Rise and Fall

Dashi

Chapter 9: Dashi

"All right, Angel. This won't hurt a bit", Peso promised.

Despite his reassurance, Angel couldn't help whimpering. Getting the bandage off her ribs had been no problem, but that Octo-Slicer looked very sharp. She closed her eyes and kept a tight grip on Shellington's paw.

"Hold very still", Peso instructed. "I'll have that cast off in no time."

Angel had always thought it would be cool to wear a cast. Back in school, she had always been kind of jealous whenever one of the other kids showed off their casts; been the centre of attention and had everyone else sign them. Now, after having her own cast for six weeks- suffering unbearable itchiness, mind-numbing boredom and general restlessness- she wasn't going to miss it one bit.

She just hoped she could live through having it removed.

Peso got to work. Having to stay still was like torture for Angel, but she managed to do it, fearing that the medic might slip and cut her leg clean off. She winced at the mental image of blood everywhere and her leg detached from her body. Her leg felt funny at the thought of it. She squeezed Shellington's paw tighter.

"There!" Peso announced, jolting Angel out of her thoughts. "Your cast is off!"

The human child dared to open her eyes and prop herself up on her elbows. Her cast cracked open and, for the first time in six weeks, she saw her leg. She remembered lying on the sand on the island, not wanting to look at her leg after she'd broken it. The angle alone had been enough to make her feel sick. It had also been swollen and covered in blood. Now, her leg still didn't look normal. It was thinner and paler than it was supposed to be, but she could look at it without shuddering.

"Your leg won't be able to support you right away", Peso explained. "We'll only do a little bit at a time, but you'll be walking normally again in no time."

That made sense, but Angel had to admit, she was a little disappointed not to be ditching the crutches just yet. She nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Peso."

Since they weren't going to start on that until the morning, Angel hopped on her crutches after Shellington up to HQ. She still tagged along with him anywhere on the Octopod. The others affectionately referred to her as Shellington's Shadow. Of course, if the sea otter was needed for a mission, he would leave her in the Vegimals' capable fins or Peso would take care of her.

Angel didn't mind too much; despite some anxiety, she knew Shellington would come back and she liked Peso and the Vegimals a lot. She'd been on board the Octopod for six weeks and out of the sickbay for four and she was now feeling somewhat comfortable. She knew everyone's names, including the Vegimals, and she knew her way around the Octopod, even if she wouldn't go anywhere alone. She liked most of the Octonauts too.

Only three things refrained her from being completely comfortable. First of all, life on the Octopod could have been perfect, but it still wouldn't have been enough to cure Angel of the heartbreak of losing her family and her home. She missed them and she was never going to get over that.

Second of all, she was still afraid of Captain Barnacles. He hadn't done anything to her. On the rare occasions she was in his presence, he would try to be nice to her, but it didn't seem to make a difference. She would scream. She would whimper. She would shake. She would back away. She would run. Nobody knew what to do about it, though. They just kept reminding her that the Captain wouldn't hurt her, to which she'd either respond with a very unconvincing, "I know", or, "It's not my fault. I can't help being scared."

Third of all, because of her other two problems, she continued to have nightmares. So far, she hadn't had a single night on the Octopod where she hadn't woken up, screaming bloody murder. It had gotten so bad that she just didn't want to sleep. She would go to bed at eight every single night, insisting that she had to; that was her bedtime (the Octonauts had told her gently that she didn't have to, but decided not to push it; it was probably the only thing that felt normal to the poor girl just then), but she just lay there, not daring to close her eyes.