They had placed me in a cold room and left me handcuffed, which was only making my ribs hurt worse.
I was in the medical ward, but that appeared to be more for formalities, I believe.
They had left me alone long enough that the epinephrine was starting to wear off, and my body started to feel heavy. Thankfully, that also made controlling my powers a lot easier. While I was fighting passing out from exhauostion, I couldn't help but worry about how Mood was doing. No one had said anything about her condition after I got here.
"Shining Dragon, follow me." A familiar man said as he suddenly opened the door.
I carefully stood up and followed him.
"Remove the cuffs." He ordered a man that had appeared to be guarding the room I was in. "And someone bandages her hands."
Before I knew it, I was out of the handcuffs, my hands were neatly bandaged, and I was being herded down the hall.
"You are going to get Melodic Mood to accept treatment."
"What do you mean?" I asked softly.
"We need her to be fully operational, and if we can't get her to accept treatment, she will be out of commission for at least a month, and that won't be good for anyone. Yet she still refuses."
He spoke about her as if she were a machine that they were thinking about scraping if not fixed immediately.
Even if he does see her as a machine, why would he think I'd be the one to convince her to do anything she doesn't want?
"Do you understand?"
"Sir, I dont think..."
"This is an order. I don't care how you do it, but you better get her to accept treatment." He stopped outside a door with more security. "Dont fail."
The next thing I knew, I was inside a room where Mood was hooked up to a couple of different machines but was conscious.
"Shining?" She whispered. She seemed surprised I was in the room.
"Hey." I don't think I could have made myself sound more awkward. "How do you feel?"
"Like a bag of bricks that was thrown around." She tried to laugh but stopped as she almost successfully hid her pain.
"I hear you're refusing..."
"We have already discussed this." She quickly cut me off.
"I know."
"I can't do what I was ordered to if you can't be healed as well." I could tell she was intentionally using this choice of wording to avoid giving us away, but it sounded weird.
"Mood..." I sighed.
I know the only way she will accept is if I lie to her. I know she'll be mad, but I can't risk them deciding to decommission her.
"They didn't tell you?" I asked while taking a breath. "They lifted the punishment..." I forced the lie to pass my lips.
She looked surprised, and the man that walked me here spoke up.
"It's true," He sounded mildly irritated by the lie but confirmed it. "But at the moment, your injuries are more severe, and Starlight only has enough energy to heal one of you tonight."
She looked to Starlight for confirmation, but I didn't look back at him to see his answer.
"May I talk to Shining Dragon alone?"
Reluctantly, the man agreed and left us alone.
"How are you feeling?" I awkwardly asked after the door closed.
"Like I was in a colapsed building." She looked unamused.
"Yeah..." I muttered as I looked her over.
"My phone has been blowing up about you." Almost as if on que her phone went off. "I don't know what all you did, but are you ok?" She asked while gesturing at my bandaged hands.
"Yeah." I instinctively said. "I mean, I'm sore and all, but it's not as bad as it has been."
Honestly, having to deal with all the injuries and pain continuously coming in my body currently wasn't sure what was hurting the most, but I wasn't going to tell her that part.
"Mood. I'd love to stay and chat, but you need to get fixed up. The doctors are saying the longer you go, the harder it will be for you to recover."
I could tell she had more she wanted to say, especially since there was so much I wanted to tell her, but this isn't the best place for that.
"Yeah, so I've been told." She huffed.
I stepped closer to her and gently kissed her forehead, and the smell of the smork and earth insta tly filled my nose.
"Please let them fix you up." I barely spoke above a whisper.
"Are you blaming yourself for what happened?" She asked before gently grabbing both of my hands.
She was looking deeply into my eyes for an answer, but I guess I didn't respond soon enough, and she decided to continue.
"None of that was your fault." She said softly. "No one knew what..."
"I don't blame myself with this one, but I did some things that I'm gonna get in trouble for." I sighed and stepped away from her and grabbed her phone. "Please let them take care of you at least enough that they don't try to decommission you."
I held her phone out to her. She hesitantly took it, and she was trying to hide the pain she was in while grabbing it.
I walked over to the door.
"I will be fine with whatever happens to me, Mood, but I can't risk losing you because you want to..." I turned back around. "We both know how hard it is to persuade them."
I wanted to stay and convince her longer, but I had the feeling that the longer I was there, the harder it would be for both of us to keep up our stoic facade. At least for me not to break down from not getting to her sooner.
YOU ARE READING
Shining Heroes
ActionCowriten with @shadowlark, Autumn W. In a world changed by war among the people and government. Not everyone is ok with the goverment using the heroes to keep the peace among the citizens, while others idolize the heroes and wish to join them. One e...