Numbah 1 looked around the room he was in, it was quite the lavish yet cozy bedroom. But it all felt so familiar somehow. He knew it wasn't his bedroom, but then why was he here if it wasn't his?
Numbah 1 looked down at his arms, the sleeves of his red sweater were pulled up to his elbows, revealing snow white bandages that were wrapped up to his elbows and were also wrapped around the palms of his hands too, band-aids dotted his face. He was still wearing his G.K.N.D outfit, minus the gloves, visor and boots. Numbah 1 looked over and found said boots neatly sitting at the side of the bed. As for the visor...just the thought of it being strapped onto his face again made Numbah 1 shudder.
Numbah 1's side felt weird, like something was wrapped around it. He pulled up his red turtleneck sweater to see that someone had cleaned up and bandaged up the gash on his lower right side.
There were two white square shaped band-aids over his weakly throbbing temples, one over each temple. Numbah 1 pushed his round sunglasses up on his nose, he vaguely remembered Numbah 5 giving the sunglasses back to him after the visor finally snapped and fell away.
Numbah 1's whole body felt warm, like he was just sitting in an oven, although he didn't know why. He felt a distant pinch in his right wrist and looked over to see a whole IV pole with an empty IV bag attached to his left wrist. Someone had pulled out all the stops to take care of him, but who? And why?
The grogginess and sluggishness had finally passed so he was able to get a basic idea of his surroundings, the room he was in was actually a pretty small room, about 25x25 with a twin sized bed pushed up against the northwest corner of the room. A nightstand with a lamp on it to his right and beyond that, a door that lead to the rest of wherever he was.
Numbah 1 suddenly heard shuffling from the end of the bed, he frantically backed up until his back hit the headboard. Panic was shooting through his veins because he didn't know who or what was in the room with him. Flickers of his nightmare invaded his mind, what if Numbah Infinity or Numbah 74.239 had found him and were about to finish him off? "I told you this was a bad idea!" A boy's voice hissed. "Well, i never asked you to come along, did i?" A second boy's voice hissed, both their voices were montone until emotion sparked liveliness into it."Hello?" Numbah 1 asked nervously into the not so empty room.
There was the sound of frantic shuffling from the footboard of the bed before David, the tallest of the Delightful Children with brunette hair covering his eyes, slowly peeked his head up from behind the footboard. David was extending his arm behind him in order to sheild Bruce, the blonde boy Delightful, behind him. David and Bruce sheepishly crept out from behind the footboard, both shared a timid look.
"You two...what are you two doing here?" Numbah 1 asked, his tone of voice accusitory. "What are we doing in here? You're in our house!" Bruce spoke up by himself, clearly annoyed as he stomped his foot on the ground to emphasize his point. David huffed and elbowed Bruce, giving off the vibe of an annoyed older sibling."What?" Bruce argued.
"I'm in the Manor? How?" Numbah 1 asked aloud, breaking the tension between the two boys. He remembered being in the rocky hills outside of town, far away from the Delightful Manor. "A few hours after you disappeared, one of Father's machines detected a strange engery signal, so Father and us followed it. Father found you in the hills, took pity on you, and brought you here. You were quite sick and you still are." Bruce and David explained in their usual synchronization. Numbah 1 could feel himself getting warmer by the minute, but he refused to admit such a thing front of his foes. Not when he had a treehouse to get back to and a Sector to lead.
"Oh please, im perfectly fine." The British boy scoffed at the duo as he carefully slid out of bed, manuvering the IV pole with him as he walked. He moved slowly as to not cause any pain on his wrist. "I-I wouldn't recommend that! You should lay down." David said, taking a step forward and gesturing towards the bed. "I said I'm fine, geez. Did Father program you guys to be worrywarts or something?" Numbah 1 asked sarcastically.
Now, instead of feeling like he was sitting in an oven, now it felt like he was sitting in a volcano. His walking was starting to get wobbly, the room was starting to spin. "What's going on in here? I heard people talking." Father, in his shadow suit, swung open the door with one arm, a medical kit tucked under his other arm.
The spinning of the room started to pick up speed. Numbah 1's limbs felt as though they'd been turned to jelly. He felt overwhelmingly dizzy and the ground suddenly rushed up at him to punch him in the face.
David and Bruce were barely able to scramble out of the way in time as Father sprinted past them. He caught an unconscious Numbah 1 under the arms, the child's body going near totally limp and his forehead thudded against Father's chest. Father let the medical kit drop to the floor, he immediately let his shadow suit fizzle away as to not raise Numbah 1's body temperature any higher, shifting his nephew in his arms so that he was holding him bridal style.
Father put the back of his hand to Numbah 1's forehead, it was like putting your hand against a fireplace. "He's less warm then before, but it's still not good. At least he's not dehydrated anymore." Father thought. He felt a liquid trickle on his hand. He looked down to see that when Numbah 1 had fallen, he'd unintentionally torn the IV out and now his left wrist was dripping blood. "Dammit." Father hissed under his breath, before looking up to finally address Bruce and David who were huddled together and couldn't take their wide eyes off Numbah 1's bleeding wrist.
