the elegant rachel m. corner (malengled) wrote in valesco,
@ 2012-02-09 14:42:00

Entry tags:

Gabriel :X
"Are you feeling up to visitors?"

The question startled her, drawing Rachel out of her pensive reverie. Time was still getting away from her, so she was unsure how long she had been awake, but the minutes seemed to stretch on and on when she was by herself, easily getting lost in the swirling confusion of her thoughts. They said most of the physical ailments had been attended to, burns, lacerations, broken bones, that sort of thing, but she hardly felt well. The vague but ever-present, all-encompassing soreness and throbbing head were uncomfortable, of course, but there was more that disturbed her. She had the feeling she was missing something, forgetting something, like leaving a pot to boil. But the murkiness was gone. Even if the pain pulsing behind her eyes was just shy of causing them to water, she could see things much clearer now, literally and figuratively. At the very least, Rachel remembered she'd been awake earlier, though couldn't have said what transpired. That, a different nurse had said, was an improvement from before. An unsettling piece of news, but she appeared to be recovering.

Even if she couldn't quite remember from what, but no one was hard-pressed to tell her more than "unfortunate incident" and "totally normal, don't worry." Surprisingly, she wasn't terribly bothered, but that may have been the effect of the overwhelming tiredness and slightly unfocused head.

"There's someone who'd like to see you." The witch in the purple robes looked familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place her. Rachel assumed she'd been one to treat her earlier.

Believing she knew who the visitor was, she had her doubts about such a statement. Really, she just didn't know what she was going to say.

"All right," she said quietly, closing her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, a man, not who she expected, stood in the doorway. Blinking in quick succession, though regretting the action, her brows tugged together. "Yes?"

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coverstory
2012-02-10 09:47 pm UTC (link)

At first Gabriel smiled, nearly laughed at her exclamation. Did she think they were being watched, did this tiny display of affection seem embarrass her? Gabriel sat up straight and smiled, only the slightest bit of confusion on his face. The healers had said that Rachel had been going in and out of consciousness, not seeming to recall each awakening; did it mean that she did not remember where she was?

"Sweetheart," he laughed, sitting back. Gabriel smiled brightly at Rachel, but then she continued on, even going far enough to shift away from him. His smile faltered as he listened to her words, and Gabriel leaned forward. "Rachel, is your vision still blurry? Don't you recognize my voice?"

Gabriel felt a sharp pang as he tried not to grow too concerned. Could she not see him? Did she think he was someone else? Gabriel shifted his chair to face her more adequately as his concern grew. But, he tried to keep it light in case it was just her mind playing tricks, "I haven't had the chance to shave so I'm sorry for that..."

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malengled
2012-02-10 10:56 pm UTC (link)

The man's words made absolutely no sense to her. He was speaking as if carrying on a conversation, as if she were the one joking with him. He was a stranger, wasn't he? He had to have been, because she didn't know who he was. Her heart was beating like mad and she felt her palms start to sweat, because she didn't know who he was but he was using her name and calling her terms of endearment and she didn't know who he was.

Though she edged away from him, her eyes scrutinized his face as best as their admittedly poor quality and the dimming light of their setting allowed. Was she missing something? Rachel felt a kind of stirring, but no pangs of recognition. Perhaps of familiarity? Yes, he seemed somehow familiar to her, but she couldn't place him—certainly he wasn't a Healer as she'd previously thought. Did this recognition stem from his being one of the many blurry faces that had hovered over her as she flitted between states of consciousness? Hadn't there been a man here earlier, a man who was talking to her, that she felt she knew, but could not quite place… Or was that something she had dreamt?

For the first time since she'd been truly awake, Rachel felt a real kind of fear, scrambling for the last clear memory she had. Whatever it had been, it was not of this man, and his continuing presence in her room was unnerving her.

"You have the wrong room," Rachel repeated, her voice tired and wishing to waver though she tried to stop it. "You have the wrong room and I think you should leave now."

