"This might be a bit too late to ask you, Bonny." The padded table creaked gently as Kurant leaned forwards with the flats of her naked hands together. It was clear that the feeling was uncomfortable to her, but it was necessary for her not to have her sleeve on. "How much will it hurt?" There wa also a sunken and absent luster in her eyes from being cut off from Queen Toriel's magic. A quiet quiver was present in her voice too, but if it was due to her absence of magic or fear was hard to deduce.
Both were definitely correlated, that Bonny could say for certain though. Kurant was more naked than a human had ever been. Both her skin and her soul were exposed. Bonny had to make sure that the correlation wasn't the only thing he could say for certain. There had to be no doubt at all inside his voice. "I'll be making some smaller incisions first so that Kry can get a grip on the healing." While the three of them had discussed it over and over again it was important to state it at the beginning of the procedure so that all three knew that the rest knew what was to happen.
The mention of an incision wouldn't bring any worries of pain either. Had Bonny opted to say that he was to do a cut instead it would've prompted an instinctive reaction. Everyone knew that a cut hurt, but no one knew that an incision hurt. "We'll begin by healing it up first and then try to heal around it so that the pain is contained so that you won't feel it. After that we'll put up the divider and begin."
A forlorn and longing pair of dulled eyes were cast over towards the respectfully folded Monster Mage sleeve resting on a pillow like a cat curled up to sleep. While the scientist inside of Bonny would have loved to observe the effects of magic withdrawal he would never want to put Kurant through more stress than she was already gonna experience.
Formulating a paper was difficult if it was soaked in blood and dust.
Bonny placed his soft paw upon the tensed and exposed shoulder. Kurant flinched at the touch, and Bonny made sure to keep his aura close within him as to not further her plight. "You'll be back with Queen Toriel soon, Kurant."
She shook her head. "I'm more worried about her."
More about...her?
About Queen Toriel?
About Queen Toriel inside Kurant's sleeve?
No! Focus! Stay on the task at hand!
"Please lay down, Kurant," asked Bonny with a gentle, yet still direct, push of his hand which he kept on Kurant's shoulder all the way down until she was flat on her back against the cloth-covered table. "Sorry if it's a bit cold on your back."
Her chuckle towards Bonny's joking, albeit still very genuine, worry had the tension loosening a bit. As she did not hear any laughter from Kry though Kurant turned her head over towards him leaning against the cart loaded with medical tools with his arms folded. His eyes were closed. "I'm not gonna get more decent until we're done with this, Kry," informed Kurant with a playful tingle to her tone. "Don't worry, the towels are thick."
A non-pleased expression flushed across Kry's face, forcing him to grit his teeth underneath his dark and thinned lips. "I appreciate you keeping a good mood about this, Kurant." It was clear by the way Kry spook that he was prefacing something else. After a sharp inhale through his nose and an aversion of his head he said what he really wanted to say. "You're not the only one feeling cold right now."
Same with Bonny too.
Kurant's missing aura sure made it feel that it was late autumn and not early summer.
And it was not that they could not feel her aura. It wasn't a problem when Bonny was not at the castle not being able to feel her aura. However having felt it recently and then seeing her physically remove it from herself brought a horrible chill up Bonny's spine. Up his spine and throughout his entire being. It was a good thing her aura did disappear though as she could not feel the shock from Kry feeling Kurant disappear magically.
Like an earthquake up his back…
Although that silver lining was because of the storm and not in spite of it. A storm that was about to be made by Bonny. A storm he would face with the most courage he ever had!
He rolled down his linen sleeve to cover the fur on his arms. "Bring here the cart, Kry."
The metallic rustling across the room's smooth floor was less intensive than the tension in the air would imply.
With a scalpel in hand and wielded as comfortably as possible to not fear Kurant, Bonny leaned his unoccupied hand onto Kurant's knee. "Angle your knee a bit to the side for me, please," he asked the Monster Mage covered in only a few thick towels to reach a less sensitive part of the kneww to make the first incision. "Kry?"
