S a l e t é I V

XLII - Bravade - Cinq

Cassia hadn't yet begun to truly work through what was actually happening in her mind, not in an immediate sense. 

The images were all there. Spears laying on that worn down conveyor. The blood on Monet's hands. The voices. None of it would sink in beyond surface level. 

It was as if her head had stopped working, like it had switched off in order to specifically prevent her from trying to think about any of it any further than she already had done, the numbness that remained deeply unsettling.

It was horrible. Wrong. An absence of feeling, a scar upon scars.

"You must remain absolutely still." Monet instructed the wounded boy before her, a grave seriousness unlike anything that Cassie had heard from her before carrying the warning.

"If it is a fleur round, then the slightest movement could set it off, especially if I am going to be handling it."

"Wouldn't you touching it trigger it...?" Chief asked, the prospect of her continuing with the procedure whilst he still had doubts almost unbearable.

"Not if I can grasp the rear end of the bullet. The sensitivity lies within the pointed tip."

Apprehensions or not, what Spears had said for himself barely a minute ago was right - they couldn't leave it in, regardless of what sort of projectile it was. If they could just get it out, he could begin to heal, and begin to escape the pain that he was so obviously braving.

"This will hurt." Monet said to him as she prepared herself, Captain and Gunner taking such a cautionary word as a cue to take a hold of his arms - one each - in order to prevent any kind of reflexes from them.

Cassia couldn't see, of course, but Spears gave two short nods, biting the inside of his mouth as he gave her the go ahead.

His first wince was especially sharp, his breath struggling as he made every possible effort to hold it, to cut short any sudden exhales or gasps, as much as he was desperate to let them escape. Instead, after stopping the brunt, he blew air from his mouth as steadily as he could, though even that was understandably shaken. 

The assistance of the two boys at his sides was very much warranted, his wrists twitching suddenly as Monet moved in, Chief close at hand with her as he held a candle to act as her light source.

Every pained sound that slipped through his attempts to stay as quiet as possible still hurt Cassia, as muffled as they sometimes were. Some were enough to make Sleeves flinch as she held onto Sunshine's arm tightly, each motion from her almost as horrible.

"Easy buddy, you're doing good. Come on, we both know you're invincible." Chief said quietly as Monet continued her grizzly search, the thought of what she had to do inflicting a strange sickness upon Cassia, it's necessity at large, it's nature nonetheless foul.

"I believe that nothing important has been hit... You wouldn't have gotten this far, had their aim been better." Monet muttered.

"You saying I'm not important...?" Spears replied through almost gritted teeth.

"Save your clever comebacks for when you don't have lead in you, maybe?" Chief said to him, a sound somewhere between breaths and a laugh coming from the injured lad.

Cassia really had no idea how they did it.

Another half a minute. More strain, more pain. His breathing had become frequent yet heavy, his struggle to stay as quiet as he could growing increasingly harsh with every couple of seconds.

Then Monet said it.

"I've found it. Stay as still as you can."

The tension that descended upon them was so sudden, so thick, that Cassia felt as if the air itself was pushing her down. Sunshine reinforced her hold on them, the only sounds now those coming from the boy, as if any others would somehow invite the worst misfortune imaginable.