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coverstory
2012-02-12 01:50 pm UTC (link)

Gabriel remained seated, but it was not of his own doing. He felt like all of his limbs had frozen, been stunned into a locked place that he couldn't move from if he tried. His gaze remained on Rachel and while he knew that she enjoyed teasing him as much as he did her, the usual look of amusement was not in her eyes and she would never have done anything so cruel. So if this wasn't a joke, then there was a complete upturning of his world that he had to deal with in these few frantic seconds.

His mind couldn't move fast enough. The healers had told him that she had been slipping in and out of consciousness, unable to remember the few times she had woken, but that wasn't uncommon with all the potions and spells they had to put her under because of the dark magic. Gabriel had accepted these things as fact, and that they would have been able to sense or---or test if it was more serious, but maybe it was still too early to tell? Maybe she was just having one of those moments.

But Gabriel wasn't completely naive. He knew his wife had suffered a head injury years before that had left her in a reverted state and had changed her life once again. He blinked, furiously, knowing that the healers did know that, and were quite aware of it, but until Rachel was physically feeling better how much could they do on the mental or---he---he had no idea, his Ravenclaw logic was going into rapid fire mode to prevent him from having a complete mental breakdown by jumping to conclusions.

"Can you tell me what year it is?" he asked slowly, "Can you tell me--what your name is?" Gabriel blinked furiously, unsure why he was putting himself through such torture as this. Her answers could either keep together or tear apart his heart and Gabriel didn't know when he'd gained such a strength to deal with something of this caliber on his own.

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malengled
2012-02-12 05:38 pm UTC (link)

"Rachel," she said, almost incensed that the questions were even being asked by the man she'd asked several times to leave already. "It's nineteen-seventy—" she trailed off, realizing the number wasn't coming easily to her. Her voice began to rise in panic. "Nineteen-seventy…" Was it 1978? 1979? Why was she not being able to remember?

It had been there all along, hovering beneath the surface of sleeping draught haze and healing procedures. When they probed her about this so-called attack and she hadn't been able to tell them anything, no one seemed overly concerned. Short-term memory loss, they had said, was common, particularly in victims of a violent attack or other trauma, as well as a history of head injuries. Rachel's head was murky, this was true, but having only been awake for such a short time, there hadn't been a need for her to remember much. But then here was this man who she was certain was a stranger, even though there was something frustratingly familiar about him, asking her a simple question she couldn’t answer.

Clutching the blanket to her with a fist nearly white at the knuckles, she jerked her head away from him. "You're not my Healer," she responded instead, trying to stem the flow of panic inside her. "You have—no right to stay here and harass me. Leave." She pulled the covers tighter, keeping her head craned away despite the discomfort, for fear that the stinging in her eyes would lead to tears. "Please."

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coverstory
2012-02-13 09:56 pm UTC (link)

"Ninteen-seventy?"

Gabriel couldn't hear his voice over the thudding in his ears. His heart felt ready to explode and he was unable to remove himself from the chair. The healers had said short term, but this could not possibly---would this pass too? Rachel hadn't recovered from the last time, if she thought it was still the nineteen seventies then---He felt his throat close. They were put together Halloween of 1980, if her memory loss was true that meant he would just be someone she somewhat recalled from Hogwarts. Maybe! She might remember his face, he hadn't known her very well and---

He felt like he'd been reverted back to his time before being with Rachel. Gabriel had developed a stronger self-esteem and had become sure of himself since being with her, but right now he felt such a panic rising in his chest that he was sure if he stood up his legs would buckle underneath him. What was he supposed to do? Could he keep asking her questions, would that trigger something? Would testing her only make matters worse? What could he do, how could he help his wife remember him?

