Possessed

Chapter 27: What VI aka Grian passes out even more than Jason Grace

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Sorry for the wait, but here it finally is. This chapter's about 400-500 words longer than normal, so hopefully that helps make up for it.

Cw: trauma, panic attack, survivor's guilt, self blame

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Gem's pov

They were dead.

They were all dead.

Pearl, Xisuma, Tango, Mumbo, False, and Scar were all dead.

Something shattered in Gem's soul as she broke down into tears.

Then Grian collapsed.

Oh crud, he's in bad shape.

"Take them back to my base," Gem said, tears still flowing in torrents down hers face. The others followed what she said not knowing what else to do.

Once they arrived, Gem carried Grian up to an empty room, built an impromptu hospital room (a brewing stand, a bed, and some water), and placed Grian in the bed.

Grian's pov

Grian woke up to find himself in a bed in what might have been some sort of hospital room. He felt a sharp pain stab at his right wing and left side. He flinched and swore creatively, muttering something about rocks and shadows.

He heard as she came into view, "Oh good, you're awake." She sounded genuinely glad, despite her puffy red eyes.

She handed him a blue-red pigmented potion, some water, and a few pieces of chocolate. The potion wasn't one he had ever seen before. Upon closer examination, Grian could see silver and light blue flecks in it. They caught the light in a mesmerizing way.

"What's this?" Grian asked.

"The potion's for the pain, the water's to help wash it down since it's pretty gross, and the chocolate's for, uh, chocolate."

Grian downed the potion. It tasted horrendously foul, like rotten flesh, poisonous potatoes, and swamp water all mixed into a terrible concoction. He gagged, almost spitting it out. Once he finished it, he chugged the water to rinse the revolting flavor out.

Despite how unpleasant the potion had been, he started to feel better almost instantly. Grian felt the pain begin to recede. He sat up and began nibbling on the chocolate.

He looked around to get a better idea of his surroundings. His bed was in the center of the room. The walls were made of sandstone and dotted with a few lanterns. To the left of it was a basic chair, and further along a brewing stand.

A large shape about seven feet tall was in the corner, but it had a sheet over it. The shape seemed like it might be something hard and had sharp corners poking against the covering.

To right was an IV pole. Further along the right wall was a birch door. There were various piles of food, water, chests, and potion supplies on the floor.

"What happened?" Grian inquired, setting the remaining half of his chocolate aside.

"After you came back, you passed out. A few of the others and I helped get you here. Impulse and I built a very quick hospital room. Once Impulse had the equipment set up, I did a basic examination. You were almost dead.

"Both your magical and normal energy reserves were almost completely depleted. You had several severe injuries, and those that had stitches were reopened and infected. You were massively dehydrated on the way to starving. Overall, not in good shape.

"I bandaged you up, gave you proper stitches, and gave you food, antibiotics, health potions, and water through an IV, doing better now though. In about a week, you should be good.

"How long was I out for? "

"About a day."

"Huh."

"Are you okay to tell me what happened? "

"Yeah, sure. " Grian summarized what had happened up until fortress.

Gem's pov

"We arrived at the fortress. Then we went into the throne room," Grian told, dropping his gaze down, "The Entity was on a throne at the back. It immediately controlled and paralyzed us. It made Tango lock the doors, completely blocking our escapes.

"Tango was the first. One of the soldiers crept up on his blind side before I could warn him.

"Then the Entity took Xisuma's soul. We all - well, the rest of us who could - watched him turn to stone in front of us. The worst part was the look on his face. He looked like he didn't know who any of us were, or what he meant to us." Grian reached up to his neck and touched the part that was still stone.

"Pearl bled out. Her and False were fighting along side each other until the Entity possessed False and used her to kill Pearl," small tears were starting to run down Grian's face, "I should have recognized the possession. I should have stopped it.

"Once False was back in control, she tried to charge the Entity. It used Xisuma's powers to admin-kill her.

"Then the Entity took over Scar. It shot me in the foot. Then it trapped me against a pillar with one hand and choked Mumbo with the other. He - it told me to kill it with Scar's voice, but in a way that was too cold for Scar to ever say. Then it let Scar speak. He made me promise to kill him.

"And then the Entity possessed me. It forced me to kill Mumbo. There is no worse felling then that of your own sword ripping through your friend's guts. I should have broken out. I've out mind battled the Entity before. I should have done it, but I didn't," he said between shuddering breaths.

"I should have saved all of them, but I didn't."

Grian's voice lowered to a whisper, "I killed it though. I destroyed it. The Entity is gone. But I was too late. If I'd killed it sooner, the others might still be here. But I failed. I failed, failed, failed. It's my fault that they're dead. I got my friends killed."

Gem recognized a panic attack when she saw one. Grian was hyperventilating. His hands were over his neck like in a tornado drill. His knees were curled up to his chest and wings were wrapped around his shins.

Gem called, "Grian? Grian, are you okay?" Gem knew well that he wasn't. He didn't even seem to notice. She firmly grasped his shoulders. His whole body was tense. Still getting no response, Gem gently pulled Grian into a hug.

Gem so badly wanted a hug. She wanted someone to tell her that it would be okay. She wanted a shoulder to cry on. But she couldn't have those now. Her own grief would have to wait. Right now, she needed to help Grian.

"You're okay now. You're safe. It's not your fault," she repeated softly, embracing the smaller person.

Grian's pov

He felt it all again. A blur of screams and snaps and bodies and stone hitting the ground and blood and tears and tearing flesh. Each one stung him with pain and sorrow.

Then Grian felt something warm wrap around him. It wasn't burning or hard, it was comforting and calming. It shielded him from the torrent of memories, bringing him back to the present.

Tears were streaming down his face. His breath was in fast-paced, irregular sobs. Gem was hugging him and mummering soothing phrases. Grian gently relaxed his muscles.

"Take deep breaths," Gem said. Grian obliged, wiping his eyes. The antlered hermit released him, putting an arm around his shoulder instead.

After a few minutes and the rest of his chocolate, Grian was doing better. The two sat and chatted about arbitrary things. The light-hearted talk got both of their minds off of all of it.

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I managed to end a chapter not on some form of cliff hanger!

-Meep

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