The Quest is BACK ON! DisreputableCharles and Hikaruchan

At the sight of the gauntly Riker, she tensed up, the gravity of the situation had risen drasticily. If their enemy was already able to retain Riker, then what was to stop him from gaining control of the rest of him.
Soren appeared to be trying to enter the boy's sleep in order to aide him, and Miyoko sensed that little progress was being made.
"Soren, what do we do?"


The ground shook slightly, causing Riker and the shroud which covered Shane to shift, revealing the elven girl'r left arm. From the crook of the elbow to the palm of her arm was a long jagged scar, which appeared to have been months, if not years old. Riker did not remember any such marking upon Shane, yet here it was. And this Shane appeared the precise same as the one he knew, all but this detail. Wait, that wasn't true. The shrouded girl had her hair ornately braided, her entire self ha seemed...groomed. The Shane he knew didn't waste what she considered "Luxuries." She was focused on fighting, and as such there were a matter of bruises and scratches covering her, yet there were none here.
Though this confused him, it meant little. If this was a vision, a highly tortuous vision of what to come, Shane was an elf and this could be what she appeared years from now. Nothing was going to ease the pain.
"See how you are the end of her? See how all you do brings destruction her life?"
 
Frustration and concern welling up inside him, though greatly diminished in outward appearance, Soren's expression was dark as he turned to Miyoko.
"I don't know," he said, obviously irritated that this had to be his honest answer. "It's inside his mind, deeper than I can penetrate. It's past reason or logical thought, but in the parts dominated by memories and...emotions..." Soren's gaze strayed to Shane as he thought; why had he not thought of this earlier?


Suddenly noticing the Immortal looking at her, Shane's unease elevated.
"...What?" She asked tentatively. Already she was growing apprehensive for Riker's condition, and the stares of Soren and Miyoko that suddenly arose did not help to calm her. Still, how could anything, as she saw him in such a state?
 
Sensing what Soren had theorized, she placed a hand on Shane's shoulder, "Shane, you're going to have to open up again. Talk to him, tell him what it felt like, what you told me. He has an extremely strong tie, and the only way to pull him out of that dream, out of whatever torture he is facing is for him to hold onto you."
Miyoko gestured for Soren to go outside while she continued on, "Now, don't worry about feeling vulnerable, alright? Riker is unconsious, remember that. He won't be able to remember what you will say. Soren and I will be outside, out of ears reach, but you can call me if you need someone or if something starts to happen. Right now, there is no other option, besides letting that person who is controlling him to do whatever want. They could keep him in that state for as long as they want, do you understand?"

The voice brought on the reoccuring feeling of his head splitting open, and he fought against the pain.
"I didn't do this, I didn't hurt her!"
Not yet.
 
They left the room, Soren casting an almost worried glance back at the door as they did so. When they were well out of earshot, he turned to Miyoko and said,
"I certainly hope the Elf can summon that sort of emotion at will; if she is too reluctant, he has no chance..."


Shane stood motionless a while even after the other two had left; the sight of Riker so tortured was painful, and yet she could not bring herself to look away. Taking a deep breath, she ventured forward to the bedside, slowly sinking to her knees. She took Riker's hand in both of her own, letting out a weighty sigh.
Can you hear me? She thought, almost prayed, as though she could somehow make the words in her mind known to him. I'm here, Riker...come back.
 
"Soren, the one thing I have definite trust in is those two. And if their love can't last this journey, make it through this one obstacle, than I care for a horse more than water." her tone turned more serious, "But honestly, I have seen them and not all is lost. Now, yes they are in an extremely awkward phase at the moment, and there's anger and frustration, but Shane trusts him, how often do you think that happens for her? Even when we were in Da'Tak, when she was around her own people, the only time she wasn't on edge was with Riker. And he...He acts like imbecile, throws away any respect he's earned to protect her. So have a bit faith, Soren. Shane knows what she has to do, furthermore, she knows she can't lose him."


Through the pain, Riker could sense some other tug on his mind. It wasn't violent, it was gentle. Almost comforting, but incoherent through the voice's hold on him.


 
A complacent nod was Soren's only answer; she was right, after all. The emotions between those two were so guarded and yet so painfully obvious, and no doubt strong enough to overcome this barrier. All that they, the outsiders, could do, was wait and have faith.


