Tether

Romance/Supernatural/Drama

Story takes place in a futuristic alternative universe.

Twilight doesn't belong to me.

Flashback in Italics.

Three

Waking up is like crawling through quick stand with frozen limbs and the moments of lucidity never last very long. Somewhere in the back of my mind I acknowledge that I must have been pretty dreadfully hurt to be put in an artificial coma. I only know this because it isn't a first time experience for me. An artificial coma is a forced sleep that was developed when humans became immune to medically induced coma.

An artificial coma is induced by injecting nanites into the bloodstream which send signals to the brain to sleep for a certain period of time and when they're ready to wake you they simply kill of the nanites and allow your body to wake naturally but that doesn't mean the brain doesn't fight back. The subconscious mind knows the difference between real and fake REM cycles.

It's like suspended animation and forces your body to heal at 5 times the speed of a regular human. Therefore it tends to waver sometimes and you end up with moments of clarity, especially when you've been exposed to it as much as I have. Through those cracks I hear tidbits of conversations. People should really learn not to talk over someone's bedside.

"…bruised pelvis,dislocated shoulder. The Shrapnel missed all of the major organs but bruised her right kidney, tore through mainly muscle tissue which is re-knitting itself as we speak." utters a detached female voice with all the warmth of a distilled robot. The faint sound of fingers tapping against a net screen can be heard.

I assume they're pulling up my medical records and doing a neural scan which would explain the slight tingling in my brain, but that too could be the effects of being halfway between sleep and awake.

"Poor thing, offspring of mismatched sets always heal just a little slower than normal, even with medical assistance. Must be something in the genes." Another softer female voice comments and there's a faint touch of fingers against my forehead. It's the unspoken rule in society that you don't mention mismatched couples in polite conversation, most like to pretend that such a faction of people doesn't exist and I guess it brings them a sense of comfort. Some behave as if pairs like my parents are unnatural and a danger to humanity. If I could I'd have scoffed in disdain, but unfortunately I'm used to discriminating remarks even the ones that seem harmless still get under my skin after all this time.

Even the most liberal of my friends at school seemed inappropriately fascinated by the fact that I was the offspring of a mismatched couple, all the under the impression that I'd somehow be drastically different and by different I know the mean stupid and uncultured and slow, unattractive. In the early years I used to go the extra mile to prove them wrong, before I realized that it didn't matter what they thought or expected of me.

Some people even went as far as to hide their status but I tend not to judge those who choose to do so. It's not anyone's business to know and once upon a time I would've denied what I was. Let's just say society likes to pretend that discrimination against mismatched couples and their offspring does not exist. It doesn't help our case that most mismatched couples can't have kids further reinforcing that we're other, but personally I think there's more evidence to support that environmental pollution is a significant factor.

Most mismatched cases live in poverty stricken sectors or production sectors where air pollution, even after all these years, is at its worse and genetic mutations through the generations for some reason have made humans more sensitive to the effects of pollution instead of the opposite. Scientist in the earlier days theorized that we'd become immune to it but instead we became more fragile in that respect. Which is why most of the air is filtered and there's such a tenuous balance between technology and nature. I'm one of the fortunate many to live in Arcadia and my parents have made it a point to keep me away from the production sectors.

"Because mismatched couples don't produce the best of humanity into one person. Are you really that surprised that there are anomalies about them? In my opinion they shouldn't be allowed to have offspring. It's already a shame to our society that these bonds exist, but no they have to create life too. Then they grow up with the same moral fiber as their parents." Another voice remarks scornfully and the first inhales sharply and I don't imagine the harsh reprimand in her voice.

"Irina! Not everything is black and white not even in a world such as ours. You took an oath when you became a healer to treat everyone with equal care and to discriminate against none, bring harm to none. You'd do good to remember that, least anyone hears your blasphemous remarks." My heart warms a little at the defense of me and after that there's a pregnant silence and I think they won't speak again.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you were a sympathizer but rest assured whatever my personal feelings. I never let them affect the quality of my work." She replies haughtily. If that's true then why am I half awake and half asleep? But really you're going to have this conversation while I'm lying here injured, I think sarcastically.