"David, hand me the medkit. Bruce, get me the flu medicine from the downstairs bathroom and a spoon from the kitchen. Now." Father ordered."Yes, Father." David and Bruce said in sync. Bruce then ran out of the room while David scrambled over to Father and handed him the medkit. Father popped the medkit open, he pulled out a roll of gauze and a clamp before propping Numbah 1's left arm up.
"David, keep your eyes on me. Just hold the medkit open for me." Father said, he could sense David shuddering and squirming, his eyes locked on Numbah 1's bleeding wrist. Father knew that David couldn't stand blood. David could stand needles, snakes, spiders, heights and other things that commonly scared children. But blood? It made David's skin crawl and made him shiver nervously.
"Y-yes, Father." David whimpered, gulping nervously with his hands gripping the medkit so hard, his knuckles were going white. Father wrapped the bleeding wrist in gauze, the white bandages immediately being stained crimson. Father then put some tape on his wrist to keep the gauze in place and to keep pressure on the wound so Numbah 1 didn't bleed out in the guest bedroom.
"David, hand me a cotton ball, please." Father asked, extending his hand. "Here, Father." David said as he handed his father a clump of cotton balls, trying to sound calm but the scared tremble in his voice betraying him. Father took the clump of cotton balls and dabbed away the spare blood trickling down the boy's arm.
Once Numbah 1 was cleaned up, Father picked Numbah 1 up and tucked him into bed."David?" Father asked aloud once he was done, turning around to face David. "Yes, Father?" David replied nervously, his hands clapsed together and his shoulders tense. "I know blood freaks you out, but you did a good job of keeping your fears in check. I'm proud of you." Father said, ruffling David's hair. David giggled a bit, "Thank you, Father!" He replied.
Almost immediately after the conversation between Father and David, Nigel started to stir and regain consciousness. "Father! I brought the medicine!" Bruce cried out, sprinting back into the room with a medicine bottle in one hand and a spoon in the other hand. "Thank you, Bruce. You are both excused." Father said as he took the bottle and spoon from Bruce. David and Bruce stepped out of the room as Father used telekinesis to hold the bottle and spoon in the air, standing at Numbah 1's bedside.
"Nigel?"
"Nigel, wake up!"
Numbah 1's eyes slowly started to blink open, his body felt sluggish and groggy again. The world felt wobbly and distant but it was slowly getting closer. He could hear someone's voice, a familiar voice, but it sounded far away.
"Nigel? Can you hear me?"
The world wasn't distant anymore and the wobblyness was gone, the groggyness was still there but the familar voice was getting closer and closer. Numbah 1 turned his head slightly towards the sound of the voice, he saw a tall, pale man with glowing yellow eyes sheilded by red rimmed glasses, a pipe sat in his mouth.
"Nigel, wake up!"
Numbah 1 suddenly remembered. That tall pale man with yellow eyes was his uncle, Benedict Uno. Although, he was better known as "Father", a villain dressed in shadow who's constant anger channeled into burning hot fire, he was both feared and hated by children everywhere.
Numbah 1 remembered now, he was in the Delightful Manor, Fathers house. He remembered Bruce, one of the five infamous Delightful Children and his adoptive cousins saying something about Father bringing him here out of pity. But he was standing upright before, why was he now laying in bed?
"There you are. You had me worried for a second." Father said as he pinched the bridge of his nose, sounding both relived and tired. Numbah 1 propped himself up into a sitting position using the headboard of the bed. "I was standing before. Why am i laying down?" Numbah 1 asked as he rubbed the back of his neck. He still felt warm, but it was back to the oven level warm. But now, his left wrist was throbbing with a dull sting.
"From what i observed, you woke up and were out of bed, talking to Bruce and David. I entered the room just in time to see you pass out. I caught you before you hit your head and tucked you into bed." Father explained calmly. "Then what happened to my wrist? Im pretty sure i had an IV in this wrist before." Numbah 1 asked, holding up his bandaged wrist. "You're correct, there was an IV in that arm before. When you fell, the IV was ripped out so me and David patched up your arm." Father continued.
Numbah 1 put a hand to his forehead. "I'm still warm." He mumbled. "I suspected as much. The water i put in that IV helped rehydrate you and brought down your tempature, but it didn't bring your tempature down by much so you need some medicine." Father said, levitating the medicine bottle and spoon down into his hands.
Numbah 1 shuffled away from Father a bit, crossing his arms and eyeing the medicine bottle with a distrustful look on his face. "It's not poison, if that's what you're thinking. I wouldn't waste all this time and resources to kill you now." Father said in a snarky but stern tone, rolling his eyes at his nephew. Numbah 1 glanced up at Father, raising an eyebrow before eyeing the medicine bottle with a more neutral expression on his face. "Fine." Numbah 1 mumbled as he relaxed his body and shuffled over to the side of the bed where Father was. Father unscrewed the cap off the bottle and poured the swamp green liquid into the spoon.