You can overcome this, Shane spoke in her head, you can be stronger than it. Her grip tightened, as though that alone could keep Riker there. You need to. A sharp intake of breath, then she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the forehead.
...Don't leave me here.
 
Don't leave me...
Her soft voice rang throughout his head, the it had the volume of a faint whisper. In that moment however, Shane's voice was the equilibrium, it drowned out the sharp, vile that had been there previous. Around Riker, the dream began to lose ground, all he saw became evervescent, fading to black.

 
As though in silent prayer, Shane leaned her head against her entwined fingers. The helplessness was near suffocating as she sat there in wait, only hoping that her efforts would do something. Seeing Riker in that state, she knew she had to bring him back.
Riker, please...be strong. Shane exhaled heavily. ​I need you here.
 
It was as if a reality was collasping around him, breaking, falling and then...
Riker shot upright, gaping for breath like a fish out of water. There was a constricting pain in his throat, his head felt as though he was on fire. But he recognized the room, and as he turned there was one thing that brought him utter relief.
Shane, living, shocked, but alive.
He fell back on the cot, a wave of exhaustion coming over him after the ordeal.
 
The rest happened in a blur for Shane; Soren and Miyoko came back; "He needs a healer," and so she brought him to one. Impatience may have caused her mind to be a bit scattered, but the whole thing made it difficult to think. As they left the healer's house, she could not help but feel concerned about letting someone else watch over Riker.
 
"Shane...please, no..."
He sat up realizing that he was no longer in that tortuous vision, but instead he had been laying on a rather uncomfortable cot. The room which Riker was currently in was small, the only other pieces of furniture in the room was a small stool, by a table covered in bandages and vials of strange liquids. A healers room. At the foot of the bed was his tunic, he then realized his chest was bare except for the bandage that was wrapped around most of his abdomen.
But what...the only things Riker recalled was the sight of the unmoving Shane and a voice. The same voice which had spoken to him when he first had that vision.

"See how you are the end of her? See how all you do brings destruction to all life?"
"Well it's good to see you up!" he looked up, seeing the source for a perky voice. She was a young women with red hair, an apron wrapped around her, but instead of cooking utensils in the pockets , they was a pair of scissors, more bandages, an pouch filled with herbs.
The women pulled the stool to his bedside, where she then put a hand on his forehead.
"You're fever broke which is good. Your friends'll be glad to hear that,"
Fever? Had he really been sick? Was the whole vision, the voice, was it all some sickness induced hallucination?
Riker spoke up, his voice with a hoarse edge, "My friends...was their a girl with silver hair there as well?" The red-haired woman nodded in response and he felt a sense of complete relief wash over him. She was alright, which was all that seemed to matter.
"What happened?"
"Well," she stood up again and moved to search for something on her desk, "your party brought you in, you had a extremely high fever, you were unconscious for nearly four days. The girl you were asking about, Shane, has a bit of a temper, by the way. Nearly struck me down when I said I couldn't do much else besides wait and watch. It seemed you were on your deathbed."
She smiled brightly at him, "I do have to say, I'm glad your not. Anyways, I'll go get your friends. I have to remove those bandages to see if its an infection, and I don't think they trust me to do anything when there not around."

 
He's in good hands, Shane," said Soren, trying to reassure the Elf on the fourth day since the traumatic events. "Lydia said she'd bring us in when he awoke; I doubt that a healer would break promises that might cause further injury to her patients." In truth, Soren knew that nothing he could say would change Shane's attitude.


Instead of responding, Shane impatiently rolled her eyes. The healer had irritated her since the look she had received when the redhead noticed her ears. In addition, she detested the never ending plains that surrounded them; had they been anywhere near a forest, Shane could've utilized herbs twice as effective as anything a human could conjure up to heal Riker. She'd been on edge for days, frustrated and anxious, and nothing would ease that until she saw Riker and completed her own diagnosis of his health.
 
Riker waited until the healer left the room to release a sigh as he ran a hand through his shagged hair. There was a dizzy haze shrouding his thoughts as though it was the morning after a very long night at the pub.
Though this was an obstacle, he scrunched his noise as he tried to remember what had occured.

The healer, Lydia as she called herself, entered the room where Miyoko, Soren, and the antagonized Shane sat in wait.
"He's up now. Seems a bit confused, but that's to be expected from someone who was asleep for four days. You can come see him now, I'm going to check the wound, make sure it's not infected. That might be what caused him to fall suddenly ill."
Miyoko knew this was no use, but she and the others felt it best not to tell the human what had really attacked him. Shane, unsurprisingly was the most vocal about it.
 