"And I think that you're just jealous of the contributions of Charles Swan to the medical and environment field. It's what the fourth time you've come in second place to him for the Jager Award for scientific mind of the year?" It's a rhetorical question of course but it does its job of irritating Irina if her marked silence is anything to go by before she remarks fiercely. " Everyone knows he doesn't deserve it, my innovations over the past three years have saved millions of lives and he gets acknowledged for planting pretty flowers." Well she's one bitter apple if nothing else and I wish I could laugh, but the other healer does it for me when she chuckles softly.

"And by everyone you mean you. Millions is a gross over exaggeration, besides the longevity of our ecosystem is a paramount issue, especially after what happened in Amdora last year. His work is essential to ensuring the continued survival of mankind for the next thousands of years even. Plus he solved the problem of oxygen degradation so that you have the breath to make disparaging comments about his daughter . Do you really want to get kicked off such a high profile case?"

Her statement causes another escalated pause Irina Sighs reluctantly " No, I'll keep my comments to myself if you stop kissing Charles' ass in hopes of him awarding you the Martian grant Alice. He's not even in the room and you only worked with him once." From her tone of voice, I can discern that she secretly wishes that it was her.

"Agreed….and I won't tell anyone about how unprofessional you were today." Angela replies with a false saccharine voice. "Pass me the gauze…." before I can ponder the issue of their conversation further darkness embraces me with cold, lithe, unforgiving arms.

When I come to again, I feel hands caressing my forehead again and a slight humming of a song I don't recognize but I doubt I'd be able to comprehend much anyway. My head feels like cotton balls and string. Maybe I've got a concussion too but I disregard that conclusion as quickly as it arrives.

" How much longer will she be under?" Someone utters softly and I can almost feel their breath whiff across my cheeks.

"Two days, the laser dart that he was shot with was laced with poison. We had to neutralize them both before anything else could be done. She's been picking up the slack, helping him heal before she heals herself. " I recognize the voice from earlier and I'm grateful that it isn't Irina speaking to whoever is by my side. Something tells me her bed side manner leaves much to be desired no matter how much of a brilliant healer she seems to think she is.

"Is the bond that strong?" She reflects in disbelief. As if someone told her that the sky is composed of apples and oranges not eaten by the angels.

"Yes and heightened proximity to each other is helping it along. You shouldn't worry though its normal and I've seen it many times." The healer reassures with a confident cadence." She can't feel his pain either in case you were wondering as you know the bond must be consecrated for that to happen, But I still thought I'd mention it."

I'm slipping into the nothingness again. If I didn't feel like roasted road kill I'd find it in myself to be annoyed at my hovering in and out of consciousness. Dozens of questions flutter around in my head like startled butterflies to the point where it's almost a physical sensation. What happened to us? The one thing I want to know, that no one is talking about.

The lights are too bright even behind closed lids I can feel it piercing down on me, my heads pounding like a frantic alarm system and my throat is as forgiving as sandpaper. My eyelids are stiff like they've been glued together with wax. " Isabella, try to keep as still as possible you've been under for three days, drink this." I'm instructed and before I can protest as soon as I open my mouth a cool capsule is placed on my tongue by gentle hands. The capsule dissolves instantly and my throat no longer feels like a scorched desert.

"Lean back gently." soft hands lightly tilt my head back and a drop of liquid is placed in each of my eyes- it smells like mouth wash and feels like jelly but doesn't sting- and their hands gently manipulate my eyelids in a circular motion. The same is normally done with new born babies to ease their transition into reality and I guess you can say for the next 20 minutes I basically am a newborn to the healers. " You've been asleep for five days, everything's healed well but you'll still feel some phantom pains in your pelvis and left shoulder." The healer gently explains.

"Can you active my retina scanner? I want to get caught up on what I've missed. Where's my parents?" My voice is wispy and thin, barely above a whisper and I'm surprised she even heard me. I want to ask for information on Edward but I know she won't tell me. I'd have better luck prying that kind of information out of my parents.

"They told me, that's the first thing you'd ask. Unfortunately I can't do that. Your parents are in the waiting room and they'll come in when I've finished my post-op examination." She fluffs my pillow and elevates the bed rest so that I'm sitting up right. "You can open your eyes now." She reassures and I tentatively separate my eyelids from each other.

The lighting in my room has been dimmed to a twilight atmosphere. The hospital room is simple and painted in light pastel colors-blue,lilac and aqua-and I briefly wonder if Dad pulled some strings to get my room specialized as those are my favorite colors. It is furnished with a med doc: a bed that looks like a large incubator stuffed with blankets and pillows that floats above the ground.