Kry acknowledged through his aura.
That wouldn't do.
"Verbally," Bonny corrected.
"Sorry."
It was fine. Better he remind before they begin than during the procedure.
"Yes, I am ready, Dr. Sa–"
"Bonny," the monster doctor corrected even quicker. It was Bonny doing the procedure, not Dr. Sallus. Only Bonny was allowed to do surgery on one of his dearest of friends.
"I am ready, Bonny."
"Hey," came a whisper from Kurant. Both Bonny and Kry reacted to it, looking at her with building worry. "I trust both of you with this," she said with complete conviction in her words. "We'll get through this."
Together.
"You'll feel a little prick," Bonny informed as he pinched some skin on the outside of Kurant's knee. With his scalpel he made a small incision across the pinched, flush skin. There was no reaction from Kurant. "Guess a small prick is nothing against what you've had your entire life? Heh."
"Like a sigh among a discussion," she answered casually.
"How busy the discussion?"
"Not exactly a discussion about pouring in milk before or after the tea."
God forbid. That much bloodshed would be dangerous for the surgery.
"However it's a bit more than where exactly Asgore's beard ends and his hair begins."
Fair enough a discussion then.
"It's not that I did not feel it, if that's what you're wondering," Kurant continued more clearly which Bonny was happy for that she did. "Again, it's a sigh among a discussion. I still felt my skin open up, and it's definitely different from my other pain, however it's more a curious sensation now, really."
Bonny should really have been taking notes of all that Kurant said. Had it been any other human he'd have an apprentice of his acting as stenographer.
"Kry," Bonny addressed after moving the scalpel away while still keeping the skin pinched. "Try and hone in on the curious sensation and not the chronic pain. It should be different enough for you to pick up on." With a quick wipe and a harder pinch, the blood was but a faint smear on the flush skin pinched between Bonny's otherwise-soft fingers. "If you need another incision do not hesitate to ask."
"It doesn't hurt," Kurant added to further ease Kry. "If you need another one it is perfectly fine. I trust you, so please trust me too."
The First Monster Mage breathed alone for a couple of inhales before he took a hold around the incision with his sleeved hand. He closed his eyes with an encroaching calm that relaxed his face into a state of determined peace. His brow smoothed out as did his eyelids. The white room took on a subdued green to it as Kry healed the incision without any effort being displayed upon his tranquil expression.
As he released the pinched skin there was nothing to indicate that it had been broken. A complete healing without any scarring to be shown.
For as much as Bonny would have loved that the calm and quiet moment continued… "Did you feel the distinction?" He watched with a slight sense of sinking as Kry's folds returned to his brow.
"I felt it, but I could not make the distinction out as clear as I would want it to be." With apologetic eyes he looked into Kurant's calm ones. "I'm sorry, but I feel like we have to do another."
"No problem," Kurant was quick to say with a confident motion of her head. "Take as many tries as you need."
"One more will be enough," Kry replied with a bit of offense to his tone which Kurant snickered at. "I only need one more," he repeated to make it perfectly clear.
That Kurant was able to play his pride towards something constructive was simply flabbergasting to Bonny. He could not for the life of him, but Kurant's could in her position? Truly fascinating.
Another incision was made on a different patch of pinched skin than the first one. Kry needed to find the distinction of Kurant's pain from scratch again.
Or incision again, in this case.
The second time her pale-flushed skin closed up Kry nodded before opening his eyes. "I've got it now," he informed to Bonny directly and Kurant indirectly. "I am ready for the next step, Bonny."
So were Kurant as Bonny moves to look towards her.
And so were Bonny.
He just needed one more collecting inhale and exhale.
In.
…
And out.
