Disclaimer- Shiru belongs to my buddy Ryu, Chrisanthy belongs to my other buddy Christy, Capricorn belongs to me, and everyone else belongs to Namco. XP
MoonCannon- Yes, action is up ahead. :D
Capricorn awoke the next day to the sound of a bird chirping quietly by her head. She opened her eyes to realize she was back in the hotel room in Triet, and Chrisanthy was sitting at the table in the middle of the room scribbling away in her journal. The source of the chirping was a small bird perched on the windowsill next to her bed.
Capricorn grumbled tiredly as she sat up, yawning and stretching slightly. Chrisanthy looked up from her journal.
"Good afternoon, Miss Capricorn." she said cheerily, shutting her notebook and smiling lightly. Capricorn tipped her head to the side.
"After… noon?" she asked, slightly dazed from sitting up so quickly. Chrisanthy nodded. Capricorn rubbed her head and pushed her hair out of her eyes before looking at Chrisanthy again. "Well, Christy, you weren't talking to yourself as you were writing this time, it's a nice improvement."
Chrisanthy blushed and looked down. "I didn't want to wake you… you were up really late last night." Capricorn merely shrugged.
"No worries, I don't mind being waken." she replied. The bird chirped loudly and flitted to Capricorn's shoulder. "I guess I have a way with birds," she muttered quietly, stroking the russet plumage on the creature's tiny chest. It began to croon softly from its perch on her shoulder, unafraid of the tall Half-elf.
"Oh, Miss Capricorn, Lord Yggdrasill left a message at the Ranch and we just got it here; we get to go back home in a couple days!" Capricorn smiled at Chrisanthy's enthusiasm.
"That sounds good… the desert isn't doing anything great for my hair." she joked, laughing quietly as to not scare the bird away. It gave a happy chirp anyways and fluttered over to the table, then back out the window.
"Well, what are we going to do today?" Chrisanthy asked, "I mean, we're not just going to stay inside all day, right, Miss Capricorn?" Capricorn laughed again and shook her head.
"Of course not, Christy. We'll probably go for a ride or just browse the shops today." she replied, a smile playing on her lips. The two looked at each other and burst out laughing.
The two Half-elves were talking later that night as they walked down the road before they heard someone call out.
"Help! That house…" A resounding roar spread across the town as a lick of flame tinged the skyline. The color drained from Capricorn's face. In an instant, two whipmasters were standing next to their fellow Desians.
"A Half-elf family lives in that house…" one commented, eyes wide. Capricorn looked from side to side.
"Let me guess, they need to save water so they won't put the fire out?" Capricorn asked, checking her Ex Sphere. Hers was a speed Ex Sphere, which brought out her true speed in combat.
A Half-elf woman ran over to them, face streaked with tears.
"My son is in there!" she whimpered, eyes wide with fright, "he's only about six…"
Capricorn pulled off her cloak and handed it to Chrisanthy as the four Half-elves ran towards the house.
"Lord Capricorn, you can't go in there!" she said, aghast. Capricorn shook her head.
"I won't let one of our own kind die in there!" she snarled, dodging past a few humans and sprinting through the doorway, which collapsed behind her.
Smoke billowed throughout the house. Capricorn covered her face with her arm as she quickly advanced, flames scorching her leg as she rounded a corner. She gritted her teeth and instead called out in the angelic tongue, something that she had taken up in her free time back home. A weak sob answered her, somewhere in the next "room".
Capricorn whirled around as she reached an opening and quickly found the child, huddled in a corner that hadn't caught fire yet. She scooped him up in her arms.
"Kid," she said quietly, jumping out of the way as another beam fell from the ceiling, "You have to hold onto me, or I'll drop you." The child nodded and wrapped his arms around her neck, clinging for dear life.
"Crap…" Capricorn muttered as she looked around. The beam that had just fallen had blocked her only exit. Looking around again and trying to keep her head, she finally spotted a window… an unbroken window.
"Alright kid, this is our only chance. Whatever you do, don't move, alright?" The child nodded again and clung tighter as Capricorn sprinted towards the window. Turning at almost the last minute, she thrust her back into it and broke it before hitting the ground outside and rolling over, making sure that the child suffered no damage.
Chrisanthy and the two Desians ran over, all out of breath. Capricorn carefully let the child out of her arms and watched him run to his mother, who was close behind.
"Miss Capricorn, you're burned…" Chrisanthy commented, starting to fret over her superior officer. Capricorn scoffed.
"Whatever. It doesn't hu-" she gagged as she stood up, nearly collapsing onto the whipmaster next to her. He caught her and helped her back up. The other looked at her leg for a moment, before whispering something to Chrisanthy. She nodded and ran over to the dragon stables, coming back in a few minutes with Capricorn's dragon fully tacked. The two whipmasters carefully hoisted Capricorn into the saddle, and Chrisanthy handed Capricorn her cloak.
"What the hell, I don't need to lifted into my own damn saddle!" she nearly roared, as Chrisanthy slapped the dragon's behind. It took flight and turned towards home.
