017

The next morning, Ken goes to the cafeteria to buy breakfast and the two of us eat in silence. After dropping the dishes off, I decide it’s time to start my own physical rehabilitation since the program that the nursing staff assigned me too isn’t keeping up with the pace I’d hoped.

Ken helps me sit up on the bed and moves to get my crutches. I curse at myself when I start to wobble and Ken has to steady me, hands catching my sides.

“I want to try walking without them,” I say, glancing down at the crutches he has in his hands.

His eyes widen in surprise.

“You’re sure?”

With Ken’s Augmentation right around the corner, I need to make sure I’m on my feet again.

“Yeah.”

He hesitantly sets them against the wall, like he’s ready to reach for them at any second in case I change my mind.

Moving hurts like hell. My body isn’t used to standing upright and I find myself struggling to distribute my weight evenly to my feet, let alone walk. I grip onto Ken’s arms and the two of us manage to shuffle to the other side of the room and back.

“There you go, granny” he laughs.

“I swear if I could I’d kick you so hard” I glare back mockingly. He sticks out his tongue and let’s go of me, taking a step back. I let out a yelp and he swoops back in to catch me before I can crumple to the floor.

“I’m sorry, that was really mean of me.” he frowns, biting his lower lip. His face suddenly contorts with pain as I step on his foot.

“Ow!”

“Now we’re even.” I smirk.

With a few laps around the first floor, I’m starting to get the hang of being on foot again. A nurse throws a playful grin at the two of us as we round the corner for the third time.

“I really do feel like an old woman,” I huff, adjusting my grip on his arm.

~~

With the condition that he comes with me, I manage to convince Ken to let me go back up to the apartment to freshen up. After a quick shower, I rummage through the dresser to find a change of clothes, settling on a collared shirt, a sweater and some jeans, happy to be finally out of that wretched hospital gown.

Getting into a pair of jeans after a shower is a struggle enough without having your arms practically immobile and I find myself swearing as my side slams into the sink counter, knocking down almost all of my toiletries.

There’s a shuffling sound on the other end of the door followed by a soft knock.

“Mari? Everything ok in there?” Ken calls out with worry in his voice, “did you fall?”

My ears burn in embarrassment.

“I’m fine. I’m just trying to get some clothes on.”  

To my horror, the door starts to open.

“Here, let me help you-”

“Wait outside!”

I press my back against the door, the doorknob jutting into the small of my back and I bite my lip to keep from crying out. With my jeans finally on, it takes me a few tries to button up my shirt correctly, my right arm hanging practically limp at my side.

I manage to pull the sweater halfway over my head when the muscles in my shoulders scream in protest. I let out an annoyed groan as I try to wiggle into the sweater, but only succeed in getting it even more stuck with my arms burning at the stretch.

“Ken?”

“Yeah?”

“I need you.”

Another shuffle and knock.

“Can I come in?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

I hear the door click open. Ken snorts.

“Oh my god.”

“Don’t ing laugh.” I growl, glaring at him best I can with the sweater still stuck over my head.

I sense him come closer until I can make out his shadow through the fabric. He gently tugs on the material until my head finally pops through. I fix my hair as best I can in the mirror, Ken smoothing out the wrinkles on my collar until I turn to him, satisfied with my appearance.

“Ok, let’s go.”

~~

Ken leads me to a section of the hospital wing that I’m not familiar with, and the walkway that we pass through snakes down a hallway guarded by a passcode protected metal door. He types in a combination on the keypad and a small device slides out to scan his eyes, beeping in confirmation. The door hisses open as the airlock depressurizes and Ken takes me by the hand.

The medical staff look different. Instead of the traditional white uniforms like in the rest of the wing, the nurses and doctors walking about are dressed in jumpsuits with surgical masks covering their faces. A shiver runs down my spine. Even if this is the terminally-ill division of the hospital, I would think it should be more comfortable and less intimidating for the patients.

The two of us continue through the wing until we stop in front of a room at the very end of a hallway. A silver plaque sits below the room number.

Patient #112: Eos

Subject Zero’s Official Candidate

I turn to Ken who’s standing stock still in front of the door with his hand frozen in midair, like he’s contemplating whether to knock or not. He catches me looking and smiles thinly before turning back to the door.

“Eos? It’s Ken, can I come in?” he says. Ken tilts his head to one side.

“Yes,” comes the quiet reply. The door clicks open and we file in.

The far side of the room is nothing more than a glass wall, designed for what I presume to be letting in as much sunlight as possible, despite the fact that the sun hardly ever shines in Seoul. The room is much bigger and more spacious than the ones on the far side of the wing. Freshly potted plants rest against the windowsill and white curtains billow with the comfortable air conditioning.

A bed sits in front of the windows with the recliner all the way up, almost to a ninety degree angle. I can make out the small frame of a patient with sandy brown hair against the stack of pillows, his back to us. At the sound of us entering, he turns back to face us and I try not to gasp.