A quick bend down later Bonny placed the cloth divider borrowed from one of the guest rooms up between him and Kry on one side and Kurant's upper half on the other. Its white fabric created a strange parallax against the white of the wall far behind it. Where the divider ended and the wall began was hard to discern, but that was not something to be taken notice of when the surgery had to be done.
"Have you put in the cottons in your ears, Kurant?" Bonny shouted through the divider.
A couple of seconds passed by without an answer as Bonny's voices echoed to a silence.
"If you're asking me about the cotton I have them in," Kurant shouts back after an odd amount of time. "Can't hear."
"Good," Bonny said to Kry. "Now I want you to ang–"
"Good luck!" added Kurant out of the blue.
Or white.
Bonny held his explanation for a few seconds in case Kurant wanted to say something else, but it seemed like she was done for the moment. He cleared his throat. "Please angle her knee to where you feel you can have the best grip on it."
A quiet protest expressed itself in the form of Kry raising his eyebrow just a tad. "Isn't it better if the angle is best for you?" His increased blinking had him impatient for an answer.
"You'll be healing her and I'll be doing the invasive procedure. I'd rather the healing be the priority in case we need to abort the surgery. This is your first time, Kry. I've done this before." Bonny motioned for Kry to go ahead as he took a step to the side. "Please."
With a timid approach Kry stepped in to take up the space Bonny left vacant. He first tried one angle more above the knee, but that did not really give his hands a good grasp. Not from the side either. With a sink of his brow Kry decided to walk around the surgery table. Due to his length he catched a glimpse of Kurant over the divider which he sent a smile to. Bonny knew that Kurant sent one back without being able to see it.
"Here," Kry said as he leaned slightly across the table to grab the knee. "This works for me. I won't have to worry about my elbows nudging you while you work."
"That's good. Glad you thought ahead."
The time had come now.
"Remember," said Bonny while mounting a new blade to the scalpel with practiced efficiency. "I want you to keep the pain from spreading, and not the wound healed. While I work I will keep an eye on Kurant's hand next to me to see if she makes the sign that she is uncomfortable."
The flush of Kurant's injured knee is subdued by the light-green presence flowing out of Kry's sleeved hand. From the many lines filled on his sleeve the healing magic ran like a slow myriad of emerald rivers down towards his palm. Like mist on a summer's morning the magic enveloped the knee like drops of dew onto the petals of flowers.
Bonny looked down at Kurant's hand peeking through the bottom of the divider. Her thumb was extended. There was no overbearing discomfort for her.
"Move your magic away from the knee cap," instructed Bonny coldly. There was no room for emotion no more. Only complete focus. With the fresh blade of the scalpel held expertly in his hand Bonny made a new incision on top of the knee from up to down in one stable motion.
The thumb was still extended.
Although the healing mist seemed a bit...thinner? Was it being absorbed? Was that why? Shouldn't Kry…
Kry?
"Kry?"
The Monster Mage's dark skin was drained of color, turned almost ashen. His tall and imposing form was huddled and on the cusp on quivering like an aspen leaf. Meekly he wa still keeping his hands on the task, but the rest of his body was pulling away from the knee of his friend. His aura was too busy with exhaling magic for anything other than the healing to be felt through it.
Was it due to the blood?
"Her life..."
Kurant's thumb bounced once confusingly as Bonny places a towel onto the knee and pushed it down to apply enough pressure to stop the blood from flowing. "We're helping her," Bonny had to voice. "Is this the first time you have seen blood, Kry? Seen it pour from someone else?"
Through lips as gray as a corpse's Kry stuttered an answer. "F-First time I've seen it like this." His swallow was hard, as if trying to push a rock through a ring. "It's...confusing to me, and the confusion has me uncomfortable."
That wouldn't do. "What is it that makes you confused, Kry?" Bonny had to solve it before he could continue. If Kry lost focus it ran the risk of causing permanent damage to Kurant. "Tell me."
"She's a monster..."
Yeah that was understandable that it was confusing to him. Having convinced himself by all his might that he and Kurant were monsters to stand as beacons of the Cooperative Connection, and now he was to try and operate on her very-much-human body.
