Retvik had been staring at the wall for about a day now, his head and body strapped down to the table, rendering him unable to move in any way. He hadn’t slept properly for a while and he hadn’t eaten or drank anything in days. He’d hardly moved either, outside of the constant adrenaline seizures. Unlike the previous times Retvik had gone Defensive Stance though, this time, he could somewhat remember what happened.
They had tried to hurt the fluffy kitty. So Retvik hurt them. He tore them apart. But then the fluffy kitty hurt him. When Retvik woke up, the fluffy kitty wasn’t around. He was surrounded by strangers. More monsters. So he’d lashed out. He was scared, he couldn’t find the fluffy kitty and he needed to protect something, so he protected himself. The strangers though shot at Retvik, filled him with drugs. Too many drugs. Enough drugs to kill a normal Rethan.
After a few hours in a dreamless coma, Retvik had woken up again, strapped to the table he was currently on. He hadn’t moved since.
Something brushed against Retvik’s neck. A hand. One that was undoing the straps around Retvik’s neck, allowing him some movement.
“I am very sorry about how you have been treated, Kyr Retvik! Most unacceptable! How are you feeling?”
Retvik grunted. His throat was sore and dry and he was desperately in need of water. He turned his head to see who was speaking to him, and was only somewhat surprised to see a very young Rethan doctor. They had dark grey skin and purple plating, but their upper arm and head plate were both an orange-y yellow. They also had yellow eyes.
“Angry…” Retvik finally managed to mutter a reply. “I… feel like I know you from somewhere.”
This Rethan was quite small, only about 2.3m in height. The same height as Retvik’s sibling Relkir. But they wore standard medical gear, a white, plastic apron covering their chest, a flexible blue skirt that covered their legs and white plastic foot bags and elbow-long gloves, which were changed regularly.
“How curious!” the Rethan smiled. “This is the first time I have met you, Kyr Retvik! I am Doctor Lisvit, and I just happen to be the closest Rethan medic in the solar system. I was flown in from Alsana, where I normally work alongside a personal security Legion, but today, I am helping you!”
Retvik blinked. Lisvit seemed rather animated, especially for a soldier-caste Rethan. About 90% of all Rethans were soldier-caste and they were normally content and quiet and only spoke when required, so for Lisvit to give away a lot of information and talk in a run-on way seemed odd.
“Anyway, I have some good news. The fluffy is safe and sound, and you did your job of protecting others! The rest of Xeno Dessaron One are all resting up, as is the nice Lanex you saved.”
More blinks. Retvik knew a Lanex had brought him and his team here to… whatever planet this was, but he couldn’t remember her name. The more Retvik thought to himself, the more he realized he had big gaps in his memory.
“What is her name?”
“Who?”
“The Lanex.”
Lisvit shrugged. “I think she called herself Ilga, but I only met her briefly. Very kind, very pretty. Unfortunately, I do have a bit of bad news for you, and some of it, you may have already noticed. Rethans tend to not get Feral Kardia, and the common drug used to knock out patients with Feral Kardia seems to cause several issues with us. That is to be expected, as we are dual-air breathers and the races that can be afflicted with Feral Kardia are not, so of course strange things happen biologically…”
Lisvit paused, they noticed that Retvik’s hands were shaking. They took hold of Retvik’s right hand and held it tightly. The bands holding Retvik down would stop him hurting himself during an adrenaline seizure, but clearly Lisvit wanted to make Retvik comfortable.
“T-thank you.”
“Just doing my duty!” Lisvit smiled and continued talking, their voice distracting Retvik from his pain. Retvik guessed that Lisvit definitely less than 30 years old, their voice was quite high and lacked the gruffness adult Rethans had. “Anyway, yes, you will have some memory loss from over the last three weeks, and, unfortunately, because of the overdose of sedation drugs, I cannot give you the standard medication for your Defensive Stance. This means that we have to ride through the seizures cold turkey, as the Vrekans here would put it. At least, until you manage REM sleep on your own. Luckily, your, uh, unnatural healing abilities mean the adrenaline is decaying faster than normal and you should be able to achieve normal sleep in about 20 hours.”
