Chapter Text
Ugh…my head is killing me….
Ego’s head felt like it’d been screwed off his shoulders, thrown against the wall a few times and dropkicked just for good measure.
The discussion going on above him surely wasn’t helping either. His eyes still needed a moment to take in the sight around him and person talking above him were blurry.
”Look!” One screeched. “He’s waking up! We should go! Now!”
“Not now. I don’t think he can do anything right now, so don’t worry.” The voices were ones he didn’t recognize from any of the usual medics. But to be fair, Ego never really got hurt enough in the battlefield to be treated all that much.
Where was he..? It didn’t feel like the medical tent. The stiffness of whatever was below him made it obvious this wasn’t a bed.
”Gouma…?” Disoriented and confused, Ego could only mumble his brothers name. Trying to sit up, Ego seethed in pain as his senses returned to other parts of his body, specifically his stomach which felt like it was on fire.
”Easy. Don’t push yourself.” A hand reached out to steady him against the wall. The persons voice was gentle, if not a bit hesitant. “You have a gash in your stomach….” The person explained.
“I had to sew it up to stop the bleeding but you should definitely get them redone once you get back to your camp.”
”Get back to his camp?!” A shrill voice spoke up from below. “Are we seriously letting this guy go?! Hello! Look at who he is!” Man that voice is annoying.
”Not now, Reina. I haven’t decided on anything yet.” Blinking the blear away, Ego could finally who was talking to him.
In front of him was a girl with light blue hair in a long ponytail, looking at him with sharp green eyes. She looked to be around his age…. Looking at her outfit, it seemed like some type of gown…but it held design aspects of a scholarl.
And the one attribute that jumped out at Ego the most…. She was human.
Ego pushed himself further up against the wall, gaze hardening as his senses returned to him instantly. Why was a human here? Taking care of him no less? It was very obvious what he was.
”Who are you? What are you doing here?” He demanded. The girl just stared at him, eyes narrowing, as though she were studying him.
“You seemed to recover quite quickly…. How are you feeling?” Ego looked at her warily, he wasn’t about to tell this human he felt like he was run over by a horse.
What could she possibly want? Why would she be helping me…?
”Are you dizzy? You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“You keep on asking questions,” Ego hissed, “you haven’t answered mine”
The scholar shared a glance with the floating object, looked a bit like a box with a small fox head peeking out, beside her; Ego just noticed its presence. So that’s as where that annoying voice was coming from….
“You can call me…Cure Wisdom.” That got Ego to stiffen up even more.
”A Precure?!” His hands dug into the ground. So she’s one of the people his soldiers have been talking about!
”I see…so you’ve heard of us.” Cure Wisdom said plainly.
“Why am I still here? Shouldn’t I be in a cell? Or dead? I’m your enemy and I was already dying. No blood on your hands if you just left me here.”
Cure Wisdom looked up from her bag as she pulled out a water bottle, handing it to him. Ego narrowed his eyes as he took it from her, opening it he sniffed it, then examined the liquid, looking for any signs of poison or tampering.
“I’m not one to leave a person for dead, no matter who they are.” As she spoke, Ego took a desperate sip of the water once he deduced it was safe to drink.
“Fine then. Why am I not in a medical facility right now? A way to apprehend me and make sure I don’t die. Surely…you..want something.”
She finally paused before sighing.
”You’re right. I do want something. I just wanted to make sure you were in the right head space or your injuries were okay before I started asking questions.”
Questions? An interrogation, huh? Of course. As though I’d tell her anything.
”What could you possibly want to ask? My camps location? Our storage units? As if I’d ever-“
”So, I know many Kingdoms celebrate different holidays and occasions based around their traditions but some traditions it’s seems that nearly all Kingdoms participate in. Do you have any particularly memorable celebrations yearly? Perhaps for a holiday?”
That caught Ego completely off guard. Out of all the things he expected her to ask, this wasn’t one of them.
He stared at her in utter bafflement as she fished through her bag for…a journal and pen.
Was she taking notes?!
Was he still out cold? Was this some type of weird blood loss induced hallucination?
Ego had expected a sudden interrogation, threats, his recovery being held above his head for information- not this!
In his bewildered and still slightly dazed state, he could only answer.
”Uh…not exactly…. Other than celebrations for winning wars….” Cure Wisdom jotted something down in her notebook. The floating white fox put her head in her paws.
”I see…. And what about your history? Has your species ever had any civil wars? If so, what for? Who won?-“ Ego cut her off.
”I’m sorry…? I expected an interrogation of sorts…. But you want…a history lesson? While I’m like this?” He gestured to his sloppily stitched stomach.
“Would you have preferred this to be an interrogation?” Cure Wisdom asked. “The archive barely has anything on Mercenary culture and history. I don’t want to pass up this opportunity.” Ego finally saw an emotion shining in her green eyes: excitement.
“You strange woman…. Who…are you?” He mused more to himself.
”She’s already said what you can call her!” The white fox spoke up. “Who are YOU exactly, and what are you doing here!?”
”That is a good question, though.” Cure Wisdom agreed. “What are doing here? How did you end up here? Surely if a guard found you sneaking around they would’ve brought you into custody or at least informed someone of your presence if they had attacked first.”
Shaking off the shock, Ego went back to being defensive.
“My name is none of your business. But why I’m here, if you must know I was in a battle and was stabbed. I teleported to get out quickly, I didn’t think of where I would be so I ended up here. I wasn’t spying or anything.” The last thing he wanted was for these two to think he was planning something, the situation was bad enough.
