The waiting room is a long cold hallway. Metal benches span along one side of the wall, seemingly infinite. Every surface feels smooth and chilling. The longing only makes the cold pressure even worse.
Adalia is hunching over, hands on elbows, squeezing the little warmth she can get from and onto her arms. Her heart is pounding. Be it for the low temperature or because she's that nervous, there's this bone-chilling unease all over her body.
"You good, Addy?" Catrina pats Adalia on the back before going in for an embrace.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just really, really cold," she presses her head against Catrina's. There's a lot of warmth in Catrina's arms.
"You're nervous?"
"No, I'm not. Why would I be? I saw your surgery, you seem fine through it all." She is, in fact, nervous. She just won't admit it to herself. She knows she'll be fine, she knows there's nothing to be afraid of, but she's still nervous. It's nowhere near when she asked out Catrina for the first time, but it's a close second.
"Yeah, just relax and don't even worry about it. It'll be over sooner than you would feel," she kisses Adalia on the forehead. "Do you think you're gonna be taller than me again?"
"Probably. I'm gonna miss being the little spoon." She snuggles deeper into Catrina's embrace.
"You can still be the little spoon even when you're taller."
"Yeah, you're right. I won't be able to lean on your shoulder like this though."
"You still can do that too."
"But it won't be as comfy."
"Then I guess I'll have to be the one that's doing it." Catrina slides down and rests her left cheek on Adalia's shoulder and hugs her arm. "I can so get used to this."
One of the doors on the other side of the wall opens. "Adalia Volkova?" calls the doctor.
"Right here," Adalia responds.
"We're the only ones here," Catrina says.
Behind the door is the doctor's office. There's another door leading to the operation room. That's where they're heading.
The OR is big. Metal desks and sinks on one side. Glass shelves and cupboards and fridges on the other. An operation table, shaped like some twisted mad scientist workbench is in the middle. There's a chair in front of the bed. On each side are the other surgeons.
"Okay, we're gonna go over this once more. We will apply sedatives to your back. You will be conscious the whole time. We're going to put 16 injection tubes along your spine. They will stay there throughout the process. If you feel any itches or cramps, ignore them. That's the mutations happening. If you feel like you're going to vomit or if you feel like you need to use the bathroom, don't hold and just let them out. Understand?"
"Yes," Adalia nods.
"Good, now drink this." The doctor gives a beaker with some thick transparent blue liquid. Adalia drinks it all at once.
After taking off her clothes, Adalia lays prone on the table. The surgeons apply some cold gel on her back, making marks, and cover her with a drape. There are 2 long openings going along the sides of her spine, showing the marks. Soon her body becomes heavy. Her arms and shoulders become limp and her face falls onto the support.
Catrina is sitting on the chair, looking at Adalia's head. Normally, nobody but the surgeons and patient will be in the OR. However, it is mandatory for a helsing agent to watch their partner's stabilization surgery.
A few minutes have passed. "Do you feel it?" the doctor asks.
"No?" Adalia says, unsure what she's supposed to feel.
"Alright. That means we can start." He prepares the tubes on the contraption suspended above the table. The other surgeons start making openings on the marked spots for the tubes. "Also, during the process, you might hallucinate about being in a desert in space. Just stay calm and be aware that you're still here. It will go away after a while."
"Is there gonna be a giant wolf in a hole too?" Adalia asks.
"That is possible. Did your partner experience anything like that?"
"Did you, Kitty?"
"No, I don't think so. I do saw a castle of cookies and cream," she says playfully.
"That's so you. Are you the queen?"
"No, you are."
"Aww, that's sweet."
"Heh, that's... SWEET?" She points her finger guns at Adalia and clicks her tongue. Her partner isn't impressed.
"Damn you, Kitty. What am I gonna do with you?"
"After this, hopefully all sorts of things."
"Alright ladies, we're going to start now. No more jokes."
They start connecting everything to Adalia's spine. The large metal needles shoot out tiny needles, like jellyfish tentacles, that latch onto her nerves. Adalia is already feeling stiff, but now she truly feels like a statue on a wall. With everything connected and ready, she looks like a turtle with an abstractive shell of cybernetics.
