Chapter 3. Stop, Breath. Kamikaze.
Val was many things, but a doctor she was not. She was trained as a medic. Someone meant to give emergence aid and treatment on the battle field. Not to be put in a hospital and expected to bring someone back from the brink of death. Neo and Laugh could be treated with some simple Kaidō but Det couldn't. He was covered in so many cuts and gashes, she had to use her Zanpaktou's base ability, Mizu no Niku, to make sure they didn't get infected. That alone went through 4 jugs of water. If she had done this out on in the field, she would have died of dehydration. Not to mention the ice she used would have given him frostbite if left on for too long. After stabilizing him and the others came the hard part, figuring out what was wrong internally. Det was the only one she couldn't figure out. She had been given the files describing their powers. Laugh could create water mirrors. There was no weaknesses or side effects that could cause this. Even when combined with Neo's lighting powers who was effected by weather could create this effect on him. There were no sighs of electrocution and the only sigh of damage by water was the remainder of Vals' water. Det's ability was sound based and was the only one of the three with a Bankai. But even the side effects of his Zanpaktou couldn't have caused any of the injuries given to the team. Val wanted to talk to Atticus to see if he knew something she didn't but King had taken him to the throne room to have a chat.
A soft knock filled the silent air around here and Val turned around to see Jim standing in the doorway. "How are they?" he asked quietly.
"Stable. But I'm not sure for how long." She sighed and leaned against a wall, she missed her office chair but didn't want to leave the room to go get it. "Do you know why we're here Jim? Do you know why we are in the human world and not in the soul society where the dead belong?"
"Because we don't fit with society's standers." He answered, moving into the room and to sir at the edge of a table.
"That's why were where chosen for the contest. That is not, however, why this squad exists." She closed her eyes and took a breath. "Why do you think you were given the 16th seat when you have Bankai?" she asked.
"Because the ranking system of this squad is lacks." He said a little unsure.
"The missions we are given here are not meant for normal Shinigami." She said, opening her eyes to look at the three bodies "The chance of death and uncertainty is so high that they don't even want to give it to a captain. They didn't want to lose a captain but there was no one else strong enough to take on the mission. The soul society doesn't want us. We're either to strong or to different. However, we are still of use so they don't want to throw us in the Maggots Nest. They don't trust us enough to make us captains even though we out rank several of them."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that unless King himself went, I would still end up treating a body. And do you know why I'm here? Why I know this?" she paused "Because I was already a member in squad 4. I overheard the conversation that decided I was coming here, that I would be put in the contest. You see, I didn't get to choice in entering the contest like you did. I was put in and told about it the day before coming here. My squad members, though, didn't want me to leave. They didn't think I was ready to be on my own, and they were right. I can't do this on my own." Tears started filling her eyes, but she refused to look away from the three. "I was sent here to keep you alive so they could continue sending you on more missions. God's wind. That's was they called this squad. A destructive force that no one can see. That no one wants to see." she took a moment to compose herself.
"Val-"
"King isn't like normal Shinigamis either. He's human but not a substitute nor was he born to soul reapers, yet somehow he has powers." She gave a small laugh "And all those copies of himself. No one has any idea how or even why they exist, and yet there here, and no one can say anything about it." she pushed herself off the wall and walked over to the three "I want to know what went on during that mission. I want to know what they expect of us so we can get strong enough to deal with it. We need to know about what each other can do as well. I don't want another team on my table but if we continue going into things blind."
Jim continued to sit at the table as Val began to fill up the water jugs again. He didn't know what to say, sure he was angry at the soul society but like that was going to do anything to change their situation. "Can you teach me?" he said.
"Teach you what?"
"Teach me Kaidō." He pushed himself off the table "That's what's its call right, healing kido. If you can teach me then you won't be the only one who knows, that way one of us can work on the field and the other can stay here."
"I'm just a medic, I have no qualifications to teach-"
"But seconds could make the difference Val! If I just know enough to keep them alive to get to you! I took Kaidō as an elective in the academy so I know the basics."