"You didn't freeze up like this during the first incision," Bonny reminded. "What makes now different? Is it because it has sunk in for you? Or is there more to it?"
"More."
How much more was the real question. Bonny did not have time to solve either way if it was much more or just slightly more. Each second wasted was one more where something could go wrong.
"You're having a human reaction to this, Kry," Bonny stated coldly and directly. "And now you need to be a monster. Don't think, not with your head. All that is needed of you here is your soul and your magic. Just the same as I'm not Dr. Sallus now and only Bonny, so do you need to be only a Monster Mage and not Kry. Dr. Sallus would never agree to do this, and Kry is the one having the human reaction towards seeing surgery for his first time. Neither of them should be here at the moment."
Bonny pointed towards himself.
"Bonny."
And then towards Kry.
"Monster Mage."
He retracted his finger from the Monster Mage to continue with the surgery
As Bonny carefully lifted the towel he saw that the green magic had regained its thickness around the kneecap. Relief rushed through him like refreshing rain feeling it touch his fur as he coaxed the healing away from where he was to continue. With any other mage's healing it wouldn't be thick or viscous enough to be physically manipulated, and the feeling was quite novel to just move magic away that wasn't supposed to be completely physical.
The incision deepened slowly so that Bonny could feel exactly where the bone was. As they were to inscribe magical lines into it he didn't want to make ones accidentally by going too fast.
A quick glance down reaffirmed that Kurant's thumb was still extended. The First Monster Mage's eyes were also staring into a middle distance a few floors below so that was good too. Everywhere but the knee right in front of him was good from him to look at.
"I will now open up the incision to expose the bone."
While Bonny was the only one hearing his own words it was still necessary for him to say it. That way he knew that he was doing the right thing by listening while he spoke. Doing so had him ordering and also following the order, doubling the resolve of his actions.
A few gentle dabs of the towel absorbed the blood that had bled. Due to the healing around the kneecap the bleeding that was to follow would be minuscule, so Bonny wouldn't have to risk fabric from the towel loosening and getting stuck inside Kurant. Using a pair of sturdy forceps the incision was widened to allow a view of the entire kneecap. It was a slippery peel with not a lot of force necessary for the skin to move.
The thumb was still extended.
Glistening white presented itself from underneath the peeled skin only needing the slightest of wipe to remove the smeared blood that hid itself from the first wipe. The bone rivaled the freshest of snow when it came to its glistening white. Even with the numerous surgeries under his belt Bonny was still fascinated over how clean and untouched the human skeleton was. Compared to monster skeletons there was no wear to the human bones. No roughage or worn from friction that was the norm for skeleton monsters to have as their dust was more exposed compared to other types of monsters.
Untouched like a baby monster were Kurant's bones, but as part of an adult human. An adult human with an injury too. Kurant's knee had hurt ever since she was born. By all logic her kneecap should have had scars on it just like how injuries were presented on humans, yet the bone was smoother and more white than any skeleton monster Bonny had ever or would ever meet.
It was...conflicting.
Conflicting in a good way. In all other cases it was the humans that showed the passage of time most openly, but just below their skin there existed bone that a skeleton monster could only dream of having. Just like the human soul, in a way. From the outside it was the monsters that shone with their souls, but on the inside it was the humans.
It was the reason Bonny became a doctor.
To understand why and how this duality on top of duality existed.
"Thank you, Kurant."
For allowing Bonny one step closer to finding out.
"Thank you so much."
The thumb was still extended.
With a careful and tiny drag of the scalpel Bonny began etching in the arcane lines used to create the Cooperative Connection. With each pull and drag of his scalpel he kept an eye out for the extended thumb. The slightest move to it would have him abandoning the procedure. Each rounded line and each straight one ran the risk of being the one that became one too many for Kry's healing to handle. One that managed to find its way through the healing mist and become painful for Kurant.
