As usual, I don't own anything. I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Please enjoy!

Dwarven Vow 25
Báthaidh toll beag long mhór.
A little hole will sink a big ship.

27-

"Authorities have managed to isolate the area in which the assassination attempt took place, but so far they have been unable to identify a suspect. Over fifty people have been taken to the hospital for emergency treatment, while many others have sustained minor injuries. So far, there have been no deaths reported. The bodyguard who protected the Chosen is reportedly in stable condition, but authorities have yet to publicly release his identity-"

"That's enough of that." Anna flipped the switch on the radio, turning it back to static before switching it off entirely. "I can't just sit here anymore. I have to do something!"

Felix leaned back, giving her a pointed look from his place on the couch. "Oh, sure. Go ahead and leave the fugitives to their suspicious activities."

"You two wouldn't dare leave this house right now and you know it. There are police officers and soldiers on every corner."

"Well, yeah, but-"

Margie stood up from the couch with a nervous laugh. "Well, now, I think everyone's just stressed! You know what would help? A nice hot cup of cocoa. I'll go make some!"

"Gi-gi, wait! Let me help!" Felix reached for his crutch and staggered to his feet, following her into the kitchen. Anna watched them go and then sighed, unsure of whether to say something or to just go along with it. She hated staying and feeling helpless, and was trying to rationalize her situation by telling herself she was keeping those two in check. But they seemed… nice. They weren't beings like the Desians, who were torturing others for their own selfish goals. They really thought they were doing what was best. Perhaps the ends didn't justify the means, but their intentions were good.

Song returned from his room, wearing a white coat and carrying a large backpack. "Hey, Anna!" He waved. "You're feeling better now, right? Can you keep an eye on those two while I'm gone? I'm going to the hospital to help out. Margie's trying to use her arm more than she should and I don't want her to hurt it."

"Y-yeah. Sure." Anna nodded. "While you're there, can you check on Lloyd and his friends? I'm worried about how they're dealing with all this. They were so excited for today… we all were."

Song's expression fell. "I'm so sorry, Miss Anna. I never expected anything like this to-"

"Of course you didn't. None of us did- not even those two." She motioned to the kitchen.

Song shook his head. "They've been out of contact with their followers since they've been here. That was my condition for treating them- I didn't want them using my hospitality to orchestrate more violence from behind the scenes."

"So you don't approve of what they're doing?"

"I… I agree with their goal, which is to protect the Great Tree from unsafe tampering with its mana. Yuan isn't against the study of mana generation in general, but he's eyeing it with caution. So, while they may not be doing the right thing, they're doing it for the right reason. And even if they weren't…" He turned his head away. "When I was working as a doctor, it was up to my bosses who I could and couldn't treat. I had to refuse a lot of patients, many of them half-elves, just because the humans who controlled my work wouldn't allow me to heal them. When the worlds were reunited and I was freed, I vowed that I'd never turn a patient away again. So, when they came to me, I couldn't just…"

"I understand." Anna smiled at Song, a melancholy and almost pained smile. "When I was held at the human ranch, I saw a doctor severely punished for treating a little girl that the Desians had beaten. They took the doctor away and we never saw her again- all because she had helped someone. No matter what Kratos or anyone says, I think helping everyone regardless of whether they 'deserve' it is the right thing to do."

"...thank you, Miss Anna." Song was able to offer back a genuine smile as he buttoned his coat the rest of the way. "I'll give your regards to Lloyd and his friends if I see them."

"Good luck."

"Thanks-"

"Song, wait!"

Yuan stumbled out into the room from the hallway, holding out a striped piece of fabric. Song gasped and reached for it tentatively. "...My lucky scarf. I was in such a hurry, I decided not to search for it. Where was it?"

"After you made such a fuss about it two weeks ago, you-" Yuan began and then cut off with a groan. "You'd been wearing it at the wheel so much, it'd gotten caked in clay. I couldn't stand looking at it, so I stole it to wash with Adora's blanket last night. Ugh, if I'd known you were content to leave it, I wouldn't have gone to all the trouble-"

Song snatched it up and wrapped it around his neck before Yuan could finish. "Oh, thank you! I didn't know you cared."