Retvik tried to answer, but another seizure forced his jaws shut. Lisvit let go of Retvik’s hand and began to massage Retvik’s neck and cheeks, which did eventually force him to relax and be able to open his mouth again.
“I hate this.”
“Understandable! I admittedly have not gone Defensive Stance myself, but I have helped a lot of Rethans who have. Those who work as personal body guards tend to be slightly more prone to it, and the 500th Legion has made much progress in reducing a Rethan’s Defensive Stance from triggering, but rehabilitation is still a little slow. Unfortunately, research will continue to be slow because, as we all know, prevention is better than cure. That and it is unethical to trigger an illness just to see how we can better treat it.”
Lisvit stopped massaging Retvik’s face and moved down onto his shoulders. Retvik wasn’t sure why this doctor was massaging him, but between the gentle motions and the gentle conversation, Retvik did feel a lot calmer.
“You seem nice…” Retvik muttered.
“Again, just part of my job! I normally say and do very little when on my own, but as a medic, I find talking helps calm the nerves! You though are very lucky. Or unlucky, I am not sure. The amount of drugs they pumped into you should have killed you. But also you seem more prone to going Defensive Stance than most. Tell me, when was the last time this happened?”
“Uh… When we fought the Temthans of Anarchy…” Retvik trailed off, grinding his teeth together as his body spasmed again. Realising that Retvik was hurting himself, Lisvit pulled some sort of silicon bar out of their pocket, then briefly covered Retvik’s nostrils, forcing him to open his mouth. This gave Lisvit a chance to force the silicon bar between Retvik’s teeth. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done, and Retvik had caused one of his teeth to snap and he had made his gums bleed.
“Oh dear. This might be a rough one…” Lisvit muttered. “Big, strong bloodline Rethan like you, that desire to protect is buried deep. But do not fret, I will stay with you the entire time!”
With a snarl, Retvik spat out the silicon bar so he could talk again. “Is this normal treatment? I do not remember having someone with me last time.”
“Most Rethans do not remember going Defensive Stance or much about their recovery at all, but you most likely had a nurse keeping an eye on you while you were in isolation!” Lisvit was doing their best to be chirpy and optimistic. “Unfortunately, we are… somewhat lacking in staff here, so I am doing both the duties of doctor and nurse currently.”
“Do you… specialise in this?”
“Not specifically, no…” Lisvit frowned briefly. “But I have done this plenty of times! I did mention that earlier, but I think, mentally, you are a little messed up. Lots of conflicting emotions. And memory loss. Although I doubt you will regain your memories, the random short-term memory issues will definitely fade. I do think you will make a full recovery though. In the mean time, do you want to see your friends?”
Retvik didn’t answer at first. He suffered another brief spasm, then sighed.
“No.”
“Oh?”
“I am… angry. I do not want to see them while I am in pain and may say something cruel that I do not mean.”
“Do you want to say the cruel things to me instead?” Lisvit asked. “Get things off your chest?”
Retvik shook his head. “No. You are very nice. I will hold my tongue for now. And I… I understand why Tenuk did what he did. Desperation makes you do desperate things. I just need a little time to get over my anger.”
Lisvit patted Retvik gently on the head. “That is very kind of you. Anyway, now you are less… ferocious, would you like something to drink? I cannot give you solid food, but we can take you off your saline drip in a few hours and you will be able to have any non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated fluids you like.”
“Can… can I get an orange juice please?” Retvik hesitantly asked. He admittedly hadn’t realized he was on a drip, but since Retvik had only just regained the ability to move his head, he understood why. One of the only upsides to going Defensive Stance was that things like needing to eat or drink could be completely ignored.
“Of course! Fresh or concentrated?”
“Uh, concentrated, please.”
The kindly medic pulled out their communicator and typed a message on it, before turning back to Retvik. Lisvit placed their hands on Retvik’s shoulders and went back to massaging him.
“Thank you…” Retvik whispered, feeling rather weak and embarrassed.
“You are welcome!” Lisvit beamed. “Anything to make a fellow Rethan feel better!”