Author's Note

Hello there and welcome back again to yet another new chapter of Ocular Spectral Therapy, the one story out of many of my craft to go above and beyond the oneshots I have given you since the inception; suffice to say, the past chapters from before were by far a strong note for you all and giving a taste of what's to come later on.

Aside from disclaimers long ago, I want to take the time to say thank you for never pulling out too early since we're now in the the new year with a new hope to have and hold with tender loving care rather than yet a totally lost cause and the strength to continue onward in staying tuned for the future that is the now: I believe at this rate, everything will make sense soon enough.

Lastly, let me also say that I hope you can stomach this chapter now more than the others before it and still have the strength to continue onward in staying tuned though the passing times; henceforth, I will leave you with but one saying only: thank you very much.

Strabismus

It had been, without a doubt, a sudden change of pace to say the very least concerning the fact of the matter at hand; speaking of which, it was as if someone had gone down to a similar path from long ago, only with a significant change in roles being enacted already. Of course, it was at this moment in question where such people were found to be there, currently engaged in suffering the aftereffects of becoming causalities to the modern warfare against germs, toxins, injuries, illnesses, and catastrophes. Amongst the sea of residents and tenants, there was only one out of many, emerging from a range of those small factors of ten to the point where there are no more than a million of others.

At this moment, there inside was of a different room with the company of such personnel being but only a band of seven overseeing whatever progress, composed of past, present, and future. Each of them were now dressed in a sterile garb of whiteness all throughout their very bodies, a few with most of their faces obscured by such a fashion and function intertwining with one another so seamlessly. Many of them varied of countless backgrounds whether of age, gender, complexion, build, and/or standing all thanks to their very identities being obscured by their clothing choice no less. A minority of the seven had donned on long flowing skirts around their waistlines that were reaching down to their legs and footwear already; giving out a singular clue to the position they had been given at hand. All were now stationed around and about within the constrained location at hand, be if operating upon the complex machines or awaiting further orders as they were standing by at their own devices. Their active breathing, though muffled by the masks over their lips and nostrils, were the result of such lives being put throughout the wringer in an animated program of the highest caliber whatsoever.

Within their vicinity had lain a tanned blonde now propped up on a light gurney with delicate care, her jade orbs filled with only fear and pain circling around and about the contracting pupils. Her forehead was drenched with perspiration flowing off from her very brow, most of them being wiped away from there with a damp cloth whereas the others escaped down to the chin. The blonde’s teeth were now bared in a tensed frown upon the lower half of her face as intervals of short breaths escaped from the thin crevices within them as an exchange had taken place. Donned upon her body was a simple teal dress with only the simplest of fabrics sewn into itself, absorbing whatever fluids that had made its way as the wearer rested onto the pillow beneath. Over the long article of clothing that was worn onto the blonde’s skin was a thicker blue sheet and it was covering most of the lower half save for her spread legs and feet poking outward. Wrapped around her left hand was a white wristband snugly over the lanky scar underneath the arm, its place proving to be dark and crusty than the rest of the otherwise tanned and rustic skin.

“Are you okay, Applejack… can you hear me now…?” a tender feminine voice was heard belonging to one of the seven that were still standing around the eponymous tenant in question.

A weak nod was made by the tanned blonde as an answer made its way past the gritting teeth, “yes, ma’am…”

“Alright, team… let’s go over what we are aware of now: this patient here had her water broken at the facility a few hours ago and is currently infected with a venereal disease; so far, conditions have proven to be stabilized but we are projecting a high chance of mortality at over ninety percent,” the first woman had said to the remaining six amongst her as the sounds of beeping were heard, “nevertheless, we must make sure that the woman’s vital signs are kept up and running until we get the child outside of her safely: if she dies in the process before we do so, then the baby will too; so, I recommend that we handle this operation delicately with extreme caution. It is most likely that the infection has spread itself all the way to the womb right now and reached the infant as of this moment; currently, we presume that the weight will be at least four and half pounds upon arrival. Still, time is of the essence and there is going to be absolutely no room for error at all whatsoever in this very operation at hand; it’s vital that we must make sure that the infant is cared for and handled upon delivery. All tasks are at hand to rightfully ensure that the mother’s next of kin will be informed after at the time of death along with other contacts as soon as possible. Are we clear on what we are supposed to do...?”

“Like a crystalline nighttime sky, Redheart…!” a gruff reply made its way to the speaker’s ears within a heartbeat.

Turning to face a pair of dark Bakelite eyes, a small solemn smile formed upon Redheart as she spoke, “alright then, Spec Ops; help Doctor Monitor keep an eye on the patient’s vitals along with the child’s and keep them from straying beyond the balance points. Pap Smear and Sweetheart, you will help her with maintaining respiratory and cardiopulmonary activity by providing painkillers and breathing apparatuses at certain points. Snowheart, Blue Shield, and myself will assist in helping her give birth safely as possible; in the event we run into more complications during the procedure, we will have to perform a last resort tactic to save it.”