"Just go."

"Yes, sir! Will do!" Song offered Yuan a salute before taking off with a wave. Anna waved back and then turned to Yuan with a grin on her face. He noticed it as he glanced back towards her and stiffened.

"And just what is that look for?"

Anna clasped her hands over her chest. "You remembered his lucky scarf," she cooed. "You really do care."

Yuan bristled. "Don't sound so surprised! I'm not as much of a jerk as your stupid husband makes me out to be. I can be nice sometimes-"

"N-no, not that." Anna had to keep herself from giggling. "I mean, about Song. Kratos is right, you really do like him."

In retrospect, she probably shouldn't have started the sentence with the phrase 'Kratos is right,' considering it seemed to spur an immediate need to disagree on Yuan's part. However, the rest of the statement caused his expression to soften into one more of embarrassment than anger. He scoffed and turned his head away.

"Martel once had a good luck charm that she carried with her. I didn't believe in it and scolded her for being so superstitious. It wasn't anything special, just some pebble that Mithos had found and given her with he was little. But she was really attached to it, and one day after we barely managed to escape from a military raid, she found it missing. I had never realized how important it was to her until that point- and how much it had probably hurt her when I'd made fun of it. So, yeah, I suppose if by liking Song you mean I humor his quirks out of respect to Martel, then I do."

Anna stared at him thoughtfully for a moment before speaking up again. "You work really hard to put on a tough guy persona, and yet you still manage to be sensitive while doing it. Kratos could learn a thing or two from you."

"I am not- ! I mean, I don't -!" Yuan began to stammer and finally turned away. "Y-yeah, Kratos has a lot to learn from me."

Anna couldn't help it- she started to laugh. She could practically feel the irritation radiating from Yuan, but that didn't stop her. He and Kratos were so much alike.

"I'm so glad to hear you laughing, Miss Anna. I hope we didn't do anything to upset you earlier. Here's some hot cocoa."

Margie returned to the room with a mug in one hand. Anna accepted it and took an eager sip, but it was too hot, and she set it aside. Felix, meanwhile, managed to limp in without the help of his crutch so that he could carry two mugs on his own. He offered one to Yuan, but Yuan put up a hand to refuse and he shrugged it off, keeping the two for his sister and himself.

"Let's turn the radio back on," Felix grumbled once he'd gotten comfortable on the sofa again. "I don't like not knowing what's going on."

"Oh?" Anna asked, shooting him a glare from across the room. "You really can't go that long without hearing what kind of trouble your cronies are stirring up-?"

"To be fair, this wasn't us," Margie broke in. "The reports clearly say that the assassin spoke out in support of the Alpha-Beta Project before firing the spell meant to kill the Chosen. For once, our efforts can't be demonized by the academics in favor of their little pet project."

Felix scoffed. "As if we'd do something like this anyway. The Church of Mana cares about people's lives. We wouldn't endanger so many people like this."

Anna frowned and noticed a similar, uneasy expression on Yuan's face. "...how can you say that?" she finally asked. "After you started riots and planted bombs-"

"The bombs were detonated in areas we'd scouted out beforehand to ensure the lowest danger to bystanders," Margie replied. "All we wanted from those was property damage. And the so-called riots started as peaceful protests. It was only when the police got involved that things turned sour."

"A police officer died." Yuan's eyes narrowed at the two of them. "Obviously it wasn't the police who were causing the problems."

This seemed to take Margie by surprise. She blushed and looked away. "I-It's not our fault that some of our followers are a little… overzealous."

Felix had been taking a drink of cocoa, and once he finished, he slammed the mug down on the table. "Why are you being so critical anyway? You ought to be thanking us! We're fighting tooth and nail to protect the world's mana supply from technology that could take it away from us again! We're preventing the kind of disaster that caused the worlds to have to be split. Had there been people like us during the Kharlan War, the Great Tree never would have died in the first place."

