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 Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:29 pm
Takes place after Point of No Return
This time, it was almost eerily quiet. There was thunder in the distance, but it sounded like there must have been an opening in the clouds where Sessrumnir wasn’t getting completely pummeled by rain and wind.
It took more energy and focus than he was used to using, but they’d arrived exactly where he wanted them to be -- at the ground level of the Springs. So maybe it was just because they were so far under the actual building, and so close to the springs that they couldn’t hear the storms, but he usually could.
Not that any of it mattered now.
He’d let Soleiyu sit on his shoulder as he took them all to Sessrumnir, and didn’t seem like he was in any rush to make him get down. The floor was a little damp in places from condensation of mist rising from the hot water.
But he didn’t let go of Alastor’s shoulder just yet.
Taking multiple guests had been more taxing than he expected, and he needed a moment to catch his breath. He shook his head before Alastor could voice any concern, and after those few moments, he nodded towards the back part of the Springs. Not that he didn’t already expect Alastor to know where to go.
“There’s an office or… something further back. Last I saw there was at least one cot that we can put him down on before putting him into the water,” Sessrumnir explained and then made to lead the way towards the door that had been added into the natural rock wall. Chad heard Alastor say something about going somewhere magical, but he could barely keep his eyes open, much less comprehend what was going on. One moment they were in his house, and the next they were in some kind of cave with waterfalls and pools of water and everything felt warm...
Except for him. He shivered again as he tried to look around, but his eyelids were too heavy. By this point he’d gone almost completely limp in Alastor’s arms, except for where he clung to the silk shirt so he could keep his arm out of the way from where Alastor was using his sash to put pressure on his wound.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:04 pm
Sessrumnir had answered Alastor’s question before he could even ask it, and there was no need for more communication or directly. Alastor stood still for as long as Sessrumnir needed, for as long as it took for him to collect himself and recalibrate. Chad weighed nothing in his arms, and it was easy to hold the steady pressure to try and stop the flow of blood.
Soleiyu didn’t want to jump down on the obviously damp floor, but Sessrumnir probably didn’t need to be focusing on balancing when he looked a little worn out already. He might not have known where to go, so when Sessrumnir gave instructions, he hurried off in that direction.
He didn’t know what facilities were available, but Soleiyu always had a first aid kit–a good one–stashed in his subspace.
So, while Alastor carefully carried Chad over to the back room, Soleiyu quickly pulled out his supplies and looked at Sessrumnir expectantly.
“Almost there, Chad,” Alastor reassured, in a gentle tone because he didn’t want him to be worked up or nervous. It seemed like it came naturally to him, like he was comfortable talking just to fill the void of silence before it could become uncomfortable or worrisome.
He’d been in silence for a long time. He didn't want Chad to worry.
“You’re doing very well. You’ll be able to rest soon, we’ll get this all sorted and taken care of. You’ll be all patched up and fine in no time. We’ll get you all warmed up soon, too, don’t you worry.”
He’d felt him shiver and drew him closer. There wasn’t much he could do about it now; it wasn’t like he could just will some of his body heat over to Chad, and he was going to have to put him down in a minute, anyway. He doubted Michael was going to want to have to stitch Chad back up while he was still in Alastor’s arms.
“I’m going to be with you. You’re in good hands. If anything were to happen to me, I’d want to be here. There’s no one I’d trust better to take care of me than my friend, here.”
He didn’t want to lay Chad down on the cot, didn’t want to put him down. But, he needed treatment. And, if Michael could attend to the worst of it, maybe he could patch up the bite or something. Anything.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:15 pm
The office or whatever it was, had obviously once been in better shape. He didn’t know if Percy ever actually used it with regularity, but it looked like some kind of place set up for triage. The Springs did have healing properties, so maybe this was just where the doctors that Sessrumnir had took their most wounded.
Along the walls were raised beds of soil. Some of the plants looked like they were starting to reestablish themselves, but Michael had no idea what they were. There were cabinets that held journals in a language he couldn’t read, but they seemed to be kept out of the most damaging condensation, or maybe the paper itself was protected from mold and mildew.