Entering the patients' room, Soren's first thought was that Riker looked infinitely better than the last time he had seen the boy, though a bit dazed from his long sleep. Walking to his bedside, the Immortal smiled slightly and said,
"So then," with a question in his eyes, "how's it feel?"


A realization hit Shane as she walked into Riker's room that she had not considered previously: they had not spoken, or rather, Riker had not talked to her since, well...
Gods, what am I doing? The natural impulse was to assume the sort of cool detachment that Shane usually reserved for foreign environments---which, technically, this was---and remained silent with her arms crossed, farthest away from Riker.
 
Before answering Soren's question, his gaze was caught on to Shane, as he realized how much he had missed her, how extremely happy he was to see her. After all, the last though he had of her was...
Dead.
He removed himself from the gaze and looked back to the Immortal, "Good, I suppose, still feels like someone hit the back of my head with a very blunt axe however."

From afar, the very obvious attention the two were giving each other was...amusing. Trying to stifle any laughter, Miyoko turned to Lydia, "So what exactly did you want to do?"
 
Suddenly very aware of how Riker was looking at her, Shane selected a knot in the wood of the floor to stare at. She had not spoken to him outwardly since that mindless impulse, and though she was scarcely ever nervous, somehow the thought of that caused her pulse to quicken. Still, a moment alone would have been better than Lydia hovering about. Shane was irritated by the thought that neither of the others had thought to ask her aid in healing; after all, a life encompassed by forest did yield teachings in knowledge of healing herbs and plants. After all, that had been her apprenticeship in Mengar, at least until the Prophecy was given and she began training for battle, like all the others of her age. And there was something in the way the girl looked at Riker...it roused Shane's anger like an idiot who provoked a sleeping beast.


A slight smile flickered in Soren's eyes as he replied,
"Well, it's better than being comatose for an indefinite period of time." He turned to the young Healer, asking, "How long do you think before he'll be safe to leave?"
 
"Well, as long as the wound is not infected, just give him a day to recover. I'd like to know what caused the ailment before he goes however, just in case it happens again." Lydia glanced back at Riker, "I have to get some cleansing herbs from the other room, can you take off your bandage?"
He nodded.
"Good, I'll be right back." The red-haired healer exited the room, taking with her the withheld silence.
Riker began removing the gauze linens, from his side, slightly wincing, "So, would you all mind telling me what actually happened?"

 
A sigh escaped Soren as he threw a glance back at Shane and Miyoko; after all, they couldn't have kept up the facade for long. Riker had been through too much---and wasn't stupid enough---to believe that a mere fever had caused his comatose state.
"Well," said the Immortal, leaning against the wall across from the cot, "it was the same presence that attacked Shane," he nodded to the Elf, who looked up at having attention drawn to herself, "in the forest near Galin." Soren saw unmistakably in the corner of his eye that he was being given a distinct look by Miyoko, the meaning of which he already knew, for he had yet to tell her the connection of that presence to his decision.


Silently Shane cursed Soren for mentioning her; in her peripheral vision she noticed Riker turn his gaze upon her, which at this point was not a comfortable experience. At any time she dreaded having to speak to him, for she already knew what would come up if a conversation of any kind begun. And so her only response to Soren was a solemn nod, and then her continued act of apathy.
 
She averted her eyes at his look, her silver hair shifting as she looked astray. Riker decided to pretend not to notice the slight movement and focused on what Soren had told him.
"So, whatever I saw, it's a vision? Of the future?"
That was possibly the worst scenario to Riker. The very idea of it being remotely true, it was crushing to Riker. Losing Shane, seeing her empty, the stoic expression removed from her visage...


 
"Not necessarily," said Soren, his cool demeanor returning as he explained to Riker, "The invasion of your mind was obviously hostile, and from that we can assume that whatever it showed you was meant to be painful. Therefore," the Immortal said, running a hand through his hair, "we can't trust that whatever you saw was in any way real or true."


Pondering the look upon Riker's face when he observed her, the poorly hidden worry which clearly plagued him, Shane was struck by a certain curiosity: what had he seen? It seemed as though it would be a strange thing to ask, and the thought of actually speaking​ to him, well...