"Well, it doesn't matter!" Chrisanthy called back. Capricorn growled from the saddle and took hold of the reins, mumbling to herself as the dragon picked up speed and raced back home.
Finally arriving there, Capricorn slid off the saddle and landed, soaked from the rainstorm that was raging at the moment. She shuddered and made her way to the door before punching in the key code.
The door slid open before she could finish, though, and Forcystus grabbed her and pulled her inside, shutting the door behind her.
"What the hell…" she muttered, shivering again. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and helped her limp to her quarters. She winced as a twinge of pain flew through her leg. Forcystus stopped and looked at her.
"You always get yourself into the worst troubles…" he said, glancing at her leg, "and now you're staining my floor with blood." he sounded like he was joking, but Capricorn couldn't be quite sure. Forcystus sighed and carefully lifted his second-in-command into his arms before nearly sprinting down the hallway.
Capricorn could only growl. She hated being treated like a baby.
Upon reaching her room, Forcystus carefully laid her onto her bed, before turning and leaving. She heard him stop and converse quietly with two other people before her door slid open again and two Half-elves, who she guessed were "doctors" walked in.
"Alright, let's get started." one of them said as he pulled a very long needle out of his bag. He put the hypodermic into a vial of a light blue liquid and drew some into the small chamber of the needle before pulling it out. He advanced on Capricorn before carefully sticking the hypodermic into her arm and putting the fluid into her system.
Capricorn already felt herself slowing down as the other Half-elf pulled a stool up next to her and took out a pair of tweezers and a scalpel from her bag. Capricorn growled and tried to move, but the doctor simply gave her another dose of the liquid. She felt herself slipping as she slowly lost consciousness.
When she awoke, she twisted her body up in pain, resulting in a yell from the doctor behind her. The other surgeon advanced on her again, brandishing the needle. He stopped in his tracks as Forcystus barreled into the room.
His mahogany eye narrowed as he noticed the hypodermic in the surgeon's hand.
"Don't you dare give her another shot of that." he snapped, nearly pushing the doctor over and he made his way over to Capricorn, who was now quaking uneasily.
"Capricorn…" he said quietly, shaking his head as he looked at her. He crouched down next to her bed and put his hand on the back of her skull.
He leaned his forehead into hers. "Why do you have to be so heroic?" he asked, teeth gritted in frustration. He didn't know what to say or do, having never been in this situation before.
His thoughts were interrupted by a gasp from the surgeon behind them.
"Oh my… Master Forcystus, you might want to look at this…" she said now fingering the tweezers nervously. Forcystus moved over and looked at the back of Capricorn's leg, where a huge chunk of glass was deeply imbedded in her muscle.
"I can get it out," the doctor started quickly, "But I need her to stay still, and seeing as we can't give her anymore narcotic without killing her… this might take a long time." Forcystus looked worried for a second before nodding slowly.
"Sorry about this, Capricorn…" he said quietly as he sat down next to her. She looked over at him.
"What?" she asked, eyebrow raised. He shook his head.
"Capricorn, would you stay still if the doctor had to take a piece of glass out of your leg?" he asked nervously, hoping for the right answer.
"Well, it would depend on how big it was." she replied. Forcystus put his fingers about three and a half inches apart and winced as Capricorn's face paled.
"Alright, then.. I'm sorry…" he muttered. Before she could open her mouth to respond, Forcystus pinned her down and nodded to the doctor. Capricorn struggled underneath him, trying to break free of his grip.
A scream echoed throughout the Ranch as the surgeon pulled the shard out of her leg.
Forcystus' face saddened as he carefully wrapped his arm around her, wanting so badly to soothe her but unable to do so… her eyes were shut and she was whimpering in agony.
The doctor quickly wrapped thelaceration and fastenedthe bandagebefore standing and leaving, taking her things and the other surgeon with her.
"I'm sorry…" he muttered, finally standing and walking to the door, "I'm sorry…"
Maybe tomorrow would be better…
The next morning Capricorn awoke to see one of her friends, Shiru, sitting in the armchair by the window.
"What the crap…" Capricorn mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her forehead. She glanced at Shiru. "Did Chrisanthy get back yet?" Her fellow Half-elf shrugged.
"I don't know, I've been in here since three this morning." Shiru yawned and then stretched before hopping out of the chair and heading for the door.
"Where're you going?" Capricorn snapped, slightly angry that her friend would just hop up and leave. Shiru turned to her and put her hand on her hip.
"I'm going to get breakfast. I haven't left this room in hours, you know." Shiru replied heatedly, turning on her heel. Capricorn scoffed. Just because Capricorn was only one rank higher than Shiru, it seemed that she could get away with anything…
Capricorn yawned and fell back onto her pillow, gingerly moving her leg a bit. It didn't hurt. Maybe she'd be able to get up today.
Of course, when a six foot tall Half-elf is blocking your door, it's hard to leave.