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“There it is—do you have the containment unit?”
Ariadne’s colleague passed her the capsule which she used to place the Protocore in, sealing it with a sigh of relief.
“I’ll take this back to HQ with me when I make my report,” she said. “Thanks for all your hard work.”
Her fellow hunter gave her a two-finger salute. “Anytime. Thank Dr. Zayne for us too. He was a lot of help today.”
Ari smiled as she glanced over to where Zayne was tending to the few civilians and Hunters with minor injuries after the Wanderer attack.
“I’ll definitely pass on your thanks,” she promised.
Clutching the Protocore, she made her way over to the makeshift medical area that had been set up next to the park’s fountain.
Zayne was kneeling in the grass putting a bandage on a little girl who looked like she had scraped an elbow falling down.
“You were very brave,” he told her. “This isn’t too bad, and should heal up nicely within a week or so.”
She nodded, but her eyes caught on Ariadne as she came up, widening with excited awe.
“Miss Hunter! You were amazing fighting all those Wanderers!” she said enthusiastically.
Ari smiled, a little self-conscious. “Oh, well, it’s all part of the job.”
“I wanna be a Hunter too when I grow up!”
The girl’s mother thanked Zayne and took her daughter by the hand as she turned to Ariadne.
“Thank you for all you and your colleagues do,” she said sincerely.
Ari ducked her head a little, then heard Zayne chuckle as they walked away.
“You shouldn’t look so bashful, you did protect these people’s lives.”
“I’m not bashful, I just…it feels weird being praised for my job.”
“Hm.” Zayne hummed as he closed the box of medical supplies before he turned to her. “And you? Are you injured?”
“Only a couple bruises; nothing to write home about,” she replied, allowing Zayne to rub his thumb over some dirt on her cheek. “Sorry our lunch date was ruined.”
Zayne smiled. “We have to expect it will happen sometimes. After all, both of us work jobs where we are often on call.”
One of the other injured civilians started to stand up from the bench, holding his head where Zayne had applied a bandage a few minutes earlier. The doctor’s eyes instantly flashed as he saw him stagger.
“Sir, please sit, the paramedics will be taking you to the hospital soon to properly see to your concussion.”
“So dizzy,” the man muttered as he swayed.
Ari was the closest, so when the man reached out and started to fall, he crashed into her shoulder.
Zayne somehow steadied her and caught the patient at the same time, but the container holding the Protocore slipped from Ari’s fingers, cracking against the flagstones.
“Dammit,” she hissed.
Zayne forced the man to sit back down, glancing over at her. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just…the container broke.”
Luckily the paramedics had finally arrived and were taking the more heavily injured civilians to Akso hospital. Zayne gave them brief rundowns before joining Ari as she bent to pick up the Protocore.
“Here, you should use gloves,” he said quickly and bent to help her.
They touched the Protocore at the same time and it sparked, causing them both to drop it.
“The hell?” Ari yanked her hand back.
“Is that…normal?” Zayne asked.
Before she could answer, her Hunter’s watch started to beep, giving off metaflux readings.
“We need to get this thing contained again.” She tapped into the comms. “Does anyone have another containment unit for the Protocore?”
Luckily, she was able to get it contained again within a few minutes, but still had a weird feeling about it.
“This was the cause of the disturbance, no?” Zayne asked as Ari studied the crystal now that it was secured again.
“I think so. Sometimes old Protocores can be unearthed and cause issues. The park has been undergoing some renovations so…” She glanced at Zayne a little apologetically. “I need to get back to HQ and see this taken care of.”
“Of course, I also need to head back. My break went unexpectedly long—I have patients who will be waiting for me.”
She straightened up, feeling a slightly uncommon ache in her lower back and feet as if she had stood for a long time. She didn’t think much of it though.
Zayne leaned in to give her a quick kiss. “Next time, we’ll hopefully have a more relaxing lunch.”