"It's not that simple-"
"Tetsu Ōji no Hidari, Left Hand of the Iron Prince!" he yelled, moving closer to Val "I can manipulate my reishi and the reishi absorbed by my Zanpaktou. So I'm no stranger to advanced control."
"Jim." She stopped him "I can't teach you because I don't know how." She paused and smiled "But I can give you the stuff that taught me."
The next few days for Jim were spent in the library and small sessions with Val. It was intense and hard work that include, but limited to, anatomy and the structure of a soul. Val couldn't leave the team for long periods of time so the two took turns getting food and sleeping to make sure no one went into critical condition while help was away. It was on one of Jims rare free days when he wandered into the dining hall with a thick book in his hand. He had spent the entire morning in the library and was already five chapters in a new book on healing. He didn't even bother looking up from the pages as he filled two trays with food and wandered back to the door. "Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Mercury yelled and ran to catch up with the distracted Soul Reaper before he was lost in the mass of people moving in and out of the dining hall, the main group of seated officers were not there so Mercury didn't really have anyone to bother at the time being. "Oh! What's that?" he swiped the book from Jim's hand "You're learning Kaidō?"
"Yeah," he said as he moved the second tray into his now free hand.
"And why would you be doing that? You're a fighter. That what your Zanpaktou does."
"And how do you know that?"
"I stole your file from Atticus when he wasn't looking." He laughed as he flicked through some pages.
"Of course you did." Jim sighed.
"So why are you learning healing?"
"I don't want Val to be the only one who knew how to heal. Because right now if she went down we would all go down."
"Is that your only reason?" he asked, nudging his shoulder.
"Yes."
Mercury's shoulders sagged and he closed the book. "I'm guessing that extra tray is for XV-"
"Her name is Val."
"No, her name is XV, we call her Val. Anyway, so the extra tray is for her?" He said, more as a statement then a question. "And the thirds and ninth seats are with her. Well I haven't gone to see them yet so I'll join you on your delivery girl mission. It'll give you a hand." He handed back the book and took a tray as the two went down the stairs. "So you've seen what their like, do you have any idea what cause it?" he asked.
"No, and neither does Val. That's what's troubling her. We have to wait to find out what went on during that mission before Det can be properly treated."
"Just Det?"
"Yes, well, Laugh and Neo aren't as badly hurt, they should be waking up soon. I haven't seen them today though; I've been in the library." Jim said as they entered the medic hall. "Val!" he called "I brought you food!" He opened the door to the office, only to relies that she wasn't there. "Maybe she's with the others." He said as he placed Val's tray down to go and went to look for her Mercury shrugged and placed the try he was carrying down as well. The two went over to the room were the three were, but when he opened the door, no one was there. The room was completely empty, even the beds were neatly made.
"Um, care to fill me in?" Mercury asked, leaning onto Jims shoulder so he could see the room. "Like maybe the detail of where they are."
Jim took a quick look at the plate that was hanging on the wall that read treatment room. "I wonder if-" he cut himself off and moved further down the hall.
"What? Wha' da ya got for me?"
"Val said that depending on how well their treatment goes last night, she could move the two third seats to the recovery room. But that doesn't explain where Det went." He looked down trying to see if there was a light under any of the closed door. "Hey Mercury, how good at you sensing reiatsu? Because I can only tell general area."
"Um," Mercury closed his eyes "There are four people in the room farthest down to the left."
"Ok." He said and made his way towards it. The hall wasn't straight, more of an L shape with a staircase near the end, and the recovery rooms, as well as the emergency room, where located near the end of the L.
"There are also three people at the very end of the hall."
Wait what? Jim stopped and looked at Mercury. "There should only be four people here. Who are the other three?"
"King is the only clear one I can make out, there is something muffling everything." He kept his eyes closed "Um, there's only one that I'm not familiar with. I'm guessing they're from squad 4 back in the soul society because of how concentrated their reishi is." He opened his eyes again and scanned the hall "Someone's coming towards us." He said and jogged around the corner. "Atticus!" he yelled.
