Shedding

Chapter 12: Assess

Now the blood extraction was done, Bow passed on Mermista's message to Glimmer and soon the Bright Moon's princess was teleporting away to whisk Mermista and Sea Hawk on an ice cream and real food hunting adventure.

Other than that, all there was left to do was wait – wait for news from Hordak and Entrapta about how the Plumerian drugs would interact with Scorpia's blood and wait for Scorpia's exoskeleton to harden.

Perfuma wasn't sure if the molt had anything to do with the fever, or if that was its own secondary ailment from hiding in a dirty, dusty place and perhaps the chill of moistening her old chitin and clothes. Maybe it would go away on its own, but the flower princess didn't want to simply wait it out, not if they could help.

Besides, for all she knew, the fever could be a sign of a different problem, or a downturn in her molting. It was frustrating not to know. Perfuma could only imagine how frustrating, if not frightening, it was for Scorpia not to know these things about her own body and having no one she could ask.

The flower princess looked to Bow. "Is there a way to find if fevers are common with molting Scorpions?"

Bow was focused on his communicator, tapping into it. For a moment, he didn't respond and Perfuma opened her mouth to ask again when he suddenly spoke. "I…don't see anything one way or another about it, but…"

He trailed off, glancing to Scorpia before looking back at his communicator.

"But…?" Perfuma pressed.

Bow shook his head and mouthed 'I'll tell you later'. Perfuma raised a brow.

Scorpia had laid back against Perfuma, staring ahead through half-lidded eyes as the doctor-sparked adrenaline ebbed back into the fog of exhaustion.

Frosta flopped down against Scorpia's side, a cheeky smile on her face. "That was a trick my Mom used to use on me."

Scorpia laid back against Perfuma, offering a weak smile to her smaller companion. "What was…?"

"Whenever I had shots, Mom used to distract me. I didn't even know I had a shot until it was done! She used to say I didn't even feel it because I was so strong that I wouldn't feel it at all unless I was paying attention to it!" She flexed.

"Oh..?" Scorpia murmured. "I'd believe it.. you're.. very strong, little Buddy."

"You too!" Frosta smiled up at her, hugging Patchy. "When you're feeling better, let's draw ourselves flexing!"

"Mmhmm."

Perfuma watched Bow, her brow furrowed with concern, but she dropped the subject for now and smiled to Frosta and Scorpia, brushing her fingers gently through her companion's damp hair. "You must be so tired."

"A little," Scorpia murmured, looking up at Perfuma. A weak smile lit her face. "Heh.. you look upside down, from here."

"So do you," Perfuma said with a small giggle, a small thrill thrumming through her at her friend's smile. Scorpia had a smile that could light all of the Fright Zone like the sun across Plumeria. "Try to get some rest. Once we know what you can have safely, I'll wake you up for it."

"Okay," Scorpia closed her eyes. However, after a few seconds she squinted them open. "…Perfuma?"

Perfuma smiled down to her. "What is it?"

"I.. um…" She grimaced, willing herself to focus enough to either see her thoughts through or have the levity to stop herself.

Perfuma watched her companion, her calloused fingers moved to knead her scalp. "All questions and feelings are welcome, here."

Scorpia smiled weakly, her tail curling into a loose spiral. "That feels so nice."

"Good," Perfuma smiled warmly. "You deserve to feel good."

The Arachnid paused at this. She then looked up at Perfuma worriedly. "I… I, uh… I hope I'm not…I mean…I… I'm sorry for keeping you so long. It's…been a while, right? Kind of…hard to keep track of time-b-but I know you're busy with your Kingdom, a-and…"

Frosta began to pop into a sitting position. "Hey! No more dark-"

Perfuma gently rested her hand on Frosta's shoulder, the warm smile never leaving her face. "There's no other place I'd rather be than here with you, Scorpia." She lifted her hand from Frosta to resume kneading the arachnid's scalp. "You're so sweet, to worry about us when you're not feeling well and putting us first. That kindness and consideration are some of the many wonderful things that make you who you are."

She slid her hand down, then leaned forward to embrace the other woman, her arms gently around her.

