Ninjagaësia

Hidden Truths Amid Sorrow

Inevitably Cole passed out as well, waking up after a day and a half of sleep and immediately staying at Ray's side. Nya woke up two days later to find Jay with her. He'd refused to leave. Both Zane and Gertrude had been staying in the different houses, occasionally switching out with each other in an effort to make sure the teens and father were okay.

At least, as okay as Ray could be. He'd developed a high fever and it wasn't going down, even with Zane's cold touch. Lloyd was regularly running between the two homes to check on the others, often ferrying herbs and poultices between them.
Zane wasn't sleeping. He didn't really need to sleep nearly as much as others anyway.

Eventually some men were able to recover the frozen corpse in the snow, struggling to identify what manner of demon had invaded their home. It was disturbing, with hard, glistening black skin pebbled in deep violet scales like dark crystal, with four arms and 6 fingered hands. It had large metallic hooves and three tails tipped in blades coated in purple crystal that set Zane’s instincts on fire.

When he was able to look at the body with a clearer head, he knew that the creature was called an Oni. He didn't know how, he simply did. He didn't stay long to look at the creature with glittering quills instead of hair and metal caps covering the nubs of what had been horns growing from its forehead.

There was an instinctual distaste for it, and also a sense of wrongness. Like he knew it wasn't supposed to look like that… it wasn't supposed to be so violet. The purple stripes patterning its scaled skin were supposed to be white. Zane couldn't understand why he felt that way over the creatures, instead choosing to return to caring for the injured.

Though in the night, when everyone was asleep and his senses kept him awake, Misako visited him. Together, they decided on a plan. He stayed with Ray during the day and she started talking to Ed and Edna. The poor couple couldn't understand, especially when there was much she wouldn't tell them. Couldn't, in fact.

It was weird having a sort of understanding with the older woman. Zane had the feeling that she was older than she appeared. Part of him wished he could have known these things about her sooner, but it was easy to ignore.

Still, after two days Jay was somewhat reluctantly helping Nya over from Horst's to see her father. Given that she was the reason Zane was staying over to tend to her wounds, he was following along, reminding her not to push herself.
He was just worried.

Inside, Pixal was helping by boiling rags and grinding another mixture with a blank face. Cole was sitting in a corner with his knees up, arms concealing his face. Nya immediately took to the seat beside her father, clasping a feverish hand in both of her own. Gertrude was silently changing bandages. No one said a word as they mutely acknowledged one another.

The atmosphere was heavy as they came together to help. Jay awkwardly stood to the side, guilt rooting him to the spot. He couldn't help much, but he felt partly responsible for not just warning the poor blacksmith first. Ray was a good man.

He eventually left to wait downstairs, unable to bear leaving the others alone even though there was nothing he could do. Eventually Pixal joined him, sitting silently at the table. In the back of his head Kveykva had come, a comforting presence during the stressful time.

“I saw the creature they brought back from the roadside.” Pixal began quietly, staring at the table.
Jay grimaced, recalling the broken thing with the practically mauled chest and sliced open face, violet blood having crystalized in unnaturally cold temperatures. He recalled Zane's blue tunic and pale sleeves being coated in the stuff, more splattered on his face. He remembered the look in his glowing eyes, something fierce and angry all while still so very guilty.