"Atticus?" Jim followed to see the lieutenant. He looked tired, his black eyes seamed paler then they were the first night they had arrived in the castle. "Oh Atticus. What are you doing here?"
"King wanted to see the three." He sighed, even his voice sounded tired.
"But why are you here?" Atticus shrugged and motioned Jim and Mercury to follow him. "Atticus, what's going on?"
"Neo has woken up."
"Is he ok?"
"Yes but Det is not. King has brought in an elite healer and they had to move him to the emergence room last night. They've been in there for nine hours now."
There was silence between the group for a moment before Mercury spoke up, "So Neo," he asked, his shinny blue eyes glinted in the light "Did he tell you anything about what happened? About how they got hurt."
Atticus shook his head and stopped outside a door, his hand on the handle. "No, he- He doesn't remember. He knows he left for a mission but after they left the castle grounds it goes blank." He signed "Mercury, I need to ask you to leave."
"What? Why?"
"I'm only allowing Jim to be here for training reasons. You should go tells the others about Neo's and Det's conditions." He paused "And go find the other Tekkings, tell them what's going on and to meet in the hidden room. Law and Rad should be in the garden, they can tell you how to get to the others."
Mercury wanted to argue, but he didn't see what he could get out of it. While he did care for his team mates, he had really only known the three for about a day before they had dropped off the face of the earth. He had no idea how to help them and would probably end up being pushed to the corner of the room while everyone else did their job. He sighed and nodded "Alright, tell Neo hi for me." He said before waving goodbye to Jim and trotting off down the hall. Lunch was almost over but there were bound to still be some people eating, there were probably some people in their rooms as well but Mercury didn't want to go all the way up there so he headed straight to the diner.
"Oi! Merc!" Rensa said Mercury passed him in one of the halls. He was sitting on a windowsill and blowing puffs of smoke up in the air.
"Oh hey Ren." He said to his native American friend. "You know you're not supposed to smoke in the halls."
Rensa took another puff before putting the cigar out on the stone. "So I heard you went to see the three today at lunch. Did you find anything out for us non medics?" he said as he pushed himself of the glass and felt into step with the lower seated member. It was clear he had been there for a while, probably skipped lunch all together, if you were to go by the red mark on his exposed back. Mercury had always thought it was a weird fashion choice to make it so your uniform exposed your back but after learning about 4th seats' Bankai it made sense.
"Neo has woken up."
"Mh, that's news. Anything else?"
"He doesn't remember. Not what happened during the mission or how he got hurt. And Det has been moved to the emergency room. King's brought in a healer from squad 4 and they are working on him right now." he said as they turned down the hall and made it to the crossing point of weather they wanted to go to the dinner or the garden. "Hey, can you go tell the others about Neo and Det. I need to find the other Kings."
"Sure, and if you see Enzi on your way down there, tell him it's his turn to clean the shower drain." Mercury gave a quick glance at him nodded. Both Rensa and Enzi had long hair so he could imagine the problem they had when it came to caring for it.
"Will do." Mercury waved and headed down a flight of narrow stars. He had never physically been in the garden; he was worried that with all the crowded plant life he would feel Closter phobic. In fact, he was getting antsy just going down the stairs. Rensa likes nature, he probably should have asked him to come down here instead. Finally, he got out of the cramp space and into the open air. Unlike the castle, the air outside was warm and lacked the cool draft that would leak through the stones. There were many tall plants that surrounded the entrance and provided shade. Mercury didn't really know where to start looking so he figured he just start walking and hope he'll find someone. Sipping under some plants he walked forward and ran straight into a tree. "Ow."
"You really should stick to the paths." A voice came. Mercury looked up to see a 14-year-old by sitting in the tree. He slid down the branches and hopped over the older male "You won't run into things."
Mercury glared at the boy "Who are you?" he asked.
"You can call me Inoichi, I'm Inos' younger brother."
"Ino?" Mercury asked, "Oh, you mean Naruto Ino. The 20th seat." He turned and began to walk away from the strange kid. "Well whatever, see you later."
