FicWad

“Burnet, she is fine.” I reiterated. “Her breathing hasn't changed, her vitals are normal, and she’s barely moved a muscle.” My temper was beginning to rise once more at the white-haired woman’s insistence. I shoved my instruments into my bag for a second time as I told her off. The only thing I hadn’t moved yet was the steadily beeping Pulse Oximeter on her finger. Standard procedure would dictate that I take everything, but something in Burnet’s voice had me do that one small gesture to keep a monitor.

Instead of answering me, Burnet turned back to the statued form of my sister’s mother-in-law and began shaking her more vigorously. “Doctor Gomez, please get up.”

Zuri joined her daughter and started calling out as well, tapping at her knee to try and rouse the unresponsive woman.

“Knock it off,” I yelled, cursing furiously as I grabbed Burnet and Zuri to push them away roughly. “She needs to recover. If you wake her up, she might not be able to get back into the trance. We don’t need her falling sick on us too because you decided you don’t like the way she rests.” I snapped the words at them, now standing in front of the psychic and blocking the other's direct paths.

“If Miku says there is something wrong, then there is,” Zuri said with infuriating calm.

I paused for a moment as the house slipped into an uncomfortable silence as I recalled our recent conversation, about Burnet and her ability to feel people’s emotions. The only sound to be heard was the beeping machine monitoring the older Doctor’s heart rate. It was slightly elevated for someone who’s been sedentary for hours, but nowhere near an alarming rate.

I sigh roughly. “Alright, tell me what you think is wrong and then I’ll revisit waking her up.” I decided.

“Anya, I don’t know,” Burnet answered with exasperation.

The beeping increased slightly. I stole at glance at the old Doctor, but she remained unchanged.

“Please, you have to believe me.” She begged, looking more concerned. “There’s something happening and we need to pull Mel out of her trance.”

“I don’t think you understand how important it is for Mel to get this rest. She won’t be able to help us find Sashi, connect with Kabir, or even heal Kukui if she doesn’t recover her strength. I know you probably “feel” something, but how do you know it’s not normal? You’ve not been around Psychics enough to even know they meditate, yet suddenly you know, without a doubt, how Mel is supposed to be right now?”

A new knocking on the door drew all our attention away from our conversation, but not before I noticed with a sinking feeling that the Oximeter had, once again, indicated a small increase in Mel’s heart rate.

Before any of us could move to answer the newcomer’s knock, the door swung open, revealing Ori Opūnui with the three children. “We’re back,” he announced jovially. “Zuri? How are you?” He said, reaching out to the older woman to get a hug from her, but stopped short after a brief pause to look at the rest of the room.

“What’s happened?” His smile dropped and his gray eyes took on a serious look.

“Mel is meditating to recover her strength, but these two,” I indicated with a shove of my thumb to the women next to me, “seem bent on rousing her because of some feeling that Burnet has,” I said. I tried to keep my voice steady, but the concern the other two were showing was beginning to make my own resolve waver and I found myself starting to wonder if it would be wise to wake her up too.

Without another word, Opūnui pulled his Go Bag off his shoulder and examined the concerning woman. Himiko came to stand by my feet but didn’t try to give me her usual greeting or hug, which was worrying to me. Instead, she stood, staring with wide-eyed fear at the two older doctors before her. A very small creature I didn’t recognize buzzed next to my daughter’s ear. It had glossy, translucent wings, a yellow and white body, with four dangling legs.

“Himi, what’s that by your ear.” I queried, making to reach down and grab my child’s hand to comfort her fright, but the voice of Opūnui stopped me.

“I don’t see anything to be an issue, outwardly.” He stated, though his eyes betrayed his concern as he flashed a look over to his daughter-in-law. “How long has she been like this?” His gaze turned to the Oximeter on her finger and he squinted his eyes.

“Several hours, from what we know,” I responded listening to the ever-increasing beep. “Her heart rate was not a concern a while ago, but it’s been elevating slowly for the last few minutes now.”

“While it is important for Psychics to rest properly, even if it's just through meditation, I do believe there is something going on here. Her pulse should be much lower than this. Psychics put themselves into a deep trance, but their bodily functions will usually more closely resemble that of someone in a deep sleep. Her heart rate is much too high for that. I wonder if she is seeing something that is raising it. Either way, I think it would be best to try and wake her as well.” He finally concluded.

