Hey guys, GiLaw here, bringing you another chapter of Confrontation!
First of all, thanks to those who took the time to read and review this fic. You have to idea how much that means to me, I'm always looking for positive feedback and new ways to improve my stories!
Second of all, if you haven't heard already, I do have some more Raven ideas. Fellow Raven fans, you're probably already aware of my Spirit World idea which I will be publishing once I finish this. I also have other ideas (I had this one idea where something happens to Sarjed where she loses all her strength so she has to use wisdom to win in the end) so please let me know if you like this so it'll encourage me to write more!
Anyway, I don't wanna end up writing intros longer than the actual chapter so lets do this!
Enjoy! ;D
Chapter 2
What Happened?
The woods was filled with a deathly silence. None of the eight warriors knew how to react to the injured Ultimate Warrior nor did he know what to do himself. If the moment wasn't intense, it certainly felt awkward, like some sort of creepy fantasy that couldn't possibly be real . . .
Hanso's mind suddenly snapped as she realized that this was real and her comrade needed help and fast.
"Versad! G- Grab him!"
Much to her relief, her urgency seemed to snap her fellow warriors back to reality as well as Sonos and Beron immediately rushed up to Versad and grabbed an arm each. Versad himself seemed to collapse into their arms, overwhelmed with pain and exhaustion.
"Okay! Um . . . Lenat, can you set up a place for him to sit, please? And, um . . . Water! Yeah yeah yeah, Danil, you're fast, you can get some water!" At this rate, Hanso's mind was too occupied to even think about the fact that she was panicking. "Um . . . Mygar, Kelpa, can you get some cloth or something, quick!"
Her comrades seemed to be two steps ahead of her as Sonos and Beron almost dragged Versad over to a nearby tree where Lenat was doing his best to make it as comfortable as possible. Danil had already grabbed the nearest bowl he could find and was sprinting off like a rocket while Kelpa and Mygar both grabbed some cloth and started tearing it up into different shapes.
"Come on, quickly! No, watch his foot, it looks sprained or something!" Hanso wasted no time in rushing up to them and straightening Versad's leg for him. Versad immediately jerked his leg away, scrunching up his eyes in pain.
"Hanso, it's okay, we got this!" Beron ordered, trying to push Hanso away as kindly as he could.
"No wait, just sit him down easy!" Lenat shouted, grabbing Versad's back in hope of supporting him as well.
"Yeah yeah yeah, like that!" Sonos agreed, the three of them finally resting the Ultimate Warrior down properly.
Beron nodded. "That's it . . . steady . . .!"
As Hanso watched them sit Versad down, she couldn't help but notice the severe pain he was in and the blood that stained most parts of his body and his torn tree outfit. There was a lot of blood, most of it on his forehead, around his arms, one of which looked really awkward and his legs didn't look too supportive either.
"What happened?"
He didn't reply, just gritted his teeth, his eyes still scrunched up, trying not to scream as Sonos and Beron fixed him into a more comfortable position.
"Versad, what happened?"
"Hanso, give him a minute," said Mygar, the only person who seemed to be somewhat calm in this situation, which was natural of her.
"But-"
"He needs to rest for a while," Mygar interrupted. "You can talk to him then, alright?"
Hanso pulled a face. She had to admit, Mygar was right but at the same time she was dying to know what could have happened to Versad to turn him from strong and powerful to . . . this state.
"Come on." Kesem took Hanso's hand, leading her away just as Danil returned with the bowl, water splashing around in it.
"I got the water!"
Hanso went to grab it but Kelpa was quicker. "Right. Put it over the fire for a sec and then we'll clean him up."
"What?" Hanso glanced between the two of them, not sure how to react. "But he needs treatment! Now!"
"If we clean his wounds without heating the water, it's only gonna make it worse!" Kelpa almost seemed to turn her back on a now pretty agitated Hanso and began setting up the sticks to place the bowl of water over the campfire.
"But-"
"Danil, I think we're gonna need some more water," Kesem said quickly, eyeing her friend's uneasy behaviour. Danil nodded at this and sprinted off again, he had enough stamina for a second run to and from the loch.
As he disappeared into the horizon, Hanso tried to get a look at Versad but this wasn't easy as most of the other warriors were literally on top of him. Sonos and Beron were trying to fix him into a more comfortable position, Lenat was shouting suggestions as to what they should do while Mygar was trying to get them to give him some space without much success.
"Hanso . . ." Kesem tugged at her arm again, this time a little firmer than usual. "Come on."
