"'Hurry now, you need to get in here!" he gushed out in a single breath.

My dad grabbed my arm without a word and dragged me after the man. Immediately once we got to the front of the crowd, I could see a small group of ShinRa troops blocking the entrance. The man who came and got us said a quick few words to the troops, so they'd let us pass. The one who I assumed to be in charge hesitated a bit when he saw me. However, my dad didn't seem to care what he thought and just shoved him out of the way when he tried to argue. My respect for the man grew.

The building itself was fairly small, so after shoving our way to the front and into the building we were quickly taken to the room my brother was in. The items we had spent most of the day collecting were dumped on the floor once we entered the room. The room itself was no bigger than the size of a small kitchen. A sink and a few cabinets were on one wall while a dresser was on the adjacent wall. A window outlooked part of the crowd outside, and the curtains were quickly drawn before the people outside noticed we were here. It briefly crossed my mind that Zack was mentioned too, but he wasn't in the room.

My dad wasted no time to push to the edge of the bed through the small trio of people already gathered around the bed. There was the village doctor and his two oldest children, whose names I couldn't remember. They were still in the process of cleaning the blood and removing what was left of his shirt. Up close I could see the amount of damage, and everyone had perfect reason to be worried.

Xander was laid out on the bed unconscious, his dark skin looked waxy and dull. There were deep claw marks starting from his left shoulder and halfway across his left pectoral. Another single scratch started over his left eye and crossed over the bridge of his nose. On his right forearm was a curved row of puncture marks. It was obviously from a bite… a poisonous one by the look of it. There was a greenish yellow pus that slowly trickled from the wound, giving off a sickly smell that reminded me of vomit. One of his legs was also bloodied, but the shredded remains of his pants were obscuring the damage.

Yet despite all this, my father was almost completely calm. His clenched jaw and furrowed brow were the only things that gave away and hint of emotions. I on the other hand felt nauseous just looking at it. The smell his wounds gave off wasn't helping.

"What happened to him? How bad as it?" he asked as he quickly scanned over him.

"We're not really sure. He was dragged in here by a SOLIDER," the doctor gestured to the corner of the room where a man in uniform was standing. I didn't even notice he was there. "Whatever attacked him was big and clearly poisonous."

"

What about Zack? Is he alright?"

"A few scrapes and he's in shock but he's fine. His parents are in one of the other rooms with him now." he replied. "Maybe Thorne should go see him-"

"She's staying." my father bit out.

"But are you sure she should-"

"She's already learning about healing. She stays." he snapped back. "Thorne, come over here." he said briskly while walking towards the sink. He didn't have to tell me twice.

I hurriedly followed after him towards the sink. He scrubbed his hands clean before returning to the side of the bed where my brother lay unconscious. I quickly washed my own before joining him. By this point the remains of Xander's shirt and shredded pants were finally removed and most of the blood was wiped away. The greenish yellow pus was still oozing from his arm. Now that his leg was in full view it looked much worse than all his other wounds. To put it simply, his leg looked like a worn-out chew toy covered in saliva... if that saliva was green in color. I think I really am going to be sick.

This was not the type of thing a seven-year-old should be helping with. Or is it? I'm still confused how things work in this small village. Let alone this world as a whole outside of the games. Do all small villages start children off like this? Just ripping the band-aid off from the get-go. Does he really expect me to help with something this severe? I wasn't a doctor in my previous life. Sure, I watched a lot of forensic shows but seeing it on TV vs real life was jarringly different. Maybe I should go see Zack after all.

"She's shaking. She can't handle something like this." Someone spoke up.

I was? Finally tearing my eyes away from the gruesome sight, I looked down at my hands. They were shaking.

"Thorne?" a familiar voice said as a hand landed gently on my shoulder. I looked up into the eyes of my father, who was smiling down at me albite a bit strained. "Sweetheart, I know this is scary for you, and it's a lot to take in right now. But you're smart and observant. If I didn't think you could handle this, I wouldn't have you stay here. You catch on to things quickly and have the makings of being a great healer if you wanted to."

He paused for a moment as if to collect his thoughts and took a deep breathe before continuing. "I'm scared too, sweetheart. But right now, I need to be brave for your brother. I could use your help, and I'm sure he would be happy to know both of us were here to help him. If it's too much for you, you can go stay with Zack. I won't force you to stay here."

I staired up at my father with my mouth slightly hanging open in shock. He had way too much faith in me, but he was right. Xander needed help. My brother needed help. Was I completely freaked out? Did I want to puke from the terrible smell coming from his wounds? Also yes. Did I want to run away? Absolutely. But his words had me routed to the spot. The shaking in my hands slowed for a moment as my resolve grew. The fear never left me, but that was fine. I wasn't alone in this. Maybe he said all that to make me feel better, but some part of me felt more like he was telling the truth then trying to comfort me.

