Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When my mother, the Queen, told me that my friend had disappeared on her quest and hadn’t been heard from since, I knew exactly who she was talking about. I’d already heard about what had happened from my friend, Plait. But hearing it from my mother made it sound official. Like Frallan was really gone. Of course I was devastated, but I was being entrusted with the task of healing the prince of Hurtland and I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me.

“Well, off you go! Take care, my precious Remedy!” my mother said with a warm smile.

I adjusted my band-aid tiara and headed for the door. Along the way a guard handed me a pack with supplies and a map. Waiting for me outside was Plait, who I met at the Saturnian Healing School along with Frallan.

“Plait, hi.”

“Hey Remedy! Wow, a quest from Queen Amelia directly! You’re so lucky…” said Plait, “She’s never even noticed me.”

“Hah, being related to her sure helps.”

“Oh right! I forgot. Well, You don’t want to do this alone. I’ll come with you!”

“You really don’t need to, Plait.”

“No!” insisted Plait, “Maybe if I can prove my healing abilities, the Queen will acknowledge my skill!”

I smiled and nodded. Two healers would be better than one, after all. We then leaped off the platform and landed safely in East Hurtland. Checking my map of the land, I saw that near where we landed was a village, Mild Town.

Upon entering the town, a man walked up to me. “Welcome to Hurtland, Princess Remedy and other. It’s terrible here.” he said.

The blunt honesty of the state of the land was very surprising, but I supposed that I could help some of the people in the village as practice, like my mother said. I sure needed it if I was to heal Prince Hingst. 

We approached a man who was sitting slouched on the side of a house. He groaned and pointed at us, “Can you two help me? I think I’m sick” 

Plait opened her satchel and pulled out a bottle of cold medicine. She attempted to open the cap but couldn’t get it. She tried for around a minute to no avail. I pushed down on the cap and opened it immediately. Plait smiled and handed one to the man.

“Thanks!” Said the man, “I guess I wasn’t sick after all.”

Plait stared at him, “We… just healed you.”

“Nope. I feel fine, I'm not sick.”

We stared at him for a few more seconds but decided to move forward. Inside the house that the man was slouched on was a woman who was exhausted from gaming all day. I told her to go to sleep. There was a poor flower who was surrounded by pieces of glass and a duck with crumbs of bread stuck in its beak, as well as a man who told us about a secret passage in his house. I found a door made of rocks and found inside a chest with supplies in it. 

We explored the town and healed its citizens on the way. I explored every inch of the town, holding some hope in my heart that I would find Frallan somewhere... But she wasn’t there.

Why should I want to find her anyway? I thought I broke up with her. She’s probably fine. I should focus on my quest. 

I left the town on its northern exit and checked my map again. According to it, there were two paths ahead. One to the north and one to the west. Looking ahead, there was no path northward, only a line of trees.

Curiosity got the better of me. “Hey, Plait. Stay here while I check out the forest.”

“Alright,” she said and sat down against the town sign. I entered the foliage. It opened into a grove with a pool, chest, tulip, and… a body. 

“I suffer from a severe case of death” said the body in a raspy voice.

I quickly got to work. Her timing was very lucky, whoever it was could still be saved. After a while, my effort succeeded. 

“Thanks!” the woman I had healed said. “I’m Jenny. Thank you for saving me. I thought no one would find me.”

I smiled and noticed that the tulip I saw earlier was drooping. The flower said that it was sad. Because of reasons. I patted the tulip and pointed at a spot nearby with sunlight shining through the trees. The tulip tilted its ‘head’ but soon understood when I started digging a hole where the sunlight was. It jumped out of the earth and moved over to the new space, it seemed a bit more happy than before. 

“Hey, healer” said Jenny, “I know you, you’re that Saturnian sent on the quest, right? I heard people talk about you before I got lost here. Let me come with you!”

I tilted my head, “You want to come? You’re not exactly a healer.”

“Please, it’s the least I can do after you’ve healed me from such a state.”

I agreed reluctantly and led her back through the trees.

We met back up with Plait and I introduced them to each other, “Jenny, this is Plait, my friend from school. Plait, this is Jenny, she almost died.” Jenny and Plait nodded and shook hands.

We took the eastern path that passed over a bridge and soon found ourselves in Fall Town.

Chapter Text

We entered the town and split up. Plait and I would go around healing while Jenny would stock up on supplies and food at the local store.

A pair of twins sat outside of a house, both looking sad.

“Am I Romeo? Or am I Lambo? I’m so confused!” one of them said.

I noticed that they were wearing shirts with letters on them. One of them wore a red shirt with a big maroon ‘R’ on it, the other wore a lime shirt with a big green ‘L’ on it. I pointed this out and they looked at each others’ shirts.

“Aha!” said the one on the red shirt, “I must be Lambo!”

“And I’m Romeo!” said the one with the green shirt.

“Thank you!” They said in unison.

