1.28 – Bedridden

Nathan had killed a person. His own hands were bloodied with another’s brain.

It was the first thought that his dazed mind made when he finally woke up from his sleep.

How long had he even been sleeping? He didn’t know. It was hard to say when one was knocked out, but there was some clues. The morning rays of sunlight were shining on his bed through the see-through curtains. He was in a hospital of some sorts.

Slowly, he realized that Vermillion Strike had said something about bringing him here. It was the hospital of her organization wasn’t it?

He’s been here once before, back when he broke his hand while fighting Strike, but he only got healed back in the main hall back then.

He remembered the procedure. There was a super hero that held his hand, and the pain was replaced by a tingling sensation. It disappeared only moments later, and something similar must have been done to him now as well. His body didn’t hurt at all, despite how it was before. His vision was clear, his hearing unobstructed.

He was saved because of someone else, because Vermillion Strike brought him here. But that couldn’t be said for the other person.

He remembered what Vermillion Strike told him when he saw her kill a super villain. Hell, his own skull was about to get crushed in the man’s giant hands, but the feeling of disgust didn’t fade away. He leaned on the side of his bed and vomited his guts out.

The sight of someone having to clean his vomit was almost as unpleasant as the memories that plagued his head, but he tried to rest and soon he fell asleep once again. When he woke up, he found a friendly face there, looking at him with her customary purple eyes. There were flowers placed in a vase near the window.

“Alicia, what are you doing here?” He groaned, his voice awfully weak, even to himself. His arms felt weak, but not terribly so, just weakened as if he just had the flu and was recovering. He must have gotten better, because the tingling sensation that passed through him for mere minutes when fixing his hand coursed through his whole body, making it hard to focus.

“What am I doing here? I’m watching over you, dummy. Do you know how much of a scare it has been?” Alicia said, after a moment, gripping his hand tightly. “You looked half dead. I… didn’t know what to do, but Vermillion Strike took you here. There were some heroes going into the sewers as we went out, and—”

She took a deep breath and Nathan squeezed her hand in turn, trying to focus on the words. She was afraid. He didn’t like seeing her like that, but still, it felt nice to see someone care this much.

“I think I’m just trying to survive this damn feeling going through my body. But I’m fine.”

“Oh yeah, Strike mentioned something like that.” She laughed, pointing at his legs. “Apparently, they use some kind of new medicine from the superheroes. It’s really fast, but it makes you uncomfortable for a little while.”

“Uncomfortable is underselling it. How long have I been out? How much longer do I have to stay?”

“You’ll be ready to go back into school by Monday. You’ve been out for two days only.”

That was far less than he had expected. Two days was nothing when he took the injuries that he had into account. Super powered people were really something else, him included apparently.

“And we won?” He asked, the memories returning slowly. He knew the answer. They did, indeed, win. Vermillion Strike wouldn’t have come back in time if they didn’t, but Alicia was already talking before Nathan could stop her.

“Oh yeah, we did. Apparently, it was just a small part of the Onis that wanted to start a new base of operations in a new district. The Supers are already on it, and the Onis mostly retreated from the area.”

“Sounds like a good thing?”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing. We were just in time before they actually set base there.”

More super villains would go there, and it would be impossible to stop them after that, or it would be very hard without some of the top heroes in the area working together and swarming the place.

Nathan nodded. “Good.” He leaned on the pillow and felt consciousness slipping once again. It was so hard to stay awake.

“Sleep well, Nathan. I’ll wait for you to come back home.”

Nathan smiled and wanted to say something, but he simply didn’t have enough strength. The need to sleep was too strong now. The moment before he finally went asleep, he remembered how she saved his life and how their lips connected, and it almost made him wake up once again.

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When he woke up once again, it was night. He was still alone in the room, but there were some noises coming from the door on the other side of the small hospital room.

Alicia was nowhere to be seen, probably departing hours ago already. It must have been hours, almost the entirety of the day, but he felt so much stronger now that it felt incomparable to how he had felt in the morning.

This medicine was addictive. He should seriously try to find someone with healing powers and try to befriend them. The difference must have been especially potent on a battlefield. Nathan never considered that in too much depth back in New York, when this was just a game, but if this was a reality, then they, the healers, must have been crucial to any army.