She smiled and turned, only to trip over a flipped bench, smashing her shin.
Ari swore, bending to rub her leg as she heard Zayne grunt in surprise.
“I just can’t win today,” she growled.
As Ariadne turned back to Zayne, she saw him looking down at his leg, confused.
“Zayne?”
He stayed silent for a moment, then shook himself. “Nothing. Sympathetic pain, I suppose.”
Ari laughed a little. “Hope you don’t share that with all your patients Dr. Zayne.”
He smiled, and gave her a wave as they parted ways. “Only you. Be more careful.”
Ariadne dropped the Protocore off at Hunter’s HQ and made her report to Captain Jenna. After finishing up some paperwork, she went home for the evening, taking a nice hot shower and going to bed.
She was tired after the long day and the slightly odd scene from earlier didn’t even cross her mind again. She simply texted Zayne goodnight and fell asleep.
The next couple days she felt abnormally tired like she had gotten far less sleep than she was used to. Her eyes hurt too like she had been looking at a computer screen for far too long and her right wrist ached a little. Weirdly, one of her teeth also ached. Maybe she should take the advice she was always giving Zayne and cut back on the sugar a little.
She chocked it all up to poor sleep, even though she had gotten her normal amount of hours.
However, she woke one morning to a familiar pain in her lower belly and back and groaned, dragging herself out of bed to find some pain pills. That explained the tiredness, then.
She shuffled into the kitchen to make herself some ginger tea, when her phone rang. She turned the kettle on and grabbed her phone.
“Hello?” she asked groggily.
“Good morning,” Zayne’s voice came on the other end, slightly tight. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“I was already up,” she yawned, fumbling for the tea in the cupboard.
“Menstrual cramps?”
She frowned. She knew she was pretty regular but… “How do you—?”
Zayne huffed a sigh. “I didn’t think much of it at the park the other day. It’s common to experience phantom pain when you see someone hurt themselves, especially someone you care for. But I am certain something is going on now, and I believe that Protocore was the cause.”
Ariadne tried to make sense of what he was saying. “Zayne it’s too early, I don’t understand…”
“I felt it when you hit your shin at the park,” he stated. “And yesterday you strained a muscle during your workout—I did tell you not to do such vigorous exercises near your period—and then of course today, well…it would be quite odd for me to experience phantom pain in an organ I do not have, and I have ruled out every other possibility.”
Ari blinked, finally understanding. “You can feel my cramps?”
“…Yes,” the soft sigh came over the line.
Everything clicked then. “The toothache! I should have known.”
“Ah, yes…I apologize for that.”
“This is really weird. I’ll call HQ today to see if they have any info on that Protocore.”
“I’ll come over to your place. I’m…going to take a sick day.”
Ari couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Too much for you?”
“I am quite uncomfortable.”
“We’ll get through it together then,” she said good-naturedly and ended the call before pulling out another mug and bag of tea.
While she waited for Zayne, she sent a quick message to Nero to ask him to look into the Protocore and find out if there was precedence for this kind of thing.
Zayne showed up before long, and Ariadne took one look at his slightly hunched figure, his jaw set tightly, and pulled him toward the couch.
“Poor Dr. Zayne. Do you want a heating pad?”
He handed her a shopping bag. “I was planning to take care of you today—best to treat the source of the problem.”
“Well, let’s just hope this isn’t permanent,” she replied and went back to the kitchen. “I made some ginger tea.”
Zayne accepted the tea as they curled up on the couch together.
“I asked Nero at the Association to look into the Protocore. Hopefully he’ll be able to find something. It’s really strange though, isn’t it?”
Zayne hummed, sipping the hot tea. “There’s still a lot we don’t know about Protocores and their effects on the human body—and mind, for that matter. This seems to lie somewhere between a mental and physical influence.”
Zayne set the tea down and leaned back against the couch, one hand over his abdomen as his brows drew together. “Is it always this painful?”
