“Don’t worry, mister Litvir, you’ll be okay!”
As soon as the Three Es had returned with Litvir in tow, it had been a massive rush to get Litvir treated. Everyone was thankful that Litvir both wasn’t too badly hurt and, once he had woken up, was capable of using his telepathy to tell everyone what had happened. Really, apart from a couple of scratches, a cracked tail bone and the wound on Litvir’s neck, the only major problem was the paralysis, which Galyn and Tahvra had been working on making an antidote for. Three hours later, everything had settled down, and Tahvra had discovered that the paralytic venom wasn’t permanent, and would eventually decay.
But the entire time, Retvik had been as close to Litvir as possible. A few times, the medical experts had been forced to shoo Retvik off, because he was in the way. Now that things were working themselves out, Retvik was sitting in a chair next to Litvir’s bed, holding his hand maybe a little too tightly.
“I do not feel, as you say, okay…” Litvir telepathically muttered. He was more annoyed than anything else. Litvir had never realized how much he liked to swish his tail around up until now, but thanks to his current condition, his tail, like the rest of him, was eerily motionless. Litvir didn’t even have control of his own eyelids, and they had been forced shut to stop his eyes from drying out. The worst thing was that Litvir could telepathically feel Retvik’s anxiety, but he couldn’t feel Retvik holding his hand. Not could Litvir feel the fact that his tongue had slipped out, and Tahvra had gently prodded it back into Litvir’s mouth, then adjusted his position so that he could drool more freely. The only parts of Litvir that were moving were involuntary actions, such as that of his heart beating and his diaphragm forcing him to breathe.
“Understandable!” Tahvra had climbed onto the bed. “Before I explain, would you prefer me to talk or to use telepathy?”
“I want to hear you speak, please. Even if I currently cannot.” Litvir had also realized how much he missed actually talking.
“Alrighty!” Really, Tahvra had been a complete angel the entire time. Leh and Koh, the more medically inclined members of Kal, had done their best to help, and Galyn had very swiftly gotten to work on an antidote, but Tahvra had made sure Litvir was comfortable. “Well, first things first, you’ll definitely be able to move again. Even if we did, like, nothing right now, the venom will eventually decay! It’s doing a… thingy where it sticks to your nerve endings and is blocking messages sent across your body. But the sticky stuff can be melted away, and mister Galyn and I are working on that.”
“How long will that take?” Retvik asked.
Tahvra counted on his tiny fingers. This made Retvik even more anxious. Litvir wanted to smile but couldn’t. “Well, we got to test it first. Don’t wanna just stab any old stuff into mister Litvir now! But, like, if we don’t do anything, the venom should go away in like 2 ev thingies anyway, and you should get your head and arms back in like 20 hours. In the mean time, I’ma gonna help keep your arms and legs and stuff moving, and once you have head and arm control back, we’ll move you back to your room for some privacy and stuff. Does that sound okay?”
Litvir tried to nod but failed. Instead, he answered telepathically. “That is fine by me. I am taking up valuable actual patient space anyway. Will there be any side effects to any of this?”
“Not long-term ones. You might need crutches for a bit, I guess, if you don’t wanna use your telekinesis all the time. There’ll be patches of numbness too but those will fade. And you might get dizzy spells for the next 48ish hours because of the blood loss. But, like you’re super lucky, mister Litvir!”
“I guess. I do not feel lucky. Would I be able to get some time alone with Retvik, please?”
Tahvra seemed to hesitate this time. Retvik watched as Tahvra checked everything. After a moment of thought, Tahvra seemed to shrug, but he clicked as well. All of Tahvra’s actions were accompanied by some kind of sound, a subliminal way of helping Litvir follow what was going on. “You can, but, like, someone’s gotta, like, stimulate your body. Gotta massage your arms and legs to make sure the blood flows right. I can do it now and show Retvik how to do it and then you can talk to Retvik, or I can give you five minutes and come back? Sadly we kinda gotta do this every 20 minutes right now because you can’t move and we don’t wanna give you bad circulation.”
“I do not mind massaging you, dear,” Retvik was desperately trying to be optimistic, but Litvir could tell that he was more upset than Litvir was. Then again, Litvir was somewhat riding the high of being alive. Also, he was pretty sure he was on some sort of nice pain killer.
“Very well. Show Retvik how to keep the blood flowing. I would like some alone time afterwards.”
