A/N: For first time readers, my apologies if you are confused about events that are talking about in one chapter that didn't happen before... you might just wanna read along as I fix them, because you might get VERY confused if you read ahead. Go ahead though, do whatever you like, just a precaution.
Wilson's POV
"You feeling better?" I asked Webber, who had recently woken up and was sitting up, but looked perfectly miserable. "So-um- I don't think your jaw's broken, just fractured... can you speak?"
"Sounds like a familiar question," he mumbled. "But yeah, better than we could yesterday anyway. Will we be able to walk again?"
"Should be... I don't see why not, though you'd have to take it easy for awhile. You won't be able to for a few weeks... broken bones don't just heal over night."
His eyes widened. "You're telling us we won't be able to do anything for weeks- Wilson!" His voice turned whiny when he exclaimed my name, and I was taken slightly aback. He was threatening to tear WX limb from limb just a couple of days ago... and now he's kind of showing his kid side!
"Yes," I replied firmly. He sighed heavily, cringing, and I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't gathered any honey yet for his arm, but surely that wasn't what hurt this time. "What's wrong?"
"You've been trying to figure out what happened, haven't ch'a?"
I was shocked into silence. Was I really that predictable? Then again, I assumed I probably freaked him out yesterday when I was guessing his questions, but they were questions anyone would have- or at least I assumed so. Behind me, I sensed WX flinching.
"Isn't it obvious?" He adopted a wry look. "Come on, guess."
"You two got into a fight about something stupid."
"He started it," the spider flashed, admitting I had guessed right without an ounce of guilt or shock. "He hit us."
"YOU PROVOKED ME!" The robot protested, shoving me aside to glare at Webber.
"Stop it!" I stomped my foot. "I am sick of you two always fighting! I don't care who started it, I don't care who hit who first. All I know for certain is that Webber is one of us, WX, and he is hurt." As I turned to glare WX down, I saw in the corner of my eye that Webber had tried to hiss something in reply, but the quick movement must have hurt because he snapped his mouth shut, holding one hand over where the break would have been and resorted to just glowering.
WX met my gaze evenly, a hint of challenge in his 'eyes'. At first, I had thought that WX had started it after all, given the way he hit the spider without hesitation because of his curiosity over the book, but now I realized just the look he was giving me was enough to instantly make anyone hostile, and it was becoming more and more likely to me that Webber had been the one to throw the first punch. "HE'S HURT BECAUSE OF HIS OWN STUPIDITY," WX huffed. "I LACK THE EMPHATHY MODULE TO FEEL BAD FOR THE IGNORANT."
"If you're so amazing actually fight us this time and don't cower at the first sight of danger!"
He took a step forward, hand raised in readiness to take him up on the offer. "You know what?" My patience finally snapping, I smacked his hand down and wrapped my leg around his, yanking his feet out from under him, and pushed him to the ground. He landed with a dull thump, and Webber's eyes stretched wide in admiration.
"Wow!" He breathed. "We wish we could do that!"
"I said stop it. Which means you two stop fighting! WX, come with me."
"NO!" He jumped to his feet, 'eyes' burning with anger. "I'M NOT BEING STUCK WITH A MEATSACK."
"Are you saying you'd rather be stuck with Webber? Because- you know what, that sounds like a great idea. Think of it as a team building exercise. Step one: You two stay here without killing each other. Step two: You two find a way to keep yourselves from killing each other. Done!"
Despite my loss of patience, I could've died laughing by the identical looks of pure rage and shock that the two gave me.
"While you two are learning how to be friends, I'm going to be gathering honey for Webber's wound. You know, doing something productive? Wh-What is so funny?" A wide grin had been spreading across the spider's face. "What?"
"You're," he paused, snickering. "You're literally just gonna leave and pretend we aren't gonna try to hurt each other physically and/or mentally?"
"I'm going to leave and hope you two aren't gonna try to hurt each other physically and/or mentally." I scowled at him. "Come on! You two have known each other for four days. Four days for Pete's sake, that isn't enough to hate each other the way you two do!"
"OH, HOW... ADORABLE," WX sneered. "YOU HAVE BEEN SO SHELTERED, HAVEN'T YOU? FIRST TIME SEEING THE OUTSIDE WORLD, WILSON? OR ARE YOU JUST DULL?"
I took a deep breath. "WX, I'm not going to give you the pleasure of starting something-"
"SCARED, SCIENTIST?"