"Don't you need help finding the copies?"
Mercury stopped "How do you know I was looking for them?" he asked, turning to look at the child. The blondies star was starting to creep him out, what with the lack of pupils and all. At Least Narutos had sky blue eyes with the needed black dot in the center. This kids' eyes were just blank.
"Because I can see your mind." He said plainly as he started to wander down a path
Mercury quickly followed, more than a little confused by the child. "You can, what?"
"See your mind." He tapped the side of his face. "You have strong thoughts so I see them."
"Can Naruto do that to?"
"Only if she tries. She can see so she has to try not to." He said and made a turn before stopping. "Follow this path and I'll take you to the center of the garden. The copies should be sitting around a stone table. And if you see a black horse, don't touch it. You're not worthy."
Mercury just sighed, he's been doing that a lot ever since he had come to the human world and it was getting annoying. He wandered down the path a little bit more until the foliage started to lighten up, which he was grateful for, and he was spit out into the center of the garden. Sitting there at the stone table were two identical males, one was dressed in a similar suit to the King but with sunglasses and a backwards hat, the other was in a Law Trafalgar jacket and hat. "Uh," he wasn't really sure what to say.
Law looked up from his book to see the awkward 15 seat just standings there. "Do you need something?"
"King sent me to tell you about the three." Mercury said, trying to sound confident.
"The three? Oh you mean the ones who went on a mission without proper training?" Law said, setting down his book. "So what about them?"
"Neo has woken up without memory and Det is in the emergency room."
"Is that it?"
"And Atticus wants you in the hidden room."
"Atticus?" Rad asked, not looking up from his game.
"The lieutenant." Law responded. Rad made an 'O' shape with his mouth. "Did he tell you why we have to go there?"
"No, but he said you could tell me where to find the Tekkings."
"Oh, they're in the dungeon."
Rad glanced up from game "All of them?" Law nodded "Oh, you're screwed man." He laughed and went on playing. "With all the times I've died, it's always their fault." Mercury gave Rad an odd look. Not only did king have clones, but they were apparently immortal as well. "I mean; they always bring me back to life but still! Dyeing hurts man!"
"Here, how about I go tell them and you don't get killed." Law said as he stood up. "Rad, you're coming with me."
"Why?"
"Because I need a meat shield."
"Good point." He shrugged and got up. "Alright, see ya little man." he waved and left.
Mercury stood there alone for a moment, wondering what to do next when a voice came in. "So, I guess you want me to take you to see my sister now?" he quickly spun around to see Inoichi standing right behind him.
"Why would I need your sister?"
"For Neos' memories."
"Neos'- Oh kid you are a genius!" he yelled, grabbing the little kids hand and began to run out of the garden and up the stairs. "Naruto, do you know where she is?"
"In the back training room!" he yelled and slipped out of the older boys' grasp. "You should go there some times, you're pretty weak." Mercury was to excited to care as he ran down the hall, it was an unfamiliar part of the castle but luckily he still and his map on him. He had kind of forgotten to pack more than three pair of his uniform and had yet to find the laundry room. Or really look for one. He knew there was one, since Daphne had come back with a pile of clothes the day before, but he just hasn't looked yet. He looked at the map, and decided that it was completely useless.
He continued to wonder for a while, mostly going in a straight line. It was something he had noticed from the time spent in the castle. It was most square shape so more often then not your end up going in a straight line. The main exception to this was the front, it was much thicker than any other 'wall' allowing more turns in a single journey. But here in the back of the castle, it was a straight shot. "Mercury?" Mercury turned around "Hey Mercury, what are you doing back here?" Enzi asked.
"Oh hey En!" Mercury swung his arm up to put it around Enzis' shoulder, only for him to dodge out of the way "I was looking for Naruto in the back training room. Do you know how to get there?"
"Well the back training room is in the option direction, seventh door on your left. Down the stairs and fifth door on your right." He pointed. "I can walk you there if you want."
