Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
A Dream Deferred – Chapter 109
Originally Written: Saturday, September 2, 2023 901AM to ~1000AM; 1125PM; Wednesday, September 6, 2023 1007AM to 1027AM
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Albedo let Swamps stare at him, even though he looked uncomfortable doing it. He shifted so he was further up front in his oversized containment tube. Swamps continued staring, arms folded, with a thoughtful frown on his face and concern in his eyes.
Gwendolyn sat curled up in a chair off to the side with a cat-eye shaped, light blocking sleeping mask covering her face. He almost felt bad that she was forced to stay by his side until they solved his anodite issue. However, she seemed quite interested in the task and used him as a guinea pig of sorts to take notes about. He never saw her write down those notes, but he knew her well enough to know that she was. Somehow, he didn't seem to mind. Her bedside and medical care manners were scores better than his mentor's.
Doctors shifted around her, as she wasn't in the way, and nothing they did seemed to wake her. He would have thought she wasn't conscious, but occasionally she would glow, and his mana would waft intentionally in front of his face, urging him to gather it. He still couldn't maintain his human form, but he was gaining more and more stability with his anodite form with every passing day.
"Is something wrong?" He eventually asked Swamps. He pushed a few clumps of wavy blue violet hair out of his face. He had no control over which direction his hair went. To his own annoyance, his mana based hair fell over his eyes. Yet, it didn't block his vision. It was as though he were looking through a filter that tinted everything he saw with a blue violet tint.
"Nah. Just making sure you're alright." Swamps shook his head.
"You could have just asked." Albedo shook his head.
"That's too easy." The methanosian waved a hand with a smile.
Albedo smiled a small smile. Near the doorway, Swamps' plumber guard, Kirito, waited patiently. They were reading a book, while seemingly pretending that nothing outside the book they were currently looking at actually existed.
Swamps looked at Gwendolyn. A bright pink glow enveloped her body. At the same time a few doctors took extensive notes from the computers and machines they were sitting in front of.
Albedo pulled back in the ball of mana pushed in his direction. The mana he had to grab was getting smaller, with Gwendolyn's attention and Juggernaut's guidance, but he still never noticed his mana was fading away until someone told him.
He shifted so he was kneeling. "How is everyone?" He asked, eager to shift focus away from him. The glow surrounding Gwendolyn died down.
Swamps looked off to the side in Kirito's direction. She nodded in response though she hadn't looked up to see him. Swamps nodded and looked at him. "Mostly everyone is fine. Ryo's dad came through and tore into all the higher up mooks before taking everyone else home. Legally couldn't grab Fridge, Hugh and me. He sure as hell tried though. The worst is still Hugh."
"Worst off? I thought he was healing." Albedo ran his fingers against Justimon's scarf. Gwendolyn asked him why he was still calling it 'justimon's scarf', when it was his. He didn't have an answer, and he still didn't. Yet, he still called it Justimon's scarf, as though that was the item's title.
"What's it called, sepsis?" Swamps rubbed the back of his neck.
Albedo stared at him. "Excuse me? Sepsis? Do you know what that is? Are you sure that's what it was? You told me he was fine last time I asked."
"Hugh was fine. Before he got sick. Then they explained it to me 'n Fridge. Pretty sure it was sepsis. The illness humans get when their flesh dies within 'em and they get bacteria in their blood and the body freaks out?" He looked back at Kirito. She said another word in Methanosian. "Yea, that."
Albedo frowned, "That is sepsis, yes." For once he was actually glad that he and his friends had ties to the Plumbers. For two, the fact that Swamps caught onto the medical description in the first place reminded him of Swamps Prime. He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing.
"Eon's blade did a number on him." Swamps shook his head. "If he wasn't a Vaxasaurian, he'd be dead. Even in the Digital World. Would have killed him outright in the real world. They thought he was healing fine, but then he got sick. They found dead...you know, deeper under the surface. So he'll be in the hospital wing a bit longer."
"I see." Albedo looked down. He wasn't wishing or hoping they'd return, but he had noticed he hadn't had any dreams of Ben Tennyson trying to kill him since Eon's fall. He did however think quite a bit about the steps Hugh had taken to protect him. He wasn't looking forward to having that conversation.
Swamps rubbed the back of his head. "Henry's not ever gonna get along with him, is he?"
"Hugh?" Albedo swirled mana around his finger, instead of grabbing it.
"Yea."
"What makes you say that?" He watched the mana waft in front of him. He wondered if his mana moved like his thoughts, always shifting from one topic to the next. Unlike his brain though, his mana couldn't keep up with the shifting of topics and concerns.
"Just feels like…you ever seen two people fight over who gets to be a third person's best friend?"
"Yes." Albedo resisted snorting in amusement.
Gwendolyn, however, did not.
Swamps looked at her, unamused. He huffed. "Like that."
"That's over simplifying it greatly, but yes."
"That's oversimplified?" Swamps shook his head, "Forget I asked. Humans are still weird."
"Yes, they are." Albedo replied. "They'll get along eventually. Two people vying to be a good friend to someone have the same goal in mind. Usually. It is a bit of a balancing act." He knew better now, but he was still reminded of himself and Takato. Their ties to Jeri, Henry and Ryo somehow made them allies. It was a strange setup, that seemed to be holding steady, and he wasn't sure when the shift had come about.
Swamps stared at him. Kirito looked at him as well for just a moment. Gwendolyn returned to pretending she was unconscious. Albedo watched his mana swirl around his fingers and Justimon's scarf. The doctors and plumbers shuffled about, examining equipment and data they would probably never completely understand within their lifetimes.