She groaned and let Kesem lead her away again, Hanso glancing behind again but she still couldn't see Versad over her bickering comrades. They were still fussing over him and now Kelpa was approaching the group with the hot water. Very reluctantly, she flopped down onto the ground with her friend, trying to keep her breathing under control. Noticing this, Kesem edged towards her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"He's gonna be alright, okay?"
At this stage, all she could do was nod shakily, staring into nothing . . .
"You alright?"
Hanso almost jumped at Danil's voice as Kesem stood up to take the water from him. He was panting hard and looked pretty worried actually.
"Yeah, she's fine," Kesem said, bending down to hand the water to Hanso who took it gratefully but shakily.
Danil lowered his eyebrows at this. "You sure?" He gave Hanso a look. "You look kinda pale . . ."
"I'm fine," she lied, trying to keep her focus on the bowl in her hands.
Danil did not look convinced as Hanso tried to raise the bowl to her lips but just couldn't find the strength to do so.
"You need some help with that?"
Without giving her a chance to reply, he knelt down and took hold of the bottom of the bowl and raised it for her so she could finally lift it up properly and have a drink. That made her feel a little better. Danil nodded in satisfaction and Kesem smiled slightly, stroking her friend's back to help soothe her more.
Hanso suddenly spluttered when she heard Versad's screams- it was loud enough to shake the leaves around them. Glancing up she could see that Kelpa and Mygar were finally tending to his wounds, Kelpa dabbing hot water on him to wash away the blood while Mygar was wrapping cloth around his right arm to form a sling. Hanso had seen her friends in pain before but never in her life would she have imagined she would hear Versad screaming in such intense pain.
Whatever had happened to him, it was definitely serious.
And she was determined to find out . . .
The sun was slowly making its descend down, it's rays staining the clouds pink and the sky a golden orange.
Most of the warriors had headed out forging and gathering resources for night, apart from Hanso who decided to stay behind and Danil who had returned his usual spot, the darker part of the woods.
Versad seemed to have dozed off but he was obviously having trouble staying asleep as every now and again he would wince in pain or try to shift himself into a more comfortable position, only aggravating the pain he was in even more.
Hanso frowned a little and turned to the task she was doing: cooking dinner for her fellows. It wasn't anything spectacular, just typical vegetable broth but for some reason she wanted to make it as tasty as possible. She glanced up at Versad again. He was breathing heavily and let out a weak cough, still looking pretty uncomfortable. Hanso tightened her lips at this as she tipped the vegetable broth into a bowl, making sure to leave enough for her comrades before picking up a nearby spoon.
Taking a deep breath, broth in one hand, spoon in the other, she stood up bravely and finally approached Versad for the first time since he had appeared in warrior camp. He didn't notice her, he was too busy trying to settle to sleep. Hanso had to clear her throat loudly to get his attention.
His eyes flickered open, his body jerking a little, his head whipping up to see what it was. When be realised it was only Hanso, he exhaled a large sigh of relief and tried to relax but that wasn't easy since his body was still stinging terribly.
As Hanso knelt down beside him, he suddenly noticed the bowl of steaming liquid in her hand and gave her a somewhat nervous look.
"What is that?"
"It's just vegetable broth. I just made it . . . in case you were hungry . . ."
"Oh." He let out another huge sigh and tried to sit up but Hanso pushed him down as gently as she could.
"Take it easy."
Versad winced but found himself relaxing at last. Hanso nodded and scooped up a spoonful of broth. Again, Versad took note of her actions, his eyes widening a little. "Hanso, I can-"
"No you can't," she interrupted a little sternly. "Lie down and relax, will ya?"
Versad cocked his head, taken aback by her snappy tone. "No seriously, you don't have to-"
"Versad trust me, you'll thank me for it." Hanso gave Versad her own little look, one that was enough to show that she meant business as she raised the spoon towards him.
Versad groaned, knowing there was no point arguing with her. "Fine. But the others are gonna hear nothing about this, okay?"
"Alright," Hanso muttered, lifting the spoon towards his lips. Versad sighed a little but opened his mouth anyway for her to tip the broth in. She nodded in approval and prepared another spoonful for him as he closed his mouth and swallowed it down, raising his eyebrows as he did so.
"That's good broth."
"Thanks," she murmured quietly, raising the spoon towards him again. He allowed her to feed him another spoonful, settling down that little bit more. In fact he looked pretty relaxed now.
