We Must Hold out Hope
- Location
- Nowhere
We Must Hold out Hope
In the Eggman base, there is usually a constant sound of clamber and construction. There is always something being built, robots being moved, or materials being mined. Except for the hospital wing. It is quiet. Eerily so. If it weren't for the fact that everything is clean and well maintained, it would not be too surprising if someone stepping foot inside thought it was abandoned. The only sound comes from shallow breaths of the occupant of a bed, and the forlorn sighs of her sister Clove.
The quiet is broken however, as the sound of an automatic door sliding is heard through the room. Always vigilant, Clove gets ready for a fight. However, as she sees a familiar wooden puppet she calms down.
"Oh, it's just you," she says, sitting back down on a nearby bench. "What are you doing here? Did the doctor send you?"
Belle looked concerned as her eyes stray toward the younger Pronghorn, laying inside a special suit. It is a painful sight.
She takes a seat next to the elder. "How is she?"
Clove looks at her, confusion in her eyes. "She is... okay. Relatively. She is not dying as much as before."
"Oh, that's, um..." Belle pauses, as if trying to choose her words carefully. "Good?"
"What are you doing here?" Clove asks, not interested in any attempt at small talk.
"Just... I've been kind of lonely."
"Yeah. I can see why. Starling and Stone aren't the best company. What about the others though? The new recruits?"
"They are busy with other stuff."
"Hmm. Well, if you want to stay I will allow it. Might be nice to have some company. To get my mind off... her situation."
Belle nods, taking another glance at the poor Cassia. "You know about the doctor, right? My... uncle. I don't know much about my uncle. Not many people do. Besides Starline and Stone."
"So you want to know more about him from someone who isn't an obsessed member of his fanclub?"
"I... I wouldn't say it like that, but yes."
"Be glad you don't know a lot."
"Huh?" Belle turns her head to the Pronghorn. "Why? What was Eggman like?"
Clove seems to pause, her ears moving, seemingly trying to catch something. "I cannot say much about this doctor, but my doctor was... not a man who you'd want to be friends with. He would say that he does not need friends either. He only cared if you are a loyal servant. As long as you are loyal, he doesn't care about you in any way. Not what you do. What you want. How you feel... Some would argue that the best you can hope for is that he does not care about you."
"So do you think he was... bad?"
A look of fright flashes on Clove's face. She swivels her head side to side before turning back to Belle with a glare. Sensing that her choice of words were not the best, she switches to a different question. "Did you enjoy working for him?"
"Enjoy? No. I... no, there was never a moment I truly enjoyed working for him. Some did. Some loved it. But those people were... terrible. Powerful. Smart. But I would never desire to be in the same room with those people if I had a choice."
"So he isn't good..."
"You shouldn't say things like that where he can hear you."
"Oh, I'm sorry..." For a while, there is only quiet.
"... Belle. You should leave this place. You are too kind. You belong with those like you. This doctor may not be my doctor, but he reminds me of him in so many ways. His intelligence. His need to be seen, to prove himself better. I am afraid. Afraid that this Eggman is too much like mine. If he is like mine, you should leave."
"But you are still here. Why don't you leave?"
"I can't. I can't leave my sister behind."
"I'm sure there are other hospitals around."
"They are useless. I've gone to every doctor, every hospital, hoping to find a cure to my sister, and they all came back with the same conclusion. That there is no hope for her. Before Eggman appeared, I had lost any hope of saving her."
"Would... your Eggman have saved her?"
"I thought he would. It was a lie though. He prolonged her life, yes, but he didn't care about helping her. He didn't even look to find what was wrong, he just cybertized her."
"But this Eggman did find what's wrong. He gave solutions."
"Did he? Or did he just say that to keep me loyal?" Clover's eyes belie a tiredness that Belle had never seen before. Even the oldest people in her village never looked so tired. "He said that this is to show he is superior to that Eggman, which is easier to believe than him doing it out of the goodness of his heart. But this would not be the first time he lied."
"He didn't. You were there with him, helping him to study her illness, right?"
"I... yes. We spent a lot of time in there. I did mostly grunt work though, so maybe he slipped something by. But... my doctor was too impatient to even pretend to do that."
"I saw him working in his lab when you were away. Complaining about it, how stupid your Eggman was to not even attempt to study the disease. He did this for days though. I think that... he had trouble with it too. It frustrated him greatly that he had to take extra time for it. But if he didn't care, he wouldn't have done that. I think your Eggman would have decided he had better things to do."
Clove does not respond. For a moment, Belle feels concern that she might have said the wrong thing. Then the tears begin to fall, wetting the cold tiled floor.
"A-are you okay!? I didn't mean to make you sad! Um, I can just lea-" before she can get up, she finds a hand grabbing her with an iron grip.
"Stay. Please."
At Clove's request, she sits back down beside the weeping Pronghorn.
"Please, tell me about your doctor. He was nice. Right?"
"He was. My dad would always lend a helping hand in the village. He would always fix something if you brought it to him. Sometimes you wouldn't even need to ask. Mrs. Wendy once complained about her bed, and Tinker made a whole new one without asking!" She smiles, thinking about her previous life. "She didn't have a lot, but she offered him all her money as thanks. You know what he said? 'A slice from your famed pie is more than enough! Don't make it too rich though, or else I might have to build you a fancy new house to go along with the bed as a tip!"
Belle burst out laughing at the joke. She laughed so hard her lungs hurt. Her eyes burned. She felt her nose become stuffed. Her throat was closing up. "A-and he used to make toys for the kids! He made a special little park for them to play in. A-and then-then he..." he disappeared.
As her tears broke through, she could only think of her father. The wonderful person he was. What she had lost. She was so lost. She doesn't know what to do.
Then she feels a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she sees Clove, giving her a sympathetic look, face still wet with her own tears.
"He sounds like a great man."
"He was. My dad was such a kind person."
"Would he have healed Cassia?" Clove's eyes were steely, now filled with conviction.
"He mostly worked with wood. He was a repairman. I don't know if he could. But I know that if he could, he would have been happy to help her."
"Then maybe he isn't gone. Maybe he is still here."
"But he is so different from my father."
"And he is different from my doctor. I have hope for my sister thanks to him. I think... you should hold out hope for him. That maybe he will return to the man you remember."
In response, Belle hugs Clove. Clove flinches and almost pushes her away out of reflex. But after she realizes what is going on, she returns the hug, comforting the sobbing girl before her.
"Your father made toys, right?"
"Y-yeah. He liked making toys and rides. Why do you ask?"
"Just I can see it. My sister being cured, then begging him for a toy. She is still such a child. She would have gotten along really well with him I think. If your father came back, would he give her one?"
"She wouldn't even need to ask."
"Then... I hope she will meet him one day."
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