"Sometimes, I worry that your kindness and consideration come at a cost."

"A cost…?" Scorpia asked blearily, leaning back into Perfuma's embrace.

The flower princess nodded. "I fear it might be hurting you."

Scorpia tilted her head, watching Perfuma's profile. "I.. don't understand…?"

Perfuma smiled to her, and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Just…it's okay to be selfish, sometimes." She leaned her cheek against her companion's. "It's okay to need our help, to be inconvenient. It's okay to need attention, comfort and reassurance, and it's okay to ask for what you need."

"Gosh, I…" Scorpia's eyes wavered as she rested her cheek against Perfuma's. She raised her towel-bandaged claw to gently rest it against Perfuma's clasped hands. "I love you."

Her soft words sent a flutter through the flower princess – like a butterfly grazing a petal - and she gave the other woman an affectionate squeeze. "I love you, too."

Perfuma then met Frosta's gaze and warmly patted Scorpia's side. Frosta settled back down, hugging Patchy. The young girl found she didn't know what to add. She wasn't good at all the lovey-dovey stuff. Still, hearing Perfuma's assurances to Scorpia also felt reassuring to her for reasons she couldn't find the words to describe.

"Try to get some rest," Perfuma said quietly. "Would you like me to guide you through meditation?"

"Gosh.. that… that sounds great."

Catra stood with her arms crossed and her ear twitching as Perfuma assured Scorpia, feeling awkward as if she was bearing witness to something not meant for her. And it wasn't. She doubted she could ever work her throat to even offer basic reassurance to the bug, much less say the things that came so easily off of Perfuma's tongue. Scorpia needed someone like her, really. Someone who could say those things with a straight face.

So she turned and left them to their devices, heading down the hall toward Hordak and Entrapta's lab. It gave her something to do, or at least some reason not to sit on her hands and listen to all the ways Perfuma succeeded as a partner, a friend, a person in ways Catra could never.

She wasn't surprised to see Adora and Melog pad out beside her, but she was surprised to see Bow join them, communicator in hand and furiously typing into it.

Catra opened her mouth to ask Bow what he was doing, but Adora spoke before she had a chance to.

"Where are you going?" Adora asked. Catra looked to her girlfriend to confirm that she was asking the magicat.

Catra shrugged. "Hordak and Entrapta. See how the whole blood testing thing works, though listening to those two ramble on about it will probably bore me to death."

Or confuse her, but if Catra found it confusing then by default it was boring. It's not her fault that the two scientists didn't know how to explain things like normal people.

She hugged herself. Standing in there with Scorpia she could only imagine would stress the bug out further. Scorpia had seemed okay with Catra's presence when she warned the group about the Horde's…aversion to doctors. Catra had done okay in there, this time. But if she stayed longer, it was only a matter of time before she did something cruel, or hurtful. It was what she *did*.

She didn't care about bothering Hordak. Entrapta, yes, but at the same time the magicat felt like she had resolved things with the scientist. They had talked it over – at least to some extent. Catra had a chance to properly apologize and Entrapta's acceptance felt sincere. There were no raw wounds between them. Catra hoped to get to that point with Scorpia, after this was over.

"What're you looking at?" Catra asked as she watched Bow tapping at his communicator.

"Well, when looking up information about molting I found some notes that I wanted to check back on when we had more time," Bow murmured as he walked beside them.

"What kind of notes?" Adora asked.

"Well, a few sources said scorpions stop molting for the most part once they're adults," Bow explained. "She's…how old?"

"Uh…I don't know. 21? 22?" Catra grimaced.

"Do Scorpions reach adulthood the same time we do?" Bow asked.

Adora shrugged. "Maybe it's her last molt?"

"Well, adult Scorpioni can still molt, but then it's for a reason, not just because they're growing."

"What kind of…?" Adora's question trailed off as the group entered Hordak and Entrapta's lab.

Catra wasn't sure what she was expecting to find, but a bunch of tall tubes with little blobs inside wasn't it. "What are these things?"

Holding a test tube in his clawed hand, Hordak crushed one of the pills Perfuma provided and poured the contents into it. "Is there a reason why you're here, bothering us?"