Cure Wisdom narrowed her eyes, raking her eyes over his face before nodding and standing up.
”Can you stand up?” She extended a hand to Ego, who eyed it warily.
The wound on his stomach still hurt and he’s lost a lot of blood, so he couldn’t stand on his own.
Reluctantly he took her hand. Cure Wisdom pulled him onto his feet and the sudden rush of blood back to his legs nearly made him topple over.
“Great! He’s up!” The fox said, “now let’s take him into custody!”
Custody? Of course. There was no way Ego was getting out of here not being taken into custody! No matter if this person wanted knowledge or simply didn’t want him dead, he was still an enemy general.
Ego trained his mind on the camp location. He could’ve teleported back awhile ago….
Why hadn’t I…?
Only now did he realize he was still gripping onto the Precures hand. It was calloused…and cold to the touch. Was that just her powers? Or were all humans hands this naturally cold?
Flipping over her hands, Ego observed her palms. She undoubtedly had the rougher hands of a warrior, her left pointer finger and thumb had a small string mark. So…she was an archer, and favored her left hand? Her right hand also had some added pressure to her thumb, pointer finger and middle finger with a vague stain of ink.
A scholar? Or a researcher?
It took a moment for it to catch up to Ego what in fresh hell he was doing and he immediately zoned back in, hearing the fox yelling him to get his filthy hands off Cure Wisdom.
”Relax, Reina. He’s still injured and is probably light headed. People act loopy when they experience large blood loss.” Her voice held a light chaffing tone.
Ego felt the wings behind his ears straighten out in embarrassment as he pulled his hands away.
“Apologies. And thank you..for the help. I do not get your aim exactly but it’s appreciated nonetheless. However, I won’t be going back with you.” Before she could say anything more, Ego bounded a few steps away before teleporting.
Opening his eyes, Ego found himself at the entrance to his armies camp. Taking a moment to breathe; that took a lot out of him, he entered the camp and headed for the medical tent.
Before he could, Ego heard the sound of yelling.
“YOU WHAT?! YOU SAW YOUR LEADER GET STABBED AND YOU RETREATED?! LIKE A BUNCH OF COWARDS?!”
”G-General Gouma, sir- General Ego told us to retreat!” The soldiers excuses didn’t seem to calm Gouma’s temper as a small explosion followed by a yelp came.
Ego rubbed his temple before turning away from the medical tent and limped over to the planning tent.
“Where did you last see him?! Who was the one- oh that damn Klondike!!! Of course!”
“Gouma. That’s enough.” Ego spoke up through the chaos. It immediately drew Gouma’s attention from yelling at the soldiers to Ego.
”There you are!” Gouma immediately pushed through two soldiers, gesturing for them to get lost, and bounded over to Ego’s side. “Come here! Let me get a look at you!”
Gouma grabbed Ego’s arm, looking up the length of it for any injury. Ego reached up to push him away but Gouma slapped his hand away.
”Ah ah ah ah ah!” He chided Ego like a child before grabbing his face, smushing Ego’s cheeks in his hand as he examined his face.
”The only injury I have is here.” He pointed his stomach and Gouma pulled his hand away from Ego’s face. It was embarrassing, being treated like a wounded child. At least Gouma had enough sense to make their subordinates leave before fussing over him.
“Let’s get you to the medical tent-“
”I can take myself. And I was going there myself before overhearing your little tantrum.” Ego brushed him off, heading for the tent. Gouma’s voice trailed after him.
”You and I are having a conversation later!”
“I can’t believe you let him get away! I know you’ve done some stupid things in pursuit of knowledge but you are Cure Wisdom! You should be smarter than that!”
Aiko hung her head, even she was embarrassed she had let the general get away.
”I’m sorry, I was caught up in the prospect of finally learning something new about the Mercenares.” At Reina’s glare she fiddled with her braid a bit. “But that’s no excuse. I know.”
“Are you going to tell the others?” Reina flicked her ears questioningly.
”I don’t know. It’s not like I got anything useful out of him.” Aiko walked into her office, picking up the latest report copies that were often dropped off, per her request.
“You’re a curious and intelligent person, Aiko. And that’s what’s great about you.” Reina’s voice was softer. “But it’s also your greatest weakness. You get so caught up in the what ifs you don’t see what’s right in front of you. You’re a Precure, so your focus is our kingdom first.”
”It was always the focus.” Aiko said plainly. “My interest in their culture and history is for my own pursuits, but it’s also to get a better understanding of what we’re dealing with. Their tactics in war, their political system. You’ll be surprised how much useful information you can get out of these things.”
Aiko’s eyes scanned the report and she paused on a report filed by Michael Klondike.
An attack on a small Mercenary force they had found wandering near a post, Led by General Ego. It had ended in a win for Klondike with the soldiers retreating and leaving a wound on General Ego’s stomach before he too retreated a different way, likely to not lead them back.
”General Ego….” Aiko mused.
”You think..?”
”A wound to the stomach and a different manner of retreat? Yup.”
”…Okay. Maybe don’t tell the fact that you helped him to anyone.” Reina advised. Aiko nodded, but she would still keep her friends in mind.
Still…her curiosity didn’t fade. Ego didn’t strike her as a completely violent brute as Mercenares were painted all her life. It only sparked her curiosity of their society even more.