Sounds of the machinery buzzing fill the room. However, Adalia is more than just hearing, she feels it, as literal as it gets, in her body. The doctor and the surgeons do their work. Filling, attaching, detaching, and replacing canisters onto the machine. There's a screen with buttons to which the doctor is paying attention to. Catrina is watching, hunched forward, elbows on knees, and chin on fingers.
An irritating itch creeps along Adalia's back as if someone drags a dirty feather on her vertebrae. She ignores it like she's told. A few minutes pass. So far, it's not terrible. Sure, she feels physically petrified and the irritating itch and cramps are far beyond uncomfortable, but it's nothing she has never faced before.
Thousands of ice spears stab her back. They transform into lightning bolts, electrifying her nerves, and burst into flames before erupting into a rain of powerful acid which solidifies into billions of tiny wheels that spin and chip away her flesh, cell by cell. It's as if she's experiencing every single type of burn all at once. Adalia can't help but scream her very soul out of her throat.
It's gone. Everything is gone. The pain just stops. It all disappears. The spears, the lightning, the fire, the acid, the lights, the machine, the surgeons, Catrina too. All gone. Adalia is alone, in the dark, on the operating table.
"Adalia..."
A whisper is calling her name. She looks around, but nobody is anywhere.
"Adalia..." it calls again.
The voice comes from behind the exit door. Adalia walks closer. Every step gets colder and colder the closer she is. She grabs the handle and as soon as the door opens by a crack, the whole room disappears. Adalia finds herself in the same silver desert from her dream.
The horizon is far and wide. Her vision is split in half. Gray sand at the bottom and black starry night sky at the top. A gigantic beast growls and breathes behind her, blowing sands on her feet some distance away.
Adalia is trembling. She gathers enough courage to turn around. It's the giant silver wolf. The surprise makes her jump and falls back. The wolf lifts its head ad howls. The sound is deafening. Following its motion, she finds Arcadia above the wolf. It's glowing from the reflected sunlight. It's all too much for all the senses. Too mesmerizing.
Adalia's skin itches and her muscles cramp. Her bones pop as if being deep fried. Thick furs grow out. Muscles grow, warp, and distort. Bones breaking and fixing themselves, twisting her anatomy, forcing her to hunch. Fingernails grow into claws. Her ears climb her skull and deform into thin furry open tents. Her jaw extends into a snout. Canines elongate while the rest of the teeth sharpen. At this point, Adalia's form has been so twisted it's difficult to keep her human posture.
Her body keeps mutating. Though she's growing inside, Adalia feels like a sponge being wring dry so hard her fibers are tearing. Once again, she squeezes as many screams as she can out of her lungs.
"Hey, Addy, Addy, Addy." Catrina catches Adalia's face.
Their eyes locked. Catrina looks a little different. Her pores are huge and there are so many gaps between each strand of her lashes and brows. Everything looks just ever so slightly brighter too.
The pain. Gone. Her hands, human. Her arms, human. Adalia touches her face, human. Her ears though, fluffy. Her canines are also longer.
"You're ok, Addy? They're done." Catrina brushes Adalia's hair over her ear.
After all the pain and strange overwhelming experience, to see Catrina's face, to hear her voice, and to feel her skin and warmth on her face. Adalia feels safe and comfortable. She wants to pull her partner, kiss her, and embrace her. So, she does.
"Wow, you're totally stronger now," Catrina says with a smile of excitement, in more ways than one.
"You can try standing up now," the doctor says.
Adalia sits on the table, it feels lower. Standing up, her vision goes higher than expected. She almost loses her balance because of it. When she entered the room only one of the surgeons is shorter than her, but now they all are. Even Catrina, who stands well above the average person. She also has gained some boost on her athletic figure. Every effect that Catrina also got after her own surgery years ago.
"I am definitely not going to fit in my clothes anymore."
"I don't know, Addy. You might still just fit."
She knows Catrina just wants to see her in tight clothes. Adalia is more than happy to oblige. In fact, she's about as excited about it as her partner. However, now's not the time. "We can play dress up later. Now we still have things to cover and one of those things is me."