A vague dream held its claws in her as Aila felt a light behind her eyelids. She felt heavy, like she wasn't quite ready to wake up, but something urgently pressed her to at least open her eyes. Something beeped periodically, in time with her heartbeat. Where was she?
Right. It wasn't yet time for her to die, even though she'd come so close. There was something she still had to do. No, there were many things she had to do.
The Miracles were destroying her world. So they'd have to be removed. And Aila would be the one to do it.
"Bruce!"
He was just looking through a few charts when Alonso ran up to him, panting for breath.
"What is it?" Bruce frowned. If Alonso was so worked up, something big must have happened.
"Aila Day is awake."
Bruce almost dropped his tablet. Aila. The burn victim from almost four weeks ago. Somehow, she'd clung to life, though everyone was convinced she would drop dead any hour. They'd more or less given up on her, especially because Bruce's Miracle wouldn't work on her for some reason. Without the boost from that, they'd believed there was no way she'd survive, or even wake up.
And yet now she was awake. A miracle in and of itself.
Bruce ran after Alonso through the hospital to the ICU, where Aila's faint heartbeat had never truly stopped.
When they got to the room, Aila's eyes were open, and she sluggishly looked in their direction. Alonso walked up to her and placed a hand on her arm.
"My name is Alonso, and I'm one of the nurses here. Can you tell me your name?"
Aila's eyes narrowed, and she glanced down at the ventilator that still covered her face. Then, struggling to speak, she slowly opened her mouth, though her voice came out as a croak.
"Aila. Where's...Mom?"
"Your mom is on her way. We called her as soon as you woke up. Can you tell me your birthday?"
"December..." Before she could say more, her voice gave out and she started coughing. Alonso nodded and took a step back.
"Sorry. We'll stick to yes or no questions, how does that sound? You don't need to speak. This is Bruce. He works with us." He motioned for Bruce to take a step forward, and he walked up next to Aila's bed, looking down at her sadly.
She was so young. Every time he looked at her, he couldn't help but think of Quincy and feel for her poor mom. If anything like that happened to one of his kids, he wasn't sure he could go on. Yet, Aila's mom had visited almost every day, sitting at her daughter's bedside for an hour in silence before leaving to take care of her other kids.
Yet now Aila was looking up at him. He couldn't wait for her mom to reunite with her.
"Bruce has a Miracle that lets him speed up the healing process," Alonso continued. "We're wondering if you wouldn't mind if he tried it on you?"
"Your mom gave us permission to try, but my Miracle wasn't working for some reason, so don't get your hopes up too high," Bruce said gently.
Aila nodded and tried to lift her arm. The muscles hadn't been used in so long, it looked like a serious struggle, so she gave up after a moment.
"Can I try healing you?" Bruce asked softly, placing a hand on Aila's.
She nodded.
"Okay then. I want you to give me a signal if you ever feel like it's too much for you. My Miracle can be rather taxing on the body, so feel free to tell me to stop at any time. I don't want to push your body harder than it already has been."
Aila nodded again, grabbing Bruce's hand with a grip so weak it felt like she could fall away at any moment.
With a breath to steady himself, Bruce focused and tried to access his Miracle. Every time he'd tried over the past weeks, the Miracle had just vanished for no apparent reason. Now, though, it easily came. The healing process started accelerating, faster than Bruce even thought possible. He tried to hold back. Aila probably couldn't take much in her current state.
Yet, the Miracle kept working. The little they could see through her bandages faded, turning into scar tissue, and her breaths seemed to come easier. Her grip on his hand strengthened, keeping him from removing his hand and stopping the Miracle before it overwhelmed her.
Anxiety gripped his heart. The Miracle had never done this before. Why was it out of control? Was Aila going to die because of him?
Yet she looked at him firmly, her eyes never letting him look away. Never letting him stop the Miracle.
"Bruce, is that not too far for one day?" Alonso asked behind him. Aila shook her head.
"I can take it," she whispered, her voice losing the croaky edge it had had earlier.
"Aila, you can't overdo it," Bruce said firmly, finally trying to pull his hand away. She held on tight though, and his Miracle wasn't listening to him.
Finally, she let go and Bruce took a step back, panting from exertion. His Miracle had never done so much, nor taken so much out of him. Somehow, though, Aila looked fine. She carefully pulled the ventilator off of her face and sat up, taking a breath.
"Thanks," she said. "There's stuff I have to do, and the sooner I get to it the better." She held her hand out in front of her, clenching and unclenching it to test the mobility.
"I'll get some more nurses in here and we'll reassess your condition," Alonso said shakily. Bruce nodded and followed him out, trying to make sense of what had happened.
First his Miracle refused to work. Then it went overboard on him. And somehow Aila didn't seem to have felt the stress of it.
Just who was she?
"Thanks for the help," Aila said softly, glancing to her side. The yellow figure stood there, leaning against the wall.
"Things are getting dire. I need you out there as soon as possible."
"As soon as these hospital people say I'm good to go, I'm out of here. And then I'll do what you asked."
"It's convenient that one of their Miracles could be repurposed for this. Really, they don't have a clever thought in their head."
"Hey, I'm grateful for it. I don't know how I'd feel about being stuck in a hospital bed for who-knows-how-long."
"Of course. This, however, is as far as I can take you, Aila. The rest is up to you. If we interfere too much, the humans will become reliant on us and lose their true power."
"Well, thanks for doing as much as you have, then. I owe you my life. I'll make sure to repay that debt, even if it kills me."
"That would nullify my saving you, then. As long as you play your cards well, I don't think you should be in too much danger. The only Miracles you can't affect are rather passive, after all."
"There's Miracles I can't affect? Then how will I get rid of them all?"
"I'm not concerned about those two Gifts. The ones who gave them out are more sensible after all. The Gifts won't really upset the balance of the world. And when your job is done, your Miracle will simply cease to be useful. Really, a perfect Gift."
"Gift? What's the difference between that and a Miracle?"
"Nomenclature. They're two names for the same thing. They thought it was time for a name change, so now they're called Miracles. Originally, though, they were Gifts."
"Huh. Hey, now that I think of it, what's your name? I don't think you told me."
"My name...I haven't been asked that in some time. Very well. I will tell you what the others of my kind call me."
He walked over to her and leaned down to whisper in her ear. As he stepped back, she smiled.
"That's your name, huh? I thought it would be something...grander. Then again, I suppose it suits you. Thanks for everything." Aila tried lifting her arm. It was still difficult. She'd probably need to go through some rehab before she could manage her mission.
"Then, I'll leave you. Farewell, Aila. Take care of yourself."
Aila blinked, and then he was gone. She looked down at her hand and took a breath, then sighed.
She had a long job ahead of her.
The nurses returned, and she leaned back and let them examine her. If she was going to manage anything, she first had to make sure she was healthy.
