#x. threads

It's been a long day. Allison had agreed to cover a day shift, and it had been a struggle to be so off from her usual schedule. The day shift crew was much more hectic, there were more people waiting to be seen, more patients coming in and out, some even in body bags. Nothing she isn't used to, but it just felt so much more draining. She was looking forward to just crashing on her couch with Wayne, a pretty glass of something red and a crappy movie, maybe even a call to Andrew if he wasn't busy.

Those comforts in her future give her enough energy to walk up the stairs to her floor. She can almost taste the cheap wine, digging her keys out of her purse, when she spots the figure by her door. Her heart stalls for a moment, wide eyes taking in the sight of him, and then she's rushing forward.

"Holy shit, Andrew!" Gentle hands skim over his skin, extra careful of the obvious wounds. "Can you stand? Why didn't you call me?"

It's her day off, and she's been looking forward to this for weeks. Ever since her friend Claire from college said she'd be taking a few days off from her job to come down for Pittfest, Allison has had today marked in her calendar with a goofy little happy face sticker. It's been such a long time since she's gone to see some actual live music, and even longer since she's seen Claire in person instead of FaceTime.

And then it all goes to hell.

Bullets flying, people screaming and running, people falling and failing to get up again. She does her best to help, getting the injured into cars and trying to help keep people stable enough with limited and makeshift resources. And then Claire gets hit. And it's like Allison's brain just shuts down any extra functions. All that matters is getting them both into her car without any extra injuries and getting them to PTMC. Back to the Pitt, on her day off.

She doesn't remember the drive, which will worry her later, but they get to the hospital in one piece. Claire is put on a gurney and pulled away, and Allison doesn't waste a second, just heads towards the nurses station to grab a gown and gloves and--

And then she sees Jack. Her brain turns back on and her heart squeezes painfully in her chest, a lump in her throat as she calls out to him from across the ER.

"Jack!"

There weren't many glaze lilies left in Liyue. According to the history books, there used to be entire fields of them, cared for by a god who's name had been lost. Guizhong Xiangu wished that she could go back to those times, but then, she considered, who would be left to care for the glaze lilies of her age?

Today, she sat on the ground, her Vision-Powered Wheeled Chair resting nearby, and sung a gentle melody to the fragile flowers growing outside Qingce Village. Somehow, she knew that the flowers enjoyed the music, and it was almost as if she could feel them gaining strength the more times she visited.

She heard footsteps approach, but waited continued on until the melody came to its natural end. There was no need to interrupt her performance.

Ava made herself known with a simple knock on the room that had been assigned to Lyra. The woman didn’t want to intrude in the other’s life, much less make it seem like they needed to answer or talk to her now. Ava knew getting used to new things could be hard, specially after an experience like Lyra had lived. Though she didn’t know the extent of it, Ava knew it was horrible what they must have gone through. But it was due that, that the woman was here. She wanted to make sure Lyra felt welcomed, at ease. If not at home then at least in a place where they felt safe. “ How are you holding up? ”

         The events of that unfaithful day played like a broken record every second of her life. Haunting her, never letting her have a moment of ease. It wouldn’t be just the nightmares that plague her but everything in Elta’s day-in-day-out life. Every corner she’d turned, every noise she’d heard – every little scene that would play out before her, it would unfold a never endless set of memories she wished she could just make disappear. If only Elta had told him the truth, maybe none of what came after would’ve happened. Maybe Mal would’ve understood, or maybe he wouldn’t have – but Elta felt that had circumstances been any different, today she’d have her daughter with her and her husband as well.

Nothing but regrets plagued the woman and there was nothing she could do about it now but keep going. Even if taking a way out of this never-ending pain would be easier, Elta needed to keep going, for the memory of her husband and daughter.

Upon entering her home, Elta knew something was wrong. Though the front door of her residence had been locked, the inside of her place was different. As if someone had been there, as if someone else was still in the house. Her trail of thoughts now forgotten as she looked for the gun usually kept by the entrance. Though she despised using guns the woman needed to be prepare for anything, now she knew this. Careful not to make any more noises that she had already, the woman made her way into the living room area – much to her surprise it was empty. Soon she followed towards the kitchen – empty as well, and lastly towards her room. She was right alright, she wasn’t alone but who she saw there was not someone she expected to see – ever again. 

