The Frontier Spark
Episode 12: Such is life
A/N: Sorry this is a bite sized OMAKE but at least I've done something. Sorry to keep everyone waiting but writing original content for this is harder than it seems. Not to mention I have responsibilities and a lack of inspiration to write for not only this but all my other active stories, which is a pain. Guess I've given into the deadly sin of Sloth and for that I apologize. On the bright side though, at least I'm not dead.
Hope everyone has stayed safe in these trying times, all we can do is survive, right?
Please enjoy this little bit of what I could scrape together, it's the best I could do for now.
[Mangoose: Thanks for the advice, I'd take it if I could. I don't know any other way to write, the reason being is that it's how I was taught in Highschool. IF you do read this again, PLEASE unlock your PMs so we might speak in private. I have no idea how to "deliver as if you and your readers are standing around a campfire". I might need some clarity on that so I can improve my writing and I do the best I can. PM me if you get this and are willing to point me in the right direction.]
[SPRTN544: Thank you my friend! I'm doing my best. I apologize for the delay by the way.]
-WITH AGATHA: OUTSIDE ONE OF THE WAGONS-
"You don't have a doctor?!" Agatha screamed at Master Payne. "Thomas needs help, or he is going to die!"
"No one among us has ever suffered injuries this serious before in the wild! We have always been lucky enough to be close to a settlement when such things have happened!" Payne snapped at her.
Agatha was not deterred though in her worry for the injured soldier. "You travel the wilds expecting nothing like that to happen?!"
"He'll live." Zeetha said as she approached the two of them. "After what he did, there's no way he'll die so easily."
"He'd better, because I'm going to kill him when he wakes up." Agatha scowled at the green haired warrior woman. "It's your fault he's like this! You had to try fighting that clank like a maniac!"
"I am aware of that! I was careless in battle and he paid the price for me!" Zeetha barked at Agatha.
"Great, you know! Now how are you going to help him?! Does anybody here know anything about medicine or first aid?!" Agatha snapped furiously.
"Quit screaming, you aren't helping him either by standing around and howling at everyone in sight! All you accomplish with that is wasting your breath!" Zeetha snapped back at Agatha.
"My friend has a hole in his gut! How should I be acting?!" Agatha retorted.
Master Payne sighed; he could partly understand the girl's worry for her friend. The young man had I fact done something very heroic for them twice over, he did owe Thomas a debt for those actions. "Look, miss Clay your friend will survive. My wife and some of our members who know some first aid are doing their best."
"Alright fine, then let me in there with him." Agatha said with a sigh.
"No, they need space to tend to his wounds. You'll just have to wait." Payne told her.
Agatha frowned but whether she liked it or not she knew that Payne was not the one to blame. With her concerns vented she tried to calm herself down while the other troop members tended to Burke's wounds. Without another word she walked away, tomorrow she'd have a word with that idiot when he woke up, and it would be more than just an earful of shouting.
-WITH BURKE-
As Thomas drifted through the many thoughts of his unconscious mind, he heard several voices echoing many grumbles at him. But for the moment those voices were little more than familiar static, perhaps they were the voices of his comrades laughing at him for his mistake. One thought kept running through his head though as he drifted along in his state of limbo, why did it have to be him? All it took to send him on this fool's errand was a simple mistake, which turned that experience into one bad day. From one bad day it became a bad week, and then it turned into a long month and now he was on death's door. He could not decide if reality was still punishing him or if was it having fun dropping bricks on his head.
Regret was his burden, so he would simply need to bear it, whether it is leaving a comrade to die on a mission or risking his own life for someone he barely knew at all. Was this the best way to redeem himself for his mistakes? If so then he could only feel hollow, this strange world as not where he should die if he could help it. Those voices in his head could go to hell for all he cared, their screeching into his soul drove him mad. He never asked to play the role of some wannabe hero in a steampunk fantasy world!
His mind slowly drifted back to that awful day, the one failed mission that started his misery in this mad man's fantasy land. Only a few weeks ago he had been tasked with a special assignment as a low-level special operations soldier, his chance to shine and he blew it. Surprisingly enough though as those thoughts faded into the back of his mind, he began to hear a different voice rattling around in his head, one he had only begun to hear recently.
Agatha's voice, that was what he had started hearing. "So, Burke, there's a few things I wanted to ask you…"
"Agatha." He thought as he recalled some of her words.
A memory of the past few days floated by him. "What's the future like? Oh, there are so many possibilities all the advancements, the inventions! You have to tell me everything!" Agatha exploded with questions.
Burke felt himself getting more depressed as the memories flashed by. "All I can think about is her right now."
"You won't be around forever Thomas." Agatha said dejectedly.
"… But if you want, maybe you could come with me for a little bit." The pilot tried to cheer up his friend.
"To the future?!" Agatha perked up like it was Christmas.
"I won't promise anything since it'd be up to my superiors-" Burke stuck up a finger.
"You mean it?!" Agatha rushed over to him with a smile.
"Like I said, no promises but I'll see what I can do." Burke shrugged nervously.
"Thank you!" Agatha hugged him.
"Hey that's what friends are for right?" Burke said sheepishly.
The pilot wondered to himself just how long he would keep remembering that girl, the girl who had been a pain in his behind, a nagging maniac who loved death rays, … a loyal friend he had promised. What was he to do now that he laid comatose in his near-death state? He did not want to die now, he had work to do, and a promise to keep ... to a good friend.
He had only known Agatha for a few days at most, however for reason he could not understand she had become what very well could be the last thing on his mind.
