A/N: Warning, gore and pathetically sad Stephanie. Those two aren't related at all, but I'm sure some people find sad!Stephanie more upsetting than a bit of blood.
Sportacus hadn't expected to get the book back that same day, so when another letter found it's way into his airship he was fairly surprised. He went down to where the girl was waiting by the mailbox and immediately looked down at his chest to verify the crystal wasn't beeping.
He had never seen the girl look so miserable. She was staring at her shoes and everything about her stature was downcast. After rushing over he gently asked, "Stephanie, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
The girl shook her head, looking up at him. She wasn't crying, but it looked like she was about to. "No," she admitted, "We weren't able to find much from the book. It feels like there are no options left."
The elf sighed, "Stephanie, you can't put this all on yourself. You aren't the only one working on this- and we're far from finished. This was just one path that turned out to be a dead-end. Don't be so upset- things will work out. There's always a way, right?"
A small smile tugged at her lips, "Of course there is. I just wish I could do more. It seems like there are so many dead ends."
There was no way to argue with that, it definitely seemed like that was the case. He nodded, "You're right. But even if we try 100 things that don't work- what matters is that we will find the one thing that does."
"You really think we will?"
"I see no reason to doubt it," he replied warmly. That wasn't entirely true, he often doubted it, but he had faith that they would be able to find a solution just like they always did. "We always find a way to work things out- why would this be any different?"
Stephanie smiled softly. She still had a lot of doubts and wasn't entirely sure if she believed it would be all right, but she could learn to if Sportacus was certain it would. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind. I'm still sorry I couldn't help more, though. Tell me if there's anything else I can do, alright?"
"If I ever need help- you'll be the first to know," he promised.
The pink-clad girl was about to reply when her stomach loudly announced its hunger. She blushed deeply, remembering that she was supposed to go to her house for lunch before returning the book. "It looks like I better head in for lunch."
The elf raised an eyebrow; it was a bit late for lunch. Everyone knew what happened when Pixel stayed up all night playing video games, and he didn't want to see this happening to Stephanie. Especially not over him. "That's a good idea- you need to eat 3 square meals a day to have the energy you need," he reminded her.
Stephanie grinned, rolling her eyes at the mini-lecture that she'd heard a million times. "Don't worry, Sportacus, I know. Don't forget to tell me if you need my help!"
"I won't, and thank you for what you've done!" he called as she ran off to her house. He picked up the book that she had left on the mailbox and quickly looked over the paper that sat in it. Based on the notes on it, she was right that the book hadn't been particularly useful, but it was still good to know that books like this were out there. He might be able to find a more in depth one.
He also had to make sure he knew where this book had come from. The hero was pretty sure that Robbie Rotten had been the one to send it, but finding out might not be straightforward. It wouldn't surprise him if the self-proclaimed villain would deny sending it whether he had or not.
There was only one way to find out. But before he returned it, he had to make sure that the children hadn't missed anything in their efforts. That and he really couldn't justify going to see Robbie after the man had made it clear he didn't want the elf around.
---
Justification came soon enough, though. A few days later, with the book somewhere in the airship's many hideaway compartments and almost forgotten, Sportacus's crystal alerted that someone was in trouble.
The crystal flashing was barely worth mentioning most of the time. This time, however, it was signaling that Robbie was in trouble. This was in itself fairly unusual, the only times the hero could think of it happening was when the villain was up to no good and ended up having his scheme backfiring. The elf couldn't help but wonder if he was back to his old tricks now. After a quick scan out the door of his airship to make sure there was nothing obvious going on, he headed for the villain's lair.
The entrance was unlocked, so he jumped in without asking and immediately shouted, "Robbie!"
After the word stopped reverberating around the lair- the villain's cursing could be heard from behind a door. Hesitating for a moment, the hero walked over and opened it.
"Erm, Robbie?" he repeated quieter, looking in. It was clearly a bedroom. An extremely messy, possibly disused bedroom. The villain was sitting on the bed with his back turned to the door, with a first aid kit out next to him. So he was in trouble.
"I can handle myself fine, Sportacreep," Robbie hissed. There was something wrong with his voice- it sounded like he was hissing it through clenched teeth and the man was clearly shaking. The elf bit his lip before walking over to see what was going on.
