Antivenom [February 20, 1964, 1:17 pm]

[heartofthunder.livejournal.com]

Volgin opened his eyes.

His vision came only in smears of colors, differentiated by darks and lights.

His throat ached, and his mouth felt dry.

He remembered vague things...Alexei, Ocelot, various young women coming in to talk to him about topics he couldn't remember. It all seemed distant now, and he felt so tired. So weak. It angered him at the same time it exhausted him. He wondered vaguely if he could summon his power and charge his body with so much voltage he could purge the poison from him. Too bad he thought of it now, when it was far too late to do so. He couldn't summon the strength to control his power, much the less charge it up. Perhaps he should have tried at the outset, but...

Volgin heard a voice, then, one of the women. Not speaking to him, too far away for that. In the hallway, perhaps. But then there was a short pause, and a shadow made him blink.

He tried to focus, and even though the face above him was a blur, he'd know the accompanying presence anywhere.

"Alyosha," Volgin murmured, raw and soft. "You're back."

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[hajimenoippolit.livejournal.com]

The sight of the Colonel sank into Ippolit's heart like shark's teeth, row on row. The piercing eyes were clouded and unfocused, the statuesque body frozen in unwilling repose.

Ippolit had not thought his admiration for this man could grow.

Such was the measure of his assurance and dignity that even such a blow had no power to diminish it. He fell near death without ever being brought to his knees.

Rakitin would have wondered who in the world Alyosha was, were the look on Lynx's face not answer.

So he shared a name with the youngest son of the Karamazovs, the benefactor whose love transformed all it fell upon.

At any other time, Rakitin would rather have slit his own throat than intrude on the intimacy the single word and low, abraded voice established. There were, however, things that must be done before he could drop back and observe, a lucky wanderer happening upon two magnificent stags nuzzling in a forest glade.

"Colonel," Ippolit said gently, setting to work without delay. "We've brought an antivenom."