"Do you guys know who you are," I asked, with a bit of breathlessness in my tone. Fern and Forrest looked at each other and nodded to each other, before turning back to me.
"We vaguely know who you are, we're Fern and Forrest," Forrest started. "But the memory isn't quite there yet," Forrest continued hesitantly, and questioningly.
Here we go. Please don't say that you guys lost most of your memories. I at least need something there.
"We escaped the Sanctuary, as you can clearly tell. We're the only three who've survived the diseases, and apparently Morgan sent out a distress call to my friend Sebastian over here, and the humans from afar were able to fetch us," I said, letting my hand guide their gaze behind me to Sebastian. They studied him a bit before turning back to me.
"He looks a lot like Morgan now that you talk about it," Fern commented. I nodded before continuing.
"Now, they did some surgery on us to make sure everything was running properly, and they took our masks off, as you can see. We don't need them anymore, sorely because we don't have the diseases that surround the Sanctuary to worry about here, and so since we have to adjust to the amount of nature that'll be surrounding us, that's another reason why they had to do surgeries on each of us," I explained further.
They looked between one another again, and their attention seemed to be caught on each other's faces. They seemed mesmerized by each other, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised by that fact. After they took a bit to study with each other, they turned back to me after they realized I hadn't finished my sentence.
"They did their surgery on me, I wanted to give your all's body time to recover from your involuntary surgery since you were already passed out to begin with and in worse shape than me, and you guys were fully out, whereas I was in and out during the time they transported us here, and that's how we ended up here. We're free from Gordon, the three of us," I said, proud to finally admit it, as I reached out and gestured to the room around us. Fern and Forrest's eyebrows raised in shock and pride, and both gave me a very similar smirk each. They're so similar, I swear to god.
"Well, the big question is, why do you look like us," Fern asked. I could tell his curiosity was boiling, and when I looked at Forrest, it's as if both Fern and Forrest were connected emotionally, mentally, and in a way, physically. But I waved off the thought, it's about time I give them the answer they were searching for.
I turned to Sebastian and he nodded. There's no point in keeping this from them, because it most likely will help us in the long run. Especially since we're family.
"Well, they also ran blood tests and X-ray tests on me, and you both. We all have the same mechanics within us, the same robotic immune system, and, something I didn't expect, we are of the same blood. We're family."
That caused their jaws to drop immediately, and look at me with intent.
"So, we're the only ones who survived, and we're somehow of the same blood. How's that possible?" Forrest asked, clearly frantic but blown away. It was only his face that presented his frantic reaction, and it seemed to be that way with Fern as well, just a smidge more mellow than his older brother. I would be too, I mean I was when I was conscious and practically on my own to process it, without anyone to ricochet the thought off of to process it as well. Well, besides Sebastian, who's actually related to Morgan as well. Thank fuck that he was there for me.
"Well, your blood and genetics seemed to not be as heavily affected by the diseases, hence why all three of you survived from everything you took," Sebastian said from behind me. I shifted my weight and stance to face him, while Fern and Forrest stayed planted.
"So basically, the construct of our bloodline helped us face the diseases that the others had no control over if they lost their bodies, minds and immune systems to, and when we were true humans before Gordon resurrected us, the diseases weren't our downfall in the war" Fern asked Sebastian. Sebastian nodded silently before starting his next sentence.
"Here, it also says you're related to another sister, Mackenzie, and the father and mother are unknown. I think back when you worked for the humans and before Gordon harvested your bodies from the battlefield to make more cyborgs, you all reported to be working with the government and in our army, but it was never detailed on your birth parents," he relayed.
Their faces perked up and turned to me when they heard the name Mackenzie, and I confirmed their silent question with a simple nod, followed by vocal explanation.
"Yes, Mackenzie, the Failed Experiment. The whole reason Gordon was looking for me is because I was the most compatible to repair Mackenzie, because of the parts he used for me, but also because our blood and DNA was compatible, and y'know, I'm a girl, so that always helps," I approved. They nodded to themselves before turning back to Sebastian to see if he had anything else to say.
"So, we're all related, applied for the same government before we lost the big war and our bodies were used for the Con Man's special requests, and then since we escaped, and since Mackenzie was unconscious because of lack of parts, we're the only three cyborgs that survived?" Fern recapped, using his hands to talk a bit more.
Sebastian nodded in response, and I nodded with him, and Fern ran his fingers through his hair in shock. Forrest clutched his chin with one hand, seemingly processing everything. And the room, besides the background noise of doctors and operators doing their job diligently, fell into silence.
After a bit of said silence, and mental processing from the brothers, they both turned to me in unison, opening their arms. I walked in between them, and they took me into an embrace, probably the most welcoming one so far. And I'm glad they were able to come to a moment where they felt comfortable being in an embrace with me. I flashed back to when Charlie embraced me when we were right outside the Sanctuary, and I could feel tears pricking at the back of my eyes.
I knew she was gone, I wanted her back again, and there was nothing I could do to bring her back, but in this way, with my actual biological family with me in this way, it was as if I was bringing a piece of her with me. And it was comforting. Very comforting.