Ariadne leaned against his shoulder, patting his stomach in sympathy. “Sometimes it’s worse than others. I’m sorry you got a bad month.”
“Well, at the very least I have gained new medical insight about female physiology that would not have been possible otherwise,” Zayne said with a wry smile, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “And I get to take the day off to look after you—even if I can’t do it to my full capacity.”
“Well, your toothache isn’t fun either,” I muttered, rubbing my jaw. “When we figure out how to reverse this, you’re going to the dentist.”
Zayne grunted.
Ari retrieved her heating pad and plugged it in, surprising Zayne by pressing it against his stomach.
“You should—”
Before he could finish his protest, Ariadne pushed him back against the couch and laid down on top of him, pressing the heating pad between them. She nuzzled contentedly into his chest and Zayne huffed a laugh, wrapping his arms around her.
“That works too.”
They spent a wonderfully lazy morning watching TV and napping. Ari got a text from Nero saying he was looking into the Protocore, but they didn’t hear back until later that afternoon after Zayne made rice porridge for lunch.
She was almost asleep again when the phone rang. She yawned and picked it up.
“Hey, Nero.”
“Ariadne, I ended up finding a case from a few years ago that’s similar to what you and Dr. Zayne are experiencing. In this one, two Hunters who were exposed to the Protocore ended up experiencing each other’s emotions, but the Protocore from that case had the same protocurve as the one you found yesterday at the park. One of the Hunter’s was also an Anhaunsen Class Evolver, which I think has something to do with the fact that it effected both of them—and would obviously be the same in your case.”
Ari glanced toward Zayne, who had his brow furrowed. “Interesting. So, how did they reverse it?”
“They didn’t, it simply wore off after a few days,” Nero said. “Sorry, Ariadne, but I don’t think there’s a way to speed this up. We can just hope that it has a similar lifespan to the previous case.”
Ari sighed. “Alright. Thanks for your help, Nero.”
She groaned as she dropped her phone back on the coffee table. “Well, good to know it’s probably not permanent, I guess.”
“These kind of effects from Protocores are rarely permanent,” Zayne reassured. “But we should be prepared for it to last at least a week.”
Ari sighed and curled up on the couch again. “This sucks. I’m sorry, Zayne.”
“At least one of us isn’t badly injured currently. It could be worse.” He cleared his throat though and still shifted a bit uncomfortably. “Time for your next dose of pain medicine?”
“Oh, yeah. Guess I’ll take it for both of us,” she replied and dutifully took the pills before turning the TV on and laying back down against Zayne.
He pulled her against him, spooning her from behind as he gently massaged her stomach. “Just relax for today,” he murmured into the top of her head. “We can’t do anything about it, so we may as well enjoy a well-deserved day off.”
She hummed, comforted by his gentle ministrations as they watched movies and napped for the rest of the afternoon.
After ordering takeout for dinner, she convinced Zayne to stay over so they could suffer together. Despite napping a good portion of the day, she still fell asleep easily, happy to sleep off the worst of the cramps with Zayne’s warmth beside her.
She slept so deeply, in fact, that she only barely woke when she felt Zayne shift, and heard him talking quietly.
“That’s fine. I’ll be there soon.”
Ari pried her eyes open. “Mm…Zayne?”
He leaned over, stroking her hair gently. “You’re feeling better.” A statement, not a question. She laughed sleepily and he smiled. “I need to go into the hospital. But I’ll call you on my break. Don’t do anything to tax yourself today.”
“I promise I’m used to this,” she said fondly. “But you should take more time to sit down too. My back has been hurting for days in places in never does.”
He chuckled and leaned over to kiss her forehead. “I’ll do what I can. Take it easy today, Ari.”
She curled into the warm spot he had left, knowing she would be taking his advice since she was rarely in top form the first couple days of her period. At least the cramps had subsided—good for both of them.
She slept a few more hours before getting up and lounging around, catching up on some paperwork and doing some light cleaning around her apartment.
