Another Way

Chapter 3: Respite

Sue had no idea that it was possible for her to get scolded so thoroughly despite not understanding a single utterance said.

Or that Doc had enough muscle to drag her back onto her bed. They were none too happy about that, emotions shifting to worry as they examined her injury. The bandages had turned red; the wound burned with every heartbeat.

It was bad enough for the simple act of taking the bandage off to make Sue wince.

The medic kept their usually quiet voice up; ranting about something with enough intensity for Ember to flinch every once in a while, the lil' fox busy comforting the once-human's hand.

Sue was glad she couldn't understand how exactly she was being bad-mouthed, but she still felt foul. Doc had patched her up after she got herself into trouble, and her needless expedition just undid a decent chunk of that.

Sorry Doc, I really wish I could explain any of this to you.

Without anything else to do while being tended to, Sue turned to examine her injured leg. The wound was big enough to stick a finger in, apparently not sewn shut; its current damage making her already white face go paler still at imagining how bad it all must've looked before Doc's help.

With the bandages discarded, Doc rushed to grab a square of thick cloth, scooting back just in time to catch some pale blood leaking from the aggravated wound. Sue briefly wondered what they would do to actually treat the self-inflicted injuries-

It wasn't anything she could've expected.

Instead of preparing any natural remedy, they laid their hands on each side of her injury. Their touch was soft. Soft and... tingly, escaping exact description, intensifying as they focused. And then, it spread, enveloping her entire leg. It melted through the aching, evaporating it like it was nothing.

Doc's hands glowing through the process gave Sue a pause, but she wasn't in a position to oppose any of it.

It'd be rather uncouth to do that while she was being healed.

That, and because the ritual had left her so, so tired. It only took a few minutes, but she was struggling to keep her eyes open by the time the mutant had finished doing... well, magic.

No other words to describe it, really.

She didn't expect to be as unsurprised by the existence of actual magic in this forest somewhere in Oz as she ended up being.

The otherworldly fauna. Her own unexplainable abilities. A heaping dose of exhaustion. All those dulled her reactions all the way down to silence. In any normal circumstances, she would have freaked out about this ten times over.

These weren't normal circumstances. That, and she had Ember beside her, tirelessly comforting her.

After Doc had finished casting their spell, Sue peeked at what they'd done. The results were very appreciated, though hardly anywhere near as flashy as the magic through which they had taken place. Her wound had shrunk a decent bit, its bleeding ceased, and the swelling reduced; a quick twitch test revealed the limb to have even regained some sensation, much to her relief.

"Thanhksh, Dhoc."

Two pairs of eyes immediately focusing on her clued her in on her gaffe, not that she could explain what had just slipped out from underneath her skullcap. Instead, she did the second-best thing- look embarrassed and shake her head. Thankfully, Doc and Ember got the point soon enough, returning to whatever they were doing before.

What she wanted to do was take a nap, that's for sure.

Idle pets stroked Ember's head, motions klutzy on behalf of all her strength being suddenly gone. Trying to hold her yawn in was similarly awkward, some of the sound leaking out and catching Doc's attention. To her surprise, it made them put the small bowl of ointment down and walk over to her while mumbling something.