A rotating scanner rolls over my body with periodic beeping and I watch as it records the current state of my body on the holo screen on the wall in front of me, my nervous system is lit up like a neon sigh and more information is loaded below the imagine but I can't read it from this distance. It hurts my eyes to try so I don't windows are seamless and dressed in heavy drapes, stainless metal cupboards are attached to the right wall, next to it a small vent and right next to it a door that I assume leads to the bathroom. The rest of the walls are bare to facilitate holo screens.

My healer stands at the lonely vent cleansing her hands(using water for methods of cleaning is strictly prohibited instead chemicals and bacteria are eradicated by laser waves programmed to destroy them). I observe her silently as she goes about her task. She is draped in typical healers robes, a shapeless pant suit held together by a series of wraps, bright pink in compliments her dark skin.

Healers are always draped in bright colors. Dull colors more specifically white and grey were banned from hospitals after Volutri proved that a vibrant environment has a marked improvement effect on the healing process and blank colors slow it down. When he first concluded this study, even backed with mountains of evidence in the form of case studies, experts regarded his research as utter nonsense. It would be two years before any hospital would apply "the color wheel effect". The first being 's hospital in Ethenia, within a year the survival rate increased by 2%. Soon afterwards every hospital followed by example.

I'm getting off tract again. Nice to note that my patent for daydreaming still lives on.I turn back to my has a petite frame and fluffy scattered curls on her head that have been subdued into a single french braid that lies against her mid back. Sharp pixie like features adorn her face and she lightly bounces on the balls of her feet,like a balloon filled with too much helium, as she reads through the results of the body scan. This little show of agitation conflicts with the gentle, confident hands that directed me not moments ago. I can't make out the color of her eyes from this angle and if she knows that I'm observing her she doesn't show it.

The healer walks over to my bedside and attaches two paper thin stripes to the inside of each elbow, spraying a light blue liquid over it before smoothing with her fingers. I grit my teeth as the sensation of millions of tiny needles rolls over my skin. Its gone before it becomes really painful. "Painkiller patch, It'll release a dose of medicine to you every two hours until you don't need it anymore. I'll get your parents for you." She murmurs, her eyes are hazel, and makes her way to the door and just as it slides open I call out to her.

"I didn't get your name?" I wonder if she's Irina or Alice. I can't imagine her to be Irina, if is she then she's a very accomplished actress. "Healer Alice, I'll come back to check on you in a few hours and then you can be discharged." Then she disappears beyond the sliding door.

I sigh and blow a raspberry silently contemplating activating my retina scanner myself , then again is it really worth the hassle? I shift my body slightly to the left and the sharp ache that sprints through my body puts a dent in my plans to raid the medicine cabinet across from my med bed to see if the active chip is stored there even though there's a slim likely hood. I'm just not one of those person's that can sit still for long and I've been asleep for nearly four days so I deserve just a little bit of wanton adventure. Besides I'm more worried for Edward than I am for myself, it's never a good thing when healers lips are tightly sealed on certain matters.

It reminds me of when my aunt Maggie died 3 years ago. She was working in one of the poorer districts with a humanitarian group as part of a development project. It was only supposed to last for 5 years but she signed off for another five years of service. No one had many questions about why she didn't want to return to Arcadia. You see even though you find out who your mate is at 17, you can always choose to live without them, choose to live apart. To never get to know them and just live your life as a signal. It's never spoken of why she made the decision and being my mom's sister it sparked more controversy and debate about "defective gene's" in our society.

Maggie was a free spirited and my favorite aunt, well my only aunt. She wanted to travel to the outlands beyond the boundaries of the seven sanctuaries and document what she saw and did. The story of her life would've been the first real look at the world beyond the cover. There was only one glitch in her plan, in order for government to approve your exit of the sanctuary you must be a single. The most important one of the long list of regulations and she planned to bypass every one of them, which included working in the poorer sectors to see if she could withstand the higher levels of pollution.

She confided in me that it was the hardest, most terrifying wonderful years of her life. Though we were close even I never did find out the reason she stayed those extra years. She could have just payed her due and left, but she didn't and the exposure to chemical pollution finally took a toll on her body. In actuality she wouldn't been fine if she hadn't added on the stress of fighting the bond between her and Liam. Of course no one said as much but I knew, not like it would take a scientist to figure it out.

