DAN'S BROKEN MEMORIES REEL TWO

It was cold, his teeth was chattering violently from the shaking.

"Don't let him bite his own tongue."

"Lend him some jackets!"

"He's okay. Just in shock."

"Maybe its too cold."

"I'm a nurse… "

"Stand back! Busybodies stand back, let the medics help."

"Dan! Dan!"

"Stop yelling. You know he can't hear you."

"Prince Ri is here!"

"What's going on? Why are there so many jackets?"

"We're gonna be so dead when this is over."

"Are you trying to bury him in jackets?"

It was so dark, and cold, and Dan's body was hurting, the pain had become a numbing burning sensation in his mind. He had no idea what was happening, just that it was dark and noisy and busy all around him... Which seemed to be everything Dan could remember of the night. Dark, noisy, busy... but he couldn't register any particular face or voice, just a blur of action in the dark.

It reminded him a lot of the battlefield and Dan struggled not to remember it... There were 3 places Dan never wanted to return to. The battlefield, the great fire that left nothing but large black mark where his town used to stand, the dark icy alley behind the castle in the bitter cold of winter. They had all been some kind of hell.

As illogical as it was, he had a real fear that he was heading towards one of those places... Or maybe he really was going to hell.

A single voice rang out, clear like a bell, bright like a carol, it made Dan so happy he felt his heart sang, "What did you do to him, Daddy?"

---

Dan was floating in the dark. He tried to open his eyes but either they weren't working or he didn't have any. It wasn't too bad. A little cold and dark, but he was still alive. Probably.

For some reason, he could hear voices drift in and out of his consciousness. He tried to make sense of the words but couldn't. Maybe if he focused really hard…

"Don't be mad, Henri. You know how men are like."

Dan could not place the voice immediately.

"But Mummy, Dan's just a human!"

Dan knew this was his Alpha Beauty. Yes his. Wth. He was dead anyway. He should be allowed to be delusional when he was dead.

"Don't let him hear you say that though."

This was a man's voice.

"I'm still not talking to you, Daddy." Was his alpha beauty sulking?

Luna Bell was immediately agitated, "What? Why? Look, I resurrected him. He's fine -"

"Then I'll talk to you when he gets up and tells me so." The Alpha Beauty stubbornly stood her ground.

"What the hell! And I told you, he stabbed me first!"

And then the words stopped and low growling started all around. Haha. She called her parents Mummy and Daddy. That was unexpectedly cute.

---

Dan groaned, damn... What happened? He tried to pry open his eyes by the sheer force of his willpower. It hurt!

"Dan!" Someone grabbed his shoulder.

"Not so rough Wolf." Someone pulled the first man away, "Don't shake him."

And then Dan hurled something disgusting out of his mouth. It tasted like their local beer. Yeah. That was the other thing their beer tasted like - hungover puke.

"Lie him back!"

"Don't lie him back!"

Yeah, Dan was in safe hands.

----

It was noisy... A lot of indistinct chatter all around him, some sounded like it was being whispered far away, others like there were people chatting right across his face. It was weird. Dan couldn't feel his body or open his eyes… did he even have eyes anymore?

At least the pain had stopped along with all feeling.

Maybe this would be the feeling if he were an electron floating among the rooftops and sound waves and data in the air... he zipped and blipped and floated in the nothingness until he overheard a familiar voice. Dan found himself drawn towards it quite automatically.

Jax: {I can't believe he survived that.}

Tim: {Technically he didn't.}

Dave: {Don't you think we're in enough trouble as it is?}

Neil: {He'll survive alright. We're the ones who are dead.}

Tim: {You guys are so dead.}

Shannon: {Shut up, Tim. You're just as dead.}

Tim: {No, just these two old guys. The rest of us were just innocent bystanders.}

Big Kev: {Innocent, my foot.}

Dave: {I've never seen Alpha Henri so mad.}

Jax: {I have.}

Neil: {Ah, yeah... But that was a while back.}

Big Kev: {Hotstuff's pretty mad too, actually.}

Shannon: {Whatever! I don't care. I just hope Hotshot… }

Dave: {He'll be fine. Prince Ri is with him now. He'll come round.}

Jax: {But that was epic! Hotshot actually got two in our Rebel. When was the last time anyone managed to get that far?}

Neil: {Now that you mentioned it, you guys remember the first tournament? Our Luna had a sword fight with the Snow Wolf Beta.}

Dave: {Those three won't know. They probably weren't born yet.}

Big Kev: {Haha. Funny.}

Shannon: {Yeah, I remember. We were just pups then though? Goddess! I feel old now.}

Neil: {I don't remember the results to the match though.}

Jax: {Which means, our Rebel didn't get stabbed. OUR Hotshot got swords two in - that's better than a Snow Wolf Beta.}

Tim: {Luna's guard was down.}

Big Kev: {Yeah, but getting your opponent to put down their guard is a skill too right?}