While she was vacuuming, however, she stubbed her toe and swore loudly. It was only after the pain subsided that she recalled her current predicament and grabbed her phone.
I’m so sorry. I’ll stop cleaning for now.
Zayne replied to the text a few minutes later with a pointedly staring Happy Snowman.
It’s all right. Luckily, I wasn’t in a surgery. The patient I was seeing at the time was probably wondering why I suddenly jumped, however.
Ari couldn’t’ help but laugh as the pictured the scene.
I guess I underestimate how many times I obtain minor injuries during the day.
You are rather accident prone. Perhaps you should refrain from more physical activities until this wears off. Try reading a book.
She huffed a little, but took his advice, searching for one of the books she rarely had time to read as she texted him back.
By the way, you should use your wrist brace, your carpel tunnel is acting up again.
…Yes, thank you for the reminder.
She plucked one of her sadly abandoned books and curled up on the couch to read for the rest of the day. She dozed off sometime late in the afternoon and didn’t wake until it was dark outside.
Checking her phone, she saw it was already almost 10 PM
“Agh, my sleep schedule,” she moaned. At least she was on leave from work until further notice. Jenna said that she wasn’t allowed to come back until the symptoms from the Protocore wore off.
She was starving, having missed dinner, and made herself a quick meal, seeing a text from Zayne from about an hour ago, saying he was heading home for the night and to let him know if she needed anything.
She didn’t reply since she figured he would probably be trying to sleep by now, and turned the TV on to keep her company while she ate.
She was engrossed in the drama, watching it as she cleaned up her dishes more slowly than usual, eyes wide as the plot unfolded.
She was just reaching up blindly into the cupboard to put away a bowl when pain seared down her right arm.
Ari gasped in shock, the bowl falling to the floor with a crash.
The pain didn’t stop. It only crept further up her arm from her wrist to her shoulder, like thorns digging into her flesh.
She staggered back against the counter, nearly blinded by the pain. It felt like it was boring straight into her bones, sharp, aching and....
Cold.
“Zayne,” she suddenly gasped as some form of reality returned to her. She hugged her arm to herself, staggering toward her phone and hitting Zayne’s contact.
It felt like an eternity before he picked up, and when he finally did, her worst fears were confirmed as she heard his labored breathing on the other end.
“Zayne? Are you alright?” Ariadne demanded.
There was a long pause before he gritted out, “I’m…sorry…”
“D-don’t apologize. I’m coming to you.”
She didn’t give him a chance to protest, simply ended the call and ordered a taxi instead, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to drive by herself right now.
When her driver got there, he gave her one look and instantly turned concerned.
“Are you okay, miss? Do you need a hospital?”
“N-no, I…please just take me to…”
She gave him Zayne’s address and tried to hide the pain still digging into her arm and shoulder as he drove her to Zayne’s apartment.
When she finally stepped out of the car, she rushed to his door, fumbling with the key code.
“Zayne!” she called as soon as she got inside, looking around.
He wasn’t anywhere in direct sight, so she headed back to his bedroom.
There was a dim light coming from under the door. She pushed it open and frowned as she still didn’t see Zayne, but a shuddering breath finally helped her locate him.
She rounded the bed and saw him on the floor, propped against the side of the bed frame. His body shuddered as he curled into himself, clutching his right arm tightly. Foggy vapors swirled around him and she could feel the drop in temperature increasing the closer she got to him. Her feet crunched in the hoarfrost that was already forming on the carpet.
“God, Zayne,” Ari gasped as she saw him, instantly kneeling as she gritted her teeth against the pain she was also feeling.
He panted, jaw tight as he gave her a wan glance. “I’m sorry…Ari…I didn’t want…uuugh.” His features twisted in agony, head tilting back. Ari felt the brief surge in pain as well, unable to help a gasp. “I never wanted…you to…experience this…”
For some reason, the fact that he was more concerned about her when she was just feeling his pain second hand broke something open inside of her. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she reached out to put a hand on his chest, the other cupping his cheek.
