Moving On
Chapter 11
Beep…
The sound of life…
Beep…
A reassuring sound…
Beep…
A very annoying sound…
Touya stirred, opening his eyes and looking around. He was happy to still be alive and now that he is, he's worried about Signum's wellbeing. He tried to get up but he found it hard to bend. He had to roll on his side and pull himself up using the bedrail. When he put his hand on his back he felt something. He checked to find a contraption there to hold him up so that he wouldn't strain his back. He then turned his attention to his arms to find them bandaged tightly until he couldn't feel them but at least he couldn't strain them. He felt like a robot. He let out a sigh and tried to get out of bed but stopped midway when his doctor entered.
"No way, you're not going anywhere! Stay there! Your back needs time to heal and I would rather not chance by straining it further and breaking my spine if I were you." the blonde scolded. He was put back in bed as Shamal pulled up several screens displaying his status.
"You're not in any condition to go anywhere and neither is your fiancé because she, like you, needs plenty of rest to recuperate. Your wedding can wait until your injuries are gone and I consider you well enough to leave the hospital bed." giving him a warning look.
"Ok, I understand. I'll stay in bed and be a saint." having heard a similar lecture every time he ends up in a ward with her or any other doctor for that matter.
"If you do that, I'll recline the curtain so you can see Signum, is that clear?" amused by his shocked expression as he tried to look past the curtain.
Shamal decided it was cruel to deprive him of at least some reassurance. She moved to pull back the curtains to reveal the sleeping girl next door. Signum had a nurse monitoring her status and checking her breathing. The knight had a breathing mask on and she was breathing heavily, bandages covering the entirety of her body. Still uncertain he decided to pose several questions.
"What happened? Why can't she breathe properly?"
"Well, when we moved her out of the debris, I noticed that your hand had protected her from most of the rocks but not all. Her chest got crushed slightly and so that caused her breathing problems. She has lacerations on her wrists and bruises over her body because she didn't have her armour to protect her and a good knock on the head. Good enough she didn't get shot and she didn't sustain any side effects from her head injury. Last but not least, did you realize that she was barefoot the entire time?" she explained glumly. Touya paled at the latter.
"S-She was what?"
"Your heard me. She was barefoot. Her shoes were missing. I'm still wondering where she lost them or when she pulled them off." exasperated. Touya explored his memory for a reason and remembered something.
"She was tied to a chair right?" Shamal nodded at his sudden topic exchange.
"Why do you ask?" obviously curious.
"Her feet were chained to the floor wasn't it?" he continued. Shamal just nodded.
"But what has that got to do with this?"
"What was she wearing at the time?"
"Boots, but why?" startled at his sudden inquiry.
"If she were chained to the floor, there is no way to get out of them without breaking the chains and since she was wearing boots, the most logical thing would be to just slip your feet out of them without forcing more injuries." he carefully explained. Shamal allowed the information to sink in when she finally came to.
"So that's why. It makes sense and we can ask her when she wakes up though I doubt that would happen in a short period of time. She may wake tomorrow or the day after, latest, a week." Touya let out a depressed sigh though smiling slightly, knowing that she was ok, at least.
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She couldn't feel anything. Her body was like stone, completely still and unmoving. She tried to open her eyes but it took a lot more effort than it was worth. She forced them open anyway because she was worried about the others. Slowly her vision came to, seeing blurs of yellow and black and then red and then, there was just too many colours to comprehend. Her head felt heavy like lead but she tried to hold on. She let her eyes scan the room as she took in the faces of the people standing around her bed.
"Signum, are you ok? Can you feel anything?" Shamal asked, evidently worried.
"I can't feel a thing except the fact that I feel what would be equivalent to an anvil on my chest." she said in a low voice, trying not to groan in the pain talking caused her.
"You feel that way because your chest was slightly crushed by some debris. You'll be able to breathe fine after a while if you keep that breathing mask on for a little while more. Yukito will come in after a bit to work on your chest. The rest of your body, considering several light injuries and the sort, will be well in not more than a week or two." smiling sweetly.
Signum gave her a weak smile as she allowed herself to fall back into a slumber. Touya who was sitting next to her in a wheelchair held her hand in his while Vita, Agito and Hayate just looked on uncertainly. They were worried, considering her injuries but as Vita had told Hayate just moments ago that Signum would never die that easily unless she was beheaded on the battle field there and then. That did not bring much of solace about though and Agito had shouted at Vita for such a lame and horrifying assurance. After a whole day of scans and several more checkups, Touya was given the 'go' sign as he was considered discharged from the hospital. Vita had the same treatment though hers had more retaliation and complaints where Touya had a record of none, being a good patient he was. Signum, however, is going to take a longer time to recover, meaning the wedding will be further postponed until then.
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almost there... i shall post the remaining chapters tomorrow and the day after respectively... the new story as i had mentioned will not be out until the end of my exams... my deepest apologies but i need to put my focus elsewhere for the moment. i hope that u have enjoyed this story as much as i did writing it. ^^