"No, I just don't fight to solve my problems."
"AH, WE HAVE A COWARD THEN?"
"Says the one who ran as soon as he saw the treeguard!" Webber snapped.
I rubbed my temples.
"I MIGHT HAVE SAVED YOUR LIFE!" Actual shock reverberated in his voice, and I perked at the new information.
"What!?"
The spider looked faintly lost, as though he either did not realize he had did so or he just remembered that he did.
"SHOULD'VE GUESSED WE WOULD HAVE LEFT OUT THAT DETAIL. AFTERALL, WHAT DOES THAT MAKE THE EVER-SO-BRAVE-WEBBER IF WILSON KNEW HE COMPLETELY FROZE UP." He tipped his chin. "I HAD TO PRACTICALLY DRAG HIM AWAY TO KEEP IT FROM DOING EVEN WORSE."
Webber lowered his gaze, muttering under his breath.
"What?"
"Maybe we didn't want you to save our life," he growled before lying back down and turning his back on us.
I was completely lost for words. Had he really just said he wanted to die? Or was he just feeling like he wanted to because of the amount of pain he was in? I couldn't help him more than I already had- minus the wound on his arm- and the way he winced when he sighed earlier lead me to believe that damage had been done to his ribs also, so maybe...?
I noticed that WX had a similar look of shock and even a bit of concern, but as soon as I looked at him he quickly covered it up with a sneer, so I wasn't even sure if I had actually seen it or not. "AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE GOING SOMEWHERE?" He asked me impatiently.
I found myself opening and closing my mouth a few times, trying to form words. He let out a slightly annoyed huff and turned back to the fire we had tried to keep alive. All of the wood had burned away, leaving just a pile of ash and charcoal in its wake, and the breath suddenly rushed out of my lungs in a heavy sigh. He brushed the ashes away and lifted his axe over his shoulder. The axe was another thing that had just appeared randomly- WX had found it and had refused to explain its origins, but it had made better fires than the meager pickings of grass and twigs we had been living off of until then.
Had I not heard the tremor of terror quivering in the spider's voice when he told me about the voice that whispered to him in the darkness, I would've believed it was just a figment of his young, childlike mind, and we wouldn't have resorted to burning small amounts of grasses and twigs to keep the darkness away when we couldn't find the proper wood we needed. However useful WX's axe was- however- it unsettled me to know we had no clue how he found it. Did he find someone already dead? Did he raid someone's camp? Did he kill someone?
Any of the possibilities were likely knowing him.
As the robot delved into the forest for wood, I took a few moments before going out myself to check on Webber's wounds. He had fallen asleep again, luckily, so I was able to check him for wounds other than his arm, jaw and legs, namely his ribs. They didn't look broken... perhaps just fractures like his jaw, or even just bruised. I frowned again at his arm. He might not feel it compared to the more intense pain that must have been in his broken bones, but that didn't stop it from becoming deadly should it get infected. To be honest, that was my biggest priority. I reached out to check when he stiffened before I even touched his chest. I paused, my hand in midair. His teeth were bared and his hands were clenched around his grass bed. Confusion gave way to fear for the child, and I shook him fiercely, trying to wake him up. His eyes snapped open and he yelped, pushing me away. "Watch it!"
"What... was that!?" I demanded.
"What was what?" His voice was turning sleepy again.
I frowned a bit. "Night terrors?"
"Nightmares," he replied instantly, sighing as he tried to relax. To be honest, I wasn't sure what startled him more. The nightmare or me waking him up. "Don't worry yourself about it... it's... just one of the perks of being us." Another heavy sigh that melted into a soft snore, and I wondered for just a moment if he would even recall that this had happened. I lightly patted the boy's furry shoulder.
"We'll get you all fixed up, Webber," I murmured to him. "WX and I... he cares too, trust me. I can tell. You'll be better in no time."
Bees, for the most part, are very protective creatures, namely over their home and honey. Luckily, they were also big, heavy, and slow animals, making it pathetically easy to just outrun them. This made the hard part not not getting injured by them, but finding a way to contain honey. It was too easy to take simple things like jars for granted, but when you found yourself without one, it suddenly became a distant, pleasant thought. I found myself having to carry the honeycomb with my bare hands, causing the oozing yellow liquid to drip through my partially spread fingers and making my shirt sticky with honey.
