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The sound of crickets and the crackling wood from the fire keeps her on her toes, knees pressed close to her chest under the warm robe. A yawn forces its way out of her, and her shoulders shake as she breathes in.
The bandages on her arm were tight, only able to turn it over in one motion. Thanks to the painkiller, she was able to sit through first aid to survive before help arrives. Small specs of blood managed to seep through the layers, but Elaine paid it no mind. She'll change it in the morning when they get back, she thinks.
Her eyes follow the trail of smoke rising from the bonfire, fingers soothing the aches in her muscles through her robe and pressing onto particularly tough spots as the warmth from the fire wards off the cold breeze. The robe and her new uniform that she wore for this mission proved to be useful, as her regular outfit wasn't fit for staying outdoors overnight.
The log underneath her was thick, the bark digging into her robe and poking her skin, making it a bit harder to sit on for longer periods of time.
Zora takes a seat a little farther on her log, tossing a stick onto dirt next to them once the bonfire finally stops sparking up and threatens to burn their skin off as the winds blow past it. Elaine takes a look at Zora from her peripherals, who had managed to relax on the gritty log.
His hair glowed ever so vibrant against the light from the fire, and she tore her eyes away, afraid that he might catch her staring. He had his robe folded neatly beside him over a pile of leaves and he laid as bare as normal on the log they managed to find in the woods nearby.
"Zora." He stirs a little, looking up from where he laid.
"What made you decide to become a Magic Knight?"
He squints his eyes at her before directing his gaze towards the fire in front of them. He's silent for a while, maybe thinking about how he could answer it in a roundabout way.
"Why'd you ask?" He throws a question back at her, hoping to stall until he has some snarky remark to answer her with. Elaine shifts in her seat, the blood finally flowing to her legs after a long while.
"Was simply curious, is all."
"That's it?" She stares at him in confusion.
"Were you expecting something more?"
"I just thought you'd run your mouth again just to answer my question."
Zora's wide awake now, sitting up on the log in such a slovenly way that Elaine feels like she shouldn't stare at all. Does he prefer sitting with his legs wide open? The thought makes her want to chew on her cheek, the heat from both the fire and the blood rushing to her cheeks are starting to become indistinguishable.
She feels the urge to chip at the bark under her with her fingers.
"Well? Are you going to answer?"
Zora clicks his tongue. "You're persistent on something for once." His jab falls flat when she doesn’t respond and he sees her caving into herself, arms now over her bloody stomach with her head against her knees. He leans closer to her, even though he’s not that skilled with healing magic. “Oi, don’t keel over just yet.” His tone is a lot more serious that his seemingly detached wording felt out of character.
She’s grateful they’re far away from the battlefield.
Elaine puts a hand up, one that is smudged with blood. “That cloth isn’t going to hold up for the entire night at this rate.” Zora watches as the blood slowly takes over the fabric’s color, turning it into a muddy purple. He considered tearing a piece from his own robe, but then an infection might make it worse. The mage only shakes her head, jaw clenched and fingers snapping straight as pain shot up her limbs like her nerves were being pricked by needles. Her movements are slow and labored and she lifts herself up from the log with little movement.
“We’re already low on supplies.” She notes, lowering herself to the ground and leaning her back onto the log. “A wound this big can’t heal overnight.” Zora seemed to understand where she was going but was still apprehensive. She slowly uncovers the wound and she fights the urge to retch. It wasn’t as bad as when Zora first dressed it but the smell of blood was overtaking the rest of her senses.
The damage had been mitigated, but not completely. It's still an open wound, and the painkillers she consumed prior to her injury were starting to wear off. Across her stomach were 3 long slashes, deep enough that it'll make her bleed for a long while before getting help and healed by other mages, but it's not deep enough that her guts would spill over the ground if she jumped. The rifts on the wounds are damp with blood, while the edges are cracked and stained with dried blood.
Her grimoire rises in aid, just above her wrist. It takes a while to glow purple, and soon it was open, the sound of papers flipping blending with the crackling wood. She hovers her hand over the wound and casts a healing spell.
It was a spell that she developed in secret while training in the Heart Kingdom, and even then it’s still incomplete.
She called it “Respite for the Hurting”, a spell that uses poison magic on a target to numb the nerves and temporarily slow down blood flow from a wound. She cannot use it two times in a row, because even if it provides relief, it is still poison. It takes a moment for the spell to take over, but in a few seconds Zora sees her shoulders slack and her eyes close. It was as if her body went limp, only her hand raised to wait for the spell to finish.
“Didn’t know you could use poison magic for healing.” Zora eyes the traces of bright purple and blue flow from her fingertips to her stomach. Elaine shakes her head.
“It’s... not for healing, and it’s not polished yet.” He took another look at her wound. The bleeding surely stopped, but it wasn’t closing. The poison settled only inches away from skin. “Unlike the Silver Eagles’ captain with Mercury Magic, I can’t use my magic attribute to just plug up the wound. I’ll end up absorbing it in this state.”
Zora hums in reply. He watches as she reaches for something in the tiny pocket on her thigh, a small vial filled with red liquid. She stares at the bottle for a while, no doubt debating whether to use it as it was her last after giving the rest to the other magic knights that were injured.
A healing potion, he figured, when she downs the contents in one swig and the wounds shrink slowly, until it leaves traces of blood and it was no more than small incisions. Elaine tucks the vial back in her pocket and closes her eyes.
“So while we wait for our chauffeur to arrive, can you tell me about how you became a magic knight?”
Zora folds his arms over his chest and huffs. “You better not fall asleep while I’m talking.”
//Bonus:
“Oi, don’t fall asleep just yet.” Zora’s voice is perfectly clear above her head, but she can only see a mess of red and black. His hand rests under her head, keeping it from falling onto the rubble. The pain was unbearable, enough that she wishes she could simply fall asleep and be done with it in an instant.
Elaine lets out a weak laugh. “Is that concern I hear in your voice, Mr. Ideale? Never thought you had it in you.” The smile on her face flattens just as quickly when she feels pain radiate from her torso. “Man, this sucks.”
“You shouldn’t have taken the hit then.”
“Is this how you usually express gratitude? I want to take all that time back.”
“Don’t think taking care of your sorry ass is fun to me.”
Zora clicks his tongue in feigned annoyance, still on high alert as explosions fire off in the distance. They were a good distance away from the fight, but with how much mana was constantly being expelled through large scaled attacks, it wouldn't be long until debris would come flying in their direction. “Can you lift yourself up? I’ll dress them for you.”
Elaine nods and with much effort, uses her elbow to lift her torso off the ground for Zora to wrap cloth around it. He’s gentle, she notes, hands merely grazing the skin on her back and sides when he pins the cloth close. “Are you dizzy?”
“A little.” Her vision’s starting to blur as her breathing mellows out, but still the sparks rising towards the starry sky mesmerizes her in her near-delirious state. Zora slings his hand under her arms and knees, causing her to meet the crook of his neck when she’s lifted up in his arms.
“We need to move now,” Zora said in a low voice, “They’ll find us out here in the open.”
The arm over his shoulder is weak, and she fights to stay awake but his body is warm like a blanket that she couldn't help when her head falls and her eyes close for a little while. The chaos in the battlefield slowly fades away and she falls asleep in his arms.