"No time to walk, I need to run." He ran down the hall, and then ran back "Wait, go to the medic hall. Tell them I found a way to figure out what went wrong!"
"What?"
"Just do it!" he yelled before running down the hall again. "Oh, and Rensa said it's your turn to clean the shower drain!"
"Ok," Enzi waved and walked down the hall. Didn't he just clean that thing a few days ago? How many showers did his roommate take? Slowly his walk turned into a jog and his jog turned into a full of sprint, and the sprint turned into just a few short flash steps. He almost fell down some stairs and ran into a couple of people but he managed to make it to the hall safely. He had only been in the hall twice before but it was pretty simple lay out. "Valerie!" he yelled and he flashed from one door to another. "Val!"
Jim ran into the hall "Enzi, what's wrong?" he asked, very confused why the pink haired Shinigami was yelling for the medic. "What's happening? Who's hurt?"
"Mercury!"
"What happened to Mercury!"
"Nothing! Nothing's happened to him. He sent me to tell you that he's found a way to figure out what is wrong!"
Jim sighed in relief "Did he tell you what he figured out?"
Enzi paused "Well, no." he said awkwardly. "He just yelled at me while trying to find Naruto."
"Naruto, what can she do?"
"A lot more then you think I can." Naruto said as she and Mercury flash stepped into the hall. "Where is he?"
"Who?"
"Neo you idiot!" she yelled. "You want me to see if I can find his memories, well I need him in order to do that!"
"What? You mean you can look through people's memories?"
"Yes!" Naruto shouted.
Val stuck her head out of the recovery room "If you don't stop shouting, I'm going to superglue your mouth shut." She growled. She looked absolutely exhausted, with dark rings under her eyes and a large glass of water in her hands.
"Val!" Naruto yelled and flashed stepped in front of her, she was given a dark glare as the medic moved out of the door but the blond didn't notice. "Where's Neo?" Val opened her mouth to respond but Naruto cut her off. "Listen, I can look through people's memories! If you let me, I can try and figure out what happened!"
There was silence in the hall for a while, the small group of people stood there waiting for their medic to say something. "Well," she said "If you think you can do it, and do it safely, then follow me." The four people moved to follow "Just Naruto please."
"Why?" Mercury yelled. "I was the one who thought of using Naruto! By the way, your younger brother is really creepy."
"Oh you meet Inoichi!" Naruto said, clapping her hands together. "Oh, so that's how you know about the mind tricks."
"Valerie, please just let us in. We won't touch anything, can you just let us in?" Enzi asked.
Val looked conflicted but eventually have in "Alright, fine." She said and when back in the door. "Neo? There's some people here to see you."
The group entered the recovery room, while it wasn't very large, it had enough space for the Mercury and Enzi to sit and not get in the way. "Where's Atticus and King?" Mercury asked.
"They went to meet with the clones." Jim said, moving to sit only to have Naruto take his chair. "Hey."
"Alright. Just to warn you, when I do this I and Neo will fall unconscious so don't freak out ok." She said sitting down. "Ok, Neo. I am going to look into your mind and try and find out what happened on the mission. I won't look into anything personal and I won't tell anyone any secrets that I find. Are you ok with that?" Neo nodded, he had lost his voice sometime during the mission. Naruto held her hands out in a shape similar to a circle, her eyes dilated and the two collapse.
"So," Mercury said, turning to Enzi "How is the training room?"
"It's nice, Naruto keeps setting off the fire alarm though." He commented.
"That sucks." He said. It quiet again so he turned to Val "Has anything changed with Det in the time I've been gone?"
"Aiko is with him now. Remember the first night when he commented that he likes being around people at all times. Well we found out why. We tried leaving the room and his reishi levels dropped to critical again."
The two boys made a noise of understanding. They made some more small talk, comparing the color of Atticus' eyes to the color of a hollows hole, Enzi's eyes to radioactive emeralds, and Jim's hair and eyes to bark. XV just laughed at it all and refilled her water. It wasn't long before Naruto woke up with a gasp. "Did you find anything out?" Jim asked.
"Bounts!"