By the time I got back, I was surprised beyond words to find that the robot had actually reappeared shortly before I had gotten back, and currently had his back to a tree trunk, a pile of odd shaped tree nuts to the right of him, to the left of him was a collection of intricately carved figurines. "What are those?"
"BIRCHNUTS."
I frowned, realizing I should have known that. After all, it wasn't exactly a secret that I had snatched the book from him. I should've remembered it from the reading, but I must have dozed off before getting to information about them. "New trees?"
He nodded, squinting at another birchnut he held in one hand. The outer coating had been sliced off clearly to reveal a whitish green inside. He used the axe he held to chip a few slices of it off. Webber was conscious again, though he still appeared drowsy. His eyelids drooped as he watched WX blankly.
"...what are you doing?"
He blinked up at me, a twinge of annoyance showing through. "SOMETHING," he muttered, turning back to his work. I picked up one of the carved birchnuts by his side. It was incredibly well-made and unmistakably a Chess piece- a rook to be more specific.
"...you're carving Chess pieces?"
"YOU'D BE SURPRISED WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU GET BORED," he replied without looking back up.
I cringed. I remembered last time I got bored, and it did not end well. Shaking the thought away, I glanced at Webber. "What are you doing?"
"Watching," he mumbled. "Is that honey?" I nodded and he let out a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness. Our arm was really beginning to hurt." I raised my brow.
"Can I check it...?"
"Please do." He grimaced. "We didn't feel it much at first, but it aches now. Where did you get so good at doctoring?" He asked, lifting his arm so show me the gash.
"My father was a doctor," I replied absentmindedly. "He crammed knowledge at me since I was little. That's actually what got me into being a scientist. Medical science was fascinating."
"Guess it's a good thing he did so. We have no clue where we would be if you were as clueless as us." I shook my head slowly, letting out a flustered noise. "Is it that bad?"
"Well... it's infected. Just as I was afraid of. Hopefully the honey will help."
"IS IT LETHAL?" I jumped out of my skin as WX piped up behind me. Is he concerned?
"No, not if I can get it treated quick enough," I told him without looking back. "If I'm gonna fix this, I'll have to clean it up a bit. Is that okay? It'll hurt, but it'll feel better in the long run."
Webber nodded.
"I'll be right back. WX, do you have any extra birchnuts? Any large ones?"
"INDEED." He dragged his backpack- another thing he appeared with without explanation- closer to him and opened it up, revealing that it was nearly full of the large seeds, then promptly produced two tree nuts.
"Thank you." I snatched up a piece of flint and made my way towards where the frog ponds were. By this time, dusk was beginning to fall. On the way, I took the time to carefully carve out the inside of the tree nuts. Much to my relief, no frogs were out of the ponds. I filled the makeshift cups then returned to camp to boil the water and hopefully kill whatever toxins lived in it. Upon returning to base, I noted that WX had apparently finished his Chess carvings, and was building up the fire, while Webber gazed into the dancing flames, his muscles stiff as though preparing for the worst. They both looked up as I rushed into the clearing, and WX quickly handed me a few large leaves, but refused to meet my gaze as though he was embarrassed. Amusement bubbled up inside of me at his gesture, but I had to admit it was quite kind of him- a complete change from how he was the day before.
The sun had gone down by the time I determined the water was safe. Using the leaves WX gave me, I cleaned Webber's wound in the firelight. The spider had his eyes shut tightly and his jaws clenched, but luckily did not flinch as I expected him to. "Are you done?" He asked through gritted teeth as I fixed the poultice over the gash.
"Yeah, that's it."
He visibly relaxed and breathed out in relief. "It feels so much better... thank you Wilson."
"No problem. It just needed some proper care."
He smiled, then yawned, causing me to yawn as well.
"FLESHLINGS NEED THEIR SLEEP," WX advised, a hint of sneer back in his voice.
I mentally chortled. Well, he's back I guess. Not sure exactly what that was about...although... that was an awfully non-sinister thing he said. Maybe he just likes to pretend he's a jerk. Maybe he's really nice on the inside.
I nearly burst out laughing at this thought. Some part of me highly doubted that was the case. I nodded sleepily, then lay down by the fire. It felt like it had been awhile since I had slept.. Tomorrow I'll go explore a bit... maybe find that birchnut forest WX was talking about.
I could leave them alone just for a little bit...
Right?
