Fernweh {Discontinued}

[Chapter 18]

You sighed with content as you took another bite. Eating a meal with someone other than your friends and family felt strange. You hadn't felt like this during breakfast but that might have been from all the chaos.

It didn't feel bad, just strange.

You continued to eat as the three went over their inventory of medical supplies. They wanted to clear that out of the way before going into the discussion of magic.

The short pause gave you time to let your brain process what you had just gone over. It was a simple idea once you got rid of all the jargon and complexities.

Magic is magic and you could do a type of it.

You had also found out that the three were the Medical Unit with Aerith as the Head Medic. Aqua and Riku were nearing the end of their training under her. The three were the only certified medics in the Garden. Everybody else knew healing spells like, Curaga or the simpler version, Cure. But that could only do so much.

You watched them flip through papers and folders, writing notes here and there. They took bites of their meals here and there. They would ask questions that would lead to more papers. You were close to finished with your meal when you caught Riku's and Aqua's gaze.

They were trying to tell you something.

"Aerith, can you double check the potions?" Aqua smiled.

"Of course," she stood up. You listened to her steps. When you heard the door open the two jumped into action. You watched as they emptied out the mugs into the potted plant at the middle of the table.

/ital 'Why?' you mouthed.

'Drink,' Riku mouthed back.

There was something in his eyes and his smile seemed too trusting.

You glanced at your mug before bringing it to your lips. Hesitating, you summoned some courage and thoroughly regretted it.

As soon as the tea met your tongue, you felt a sharp bitterness and an overpowering taste of lemon. The extra sugar you added wasn't helping. You gulped it down and coughed until you felt your throat sore. Your eyes pleaded to the two but they could only offer apologetic smiles.

A hand patted your back, "Are you alright?"

"Drank too quickly," you told Aerith. "Are you guys done with inventory?"

"Everything seems in order. So, let's begin," she clapped her hands together. "I feel like you have a basic understanding of what HP and MP are, right?"

"Yeah. HP is health and MP is magic power. I think," you thought back to your video games.

"You're half right," Aerith pressed on her wrist. The screen appeared but it had a different layout to yours. You noticed your name among other people's status bars. "HP does have to do with health. The bar you see varies between people. Some can handle more damage than others."

You could see everybody at a much higher level than you. Well, almost everyone. There were a few stragglers. You were understandable low since you had no combat experience whatsoever.

"When the bar reaches zero, it means the person has become unconscious and the HP will turn critical. It's not perfect but the wristband can give a rough estimate of how long the person has to," Aerith paused, "well, live."

"That's when we have to step in," Aqua said. "Medics are the only ones trained to deal with those situations."

Your first thoughts were that they resembled EMTs.