Abbadon Rising - (NaNoWriMo2016)

Chapter 5

ABI woke up with a dull pain in her ribs and a distinctly more stabby pain in her left shoulder. She groaned and looked around groggily, and to her surprise she saw Pierce sitting to the right of her bed, sleeping on it and drooling. She nudged Pierce awake and he blinked sleepily as he registered where he was. Pierce glowered at her for waking him up until he remembered Abi's situation. He watched as Abi gave him a smile.

"Good morning to you sleepyhead." She said, then frowned. "I must be on a lot of drugs or something, because my arm doesn't hurt at all."

"Um, Abi..." he started to say, then trailed off and just gestured to her left shoulder while looking around uncomfortably. Abi glanced over at her shoulder, and then did a double take that would've been comical if the situation hadn't been so dire. Abi's eyes widened in shock and then dulled as she realized that her arm was gone for good. "I'm sorry." Abi nodded and held back tears as she used her left hand to feel the shoulder where her left arm used to be. As Abi came to terms with the fact that her arm was gone, a nurse walked in with a gentle smile on her face.

"Miss Crown," she said, "I know you must be tired, but I'm afraid that since our medbay if fairly small," she gestured around the room that was about the size of Abbadon's common room, "and you're in stable condition, I was wondering if you could move back up to your teams' common room to heal." The nurse phrased this like a request, but Pierce knew that it was actually a very politely worded dismissal from the medical ward. He nodded at the nurse.

"Thank you for your help," Pierce said, and Abi nodded at the nurse in thanks. The nurse walked out after they had thanked her, and Pierce turned to Abi once she was gone.

"How do you want to do this?" Pierce asked her.

"Um... I don't know." She replied. "I don't want to go back to the dorm. I don't want to face the rest of the team yet." Pierce cocked his head in confusion.

"They've already seen you," he said, "Plus, why is okay for me to be here then." Abi grinned.

"You already think I'm a disgrace, so I don't really think that your opinion of my can get any worse." Pierce's eyes flashed.

"I don't think you're a disgrace," he snapped, "I think that you're a danger to yourself and others. You don't know the things that have been predicted about you." Pierce stopped talking suddenly and sat down with a huff. Abi tried to sit up quickly but then gasped at the pain in her ribs.

"What's been predicted about me?" she wheezed as she laid back down. Pierce shook his head, not wanting to talk about it. Abi sighed as Pierce stood up and held out his arms, asking for permission to pick her up so they could leave. Abi nodded silently and Pierce lifted her up into his arms, cradling her to his chest like a child. She leaned her head into his chest and the end of his braid tickled her nose. Pierce thanked the nurse once again on their way out, and she reminded them not to hesitate to bring Abi back if there were any problems.

Pierce carried Abi through the halls of the castle, dutifully ignoring the stares and whispers of the passing servants and nobles. Abi's face burned as Pierce carried her away from the medbay. They reached the training hall, but Pierce didn't stop and take her in like Abi had expected. Instead he kept walking and took her to Nanya's quarters. She looked up at Pierce in confusion.

"Wha-? I thought you were taking me back to the dorms?" she said, and Pierce looked away.

"You said you didn't want to be around the team yet, so I thought I'd take you to be with Nanya while you get better." Pierce glanced down at her as they arrived at Nanya's rooms. "She'll take care of you, and you can help her around her home in return. She's no spring chicken." Pierce stood in front of Nanya's door as he said this, and all of a sudden her door swung open and Nanya whacked Pierce on the head with her flat hand.