Jax: {TWO! TWO F***ING TIMES!}

Dave: {That boy's got guts.}

Tim: {Yeah, lets just hope Prince Ri manages to get them all back into his body.}

Big Kev: {It's not just guts, guys. I mean, he's just human you know. I've sparred Sir Wil, they have limited power in their strikes, so to be able to squarely put that in twice - even in that condition. That's not the first time Hotshot used a sword.}

Jax: {I told you guys - he's not just a pretty face. TWO TIMES! Rebel is going to be in a bad mood for days!}

Neil: {That's actually not a good thing… for us.}

Jax: {Oh, dammit! We're on his security detail this week!}

Dan was drifting comfortably along with the flow of the converstation before suddenly remembering, "I know those guys!"

That's right! They were the new warrior friends he made at the party! Wait... Hold on a sec... Were his guts really no longer in his body? The guys were just joking right?

---

Dan felt a tug on him, but he couldn't move, he felt like his body had turned to lead, but at least he could feel like he was inside a body now - even if it wouldn't move... or might no longer have guts… a body was good news, right?

It was also not freezing anymore. Also Dan could hear a quiet rhythmatic beeping and constant whirring in the background. Was the party over?

"Wolf, you're not blaming yourself, are you?" It was Wil's voice. Low and quiet. Dan felt quite sure it was talking before this too, but he only just registered the words.

"I should never had let him out of my sight." Wolf said lowly.

"You couldn't have known that Jax and his patrol were just knocking off then." Wil tried to reason with the Fire Wolf.

Wolfgang only growled in in response.

Will sighed, "We all knew the risks coming here...  The important thing is Dan's alive. He's gonna pull through, Wolf. Don't underestimate a human's ability to survive.}

Dan wanted to agree. Yeah, don't look down on us humans.

He felt quite convinced by Wil's words. He was fine. Probably.

---

"Dan! Dan!"

"Wait! Wolf!"

"He's awake." This was Prince Ri who was the first solemn face Dan saw when his eyes finally decide to peel open.

Dan squinted in the darkness. Where the hell was he? He croaked...

Wolf's blond head cut between the healer and Dan, "Dan! You're alright!"

Dan managed a wry wincing smile, "I..."

Someone pushed a plastic cup of water to his lips.

"Don't." It was Prince Ri, "He might choke."

But Dan drank the water and felt like new life was born to him, "I'm... fine."

"You look like shit." Jax told him from behind the healer.

The other guys too were getting up and coming over to see.

"I feel like shit." Dan looked around. He was still f***ing outdoors.

"Thank goddess." Dave said.

"Yeah." Dan leaned back down.

There was two knocks and the door burst open for a small crowd of Alphas and Betas.

"Alpha Henri is here. Alpha Sam and Luna Bell are here." Beta Dante intoned.

He didn't announce the betas of course, but there were at least 4... Maybe 5. Dan couldn't see them all.

Where was he anyway?

"Lie still, Dan." Prince Ri told him. Dan hadn't even realized he was trying to move. God, he felt weak, and there were these tubes. Dan grunted and tried to lift his hand to check where the tube was stuck into… He could guess it was an IV drip, but he just wanted to confirm it…

"Why is he taking so long to recover?" Luna Bell frowned.

Prince Ri sighed, "Luna, I've told you… Dan's a human. We have to maximize every heal and not overload his system. It's good enough that he has regained consciousness..."

---

"Dan! Dan! He's passing out again!" Some of the warriors noticed.

Prince Ri sighed, "He'll probably be passing in a out for a while, but not to worry, his lifeline is quite secured."

"No kidding." Beta Ben smirked, "How many healers are plugged into his lifeline? 2? 3?"

"At least 4." Prince Ri answered, "He will not die or feel any pain as long as any one of us continue to hold on to his lifeline this way."

"I'm sure just any one of you would be more than sufficient." A beta Dan didn't recognized smiled wryly.

"No." This was Alpha Henri, "I will not take any chances."

"Yeah, you must be wondering why we're spamming our super healers, Beta Harv" Beta Dante said in his usual relaxed sarcasm, "THAT'S why."

Beta Harv sounded mildly amused, "I see."

What did he see? Dan couldn't see because his eyelids wouldn't open.

"Henri, it's going to be okay." Alpha Sam seemed to be trying to comfort her daughter.

"No it's not." Alpha Henri on the other hand, was determined to not be comforted, "You don't understand. He's my… my…"

"Your what, Hen?" Alpha Sam asked gently.

"MY REPONSIBILITY." Alpha Henri said.

For some reason, that made Alpha Sam laugh. Alpha Sam had a strong and free laugh. It made Dan remember dinner and how Alpha Henri's laugh was quite gentle and was actually a really feminine sound. Dan felt happy just remembering how he made her laugh.