The Red Leader was relaxing when Goggles came running through. Well, maybe relaxing wasn't the right word, since he was stressfully planning out resource distribution and homing and more for his people, but it felt relaxed compared to what his friend was feeling.
Goggles ran past him, an unconscious body on his back. He ran into the makeshift lab tent the Leader had previously prepared for him, not even bothering to say hi. Which was unlike him, after the whole insanity thing.
Dropping his clipboard and waving goodbye to the few people he had been discussing with, the Red Leader ran after Goggles. (Or, was it Professor Red now? The Leader didn't know; they hadn't spoken much since the destruction of the last Red Kingdom.)
Slowly, he moved the curtain and stepped into the tent, only to see Colle laid out on a table, Professor Red rather frantically going over him. The Leader didn't say anything. He felt like he was intruding, almost. He wasn't too close with either Colle or the Professor. What the hell had happened? He felt out of the loop.
From far away, Colle's body didn't seem too hurt. He was clearly still recovering from whatever battle he had with Void, but no wound seemed relatively new. So why was Professor Red panicking so much?
He was caught off guard when he heard a frustrated sob. He looked to the Professor, who was quickly attaching any sort of tube to Colle that he could, groaning all the while. Tears sparkled a bit in his eyes, falling to his chin and onto the dirt ground.
"Professor?" The leader put a hand on his shoulder, and the man instantly jerked away, looking at the leader with a wild expression on his face. A face that more resembled a crazed madman than a composed genius. When he saw it was the leader, his face softened only a bit before pushing him away. Not even offering up an explanation.
"What happened?" The Red Leader demanded. The Professor didn't answer, instead ripping medical tape off of Colle's chest, revealing a crystal with the faintest red glow. Growing a bit angry, the Red Leader repeated himself. "What happened?!"
With a near guttural scream, the Professor threw a stack of papers off his desk, turning to glare at the Leader. Then he reconsidered, turning back to Colle and sighing angrily. "He removed the damn crystals. It nearly killed him, he can't live without them. His body relies on them."
The Red Leader froze hearing that. He glanced to Colle, sleeping so soundly, not at all looking like he was on the verge of death. But with the way the Professor was acting, it was anything but a lie.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" He said quietly. Professor Red put his head in his hands, mumbling to himself as more tears escaped his eyes.
"I-I don't know. I don't even know what to do! I have- I have no idea...I'm going to lose him, and it's going to be all my fault..."
The Red Leader shook his head, pulling Professor Red close and embracing him. "No. We can figure out something, it's okay. Colle will live."
The Professor pushed him away, once again looking crazed. Insane. Borderline dangerous. The Leader had to remind himself, even if he didn't want to think of him that way. "I- I can infuse the crystal in him, but... I don't know if...I don't know enough about redstone to..." his breathing sped up a bit, growing erratic and irregular as he looked down at Colle. He banged his fist against the desk.
"Then we infuse the crystal, and figure the rest out as we go." The Red Leader said sternly. Gently and carefully, he placed a hand on Professor Red's shoulder. He didn't push him away. "It's going to be okay."
Professor Red spent only a few seconds breathing, his breath becoming less panicked and harsh, before spinning around to Colle. He grabbed the Red Crystal off his chest. Was the Red Leader was crazy, or did the color seem to further drain from Colle as he did that?
"I have parts from the machine I used on Seer. If I can just find those parts..." The Professor turned to frantically search through the boxes filled with things he salvaged. After a few seconds, he pulled out a complicated machine part that the Leader couldn't describe if he wanted to. The Professor ran to Colle again, hooking up the machine to a redstone power source, then to Colle.
The Red Leader watched him work, moving to sit down on a rather beat up chair. The Professor moved back and forth, connecting things and pressing things together. His breathing returned to being an erratic pace, and the leader had a feeling no matter what he said, he wouldn't be calming down.
Professor Red placed the Red Crystal into a small metal pedestal, hooked up to Colle through wires and patches. He instantly flicked the machine on, and a small blast of harmless lightning struck it. He stepped back and breathed heavily, glancing between Colle and the machine as if expecting errors.
Nothing bad seemed to happen. When the lightning disappeared, so did the crystal. Colle seemed to glow a bit before returning to a more colored state.
Professor Red sighed, almost falling onto Colle. The Red Leader waited with bated breath until he heard the soft sobbing continue.
He stood up and came to the Professor's side, bringing him close gently, hoping he wouldn't be pushed away this time. "It's fine. You did it, he'll be fine."
"No." He shook his head. "He's still dying. The crystal's just slowing it."
The Red Leader glanced around desperately. "There's nothing we can do?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out!"
The Red Leader was silent. He was just as lost as the supposed genius was. Then something caught his eye. Inside Colle's bag, adorned with colorful stitches of stars and moons and suns, something was glowing faintly.
The Red Leader squeezed the Professor a bit before breaking the hug, walking over to Colle's bag and opening it. Inside, a glowing star shaped artifact was waiting, almost humming. The Leader took it into his hands, surprised at the comfortable warmth of it. "Would this work?"
The Professor immediately ran up to him and snatched it from his hands. "Colle was holding this earlier. It must be important." Without another word, he returned to Colle's limp body, bringing the glowing artifact to his chest. And Colle breathed.
He was breathing before, but it was slow and short, barely even a breath. This was real. Almost a gasp. His intakes of air became much more stable, his chest's rise becoming much more prominent.
"That works." The Professor mumbled. The Leader came up behind him, watching Colle breathe. "This isn't an improvement, he was just like this before. He's not stable, not yet. I still have to figure things out. But we have time."
The Leader nodded. "You know enough about redstone to fix this, right?"
The Professor gritted his teeth. "I've never done something on a person. I...I don't know if I can. But I can try." He ran to grab a stack of redstone, continuing to mess with the machine. "...You can go now. Thank you."
The Red Leader shook his head. "I'm not leaving." He sat back down on the chair, watching him work. "I'll be here for you, I promise." The Professor looked at him, shoulders sagging a bit. But the leader was stubborn. He wouldn't be going anywhere.
"Fine." The Professor muttered, face ever so slightly flushed. And then he got to work.