-2 DAYS LATER: EARLY MORNING-
Burke woke with a start from his troubled slumber, if his latest near death experience could be called a slumber at all. His body was rife with aches and pains in from the beating he'd taken last night, but at least the pain reminded him that he was still breathing. Counting such a thing as a blessing, however small it was, Burke sighed and tried to stand up from the bed he'd found himself in. Looking down as he sat up, the pilot took notice of the large amount of bandages on his mid-section where the piercing wound he'd received was located. That would be a reminder of his own lunacy for the rest of his life since in most cases scars certainly did not heal.
"So you're awake." Said a familiar voice, the words belonged to the warrior woman herself, Zeetha. "I knew you'd survive the night, though Agatha has been shouting up and down all night about you."
"Guess I'm not that easy to kill. What's your excuse?" Burke snorted as looked her in the eyes.
"You saved my life, so I'll let you off for that back talk. Not to mention most warriors would be unconscious for days to heal after a battle like last night, which means you are strong." Zeetha snorted.
"Is this going somewhere?" Burke grunted sourly.
Zeetha scowled. "I owe you a life debt, but don't get used to it."
"I'm surprised you haven't told me the old, 'stay still or you'll pop your stitches' line." Burke said in a lazy tone.
"As if I would say that, such things should be obvious enough to go without saying. If I pointed it out then I would be an imbecile." Zeetha retorted.
"Just don't go jumping into the jaws of death again, THAT would make you an imbecile." Burke grunted.
"Says the one who saved my life." Zeetha shot back.
Burke frowned in irritation. "Are you grateful or not? I'm getting mixed signals here."
"Yes I am, now if you have the strength to argue then you at least have the strength to move." Zeetha threw him a crutch.
Burke reacted quick enough to catch the walking stick, though he flinched in pain right as he made the catch. Briefly he looked down at the wound, he could feel the hard tug on his stitches from the swift movement. "Is that your way of telling me to take it easy?" The pilot hissed to the green haired warrior woman. "Because I should give you a shot in the mouth!"
Zeetha rolled her eyes. "Picking a fight with a wounded warrior is no fun at all. Besides, the last thing I need is you bleeding to death from simply reopening your wounds. I'd never hear the end of it."
Burke stood up slowly from the bed, he looked down to see his boots had been conveniently left by the feet of the bed. He slipped them on one at a time and then moved towards the door of the caravan. Zeetha opened the door and waited outside as Burke hobbled his way into the sunlight. Waiting right outside the door was none other than Agatha herself, her face was twisted into a scowl of displeasure. A shiver trickled down Burke's spine when she stomped over to speak with him, though he could tell she intended for far more than just a talk.
"You suicidal imbecile! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU?!" She roared into his face loud enough to nearly burst his ear drums.
"I'M STILL ALIVE!" He replied with a raised voice to meet her challenge.
A hard slap was delivered to his face by Agatha's hand, which left a stinging red mark on the soldier's face. Burke fought the urge to recoil from the hit that he took to his face, but he shoved down his anger into a hole for the time being. "That's for scaring me!"
"You worried I won't keep our deal?" Burke deadpanned, he rubbed his red cheek with the free hand.
"NO! THAT'S NOT IT!" Agatha fumed.
"Then why are you screaming at me?" Burke deadpanned. A short distance away Pix and her husband along with several onlookers had gathered to watch the spat play out. Quiet snickers came from the direction of the other performers while they observed how the two teenagers argued over what seemed like an entertaining issue. Despite being entertainers themselves, even the performers needed something that wasn't part of their daily routine to shake things up.
"Because you seem to like putting yourself in danger!" Agatha fumed.
Burke was still calm as ever. "It's my job." Was the curt reply of the pilot.
"That doesn't mean you need to be suicidal!" Agatha looked about ready to smack him again.
"Yeah, your point?" Burke stayed completely calm, he braced for another hit from his friend. But it seemed she had a different idea in mind, because she immediately wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Burke didn't know whether to react in pain from the strain on his wounds or blush in surprise from the sudden embrace of a pretty girl whom he'd sort of come to know. He froze stiff while he sorted through the responses in his brain, but at least he wasn't speechless.
"And this is for … ?" Burke said in shock.
"Don't do it again." Agatha told him as she squeezed him tighter.
"Noted, now uh not to be rude … but this kind of hurts." He whispered while he began to squirm in her arms from the growing pain in his mid-section.
Agatha went wide eyed and quickly jumped back. "Oh I'm so sorry!" She blushed in embarrassment.
Burke winced as he fought the urge to howl from the buildup of pain. He shifted around and hunched over, looking up to Agatha he expressed his discomfort in one simple word. "Owww."
Over with the group of performers the echo of snickers and giggling grew just a tiny bit louder. From the crowd of onlookers, little Balthazar strolled out from the shadows with a silly grin on his face. None of the three noticed him approach as he moved from barrel to barrel. With a quick hop the boy sprung from his hiding place and began to sing loudly. "Tommy and Aggie sitting in a tre G!" He laughed at the two teens.
"SHUT IT TWERP!" The two of them barked in unison at the laughing child.
"You sound like Mommy and Daddy again!" He pointed at the them while he kept up his big smile.
"You're aiming for a noogie, you know that right?" Burke told the little boy.
"You'll have to catch me first, but ya don't wanna pop your stitches!" Balthazar pointed to Burke's gut.
"I don't have that problem." Agatha smirked as she walked toward the boy with a menacing grin on her face."
"True, but I'm faster!" Balthazar stuck out his tongue and ran from the fuming teenager. Agatha raced off after the child in a rush to pay him back for the insult, in a friendly manner of course. She had no intention of hurting the child, just giving him a lesson in minding his own business. Just teaching what the rules are for when he got big, that was it.
-END CHAPTER-