Scarred
Chapter 3: The Saviors
Alice woke up in cold sweat, panting. She looked around and found herself in a hospital, no, an infirmary. She touched her cheek and felt a band-aid on where her cut should be.
"Mom..." Alice cried softly before she heard the door shut as she plopped down on the bed again. She listened to the murmurs of 4 voices with her eyes closed.
"Rouge-kun she was awake just when I called you" a familiar squeaky voice said. Alice tried to remember where she heard these voices before and remembered them from before she blacked out.
"She might've went back to sleep" the deep voice said. Alice kept her eyes closed, though she wanted to see their faces.
"Shall we wake her up?" a cheerful, boyish voice suggested. He sounded like he was playing a prank. Alice listened as she decided to get up already.
"Uhm... I'm already awake" she said, surprising all of them. She studied their faces and guessed that the squeaky voice belonged to the green cat in the frog suit, the deep voice to the black-haired man with a piercing stare, the mischievous voice to the blonde and the boastful one to the red cat.
"Good. Sting-kun would've thrown you out with his amazing strength" the red cat spoke. The girl's guess was right, so this 'Sting-kun' must be the blonde.
"Oh Lector. Would it be right for a gentleman to throw a girl out?" the blonde said smoothly. 'So the red cat is Lector and the blonde is Sting' she thought.
"Rouge-kun should I give the lady some water?" the green cat asked. The black-haired boy smiled softly at him.
"No need to, Frosch, I'll get it" he said as he walked towards the door. 'The green cat is Frosch and the black-haired guy is Rouge. Cool names' Alice thought.
"No thanks! I'm fine Rouge" Alice said hastily, feeling embarrassed. Frosch looked at her with his big eyes.
"How do you know Rouge-kun's name lady-chan?" he asked Alice.
"Oh man..." she scratched the back of her neck, "I kind of... Listened to your conversation..." she said with a pink face.
"Oh, what an analytic person we have here" Sting petted her head.
"Don't pet me Sting" she said in a shaky voice, although she liked the feeling. Her mother used to pet her head.
"D-Dont cry girly. It's a simple pat" the blonde said guiltily, seeing Alice start to cry.
"I-I'm fine..." she stammered, stuffing her face in her hands. Just then, Rouge came in the room with a glass of water.
"Sting what did you do?" he asked, placing the water on the nightstand beside the bed and sitting on a chair.
"Nuthin! I just patted her head and then she told me to stop" Sting said in panick.
"Sting-kun didn't do anything" Lector defended and Frosh nodded along.
"Frosch agrees. Sting-kun just pet her head" the cat said. Alice took note of the mess she made and wiped her tears as she looked at the floor.
"No, they're right. Sting didn't do anything. It's just- I had a hard night and I'm just emotional right now" she said quickly as if it was a rant and tried hard not to let her tears fall down her cheeks.
"It's okay, we understand. Just cry all you want, let it out" Rouge said as he patted her back.
Alice caught him off-guard when she suddenly hugged him as sobbed as hard as she could. Rouge stroked her back and Sting stroked her head, the two exceeds huddled around her to comfort the hurt girl.
"Th-thanks g-guya..." Alice stuttered after long minutes of crying. The group looked at her sympathetically and Frosch handed her the glass of water.
"First of all, what's your name lady?" Lector asked, watching her gulp down the water with puffy red eyes.
"M-my name is A-Alice Kokoroni" the said lady replied, her voice still a little shaky.
"Alice-chan! Frosch thinks you have a nice name" the pink cat said with a big smile.
"Thank you! Frosch is a cute name too" Alice smiled back, hugging the exceed. Rouge smiled at the two and Sting watched with a smile also.
"I think Sting has the best name" Lector beamed proudly and Alice laughed.
"I think so too Lector" the girl said simply, making the said boy blush. They chatted happily for a few minutes, Rouge answering only when needed, until they grew curious to Alice's night.
"So Alice, if you don't mind... Could you tell us what happened?" Sting asked, afraid she might cry again. Everyone listened as they looked at her, making her feel insecure.
"I-it's fine with me, you guys seem worth my trust" she said, though she really wants to talk about it and let it out.
"Alice-chan can stop when she wants to" Frosch told her as he was placed in her arms again.
"So... Me and my mom woke up in the middle of the night" she told them what happened and cried in mostly every part. They four looked at her and comforted her until she was fine, though her nose was red and her eyes were puffy.
"And then I heard you guys talking, and blacked out" she finished. Everyone stared at her afterwards.
"So where are you going to stay now?" Lector asked.
"I don't think I can go home just yet Lector." Alice answered with a sad smile.
"It's okay Alice. Just rest, we'll let you see master Jemma tomorrow and see if you can stay in the guild" Rouge planned as Sting listened excitedly.
"Really? Thanks" she glomped Rouge and Sting.
"Woah there Alice, your still hurt" Sting put her back on the bed.
"What do you mean hurt? I only have this cut" she pointed at the band-aid.
"We found in the forest when we were coming back from a mission, you were all bloody." Lector explained to her as she looked at her blood-stained clothes.
"Frosch is sorry we didn't treat it. Because Alice-chan in a girl and we're all boys"
"Oh god... Guys, this isn't my blood. I..." she chewed on her lip, afraid to tell them.
"You what Alice-chan? Frosch wants to know" Frosch said eagerly and Alice gave in reluctantly.
"I-I-I... Stabbed the thieves..." she said shamefully, showing them her blood-stained daggers. She looked at her legs, ashamed, thinking that they would kick her out.
"Alice, it's alright. You had to do it" Rouge reassured.
"And they deserved it. They killed your mom" Sting said, not knowing what else to say. Alice smiled big and hugged them all.
"Thanks guys. You better go enjoy yourselves now, I'll just sleep." she commanded them, pushing the two boys out as their exceeds followed.
She shut the door and sighed, she silently thought about them and cried before falling asleep.
