"Get away from him!" Louise screamed.
Tabitha was careless. She thought Aselith was there to help, to heal Saito. Instead, his hand was in the boy's chest, and it was going even deeper.
"Aselith!" Tabitha yelled, speaking much louder than she was used to. She didn't know if she could actually fight him, but she leveled her staff at him regardless.
He didn't look her way. He didn't even react to Louise's punches, for all the good those did. His arm just kept going deeper and deeper into Saito. However…
"What?" Kirche seemed to realize something was off as well.
Aselith bent over, his arm going into Saito, right up to his shoulder. Then, more of him. And more. It was happening so quickly, Tabitha wasn't sure she was seeing things properly.
And then, Aselith was gone. By the time his feet lifted off the ground to be…consumed, perhaps, by Saito, his body began to turn into a black mist.
"Saito!" Despite the absurdity of what they just witnessed, Louise recovered quickly, checking over Saito with her hands.
Tabitha got closer to observe. She quickly noticed that the place Aselith first placed his hand was bare of any wounds.
"What…just happened?" Kirche asked no one in particular.
"Tabitha!" Louise yelled, whirling in place to glare at her. "What did your familiar do!?"
"Don't know." She truly didn't. He didn't mention any healing magic before, nor whatever this was.
"If he hurt my familiar, I'll—"
A gasp from behind Louise cut her off. When she turned back around, Saito's eyes were open. He leaned up from his place on the cot, arms at his sides.
"S-Saito?" Louise whispered. A whirlwind of emotions crossed her face.
Saito sat still, almost completely unmoving. His eyes shifted, looking at Louise. But, no, those weren't…
"You idiot!" Louise yelled, raising her hand, ready to strike. She had settled on anger. "I told you to stop fighting!"
She brought her hand down. Saito reached out and grabbed her wrist with his left hand, halting the strike.
"Assert yourself another time, girl." The voice was Saito's, from the few times Tabitha heard it. But the tone was completely different.
"What?" Louise looked more confused than angry.
"Aselith?" Tabitha asked.
"In the flesh." He responded with a smile. Was that a joke?
"How?" Tabitha then asked.
"Possession." Aselith said, releasing Louise. "It is usually employed by weaker dresili into prepared bodies, either mortal or animal, usually alive but sometimes dead. A dresili of my current power doesn't have a problem taking over a weakened body like this."
"Aselith." Tabitha spoke in a warning tone, but also a fearful one.
"We are alone." He said simply. "Will Louise make a fuss over this, seeing how she is currently benefiting?"
"A fuss?" Louise repeated, the anger starting to win over her confusion.
"Stop complaining, girl." Aselith chastised her. Before Louise could start again, Aselith brought up his—Saito's—right arm. "See?"
His meaning was clear. Saito's arm, which was clearly broken before, was now straight. In fact, the open wounds on Saito's body were closing, and his swollen eye was shrinking.
"This is…" Louise muttered, looking Saito over. She then seemed to catch herself, then crossed her arms. "Well, it seems you're doing as you said you would, so I won't complain."
Aselith grinned. "That's some strange gratitude you have there."
"I never asked for this!" Louise argued back.
"And yet, it is being done." Aselith said back.
"How long will this take?" Tabitha, wanting to end this argument, asked.
"A few minutes?" His response was more of a question. "What I'm actually doing is forcibly increasing his body's own healing potential. Saito is young and a human male, so this is…easier. He's also…eaten recently, so…the healing…"
As he spoke, he began to pant. The runes on Saito's hand began to glow.
"What's wrong?" Louise asked before Tabitha could.
"Something…the magic…" He could hardly get the words out.
Suddenly, Saito's body spasmed, forcing him to sit up with his back arched backward. In a fraction of a second, Tabitha saw Aselith shoot out from Saito's chest. His back slammed against the opposing wall in the room, then he fell forward onto the ground.
"Aselith!"
"Saito!"
The two masters quickly went to their familiars.
Tabitha was over Aselith as he pushed himself off the ground. His movement was sluggish, but he didn't seem to be injured.
"Are you alright…?" She asked before noticing something off. A lot of things, actually.
"Yes." Aselith straightened out. "Pain is such a strange sensation."
Tabitha blinked. It seemed like Aselith hadn't noticed, somehow.
"Uh, Aselith?" Kirche was the one to point out one of the things, literally.
He looked to where she was pointing. His right hand was actually his left; his left, however, was correct.
That was just one thing about him that was wrong. His left arm was shorter than his right and bent oddly, his head was off-center, one of his feet was backwards…
"Can you…heal from this?" Kirche asked rather calmly. Tabitha supposed, after seeing him heal from a dozen cuts in a few seconds and physically enter someone else's body, this wasn't so hard to understand. More and more, she needed to have a talk with Kirche about her familiar.
"There's nothing to heal. Ah, but if one of you would stand with your arms out and legs spaced apart, it would make things easier." He said. Kirche was rather quick to do what he requested. Then, it began.
His body shifted around. Some movements were subtle, like the length of his arm and the position of his head. Some were less so, like when his arm snapped into the correct position. There wasn't actually a 'snap', just the quick movement. In a matter of seconds, his body was back to how it was. He looked himself over, as if he was unsure.
On the other side of the room, Louise was holding Saito up.
"Saito?" She spoke to him.
"Louise…?" He groggily replied, looked at her for a second, and fell back against the cot.
"Saito!" Louise yelled, then shot Aselith with a glare. "What did you do!?"
"I attempted to heal him, like I said." Aselith said. "However, it seems like the magic you injected him with doesn't agree with me."
"The magic I…" Louise was about to question that, but shook her head. "Whatever. What about Saito? Is he better?"
"Probably." Aselith walked over to the cot. He began to run his hand over Saito's body. "Hm. His injuries are partially healed. That arm isn't broken, at least. Nothing life-threatening."
"Why did he collapse?" Louise demanded.
"He's exhausted." Aselith said. "The way dresili normally heal their hosts is compounded by pulling magic in slowly through the air to help replenish stamina. While possessed, the body will move as it's directed, even without the proper stamina. Since pulling in magic takes more time, and I was ejected before I could replenish his stamina, his body simply gave out."
Louise took in everything he said, as did Tabitha. Then, Louise spoke. "How long until he wakes up again."
"I don't know. After all this time, I still don't really understand sleeping. Medically I do, but I don't know how to properly quantify it." He gave her a shrug. "He'll wake up tomorrow morning?" Again, he wasn't sure.
Louise just stared up at him. "What…are you?" It seemed like everything that just happened caught up with her.
Aselith looked to Tabitha, smiling. "Well—"
A knock on the door interrupted them. The water mage from before opened it and stepped in.
"Ah, Miss Tabitha, I'm glad you're still here." She said. "Headmaster Osmond wishes to see you and your familiar."
Tabitha gripped her staff. She thought this might happen sooner or later, but she thought it would be much later than now. However, she wasn't too concerned about it.
"Familiar." Louise looked up at Aselith. "Can you…heal other things? Not just injuries?"
"Perhaps. If I understood what the problem was…and I cared to." Aselith responded, prompting Louise to turn her nose up at him.
Like Louise, apparently, what was more important was the limit of Aselith's possession healing. It wouldn't do to get her hopes up, but maybe there was hope.
Author's Notes:
I wonder what both of them could be thinking about.