Dosed
Summary: She was just out having some fun and some jackass tries to date rape her. Figures her drug-induced hallucination would be her dad coming to save her in her hour of need.
Warning: attempted sexual assault by drugs (don't worry he gets what's coming to him), some description of her being on drugs, and swearing.
Disclaimer: I don't own
AN: This was something that was initially in my 'discarded' pile (which is about four times the amount of my posted chapters) but I figured out a way to rework it and got this. I took a few liberties with symptoms and how cognizant and coherent she is. Also as you might have been able to tell by this point- I'm not that good at writing cursing.
"You mother-fucking sonuva- "
SLAP!
"-slimy little rat-fucking- "
BANG!
"- try to fucking dose a girl- "
SLAM!
"- should shove a goddamn cactus up your- "
BAM!
Suddenly the room was spinning, and Cana half collapsed against the wall of the bar. There she was minding her own business, having a good time, when some pathetic bastard tried to fucking date rape her. How he'd gotten it in her glass she had no idea, but years of drinking lead to her being very aware when the alcohol was spiked.
She had then gotten up and taken it upon herself to beat the ever-living shit out the little weasel- hopefully that would teach him a lesson.
Now she was starting to feel it kick in. She had maybe one sip before she figured out what the slimy little bastard had done, so the effects were not as bad as they potentially could have been, but certainly not good either.
Since the beating had lasted maybe ten minutes, she was leaning towards GHB- if this had been roofies or Ketamine she wouldn't have started feeling it until about twenty minutes to half an hour. She had to get to a hospital- preferably soon as Cana would prefer not having seizures, falling into a coma, or dying (that last would be particularly unpleasant).
Unsteady she stumbled out of the bar, barely hearing the concerned calls after her- she'd just been dosed, no way was she going to trust anyone in there. Hospital was maybe a twenty-minute walk- really not good, but since she hadn't taken much it might be feasible. Or she might pass out in the street. Either way she didn't really have another option.
As she stumbled again, feeling like the street was rolling around under her feet, she heard a familiar voice call out in concern.
"Cana? Are- are you okay?"
What was Gildarts doing here? Wasn't he in the guildhall telling war stories? Oh wait- one of the side effects of GHB was hallucinations. Figures that when in distress her brain created a fantasy of her daddy coming to save her. Oh well, might as well go along with it- might be the only father-daughter time she'd ever get.
"Some- some- "She stumbled over her words, suddenly finding stringing a sentence together difficult, but was finally able to get out," Got dosed- need a hospital."
The look of alarm and outrage on her father's face was strangely comforting- he cared enough about her to be mad that someone had tried to take advantage of her.
"Shit- okay come on." Suddenly she was off her feet and in a bridal carry. Strange. She didn't know hallucinations could do that. "Let's get you to a hospital- then I'll go beat the crap out of whoever did this to you."
"Already did that." She chirped happily (wow she had a great view up here- he was so damn tall). Pleased with herself when he gave her a grin.
"Good girl." He praised.
Cana puffed up like a peacock at his approval- hey, she might as well enjoy the hallucination since she couldn't do anything about it. She snuggled into his chest, more than willing to take the body heat since she'd left her jacket at the bar.
"You're really warm."
She felt his chest vibrate with the force of his deep laugh," Thank you, I suppose." He said quirking an eyebrow down at her," Don't worry kid- the docs will get you fixed up just fine."
The brunette nodded before piping up with a thought that was bouncing around her head," I like this."
"Like what?" The figment of her imagination asked curiously.
"You acting like a dad, 'course you are my dad so it doesn't count, but still."
For a moment the stopped moving and she felt his chest tense up in surprise," What- what do you mean by that Cana?
"You're my dad." He was her hallucination so why didn't he already know this? Eh, hallucinations weren't supposed to make sense. "Didn't think you'd believe me so never said."
Was it just her or were they moving faster than they had been before?
"Okay, you must be really out of it to be talking like that." The red headed man said in a false calm to Cana's puzzlement.
"I'm out of it." She agreed," But I'm pretty sure Mama put you on my birth certificate so there's that." Suddenly lights seemed way more sparkly than before. "Pretty!" The drugged girl cooed as she reached out to try and grab it, before woozily collapsing against the older man's chest.
Must be hitting the half-hour mark. Because things were getting really fuzzy all of a sudden…
Her last coherent thought before she lost consciousness was that she wouldn't mind if the hallucination kept on a little longer- she felt safe and warm in her father's arms. It really was a nice feeling.
oOOOOo
Gildarts wasn't sure what to think.
