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Protective brothers
A coughing fit hit her and Evergreen turned pale when she saw blood on the ground. The situation was getting worse every minute. The wound in her shoulder already made it difficult for her to stay awake, and the position she was forced to stay in due to the handcuffs blocking her wrists didn’t help. A new cough hit her and more drops of blood spilled onto the floor. Evergreen took deep breaths and looked up at the wizards surrounding her, quite angry and probably frustrated by the stubborn silence in which Evergreen persisted, despite the blows they had inflicted upon her up to that moment.
She didn’t think that from a simple mission she would find herself in such a situation. She, Freed, and Bickslow had embarked on a spy mission to extract information about a dark guild. But somehow, they had been caught and found themselves in the middle of a fight without expecting it. Basically, they were trapped and during the fight Evergreen had fainted, only to then wake up in that room with the wizards they were spying on. The dark wizards wanted to know what they had discovered about them but Evergreen refused to give any information, so she was left with even more wounds than she had gotten in battle.
“Why the fuck she doesn’t talk?” a dark wizard growled, the one who had burned all her stockings by dint of throwing flames at her to make her speak.
“Because you’re not convincing,” said a woman with her eyes glinting with anger as she stepped forward and took the dagger from her belt. “I’m sure you will talk now, unless you want me to slit your throat,” she threatened, lowering herself to her lap and observing Evergreen with some sadistic amusement. Evergreen just glared at her, while feeling a certain panic and with her mind that was looking for a solution to escape from that lair and reach her companions. She had no idea where Freed and Bickslow were but they were probably still out of it and looking for her, or at least Evergreen was hoping so.
“Slay me then, but it will be difficult for me to speak after you do,” she replied with arrogance and a hoarse voice. A fist hit her face and Evergreen felt her mouth full of blood again, she coughed and more panic rose in her stomach. If only those handcuffs weren’t anti-magic she would have petrified anyone who tried to get close.
“Then I’ll destroy this beautiful face” threatened the woman grabbing Evergreen’s chin in her hands and sliding the blade across her cheek. Evergreen pursed her lips and was forced to stand still, while she felt the weapon open her skin. The woman walked away for a moment, hoping that threat would make her speak, but Evergreen remained silent.
“I won’t have patience with you anymore,” the dark sorceress growled and raised the dagger again, but before she could do anything the ceiling behind her collapsed, burying several wizards. The sorceress whirled around “What the he...” a green flash hit her in the chest and she flew against the wall behind Evergreen, hitting her head and sliding to the ground.
Evergreen looked at Bickslow in surprise, his face was uncovered and his eyes sparkling. Freed was right behind him, and they both looked furious. In fact, they were furious. Bickslow’s totems had already begun to attack the wizards in the room, Freed’s runes clinging to the bodies of several men and women, who collapsed to the ground soon after. A man under Bickslow’s control reached Evergreen freeing her from the handcuffs and she tried to get up, but her legs didn’t support her and she found herself falling. Before she could hit the floor, two arms caught her.
“Ever?” it was Bickslow, the tone obviously worried.
“I’m fine, I’ve burned legs,” Evergreen explained leaning against him and holding back the tears of pain. She had much more than just burns to her legs, but her friend was already seeing it for himself.
“I’ll kill them” Bickslow’s voice contained only fury and she knew that wasn’t a good sign. In fact, immediately after the boy’s totems fluttered over a dozen wizards, a green flash illuminated their view before an explosion that caused other wizards to fall nearby. At that attack Freed turned towards them and joined them. He threw a worried look at Evergreen, immediately afterwards he too darkened his face more than he already was.
“We have to take her to the hospital,” he said. Bickslow nodded and Evergreen tried to stand on her own, but the pain was too much. She felt her friend’s arm under her legs, immediately after she was lifted from the ground and taken in his arms. Bickslow was already about to walk towards the exit but three wizards stood in front of them, blocking the way.
“You stay here,” one growled.
“I wouldn’t try,” Bickslow grinned, catching the man’s eyes and making him attack the two companions, who, taken by surprise, barely had time to react. “I’d reduce you all to bodiless souls if I weren’t in a hurry,” he growled furiously before resuming walking.
“Here,” Freed said leading the way and knocking down a wall with his fist. Evergreen realized at that moment that Freed was in Absolute Shadow form. It wasn’t really necessary, as they could have walked out the door past other wizards, but the two friends probably needed to vent their anger. Plus, Evergreen didn’t really want to stop them. Had it been up to her she would have petrified all those assholes and destroyed the dark guild to its very foundations. Too bad she couldn’t do anything in those states, and the position wasn’t the most comfortable because Bickslow’s arm was pressing into the wound at her side. Also, her eyes were closing again, the pain preventing her from staying awake.
“Shit, she’s bleeding,” Bickslow said worriedly. “We have to go now.”
“We’re leaving,” Freed’s voice heard. Evergreen blinked as she struggled to stay awake but it was getting harder. She wanted to tell Bickslow to be more delicate but she knew that his friend was doing the best.
“Ever? Can you hear us? We’re almost in the hospital, hold on a little longer”.
“Faster”.
“I’m doing”.
The sounds became confused and Evergreen could no longer open her eyes. She tried to answer but her voice didn’t come out, soon after silence fell around her.