"Excuse me?"

Yuan's voice was sharp and cut through the tense atmosphere, quieting everyone else in the room. Anna turned to look and was frightened by the expression on his face. She took a step away, but Yuan wasn't moving. He spoke from where he was standing instead.

"Are you saying," Yuan continued, fixing his gaze on Felix, "that you could have prevented the outcome of the Kharlan War?"

Felix shrugged. "All I'm saying is, if there were people like us around at the time, all that bad stuff wouldn't have happened."

"...people like you…" Yuan murmured, and finally snapped, his voice almost cracking as he yelled. "...what hell are you talking about? It's people like you who FOUGHT the Kharlan war!"

"Yuan," Anna murmured, gathering the courage to step closer so that she could grab ahold of his sleeve. "I know they're being presumptive, but-"

"You guys don't have any idea what it was LIKE to be part of a war that big! You have NO IDEA what motivated people to do the things they did! You don't think both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla thought themselves righteous do-gooders like you? You think they didn't paint the other side as evil and a threat to world safety and peace? People like you aren't going to solve all the world's problems, they're just going to create more problems in the name of whatever damn cause they've buried their heads in. You're no different from any of the people back then!"

For a few moments, no one moved. Anna was mentally preparing herself to step in front of Yuan to break up a fight should one break out. He'd admitted to getting into a fistfight with Zelos the night before, so she knew his patience was already worn thin. However, no one moved before another sound broke through the silence.

Adora was crying.

Yuan turned his back toward the others and started down the hallway without so much as a word. Neither Anna nor the siblings spoke as they heard a door close and Adora's cries begin to subside.

"...I'm going downstairs to Song's workshop," Anna finally spoke. "He said I could play with the clay if I wanted, and I could use something to do right now."

Felix started to get up, but he accidentally put pressure on his injured leg and fell back onto the sofa again. Margie placed her arm in front of him to keep him from trying again and nodded in Anna's direction.

"That's fine. Let us know if you learn anything more about the situation."

"Will do. Thanks."

Genis didn't usually mind hospitals. They were sterile environments with a vaguely chemical smell to them, just like the biology labs he worked in at the university. He could identify most of the tools he saw, so there was no sense of uncertainty that someone outside of the medical or scientific disciplines might get. But, for the first time, he truly felt nervous to be there. It was a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, almost like nausea but without the urge to throw up. Or maybe there was and he'd been too distracted to realize it. After all, it'd been hours since their planned picnic lunch, but no one had eaten anything. No one wanted to eat. They were too busy sitting in the waiting room and, well, waiting.

After the minor injuries that Colette, Zelos, and Seles had received were treated, the three of them were sent back to the waiting room so that the hospital rooms could be freed up for more serious victims. Colette and Seles were now sitting with Sheena, Seles asleep with her head on Sheena's shoulder, and Colette with her face buried in Sheena's chest as though she were crying. She had long since used up all of her tears, however, and was just sniffling as Sheena patted her on the back of the head. Sheena herself was doing a good job of comforting Colette, but the look in her eyes was vacant as though she wasn't totally aware of what was going on around her.

With Raine sitting next to him, Genis couldn't help but notice that Zelos was the only member of the group- actually, the only one in the waiting room at all- who was sitting alone. Curled up on the windowsill, Zelos had his cheek pressed against the windowpane and was staring at the street two stories below, just as he'd been doing for the past two hours without moving. Genis nudged Raine and said that he was going to check on Zelos, and she agreed that it was probably a good idea.

"...Zelos?" Genis approached him, but he didn't react to hearing his name. Instead, Genis tapped him on the shoulder, and Zelos turned silently to look at him. "Hey, Zelos, are you alright? Do you, uh, want to come sit with Raine and me?"

"I'd rather stay here," Zelos replied, turning his head back to the window. "I want to make sure I know when it starts snowing."