"Hi Catra!" Entrapta grinned to the group, waving with one hand while her hair also held a test tube, loosely shaking it before pouring it into a tube that connected to one of the…blobs. "Hordak's using Scorpia's blood to create not-clones!"

"You're making clones?!" Bow stammered, his voice cracking as he lowered his communicator.

"Not-Clones!" Entrapta shook her hands. "Just enough of her data to simulate how her most important organs would behave when introduced to an average – according to the prescriptions here – dose of medicine." She pressed her elbows against the table. "It's the best we can do with short notice. Yes-Clones would be better, but they'd take way too long to make."

"We also cannot successfully make clones as of yet," Hordak added.

"Yet?" Bow asked.

"And if we did manage to make a clone, Scorpia would either be better or worse enough to not need the medicine anymore by the time we'd get there!" Entrapta added.

"So how long is this," Catra made a sweeping gesture along the test tubes. "Going to take?"

Entrapta cackled as she spun in her chair. "Now that we have the tubes set up, not long at all!"

"How will you know if a medicine's safe…?" Adora asked, nearing one of the test tubes and peeking into it. Feeling Hordak's eyes burning into her back, she grinned awkwardly to him and stepped away.

Entrapta kicked off the floor and sent the chair spinning towards a large computer monitor. "We're going to run these tubes through a simulation with each medicine, and see how her body is predicted to react to it! There's going to be a margin of error, of course, but it should be accurate enough to weed out all the drugs that would kill or otherwise seriously injure her!"

Bow cast a side-glance to Adora and Catra, not entirely comforted by that statement but what else could they do?

Adora smiled back to Bow, gesturing towards the monitor as a simulated outline of Scorpia formed on the screen. "Oh I'm sure most of these medicines will be fine. If they're fine for humans, they're probably fine for Scorpions, too. Her body's not *that* different from us—"

Scorpia's silhouette on the screen began to melt.

Adora's smile strained. "Is that supposed to happen?"

"Oh, no," Entrapta mused as she watched the monitor. A skull formed on screen. "Wow…that drug causes Scorpia's body to overheat and, well, not melt quite like this but, you know, it's a simulation."

"What?!" Bow gawked. Catra's ears dropped. Adora's smile faded.

"How fascinating!" Entrapta watched with excitement, rocking side to side. She paused and shook her head. "And bad! Very bad! That drug's a no!"

Hordak marked it accordingly.

Scorpia's snores were a relief to hear. Perhaps now she was in a restful sleep, rather than simply unconscious or incognizant. Perfuma could hope so, anyway. She closed her eyes.

Truth be told, she too was exhausted. How long ago had she and Frosta found Scorpia hiding under the table? The sun had fell and rose at least once in that time, hadn't it? The infirmary had no windows.

She could make out a bright flash before her closed eyelids, and Perfuma opened her eyes to see Glimmer appear with Sea Hawk and Mermista.

"We come bearing food. Real food. The Fright Zone can now be liberated," Mermista said as she placed down…boxes and boxes of food. "We stopped by Salineas, Bright Moon, and even the Snow Kingdom. Cuisines from all over the world."

Frosta, who had been curled up at Perfuma's side, sprung up and hopped off the bed at the mention of Snow Kingdom food. "Alright! I'm starving!"

Glimmer sighed, sitting in the chair by Scorpia's bedside. All of that teleporting left her winded. "Glad to be of service."

"I've even grabbed some little foods for the Nerd Princess," Mermista murmured as she went through her boxes, picking up one that she used to collect whatever tiny foods she could find.

"Where are the others?" Glimmer asked.

Perfuma rubbed her eyes. "Entrapta and Hordak are testing the medications."

"So they were able to get Scorpia's blood?" Mermista asked, passing the box of tiny foods to Emily. "Here, take this to Entrapta."

Emily beeped, taking the box from Mermista and skittering her way out the door.

Mermista then passed a salad from Salineas to Perfuma. The flower princess graciously took it from her, gingerly sliding out from under Scorpia to sit cross-legged at the edge of the bed.

