Houses of Healing

[Gena Martin]

@severitysoftly

Waking up was never this hard and, well, it was hard, wrapped into the arms of a man she loved. He limbs felt heavy, heavier than she felt them before, heavier than after the crash of the Ark, which knocked her out for just a second. Now it felt like thick stones lay on her. Even opening her eyes was hard to her. But eventually she managed it. The memories returned to her as soon as she saw the light. The Grounder. The bombs. There was so much. Or was it just one bomb? She didn't know. All she did was that she passed out after the attack, before... damn, what about the others? Why was she not dead?


As her vision became clearer, she realized she was not in Mount Weather anymore. This was the Ark. Or what was left of Alpha station, actually. And somehow she was alive. Somehow she was here. Somehow her mind was fuzzy and hazy, but she was without pain. Looking around, she saw one of the medics - Bellamy had his rants about all of them at one point in frustration about his leg. He seemed to be resting. Maybe it was night and only the light was illuminating things.


"What happened?"

[Deleted]

Jackson sucked in a breath, roused from sleep, and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. When had he fallen asleep? For that matter, how had he fallen asleep with everything that was on his mind? He and Abby had spent what felt like hours repairing the stab wounds to Gena's stomach and replacing the blood she'd lost, and when Abby left medical, Jackson just couldn't.

This was his fault. So many of their people were dead because he'd challenged Abby to stop being a politician and just be a doctor to save Nyko's life, and had led to the Sky People moving into Mount Weather. And now almost all of them were dead.

As he came out of the fog of sleep, he realized that something had woken him up. He dropped his hands and looked over to his patient to see Gena's eyes were open and she was looking his direction. Had she said something?

He hopped to his feet, suddenly more awake, and moved over to where she was resting. "Hey," he said, trying to smile at her, though it felt wrong on his face. "Bright light," he warned quickly, without giving her time to respond to his greeting, and shone his penlight in her eyes, relieved when her pupils contracted, as it meant the hemorrhagic shock probably hadn't caused brain damage. "Sorry," he said, lowering the light. "Welcome back."

[Gena Martin]

With a groan and almost shriek, Gena let her protest be heard at the bright light. What the hell? "I'm awake and talking. My brain works, I'd say." And even if, there were more pressing matters, actually. If her brain didn't fully work, that was not a huge problem in her eyes. The bigger one being people she had failed to protect, just because she was too weak to stay awake. Bellamy would have probably managed that easily. She didn't.


"Besides, I got stabbed in the stomach, not head. That one works fine." If it ever did. Some had called her masochistic due to who she was with. Well maybe she was. But she certainly was in love and would not apologize for it. "How many survived?" It couldn't just be her. It could not be only her. She hoped it was not. "How am I alive?" Did someone come back for her? She guessed so. How else was she alive. 


"What day is it?"



@severitysoftly

[Deleted]

The reassuring expression Jackson had been hoping for slid off his face when Gina started to talk, his lips tugging to the side. He resisted the urge to tell her he knew what needed to be checked better than she did, but was almost immediately surprised at himself for thinking it. That wasn't him. That was the guilt and hopelessness he felt after leaning about the explosion.

He tried the reassuring expression on again, but it still didn't feel right. "My days have run together," he said. "But you haven't been out long. Maybe eight, nine hours." But then he frowned, thinking about the answers to her other questions. "Only Raven and Sinclair made it out, and apparently the office they found you in had been reinforced. You're lucky whoever did this to you didn't hit anything you couldn't live without."

[Gena Martin]

Only Raven and Sinclair. That were too many lives lost. And why was she still alive? She failed. She should be dead with all of them. She should be dead, not them. She should have died protecting them. She should have done something stupidly heroic. Instead she even failed at protecting people. She failed at it royally. 

She failed because apparently the office was protected. Those cowards. Those damn cowards in Mount Weather had a way to keep themselves safe while killing their people. It hadn't come to it, but it had been possible. That was horrible in itself. 

"Some weird luck that is." Gena provided. It hurt to think that she was partially at fault for the death of so many people. She could have saved them and failed. And they had friends, families. She knew them, she was farm too. Those were her friends that died, though not her family. Those died long before.  "Not surprised a grounder is incapable of basic human anatomy." They didn't have the means to find out about it. "Are you sure nobody survived? Did anyone search the rubble? I... should have saved them."



@severitysoftly

[Deleted]

Jackson was about to answer her questions, but then she said that she should have saved them, and he frowned. She shouldn't blame herself. Not when she had done all she could. Not when, ultimately, this was Jackson's fault. "No," he said firmly. "You did everything you could, and lost a lot of blood. You're lucky you fell on your stomach. It's probably the only reason you didn't bleed out."