“Does it always hurt like this?” she asked, voice breaking as more tears slipped free.
Zayne took a deep breath, gritting his teeth. “Yes.”
She bit back a sob, trying to gather herself. Zayne reached out with his good hand and stroked the back of her head, pulling her toward him. “I’m sorry it hurts so much…give it a…few minutes.”
“Zayne,” she fought back another sob as he tried to comfort her, pushing away from him slightly to take his hand in hers, squeezing. “I’m not crying because it hurts, I’m crying because you never told me it hurt this bad. This is…awful.”
He let out a shaky breath. “I-I’m used to it now. Mmhmn…”
Ariadne watched the ice start to creep up his neck, feeling it as it burrowed further.
She slid her hand over to the shoulder ravaged by the ice. “Let me help, please, Zayne.”
His eyes shot open with a brief glint of fear. “No…it’s too…dangerous.”
She shook her head. “I’ll go slow.”
She gathered her Evol, concentrating through the pain, and reached out to Zayne’s familiar signature. It felt jagged, tumultuous like an ice storm. She felt another flare of pain, but gritted her teeth against it and pushed her Evol into Zayne. She heard his gasp, his body stiffening. The ice crackled under her hand, dissipating. She could feel the pain start to subside from her own shoulder, working its way down her arm before a dull ache began in her chest.
Zayne grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away, panting. “That’s enough…for now…”
She nodded and let him pull her closer to him, both of them taking a moment to breathe through the pain. Zayne’s breaths puffed against the top of her head, his good arm curled around her waist.
“What happened, Zayne?” Ari finally asked.
He let out a long breath. “It was…just a nightmare. It happens sometimes.”
“This seems worse than usual.”
He shrugged with one arm. “Sometimes certain things exacerbate it. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes it just jumps on me. I didn’t want this to happen while we were connected, but it’s possible the effects of the Protocore made me more susceptible....”
“Stop apologizing,” Ari chided, sniffing wetly, pulling away to take his face between her hands, forcing him to look at her. “Maybe this was for the best. After all, would you ever have admitted to just how much this hurt otherwise?”
He sighed, brow furrowed. “I hate to see you cry over it. It’s not your burden to bear.”
She reached down and placed her hand over his still icy wrist. “It is tonight,” she reminded him.
Zayne took a shuddering breath, tensing again. “I supposed you’re right.”
She gently coaxed her Evol to resonate with him again. Zayne grunted as she forced the rest of the ice away, feeling little more than a dull ache in her lower arm now. She threaded her fingers through Zayne’s cold ones, squeezing as he collapsed back against the bed, breathing more deeply as the pain subsided.
Ice crystals still attempted to form on his hand, breaking his skin, but Zayne seemed to be able to force them away himself.
“Is there anything else I can do?” Ari asked softly.
Zayne shook his head and pulled her close again. “Just…stay with me.”
Ari straddled his lap so she could lean more comfortably against his chest, letting him wrap his arms around her. His hands still trembled against her back, but the crystals stopped forming and he seemed comforted by her warm weight against him. She closed her eyes as she focused on his heart beating against her chest, feeling it even out and sync with hers as the pain continued to subside.
They stayed like that for a long time before Ari finally murmured, “Zayne…your back isn’t going to get any better sitting like this.”
He huffed a laugh, squeezing her more tightly against him. “Perhaps not, but I am comfortable.”
“The bed is literally right here.”
“Mmhm,” he hummed, still making no move to rectify their position.
Ari found she cared less as Zayne’s temperature evened out and the chill went away, replaced by warmth seeping into her. Her eyelids drooped.
She was only vaguely aware of Zayne eventually tucking both of them into bed with her still held tightly to his chest.
~~~~~~~
The next morning Ariadne had the rare opportunity to wake before Zayne, finding herself blessed by his soft, unbothered expression as his even breathing tickled her hair.