                                                                              “ M- - Mal…? ”

Despite her best choices, Elta found herself lowering her weapon. Frozen in place by the door of her room as she simply stared to who was – her husband? Elta had thought she’d seen him before all over the city, places where they would’ve frequented during those years he’d been alive. But the woman knew that was nothing but her own mind playing tricks on her. Pretending she saw him in a crowded room where she couldn’t quite pick him out of. But this, this was different. It was him, alone – in her house. Her house, because she’d left their own home at The Hive soon after his death. Not able to bare being all alone there, when he was no longer around.

Tears stained her cheeks, not even aware of them as she took one tentatively step towards him before stopping. It had been more than nineteen years since she saw him and every bone in her body screamed at Elta to run to him, hold him, hug him and never let him go. But this was wrong, he just couldn’t be here. Not when she had seen him died, specially how he’d died. So with all the willpower left in her, the woman wiped away the tears – raised her gun and pointed right at the man standing in front of her. 

It had been one week after the incidents and chaos still overpowered everyone. Walking down a street was far more difficult now and helping others was completely forbidden and it wasn’t like Alex would go leap blindly into a place to safe someone. It was a selfish way of thinking, but she had learned that nothing was gained from helping a random person not without losing something first. But sometimes despite the selfishness and the rules established in order to protect the civilization, there was some part in her. Maybe the rational part or just the part that made her human - that had Alexis doing the very thing she promised herself she wouldn’t do. In this case, helping others.

Even though days had passed since the incident and everyone was sure there were no more victims or people trapped within the ruins of the hospitals and the monorail, but there is. She was sure of that and she didn’t need anyone telling her different or telling her so because she just knew.  She’d helped a kid before near the monorail ruins and now here she was within what was left of the hospital and the police station. Making her way through the ruins to help yet another person who was there. The real question in all of this wasn’t if there were any survivors at all but how had they survived for so long? How did they survived these days stuck in this place waiting for someone to come help them while slowly realizing that no one eventually would? Those were the questions that Alex wanted an answer to but wouldn’t get from anyone, not here and now for sure.

Her hands are still shaking. Even as she hits the call button under his name, even sitting out in the ambulance bay in the late night summer heat -- or maybe it's considered early morning by now, just past 4:30. Her whole body is trembling from leftover adrenaline and fear. It's not her first code Hula Hoop, but it's the first time she's been so shaken by it that she accepts the order to go home early.

The first sound of his voice feels like the first breath after being underwater too long. It has her tightening her grip on her phone, clinging to the faraway comfort. She can't help but apologize for waking him. Knows sleep doesn't come easy. But still she asks for him.

"I'm at work. I'm-- I'm okay, I just.. can you come pick me up?"

Allison is exhausted after such a hectic shift. Her feet are throbbing, her knees and back ache, and there's a headache that's been pressing at her skull for the last three hours.

And yet she feels sort of serene. Normally, right after getting back to her apartment after a long night, she follows the routine of pouring a glass of wine and hanging out with Wayne on the couch for a while. But this morning has a special guest, one that will be with her for a nice little while, and it makes her chest feel all warm and full just looking at the little darling; baby Jane Doe, swaddled and napping in the car seat she was able to borrow. Wayne had been curious at first, poking his head in to sniff at her cheek, before starting to purr and making himself comfortable on the cushion next to her. She couldn't resist snapping a few pictures with her phone, sending one off to the day shift nurse who had asked her to foster when her shift first started.

Then, well, she has a call to make. Normally when Allison calls Andrew in the morning, it's to invite him over for breakfast before she passes out. She hopes he won't be upset that she's added a little something extra to their usual plans, chewing at her lower lip while the phone rings until he picks up.

"Hey, good morning, honey. Listen... I brought a little bit of work home with me. Can you.. can you pick up some baby formula on your way over?"