When he'd decided to take a different route than usual the last thing he'd expected was to see the card mage stumbling down the road. Hearing she'd been dosed made him furious- what the fuck was wrong with some people? Can't get laid so they go drug a girl?
Poor Cana was definitely out of it, least he could do for her was get her to a hospital safely- but… how much of what she said was from the drugs?
She said he was her dad. That she had never told him about it and that he was probably on her birth certificate- how… how could drugs create something like that?
As soon as he'd gotten to the hospital and handed the unconscious girl over, he'd called Master Makarov. The hospital had a personal lacrima that could contact him just in case anybody got hurt, whether it was by idiots fighting or drunkenly falling downstairs.
He'd explained what had happened and what she had said- Master had to do paperwork for her stay anyway (something about emergency contacts and health insurance), the older man would grab her file on the way there. If there wasn't anything in there then it was probably just the drugs talking, if there was… he had no idea what the fuck would happen if there was.
At least she was going to be okay- nurse told him the drug should be out of her system in a few hours and that they were going to make sure any side effects were handled.
The waiting room for the hospital was quiet, the odd person coming in or out as visiting hours ended, but every time the door opened, he found himself looking up. Finally, almost an hour after calling, Makarov finally showed up, a troubled look on his face and a manila folder under his arm.
As the crash mage opened his mouth to greet the older man, something about the look on his face made anything he might have said die in his throat. Master- the old man wouldn't be looking at him like that unless-
"It wasn't the drugs, was it?"
The miniature guildmaster silently shook his head before hesitantly holding out the folder," I- Gildarts… I think you need to see this."
The Ace took the file with some trepidation (he had a daughter) and flipped it open. The first paper on top was a birth certificate and time froze as he failed to process the writing on the page.
Rebecca Arcana Alberona.
Father: Gildarts Clive.
Mother: Cornelia Alberona.
Conny. Conny was the mother of his daughter. The love of his life had his baby and never told him. That baby had eventually joined the same guild as her father, had become a powerful mage, and a wonderful young woman, all without him. He hadn't been involved in her life at all despite being so close to her.
Then he hit the floor with a loud thud.
'Oh,' he thought as he dispassionately gazed at the cubes that had once been a chair,' Must have lost control again.'
What was he supposed to do now?
oOOOOo
It felt like her eyes were glued shut.
Cana was in that uncomfortable state between being asleep and awake- where she didn't particularly want to wake up, but she probably wasn't going to fall back to sleep either. Her limbs felt like they were made of cast iron and the air had an unpleasant smell of antiseptic.
Slowly as the memories of what had happened the night before came back to her- the pathetic little asshole, the well-deserved beating, her trying to get to the hospital, and then her hallucination- she must have passed out in the street and someone managed to get her help. That was the only thing that made sense, because if she had been hallucinating like that there was no way she'd managed to get herself here.
The brunette managed to force her eyes open, only to immediately regret it.
"Motherfucker- "She cursed at the pain from the sudden influx of light on her hungover brain.
"Oh, you're awake!" A kindly woman said relieved.
Once again, the card mage cracked her eyes open, squinting against the bright lights of the sterile room, to look at the purple-haired nurse by her bed.
"We were worried about you for a while- your heartrate slowed considerably, but it looks like you're going to pull through."
"…yay." Cana said unenthusiastically.
The nurse winced a bit, before seemingly shaking her attitude off," Do you have any questions Miss Alberona?"
The violet-eyed girl thought for a moment, before asking," … What the fuck did he give me?"
The purple-haired nurse patted her hand in what was probably meant to be a comforting manner," Your assailant dosed you a combination of GHB and Ketamine dearie."
Huh- well at least she was half right on the drug at least. Talk about a nasty combo.
"We have you on a saline drip and a few potions that should have all the toxins out of your system in a few hours. You'll probably be discharged this afternoon, but we may decide to keep you overnight for observation."
Yeah that was pretty reasonable. Still one more question to ask.
"How the fuck did I get here?"
The nurse pursed her lips in disapproval at her choice of language, but decided to answer," Gildarts found you in distress and brought you in."
Wait what?
At that revelation Cana almost shot into a sitting position, only to grip her head in agony at the pain the sudden action caused. The nurse let out a squawk and tried to force her back down.
That had- she hadn't been hallucinating?!
Shit.
She had told her father who she was to him because she thought he was a drug-induced hallucination. This was… maybe he didn't believe her? She thought hopefully. Maybe he chalked everything up to the drugs and decided to treat it like it hadn't happened? She'd be okay with that- she'd be more than okay with that.
It was selfish but she wanted to tell him the truth on her terms- blurting it out while dosed on GHB and Ketamine were so far from her ideal situation it wasn't even funny.
