Febwhump Day 1 - Vocal Cords
A/N: When she finally locates Julian after days of searching, Jadzia is horrified by a sudden change. Set in early season 2.
She couldn't believe she hadn't realised it straight away.
In her defence, she had been focused on getting herself and Julian out of the Telodinian camp alive. There hadn't been enough time to assess for any secondary injuries when she'd first discovered him; secretly, she'd expected him to be dead. It had been four days since he first went missing, after all.
Jadzia couldn't say anything at first; part of her was too stunned by the young man's condition. The other part of her was heartbroken that he'd been subjected to such torture when they had originally come to this part of the planet on a humanitarian mission. He came to help, and this is what his reward is…
The barren tent housing him had been left open just enough for the overnight storm to blow through, leaving clumps of melting blue snow scattered around his feet. The rims of his uniform were covered in ice, dried blood decorating sporadic parts of the rest of the fabric. His arms were bound so far above his head that despite being tall for a male human, his toes were unable to touch the floor. How his shoulders hadn't been dislocated, Jadzia had no idea.
"Julian?" She whispered in his ear, delicately touching the skin above his lacerated eyebrow. The lack of warmth beneath her fingertips alarmed her, and she gently clasped Julian's face in her hands. "Julian, wake up."
The young man's eyes fluttered open, glazed over with dehydration and pain. His bruised lips moved weakly, but no sound emerged.
Oh thank goodness, he's alive. "It's Jadzia. We're getting out of here, Julian."
Julian's eyelids spasmed as he fought for consciousness, but he managed to give a blink of acknowledgement before his head slumped forward into Jadzia's hands. She gently released him before
Realising instantly that there was no hope of her reaching above him to untie the rope herself, Jadzia immediately pulled out her phaser and carefully aimed it just above Julian's hands. She couldn't stop herself cringing at the phaser's loud whine as it sliced through the restraint, disturbing their eerily silent surroundings. Come on, come on-
She reacted just in time to stop Julian from crashing to the floor, cradling his limp (and scarily thin) form in her arms. I'll have to speak to him about putting on some weight after all of this…he's far too light for his age.
A loud crash from outside the tent, and she swore quietly. "Time to go, Julian." She ducked underneath his bound hands and pulled them forward enough to keep his shoulders on top of hers - she decided she'd just have to pray that he didn't fall backwards and strangle her - before tucking each leg under her arms.
Without looking back, Jadzia charged out of the tent and headed for freedom.
****
She wasn't sure how long she'd been running through the planet's frozen forests before she felt Julian beginning to stir on her back. It was still at least another eight kilometres to where she had stashed the runabout, but given that she hadn't seen any Telodinians following them from the camp, it was worth the risk to have a few minutes of rest.
They took shelter in an overgrown clearing that hadn't experienced as much snowfall overnight as other areas, which was an unexpected blessing as Julian had recovered enough after a few sips of water to begin shivering.
"I'll trade places if you want," Jadzia had laughed, wiping the sweat from her brow. "I could go for a dip in the snow right now."
She removed the lid from the last bottle of water, tipping it delicately into Julian's mouth, who drank so quickly that most of it ended up washing the dirt and blood away from his chin rather than rushing down his throat. He gaze Jadzia a pleading look as she pulled the bottle away, and she had to fight the guilt building in her stomach. "I don't want you throwing it up before we get back to the runabout. There's no supplies in this kit for an IV line."
Deciding that distraction would help with Julian's dehydration, she turned her attention to releasing his bonds. "I apologise for the unceremonious rescue," Jadzia confessed, putting her fingers to work at the knots around Julian's wrists. "I know it wasn't exactly graceful, but I assure you, no one has to know about being the 'damsel in distress'."
The remark elicited a small smile from Julian, watching tiredly as Jadzia finished untying his hands. As the rope fell away to reveal chafed and raw skin around his wrists, his eyes narrowed slightly, but otherwise made no comment. Even as tiny pricks of blood began to appear from beneath his skin, he remained silent.
"Oh, Julian…" Jadzia inspected the damaged flesh, knowing from experience that this sort of damage only occurred when the person had been struggling against them for an extended period. "I'm so sorry, I-I came as fast as I could-"
She was interrupted with Julian placing a hand on hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. It was then that she finally realised something was horribly wrong.
Julian is a talkative man. Half the station complains about it…so why hasn't he said anything yet?
Jadzia inspected his face carefully. She couldn't see any signs of strangulation, and he hadn't been gagged when she found him, but she realised she'd have to ask the question. "Julian?"
The young man looked up from his injuries, his eyes widening as he finally seemed to catch on to Jadzia's concerns. He slowly lifted his hand and pointed to his throat, giving a small shake of his head.
The Trill's heart sunk; she was so hoping to have been proved wrong. "Can you speak at all?"
He hesitated before he shook his head sadly. The despondent look in his eyes told her the rest of his answer: Believe me, I tried.
Before Jadzia could ask any questions, he tilted his head back and mimed something dropping into his mouth.
Despite his attempts at clarifying the situation, all it did for Jadzia was raise more questions. "They made you eat something?"
He shook his head and mimed the action again.
"…They gagged you with something?"
His hand made an unsure gesture; Jadzia guessed he meant it was close enough. She watched as he resumed his pantomime, repeating the first gesture before placing one hand over his mouth while he wriggled the second's fingers in front of his throat. After moving his hands away, he made the action of attempting to speak before slouching in defeat.
I should get Benjamin to teach me more about human body language after this.
"While it's wonderful acting, Julian, I'm sorry but I don't fully understand what's happened to you," Jadzia admitted quietly.
She watched intently as he stretched out a trembling and bloodstained hand, frowning as he attempted to scratch some letters into the dirt in front of them. The soil was stiff and unmoving with the early morning frost, but the doctor persisted despite the pain it was causing to his hands.
When he'd finished, Julian collapsed against the tree behind him, the effort having taken its toll. It took Jadzia a second to interpret the scrawled letters: ORGANIC MATERIAL? VOCAL CORD PARALYSIS?
"Was it a once-only treatment?" Jadzia asked tenderly. "Or did-"
Julian shook his head mutely, holding up three fingers.
The Trill wasn't sure how much further her heart could sink for this poor man. Her voice was gentle but soft as she spoke. "They did that to you three times?"
Julian's eyes were uncharacteristically wet as he nodded. His eyes widened as he leaned forward and grabbed the bottle of water, swallowing so fast that he couldn't stop until Jadzia had to physically rip the ration pack away from him. "Not too fast, Julian. I'm sure you're aware what happens when you rehydrate too quickly."
The doctor's cheeks reddened with embarrassment. He tucked the blanket tighter around himself
"Let's get you home, first. Then we'll worry about everything else," Jadzia rose to her feet, scrambling to close the ration kits. "And don't argue with me about walking, because you're in no state to be doing either."
Jadzia deliberated ignored his mouthed protests as she lifted him onto her back, pulling his arms around her neck. "Can you hold on, Julian?"
His hand formed into a thumbs up, and she had barely secured his legs before launching into another sprint. The sooner we get back, the sooner we'll know if this damage is permanent…
