lovers rock

chapter 19

-y/n's pov-
el and I sat side by side in a room, brenner standing in front of us. a bright projector shone onto our faces, almost blinding us as brenner began his lecture.
"do you know what happens when someone has a stroke?" he asked rhetorically, "the blood supply to the brain is cut off, it scrambles the signals in the brain to the point where the mind can forget how to do things. to eat, to speak, to walk" he listed, "when you were attacked last year, eleven, I believe that your signals were scrambled in much the same way. but just as a stroke victim can learn to walk again, I believe you too can return to your full power."
he then stepped closer and reached his hands out to caress el's head.
"your abilities are still in here," he spoke referring to her head, "you just need to remember." he then booped her nose.
—————
he then took us into the same room where he showed me the tapes.
"Everything that took place in my lab," brenner informed, "was captured on videotape. Every success and every failure, it's important for you to not just see your past but to fully
re-experience it, in doing so I believe we can repair your broken signals and as we saw tonight that process has already begun."
"if this all happened.." el said whilst sat in one of the two chairs, "why don't I remember?"
"because you do not want to" brenner answered, "our brains have a defense mechanism in place to protect it from bad memories. from trauma. you buried these memories long ago."
tears started to appear in the brims of her eyes, I held out my hand to her. she accepted the offer and placed her hand in mine, I gave it a light reassuring squeeze.
"papa.." el started again, her gaze fixated on the screen, "when I was in there, I saw something. There was blood."

El's grip on my hand tightened.

"So much blood"

The more she spoke the more her grip tightened.

"That was another memory, a powerful one" brenner told her, "invading from your subconscious.
you have demons, eleven. you have demons in your past that is why we must proceed carefully. one step at a time, one memory at a time, if we go to fast.. I'm afraid you could become lost in the darkness."

my knuckles started to turn white due to el's grip which was increasing by each second.

"And if you are lost.." brenner continued, "so are we all.
not even twelve can win this war without you."

——————

with the support from my hand, el climbed down the ladder and into the water tank, she wore a worried expression.
"see ya later alligator" I said with a toothy grin, trying my best to reassure her.
"in a while, crocodile" she returned the smile sweetly as she let go of my hand and allowed the water to hold her up.
she floated on her back like a starfish as I shuffled away from the water tank. the lid began to close as I gave el one last wave of my hand.

—————

truth is I have no clue how long I've been waiting for el or what's happening to her right now but hope and faith is still strong within me.
"she is okay in there, you know that right?" owens voice appeared from behind me, pulling me from my anxious train of thoughts.
"oh! um yeah.. I know.." I mumbled.
owens just nodded understandingly and walked off with a smile.
in a nervous habit of mine, I began to set the tips of my fingers aflame like a candle before blowing them out one-by-one. I could see brenner staring at me doing this from the corner of my eye, he still didn't have my full trust yet.

suddenly, the same alarms from yesterday began to ring.
"PULL HER OUT!" I snapped.
the lid to the tank was opened almost immediately and el's body was lifted out onto the same stretcher and wheeled down to the place with machines and hooks that could help her, I rushed to her side.
"El?" I called out to her unconscious body, slowly and cautiously I placed a hand on her upper arm. her eyes shot open as she took a big gasp for air.
"deep breaths" owens reminded el as she followed his orders.
"you did well eleven," praised brenner, "you did very well."
el's breathing was raggedy and unnatural as she recovered.
"I know what happened now," she said in a frightened tone, "I killed them didn't I, papa?"
"No!-" I burst in but was stopped by owen's hand covering my mouth.
"I killed them all" she sobbed.
despite owen's hand stopping me from speaking I still shook my head quickly from side to side.
"I killed them all" she repeated and oh so how I longed to leap at her side and tell her that she didn't kill them. but owens still restrained me.
"you cannot tell her, okay? I mean it." owens whispered into my ear, hesitantly I nodded. owens then let go of me and I leapt forward to el's side, she fell into my open arms and I engulfed her in a warm hug. the beads of water that soaked her body began to evaporate at my heated touch. she melted (not literally!!) into my embrace as she cried out.
"shh, shh it's okay, it's okay" I cooed and she seemed to relax a little.
"alright, twelve, you take her to her room, calm her down a bit maybe?" owens offered.
I nodded and took el's hand as the doctors unplugged the wires that were attached to her. I pulled her up and together we walked down the hallway to her room.