"Yes, they were able to get blood from her foot. Frosta distracted her and she didn't feel a thing," Perfuma offered an affirming smile to the snow princess, who heartily grinned back at her.

"How is she doing?" Sea Hawk asked, pointing his fork to Scorpia. Perfuma could faintly hear her snoring, still.

"More aware, thankfully. I just…I wish there was more information. Did the Scorpions just not keep records?" Perfuma could hardly keep the exasperation from her tone.

"Maybe the Horde got rid of them when they overtook the Fright Zone," Mermista offered.

"But they had Scorpia since the start, didn't they? Why would they get rid of information that they would need to take proper care of…" Perfuma's voice trailed off as she realized the answer to her own question. She grimaced.

They didn't care to take proper care of her.

Glimmer straightened, her hands resting on her knees. "Well…you know how Entrapta is. We'll have plenty of records by the time this is over, and we'll continue to make more once it's safe to do so!"

Perfuma smiled to Glimmer. "We will…". She then paused, drumming her fork against the box. "…Bow found something concerning."

Mermista looked to Frosta, who just watched Perfuma with surprise. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Sea Hawk asked.

"I don't know. He said he'd tell me later," Perfuma glanced back at Scorpia. "I think he didn't want her to hear it."

"Well, we could call him now and-" Glimmer's suggestion cut when Perfuma's communicator went off. Perfuma nearly dropped her salad as she scrambled to get it.

"Bow?" Perfuma asked as she turned on the communicator – to find Entrapta's face far-too-close to the camera. Perfuma leaned back instinctively.

"Perfuma! Our test results are back!"

Perfuma smiled. "That's great-"

"Bad news! Most of the drugs would kill Scorpia!"

Frosta dropped her spoon. Mermista paused, mid bite.

Perfuma's smile fell. "W-what?!"

"Good news! We found one that treats fevers and pain and wouldn't kill her!"

"A-are you sure it's okay for her to have?!" Perfuma stammered.

Entrapta pulled her face back from the camera, and Perfuma noticed Adora, Catra and Bow behind her. The three of them looked notably pale as they watched something off screen. "Yep! The drug's gone through its full cycle and none of her organs failed, died, melted or collapsed during the simulation!"

"That doesn't sound all too comforting," Mermista murmured.

Bow smiled nervously to Entrapta's camera, beads of sweat on his brow. "Compared to what happened with the other medicines…this one's …looking pretty good!"

Perfuma glanced over to Scorpia. She shifted over and gently nudged her. "Scorpia? Sweetheart…?" Scorpia didn't respond. Perfuma gently ran her blunt fingernails across the other woman's clavicle. "Scorpia? Hey?"

Nothing.

Her stomach began to sink as she laid her knuckles across the Arachnid's forehead. Biting her lip, she could feel the heat radiating even before making contact. Her fever was getting worse.

"I… I-I don't think we have a choice," Perfuma murmured. By the Heart Stone…she wished she had better guidance or more information about Scorpions, but this was all they had.

Notes: So these past few months have been a rollercoaster, especially December. I unfortunately had the misfortune of being in a position similar to Perfuma's when a close family member went to the hospital shortly after Thanksgiving. She had a UTI no one knew about that was so severe it wrecked her kidneys, caused 'water on the brain' and stroke-like symptoms. I had no idea UTI's affecting your brain was a thing. Seriously…drink your water, folks. UTI's are no joke. Unfortunately, without going into detail she had other very serious issues happening at the same time, and ultimately passed away at the hospital 10 days later. That period was the most harrowing I had ever seen, and it is nerve wracking working with other family members to try and understand what is happening, ask questions, give consent for someone who is unable to do it for themselves on a battle we didn't have a realistic chance of winning. And that's not even accounting for arrogant, compassion-fatigued, or incompetent medical staff. Not everyone, of course, but the numbers were frustratingly high. It gives me more fuel/material to work from for this story than I'd ever want. At least, thankfully, my family and I were on the same page for just about everything. Anyway, thank you so much for your patience! I've had the ideas for these next few chapters stewing around all semester, and I'm going to try and get them out before I get swept away by next semester's workload!