“How?” Burnet turned to him from her crouching position next to Mel, Lei now snuggled quietly in his mother’s arms. “She’s not responded to our shaking or calling her name.”

They talked for a bit, trying different methods to rouse the woman, and each one failed. I merely stood by watching, knowing that my old mentor had worked with Psychics many times in his days. If anyone would know what to do, it’ll be him. I thought with increasing unease.

“Mommy, Granny won’t wake up.” I looked at my child and saw tears welling in her eyes. She hadn’t moved her gaze from Mel this entire time, even now. Her voice was pleading as she asked. “Why is she so scared?”

“It’s nothing sweetie. She’s fine.” I said softly. I knew something was definitely wrong now. Himiko was seeing something about Mel that was causing her distress. I found myself torn between wanting to pull my daughter away from the situation, but also wanting to be near by to help the woman I had known since childhood. After a short pause to decide if I agreed with my idea I asked, “Can you tell me what you see?”

Himiko tore eyes away from Mel for the first time, looking at me with shock, utterly surprised that I would encourage her to use her powers that I’d spent so long trying to avoid. My daughter seemed to understand the severity rising in the situation and looked back at Mel. She breathed deeply and let it out, long and slow.

I recognized the shift of power. I knew the feeling all too well already, but it was still hard to see it coming from my child.

“What do you see?” I asked gently, setting myself on my knees to sit at her level.

The answer came when Himiko suddenly stiffened, blue eyes blazing with a wild fright. A piercing scream erupted from the toddler's lips. Everyone in the room swiveled around to look at the cause of the noise. The child was now crouched on the floor, her hands covering her face as she tried to block an image from her mind, her body rocking back and forth in her uncontrolled terror.

“Baby, don’t look at it, please.” I pleaded, trying hard to soothe the child, but I could feel my own panic rising in my chest, my muscles hardening and breath shortening as I started pondering the next best action. I held her close to me, squeezing her quavering form.

The beeping Oximeter suddenly erupted in a trumpeting alarm as Mel’s heart rate soared dangerously high. The woman’s complexion paled by the second and beads of sweat began forming along her skin. Her breathing quickened rapidly to a fear quenched wheeze.

I cursed loudly as I moved close to her now. The others put up no fight as I pushed them aside to get near. Zuri swept my daughter into her arms and began bouncing her up and down, singing in her foreign language and talking soothingly to her as Himiko wailed in terror.

“Wake up!” I bellowed over the noise, shaking Mel’s stiff form furiously, but there was no response. I could see discarded items on the table from methods the others had used. Smelling salts, ice packs, and even an injection Ori would use in emergencies to rouse unresponsive patients. They all lay abandoned on the table, useless at affecting the woman. One of Mel’s Pokèmon had been released, and stood worriedly nearby, having also been used to try and reach her.

Without much more thought into my actions, I reached out and grabbed the hand of Mel, her left one, still wrapped tightly in a bandage from the wound I had inflicted earlier that day. I gave it a strong squeeze and finally saw the slightest twitch of her closed eyes. I squeezed harder, beginning to twist the injured appendage in odd ways.

“Anya, what in Arceus's name are you doing?” Doctor Opūnui shouted in anger, grabbing my shoulder and trying hard to heave me away from inflicting more damage on the woman. I clung tightly to her hand with both of mine, crushing and pulling it, feeling sickening snaps and pops between my fingers as I worsened the injury.

Suddenly, Mel jerked, gasping in fright and pain. She doubled over and retched onto the floor, but I didn’t move out of the way, knowing I was the main cause of her reaction. Instead, I crouched down and rubbed my hand along her back, trying to soothe the woman as she gasped in frightened breaths. I spoke soft words to her to help bring her back around gently, the pit in my stomach loosening finally at having made a reaction.

Ori released his firm grasp on my shoulder with his own exclamation of shock. Then he began working on checking the woman over as she slowly recovered. I noticed my daughter’s crying had stopped and saw her clutching tightly to Zuri, staring with a glassy-eyed terror at the woman sitting before us.