"I'll stay Papa. I wanna help him too."

He let out a deep sigh and smiled down at me. "That's my girl. Now let's help your brother."

After several hours, I found myself curled up on a bed next to Zack at his house. I couldn't sleep, my mind was constantly replaying the day's events as if it were on a loop. Zack clung to me like a koala bear refusing to let go for the slightest thing. I already tried escaping once, it didn't go well. I was eventually brought here to rest for the night after we did all we could for Xander... And no, he isn't dead. But it isn't all that good either.

While Xander is alive he was in critical condition when we first arrived. After much coaxing from Zack, we found out Zack had snuck out of the village into the forest to explore. Why he snuck out they just assumed he was looking to have some kind of adventure. Xander found him while he was out and was bring him back when they were attacked by a monster. I don't remember the name of said monster, just that it looked like some weird cross between a cat and a lizard and was the size of a large dog. How would I know? Because some Shin-Ra troops went and retrieved the body of it. Some SOILDER grunts were on their way back to the village from checking the reactor when they heard the screaming. They walked up on it mauling my brother, killed it, and brought him and Zack back to be treated. When my mother heard wind of it, she had apparently thrown a fit in demanding they retrieve the monster's body before it faded away into the Life Stream. She had been in the process of doing that when we arrived at the clinic. Apparently, bodies don't immediately fade away like they make you think in game. It takes about a couple of hours, for monsters at least. But that's a whole can of worms I'm not ready to unpack right now.

In the meantime, me, my father, and the others had cleaned and dressed the wounds as best as we could. There wasn't much we could do without the monster's body, however. Turns out using magic or materia to heal someone whose been poisoned just makes things worse. Both can only heal physical wounds while being poisoned is more like having an illness in this world. Trying to force the body to heal before the poison is expelled only causes it to progress further, and the more you put into it the worse it gets.

I'm just learning oh so much about this world. Guess it fits into the whole lasting damage status effect.

To make matters worse, there were no antidotes on hand to treat him. Another thing I had to learn about this world: antidotes can expire. So can potions and several other things. Anyway, the monster's body was needed to extract venom to make an antidote. Until they arrived (and they took their sweet, sweet time), we were forced to wait and hope he would hang on. Thankfully he did. Once mom arrived, she got to work making the antidote. The moment it was ready she administered it and started pouring potions down his throat as soon as it was apparent it took effect.

I was shooed out of the room at that point to go see Zack. Which is where the clinging started. He grabbed onto me bawling and saying he was sorry over and over again. All I could do was hold onto him and comfort him. If I wasn't so focused on calming him down, I probably would have started crying too. Eventually my parents had me go spend the next night with Zack and his parents. They didn't tell me anything about Xander except that he was alive and still unconscious. He wasn't out of the woods yet and would have to be watched for any changes. They acted confident that he would make it, but I could see the doubt in their eyes.

I left without a word, too mentally exhausted to reply. I didn't even eat once arriving at the Fair's home, having no appetite to eat. I did notice the looks of pity they gave me before sending me and my baby koala to bed.

Now I was lying next to him in bed while he slept, hanging onto me like I was his lifeline. At this point I was sure he would leave bruises on my arm. As I thought about the day's events too many things went through my head. I once again questioned why I was here. Why did I come back to life, in this world specifically? As the questions swirled through my head, one thing was apparent. I really wanted to cry. I really, really wanted to cry. Trying to be brave was hard. Having played the games, I knew how brutal this world could be. Hell, if I couldn't handle this what would I do when the reactor eventually blew up? I still had no idea when that was to happen. Would I just die again with my new family? Would I come back to life again in this world or another? Would I pick up from my old life? Bleeding out and dying again? What if I-

"Shh... don't cry Thorne. It's gonna be ok."

A small hand gently dabbed at my now wet face. When had I started crying? Zack now lay awake facing me on the bed as tears flowed freely. Funny how I was supposed to be comforting him but now our roles were reversed. Instead of replying I clung onto him as I cried, the stress fear and insecurities finally catching up to me.

For the first time since I woke up here, I really felt like a little kid.

Thanks so much for being patient with me! I'm sorry for the long absence. First my laptop kicked the bucket and then my tablet. I had to put off getting replacements for a while and trying to write 1.5k+ words per chapter and going back to do edits on my phone was difficult. Not to mention constant work changes and covid scares. Now that I'm back, I owe you all several chapters and am planning on keeping updates regular again.

2/19/22