Genis frowned. "...it's not supposed to snow. The cold front that came through yesterday put Meltokio into the middle of a huge high-pressure system. The sky's probably going to be clear for at least a week."

"Oh, right" was Zelos' only response. He didn't turn away from the window to even look at Genis. Genis shifted his weight, unsure of what to do.

"...um, are you sure you don't want to come sit with Raine and me? There's a bunch of extra chairs. Or maybe we could go get something to eat. I'm sure everybody's hungry-"

"Hazel said that the surgery shouldn't take much more than two hours. That was three hours ago. She's just assisting- if something's gone wrong, shouldn't she come out and tell us?"

Genis frowned. "I don't think that's how it works."

"Oh? Are you a nurse?"

"You know I'm not, Zelos."

"Yes, I know. I was just checking. If you were, I could send you in to see how it's going."

"I-"

Genis' sentence was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Hazel peeked her head in and knocked on the doorframe. "...Zelos? Genis?"

Zelos scrambled to his feet, pushing Genis aside so that he could get to Hazel. Sheena, Seles, and Raine looked up, watching the exchange carefully.

"Well? What took so long?" Zelos demanded. "We you just going to leave us here to wait while you take your sweet time-"

Genis caught up with Zelos and grabbed Zelos' arm. "Hey! Quiet down, will you? You're bothering other people. The most important thing is whether Lloyd is okay."

"Genis is right-" Hazel nodded. "-and Lloyd is going to be fine. We had a bit of trouble, but we've managed to stop the bleeding and stabilize his condition. Barring any further complications, he should make a full recovery."

The entire group seemed to exhale a sigh of relief. Colette lifted her head as though trying to confirm that what she was hearing was real. The smiles on those around her reassured her enough so that she began to cry again, this time with relief.

"If he's so fine, then what took so long?" Zelos demanded, finally finding his voice. "You estimated two hours."

"We had to take extra time," Hazel began, her expression betraying a thinning patience, "in order to remove all the steel shards from the wound. You saw how the pressure from the spell shattered that blade he had on his back. If we'd left any steel in the wound, it could cause problems during healing."

Sheena fished behind her chair and pulled out Lloyd's new sword- or, at least, what remained of it. Only the hilt and the first few inches of the blade were intact, the fabric around the hilt tattered and the intricate metalwork warped. With one arm still around Colette's shoulders, Sheena used her free hand to hold the sword out for Zelos.

"That's right… his fancy new sword…" Zelos cringed and held it close to his chest. "He was so excited about this and it almost killed him, dammit!"

Genis nudged Zelos' shoulder, motioning to some children who were sitting on the other side of the waiting room, but Zelos shrugged him off. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Hazel spoke first.

"Actually, Zelos, it's quite the opposite. The amount of concentrated energy it took to shatter that blade was enormous. Had that hit Lloyd straight on rather than being mostly absorbed by the blade and scabbard, it would've shattered his vertebrae and ribcage, ripped his lungs apart, and-" She paused at the sound of a choked squeak from Colette. "-er, that is to say, he would've been killed instantly. But he wasn't. That extra sword saved his life."

Sheena gave a pained laugh. "I guess Lloyd will really have to thank Kratos for the gift next time he sees him- even if he didn't quite use it the way it was intended."

Colette sat up straighter, drying her eyes. "Is Lloyd awake? Can we see him?"

"You're welcome to go see him," Hazel replied, "but it's unlikely he'll be very responsive today. The doctors are keeping him sedated over the next twelve hours to monitor for potential complications, and once he does come to, he'll be under the influence of some strong painkillers. I'd advise you to go home for the evening and come back tomorrow morning. I promise, I'll send a courier to you if anything changes."

Colette hopped to her feet and wiped the last of the tears off her face. "I don't mind if he's asleep. I want to see him before we leave."

"Of course! I'll take you to his room." Hazel motioned toward the door, but she stopped momentarily as she saw the rest of the group follow. "Oh, um, we can't have that many people in the room at once. You should go in groups."