He gave her a serious look, meant to firmly reassure her, and started checking her vitals, pressing his fingers against her inner wrist to get a pulse rate. "They are searching the ruble," he answered her finally. "So far, they've only found bodies." He clenched his jaw. He would not get emotional. Not here. Not now. He had a job to do.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

"Maybe the grounder was just bad at killing short-range." Gena suggested, trying to make light of the situation - light that did not include her laughing. Laughing was a very bad idea and a very painful idea with the injuries she sustained. They would heal though, flesh healed, the body was a wondrous thing like that. But she guessed the others in the mountain were beyond saving now. A small part of her actually hoped that, she couldn't imagine the pain caused by the fiery explosion and a collapsing mountain. Maybe a quick death was the merciful end for the people in the mountain. 

"Isn't there some... way to know if people are down there? Some detector for warmth or even heartbeats?" Right now some people might still be hoping their loved ones would return and it would end up being false hope. The curly haired young woman slowly sat up, one hand clutching where her wound was safely under bandages.

"What about... the grounders? Did we react to the attack? Will we? People died in there because of them." It was their fault, because Arkadia had healed grounders in mount weather. That was a clear sign that they meant well, but the grounders still attacked. The moment the mountain was no longer as reinforced, due to tiny threads of trust, they used it, maybe to make themselves feel strong again.

@severitysoftly

[Deleted]

"I'm sure if there is, they're using it," Jackson said to Gena's first question. He put his hand on her shoulder, supporting her as she sat up. And then she asked if Arkadia had retaliated for the attack yet, and a chill washed over Jackson. This was going to start another war, wasn't it? Maybe. He hoped not. People in camp would be angry, but Kane and Abby had gone to Polis seeking peace. Maybe somehow that could still work.

"I'm not involved in those decisions," Jackson said, his voice grave. He was an officer, which meant he ranked just under the council, but he wasn't consulted on these sorts of things. "I certainly hope we don't react with more bloodshed, though. Do you need anything? Water? You really should rest; lay back down if you don't."

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

Gena nodded. She didn't expect him to be involved in the decision. He probably had more pressing matters to deal with. Just because she was injured, didn't mean she was the only one. There were others. And they needed help, too. She would try not to be difficult. Others might even need help more than her. Right now she suspected the only thing she could do was lay or sit there and wait for her body to fix herself. But laying down was boring. 

"I don't think you should be worried about our people." Gena sighed softly, hand still on her abdomen. "Most would avoid more bloodshed, if there was a possibility." If there was a way to tie the grounders to a deal that they couldn't get out of this time, they might be able to make peace. But what if there wasn't? "They'll keep on attacking us. We're an easy target, a great scapegoat for whatever goes wrong in their own society." And it would work vice versa, too, if they let them. She hoped they wouldn't.


"Water would be good." It would be awesome actually. "Can't I sit? I didn't plan on moving much, but I figured I'll spend quite a while laying on my back like a curly haired turtle."



@severitysoftly

[Deleted]

Jackson hoped Gena was right, that their people would want peace instead of revenge. Jackson had been in medical since the explosion had happened, however, and if people were angry enough... Jackson never underestimated the power of large groups of angry and grieving people. She continued on about the Grounders continuing to attack them and scapegoating them, and he sighed. "It's easy to fear what you don't understand. To fear the 'other'. We just need to come to some understanding."

He turned to get her water, and had he been in the mood to laugh, he might've laughed at her 'curly haired turtle' remark. Instead, he just huffed a breath as he filled a glass. "It's better if you lie down, but you can sit. I couldn't lie down all the time if someone told me to." he held out the glass for her to take. "But until you're cleared medically, You can't do much else other than sit or lie down and relax. You may need help getting around for a bit, and you'll need to be off work for a while. No running, jumping, climbing. No sex of any kind." It was pretty much the standard speech he gave to people who needed rest as their primary mean of healing.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

"I didn't plan on any of those activities." Gena smiled. She tried not to laugh, but really the mention of sex tempted her to laugh. Laughing with that wound was not nice at all. Gena knew right then that she would listen to his advice. There was no way she would move much with that wound. There was no way she could imagine the painkillers to work for good. There would be times when they failed - or when she would refuse them. Others might end up needing them more. But right now, right now she was scared of the pain and what would follow. Even with the painkillers right now, she felt like she might be falling apart. 

"I'll stay here and rest. And be bored to death!" Another smile appeared. "Is there a cure for death by boredom?" She knew it was not a real thing, naturally, but she wanted to make light before the conversation would turn serious again. This life, the life they hadn't chosen, was hard on them. But it was not impossible. History had proven that. But Gena hadn't learned all history in her time in school. "It worked before - living with other cultures - it worked before here on the ground. No reason why it shouldn't work again. It just needs time." And work. Arkadia had tried to play by their rules. Maybe compromises were the way to go now. It was an option. 

@severitysoftl