“Understood...!” the rest of the seven had shouted off firmly but calmly to the pale nurse nearby, “shall we begin the operation?”

“Alright, then… now Applejack: I want for you to start taking in some deep breath while we do this so it will help the child find its way out as we guide it along; in case you have any problems these two here will provide some assistance, okay…?” Redheart spoke to the eponymous patient with a calm visage.

Applejack looked on into the pale nurse’s gaze with but a straining helpful grin and answers, “yes ma’am, Ah will do whatever Ah can to not be a burden.”

“You’re not causing any trouble here; we are just trying to help you…” Redheart replied calmly to the tanned blonde before turning to face the two men who were on one side of the gurney, “Spec Ops, I would like for you to tell me how is the patient’s heart rate so far?”

“Status is chaffed, ma’am…!” Spec Ops replied as he remained alongside another medic, a brunette watched the lines forming about in the green.

An eyebrow was cocked over the sky blue irises as the nurse stared firmly at the red eyed colleague and asked, “what do you mean by chaffed?”

“The patient’s checking out with a pulse of seventy nine beats per minute but it’s projected to rise about a bit higher, Redheart…!” Spec Ops said as he looked back at the monitor alongside his colleague, “it’s even starting to increase right now as we speak.”

“I see then… breathe Applejack, breathe…” Redheart slowly spoke to the eponymous patient, earning a steady wheeze of dioxide being exhaled upon hearing the very basic command in question. Waiting to exhale had proven to be anything but a daunting task for the timid Applejack whom looked at her torso: underneath that entire set of textile was a significant protuberance sticking upward. The tanned blonde could feel the overwhelming desire to place one of the hands upon her abdomen and pet it gently but the atmosphere she was in proved to be not the case whatsoever.

Applejack already noticed two other people residing nearby the pale nurse in front of the former: a slim nurse with mascara over the light green eyes and a stocky doctor donning a wide visor; nevertheless, much focus was placed on the latter who heard some words being said right now, “Redheart, Ah gotta ask ya ma’am, how often have ya done this before, birthing babies and all?”

“I would be say about four years since my transfer to here, long before we all gotten involved in this cursed war…” Redheart answered calmly as she focused on the tanned blonde’s region between the already spread legs, “I even remember one of your friends barging in the ward with a small chocolate cake when the babies were trying to sleep.”

“Ya mean the Cake Twins?” Applejack sputtered slightly as the rhythm of beeps from a nearby machine increased slightly.

Still staying on target, the pale nurse’s reply had now made its way to the tanned blonde’s ears, “as a matter of fact, yeah: they were just born about a year ago, their parents were pretty lucky to have them; to be honest, the man seemed to be extremely worried about his wife afterwards.”

“Ya mean the father; what had been going on when this had happen…?” Applejack had said to Redheart nervously, “how did his wife do afterwards when she had given birth?”

“She fell asleep, woke up hours later, and wanted to see her kids badly; yeah, she gotten anxious but I’d have called it normal, save for the occasional swearing here and there during the time,” the pale nurse had retorted as the tanned blonde took in a steady stream of oxygen all around them.

Applejack did nothing but winced in thought about these distant stardust memories from before and spoke calmly, “what did their mother say when that had been happening…?”

“Let’s just say that they were some off–color terms of certain things that would make others ask questions such as ‘do you kiss your relatives with your mouth?’ and whatnot…” Redheart answered with a terse chuckle before turning to face the man nearby the red eyed doctor, “how is she now, Doctor Monitor?”

“Well, aside from a slight increase of four to six beats, vitals have still remained normal so far,” the brunette answered as Spec Ops looked onward alongside, lines already creating a jagged edge.

The pale nurse now cocked her head towards another colleague, this one simply residing on the left with a slight olive tone complexion, and said to her, “is the oxygen tank ready yet, Sweetheart?”

“Mm-hmm, it’s still here...” the hefty nurse replied as she held up the metallic container in one hand, “refilled and good to go; just say when and we’ll go in.”

“Alright Applejack, there’s going to come a second were you are going to feeling the urge to scream very uncontrollably in the process: this will be the part where the child starts thrashing about for an exit out of the womb and you’ll help guide the way by pushing it into the world; do you see where I’m going with this?” Redheart explained to the tanned blonde calmly.

Applejack did nothing but replied with only a steady nod and choke out, “yes, ma’am… Ah can understand it loud and clear; after all, Ah feel that this will remind me of the time when mah maw brought Apple Bloom into the world.”

“I’ve seen this before many times and trust me: the beginning always starts out with pain but it’ll end with joy soon enough…” the slim nurse wheezed as she resided nearby the other two, “nevertheless, it’s just another reason why I would rather not have kids…”

“Snowheart…!” Redheart interjected with a stark raving glare piercing into the light green eyes at close range.

