"Richtofen!" A voice cried out.
"Richtofen -- wake up! Come on!" The voice trembled.
Richtofen could hear the voice calling out to him through the void. Everything was black as his mind lay suspended in limbo. But each time hear heard the voice; it seemed to gradually pull him out of it.
"Please, wake up!" The voice called out.
The void seemed to go on for miles. Its crushing sea of darkness spanned miles in all directions. Richtofen slowly floated along as he looked around for the voice.
"Richtofen, follow my voice!" The voice whispered.
"But vhere?!" Richtofen wondered.
Then, as if his thoughts had been answered, he spotted the residual glow of a light on the horizon.
"I must follow it!" Richtofen thought.
The doctor began to move through the weightless void as he clawed his way through the air. Slowly, the light began to become brighter as he pushed forward. He began to feel the same warmth of its rays as before. The freezing air of the void thawed as he approached the light. Once Richtofen was within reaching distance he extended his arm to grab it.
"Huuuuuuuuuuhhh!" Richtofen violently gasped as he sat up before crashing back down.
His eyes were flooded with bright light which caused them to lose focus as they struggled to adjust. But through the chaos he noticed a familiar silhouette beside him.
"Richtofen, can you hear me?" The voice called out.
"Zhat voice... could it be?!" Richtofen asked himself in disbelief.
"Richtofen, come on! You need to stay with me", the voice commanded.
"Fight it!", they cried.
Richtofen paused for a moment. Through the cloud of delirium, Richtofen tried to process the voice before his heart skipped a beat.
"...Is zhat really jou? ...Have I died?" Richtofen whispered back.
"Oh for goodness sake don't be so dramatic", the voice replied sternly with a Scottish twang.
As the swirling disorientation began to clear; his eyes regained focus. Richtofen turned to see Kiana kneeling beside him on the floor. Her face was crumpled with worry as she tried to rouse the doctor awake.
"I never zhought jou vould find me", Richtofen mumbled.
"Aye, well you're not getting rid of me that easily I'm afraid", she replied sternly.
"I'll be sure to chastise you for what you did later but there are more pressing matters at hand", she added with a faded smile.
"We need to get you off this filthy floor. Can you get up if I help you?" Kiana asked.
Richtofen nodded and tried to sit up. Kiana helped him sit forward as his breathlessness eased back into a slightly more normal rhythm. She calmly helped Richtofen up as he shakily got up.
"Zhe adjoining building... zhere... is a room to zhe right", Richtofen whispered weakly.
"Okay, let's take it slow..." Kiana warned.
After a few laboured attempts, Richtofen finally managed to make it onto his feet. The weight of the cosmonaut suit fought against the pair as it tried to drag Richtofen back down.
"Take your time, you can tell me when you're feeling ready to walk", Kiana said.
"I'll be fine", Richtofen snapped defiantly.
He did not like the feeling of needing someone's help. He had always relied on himself and being in this state frustrated him.
"Sorry...", Richtofen whispered.
"It's fine, don't worry", Kiana smiled.
The two then made their way to the room as Richtofen's legs threatened to buckle under his weight. Once they finally ascended the stairs of his office and out into the open air; Richtofen felt the cool air brush against his feverish skin.
Trembling, he pushed forward as they made their way towards the adjoining building. After taking the steps down into the next room; Richtofen pointed to a barrier.
"Zhis vone, it is a door. Zhe barricades are gone", Richtofen explained breathlessly.
Kiana cleared the debris off of a nearby counter top for Richtofen to lean against. She then hurriedly grabbed the door handle before pulling. The door struggled to open against the cluttered floor before finally giving way. Richtofen then stood up and slung his arm back over her shoulders.
The doorway led to a sharp corner before revealing a long narrow corridor. As they made their way down, Kiana noticed many doors which lined both sides of the corridor. Some of the doors were shut whilst others were completely open. There were large smears of crimson blood along the tiled floor and bloody hand prints which decorated the walls. Kiana's stomach churned as she tried not to imagine the violent scenes which had taken place.
Finally, at the bottom of the corridor, Kiana noticed a metal door. Richtofen pushed through the fatigue as he kept this eyes fixed on the door ahead. As they shuffled closer, Kiana noticed a metal placard embossed with indecipherable Cyrillic.
"I'll get the door", Kiana announced before Richtofen hobbled closer for her to open it.
As the door creaked open it revealed some kind of staff room. There were two old sofas which lined a large dusty coffee table. Off to the side, Kiana could make out the outlines of what looked like a small kitchen.
"Well, I had no idea this was here. Could've been living it up in style", Kiana tried to lighten the mood.
"Let's get you to one of those sofas", Kiana added as the pair made their way to it.
Every muscle in Richtofen's body trembled as he tried to gently lower himself down onto the sofa. The weight of his cosmonaut suit only made the matter worse as his fever seemed unrelenting.
"I don't know why on earth you insisted on that suit", Kiana shook her head.
"Your fever, it's getting worse", Kiana said as she put the back of her hand to Richtofen's forehead. She let out a sigh before finally continuing.
"Richtofen, you're going to need to take that damn suit off. That thing is only insulating your fever", Kiana explained awkwardly.
"I hope you have something on under there", she cringed uncomfortably which caused Richtofen to laugh.
