Chapter Text
MK fell onto the floor with a wet thud. His ribs screamed in pain as the stab wound rubbed against his shirt. A groan escaped his lips as he curled in on himself, trying to get as much comfort as he could from the soft carpet, now wet with his blood...
Wait- Carpet?
MK looked around. He, Mei, and Redson had crash-landed right in the middle of someone's apartment. The other two were beginning to sit up.
MK craned his head to see if the other were around, but instead, his gaze was met with a wide-eyed look from an unfamiliar woman.
Probably the owner of the apartment.
The woman was probably in her mid to late forties. She had brown hair laced with grey streaks, although it didn't seem to be an indicator of her age. It just added to the air of regality she seemed to carry. Her eyes were wide with worry and seemed to change color in the light. She had on a simple blue dress and was barefoot.
"Oh dear.." She whispered bringing her left hand to her messy hair. "Paul!" She yelled, quickly moving towards MK. "Oh dear- PAUL!"
A man with salt and pepper hair, about the same age as Sally bounded over carrying a giggling baby. "Yes, Sally? What..." He stopped in front of Mei and Redson who seemed to be in a daze.
He looked at his wife. (At least MK assumed that she was his wife.) "What happened? Who are these kids? Are they friends of Percy's?" He asked, rushing over to help a struggling Mei up. Redson had finally gotten his bearings and rushed over to MK's side, nearly toppling over the coffee table in the process. "Noodle boy!" He exclaimed when he saw the terrifying puddle of blood that was leaking out of MK. He put a hand on MK's chest and blood squirted out the wound. MK let out another groan as pain bloomed in the space beneath his ribs and spread to the outer reaches of his body, leaving him shaking on the damp floor.
Sally grabbed Redson's arm. "No! Don't touch it, you might hurt him more!"
A few seconds ticked by, as Redson studied Sally's face, his onyx eyes searching for something MK couldn't see. With a huff, Red ripped his arm away from her grip and returned his gaze to MK.
If he weren't in so much pain, MK would have told Redon to be nicer to the lady. She was just trying to help, and she smelled like cookies. Freshly baked and just begging to be eaten.
"Paul," Sally said, turning her attention to her husband. "I need you to contact Nico. You remember him, right? He's at camp right now, he'll be able to get help."
Paul's eyebrow twitched. "But I thought demigods weren't supposed to use phones?" He said as he dragged a half-lucid Mei onto the couch with his free arm. "How am I supposed to-"
Sally was moving now, she stepped over Redson and dispersed into the hallway Paul had come from. She returned with a crystal prism, a flashlight, a bowl of golden coins, and a fistful of bandages and rags.
She handed the bowl, flashlight, and prism to Paul. "Here, all you have to do is say 'Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering.' then you flip the coin into the rainbow-"
"Excuse me," Interrupted Redson, his anger clear as his flaming hair grew hotter. "But we are in quite the predicament right now, we don't have time for any silly incantations or Rainbows."
Sally stood there stunned, her eyebrows knit in an expression MK didn't have the energy to decipher. He didn't really know what was going on, but he knew that these very nice people were just trying to help. So what if they needed a rainbow and a bowl of chocolate coins. He would be hungry for a bit of color and a snack too, if two teenagers and an immortal firebeing had just fallen into his living room.
His head felt light.
"Paul, put down Estelle when you have the chance," Sally said. She went to the kitchen sink and wet the rags, then she brought out a kitchen knife and poured rubbing alcohol along the blade. She made to move towards MK but Redson blocked her. "Where do you think you're going with that?" He growled. His tail lashed behind him, the heat from the flame at the tip made everything look wavey. Or maybe it was just the blood loss.
"I need to cut away his clothes so that I can stop the bleeding," Sally said patiently.
Redson's tail lashed a couple more times, and despite not being able to see his mouth, MK could hear the demon's teeth grinding.
One glance at MK and he stepped aside, leaving Sally to peel off his ruined monkey jacket and cut away his shirt.
She frowned when she saw his binder but she cut it away without a moment of hesitation, her eyebrows knit in total concentration.
As soon as she did so a rush of air entered MK's lungs. The tighteness that he hadn't even known was there, had left his chest and he could breathe sweet, clean, full, breaths.
Mk could hear Redson make a squeaking noise.
His face burned.
The flow of blood slowed considerably as Sally slipped off the rest of the binder, the ruined fabric hanging like a dead animal and it slapped to the floor with a live squelch as she threw it aside. "Now this going to hurt...uh..."
"MK." MK managed to croak.
Sally smiled warmly. "Okay, MK, this is going to sting a little but you need to be as still as possible, okay?"
MK managed a mix between a groan and a grunt in reply, his throat gurgling with the effort to speak.
Sally lifted up one of the wet rags and put it against MK's wound. The cold fabric felt like fire against the raw skin but he put in his best effort to stay still and quiet, opting to bite his tongue instead of screaming bloody murder.
Sally wet the rag with some rubbing alcohol and then put it against MK's chest, right above his last couple of ribs. The chemical burned unlike anything MK had ever felt. Its heat was fat worse than anything that Redson could have created while angry. Its intensity was far worse than any glare Pisgy had shot his way.
A high-pitched whining filled his ears. Maybe it was Redson, maybe he tried to wake up Mei and she bit him. It overlapped with the sound of Paul talking to someone. Maybe he was calling the hospital?
Sally's soothing hands turned him on his back.
She said something to him but by then his mind had begun to fog and his thoughts slipped away from him. He couldn't pick apart reality from the murk of his mind. His breaths were shallow, and after a couple of pants he slipped into the dark of his unconscious.