Tahvra started explaining everything to Retvik, but Litvir stopped paying attention. He couldn’t feel anything right now, he couldn’t even see what was going on, so he couldn’t really appreciate the fact that Retvik was now massaging his body.
“Alright, I’ll be back in 15 minutes. Call me if you need me!”
Litvir heard a door slam shut. After a few more moments, the chair next to the bed scraped and Retvik sat back down.
“I am worried about you, Litvir.”
“I will be fine…” Litvir telepathically replied. “I survived. I am not dead. I will get better. People have tried to kill us before, this was just a bit… more successful than normal.”
“You are paralysed.”
“Indeed. I obviously do not like it. Mostly because it reminds me of being trapped in my old digital matrix after you helped kill me. But there are two things that bother me more… Do you mind opening yourself up so we can both speak telepathically?”
Retvik grunted, then closed his eyes and concentrated, squeezing Litvir’s hand tightly. It always took Retvik a moment to open up his mind for fluid telepathic communications.
“What do you want to talk about, dear?”
“Well, the first thing is quite simple. I think Deathven wants us dead. The Mindeater was sent to kill me. To deal with what Deathven believed to be a ‘troublesome Psion’. After all, I did somewhat waltz into Deathven Sector Alpha and immediately confront the Overlord in person, circumnavigating their defenses.”
“Ugh…” Retvik accidentally growled out loud. “I feel the same way. When you panicked and ran away, I mentioned to Vikalos, Galyn and Itaviir that I believed the name of our Trio, the Missing, was deterministic. That we were doomed to disappear. We learned that it was no accident that Life Goddesses were allowed to contact Arkay, even though he was supposed to be in a Life Goddess-free sector. And after what just happened to you? I am massively concerned.”
“I am too, we ought to arrange some sort of extra security or something. I am very thankful that Eksi, Elkay and Elksia found me. I am also…” Litvir paused. He wasn’t sure how to phrase his next few words. Retvik could tell he was struggling.
“What is wrong, Litvir?”
“Arkay’s promise to us is still intact.”
Retvik blinked in surprise. “Arkay… saved you?”
“Yes. He killed that monster, and stabilized me, then disappeared. He had no idea who I was. But… admittedly, I could not see much, but Arkay looked and sounded… beaten. I was not saved by Arkay. I was saved by someone wearing Arkay’s skin, so beaten down and dead inside that they no longer saw themselves as a valid, living being.”
“Well… we… somewhat already knew this.”
“We did. But it hurts, seeing someone you love and miss after so long, and realizing they both do not know who you are and are gone beyond recognition… Yet again, what little hope I had has been lost. On top of my current position, it makes me feel miserable.”
Litvir tried to sigh, but it came out as awkward warm air from his nostrils. Retvik shifted closer, so he could stroke Litvir’s face, even though he couldn’t feel it.
“You are allowed to feel miserable. Feel as awful as you want. At the same time though, we both need… some sort of positivity. Something to look forward to.”
“I am… somewhat looking forward to Elkay and Teekay’s wedding. We may be forever incomplete, but it is so sweet that those two will finally make their partnership official. Unfortunately though, I think you are going to have to take them on their little planned shopping trip to get the bits and pieces they need… Have they decided on a time yet?”
Retvik snorted. “No. Teekay wants to invite more guests, and he is working out distances and things like that. I can understand it, I invited a lot of people when I married Gath. Maybe… Never mind…”
Litvir was certain Retvik was briefly shielding his thoughts and desires, but he was too tired to pry.
“I know things seem awful right now, Retvik… well, they ARE awful right now. Being paralysed is fucking awful. But I am happy to be alive and I am happy you are here next to me. Even if I cannot… hm, well, I think I am slowly getting some feeling back in my hands.”
“You are weirdly optimistic.”
It annoyed Litvir that his laugh came out as a weird gasp rather than anything remotely reasonable. “Hah. I am trying my best. I am still alive. In bad shape but alive. I ought to make the most of it. Especially if I am getting full body massages every 20 minutes.”
It was a struggle, but Litvir managed to smile, just a tiny bit. Retvik sighed, then gently kissed him on the cheek.
“What was that?”
“A kiss.”
“Huh. I felt that.”
Retvik kissed Litvir again.
“I love you, Litvir.”
“I love you too, Retvik. Even if I cannot say it out loud right now.”
“Do not fret, you can tell me you love me with your voice later on…” Retvik smiled back as he stroked Litvir’s cheek some more. “We will survive.”
“Yes, we will.”