Tenkuu no Ryuugekitai - Yume no Heiwa
'Ow ow OW! That HURTS!' Dante swore and moved away from the medic, giving him a dirty look.
'Please, sir, that cut on your lip needs to be disinfected.' The medic reached out towards the Slayer, only to have his hand knocked away.
'You touch me, you'll be the one needing that stinging stuff.'
'It can't be that bad, you coward.' Gatti called from the other side of the room, where he was having his chest bandaged. Guimel, sprawled on a chair, looked bemused.
'Poor baby.' he said, with mock sympathy. Dante made a face at Guimel, grabbed the cloth from the medic and with a frown began to dab at his cut lip very gently.
'There you are, sir. Remember to check back here tomorrow to get fresh bandages. Make sure that if you have any problems with your shoulder to tell me, and get plenty of rest.' The medics left the room, leaving the three Dragon Slayers alone to reminisce. Gatti went to stand, and cringed. Besides boasting three angry red lines across his chest, he also had two bruised ribs, making it very painful to breathe, let alone move. Guimel saw Gatti's pained expression.
'Where do you think you're going?' he asked.
'Where did they put Shanti? I want to see how he's doing.' Guimel's reply was interrupted by a loud crash. Looking out into the hallway, he saw a medic appear and throw his hands in the air in exasperation.
'Do you think you could tell your friend in there that we're not trying to kill him?' he said before stomping away. Guimel and Gatti exchanged looks.
'Found him.' Guimel said. He noticed Gatti wince as he tried again to stand. 'Baka! You're supposed to be lying down!' Guimel chastised, then upon seeing Gatti ignoring him, rolled his eyes and stood up.
'If you're going to be stupid, at least let me help you.'
***
Gatti, with the help of Guimel, managed to make it across the hallway to the room where Shanti was being held. As they entered the room, Guimel dodged a roll of bandages that came hurtling towards him.
'Don't touch me!'
'Now, is that any way to treat visitors?' Guimel sniffed. 'And we came all this way, too.' There was a pause, then a small child-like voice,
'G... Guimel?'
'The one and only!' he grinned, helping Gatti over to a bed where he gingerly sat down. 'Gatti's here too.'
'Gatti?' There was movement from a darkened corner as Shanti shakily stood up. As he moved unsteadily into the light, the two other Slayers couldn't help but gasp at his appearance. Half his face was covered in dried blood, with ugly, black bruises enhanced by the ashen skin. Red and dark-coloured marks stretched across his entire throat. His eyes, partially hidden by lusterless hair, were sunken in and lacked any sparkle. Adding to the effect his thin frame, he looked, in a word, dead. Beyond his physical appearance, Gatti could see that the Slayer was very scared.
'You're in pain, Gatti,' Shanti said quietly. 'You didn't have to come to see me.' Gatti gave something between a cringe and a smile.
'I wanted to see how you were doing.'
'Yeah,' Guimel smirked. 'You seem to have every medic on the Vione deathly afraid of you.' At that remark Shanti gave him a strange look and retreated back to his corner. Guimel blinked, confused. 'What?'
'What's wrong, Shanti?' Gatti asked, painstakingly making his way towards the curled up Slayer. Shanti offered no reply. Motioning to Guimel to hand him a cloth, Gatti knelt in front of him. He paused for a moment, tensing as the pain came in harsh waves across his upper body, then turned to Shanti.
'You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to,' he said conversationally. Gatti picked up the damp cloth Guimel had thrown at him and went to touch Shanti's cheek. The Slayer jerked his head away and stared at him. Seeing the other trembling, Gatti gave a reassuring smile. 'I won't hurt you. Please, trust me.' Again getting no reply, Gatti carefully went to touch the other's cheek. Shanti stiffened, but allowed him to clean off the blood. 'There, that's not so bad, is it?'
'Thank you, Gatti...' Shanti said suddenly in the same quiet child-like voice. 'and you, Guimel. If you hadn't come..' Guimel shrugged and waved it off.
'All in a day's work for the magnificent Guimel.' he grinned.
*****
Dante chewed on the end of his quill-pen as he sat at a table in his room. Looking over his letter, he began to write a reply.
'My dearest Mikyla,
It was so nice to hear from you again, my dear. I'm sorry I haven't replied sooner, but being second-in-command is a very busy job! These Dragon Slayers are a handful. Last night when I was reading over your wonderful letter, I was interrupted by a scream. It seems that the newest Dragon Slayer was being attacked by these ugly lizard-creatures. There had to at least be half a dozen! As I went outside I saw two other Slayers, Gatti and Guimel, standing there asking for my help. It seemed the door was locked, you see, so I ran at it, knocked it down with my shoulder and rushed in, followed by the other two. It was a long and nasty battle, but I was able to save the day! Alas, I took a little bit of a beating, as is expected in a 4-on-1 battle. My face has been horribly bruised from this little incident, and I'm afraid some muscles in my shoulder was pulled from knocking down the door. However, it matters not to me because I have the satisfaction of knowing that I saved a life. Shanti (he's the new one) has been ever so grateful towards me, and Gatti and Guimel can't stop thanking me enough for helping them. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't been there!
Master Dilandau was very pleased that we were able to fend off the intruders, and has given myself, Gatti, Guimel, and Shanti time to recuperate. I wish that I could spend that with you, but alas, I cannot. Are you still training to become a doctor? There is no doubt in mind that you will be a very good one. I look forward to reading your next letter, my dearest.
Love yours forever,
Dante'
With a satisfied smile, Dante waited for the ink to dry, then rolled up the parchment to mail later. He meandered off to find Gatti and Guimel.
*****
Where am I? He opened his eyes. The light hurt. Am I dead?
'Hello? Are you awake?'
He could see a face above him, peering at him. As he tried to focus he noticed whoever it was had a blade in their hand. A blade!
'!!' His eyes opened wide as he tried to move, but found that he couldn't. He tried to say something, but no voice came out.
'Settle down! I was just going to change your bandages.' Bandages? Ah...now he could feel it; his leg throbbing. His eyes refused to focus. The light still hurt.
'You were lucky that we found you when we did, 'else you might have died.' the face was saying. 'Your leg was bleeding all over the place. Oh, no...don't try to talk. Mama says that your windpipe was nearly crushed, so she had to put a tube into your throat so you could breathe.' He didn't like her tone; it was too pleasant. Too loud.
'She says that if you improve then she'll take it out, but that you might not be able to talk ever again. Anyway, I'm finished, so go back to sleep. If you need anything there's a bell over there you can ring, and I'll be back in a little while to see how you're doing.' She left. Finally.
He lay back down and closed his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation.
Never speak again? No, she said I might not. He put his hands on his head, trying to stop the ache.
I'll stay here until they take this tube out-
'Oh, by the by,' a familiar voice rang as the owner popped her head inside. 'My name's Mikyla.'
And then I'll leave.