Hanso smiled slightly, feeling a little more relaxed herself. As she fed him a third dose of vegetable broth, she eyed his sling and cut on his forehead. She had to admit he did look better (Kelpa and Mygar had done a good job cleaning him up) but nevertheless it still begged the one question that had been bugging her for ages now.
"What happened to you?"
Almost immediately she sensed him stiffen, his face dropping and it unsettled her nerves, knowing she was in for an unpleasant story. This wasn't going to be pretty.
"Should've known you were gonna ask me that eventually," he muttered, groaning again.
Hanso didn't reply, just stared at him with obvious concern as he rubbed one side of his face with his good hand.
"You're not gonna leave me alone till you find out, are you?"
"Uh-uh."
Versad scrunched up his eyes, thrusting his head back. "I can't even really remember what happened, it was so . . . I don't know what, it was just crazy!"
"Just explain it as best as you can," Hanso said softly, fixing herself into a cross-legged position, really eager to hear his story now.
He let out yet another sigh but began anyway. "Okay so it's been a few days since the Last Stand. Raven told me to let my heart be my guide and all that and left me to my own devices . . . I've been wandering around and I hear some strange noises round the corner so I decide to check it out. Next thing Nevar and his demons appear and start attacking me and I freak out and I try to fight them back but they all just started blasting at me . . ."
"But where was Raven?" Hanso asked, shocked.
He shook his head quickly, his face crumpling a little. "I don't know, I think Nevar set a trap for him or something!" At this point, he was shaking really bad and his voice was cracking, the thought of the incident obviously upsetting him. "And . . . I knew I had to run so I made a run for it but then Nevar shot at me and I slipped and I hurt my arm- It wasn't even that bad a fall!"
"Okay sh-sh-shh!" Hanso quickly climbed to her knees, knocking the bowl from her legs and spilling vegetable broth everywhere but she didn't care. She tried to take hold of his arm or shoulder in some hope of comforting him but it was to no avail. "It's alright, okay?"
"No Hanso, you should've seen it!" he cried, his breath rate rising. "It was scary, I mean much scarier than the challenges we've gone through; that was real back there, I mean if I didn't have that Staff of Power-"
Versad suddenly seemed to just freeze right there on the spot as it suddenly hit him. Hanso had to dodge to avoid his hand which whipped up to slap his face.
"Shoot!"
"What's wrong?"
"I left behind the Staff of Power!" He tried to stand up but Hanso saw this coming and grabbed his shoulders, pushing against him, a little firmer this time.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, take it easy!" She tried to get him to sit back down but he was fighting to stay up despite the pain he was in.
"I gotta get that Staff of Power!"
"Versad, sit down!"
"No Hanso, if I don't get the Staff of Power back, Nevar's gonna get it and then he's gonna use it against us!"
"Versad, listen to me!"
The harshness in her order was enough to make Versad snap out of it and allow her to help him back down. She nodded in approval, letting out a soft little sigh of relief."That's better . . . "
He barely responded, just glanced away from her and flopped his head down hiding his eyes with his good hand. "I screwed us up . . ."
"You didn't screw us up, Versad," Hanso murmured, stroking his arm. That was probably one of the first few positive things, she had said since she returned back to camp. "All you need to do is tell me where you left the staff and I can go and get it for you and it'll be alright."
He glanced up at her, withdrawing his hand a little. "No, it's not gonna be alright."
"Don't worry about it, I can get it," she said, trying to muster an encouraging smile.
"Hanso, it's not that simple!"
"Just calm down . . . You can tell me where it is and I'll get it for you. Is it near the Last Stand, is it near the Deep Loch . . .?"
"Hanso seriously, you're not gonna be able to get it!"
Her smile dropped as she found herself getting a little frustrated. "Why not?"
"I left the Staff of Power in the Blasted Mountain."
Aaaaaand I'm gonna leave it at that! Gotta love those cliffeys! No pun intended :P
Okay, so before any of you guys ask, I'm just gonna say it:
No, I do not ship Versad and Hanso.
I know if this was another fic with other characters, this would be considered shipping but it's important to note that these kids are like twelve. I'm sure they're probably really close in real life but in this, they're just very tight friends.
Anyway, I hope you liked it. Lol, in my other fics it's usually the guy comforting the girl and not the other way around!
(Probably cause Hanso's the one in red here, lol :P)
God dammit, I just said I wouldn't go into shipper mode! X'D
Anyway, I'll see ya! ;)