Sportacus almost feinted at the sight. There was a gash in the villain's right thumb that went about an inch down the palm that was still bleeding a great deal. Robbie's pants were soaked with blood, and a blood-soaked towel sat on his lap. Looking at the ground, the hero now noticed that there was a trail of blood spatters. That wasn't even the worst part- Robbie was actually stitching the thing up himself. The elf looked around quickly for any sign of anesthetics or painkillers. He didn't see any. He shuddered at the thought, nausea paining his stomach for the first time in years.
There was no response to this. What did you even say to such a thing? The hero instead just stared with wide eyes, biting his lip as he tried to process what was happening.
Robbie glared at the elf, "Look- this is kind of fucking difficult, extremely painful and I'm right handed. So could you please not stare like that? It's a bit distracting."
Finally words came to mind, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Go to the kitchen and grab an ice pack from the freezer," the villain replied through gritted teeth, continuing with his work. Thankfully the gash wasn't too long, only 6 or so stitches needed, but it was still a rather unpleasant job, especially since the shock was starting to wear off. The last two were always the hardest- at that point you wanted to get it over with and the pain was unbearable, but that only led to mistakes he couldn't afford.
Finally he cut the end of the surgical thread and placed the curved needle down and grabbed for the gauze. He could put ointment on it later, now he just wanted it done with.
"Let me do that," the hero said gently, returning with 5 ice packs. It had taken him a bit of time to navigate the lair and find the kitchen, or he would have been back sooner.
He placed them on the bed before kneeling in front of the man and taking the gauze and delicately wrapping it around the wound so that the thumb was held in place. The elf tried not to look at the wound too much, he never realized just how little he could stand to see actual injuries. No wonder he was so determined to keep everyone in Lazytown safe, he couldn't stand the sight of blood.
Robbie placed an ice pack on the wound before falling back on the bed and squeezing his eyes shut. A string of words that Sportacus had never heard and was quite certain didn't want to know the meaning of followed this.
The sports elf sat down gingerly on the bed, not at all certain what to do. He looked over at the man's face, it looked like he may have actually passed out.
"Erm- Robbie?" he asked quietly, resisting the urge to scold the tall man. What was he thinking- suturing himself? And that he actually had the right tools, it probably wasn't the first time.
The villain's eye opened slightly and he growled quietly. "Not now."
Sportacus stood up and took a deep breath, feeling a bit torn. Part of him wanted to get the hell out of there. He needed fresh air, sports candy, and possibly a few hours with a therapist to get this whole experience behind him. Robbie never seemed happy to have the hero around, and this was no exception, so he'd hardly face any objection to leaving. But at the same time- was someone who actually sutured his own hand a person you could leave alone?
"You realize if you feint I'm physically incapable of helping you, right?" Robbie muttered, pushing himself up with his good hand. In different circumstances he would have been amused to see the hero pale as a sheet and utterly spooked. Unfortunately, his mind was too focused on trying to remember where his pain medicine was and how to manage a child-proof cap one-handed.
Why wasn't that in with his first aid kit again? Oh, right, it was now somewhere in the wreckage that was his house trying to handle the migraines from those blasted brats' playing. That figured.
"I've never feinted in my life," the hero retorted, placing his fists on his hips defiantly although he blushed furiously that he had been so weak. "Now take it easy- let me help you. You need help right now."
The villain snarled at this. He needed a lot of things but help from the overgrown child was not on that list. Dealing with Sportacus in his lair was more like babysitting, and that was something he just wasn't interested in dealing with.
"Look- I've done this plenty of times before," he groaned at the disapproving look, "Fine- just try to stay out of my way." The man stood up at this, wobbling slightly and ignoring the elf's concerned look and offers to help.
He stumbled slightly over to the kitchen, his mind desperately clinging to clarity to think of what he needed. The pain he felt was screaming at him to curl into a ball and cry for a few hours. If the damned goody-two-shoes wasn't around he might have done so.
That would end badly, though, he needed something in his system to replace the blood lost and to help handle the stress on his body. Right now he had to focus, he could spend the next few days throwing a tantrum over his own clumsiness and the hero's meddling. And he most certainly would.
A/N: I really hope I don't have to say this, but do NOT try this at home! The idea for him stitching it up came from me wondering how he got out of his lair if he ever got hurt, and coming to the conclusion that he couldn't and just dealt with it himself. Also from the webcomic Kagerou in which a character stitches up his own face with dental floss and no mirror. *shivers* Now THAT's a bad idea.
Apologies for the gore, please review, and as always- thank you for reading. Also apologies for this chapter being so short. It shouldn't take long for me to get the next one up.
