Faded

Emalf

                Wait, was she late for her next patient?! This was awful… completely dreadful! Sure, it was Emalf, but she only had so much time until he fell asleep for another twenty four hours! Stumbling to the other side of the hallway, the witch tripped into the flame demon’s room; relieved that he was still awake (he made a sound that sounded like ‘Whoa!’ when she nearly fell over). She fixed her hat, rubbed under her eyes to make sure there were no more tears, and plastered a fake smile upon her lips.

“Hello, Emalf! Are you doing well?”

Wadanohara chimed, bringing herself over to the spinning chair near Emalf’s bed. He nodded, and perched his shades higher up the bridge of his nose. His hair was all messy after not being brushed for a while, and his tail was tucked tightly under the fleece blankets to keep warm. Those amber orbs of his were hidden by his dark shades, and this time, he didn’t have his flame jacket on; it was hanging off the bedpost.

“Pretty much, yeah! Thanks for askin’. Didn’t think it could have gotten worse… heheh.”

Emalf grinned briefly, before sinking deeper into the blankets. Maybe saying that wasn’t a good idea… especially knowing the nurse’s circumstances after Satanick, and all; if it wasn’t exaggerated enough. Almost everyone was afraid that if they said something about the war, she would break into tears. She would never want them to feel that way! The witch wanted to help… not hear paraphrased descriptions as to how they felt. She needed it straightforward and direct! How else was she going to assist?

“E…Emalf… you know you don’t need to be afraid of talking about the war. What happens happens… it all happened for a reason. Nothing happens without reason; I can accept that. Don’t think you need to hide the truth from me.”

Perhaps that came off a bit harsh… but she meant it in the most sincere way possible. The flame demon closed his eyes and sighed, bowing down his head as Wadanohara took out her doctor kit and checked his blood pressure. As stated before, there was nothing out of the ordinary about him, but keeping an eye on his heart rate and such was vital. Without it, who knows what would have happened to him… she didn’t want to think about it. The nurse who worked with him previously had managed to keep him alive this long, thank goodness. Weren’t all the original nurses possessed? He must have had one of the few sane ones.

“Sorry… didn’t know that. Y’Know, I just go around assuming that no one wants to hear what… they need to hear, I guess? Always thought the only way to hide that was to tell them what they wanted to hear. Guess that doesn’t go for you, huh? Pretty sweet, though… being able to accept the truth. Admirable… that’s a big word, but it is! Real admirable, yo… eff… After seein’ me out there… that truth probably wasn’t too admirable, huh…”

He mused as she worked, getting her to smile a couple of times; that was an achievement. Emalf wasn’t very accepting of the fact that… well, all Ivlis had to do was throw him forward the way he did to turn him into bigfoot. More like big fat hunk of growling, slobbering rabies. He was a mess out there; it wasn’t every day your fatherly figure turned you into a dog the size of a traditional house. That was… big. He was only five foot… something! Growing that big would be impossible, but it happened. Was there a story behind his origin that he wasn’t aware about? He didn’t want to know if that was the case… who knew what stories he hadn’t had a clue about for the past sixteen years.

“You were a wonderful offense and defense to us, Emalf. I don’t know how you did it, but… you and Vendetto make an excellent tag team…! I see that you two are close… that itself is admirable on its own. Don’t think about the fact that maybe you are such a creature, when really, all that matters is the fact that you’re sweeter in your intention than your appearance. Appearance… means nothing. Attractive, menacing… futile. Your heart is what I care about… as long as I can see potential and a strong sense of morals, I can definitely say that you… Emalf… are no monster.”