I'm drawn into remembering her last moments, even then she was a fighter. I thought mom would have been the person she'd spent her last hours with but instead she sent for me. I grew up twice in the span of three months and no one knew it but me. The parents suspected but I was firm in that I was okay.

Her hair was a dull reddish brown that laid in a limp sickly halo around her head, thinned out from the treatments that didn't work. Maggie was never a slender woman but seeing her now reduced to nothing was more frightening, her skin stretched taunt over bone. At most she probably weighed 90 pounds. Her eyelids were bruised , her lips pale and cracked. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought she was already gone, but no one could mistake her shuddering labored breathing. It rattled her chest and shook her entire body.

Tears filled my eyes and I wanted to run from the room. I stood by the door not wanting to go any closer. This person, that thing laying there was not my aunt but it was and my heart ached for her as if it would rip from my chest in grief. I wanted to call someone tell them how cruel it was, that she should've been afforded a death far more merciful. To scream and yell: why'd you leave her like this?

It was the first time I'd ever been brushed by death , you could even smell it in the room and even without mom or dad saying anything when they shuffled me into the room I knew was going to be the last time I ever spoke to her. I was so scared my fingers trembled. I felt like such a coward, but I wanted to be strong for her. So I made my way over to her bed side and climbed up beside her, shuffling her gently into my arms like you would a porcelain doll. Tears streaming down my face, remembering all the time she did the same for me.

Her eyelids slowly cracked open and I could see how it hurt her even to smile at me. " Bella." She rasped and gripped my hand with surprising strength. " You're growing into such a beautiful young lady and I see you got your hair clip today."

I tried to stop crying like such a baby and be the comforter for once, no one should have to be the stronger in their dying moments. I wanted to make it easier for Maggie. So I swallowed my emotions and did my best to give a real smile, as she played with my hair. I stared the blue, green veins that I could see so clearly. She was like paper, but still felt human. " Yeah, it's blue and silver my favorite color. There was a ceremony and everything and Keeper Didyme was there which was really exciting as she rarely makes appearances and she blessed all of us." I'm proud to say that my voice doesn't crack and my sniffles are contained to my chest. If she noticed my shaking she wasn't bothered by it.

She makes a pleasing sound in the back of her throat, nodding slightly. "I remember when I got my pin. I was so nervous that your grandma Marie considered pacifying me. It was a much smaller group at the time and only one keeper, but I remember he wore bright blue robes that trailed the ground behind him when he walked and was so tall he towered over everyone there the mayor. He had such dark hair and eyes that if it wasn't for his brightly colored robes I'd have thought he was a dark angel. At the time I didn't know why I was so moved by his presence. Like a mortal staring up at a Greek God, so I did my utmost best to disguise it and just wrote it off as jitters. It wouldn't be until four years later that I'd find out why I thought of him every night and every morning as I woke up." She takes a another shuddering breath and coughs silently. It wracks her entire frame and I coo and cradle and murmur reassurances like I would with a baby.

"He was my soul mate and his name was Liam. You couldn't imagine my shock, but there he was and in the secret place of my heart I had known that he was but I was just a girl and too scared to admit it to myself." Aunt Maggie's voice has a babyish cadence now and I don't think she even remembers I'm here so I just stroke what's left of her hair ignoring the clumps that fall out. It's unfair that I've been thrust into this position, yet I can't imagine anyone else being in my shoes. I let her continue careful not to interrupt. She doesn't need me to say anything, I just need to listen. Even as she's dying I can't help but be fascinated as she continues with her story. Aunt Maggie was notoriously private about the identity of her mate and I don't recognize the name which isn't surprising as my mom and her sister are from Ethenia. There's a glazed look in her eyes as she continues.

" I've always had a major dose of wander lust in my system with questions no one could answer, but I won't lie and say that the identity of my mate didn't factor into my decision to be the first woman to explore the out lands. It cemented it. After my confirmation on the last day of school, I didn't talk to anyone. I went straight home and to my room, getting away from the burning questions your mother had for me wasn't easy either." She pauses and closes her eyes for a moment and I almost think that she'd fallen asleep but just as abruptly she opens her eyes again.

" I only allowed myself to speak to him once. I was just in shock the entire time that I was mated to a Keeper and in the back of my head, underneath all the adrenaline of finally meeting who I was meant to be with, I knew what it meant for me and for him. I could tell even from the one conversation, that he loved his job and the children of Ethenia. I knew he would never leave his post to someone else, it would break him and inevitably me if he did."

