Chapter Text
The mechanical crow had been with me ever since I could remember.
That was really something, since my memory wasn’t something I could rely on often. But this, I was sure of: that specific bird was always around and never really left me alone.
I swayed in my place, clutching my shoulder that was injured in battle, spots dotting my already blurry vision. The crow flew once around me before settling on a branch of a nearby tree. I had named him Mashi, and yes, I’d assumed he was a male because he looked like one. All these years, he had never let me get close or touch him, but stayed in my periphery, keeping an eye on me for some reason.
Ignoring the bird, I struggled to stay upright, blinking and shaking my head to clear my vision and take note of my surroundings. It was a clearing surrounded by a shallow vegetation, reeking of decimated wanderers. Three new protocores weighed heavily in my pocket as I stumbled onto a nearby rock and sat down, my head spinning a little. Careful not to move my injured shoulder much, I rested my forearm across my knees and unlocked the hunter’s watch on my wrist. The injury was throbbing in time with the pulse at my temple and I was about to pass out. Soon.
My fingers quickly navigated through the holo-screen of my watch and I contacted Tara, my partner for this assignment. She picked up almost instantly.
“Y/n! Where the fuck are you? We’ve been searching for you for two hours now!”
I winced at her outburst. “Sorry, one of the wanderers had teleportation powers. I only noticed that after I resonated with its protocore and I got separated from you guys,” my voice was weak with exhaustion. “I’ve transmitted the location, would you come here please? I’m injured, and might not be able to—“
“We’re on our way.” She noticed my flickering gaze and swaying movements. “Keep talking to me Y/n, don’t you dare pass out.”
I tried my best to stay awake. Her voice was sharp and clear, ordering me to keep my focus on her until they reached me. I held on until I could hear the sound of the helicopter approaching. My mind and body were both so exhausted that as the aircraft landed, I didn’t have the strength to stay upright anymore.
🗡️🐦⬛🗡️
My eyes were covered with a cold bandage that was wrapped around my head.
Reaching up, I carefully removed it, opening my swollen lids with difficulty and placed the white gauze on a table beside the beeping machines. Just as I had expected: a cold, impersonal hospital room smelling of sanitiser and the ‘Get well soon’ flower baskets on another table near the window. My arms, neck, and chest were tethered to the machines to monitor my vitals.
I squinted at the weak sunlight filtering through the industrial white blinds of the room’s only window. Mashi would be somewhere nearby, but he wasn’t visible as of now.
I had spent so many hours in similar beds of the same hospital previously, and times like these were when I felt the loneliest. I had no family to speak of, no one to spend the night with me here. The friends I had were close enough to only send fruits and flowers and nothing else.
I carefully sat up and pressed a button to elevate the bed so I could recline against the pillows comfortably. My head felt heavy, and my injured shoulder was completely numb. The visible expanse of my skin was blooming with reddish-purple marks. A few minutes later, the door opened and Dr. Zayne entered.
He stood there for a second, assessing me while I stared back. He was one of the people from my childhood, the only one alive. The other two people from that life had died in an explosion some time ago.
Dr. Zayne was in formals sans the white coat. He crossed over to the table with the flower arrangements and took a seat on the plastic chair next to it. “I wasn’t aware that your designation had changed from protocore researcher to hunter.”
Translation: Why the fuck are you here after fighting wanderers?
His voice was low, measured and controlled. Only his eyes were alert and perceptive to my expressions. I’d once thought that he hated me, but he just had a cold personality that corresponded with his evol. He only expressed warmth and sincere affection towards his girlfriend, Ms. Hunter. The rest, in his opinion, could go to hell for all he cared (except his patients).
“Heh.” I ignored him and his question. Just because we were friends and he was my primary care physician didn’t mean I had to answer all his questions. The exhaustion was still there, and I was irritated with everything.
“Answer me.”
I sighed. He wasn’t going to let this go. “It was an all hands on deck situation. They recruited the people with powerful evols from the desk to help the hunters in the field. I was one of them, and I didn’t want to decline.”
“Any memory lapses?”
I nodded. “Just the normal stuff. I don’t remember most of the battle or how I injured my shoulder.”
“Hmm.” He’d taken out a pocketbook and was making notes as he asked the questions. “Whose evol were you resonating with?”
“Whichever teammate was the closest to me. Mostly it was Tara, but then I had to switch to one of the wanderers’ own protocore when Tara’s evol was dimming.”
“They found you in the woods, ten miles from the actual protofield.”
“It was capable of teleportation. I figured that out too late.”
“The core in your heart,” Zayne deliberately left out the word aether, since one never knew who was listening, “it is somewhat stable for now. You’ll be discharged in the evening. Take plenty of rest, and if you feel any different, drop me a text or call.”
“Right.”
“And be careful about resonating with wild protocores just like that. I don’t want to wake up one day and see you in the mortuary instead of a normal ward.”
That was as close as he would come to admit that he cared about me, however little. Being the only (human) child of his parents, he had cared for me like a sibling and I was grateful. Gently patting my hair, he bade me to rest and left the room, closing the door behind him.
🗡️🐦⬛🗡️