This was written for InArduisFidelis on AO3 for the 2023 Battleship Bingo.
To say that Ballister's shoulder ached was an understatement. It had ached every day of the past week since he the Glorodome, and right now it was worse than it had been before. Even the pain after Ambrosius had cut his arm off hadn't been this bad, if only because Ballister had been so full of adrenaline that he had found himself ignorant of the pain.
But now? Now his arm burned. His head burned, too, but still somehow not as hot as his shoulder. He felt like fire was eating away at the stump, ready to spread from the shoulder and into the rest of his torso. Maybe the fire would consume his heart, burning away the pain that had been there ever since Ambrosious had disarmed him.
And then the burning feeling on his head went away quite suddenly, replaced by the feeling of something cool and damp on his forehead. It was soothing at first, but the contrast called all the more attention to just how painfully hot his shoulder was. Ballister moaned in pain.
"It's okay, you're gonna be okay. I promise," said a voice that Ballister was not expecting to hear. Ambrosius shouldn't have been here, so maybe this was all a horrible dream, and when Ballister woke up the queen would still be alive. But if it was a horrible dream, then why did his arm hurt so badly?
Had Ballister's name been cleared when he had been trying to find the parts to build himself a prosthetic? Maybe if he opened his eyes, he would find himself in the Institute's infirmary. Everything would be okay. The Institute would provide him with a prosthetic and time off to get used to it.
He opened his eyes to the stone tower that had been serving as his shelter. Ambrosius wasn't wearing his armor, and there were deep bags under his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Ballister's words came out slurred. Ambrosius winced.
"I know you don't want to see me, and I can go once you're well. But I found you on the floor, and I thought you were dead, so please let me take care of you, until you're... at least until the infection's gone."
On the floor? Ballister supposed that he didn't remember falling asleep on the couch. "Of course I want you here."
"But I chopped your arm off!"
"You were disarming a weapon." Ballister drifted back into unconsciousness before he could hear Ambrosius's argument. The pain in his shoulder remained, but the heartbreak wasn't there anymore.
A/N: And soon after this, Ambrosious wakes Ballister up so he can take medication to fight off the infection in his shoulder.