***
The first thing she smelled was the smell of disinfectant, then she heard Bickslow’s voice.
“She’s waking up.”
“Thank goodness”.
Evergreen blinked and confused looked around her for a moment, only to then realize she was in a hospital room. Freed and Bickslow sat by the bed were looking at her in concern and relief. Evergreen tried to sit up but a pang of pain hit her side and she made a face. Bickslow and Freed quickly helped her by lifting her slightly and tucking the pillows behind her back.
“How do you feel?” Freed asked apprehensively.
“Um... not so bad” Evergreen muttered still a little dazed, taking the glass of water that the rune wizard was passing her. “How are you?”.
“We weren’t the ones who were tortured,” Bickslow said and a flash of anger flashed into his eyes, but it quickly vanished as he reached for her to pull a lock away from her face. “Seriously, are you okay?”
Evergreen snorted.
“I have a little pain in my side but otherwise I’m fine” she replied sincerely. Freed and Bickslow nodded again with worried faces. “The mission? I guess it failed,” Evergreen commented. They were just supposed to get information, not destroy the guild.
“Well, since the guild has been razed to the ground, they shouldn’t give any problems anymore,” Freed considered, not at all regretful of what he and Bickslow had done. Evergreen smiled slightly, a little bitter for having been captured. The two friends seemed to understand her thoughts immediately.
“You were attacked by three wizards behind you,” Freed reminded her, letting her know it wasn’t her fault. “And we couldn’t stop them from taking you away, those wizards were a real pain in the ass.”
“Yes, and they had another secret base. If I hadn’t taken control of that guy, we wouldn’t have found you,” Bickslow added. Evergreen remained silent while the two wizards told her a little about what had happened. Apparently, the dark guild had discovered their plans before they even sneaked into the building and anticipated their moves. Then they had dragged Evergreen to a secondary base to find out what the Raijinshuu had discovered about them, luckily Freed and Bickslow had arrived and had directly razed the building to the ground.
“Well, those assholes deserved it,” Evergreen muttered. “Where are my clothes?” she asked realizing she was in a white dressing gown that the nurses had probably put on her.
“Um... they were practically destroyed, so we bought you another,” Bickslow smiled finding a lighter tone. Evergreen stared at him silently and then turned to Freed.
“Tell me you chose them,” she said deadly serious and Freed smiled slightly. Bickslow giggled and placed a bag on the nightstand. Evergreen refused to open it.
“I swear, if you bought me something ridiculous, I’ll throw it at you and I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your days,” she threatened them. “Freed, you had to choose.”
“I’ve tried, but you know Bickslow can be annoyingly insistent,” Freed retorted.
“I have also bought some new glasses,” the Seith wizard smiled. Evergreen continued to glare at him and Bickslow giggled. “But if you prefer, I’ll give you my helmet”.
“I’ll never wear something as ridiculous as your damn helmet. I want some decent clothes, or I’ll walk around in this robe,” Evergreen growled. She really would have done it even though the robe was hideous, surely it couldn’t be as ridiculous as anything Bickslow had bought just to have fun at her expense.
“Open it before judging,” Freed said as he brought the bag closer to Evergreen’s hands, who looked at it suspiciously.
“If Bickslow chose it, there’s little to hope for,” she muttered. Freed seemed amused and that just meant that Bickslow had really gone to great lengths to make her ridiculous. Evergreen still refused to open the bag and Freed rolled his eyes.
“Just open it, then if you want to go around in a dressing gown, go ahead”.
Evergreen snatched the bag from Freed’s hand and began to mutter.
“You’re two bad friends, two idiots who can’t even buy a… Oh my God this is fabulous!” she exclaimed pulling out her new purple dress. A smile lit up her face and she forgot about the wound at her side stood up to try it, only to make a grimace of pain soon after. Freed and Bickslow immediately held her up and put her back in bed.
“You guys are great, but I have to try it now,” Evergreen said. Freed and Bickslow smiled in amusement but forced her to stay in bed.
“When you recover,” Freed said as he took the dress from her hands and put it back in the bag.
“Oh, come on! Help me get up and try it out,” she insisted but Freed categorically told her to rest. Wounds still had to heal and until she was okay, she would stay in bed. “Bicks, help me convince him.”
“I would baby,” the wizard Seith grinned. “But you doubted me, so now I’m pretty offended,” he said in a clearly joking tone as he pulled the bag away from Evergreen’s hands.
“Oh come on,” Evergreen complained trying to get up.
“If you don’t stay still, I’ll tie you to the bed,” Freed threatened. “I knew we had to give it to you when you recovered,” he muttered as he pushed Evergreen onto the mattress.
“I’m fine. Bickslow, help me!” she exclaimed but the friend continued to laugh, letting Freed prevent her from getting up.
“I’m sorry, until the boss says so I won’t give you this dress back.”
Evergreen snorted and crossed her arms even though she felt the tiredness return. She closed her eyes and muttered something about how she was fine and how the wounds had already healed, then fell asleep with a small yawn. She missed the affectionate looks of the two friends, Freed’s light touch on her cheek, and the way Bickslow tucked the blankets.
“She’ll be better off,” Freed whispered, more to himself than to Bickslow.
“Of course she’ll be,” he said, pulling the curtains on the window so that Evergreen slept well. Then the two boys left the room, letting her rest.