"-he's actually been in the waiting room all night! He was so worried about you- "
He was what?
As the brunette sat in a state of shock as she tried to process the apparent collapse of her world as the cheery nurse continued on obliviously.
"I suppose I'll go let him know that you're alright then dearie." The woman was out the door before Cana could say anything.
Maybe it was a few minutes, maybe it was a few hours, but when Gildarts poked his head through the door of her hospital room… the card mage couldn't put her finger on what tipped her off- might have been the look in his eyes or his overall nervous energy, but she knew that he hadn't just ignored her babble.
The Ace of Fairy Tail awkwardly sat in the chair next to her bed, looking comically large in the small room. The tension in the room was palpable. He swallowed nervously, opening and closing his mouth wordlessly for a moment before finally speaking," Well… it turns out that she did put me on your birth certificate."
"You find out you have a kid and that's all you have to say?" Cana blurted out incredulously, get a wince from her father.
"Sorry… its just- I have no idea what I should be saying right now." He admitted.
Cana wet her lips," Thank you for helping me last night." She said softly.
"Oh- it uh- it was no problem. I'm glad I was there when you needed me."
And once again awkward silence reigned supreme. What a pair they were.
"Cana I- did you know that I'm the one who picked out the name 'Rebecca'?"
The brunette blinked," No, no I didn't know that."
He smiled slightly," Your mom- she absolutely hated it. When we split I- I tried to drown myself in my work." He snorted," Hell. I did that before the split. I didn't know about you- I've missed everything in your life…"
Cana interrupted," It's okay Gildarts." She said sincerely," I never held anything against you. And you don't need to worry- nothing needs to change. Things can stay just like they are, but… damn this is just a huge weight lifted off my chest." She said with a watery laugh, tears beginning to fill her eyes," I'm glad that I met you, I really am."
For a moment Gildarts just stared at her, tears of his own beginning to run down his face, then he was leaning forward and pulling her into a hug. "Cana- I don't know much about being a dad, but… if you'll let me, I'll do the best I can. I'll cheer you on during drinking contests and on jobs, I'll get you cake on your birthday, I'll brag to everyone I can find about how amazing my beautiful daughter is. Cana- if you let me, I'll be the most loving father anyone's ever seen, but only if it's okay with you."
The brunette leaned her head against her father's chest, relaxing in his hold," That's alright with me, Dad."
They stayed together for a while, before Gildarts carefully pulled away and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back in a little while sweetheart- I need to go talk to your doctor about what I need to do to take care of you once you're discharged."
Cana gave him a little smirk as she pointed out," You don't have to take care of me."
Gildarts shook his head smiling at her," I'm your father- taking care of you when you need me is my right."
A few days later a man was dropped off unceremoniously at the local police headquarters, beaten within an inch of his life, a note pinned to his shirt reading 'I tried to date-rape a girl: please punish me'.
Meanwhile, Cana and Gildarts conveniently decided to go out on their first father-daughter mission together; strangely just hours after the man had been dropped off. Everybody decided to look the other way just this once; after all, it wasn't like the man hadn't deserved it.
AN: Something that I see pretty frequently is Cana being a full consent Queen (which I feel like is totally on character) and I figured her knowing details on date rape drugs was right up her ally. I also wanted to have her beat the crap out of the guy rather than having Gildarts save her- she's a strong woman who can take care of herself.
GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) is the fastest acting of the most common drugs- with effects kicking in around fifteen minutes and lasting between three and six hours; effects include sleepiness, memory lapses, seizures, slow heartrate, slow breathing, coma, and death- hallucinations aren't common enough to be listed every time, but they aren't unheard of. Ketamine is more commonly used for vet medicine (also called horse tranquilizers) and can make you feel, dizzy, nauseous, and forgetful; side effects include vomiting, high blood pressure, changes in heart rate, hallucinations, seizures, coma, and death. Ketamine usually takes around half an hour to kick in, and effects usually last between one to two hours, but sometimes can last twenty four hours (longest I have ever personally heard of was thirty-six hours but there were other factors in that one). Rohypnol, more commonly known as roofies is the most common (at least in my area). Roofies cause amnesia, muscle relaxation, and knocks you out, typically it kicks in at about a half an hour and peaks at two hours- effects last for up to twelve hours; as little as one milligram is enough to do the job.
Felt like if I didn't dole out a little information, I wouldn't be doing my job right. If you think you have been dosed go to a hospital to get tested and call whatever National Sexual Assault hotline is relevant for you. The US number is 1-800-656-4673 and is available 24/7.