"Do you want to give the medicine to yourself, or should I just do it?" Father asked, figuring that if he gave Nigel freedom of choice that might instill some sort of trust between them, or at least a mutual truce. "I'll do it." Nigel said, carefully taking the spoon from Father's hands as to not spill the medicine. He fed it to himself and cringed as the foul tasting medicine slithered down his throat, resisting the urge to cough it back up.
Numbah 1 managed to keep the medicine down, swallowing hard to push it down. "Where are you going?" Nigel asked as Father stood up, Father didn't respond. Instead, he reached down and retrieved the opened medical kit from the floor he'd dropped earlier. Father closed it up before walking back over to Numbah 1's bedside. "Now that you've gotten some medicine into you, I need to check your side. With the hospitals being as backed-up as they are from the Galactic Invasion, you can't risk an infection." Father explained before opening the medical kit with a click.
"I feel fine." Numbah 1 said hastily. Even though Numbah 1 knew it was probably in his best interest for the injury on his side to be checked out, he didn't want Father touching him. And he certainly didn't want him touching a weak spot. The raging heat and intensity of Father's flames whenever he would flare up right next to him and Sector V during various missions would forever be burned into his memory. The last thing he wanted to endure was a reminder of how badly fire can hurt if you're careless.
"That's a good sign, but i still need to check out your side. Hold still." Father said. Before Nigel could protest Father gently grabbed ahold of Nigel's sweater and pulled Numbah 1 towards him slightly since the boy had scooted away from Father a bit. Numbah 1's flinch when Father grabbed his sweater wasn't lost on the adult, but he put it off to the side for now.
Father looked over Numbah 1's bandage, the bandages weren't stained with crimson and were holding in place fine. "Looks fine on the outside. Now, i need to check the wound itself. Try not to flinch." Father said.
Numbah 1 was suprised for a second at the mention of the flinch but regained his composure just as quickly. "Yeah, got it." Numbah 1 said quickly, accompanied by a small nod. Father started to slowly undo the bandages, not all the way, but just enough to see the wound. Father was pleased to see that the injury was starting to close up nicely, the scar was red with it starting to scab over, and it was raised.
Even though Numbah 1 wasn't out of the woods yet, and not just in regards to his injuries, it was a good start.
Father gently prodded the outside of the scar, the scabbing was firm which was another good sign. Even though the touch was light, the low heat that naturally eminated from Father's body was enough to send memories of searing hot fire ripping through Numbah 1 mind like lightning, causing him to flinch once more. This time, Father addressed it immediately.
"Did that hurt?" Father asked, now concerned that the wound might not be healing as well as he thought."Uh--no, no, it didn't. Just...nothing..." Numbah 1 sheepishly half explained, his voice trailing off as Father became sliently aware of the reason for his nephew's flinching. Father nodded and quickly wrapped the bandage back up before letting Numbah 1 go, in his eyes was a slient understanding that almost seemed like guilt.
But Numbah 1 didn't have time to confirm that as Father closed the medical kit, turned and started to walk away from Numbah 1's bedside. "Where are you going now?" Numbah 1 inquired, leaning against the headboard with his arms crossed."I'm tired, so I'm going to take a nap. You should get some rest as well." Father hastily explained, his back to Numbah 1 as he walked out of the room and flicked off the light as he left.
Numbah 1 sunk down into the fuzzy bedsheets, his eyes were starting to droop and his body relaxed. Apparently, he did need some rest. Before long, exhaustion slowly lulled Numbah 1 back into sleep. But while he slept peacefully, outside the room, Father's mind was at the farthest thing from peace.
After putting the medical kit away, Father had retreated to his office and locked himself inside. He was standing in front of his desk, his whole body shaking with implications he didn't dare delve into for the sake of preserving his own sanity. One hand was planted on his desk with the other hand clapped over his mouth to muffle any stray whimpers that might worm their way up his throat.
"I didn't...how could i be...?" Father's thoughts were clashing in a brazen swordfight inside his head, dozens of emotions swirling around and jumbling together all at once. "I-I always knew we had a healthy distrust towards each other, Nigel and I. We are rivals after all, so that's to be expected. But...i didn't know it was this bad! The lightest touch...I so much as touch him and he flinches. My own family member? I scare him that badly?! How did he hide it for this long, or did i not notice? I know i scare every one of those K.N.D brats on some level but...when it's him i feel...different somehow?" Father thought.
"We almost lost him. We almost lost him twice. If we did lose him...Monty and Mary would be shattered, heartbroken. And now I feel...guilty?" Father's train of thought continued. The newly identified guilt swirled in his chest and leapt up into his mind, leading him to a usually outlandish result. "I have to be better to Nigel. He deserves it, he needs to have a shoulder to lean on after everything he's been through. But I've done so much to him, how am I going to be better after all this time?" Father stepped back from his desk, combing a hand through his ebony hair. "I guess I'll do what I always do when I reach a roadblock, go one step at a time and figure it out from there." Father thought.