I thought they might have gotten it switched up, but they looked happy.

We met back with Jenny at the store. Luckily the shopkeeper was healthy, although, as Jenny told us, he kept making bad jokes and laughing loudly. She also got us cups of tea and some food.

Outside the store sat a sad green blob. It made a noise that sounded like, ‘Blr blr blr’. I handed him my tea and he ate it. Not drank, he ate the cup with the tea inside it. 

“Thanks, I lost my voice.” it said.

We found another blob who said that it thought it smelled a little. I wasn’t sure how to help, but I gave it some coins so he could get something for that. I watched as the blob went into the store and left with a pile of mud. He rolled around in it, saying, “Thank you, healers! Now I smell more than ever!”

We decided to take a break and sat down under the shade of a tree. The trees, I had noticed, were a beautiful spectrum of colors, from red to yellow. It was chilly and Plait was borrowing Jenny’s coat, having left hers at home.

“I guess that’s why it’s called Fall Town,” Jenny picked up a vibrate orange-red leaf and studied it, “I wonder if it looks like this all year round?”

“Don’t trees change colors when they’re preparing for wintertime? It’d be weird if they were.” Plait pointed out.

“Huh, I guess so.”

The sun was beginning to go down and I was right on schedule. We needed to find somewhere to stay and Jenny pointed out a cave nearby on the map.

Upon entering the cave, we could hear the echoing dripping of water somewhere farther on. There were two round pathways to the left and right that formed a circular structure in the middle along with rock pillars holding up the ceiling.

Although it was dark, by the torchlight I could vaguely see a kentaur girl down the left corridor.

“I suffer from stubbed toe illness!” the kentaur girl announced as we approched.

Plait gave her a band-aid from the supplies and applied it to where her toe hurt. I didn’t think that it would work, but to my surprise the girl smiled and said, “My toe is all better! Now I can continue kicking rocks around!”

We walked around the circular structure and found ourselves at a workbench with another kentaur, a boy, crying near the workbench.

“I think I might be from Earth,” he cried loudly.

“Er, I don’t see the problem. It’s fine if you were born on Earth.” Jenny said quietly.

The kentaur boy stopped, “It’s so clear now! Since I am a mythological creature and mythological creatures don’t exist, I must not exist! Nor does my problem!”

Jenny frowned. I was going to check if he was okay, but he seemed strangely joyful.

Along the left pathway I discovered a rock door similar to the one that was in Mild Town. Behind the door was a small room where we set up our blankets as makeshift beds.

Everyone else fell asleep. I stayed away a little while longer. I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened to Frallan and where she was. Eventually, though, I lied down and closed my eyes.

Chapter Text

According to the map, we were entering into West Hurtland territory. The upcoming village was called Burn Town. Jenny had taken to carrying all of the supplies for us, which wasn’t all that much. Most of it was Jenny’s, she always overpacked for things like this.

I noticed right away how hot it was when we entered the town, it felt like the middle of summer at home, despite it being Autumn.

There was a man standing next to a house with one foot up against the wall. He noticed us entering.

“Hey! If it isn’t Princess Remedy! I’m Bronco, Bro for short. I heard that you were going through the Hurtland villages. Thought you might want to know this bit of gossip I heard over at The Living End.”

“Ooh, what have you heard?” asked Plait eagerly.

“The Prince suffers from everything. Fear, stubbed toe, skull pain, absolutely everything.”

“Wow, that sounds horrible…” Jenny empathized.

“Yeah,” he said, “Oh, and by the way, you should be careful to get away from the town before noon, or get cover until the evening.. It gets really hot, some people make the mistake of going outside, and it’s really…. Eurgh… don’t even want to think about it.”

“Shouldn’t there be a store or something in town to supplies for burns?” asked Plait

“This is Hurtland, why do you think Princess Remedy is going through and helping everyone? Not exactly the most organized kingdom there is.”

“Oh, right”

We thanked him and explored the town. Many of the people were already inside, the sun was kind of high in the sky after all.

Jenny jumped backwards suddenly and grabbed my arm, I stepped back and looked for what she was reacting to.

In front of us was what I can only describe as a zombie. His skin was sickly and burned, the skin on his face was droopy and patchy, and there was a distinctive smell of burning flesh. It was horrifying.

“Wait, Jenny, why are you scared of him? Weren’t you like, dead or something?” Plait

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be scared of that! How are you not scared?”

“I came here for an assessment once, I don’t think remedy was there that week.”

“Guys,” I interrupted, “We should probably be healing right now. Do we have anything for burns?”

“I have some pain medicine from Fall Town,” said Jenny, digging through the bags.

“Oh! Jenny, I’ve got burn ointment in my bag, look for that, too.”

We moved the man inside of the house he was outside of, meeting another burned citizen and someone with horns inside. We treated the burned citizens as best as we could. Plait found another one in the west part of town, he said his face melted because of everyone’s sick burns, but we were pretty sure he just stayed out too long.