Genis took a step back and pointed at the others. "Sheena, Zelos, why don't you go with Colette first?"

"You sure?" Sheena asked.

Genis glanced back at Seles and Raine. "Of course. We can wait a few minutes."

Hazel thanked Genis and took the others with her. Once they'd exited, Genis sighed and sat back down by Raine and Seles. He leaned over, trying to read their expressions, but they were both too blank to be decipherable.

"...you two have been awfully quiet this whole time. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, uh, it's nothing." Raine shook her head. "I was just thinking how amazing Tethe'allan medical science is. All this magitechnology is really something. We're lucky that, if Lloyd had to get hurt, he did it here and not back in Sylvarant."

Genis frowned, noting the twinge of disdain in her voice. Some months earlier he and Raine had discussed how slowly the medical advances of the flourishing world were spreading to Sylvarant after the world reunion. Other areas of technology were already commonplace among villages as small as Iselia, but even Palmacosta's hospital was far behind what they were seeing here. It wasn't the time or place to dwell on the issue, however, and Genis doubted that Raine had the energy to say anything more. He knew he didn't.

Seles broke the silence between them, clearing her throat and then speaking up. "Genis? Raine? May I ask a favor of you two?"

"Of course," Genis replied. "We're happy to help."

"What do you need us to do?" Raine asked.

"I…" Seles paused, fidgeting with her fingers uneasily. "...I need to talk with my brother about something once we get home, and I wanted your input as well."

Genis and Raine glanced at one another. "...Certainly," Raine offered, "but why us?"

"Well, because you're scientists. There's something bothering me about what happened today, but I don't know enough to say for sure. I know my brother is smart, but… well, I'd like your opinion too."

Once again, the siblings exchanged an uneasy glance between them. "You look scared," Genis said, inching closer. "Is everything okay?"

"It's just that… I think…" Seles closed her eyes and sighed. "I think the target of the assassination wasn't Zelos. I think it was me."

Once Song made it to the hospital, he wasn't able to spend any further time thinking about Yuan's uncharacteristic act of thoughtfulness. Things were too busy, and there was never a moment when he didn't have something to do. Because he wasn't a regular employee, he acted as somewhat of a gofor between patients and nurses who needed to administer medicine or perform simple check-ups. It was exhausting, but fulfilling. Just like with making pottery, the best work happened when everything was spinning at high speeds. Or, something like that.

He was so busy, he only vaguely noticed a group of familiar faces, so by the time he recognised them and though to ask, they had already left.

"Was that… Zelos Wilder and his fiancee? What were they doing here?"

The only real break he had was when he was waiting for the head nurse to give him another assignment, and while she seemed irritated that he was trying to make small talk, she was at least willing to answer.

"The bodyguard who protected the Chosen was a personal friend of his- or maybe his fiancee's… brother or something? All I know is that the Chosen is here visiting and he yelled at one of our nurses like some spoiled brat."

Song's face paled as he listened. He knew Colette didn't have a brother, but she did have the next best thing, and he also happened to be a personal friend of Zelos. There was only one person it could be.

"W-well, to be fair, I'd be yelling too if I had to watch my best friend sacrifice himself for my sake," Song defended, "so I don't think we can really blame Zelos-"

"Here. This was just ordered for the patient in room 137." Another nurse stepped in behind song, holding a vial of medicine. The head nurse perked up and motioned toward Song.

"There's something for the Chosen's friend, if you want to take it to him. Just don't take too long."

Song nodded and accepted the medicine. "Thanks! I'll be back right away!"

He knew not to run in the hallways, but he was genuinely nervous about the situation. Maybe it was another friend of Zelos, another childhood playmate of Colette's, someone who was not the son of his own dear friend. But, as he entered the room and took a good look at the patient, there was no mistaking it. Song had only really met Lloyd once, but he knew a great deal of him, and could tell just with a glance that this was Kratos and Anna's son.

"Lloyd!"

