The sound of faint bird song was the first thing to reach her senses. The small chill in her bones being the second.

For a while, her only thoughts were of the sweet melody beyond her closed eyes. Broadleaf never had this kind of perk.

Hmm…

Broadleaf was an interesting place…

Shame it lacked anything natural that wasn't light and air.

She didn't react to the feeling of the cold. She was just too comfortable…

Another sound reached her mind.

People's voices that must have been some distance away that she could barely make out.

Wait…

People?

If she could hear the people from here… Assuming she was in her room of course… Then what time was it?

Normally she could never hear people until much later in the day.

Hmm…

Oh well. Still too comfy.

"Higgle!"

The birdsong vanished with a flurry of feathers as the sound of a Higgledy nearby.

And thus, her peace shattered.

Bracken mumbled a few choice words towards the higgledy as she shifted onto her side, pulling the blanket closer in the process.

All too quickly, her senses became aware of the aches in her finger joints. Her brows furrowed as she tried to figure out why but her thoughts were cut short by the now splitting pain in her head.

Bracken grumbled some more as she pulled the blanket over her head to try and block out the little bit of sunlight that shone through the curtains. It didn't help much.

Doesn't look like she was getting anymore sleep today…

Deciding to bite the bullet, she stretched a little, still hiding under the covers, before slowly blinking her eyes open. Turns out the blankets in Evermore are pretty good at blocking out sunlight.

Cautious of her pounding head, she hesitantly pulled the covers away from her face. Turns out the curtains in Evermore are also pretty good at blocking out sunlight.

Brilliant.

With half lidded eyes, she turned onto her back to stare at the ceiling for a moment. Must have been either a long night, or the sky pirates decided to spike someone other than Roland's drink. The engineer smirked at the memory.

Roland hadn't even noticed when Batu had mixed their drinks together the first time. Leander's face as Roland fell for it was priceless! She still had the whole event on a memolith somewhere, and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't posted a few pictures on Leafbook.

And the best part? Batu got Leander too!

A few karaoke sessions from two screeching drunkards, followed by a dance of and a 'who can drink the fastest' game later, and Leander had lost seven bets, Roland had stolen Evan's crown and Queen Nerea was thoroughly confused.

Since the Hydropolis queen now had a Leafbook, Bracken had taken it upon herself to suggest a few very questionable messages to be sent her way if Leander lost a bet.

That had been a night to remember.

Another spark of pain rattled through her noggin, forcing her smile into a cringe.

Is this what they'd felt like when they'd woken up the next morning?

Turning her head to the side, she spied her Leafbook on her bedside table. If anything like that had happened last night, it had to be on there.

She yawned tiredly as she reached for it before freezing completely.

Bracken's eyes zeroed in her bare arm, once unmarked and clear skinned, now red and raw. Small cuts dappled her skin, tracing an unpredictable path to her knuckles that were bandaged tightly. Her eyes widened in alarm as she twisted her arm around to take in the extent of the damage. Her elbow was bandaged up too, and upon closer inspection, the white wrappings seemed to have been stained a little from her frantic movements.

Checking her other hand, she found a similar sight. Light gashes and a little bruising with bandaged knuckles and a wrapped up elbow. She gulped a little unsurely, before she moved to rub her head in an attempt to soothe the fire behind it.

The moment her fingers touched her forehead, she'd felt it. Her head was wrapped up too. What the actual heck happened?!

Shakily, she turned her attention back to the Leafbook. Taking it from her bedside, she opened it, hoping beyond hope that it held some answers.

A scroll through the events of the world and she found it.

An image of Batu carrying someone with pink hair – who could only be her – into the castle with what looked like Tani running beside him. Leander seemed to be following and Evan and Roland seemed to be hurriedly sprinting off towards the Hubble-Bubblery. It was hard to make out what had happened just from the picture as the storm from last night seemed to still be in full affect and the photo looked as though someone had taken it from quite far away.

The caption read 'What happened?' and underneath, Fai Do had written, 'I'm not sure what just happened but I was working on the plans for a new type of armour when a crash sounded outside. When I went to see, it looked like it had something to do with Bracken! I hope she's okay…'

The comments that followed seemed full of concern from both Evermore and Broadleaf. A comment down at the bottom from Tani reassured that Bracken would be okay and that the doctors just said she needed some time. A quick check of her messages brought a frown to her face. Zip, Trey and some of her closer Broadleaf friends had been asking if she was okay and saying 'Evan' Or 'Zip' depending on who it was, 'told us everything'. Just what exactly happened?

Choosing not to answer them just yet, she placed the Leafbook beside her and began to push herself into a sitting position. Pain immediately exploded in her side, causing her to quickly clutch at it with one hand.

"Ah! What the…?" She grunted with effort as she leaned herself against the headboard of the bed and stared down at her side. What was wrong with her?!

Panic quickly starting to sink in from not having enough answers to her questions, she quickly pulled the covers away from her to check the rest of her limbs were still there.

A sigh of relief as she realized that she still had her last leg… The one Zip built looked a little battered here and there but Fai Do always made sure to have extra materials for her just in case it got damaged.

He was a good kid. So was Nu Bi.

Well, regardless of her discomfort, she had to get this repaired before it started wearing away too badly.

Taking a deep breath, she carefully began to shift towards the edge of the bed. She slowly slid her feet onto the floor, still leaning heavily on the headboard as she did so. Bracken reached out for the walking stick she used sometimes when her prosthetic leg hurt to walk on. Luckily, that wasn't too often but the stick helped none the less.

Tentatively, she shifted her weight from the head board, to the walking stick, feeling whatever was wrong with her side, grow more irritated. Another deep breath to brace herself for what may be a lot of pain, she cautiously pulled herself to her feet.

