Broken hero

Chapter 9

   Eclipse stares out the window, her mind racing. The first part was over but what about the next? She winces at the thought about what comes next. Warfalcon handled everything a lot better than she had expected, but that didn't change the unease she felt over telling him the rest. A knock on the door interrupts her thoughts and a lean man in a doctor's coat enters the room.

"Sorry I didn't check in earlier. I heard you were up, but that you'd had a discussion with Warfalcon. I figured I'd give you some time to readjust." The man smiled warmly as he approached her.

The man everyone affectionately called Doc may not be what you'd originally think of a professional doctor, but he was good at his job. Not to mention he was one of the only ones with enough knowledge about Eclipse and her unique biology to be an effective doctor. He had black hair and green eyes that sparkled.

"It's ok. Good to see ya again doc... though would be better if I had come back the way I intended." Eclipse chuckles awkwardly as the man grins, shaking his head.

After a few minutes of checking her heart rate, breathing, eyesight, and look over her neck for any lingering effects of the poison, he made a note on his clipboard.

"Are your powers back?"

"Not completely. They're there but it's like they're muffled a bit."

"That's normal. So, you should be good to go. You'll do better if you get some of your strength back from home or your room than you would in a hospital bed. If you want to sign out, then we'll make sure you can at least walk and then we'll get you outta here. Sound good?"

Eclipse hesitates for a moment before nodding. Doc helps her stand and then has her walk around the room a couple times. At first, she felt unsteady from her muscles not being used but it soon got easier and she was walking fine without any help. She asks for a piece of paper and scribbles something on it before handing it to Doc and signing his forms.

After he leaves, she stretches for a few minutes before testing her shadow control. They jump to her commands with ease and let her walk into the shadow realm without any difficulty. Walking down the dark path, she starts to feel guilty for just leaving. Hopefully Doc gets her note to Warfalcon, but she just can't handle telling him, not just yet. The shadows open and she steps out to the sun and in front of her is a door the leads to a house, her house. A small black hole opens and drops a pair of keys into her hand, which she uses to unlock the door.

Stepping inside, she had to fight the urge to throw up as the unwanted memories came surging back. Closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, she calms her nerves and starts up the stairs to her bedroom, ignoring the mess downstairs. She knew it'd be like that and was prepared for it, but that was an issue for another day. She collapses on the bed, not even bothering to get in properly and laying a crossed the middle to fall asleep.

The creak of the bedroom door caused Eclipse to jolt awake as she realized her mistake, but it was too late. A weight lands on top of her chest and nails dig into the skin of her neck, pain shooting down her body as she suddenly becomes paralyzed.

"So, you're back?" The figure above her smirks as her silky voice fills the room. "I'm going to have so much fun."

A snarl is all she can muster as a needle pierces her skin and everything goes black.