Tsuchimikado Motoharu waited, fidgeting in the halls of the hospital. He supposed he was lucky to find a single traveller who actually knew where he was, considering that the man had a GPS. But still, he couldn't help but wish the girl had specified a location when teleporting them to a place where she could perform the ritual, rather than simply saying 'large, deserted area with a flat ground'.
He hadn't thought of that beforehand. If she had died in the process, he wouldn't have been able to get home. They had been betting everything on her staying alive. She had. But neither had expected her to go unconscious like that, practically becoming a living corpse.
So he had carried her for miles, even deliberating calling Stiyl to locate him, but he decided against it. After all, the two had stolen the Red Dragon right from under Stiyl—and many other powerful magicians' noses—and even after performing the summoning ritual, Tsuchimikado still had the book. It would be a very bad idea to contact any magician, save Aleister Crowley, while Celeste was unconscious and he was helplessly incapable of using magic and ESP.
Thankfully there was a single idiot—or not so idiotic person, considering that he saved them—who was in the middle of nowhere. And it was the middle of nowhere. To think that Celeste would drop them somewhere not even on the map…
So Tsuchimikado got the coordinates, called Academy City, and a retrieval unit fetched them. He didn't tell them anything, and they didn't ask. The retrieval units all knew enough about espers and the dark side of Academy City to ask no questions, even if they did not know specifics. Basically, Tsuchimikado surmised, they only knew 'ask nothing, know nothing, interfere with nothing, and you get to live'.
Currently he had successfully transferred Celeste to Heaven Canceller's care, and after a single look at the girl, the man's face hardened grimly and he wheeled the girl away without another word. Tsuchimikado's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. He was sure Accelerator would slaughter him now.
Heaven Canceller sighed heavily as he looked over the girl. She wasn't quite human anymore. Far from it, in fact. If the frog doctor had never met Aleister Crowley, he would not know what in the world to make of the girl. As it was, he was confused enough. What in the world had happened to turn her into this? She had become one third human, one third fallen angel, and one third 'core'.
Humans were not meant to become an angel's core, to become a medium that grounded an angel so another person could summon the angel at any time. Even if the angel was fallen. Powerful Church members too had to go through rigorous training and layer spell on top of spell to harness angelic power, and even so, they did not fuse with an angel. They fused a spell with the angel to link them to this plane of existence.
For an esper, a person linked to science and technology, to fuse with an angel… It was a death wish. It was a miracle that the girl was alive, really, and Heaven Canceller had no doubt that it was only because she had used her Reality Warp to adapt. Still, it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.
He had told Accelerator once, and Railgun once before. He could heal anything as long as it was human.
It was unfortunate for the girl and for Accelerator, but Celeste Crowley no longer fit the bill.
He wondered how to break the news to the boy. He had to, eventually, and sooner was better than later. He hated this part of being a doctor. Heaven Canceller had become one of the best just so things like this wouldn't happen, so his patients would not die on him.
But Celeste Crowley was dead, or very close to it. Only her body was alive, the physical shell that still served as a medium for the angel. Heaven Canceller sighed once again and pulled a blanket over the girl's body before leaving the room.
Tsuchimikado Motoharu shot to his feet, body tensed, and Heaven Canceller was sure the boy's eyes were worried behind the sunglasses. The doctor shook his head. With a puff of air, the boy collapsed onto the chair, holding his head in his hands.
"Do you think the Himalayas or the Taklimakan is nicer this time of the year?" Tsuchimikado asked.
In spite of himself, Heaven Canceller's mouth twitched in amusement. "Neither. You should try living under the ocean."
Tsuchimikado laughed weakly. "Are you going to call him, or should I?"
"I think you should run," Heaven Canceller said by way of answer.
Tsuchimikado nodded wordlessly, and handed the doctor a bag filled with her things. The man glanced in and nodded, and Tsuchimikado walked away, shoulders hunched with the weight of a man carrying the world. Heaven Canceller debated using Celeste's phone, but concluded that it would only give Accelerator false hope. He used his own.
"What is it?" Accelerator asked, half snarling, half expectant.
"You… should come over," Heaven Canceller told him. "Would you like the good news or bad news first?"
"… Bad."
"Celeste Crowley most likely no longer exists," Heaven Canceller said.
He could almost hear Accelerator's body freeze as his mind processed the news, his breath hitching in his throat. He heard a snap as the boy's teeth clenched.
"Then what the hell's the good news?!"
"Her body is still alive."
A tense silence fell for a moment. "I'm coming."
The boy arrived in record time, and nodding a greeting, Heaven Canceller opened the door to let him in. He didn't ask how the boy knew which room. He had either threatened one of the nurses or caught sight of Heaven Canceller through the window on his way in. It didn't matter either way.
He felt pity for the boy. It was the second time he had ever seen Accelerator with that look in his eyes. He had never reacted this way even when Last Order got hurt, but that was probably because Accelerator always knew he could do something about it. If Last Order got kidnapped, he could hunt her down and destroy those who dared touch her. If she got hurt, he could threaten the scientists and doctors of Academy City to heal her, or resort to magic like he did in Russia.
But Celeste Crowley was different. Accelerator was no healer. He couldn't do anything except keep her from bleeding out the first time, and perhaps if her heart stopped, he could use his ability to keep it beating until he got to Heaven Canceller and the doctor did something to keep the girl alive. And this time, Accelerator could do even less, as Heaven Canceller himself was already at a loss.
It didn't help that Accelerator was in love with the girl, even if the boy would not admit it.
The doctor watched as a pale hand, barely trembling, brushed a stray hair out of her face, preventing it from falling into her eyes. He watched as Accelerator tapped her cheek with a finger, as if pleading for her to awaken. He watched as Accelerator's fist clenched, creasing the blanket in his hands. And he watched as the red eyes, burning with turmoil and almost overly bright, turned to stare at him.
"Heal her," Accelerator whispered.
"I'm sorry," Heaven Canceller said.