A quick sigh escaped from Snowheart as she held her own composure together while saying, “what…? I’m just saying that it would be too burdensome of me to raise children right now…”

“That’s what Ah am afraid of: there’s absolutely no telling what will become of my child when all is said and done; after all, Ah don’t think Ah will be able stick around to even see it grow…” the tanned blonde spoken sadly as she soon stared at her singular stomach with simplicity, “seems to me that no matter what Ah do, everything just goes on and returns to nothing…”

A flood of tears were now pooling out from Applejack’s eyes as she turned the visage towards the very ceiling far above them: fear had gotten its victim into a chokehold, fury reached at an all–time low, and the pain was simmering about from abroad. A sigh escaped from the tanned woman’s plain lips as it became drowned out by the beeping and wheezing of machinery around as the band of seven remained in their place to keep the rather dreary atmosphere in the right balance. The jade orbs end up seeing a brief moment of darkness as Applejack closes her eyelids slowly before opening back up again, every single thing alongside the personnel in this very room remaining constant within taken sights no less.

Just when it had seemed like that the tanned blonde was going to surrender herself without incident, a sharp sting had made itself was from within the protuberance down in front instantly; as a result, the doctors and nurses present watched her emerge from the gurney with little warning whatsoever.

“Ma’am… we’ve just witnessed a sharp increase of heart rate by about forty in a few seconds!” Doctor Monitor echoed as Applejack winced about in a strained supine formation so suddenly.

The tanned blonde clenched onto her teeth very tightly before she had begun to wail out loudly, “OH FUCK, IT’S ABOUT TIME ALREADY; IT FUCKING HURTS LIKE TARTARUS!”

“Oh, no… it’s starting right now…” the pale nurse gasped in surprise as she watched Applejack bolt upward and clutch onto the stomach in pain, “stay calm, ma’am; just keep on breathing while we help you.”

“DON’T YA EVER TELL ME TO STAY CALM, YA IMPERIAL FLOOZIE OF A NIGHTINGALE!” the tanned blonde screamed with increasing decibels levels from the bottom of her voice box for Redheart and the remaining sextant to hear.

At that moment in time, the beeping of machines had faced a sharp increase in frequency courtesy of Applejack’s sudden outburst; as a result, the red eyed doctor suddenly announced, “heart rate is now at a hundred thirty three; in addition, her body temperature has just reached a hundred and eight…!”

“Okay then, Spec Ops get acetaminophen ready now but use only a small dosage to do so; we cannot have a miscarriage here at all…!” the pale nurse gave a command to the aforementioned associate nearby, “are we clear on it…?!”

“Yes, Redheart; I am preparing the needle right now as we speak…!” Spec Ops replied as a syringe was now within his fingertips for the brunette to see already in spite of the loud shrieks.

A hoarse gurgling moan escaped from the tanned blonde as she closed her eyes tightly in a strained grip; as Sweetheart wiped away the sweat from the helpless patient’s brows, the latter’s ears perked up on endwise to a new voice, another male alongside the slim nurse saying, “I can see the head now…!”

“Wait, you mean to say that the crowning has formed already, Blue Shield?!” Snowheart asked in shock as she watched a bulge forming from in between Applejack’s spread legs, “OH MY STARS, THIS IS NASTY!”

“It doesn’t matter, we need to help the child out of their now; come on, Applejack, you can do this: push already now, push…!” Redheart spoke to the tanned blonde with overwhelming desperation.

A staggering wheezy breath escaped the timid Applejack’s mouth as she had cried out in pain, “AH CAN’T; THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME KIND OF A BLOCKAGE INSIDE OF ME!!”

“Yes, you can; none of us would want you to lose this child at all and neither can you ma’am…!” the pale nurse replied staring at the tanned blonde, “please, take a deep breath and push…!”

“Ssssssss… UUUUUUUUUUUWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Applejack wailed with the utmost expulsion of effort she had put in; unto her, a child was borne into the whole wide world. However, there had seemed to be absolutely no joy at all whatsoever being brought alongside into this plane of existence as the shrill drones of whimpering were only heard nearby the tanned blonde. Even the subsiding beeping now became irrefutable proof of such a thing when Applejack gasped for life, only to be greeted with an electronic whine overtaking the focus of such things at hand.

As such, much attention had now been divided by a small prime number: the tanned blonde who collapsed back onto the gurney with little warning and the diminutive neonate that had crawled out from there in due time; while the former needed no introduction whatsoever, the latter was a much different story. The small being was in a state of dishabille, a significant difference that was by far moments away from having such a matter getting addressed by the personnel in attendance. The only sounds coming out and about were the gurgling of weary cries as all four limbs flailed about in acute angles with a decreasing velocity and struggle from the origin points altogether. Instead of a dark complexion or even some cluster of freckles, the infant had only a bright skin tone free of blemishes of any shape and size whatsoever yet otherwise already stained with tears, blood, and mucous.

Redheart did only watch as a male nearby her bulky colleague went over to Blue Shield’s side and started cleaning the fluids off of the crying baby’s skin with a wet cloth and spoke, “get the oxygen tank ready, Sweetheart; we might need to save the mother just in case…”

“Yes, dear; the old one–two I presume here?” Sweetheart had simply said to the pale nurse as the tall metallic cylinder was now within the tightening grip, “fair enough…”