As expected, the pain intensified to the point where breathing was beginning to become a chore. Her hand gripped her side as her knuckles turned white in a burning inferno with the sheer force she was using to keep herself up.

'Knock! Knock!'

Bracken glanced up at a knock on the door before it shyly creaked open. The black, furry face of Floyd poked out from behind the door in an awkward manor before his eyes widened like dinner plates at the sight of her.

"B-Bracken!" He panicked as he opened the door fully and quickly raced over to her. He placed the trey of stuff he'd been holding onto her bedside before swiftly taking her hand from her side and wrapping it around his shoulders in an attempt to support her. The grimalkin then guided her back into a seated position on the edge of her bed, before leaning her back against the headboard.

"A-are you okay?!" Bracken smiled a reassuring smile, despite still being slightly breathless from the pain in her chest. His worry clear, she took a few more breaths before speaking.

"I'm okay… Thanks for the help." With that, he seemed to calm down a little. The engineer then shuffled so that she was sitting with her legs stretched out beneath the blankets.

"A-are you sure? I-I mean… I didn't expect you to be awake so…" He struggled a little with his words, much to Bracken's amusement.

"Relax… I'm fine. But er… What exactly happened?" She tilted her head in curiosity. "And why is my head on fire?" She added as an afterthought.

"O-oh um. Well I was just here to check on you and to bring these up." He indicated to the little pill bottle on the trey he'd brought in. "Leander finished up the development just before the accident. They're fast acting pain killers. He was gonna bring them up himself but he had to let Evan know he was prescribing them to you." He explained, not really giving her much insight.

"Pain killers, huh? How many am I supposed to take?" Questions could wait, right now, her head hurt too much.

"Um… just the one. There may be side effects though. They are still pretty new." He clarified as he offered her the bottle. "You want one now?"

"Thanks." She smiled as she took the bottle from him before taking one from it.

"Oh, here." Floyd quickly swapped the pill bottle for a glass of… chocolate milk? "Trey told me it was your favourite so I thought you would prefer this to water." He smiled sheepishly as she swallowed the pill with the chosen drink. Medicine was nowhere near as bad with chocolate milk.

"Thanks. Let's hope the side effects aren't too bad." Bracken smiled as she took a sip of her sugary drink. She did love chocolate milk after all. "So, what exactly happened?"

"Well…" The chef paused to process her question. "You wanted to test out your new invention in the dining hall since it was still storming outside. I assume his majesty allowed it as when I next came into the room, you were flying all over the place!" Bracken frowned at the slightly haunted look in his eyes. This didn't sound fun…

"Batu tried to help and everyone was trying to stop you but no one could get it under control and… well, you ended up going through the window and hitting the wall outside pretty badly." He seemed to shiver at the thought of it. "Batu brought you back here and Tani changed your clothes for you whilst we were outside. Leander did his best for you until Thetis and Da Xing got here. They said you'd broken some ribs and got a minor concussion but you'd be fine in the end." His eyes then found another object on the trey he brought in.

"Here." He said as he handed her a large ice pack from it. "It's supposed to help with your ribs." Bracken nodded before lifting her shirt slightly to glance at the wound. The skin hadn't broken but the area around where the pain originated from had turned an angry red and blue from some bruising and some awful looking swelling. Gingerly, she placed the pack against the worst of it, flinching as it stung more than it probably should.

"So… What happened to my boots?" Now for a very important question.

"Huh? Your boots?" He paused for a moment to consider that. "Oh, right! Roland has them under lock-down. Just to make sure you don't put yourself in that kind of danger again." Now Bracken stared at him.

"What?" She stated quite simply. Floyd nervously found the floor very interesting.

"R-Roland has them…" The grimalkin clarified awkwardly.

"Of course he does." She shook her head as she indulged in her chocolate milk. "Honestly, I wish Batu would spike his drink more often. What a spoil sport." He laughed a little awkwardly.

"Heh… You want some more?" Floyd offered with a gesture to her nearly empty cup. In response, the engineer downed the remainder of her drink before nodding enthusiastically and holding the cup out in front of her. The chef smiled a little before taking a jug from the trey and pouring some into her cup. She smiled in response before drinking some more of the sugary concoction.

"Thanks." She repeated the gratitude for the third time as she looked him in the eye again. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the tired glimmer in his eyes he tried to hide from her. "You get much sleep last night, Floyd? You look tired."

"Uh, oh um…" He fidgeted awkwardly. "W-well after seeing what h-happened last night I-I was kinda w-worried…" She cut him off with a little chuckle.

"Aw. You were worried about me?" She teased with an amused smile.

"Who wouldn't be after that? Especially since you're one of the best people to cook for…" He mumbled that last part but she'd heard it all the same.

"Really? You like cooking for me?" She tilted her head again.

"Well you've only ever eaten Broadleaf's food, and you said yourself that you didn't like it all that much…" Bracken smiled even more at that.

"Fair enough. Broadleaf is good with many things, but food isn't one of them. Speaking of, where'd you get this?" She gestured to her drink.

"Oh, Zip told Trey the recipe who then gave it to me to help you feel better when you woke up." He tilted his head at her amazed expression.

"Trey had the recipe this whole time? And he told you how to make it? No fair!" Bracken looked a little frustrated at that.

"I forgot he told me not to mention that…" Floyd laughed awkwardly again before backing away towards the door. "Well, I'd better go let everyone else know you're awake. Goodbye!" He smiled as he left her alone once more.

Sighing to herself, she pulled blankets closer to her as a chill reached her again.

One thing she definitely missed from Broadleaf is how warm it was there. Life in Evermore tended to be physically cold compared to her home town.

At least the pain had gone down…

Reaching for her Leafbook, Bracken finally decided to answer her concerned friends' messages.


Yes, I wrote this a while ago so have a bunch of chapters today.