The Soulguard, A Dragon Who Can See Spirits

Chapter 21

The pair walk through the hallways with a small conversation, mainly Noku letting Wanda know her worries of this whole ordeal and Wanda assuring the young dragoness that everything will be alright, all of the questions answered. It takes a few more comforting words than usual, but Noku relaxes and gains a little hop in her steps as they close in on the labs. Wanda opens the door for Noku to enter and smiles at Helen when she sees the doctor. "Hey, I hope you have not been waiting for long." Wanda apologizes and Helen shakes her head. "Oh, no, no. I didn't mind waiting for you two, you actually gave me a much needed pause from working." Helen chuckles and takes a seat at a table littered with various papers. "How long have you been working?" "For a long time, the last 37 hours, I think?" Wanda's eyes widened at Helen's words. "37- Helen! When did you last sleep? Have you even eaten anything today?" Wanda asks, her entire being oozing stress. "I think I last slept in bed 37 hours ago but before you start lecturing me, someone older than you, I have had naps." "Naps are not enough, Helen, and you know that. Anyway, when did you last eat? You didn't answer that." Helen shrugs. "Last night? I think?" "Last ni- Unbelievable..." Wanda mutters to herself, massaging her temples. "After we are done here, you go to sleep and I will make you something to eat." Helen raises her hand to calm Wanda and to assure her that she is alright. "That is not needed-" "It is not negotiable." Wanda huffs at the doctor and Helen raises her hands in defeat. "Alright, alright." She laughs and picks up a pen and a notebook from the table. "So, I was told that you are worried about thoughts Noku keeps having?" Wanda nods and motions for Noku to move closer to Helen. 'Some of them feel wrong. Like they are not mine but someone else's.' Noku tells the doctor who nods and writes something down. "They feel wrong? Could you describe these thoughts for me?" The dragoness nods slightly and glances at Wanda, not sure how the Sokovian would react to her describing them. 'They are violent...' Noku starts hesitantly and Helen hums. "I am afraid that I need more than that, Noku. Could you describe what those thoughts are about? What do they tell you?" Noku lays down before Wanda, making herself look as small as she can. 'They tell me to 'burn them all', to play with the prey, slowly stalking them to exhaustion before ripping information out- I- I don't- I don't like them, they are wrong-' Noku shakes her head and curls in on herself. Her heart starts racing at the thoughts of hurting her family. She hates it. She hates these violent thoughts. "Hey, hey, you are alright, you are not going to hurt us." Wanda says, kneeling in front of Noku and taking the dragoness' head in her hands. The Sokovian's gaze is soft and warm, reassuring Noku. 'I- You don't know that, the thoughts- They are loud, constant- I- I want them gone.' Wanda can feel the distress radiating from the dragon in thick waves and knows that she has to calm Noku down. Wanda positions herself as close to Noku as she can, holding the dragon's head to her chest with one arm, the other caressing Noku's neck. Helen stands up from her seat and mouths an apology to the Sokovian before motioning to the door, leaving the room for Wanda and Noku to have their own space for the moment. As Noku's distressed whines don't seem to lessen with only the help of Wanda's heartbeat and the soft hand caressing her fur, Wanda starts muttering reassuring words to her.

For the next 10 minutes Wanda does her best to calm Noku down as much as she can and as she feels the dragoness' heartbeat calming down, she sighs softly. "We will get rid of those thoughts, Little One, I promise." She says once more and when Noku doesn't say anything she glances at the door. "Are you feeling well enough to continue?" Noku adjusts her position slightly before nodding. 'Yeah, sorry...' Wanda frowns and kisses Noku's head. "You have nothing to be sorry about, love. Nothing at all." The two fall into a comfortable silence, only broken by a soft knock on the door after a couple of minutes. Wanda turns her head to see Helen peeking inside with a watermelon held in her arms. "Is everything alright now?" The doctor asks as she enters the room and Wanda nods at her with a smile. "Yeah, everything is good." The Sokovian confirms and glances at the watermelon. "I felt bad for causing Noku to get overwhelmed, so I got this as an apology-" Helen raises the watermelon and shakes it a little. "and I hope that our dear can forgive me." The last of the sentence is pointed towards Noku and the dragoness perks up a little. Sniffing the air, Noku grins, recognizing the scent. Helen hands the watermelon to Wanda, who sits down before Noku and holds the watermelon in front of the dragoness. "You can feast on the watermelon while I work, right? I'll do some basic tests first before we are going to do some electroencephalography, EEG for short, and those shouldn't interfere with your eating." Helen explains to Noku what is going to happen while collecting the items she needs. 'Yeah, yeah...' Noku says distractedly, her focus completely on the watermelon. She sniffs the watermelon and takes it from Wanda, turning it until she finds a spot she deemed good enough. sinking her teeth into the shell of the fruit effortlessly, Noku removes a piece and places it on the ground. She cleans it from any flesh of the fruit before digging in the rest of the watermelon, barely noticing the basic test done to her in the meantime. Before long Helen approaches Noku with the required items for the last test of the day, the EEG. "Hey, could you look here for a second? We need to attach these pads on you for the EEG. They might feel a bit weird but nothing is going to hurt." Helen explains and Noku follows her orders, pausing the consuming of the innocent fruit and looking at the direction of the doctor. "Okay, so, electroencephalography, the EEG, reads and records the electrical activity of your brain. We will notice any abnormalities that show up and then identify them. It would be nice if you could signal to me somehow of those violent thoughts though, just in case they don't differ from the normal activity. Does that sound good to you?" Helen asks as she attaches multiple pads around Noku's skull and prepares the machines and screens for the test. 'Yeah. Would it be alright if I tap the ground with my tail? I want to continue with the melon.' "Of course, I'll tell you when we are ready to start."