Song gasped and ran to the bedside, looking him over in an attempt to gauge just how injured Lloyd really was. To his relief, Lloyd looked to be in a stable condition, and once Song was sure that he was only sleeping and not anesthetized or in some kind of coma, he took a step back and sighed.

"...what am I gonna tell Anna?"

He remembered the head nurse's warning, but he was a fast reader and decided to at least glance over Lloyd's case file before administering the medicine and leaving him. It all seemed pretty straightforward: a wound inflicted by a concentrated high-pressure compression wave, resulting in both internal and external hemorrhaging. Blood loss had been remedied with transfusions and the wound had been surgically cleaned and closed with notes to monitor for any further bleeding. Pretty much the only thing left would be to keep him on bed rest until the wound fully healed, administering pain medication as needed. Reassured, Song turned back to the medication that he'd been given and began preparing a syringe.

However, he stopped as the writing on the doctor's order caught his eye.

That… wasn't the name of any painkiller Song was familiar with. He stopped and took some time to decipher the writing until he realized just what was in the vial. Immediately, he turned from his work and rushed back to the head nurse's office, this time not caring how fast he ran.

"Oh, Doctor Lu. Did you already finish with the patient in room 137-"

"N-no," Song interrupted, holding out the medicine, "I don't think this is right."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't think this doctor's order is correct. Is it maybe for a different patient? O-or is it supposed to be a different kind of medication-"

The head nurse stood up and snatched the medicine from Song. "Let me see that… yes, that's what it says. Patient Irving, L., room 137. It's the right medication and dosage."

"B-but-" Song began to stammer as she handed it back to him. "-given his situation, I don't think it's a good idea to administer this class of-"

"Doctor Lu, I understand your history as a physician, but I'm afraid that you don't have the authority to make those decisions in this hospital. Our doctors know what they're doing, and if this is what they've ordered for this particular patient, for the sake of the patient's safety I'm not inclined to argue. If you're really opposed to administering it, I will gladly give the task to someone else-"

"No!" Song cut her off mid-sentence. "I-It's fine. If you're sure this is what the doctor wants, then I'll administer it."

"Good. Now hurry up, will you?"

"Yes ma'am." Song nodded. "Just one more thing. Which doctor's signature is this?"

"All the doctor's signatures are equally undecipherable. Just go."

That was the answer Song had been afraid of.

The walk back to Lloyd's room was gut-wrenching as Song tried to think of some way- any way- that this could be an unintentional mistake. This wasn't a decision that any right-minded doctor would make for a patient in Lloyd's situation, and so that left only one unpleasant conclusion. Once he made it back to the room, Song closed the door behind him and barricaded it with a chair. It was unlikely someone would walk in on him, but he still wanted time to think.

"Okay, Lloyd, I know you probably can't hear me, but I need to think out loud and you're the only one here right now." Song paced back and forth around the bed as he spoke. "I can't give you this medicine. This is a powerful anticoagulant meant to get rid of blood clots. It's what you give people with heart attacks, and shouldn't be given to someone who's had internal bleeding or surgery. You'd bleed out within minutes, and no one would even know what happened-"

He stopped and looked down at the medicine again.

"...oh no. Someone's trying to finish what they started."

The realization hit him slowly, a sense of dread creeping into his chest. Frantically, he looked around the room as if something there would tell him what to do.

"I-I can't do this. I have to tell someone. But how far up does this corruption go? Will they try to silence me if I speak out? And I can't just leave Lloyd here for someone else to come and drug him. Oh no, oh no, oh no… where are you supposed to go if you can't trust the hospital to look after you?!"

Wait a minute.

It seemed he'd inadvertently given himself the answer he was looking for. Song looked back and forth between the barricaded door and the window on the other side of the room. He then turned his attention to Lloyd. Moving him by hand would be dangerous too, but when something that drastic seemed like the safest option, Song knew he didn't have much choice. He took a deep breath and exhaled a sigh of resignation.

"Lloyd, I don't know if you're aware of what's going on, but I want you to know that I don't condone this behavior outside of an emergency situation. But this… is an emergency situation."