In the center of the room was a shallow pool, deep enough for someone to lay down and be covered by the water that flowed in through one small opening in the rocks, and out through another. Tucked in one corner was a desk likely used for researching the plants, or sorting out medical supplies, and in another corner was a cot that was in fairly good condition, especially when taking its age into account.
He didn’t comment on Devyn’s reassurances to Chad, but he thought it was nice to know how much Devyn trusted him.
And he didn’t want to let him down.
While Devyn was getting Chad comfortable on the cot, Michael took the box of first aid to look through the supplies. He had his own, but he wanted to make sure they were using the best that was available.
“I don’t suppose you have some fancy gadget to test for things like blood pressure or blood type,” Sessrumnir glanced expectantly up at Soleiyu, but he also didn’t look like he was going to be upset when he was told no. Everything looked so strange. How were they in a cave? It didn’t make sense. But he could see Alastor, and hear him talking to him, so that was nice. He didn’t want to be put down, but seemed to understand that it was for the best.
However, even when he was settled down on the cot, he reached for Devyn’s hand, wanting to make sure he didn’t go too far away.
“Are you okay?” he asked weakly, trying to ignore the pain in his side and ankle, or how cold he was, or the dimming around his vision. “He… he put his hand in my chest I… don’t know how… Dad wanted him to-- to kill me.”
Chad’s lip trembled as he looked up at Devyn, his eyes filling with tears that never really stopped falling. “I don’t know what I did. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Was he really that bad that his dad wanted him dead?
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:24 pm
“Of course I do,” Soleiyu huffed, and it took him all of a few seconds for him to dig into the bottom of his first aid kit. He pulled a small, disk shaped device from his supplies and nudged it towards Michael. The front of the device had a screen, and he pushed a button on the side of it that activated it when he passed it over. “Put it against his wrist, it checks blood pressure. If you need to know blood type, I’ve got strips. They’re premixed, you just need a blood sample. They’re in here, hold on.”
He was digging around again almost immediately and seemed to know exactly where everything was stored.
Alastor didn’t leave his side, wasn’t going to leave his side. He accepted Chad’s hand into his own and squeezed gently out of habit. “We’ll figure this all out. I’m fine, thank you for worrying about me.”
He was angry. Furious. Disgusted. He could go back to Chad’s house and wait for his father. Could have probably killed him without an ounce of regret.
But, he wasn’t important right now.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He wiped his free hand off on his pants, instinctively more than anything, and then reached to smooth Chad’s hair down. “There’s something wrong with that man, not with you. You’re safe with us, we’re going to look after you and get this all sorted out. You’ll be good as new soon enough. Better, even. Just try to take it easy. You’re doing good with your breathing, just keep it nice and slow.”
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:30 pm
Well, that was a relief that Michael didn’t expect to have. He had more supplies at home, but he only had so much with him in his subspace. It was meant more for immediate patching up with the intention of getting somewhere safe, but since they couldn’t exactly trust going home or to a hospital at the moment…
“Dev, put this against his wrist while I get everything else set up,” he requested after taking a moment to look the device over, before passing it to Devyn. “And hope that one of us is a match for him,” he added quietly, because he didn’t have to look at Chad to know that the injury was substantial. Especially to someone as small and young as Chad.
“If we’re not, we’re going to have to risk going to a hospital,” he decided, because while he would like to avoid giving the Negaverse another chance to hurt Chad, he wasn’t going to be arrogant when it came to his own abilities as a medic. A field medic, who worked with people they were going to take someplace else to get proper treatment.
Making sure he didn’t waste precious time, Michael took a needle usually used for stitching, and pricked himself to get enough blood for the blood type strips. He held out his hand for Devyn’s next, clearly with the intention of doing the same. As for Chad, well, he had plenty of blood to test from. Chad seemed to need the reminder about his breathing, and he took a moment to try and make sure he was breathing slowly. But doing so made him cough. Being polite meant covering his mouth with his hand, but the sight of blood when he pulled it back was alarming.
“Can you tell Elliot I’m sorry I missed dinner, please?” he struggled not to cough again, already holding his hand over his mouth as if that would hide the cause of his newest distress. “And that I… I really, really liked him?”
