Silver Umbrellas

Twenty-Nine-- Partial Success

RECAP:

It happened so fast that there was no time for the injured Tino to react accordingly. Tyson was up and had snatched the umbrella from him on his way toward the door. Finland tried to stop him, but a shooting pain flared up in his side and almost dropped him to his knees. Soon, Tyson was out the door and gone.

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"Ah!" Tino cried out reflexively as soon as he was able to register what had happened. "Wait!"

The substantial hole in his side wasn't making matters any better. Despite Lili's ministrations with the healing potion, his wound was bleeding again, and the amount of blood leaving his body was nothing to sneeze at. Tino tried to go after him, but he stumbled and had to brace himself with a hand on his knee while his breathing became laborious.

Liechtenstein wasn't having any of that, though. She took off like a shot after Tyson, disappearing around the doorway in an instant. As her and Tyson's footsteps faded with distance, Tino could only hope and pray that he didn't get away with the umbrella.

Prayer wasn't working, as it would appear.

She returned a minute later, empty-handed and crestfallen. "He managed to get to the surface before I could stop him... I'm so sorry, Tino!"

Finland shook his head and sat down rather gracelessly on the edge of the bed, where Oregon and China had been only moments before. "Ei, ei... It's okay, we'll think of something to do. It's not your fault, Lili." (No, no)

"Argh," she grumbled, and scuffed the toe of her boot angrily against the stained grey carpet under their feet. "Forgive my German, but that man is complete Scheiße."

The swear only made Tino smile a little at the corner of his mouth. "I totally agree."

Liechtenstein reached into her pocket and drew out the green potion, of which there was only half of the bottle left. "Here, let me see your vound," she said, sitting beside Finland and letting him lift up his own shirt. She squinted at it, grateful for the operational electric lighting in the room, and dabbed more of the viscous emerald gunk onto the injury.

"It's taking so long to heal..." Finland sighed, and kept still so Lili could finish her work quickly. "I wonder why that-- Agh...!"

"Vhat's wrong?" Liechtestein asked immediately. "Tino?"

"It just hurts," he ground out, turning his pinched face away as he glared the pain out. "It keeps getting worse... Why is that?"

"I vish I knew," she answered frantically, and dabbed more potion on just in case that would help. "It's not like ve're both very familiar vith potions like these."

"Ei," Finland agreed, and exhaled a deep breath before straightening his back. "Okay. I've dealt with worse before. Let's get out of here and try to find Tyson."

~~

Talking was rendered useless to the two children lying on the floor beside each other; every time they tried, their throats would burn like they had inhaled smoke, and their coughs would make it impossible to speak coherently. Alice had taken to curling up against Yao's side in search of warmth when her chills grew too strong to ignore, though they were both flushed with fever.

The interior of the cabin was filled with nothing but the sounds of labored breathing and debilitating hacking. That greyish stuff Yao had produced before wasn't exclusive to him anymore, either. It hurt worse than anything to bring up, but as their illness progressed the two kids couldn't avoid it.

Throughout it all, Yao's left hand was holding onto Alice's right, silently securing each other in the comfort that they weren't alone in this.

Rain pounded on the outside of the hut, growing louder and louder until it was all but drowning out the sounds of their coughing and groaning. In the back of his mind Yao worried about the shack's stability, but there was nothing they could do about it. Tino and Lili had both items that allowed them to go outside, and he and Alice were too sick to even stand without falling over immediately after. They even tried to do just that to get more water and medicine from the table, so he knew from firsthand experience.