The Knights of Grimm - Act 4 - Whispers of Arkhonex

Chapter 67 - Starla's Honour

Hazel

Hazel sat outside of the hospital with a mug of hot chocolate in his hands, he listened to the sound of the Witches of the Restless Marshlands keeping the civilians at the fences and gates outside. He could not blame them for wanting to see their families, none of them wanted to hurt anybody, they just wanted to know if their loved ones were okay. Keeping them out and away from their families hurt... but they had to prevent the further spread of Horridus Morbus. They finally managed to contain the outbreak, but if people start doing the same thing that Patrick Greene did?

Then it would fall apart all over again, and things were fragile right now.

He sighed and he took a sip of the liquified chocolate in his mug, before he turned as he heard Saphron and Yang approach. He looked at them and Saphron looked in a better condition that Yang was. She was nowhere near as bad as Weiss was, but she was still sweating and pale. Saphron was also showing signs of infection too, but due to the fact she has not been around the heavily infected patients like her wife was, she was still able to work hard. This was the first time he actually saw the two of them taking a break.

A good sign, meaning that they managed to stabilise the situation at the very least. "Hey, Hazel." Saphron greeted, they also had some mugs of their own. But instead of Hot Chocolate they had coffee.

"Good afternoon... things looking better in there?" He asked and they both nodded their heads.

"As good as can be expected." Yang shrugged her shoulders, she sat down and pressed her hand to her temple. It was pounding, another symptom of this disease, nowhere near as bad a the ones that the people in the Isolation Wards were suffering from. Saphron exhaled as she sat down beside them and she drank some of her coffee.

"It's nice to get some fresh air every now and then... you forget how nice it feels." Saphron chuckled. Hazel saw Saphron's hands, she was trembling, and the coffee was dancing inside of her mug. He did not even need to ask her what was wrong, he was not stupid.

"She will be fine, Saphron." Hazel promised her, and she sighed shakily.

"So everyone keeps telling me... but I just want to see her. It's been days since she told me she had to go in there to keep the rest of the hospital safe... she's the mother of our child... the love of my life. It's driving me crazy." Saphron's voice trembled as she spoke, and Hazel looked at Yang. She was not the only one who was scared for the people in those wards, Weiss and Neptune were both inside of that place, and she had not seen either of them since. She had no idea that Neptune collapsed from the disease eating away at him.

Hazel felt the warmth of his cup travel through the palms of his hands as he sat there, and he sighed. "They will come back, and when they do they will have that Aphax Violet. Maybe a whole bouquet of them." Hazel said with a chuckle in his voice, helping lighten the moods of the two golden haired women that sat with him on the benches. He set his mug down on the surface of the wooden table. "And if anyone can find a way to beat the odds, it is your sister and your brother." He told them.

Yang and Saphron smiled as they thought of Ruby and Jaune, unaware of the fact that they were in the custody of Kelham. And the Acolytes of Lien that follow him. "Yeah, Jaune was always a great problem solver. I remember once, he was only a little kid and I was struggling during my finals at school. Terra was with me when we were trying to figure out how to get past these questions, and Jaune walked in. I didn't think he could figure it out since even we couldn't... but a few minutes after he looked at the questions... he did. Turned out we both kept overlooking one tiny detail..." Saphron smiled as she stared at her reflection in the coffee.

"He's always been the brightest of us all. That's what Skyler always believed." She said with a tear in her eye, remembering their oldest sister... the one who died in a way she never deserved. Hazel nodded his head and he looked at Yang.