Recovery

The overpowering scent of disinfectant permeated the air as she breathed in, sharply, for the first time in days. Her brow crinkled and her eyes twitched, but not much; something was stopping them. She could hear the hissing and buzzing of machinery beside her, and the crinkling of the plastic pillow under her head. One eye opened, slowly, and then the other. Something was wrong with her right eye. Blurry. She closed it.

Something very faint squeezed at her hand, as if she were wearing very thick gloves and could only feel a little of it.

"Jade…" The warmth of familiarity. Elation.

She looked around. Nothing but blurry white and whirring machines. Darkness overtook her mind again, and she slept. It was cold in the dark.

For the longest time, all she knew was dark. Every now and then, she'd get a peek into the bright world, where things were white and people moved, but it was always short-lived. She saw faces she knew little of, and a couple that might've seemed familiar if they weren't blotchy and blurry. Someone had better get on that. Fix it right up.

Time passed her by until the day where things changed. The world got bright again, and didn't want to go away. The people she had seen surrounded her that day, and placed something familiar over her eyes; everything was suddenly quite clear. No more blurriness.

Someone with white hair asked the others to turn her around, sit her up, and very calmly told her to nod if she could see.

She nodded.

They put her through tests. It was hazy and slow-moving, but everyone seemed pleased with her answers. Smiles all around.

Then the others were gone, and only the white-haired one remained. The smile she wore so proudly through all her tests seemed to fade.

"You won't truly be able to grasp this at the moment, Jade, I understand that… But I have to speak with you. Most of your higher brain functions have been… subdued, for now, for the sake of your recuperation. I know that if you were truly awake right now, you would object to it, but trust me - it's for the better." She paused, then seated herself on an uncomfortable-looking stool. "There's… Been an incident. You were riding with your fiancée, and something went wrong. The fact that we don't know what that something was, however terribly disconcerting that is, isn't… The worst of it, I'm afraid."

Jade nodded, daze-like.

"My name is Alyssa Eldrolem. We talked a lot when your fiancée, Leura, worked for me."

Familiar warmth. Leura.

"You were both in a high-speed collision. You both sustained… injuries. Yours were the more superficial of the two, and under the terms of your fiancée's work and health insurance, we were forced to take action. Your left leg and arm are synthetic reconstructions. Your jaw is mostly synthetic. Five vertebrae are synthetic."

Jade stared back, unmoving and unemotional.

Alyssa took a deep breath. "But Leura's injuries were more severe. As it stands, Jade, I'm afraid your fiancée is classified as neither living nor dead. We have reconstructed her body to the best of our abilities, but the unique nature of her condition has left our methods of revival in an extremely cautious state. For now, she remains in stasis. Chances of successful revival are… In the single digits." The woman sighed. "I'm sorry. I developed the technology that kept your fiancée alive from birth. Things were unlikely enough to work then."

Jade continued to stare back into the woman's eyes.

Alyssa shook her head. "… We'll be unlocking your brain in a few weeks. Maybe by then, I'll have gotten better at giving you this information. If we're lucky, and we find a way to revive your fiancée before then, then I may not have to do it at all." She stood and ran her hand along her wristband, ushering in the nurses from the hall.

"One can only hope."