"Ben?" Gabriel let out weakly, "Benjamin?" If she couldn't remember their son, there was no hope for him. Gabriel stood before she could even answer, unsure of why his legs were jolting him upright. Maybe he really was going to explode, "Nurse! Anyone!" he called loudly over his shoulder. Gabriel turned back to her, hands shaking, feeling as if every sense he ever had was leaving him an empty shell, "Rachel, you've got to remember---" He should wait, he should wait for the healer but he couldn't. Gabriel leaned forward, putting his hands out in a pleading manner, "I'm Gabriel, it's Gabriel--your husband! You have to remember, please remember!"

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malengled
2012-02-13 10:35 pm UTC (link)

Her heart was in her throat as she saw the way he was looking at her. Rachel had been uneasy with him from the moment he'd entered the room, more so because his face was almost hauntingly-familiar to her, but as she watched his outburst escalate, that turned into alarm. As her heart stuttered erratically inside her chest, fear had adrenaline coursing through her, turning everything from soft and clouded to painful clarity. No longer leashed by a lingering haze of coma-like sleep, her heightening emotions had her mind racing with all sorts of images, of story, only like the pages of a book had been ripped out senselessly, leaving big dark spaces in their wake.

Now there were names being tossed at her, things she could not possibly reconcile with the gaping holes in her head, but he expected her to, he needed her to, and her head was throbbing, and she didn't know who he was, and all she could do was –

"Stop!" she cried, tears blurring her vision. Scrambling to a sitting position, the sore, wading-through-honey sensations no longer impeded her movements as she backed away from him until she was flush against the wall, shaking her aching head. She wasn't safe. But he'd called for someone—hadn't he? Where were they? She couldn't hear the sounds of approaching footsteps over the blood pounding in her ears. "Stop, please! I don't know you! I don't know what you're talking about!"

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coverstory
2012-02-13 11:36 pm UTC (link)

There were healers and nurses rushing into the room now, but the movement, the frantic motions couldn't compare to how fast his mind was racing, how hard his heart was beating. Gabriel felt like he couldn't breath, his hand went to his chest to try and fix the strangling constriction in his chest. He didn't fight against the healer that was pushing him out of the room, and his eyes blinked furiously as he was pushed out of the dark of Rachel's room to the brightly lit corridor.

"What's wrong with her?" Gabriel snapped, throwing his hands up, shaking, he couldn't stop shaking. He paced away quickly, trying to settle his mind, trying to think, but nothing was making any sense to him. He couldn't focus on anything but Rachel, he couldn't hear the healer's diagnosis, he couldn't hear the logic behind the words, he couldn't make sense of anything. "She thinks it's the seventies! She thinks---she doesn't know---"

"Mister. Corner, you're going to have to let us run some more tests, if what you're saying is true then it appears that her memory loss is more severe than---"

"More severe?!" Gabriel let out loudly, wanting to push past the healer to go back into Rachel's room. The door had been shut and her healer was keeping a tight grip on his arm and he pulled away harshly. "More---she doesn't know who I am! She doesn't--" His voice cracked and he stopped struggling against the healer, backing away. His hands went to his head, fingers curling around his hair as he tried to catch his breath, as he tried to keep himself from choking on the words and his tears. Gabriel pressed his mouth shut tightly as he attempted to hold everything back, and he shot a terrified look at the healer, "How could she not know who I am?"

"Please---Gabriel, we won't know for sure until more tests are done, but with her history of memory loss it doesn't seem...You need to remain calm!"

He couldn't breath, he couldn't breath and he needed answers right now before he lost his mind. Gabriel could not possibly understand what was going on; some tiny voice in his head was trying to explain the logic behind it all was being drowned out by the fear that he'd lost Rachel for good, and Gabriel could not keep down the terrifying feeling of loss. It consumed him, it wrapped itself up around every inch of his body and made it impossible for him to hear whatever the healer was trying to explain. Rachel didn't remember him, and she hadn't gained her memory back the last time and---he couldn't---His hands covered his face and he dropped back against the wall of the corridor, but his legs buckled under the stress and he slid to the ground. This couldn't be happening, she'd survived the attack just to have her whole life taken away from her?

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