She quickly checked to make sure all the traces of ice were gone, but Zayne seemed to be at his normal temperature, sleeping peacefully.
She couldn’t quite resist the urge to lean in and kiss the tip of his nose. Zayne snuffled in his sleep and subconsciously pulled her closer. Nuzzling into her cheek.
“Mm, good morning,” he murmured.
Ari smiled. “Good morning. How do you feel?”
“Hmm, considering I have my best medicine with me, I believe my recovery will be swift.”
“Good.”
Zayne held her for a long time, both of them simply enjoying the quiet moment before Zayne said, “I didn’t thank you…for last night. I’m used to dealing with it myself, but it’s significantly easier with you.”
Ari reached up and traced her fingers across his cheek. “How long would you have been suffering last night if I hadn’t known to come help you?”
Zayne shrugged, trying to avoid her gaze but she caught his chin and forced him to look at her.
“Never hesitate to call me. Next time, I doubt we’ll be tethered by this Protocore. Zayne is going to have to use his words.”
Zayne took a slightly shaky breath but the fondness in his eyes showed through.
“You’re not going to take no for an answer.”
“Absolutely not,” Ari replied firmly and pushed herself up as Zayne frowned. She smiled. “I’ll be back. I’m just going to make coffee.”
Zayne reluctantly let her go. As Ari slid out of bed, she accidently tripped over Zayne’s slippers and bumped her knee against the bed frame.
“Agh—jeez I can’t believe I’m so clumsy lately.”
She bent to rub her knee as Zayne sat up.
“Sorry—”
“No, I…believe our issue might be solved,” he said.
“You didn’t feel that?”
Zayne shook his head and pinched his forearm. “Can you feel that?”
Ari shook her head. “Nope. Actually, can’t feel your toothache anymore either.”
Zayne huffed a wry laugh. “Ah. Well, I can, so I suppose that concludes our diagnosis.”
“It has been about a week, it must have just run its course. Or maybe resonating last night kind of…reset it?”
“Perhaps. Whatever the case, I’m glad to be rid of it. I now feel more prepared should you be seriously injured.”
“Why do you just assume it would be me?”
He gave her a baleful look. “Do I really have to explain my reasoning?”
Ari wrinkled her nose at him and hurried to the kitchen to make some coffee. While it was brewing she set up a breakfast tray with some cut fruit and toast as well, carrying it all back to Zayne’s room.
He smiled fondly as she set it between them on the bed.
“I don’t usually get to enjoy breakfast in bed,” he said.
“Well, you deserve to be pampered every once in a while. Especially when you had such a rough night.” She glanced at him, unable to hide her concern. “You’re really okay?”
Zayne sighed, leaning back against the pillows with his coffee. “I really am used to it. Though the backlash was particularly bad last night.”
Ariadne took his right hand in hers, massaging the meat of his palm, and running her thumbs gently along the fresh scars on the back of his hand and wrist.
“I told you not to look so sad,” Zayne chided. “I can’t control it any more than you can your menstrual cycle.”
“I know, but it’s not natural,” she replied, still frowning. “Very few people have their Evol hurt them like this. I hate that you have to deal with this.”
“Perhaps someday I will be able to find a proper cure,” he said, before enfolding her hand in his slightly cool fingers. “But until then, you’re good medicine to help ease the pain.”
She leaned against his shoulder, threading their fingers together. “Just promise me that you’ll call me from now on. Even if I can’t physically come to see you every time it happens, I want to know that you’re suffering. I don’t want you to keep it from me. You don’t have to go through it alone, Zayne.”
“I suppose that’s a promise I can make,” he agreed and leaned over to kiss her head. “I am hungrier than just fruit and toast can suffice, however. Would you like to go see what we can make for a heartier breakfast?”
Ari smiled and slid out of bed, still holding his hand. “I would love to.”