Love drifted and she burned. She didn't know for how long. She felt as though she were screaming inside of her head, but couldn't find her lungs through the crushing weight of the blackness pushing on her chest.
She dreamed of sharp teeth, glowing eyes, and a dark pool of blood; but also of strange and unfamiliar voices. She cried for help, but she couldn't tell if she had made a sound. Mixed in with these strange and painful sensations, she occasionally heard a soothing voice, and thought that she could feel warm hands against her face and neck.
The sounds of their voices kept her body grounded. So she pushed forcefully against the black veil, chasing the sound.
A chair scraped back, and she flinched, feeling her fingers twitch.
"She seems to be waking up now, Captain." A woman's voice came from her left side.
Love's eyes fluttered open as she turned her head towards the voice. Slowly her vision cleared, to almost startling clarity. Had her eyesight always been this good?
The woman who had spoken before smiled at her softly, she was clearly a nurse and appeared to be in her fifties, old for the Outer Zone. She had a kind smile and warm brown eyes that crinkled slightly. Her brown hair was streaked with silver and tied back into a low bun at the nape of her neck.
"What happened?" Love asked, her voice a little rough and slightly groggy. Her head was pounding uncomfortably.
"Good morning, dear. It's ok. You're currently inside the medical facility of a military base in Zone 2. Captain Hunter here found you passed out in the back alley near our compound." She spoke slowly and softly, but her words caused Love to frown in confusion.
The nurse had looked towards the other side of the bed as she spoke, and Love turned her head in the direction she had indicated when mentioning Captain Hunter.
The Captain in question smiled politely and inclined his head towards her.
Love stared back.
'Ah, well he's – rather handsome.'
Her heart stuttered in her chest.
The man was a little taller than Love and muscular, with longer hair than he should have for military personnel. It was a beautiful shade of golden blonde and had been pulled back behind his head into a small knot at the nape of his neck.
The sleeves of his fitted, black t-shirt were rolled up, revealing his bronzed skin, slightly weathered, as though he spent the majority of his time bathed in sunlight.
As for his face. He had a strong, square jaw lightly covered in gold stubble and his bottom lip was almost imperceptibly larger than the one above. His round eyes were two different shades of brown, one dark and warm and the other a bright hazel ringed with gold.
It was as though warring features of softness and hard edges came together to form a face that became perfect in its imperfections.
But whilst Love certainly admired the attractive view, her face was a mask of indifference as she slowly sat up. She was just a standard recruit in her the Scouts Unit of an Outer Zone to boot.
Yet, this man was a Captain of what appeared to be a specialist unit within an Inner Zone.
She saluted him politely, attempting to conform as best she could to the appropriate military etiquette.
"I am Private Love Aikawa of Unit 4-7, Captain. Thank you for assisting me. I'm sorry if I caused you trouble" Her voice rang out like the sound of a clear bell in the bright room, and she almost flinched back in reaction to the unfamiliar sound.
'Did my voice always sound like this?' She wondered, dazedly.
It was most definitely her voice, but it sounded just slightly different, as if it had been run through an audio editor and cleaned of all imperfections in the pitch and tonality.
"At ease, no need to stand on formalities with me, our Unit is a little more - relaxed than what you may be used to." He explained, his voice deep and husky.
The Captain smiled at her pleasantly, whilst Love lowered her hand and nodded once in response.
"I'm Captain Kit Hunter. It's nice to meet you." He nodded back, politely.
"But I do have a few questions. I suppose you have answered my first one already, regarding who you are…but I wonder if you can explain what led to you being passed out in an alleyway outside of our, supposedly secret, base." He questioned, his tone now adopting a more professional stance.
Love opened her mouth to respond straight away, but paused, 'Wait. Why was I there? What happened last night?'
'El and I…We went to the club, After Dark - and then…then what?'
The harder she thought, the more her head began to pound. The only image she managed to pull from the murky haze of her mind was that of an inhumanly perfect face of alabaster white, with shining emerald eyes and inky black hair.
"Argh!" Love yelped slightly and grabbed her head with her hands.
"Take it slow, Miss…that's it, just settle back down and rest for a moment." The nurse kindly supported her arms and moved her back against the pillows, straightening them up comfortably behind her.
"Captain, I wonder if you should question the girl later on, once she's had a little time to rest up." She said in a disapproving tone, frowning at the young Captain.
"Ah yes, you're quite right. I should think the Head General will want a word anyway." Kit pondered.
Love winced a little at this. She had little experience meeting with those of a higher rank, let alone in the context of a possible interrogation for trespassing on another military base, with no memory of how or why she had gotten there. Her finger tapped against the bed.
"Ha! Don't worry too much. The General is a reasonable woman." Kit winked at her with his bright hazel eye.
"Just rest up for now, and I'll pass on your name and rank so we can let your unit know where you are. You don't seem like you were where you were for nefarious reasons, so I'm sure we'll have this sorted out in no time." An easy smile crept onto his face, a single dimple appearing on one cheek, and his strange heterochromatic eyes appeared warm and friendly.
Love found herself relaxing involuntarily, and gave a small smile back, nodding politely towards the handsome Captain as he stood to leave.
Just as he reached the white double doors, however, he paused and turned back to where Love was staring after him.
"Oh and before I forget, Private Aikawa. Welcome to the Helsing unit."
**