To Be Proud: Revamped

Chapter 58: Red Flags

~Thwok~

      "Ow!"

I jolted awake the moment I heard that sound, grabbing at my chest and trying to catch my breath to recover. Readjusting my eyes to the somewhat harsh lighting, I tried to familiarize myself with the different pieces of equipment in the room: the heart monitor, a scale, an IV, a counter for various medical tools, and more of the sort scattered about. We were brought to one of the medical bays, per courtesy of Water, and I was asked to monitor the unconscious Bona in their absence. He had fainted, I told Water, and soon he was brought to the medical bay for further supervision. Of course nothing drastic occurred during my waking hours, but as soon as I closed my eyes chaos broke loose.

Bona had sat up in the medical bed, holding his face and crying out in pain. He was shaking, practically trembling, as he grabbed at his face while gently rocking back and forth. I jumped up from my seat, rushing over to the side of the bed to comfort him. Once I was able to pull his arms down, I could see the fear and panic laced in his eyes. Holding his hands and bringing them close to my heart, I allowed myself to calm down so that Bona could recover from the shock that he endured.

      "It's ohkay, Ony," I whispered to him as I watched his reaction. He looked down at me, meeting my eyes.

      "Th-Thwok? But...what...I..." He brought a hand up to his face, running it over the space in between his eyes. "It...it wasn't, real..."

      "Mohst lihkely it wasn't," I reassured him. "How ahe you feeling?"

      "I-I'm fine." He glanced around, trying to familiarize himself with the space around him. "Where are we?"

      "In one ohf the medicuhl bays, in the castle."

      "Medical bay?" he repeated. "What happened?"

      "You fehl unconsciuhs. I had to aluhrt Watuh, thaht way you goht the help you need."

      "Help I..." Bona glanced down at his arms, noticing the tubing that was running through them. "What's all this?"

      "Watuh wasn't exahctly shure on how to, in their wuhrds, 'chehck youhr vituhls;' they hooked you uhp to awl ohf this juhst in case."

      "In case of what?"

      "In case any ohf the equipment actuhly wuhked."

      "Elaborate, please." I pulled away from Bona, making my way to the heart monitor beside the bed.

      "Whell, to staht, this hahpens evwey time we twy to wecohrd youhr heahtbeat." Flicking the monitor on, I braced myself as the screen erupted in a mess of flashing colors and disorienting static sounds. Bona winced, squinting at the overdramatic screen, and soon enough I turned the nightmare of a monitor off. I looked up at Bona, who was staring at the dead screen in horror.

      "I see..." He glanced back at me, and I returned to the side of the bed.

      "Mhm. Noht a flatline, but no puhlse. It's ohd." Bona shrugged.

      "Anatomical phenomenon, what can I say?" I rolled my eyes.

      "A loht of othuh ideas weuh thwown awound. Watuh wanted to connehct you to some bwain-weading thing, buht I decidehd against it. Dihdn't wahnt a wepeat ohf the heaht monituh."

      "Alright, thank you." Bona reach a hand back up to his face, pressing his claws against the space between his eyes gently.

      "Ahe you awlwight?"

      "Hm? Oh, I'm fine."

      "Ohkay." The door to the room opened, prompting me and Bona to glance over at the open entrance. A collection of yellow limbs, speckled with barnacles and held together by bolts of electricity, nimbly entered the space and recollected themselves to form the familiar shape of the Wubbox. They wore glasses with thin metal frames, and tattooed on the sides of their mouth were tiny bright-blue pluses.