"Und vhat if I don't? Jou vill get quite zhe eye full, ja?" He mumbled before trying to catch his breath.
"Even in this sorry state you're still cracking the jokes", Kiana rolled her eyes.
"I could go get Dempsey to do it instead of me..." Kiana asked.
"Nein, I'd razher succumb to zhe fever zhan let zhat ape put his grubby paws near me", Richtofen scoffed.
Kiana approached Richtofen before trying to sit him forward. As she fumbled for the opening on his cosmonaut suit - her hair grazed against the side of Richtofen's face. The close proximity reminded him of that day in the projector room. His head began to spin with the memories as he relived it in his mind. But it was cut short when Kiana finally spoke.
"Right, I've got it", she announced.
The suit contained so many insulating layers which protected the wearer from the freezing temperatures of space. But in Richtofen's case, those layers were practically going to boil him alive. As Kiana unfastened the opening; it revealed the next layer. Richtofen began to shiver uncontrollably as large beads of sweat trailed down his temples. His hair was soaking wet as it clung to his head. Eventually, Kiana managed to release all the fastenings before turning to Richtofen.
"Right, I'm going to need you to help me as I pull it off", she whispered anxiously.
"Very vell", Richtofen nodded as he braced himself for the extertion.
Kiana had also detached the outer layer of the suit at the waist. All she had to do was take off each half at a time to reveal the other layers beneath. She sat Richtofen up as she began to pull the torso of the suit upwards. With a few tugs she managed to slip it off over his head.
Beneath the suit Richtofen was wearing a strange under-layer which seemed to have copper wires running through the fabric.
"It's a cooling unit", Richtofen whispered.
"Hah! You're kidding?" Kiana scoffed.
"It doesn't vork..." Richtofen replied.
"Ugh, typical! There really was no point in you wearing that damn suit!" She sighed.
Richtofen thought back to the night he acquired the cosmonaut suit. The night that other version of himself tried to kill him back in Ragnarök. Of course, he had no choice but to take the suit. He wanted to make it look like he was the one who had been killed in the altercation. But more importantly, he had never worn a cosmonaut suit before and he felt like a change of attire.
Kiana fumbled away as she tried to make sense of the suit. The now defunct cooling unit appeared to be a complete suit in itself. She then proceeded to remove the bottom half of the outer suit as Richtofen groaned uncomfortably.
"How on earth have you been able to exist in this thing?!" Kiana shook her head in disbelief.
"I need to get this next suit off", she grimaced.
Kiana quickly unzipped the front of the cooling unit which revealed what looked like thermal underwear beneath. She quickly freed Richtofen's arms before removing the lower half of the second suit.
"Thermals too?!" Kiana mumbled.
Richtofen was really overheating by now. She had to work fast to try and regulate his body temperature.
"I don't even want to think about whether there's anything under those thermals but we need to get them off. Can you try and help me with this one?" Kiana asked.
Richtofen strained to lift up his arms as Kiana pulled the long sleeve thermal top over his head. She quickly threw it to the floor before trying to avert her eyes.
Richtofen was bare chested - revealing all his scars. There was a shrapnel wound here and a stab wound there. Each scar told a story. He chuckled to himself upon seeing her reaction.
"Oh please, it's zhe bottom half jou have to vorry about", he grinned.
Kiana shuddered before trying to locate the waistband of the thermal leggings and slip them down. She turned her head away as she tried to awkwardly remove them.
"Uh, you're going to have to be my eyes here, doc", Kiana mumbled uncomfortably.
Even in his current state, Richtofen took pleasure in Kiana's squirming and discomfort. He found it amusing to see her behave like this. Surely she was used to dealing with patients? Or maybe it was different because it was him?
Finally, the leggings were removed and quickly thrown to the side. Kiana remained facing away from Richtofen as she waited for him to say something.
"Jou can look around, I do have somezhing on", he laughed through the discomfort of his fever.
Kiana turned her head whilst keeping her eyes fixed on Richtofen's face.
"I need to get you some water. The cold air will cool you down for now. I'll only be a minute", Kiana explained before running off.
The air really did take the edge off of Richtofen's fever. It slowly began to stabilise as the cold air enveloped him. He sighed as the relief he felt was immeasurable. Richtofen lay quietly as his body began to return to normal and his delirium slowly melted away. Kiana then returned with some water and what appeared to be a rag.
"Have a sip or two, you'll feel better", Kiana said as she passed the doctor the water.
Richtofen lifted his head and took a few sips before thumping it back down against the sofa cushion. Kiana then poured some water over the rag before wringing it out and placing it on his forehead.
"I have so many questions", Richtofen whispered.
"Well you're not in a fit state to hear my answers and I'm not a big fan of repeating myself", she said with a smile.
"Just rest. I'll wait outside and give you some space. Just shout me if you need me", Kiana explained as she stood up to leave.
Suddenly, she felt Richtofen's hand grab hold of her wrist.
"Bitte, shtay here", he whispered - deliberately avoiding eye contact.
"Okay", she whispered back.
"Please try and rest. I think some sleep would do you good", she added.
But before she had even finished that sentence; Richtofen was already snoring away. His face was still slightly flushed with hues of pink but the sweating had stopped. He just lay there looking peaceful.
His usually furrowed brow had softened and relaxed - even his signature scowl was nowhere to be seen...
End of part fourty-three...