I pulled out of the embrace, tears running down my face like a waterfall, once more, for about the fourth time since waking up after being transported here.
Both Fern and Forrest looked at me with sincere, upturned eyes, with a bit of a pout in their mouth. They seemed genuinely concerned. Which was the surprising part. But I shook off my surprise, and just wiped the tears with my sleeves.
"Well, it's probably time we get outta here, huh? We kinda gotta make a name for ourselves, somehow," Fern said with a bright smile. That caused me to choke out a happy sob slash laugh, before hurling myself slightly into a hug with Fern alone. He wrapped his arms around me like how I remember Felix and Flynn embracing me when I got to see them again after I was freed and Gordon was defeated. So many reminders. So many. Fern set me back down again so I could speak easier.
"Yeah, I guess it is," I said with a smile, before turning to Sebastian. "Thank you for taking care of all three of us, Sebastian," I said, genuinely considerate of everything that Sebastian and his organization has done for me, and my newfound family. They probably would've done more if it wasn't just us, but what they did was all they could provide. And it was enough.
"Anytime. If anything, you let us explore new things about you all, and it's an interesting discovery. You all can live normal lives like humans, especially since everything but your immune system is human, but we will sometimes ask you to come back and run harmless tests. We will never ask anything harmful of you, and our company never takes risks. So when you're having something wrong with your immune system, just come to us for your "normal" doctor checkups and assessments, our doors are always open," Sebastian concluded.
I nodded to him, and extended my arm and hand to shake his. His grip was firm and direct, and when I pulled away, he walked in the opposite direction to where we were facing. Me and my brothers followed him, knowing he was obviously leading the way outside of the facility.
It's all come down to this, finally getting out and finally getting to a success point. The one that Charlie has been fighting so strongly for. For all of us. And at least some of us can reap the benefits of the success that she paved for us. And even though we're the only ones left, at least we can carry with us the tales of what we had to endure.
We reached the front, and light flooded in as the doors opened. All four of us stepped outside, and me, Fern, and Forrest all basked in the bright sunlight shining down on us. This is the final stretch, the thing we've been fighting for, and waiting on the entire time we lived in confinement.
"Thank you for your all's help on research, if you need anything, we're only a call away," Sebastian said, looking me up and down. I patted my sides and around my pockets, and found a pair of earbuds and a phone that had been gifted to me by someone I wasn't aware of. Until I turned it over and inspected the phone case.
The case had a signature on it, with the art piece of the tattoo Charlie had drawn for me, but a smaller version of the tattoo. She must've done some printing and designing on it before she let me go, and after she'd finished my tattoo, and then just decided to give me a phone as a parting gift into the real world. I still believe heavily that that tattoo, along with the others that she'll do for me, that I'll schedule with her in the near or distant future, and most likely my brothers, will stick with me for a good while.
"For sure, I'll be sure to," I stated, before Sebastian turned on a heel and strolled back into the facility. I looked up at the building, and it was like a mental asylum building, but not one of the creepy ones. It was one that was well-kept, and it wasn't giving off any haunted vibes like normal ones would. But of course on one of the sides, there were some spreading vines that spanned across a wall of the facility, but there were some flowers sprouting from some buds in the vines themselves.
I looked back toward my brothers, and they were looking around at the sky and all around them in pride, before looking back at me, realizing I was gazing at them that whole time. And my face and gaze softened as theirs did when their eyes landed on mine. I walked over to them calmly, and embraced them pleasantly. They did so back, and my heart swelled with happiness.
For once, I was calm, collected, and not on guard. And not alone anymore. Like I'd once thought I was. Of course in this new world, we'll have to be on guard, that's a given. Because it's new, we're not used to it yet. But we haven't reached that point. Not just yet. And once we do, we'll do it together.
"I'm honestly happy some of us made it out. It made Charlie's efforts of freeing us, and freeing her friends and family, worth it," Forrest said.
"I agree. We'd been trapped under Gordon's control for far too fuckin long, we were gonna break at some point, either that, or someone from the outside would help us, so thank fuck your sister Charlie was able to, and able to come to her senses to free all of us in one way or another, whether it was physically and letting us live a new and free life on this Earth, or release us from this life to live freely in another world," Fern concurred.
"We're sorry that you lost her, that's really hard to deal with, and we're sorry that we're the ones you're stuck with pretty much the rest of your life," Forrest grumbled, obviously also trying to hide a chuckle underneath his words. I chuckled at his joke, and I couldn't help but turn on my heel and look up to the sky and all around me as I held one of each of their arms. Trees, plains, some parking spaces with cars, the distant sound of a city's hustle and bustle. All the sounds filled my ears pleasantly, and I swelled with joy once more.
"At least I get to still see her during my dreams, that's all that matters. Because when I had to go under for my surgery, I saw her. And besides, even if she was my sister, and even if I miss her dearly, that doesn't mean I shouldn't stop living in the present simply because I miss her so much," I admitted. Both Fern and Forrest nodded and tilted their heads in response.
"I'm just glad to know I didn't lose everyone."