The sun was rising farther in the sky and we were sure that we had gotten everyone. I was sure that I was hearing sizzling, like something burning, most likely metal. It was probably time we left.

Bronco had already gone inside and so we packed up our stuff and continued on our way.

Up ahead was a very old stone pyramid. Plait brushed her hand along the stone bricks as we walked by.

“I’ve always wanted to visit the pyramid in Hurtland for a while, I never really had the time.” mentioned Plait.

“Me, too! But I don’t travel very often. I’ve never actually been out of the Plain Town are before.” Jenny said.

“Wow, you must have been excited to join the quest!”

We stood before the giant corridor that led inside. It was so dark that I couldn’t see inside.

“Do we have any flashlights?” I asked.

Plait was about to speak and then stopped, dug through her bag which Jenny was holding, and then frowned. “I… don’t think I have.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be prepared for anything?” Joked Jenny.

“I can’t believe I forgot flashlights… I guess I’m not…” Plait looked like she was on the edge of tears.

This sudden change of tone was distressing.

“Woah, woah, are you okay, Plait? It’s okay, it’s just flashlights. We can stand a little bit of dark.” Jenny put her hand on Plait’s shoulder. I stood there awkwardly.

“But that puts us in danger! I’ve put us in danger. What if someone trips and falls? What if someone gets lost? That would be on me!”

“No, it wouldn’t!” Jenny said, “We didn’t pack them either, why would you be responsible? It’s okay, Plait.”

“I’m the responsible one! I’m supposed to be prepared.”

“Plait,” I spoke up, “How about this, we go in anyways, but in a single file line and hold onto rope. That way we can still explore and find anyone who’s sick and not get lost. It’s not exactly ideal, but it’ll work.”

Plait sniffed, “Okay… I guess. Sorry.”

“You’re okay, Plait. It’s okay.” Jenny said.

We entered in a single-file order of me, Plait, and then Jenny.

“It seems like there’s stairs here, but let’s check out the first floor first.”

There was a low wailing coming from around a wall, “Help! My bandages are wet!”

“Where are your bandages?”

“What kind of a question is that? Look at me”

I squinted my eyes and in the faint light that came from cracks in the wall I could see that we were dealing with one of the rare mummies of these lands. Seeing as we were in a pyramid, I would guess we’ll see more of them. They could be dangerous if they hinted even a slight sign of malintent.

“Jenny, do you still have Plait’s coat?”

Jenny nodded, untied it from her waist, and handed it over to me.

I wrapped the coat around the mummy, “That’ll hopefully dry you up.”

We explored the rest of the pyramid and helped another mummy get up over tripping over his own bandages and another one who was rolled up by another mummy. It was hours of healing a variety of both spiders and mummies. Afterward, we returned to the stairs at the entrance. Light shone in through the doorway. We were about to walk up the stairs when Jenny stopped us.

“Wait! Look here!”

She held up a flashlight from the floor, “It must have fallen out!”

Jenny handed the flashlight to Plait and she turned the light on. We continued on upstairs.

At the top was a very ornate coffin. The headboard had a woman’s face carved into it.

“Oh, Dear… I’m stuck in this coffin!” said a voice from inside.

Jenny held the handle and lifted the tomb’s lid, which from within a mummy decorated in jewelry and gold.

“Fresh air at last! Thank you dearies, take this as a reward.”

She handed us a gold necklace and ring from her treasures, which Plait stored away in her bag.

“Hey!” The mummy said angrily, “I can see you, you know!”

The very moment I thought we had gotten through the Pyramid without any casualties, the very queen of the place was yelling at us. Me and Plait looked around to see Jenny in the act of picking up a golden coin from the ground.

“Jenny, what are you doing?” I whispered.

“I will not have thieves parading around in my pyramid! Guards!”

There was a moment of silence where I thought maybe her guards had left a long time ago and she just hadn’t noticed. Maybe we could escape.

There was a scuttling sound from above us. Plait shone her light up and we saw gigantic spiders.

“Oh, gross! I hate spiders!” Plait said with anxiety in her voice.

“Hey,” said Jenny, “They’re more scared of you then you are of them.”

The closest spider to them hissed.

“I don’t think that’s the case with these ones. Let’s get out of here!”

We ran for the pyramid entrance and the spiders gave chase. As soon as we got out, though, the spiders retreated.

Jenny was breathing hard, but managed to say, “Wow, all that for a piece of gold.”
Plait laughed and I checked our map. We could continue upwards, but there was a good amount of people he could help down at the Black Hole.

“The sun should be going down soon, we were in there for a while, Let’s rest for a while and then continue downwards.” I said.

“Alright” Jenny said, laying down at the base of the pyramid on the ground. Plait set down a blanket to sit on and another one to rest under, which she offered for Jenny to also use.

I took a blanket out of my bag and watched while the sun went down.