Chapter 74 What Happened to Dio?
WHAT HAPPENED TO DIO?
The following record is written by me regarding what happened next with Dio.
For reasons you will soon understand, there is no diary entry for this next span of time.
However, it was important to me that you should know some of what happened.
Please forgive any artistic liberties I take with this part of the tale.
I have heard the story enough times from Dio that I am fairly certain I will do it justice.
I am confident Dio would forgive me for this indulgence.
When I wake, it is clearly late. The darkness coming through the window feels the way my heart does. All three of the others are in this room. Reem is pacing, and Lent seems to be trying to read but is looking at me worriedly from the table in the corner.
Fem is sitting on the couch across from me with pain in his expression. “I told them,” he says quietly.
I immediately understand that he means he shared the feelings I have for Chaosta.
Pausing in his pacing, Reem says quietly, “I’m so sorry, Dio.”
I press myself up quickly and ask “How long have I been out?”
“Several hours,” Fem says quietly.
“Has there been any word?” I ask. I can hear the pain and desperation in my voice.
Fem’s eyes immediately tell me there hasn’t been any good news, even as he responds, “Nothing yet.”
A sob leaves my throat as I lean forward, catching my head in my hands.
Time passes in a haze as I let the guys get me to my room. I accept another sedative from Fem, willingly this time. I make them promise to wake me when they hear something and then swallow the sedative and fall back into familiar blackness.
When I wake next, light filters through the window of my room, marking it as day. I stumble out of my bed and to the small, attached bathroom to relieve myself. I don’t even look in the mirror, not wanting to see myself in this state, as I know it will bring back too many old memories.
There is a knock on my door, and I hear Fem calling my name. Not even pausing to consider how awful my appearance is, I leave the bathroom and go to the door. He cracks it open as I get there, and I can tell something is wrong by the look on his face.
I hear myself say, “Please no.” The room begins to spin.
“It’s not that,” Fem says quickly, his expression tightening as he reaches out a hand to steady me. “We still haven’t heard anything about Chaosta.”
I feel momentarily relieved, but the look of fear is still there on Fem’s face. His eyes search mine for a long moment. Finally, he says, “There are some people here for you. They have paperwork…” he pauses as though he doesn’t quite know how to continue.
“What paperwork?” I ask.
“Commitment paperwork,” he says finally, his voice breaking. “It seems your brother may have signed it.”
I wobble, and Fem firms up his hand, working hard to help me keep my feet.
“The paperwork says that you’ve been using again. They believe you are likely to cause harm to yourself or others if allowed to continue without intervention.”
For some reason, the spinning stops, and in its wake is complete numbness. There is a ringing in my ears. “I need to see it. The paperwork.”
“Ok,” Fem says, but he doesn’t move for a minute. I’m looking at the door and not at him, but I hear him say, “We’ll get this figured out. Just please don’t do anything stupid.”
I don’t remember nodding or agreeing, but he must have taken my silence as assent because he opens the door and steps through with me in his wake.
As we arrive in the entry hall, I both see and don’t see the two men wearing healers' uniforms standing just inside the front door. One has a stack of paperwork in his hand.
“Ah, there he is,” that healer says, and his voice has a note of kindness to it.
Fem walks over to them with me and asks for the paperwork. The healer hands it to Fem, who then hands it to me. I numbly page through, the words blurring in front of my eyes until I get to the signature page. Alexander's signature is there as clear as anything.
The room proceeds to spin again, adding to the din in my head as my ears ring.
My eyes are still unable to focus as I hand the paperwork back to him and feel the healers close in around me.
They grasp each of my arms firmly and begin to direct me out the front door of the mansion.
I can hear the guys saying something, but I don’t know what it is.
I’m unable to clearly hear past the ringing and, honestly, don’t really care to try.
Using all my strength, I grasp for control. I know I’m at the edge of a precipice, and a loss of control right now would be catastrophic, at the very least to those around me.
As I concentrate on my control, I am not aware of much beyond the healer's hands on my arms during the walk to the carriage and the following carriage ride. Even in my numb state, I recognize that, while Alexander is even more of an asshole than I realized, if Chaosta doesn’t survive, I may have ended up here anyway.
As we leave the carriage, the healers’ hands still grasping my arms, I look up, and my eyes choose that moment to focus. I feel rage burst through me as I see a familiar building. I remember it from the promotional material. It’s the place where I sent Chaosta.
In that moment of anger, I lose a modicum of control and feel myself lashing out at the guards.
Momentarily intent on causing harm to those who harmed the woman I love.
Especially now. What I know for sure is that I take down at least two men before I get control again.
I’m concentrating so fully on regaining power over the swirling emotions that I barely notice additional healers flooding from the front door of the building. Then they are on me, restraining me.
I feel a sharp stab against the side of my neck, and everything goes black.