Voices began to fade back in, several of them at once. They were getting louder and louder, actually beginning to give him a bit of a headache.
Malik felt hands touch him and that was when his eyes flew open and his fist flew, memories of that strange place with the strange tree and that strange woman flashing through his mind.
"Motherfucker! He broke my fucking nose!"
A man? His vision was still a little blurry, his feet unsteady due to standing too fast.
The flashing lights and clicking cameras didn't help.
He vaguely heard barking and swivelled his head around him, looking down for Nala.
"Nala?" he croaked out, his throat burning and his voice cracked. "Nala! *whistles*. Nala, where are you?"
The flashing lights continued and he lost his footing, falling back to his knees. He saw something small, brown and black run towards him and used one hand to pick her up, sighing with relief when he felt her soft fur and pulled her close to his chest.
Nala was safe, but the voices got louder and more clear.
"Sir!…this way!…gate!"
What the fuck are they saying?
"Sir! Sir!" this voice was closer, more distinct and sounded like he wa speaking to a wounded animal. "Sir! You must come with us! We're here to help you!"
There was too much happening. Too many lights, too many sounds. He was getting more and more dizzy and he felt his consciousness threatening to slip away again but he didn't want to leave Nala like that.
Malik had no fucking idea what was going on, and he didn't trust that voice but he genuinely didn't think he had much of a choice.
"Take her. Don't hurt her," he muttered to the male voice, handing the stranger the panicking puppy. He sighed with relief when he felt fingers wrap around his puppy, feeling bad when he heard her frantic barking.
As soon as she was out of his hold, Malik passed out yet again, surrounded by flashing lights of cameras and the loud voices from the sea of reporters surrounding him and the four medics.
——
Malik squeezed his eyes tight before slowly opening them, blinking away the fog of sleep that clouded his vision.
Sitting up on the rather large bed, he shook his head slightly and immediately regretted it. The pulsing pain behind his eyes had only gotten a worse before lessening bit by bit.
His vision began to clear up, thank the gods, eyes now able to assess where he was.
Hospital, he thought as he noticed the IV line attached to his wrist, the sickly white room and bed and the nasty smell of chemicals around him.
He was still wearing his hunter gear, so he guessed he hadn't exactly been there for long, but the view outside his window showed that it was night time.
What happened in that gate? Last time I do raids. We'll make the money some other way.
He moved his head to look at the seat beside him, blinking at the sight of his mother who was staring at him with an odd mix of emotions in her eyes.
Relief, horror, anger, sadness. How someone could feel so many different things at once and not break down was beyond him, but his mama had always been strong like that.
He hadn't seen her in over two years, and she looked so tired. Still the beautiful mama he'd always remembered, but thinner, more hallowed, but dressed in the finest clothes.
Malik had thought the rich life suited her, so he didn't expect her to look so wrecked whenever it was they met again.
Might have something to do with her estranged eldest son being in a hospital but what do I know?
But there was something else on his mind, something he found a little more important in that moment.
"…Where's Nala?"
She'd blinked at him, confusion added in with the other emotions.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the door to the single room opened and in walked most of his family, a doctor and a woman in a vivid orange suit he'd never met before.
He avoided the eyes of his father and his uncle, not at all surprised that Yulong wasn't with them, and looked at the doctor instead.
"My dog," was all he said. The silence that followed was almost deafening.
"Mal," Unc spoke first, softer than usual and in a warm tone that made the young hunter a little uncomfortable. "…I took her home, but that's not exactly what's important right now, is it?"
I beg to differ but I won't argue.
"Hmm," he hummed, still eyeing the doctor that was going through files on a floating blue screen. "Why am I here?"
It was a really dumb question. Even Malik knew that, considering how shitty he felt.
The doctor seemed startled by his gaze and question, jumping slightly before clearing his throat and stepping towards Malik.
"Oh. Well you were found back at the old border. Incredibly dehydrated, and it appeared like you had not eaten for a while."
I had a big breakfast before the mission though.
"You had also gone missing during your last mission. I read the medics' reports and it appeared as if your body had gone through a tremendous amount of stress. We brought you here to assess your situation and to see if anything else about your internal physicality had changed like the outside."
What changed? Do I look different?
If I became ugly, you should've just killed me, doc.
But something else about the way the doctor was speaking and the oddly relieved expressions on his family's faces made the cogs of Malik's brain churn.
"…I was only gone for a day or so, wasn't I? The raid just started this morning."
His mother gasped, hands over her lips as her worried expression only got aggravated. His father removed his glasses to rub his eyes and his uncle kept mumbling apologies.
The woman in the blinding suit had said nothing, staring intently at Malik with cat-like orange eyes. If people said his stare was unsettling, he wondered just how freaked out people would've gotten under her gaze.
"As far as I'm aware," the doctor continued as he flipped through slides on his screen, "Malik Wei Chen, you, had been considered missing and dead in combat for five days now."
Malik tilted his head to the side and stared at the doctor, not blinking, as he processed the short man's words.
Then he nodded, understanding the situation quickly enough. It was definitely the kind of news that should have had him in a state of panic but he was too tired. His exhaustion ran deep and it was taking a lot of energy for him to simply sit up.
He'd panic later.
"My party? Are they still within the gate?"
"Focus on recovery," the woman in the suit finally spoke, her tone harsh despite the deceptively caring words. "We'll discuss all of that later on."
"Who are y—,"
"Like I said," she cut him off, "focus on recovery. I'll come back tomorrow. I only wanted to see the hunter that escaped a crashed gate."
The gate crashed? While we were in it? Then we should be dead. I should be dead.
A gate crashing was like a mini end of the world situation, the world within the gates basically exploding on themselves.
"Leave him with his family," she'd said with a thick Atlanta accent, waving at the doctor to follow her.
As his family began to surround him, asking how he was, how much food would he have liked, etc. He didn't respond to any of their questions, his mind still reeling from everything he'd been told.
Wait. Doc said something changed physically.
He picked up the small bedside mirror and tried to pinpoint what should and shouldn't be on his body. He ignored the way his action made his uncle flinch.
Malik almost dropped the mirror when he'd seen it.
His eyes, the dark browns he'd been so proud of. It wasn't the only difference, but it was the only one he cared enough about. His changed physique and height meant less to him.
Just what the fuck happened to me? Who the hell was that woman in that odd subspace? What did she do to me?
…Green eyes ain't bad though, but damn. I'm gonna scare people even more.