Keepers are supposed to remain pure and separate from us , they're normally picked and trained from a small pool of individuals that have not been matched. There hadn't been a case of a keeper having a match since the first days in the after.

"I was young and rebellious , I wanted to be my own person and foolishly I thought to be with him would be giving up who I was instead of being a part of something greater than me." She pauses again and swallows hard, it's clear to me that its painful to speak and just as I'm about to voice my opinion she gently shakes her head. " No, I have to tell you this. Don't get me wrong, even now I don't regret my decision and I've lived my life to the extreme and I've seen and experienced things people my age will never get to see. I'm not afraid to die My only regret is that I have to take him with me in death. He doesn't get to live on. I was selfish and he was selfless in so many ways. I knew that for the brief meetings where I allowed myself to know him." Tears slip down her hallowed cheeks and I wipe them away.

"But I should have done things differently, I wanted the world. I could've had so much more than I allowed myself to. I thought that giving in meant giving up my dreams but it didn't. I refused his mark that day, but he still wanted to know me and I couldn't bare the temptation. So we met ,the more time we spent together it was clear he expected nothing from me. At first I was very intimidated by him, he was so much older and wiser and of course handsome." We both giggle like lunatics at this point and I'm grateful that she has this reprieve from the pain.

She goes on to give me more details about how she kept the truth from mom and her parents and made arrangements to leave; join the humanitarian program and submit her application for exit after all the requirements were met. She avoided him all throughout the process. They didn't consummate the bond, so it made it just a little easier for her to leave.

"He deserved so much more than me, gave me everything and I gave him nothing. I finally realized that I needed him more than he needed me. I was cruel and tactless when I last saw him in hopes that he'd forget but he used his connections to get my net screen address and he wrote to me every day. I never replied. Eventually the letters stopped coming." She chokes out and clings to me tighter, before reaching underneath the pillow next to her, pulling out a thin flat disk. " It's a memory disk." she states and slips into the front pocket of my robe, gently brushing over the material with her skeletal fingers.

"And once again, I'm going to be selfish. He's on the 6th floor room 9812. He doesn't want to see me and who'd blame him after everything and all these years apart. I want you to give this to him, we're blood so the biometer will recognize you and you're slight of frame. You can get pass the keeper. I only have hours left." anxiety crinkles new lines between her brows.

" I want him to finally know what he meant to me. " I'm too emotionally numb to panic or freak out at what she wants me to do, I just nod stiffly . I'll do it, she smiles at the determination that settles in my eyes.

"You don't need me to tell you that life is short even with all this advancement to prolong life, we're not meant to live forever or even close to forever. I want you to learn from my mistakes. I know your mother has tried to poison you away from the concept of soulmates, mostly because of what I've done and what she's been through but you have to know that It's the most amazing thing that will happen to you. When it happens to you promise me that you'll give it a chance, that you won't run. The bond doesn't make you love someone that comes from deep within, it just shows you what could be and you must do the rest. So . promise me you'll give yourself a chance."

I can't hold back the tears now, staring into her glassy eyes and doll like face.

"I promise." I whisper solemnly and aunt Maggie nods before slipping into unconsciousness again, the rhythm of her weak pulse beneath my fingertips reassures me. "I promise."

In the end I did what she asked of me, and I never told my parents what transpired between us. I was brave. Liam was moved by whatever he saw on the memory disk and he was moved to her room, for the most part he had looked healthy but anyone could see that his heart was broken and what was left was a shell but there was some spark in his eye as gazed upon my aunt for the first time in over ten years. They died that night cuddled in one med bed, in each others arms. Though Aunt Maggie never did wake up to see him her body and soul recognized it was a peaceful passing for them both and I didn't cry until the Away ceremony. I didn't cry again until I was all alone the night after. Somewhere in the records they're recorded as the first keeper match in 120 years. The diary she used to document her travels and findings in stored in the National archives, thankfully she didn't include any extraordinary details about her family just know we're related and that's it.

So yeah hospitals regardless of their cheery staff and neutral atmosphere will always be a terrible place for me so even though I've only just met him, I need to know that Edward is okay. I need to see him with my own eyes and know what happened. Until then i rub my fingers absentmindedly over the bandage still attached to my wrist.