He looks famished, nothing more than skin and bones. The hospital gown droops over his chest where I can distinctly see the ridges of his collarbones, even at this distance. His skin is translucent with a strange yellow undertone, highlighted by the sickly looking blue veins threading like spiderwebs across his forearms. Though his poor health certainly makes him look fragile and old, I can tell that he’s no older than Hyuk.

“Nice to see you again, Ken.” he breathes, his thin lips spreading into a smile that lights up the whole room. Eos’s tired eyes flicker to me.

“You must be Mari. Ken talks about you all the time, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

His head dips in greeting and I immediately realize how rude I must seem when I didn’t even acknowledge him properly.

“Thank you. Likewise, it’s truly an honor to be here.”

Eos smiles again before I hear him wheeze and he closes his eyes, drawing in oxygen through the tank resting beside his bed. A few moments pass and he opens them again, his voice this time much more audible.

“How are Ravi and the others doing?”

So Eos knows about them. I glance at Ken. Of course he would spend his downtime with Eos talking about us.

“They’re doing great. They did a system sweep of Ravi and he’s running just fine now, looks like there was just a little bug in his program, that’s all.” says Ken, not even stumbling over the white lie.

A bug.

Eos sighs in relief, “that’s great news.”

Ken nods and walks over to join him with his hands in his pockets, enjoying the view.

“So, what’re you looking forward to doing most after the procedure?” Ken asks with a tilt of his head, his lips turned up into that grin that always makes my heart flutter.

The question, however, sends reality crashing down on me. Eos chews his lip thoughtfully, his eyes grazing over the skyline.

“Walking, honestly. I’ve been stuck in this room ever since I can remember. Maybe I’ll do a cartwheel or something right after,” Eos says the last part with a bubbly chuckle. Ken laughs before his expression melts, turning serious.

“You’ll be able to do anything you want, Eos. Everything you’ve ever imagined, it’ll be yours soon.”

Eos doesn’t respond but continues to look out over the skyline.

“What’s the city like?” his voice is breathy and quiet, like a dream. Ken turns back to face the window, stepping up so close that his shoes brush the glass.

“It’s enormous,” he starts, “bustling and filled with life. People always coming and going left and right, places to see, errands to run. It’s easy to get lost in it all and realize your insignificance, yet realize your importance, if that makes any sense. You matter so little with thousands of other people in the exact same place, capable of the same skills, but you can make a difference.”

Ken closes his eyes and shifts his weight to his heels, chin tilted up slightly and an almost blissful expression on his face, like he’s recalling something.

“New choices to take, mistakes to make, things to discover, people to meet. There’s always second chances.”

Eos hums and shifts back on the pillows, imagining the words playing out before his eyes. Ken turns, leaning against the window with his hands still shoved in his pockets, explaining with turn by turn directions on how to find the best restaurants and stores in town with that grin still on his face, Eos responding with enthusiastic nods.

I quietly excuse myself and practically drop down into the chair down the hallway, the dull ache of my injuries causing me to hiss slightly.

My head begins to swim. I knew beforehand that meeting Eos was going to be tough, but seeing how the two interacted so warmly throws me off.

Ken has always been one to look at the positives, but I never expected him to look so content with Eos in the same room. I clench my teeth in frustration as tears prickle my eyes.

“Mari, are you alright?”

Hands on my arms and I look up to see Ken standing above me, mouth in a tight line.

“Yeah,” I whisper in a tone that suggests just the opposite. His eyes soften and he takes a seat next to me, entwining our fingers as I lean into him.

“Tell me what’s on your mind.”

I bury my head into the crook of his neck, his body fitting against mine.

“I’m not ready to watch you die.”

Ken stiffens against me, nuzzling his nose into my hair. He lets out a pent up breath that tickles my scalp and I feel his arms tighten around me.

“Neither am I,” he murmurs back and closes his eyes. His grip on my hand suddenly tightens.

“I’m scared.” his voice breaks, pain etched into those simple two words and the sound makes me sit up completely, crawling as close as I can to him with the armrest between us, digging into my side.

He’s shaking to the point of chattering teeth, staring ahead to the blank wall. Tears well in his eyes, his chest rising and falling so rapidly that I can’t tell if he’s breathing properly. A bubble of panic rises in my throat.

“Ken,”

I gently place a hand on his shoulder. His head bows forward, his hands cradling his temples and he coughs once, gasping for air.

“You only see the Ken that’s pretending, pretending to be okay with all of this. You know why? Because he doesn’t want to hurt you, or us.”

The words of the phantom Ravi resonate loudly in my head like angry bees and I let out a soft whimper.

“It’s ok to be scared.”

His hands come to rest on his thighs and he turns to me, tears falling.

“I just wanted to keep you safe.”

An iron fist squeezes my heart and I lean forward to brush away the wetness staining his cheeks. He leans into my touch and his eyes flutter shut, lashes still fanned with tears.

Eos is too young to be sick. Ken doesn’t deserve to die. They deserve to live, the both of them. It’s not fair, it’s all wrong.

“We’re gonna be ok.” I promise with a kiss.