Normally he would have blushed at the admission, but this time he felt no heat rising to his cheeks. He was still trying to breathe slowly, but he missed Elliot, and the thought of never seeing him again meant a new wave of tears.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:49 pm
Alastor didn’t waste any time and offered his hand for Sessrumnir. “I have good blood,” he said offhandedly, maybe just something to fill the silence. “I had to give a few transfusions back in the day. I’ll have to tell you that story when you’re feeling better, Chad.”
Soleiyu laid out the strips to make it as easy as possible for Sessrumnir, and it was a careful balancing act for Alastor to get from one thing to the next. He didn’t flinch when Sessrumnir took his blood, and as soon as it had been collected he took the monitor and carefully pressed it against Chad’s wrist.
He hadn’t stopped applying pressure to Chad’s wound and was afraid to shift the amount he had on it; he didn’t want to cause him any extra harm. He wanted to smooth out his hair again, but all he could do was hold the monitor to his wrist and hope they got what they needed soon so he could.
“You’ll be able to tell him, yourself, Chad. When you’re ready. There will be other dinners. You know Elliot understands. I’m sure he’s already looking forward to the next one.”
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:56 pm
Michael mumbled his thanks to Soleiyu as he helped prep things, grateful that he was there for an extra set of -- paws. It didn’t matter as long as he got everything set up for what he hoped would be enough to help Chad without endangering him further.
He got the chair from the desk so he could carry it over to the side of the cot, a folded piece of canvas keeping everything that he needed organized and clean. It wasn’t ideal, but he trusted the waters of Sessrumnir to do their part once he was done with his.
Which was strange for him to think that way. Had he relied on his Wonder for more than just a history lesson before? But this feeling was more than just vague intuition. It felt as though he’d done something like this before. And he had, just not on Jupiter.
He knew he didn’t have to say anything when he placed his hand over Devyn’s to signal him to switch who was applying pressure. The fabric was already soaked, and Michael only had so much gauze with him to clean everything up. He heard Chad whimper when he peeled back the fabric to take a look, but was momentarily relieved that it seemed like a clean cut.
Michael hadn’t missed the blood on Chad’s lips, but kept his focus on the task in front of him.
“The water should mend anything internally that I can’t get to,” he explained to Soleiyu, because he could only imagine that he’d maybe be concerned about their lack of visible resources. For now, as he glanced at the device that had been pressed to Chad’s wrist, he needed to focus on quickly stitching the wound before Chad’s blood pressure dropped even lower. Chad hiccuped a quiet sob when Devyn told him he could tell Elliot himself. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to.
Not because he didn’t want to, but… he felt so cold, and so tired. His eyes were heavy, and his lungs hurt and he could see the other man out of the corner of his eye putting a needle in his wound which-- seemed to numb it more after a few seconds. But he couldn’t watch the needle and thread being worked, and he turned his head so he could look up at Devyn instead.
“You look different,” he commented quietly, his words a little slurred from exhaustion.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 9:03 pm
Briefly, Alastor watched Sessrumnir work, but when he saw Chad’s gaze shift he looked to meet his eyes again. He smiled, and tried to keep his face relaxed, because if Chad saw him worrying he had no doubt that Chad would just worry worse.
“I got stronger. In case I needed to protect you.”
He switched which hand was holding the little reader to Chad’s wrist, but only after he’d wiped off what blood he could onto his pants. He used his clean hand to comb his fingers through Chad’s hair.
He wasn’t going to make this a pity party. Of course he was anguished that he hadn’t been able to do more. It seemed like there was always something more, just out of reach.
What he could do wasn’t enough. It hadn’t been enough for a long time.
He couldn't afford to let his own emotions get away, so he sealed them up and buried them as deep as he could shove them.
“I’m proud of you, Chad. Really, I am. I don’t want you to be scared right now, okay? We’ll take care of you. You’re in good hands.”
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 9:11 pm
Chad wasn’t entirely sure what to do with someone being proud of him. Except try not to cry, because he heard it almost never. The Reids were kind to him, and so was Devyn. And he wanted to hug him tight instead of being helpless on the cot.
Oh, but it was very difficult for him to even move.
He enjoyed the way Devyn pet his hair though. That was nice. It was calming. His eyes fluttered closed after a few more tears escaped.
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