It could not happen!
If Kurant associated the etched lines with pain she would end up in a worse condition!
Careful, careful.
The friction Bonny had to fight against to carve through the bone deep enough for the magic to be able to settle was palpable. Almost like trying to carve through rock. Sure sounded like it, but that was due to Bonny's teeth gritting together like pestles against his mortars and molars.
One more line connecting there.
Another connecting there.
He took into account the curvature so that the magic would focus inwards like a lens.
Like painting a canvas, he reminded to himself. He had to let the strokes flow where his soul wanted them to flow.
It was essentially instinct to a monster.
Don't think, just do.
Just do until it feels enough.
Then wipe it clean and marvel at the completed work.
Marvel at the smoothness that Bonny had vandalized in the name of helping his friend. The untouched innocence masking a deep hurt below it. A monster's curiosity painted with the roughest of brushes and with strokes of clinical metal.
The thumb was still extended.
"Kry." Bonny said the name like he was waving in the next patient back home at his clinic. "It is time now." With another quick pat with a towel he cleaned up the residue from the carving. "The lines are done."
They only needed to be filled.
Filled with the most vivid memory Bonny could think of regarding Kurant. Too bad he could not choose the one he was in at the moment, but perhaps in the future if the lines needed to be refilled for any reason then the success of the procedure would definitely be the one to choose! Instead he was gonna use the time Kurant brought with her Sarbor Fech to Clinic Hill.
When she first asked Bonny for help about her knee.
"Today's the day," whispered Bonny as he put his hands onto the inscribed bone. The white of his fur blended into and with the white of the bone. "My longest consultation is coming to an end."
At first the feeling was hollow exposing the memories into the lines. A strange nudity to it. Vastly different from making magic. It was not surprising since it was to allow someone else to make magic, after all. Still, the feeling was quite novel. Bonny was glad that he got to experience it with Kurant and Kry. It might be that his magic was weak, but with the two Monster Mages near him he felt as if his magic was the most powerful there was!
Among the calm and respectful aura of Kry.
And the way Kurant was…
No.
No no no no!
The thumb!
"Kry!"
Kurant's thumb was gripped tightly! It was no longer extended! Her hand was shaking! She was in pain!
"Kry you need to increase the potency of your healing. Kurant's–"
"Not in pain."
What!
With breathing sharpened more than his scalpel, Bonny turned to Kry who is blinking with fear. "Kurant's not in pain, Bonny."
What did he mean by that? Her entire arm was shaking as if going into shock! She was clearly in pain!
"Her aura..."
She didn't have one! Her sleeve is off! Bonny had not given enough for one to from in the inscriptions on her knee cap yet! She was…
"Singe my soul..."
Kry was right.
Kurant had an aura to her!
And it was…
Denying.
It's not in pain. It was angry. Defensive. Rejecting.
It...refused.
It…
With a paw shaking as much as Kurant's hand was, and with a pink hint of blood on it, Bonny dragged away the cloth of the divider. What he met had him both flinching backwards and standing still patiently at the same time. Baffled in a stupor that grasped him like a cocoon.
A light.
A subtle, almost invisible light amid the brightness of the white room.
Yet it was still there.
Within Kurant's chest.
Glowing with a green color not unlike the healing mist for a few seconds before fading away like the flicker of a candle blown out. A notion that would carry his work for years to come. It had him stunned with possibilities, all of which there was a basis for consideration with him having witnessed it.
For a mere, brief moment. Only him, and only it.
As the green haze of Kry's healing mist intensified Bonny could not help but smile when he should have been worried. When he should have done something about the knee he completely ignored it. Instead, he looked to where the green had glowed inside Kurant's chest instead of the green glowing inside her closing knee from Kry. "Thank you," the monster doctor said with a bow to his head. A genuine bow. "Thank you so much."
He thanked with all of his soul.
To all of Kurant's.
