Farewell Happy Fields!

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Farewell Happy Fields!

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What: Aftermath of Anoli Attack: Hospital
Where: Leo Ward - Caduceus Hospital Headquarters
Summary: It is the aftermath of the Anoli attack on the Closing Ceremonies. The injured have been taken to Caduceus Hospital Headquarters, and it is time for reflection, visting, or old-fashioned escapes from the hospital rooms.
Warnings: Mild squick if people want to describe their wounds in explicit detail.

Caduceus Hospital Headquarters. It has a distinguished history within Hinoto-Ri, boasting of a staff of well-trained Healers, as well as possessing the most cutting edge medical technology possible. There was no limb they couldn't reattach, no organ they couldn't replace... - they even claimed to be able to bring someone back from the dead (with the small disclaimer that it could only occur under certain conditions and with an obscene amount of luck).

So needless to say, the hospital was more than well-equipped to deal with the aftermath of the Anoli attack on the Closing Ceremonies.

---

Nearly every hospital bed had been filled by an injured patient that night. The A&E room had been in constant chaos, with civilians crying and shouting, searching for loved ones, or demanding to see doctors or healers to help so-and-so...

There had also been plenty of reporters milling about, shouting and crying over the status of the Mayor's Secretary, and whether the Red Lion had really died at the scene, or if he was still alive and well within the safety of the hospital's ICU.

By the time morning broke, there was a false sense of tranquillity within the hospital. The healers had been pushed to their limits with the sheer number of patients being wheeled in and out of surgery, but otherwise, the situation had finally gotten under control. Now, both civilians and visitors were merely waiting for word of the conditions of their injured friends and family...

[Welcome to the winding down of the event! You are now at the hospital, where you may be visiting the injured, or be one of the injured yourself! Those with RED injuries will be in the ICU, and those with YELLOW injures will be in normal wards, for obvious reasons. Those with GREEN injuries wouldn't have had to go to the hospital at all, so they are free to come and go as they wish!

You may all start your threads and mingle!]

Comments

[attheclocktower]

[Xion's hands tighten almost convulsively, knotting in the blankets beneath her fingers.]

Y-yeah. [Her voice is slightly unsteady] Me too.

[She barely even remembered Aqua arriving, in the fight itself. Once she'd gotten hit everything had become so difficult to register through the pain, so that all she does remember is the confused notion of Aqua being there with Sora, them trying to help her shortly before she'd passed out.]

It all happened so fast. [Her voice was quiet] One minute... one minute we were doing fine, and then...

[The spray of rocks hitting her, knocking her over, and then their opponent had been there- She'd been terrified. It had never been that bad, not in all the times she and Roxas and Axel had been on the run. The only time that had been anywhere close was that time... when they'd tried to find Kairi and it'd been a trap and even then she'd still been able to function when she'd woken up-

Her eyes are burning. She hadn't talked to anybody about this... Not even Sora. He worked too hard to cheer her up while he was there.]

[destinedwaters]

[Aqua is silent for a moment, before cautiously reaching out to place her less-injured hand over Xion's clenched one. That fight had been a nightmare, and she remembered helping get her to the medics as fast as they could before going back into the fray to make sure the others were safe. This attack was something she hadn't been prepared for in the slightest, while the battle that had taken place in the graveyard was only a prelude.

Because in the wastelands, the only true deaths were Vanitas and their Master before the fighting had even begun breaking out. But in Promenade, in dreams...

Aqua squeezes lightly.] I know. ['It's okay to be scared.' She's here, Xion... you can cry if you need to; she'll understand.]

[attheclocktower]

[It's Aqua's hand on hers - and that squeeze - that does it. Physical contact had always had the most profound effect on her. It was solid. It was real. So many people could take that for granted, but not her, and not her friends. So even the simplest confirmation - a hug, a hand ruffling her hair, or someone's hand touching hers - would have so much more effect than spoken assurances.

And at that touch, for a moment she tenses, and then what little walls Xion has left break down completely, and she quietly begins to sob. She bows her head and lets her shoulders shake and a few tears slip down her face. The fingers on her uninjured side clench even more tightly.

She'd been scared, she'd been terrified, but what terrified her now more than anything was how fast things had spun out of control and there'd been virtually nothing she could've done to fix it. She'd been in some bad fixes before - all three of them had - but that was the first time she'd felt so powerless.

But more than anything she's grateful to the woman sitting next to her, the one who'd stopped things from getting any worse. Who'd practically been a parent to her ever since she's gotten here.

As the sobs slow down, Xion's fingers loosen in the blanket and her hand shifts around until she can grab Aqua's hand and squeeze back.

'Thank you.']

[destinedwaters]

[She had a feeling, because their Master was always a traditional kind of man. Every time he so much as laid a hand on their shoulder was meaningful, and it was something they had come to appreciate.

So seeing this... it brings back memories from her childhood that she'll always treasure.

She hums a song that had both hope, and maybe a little sadness mixed into it, voice soft as she tries to help soothe her newest apprentice. It will be okay; maybe not today, maybe not in the months to come... but it will be soon. And she'll be there no matter how long it takes and even longer than that. She's pretty sure Sora and the others will, too.

The concerned smile never leaves her face, because as much as she wants to hug the young girl, it would only hurt them both right now. It only spreads a bit more when she feels the other hand squeezing hers.

'Any time, Xion.'

> You feel a strong bond between--

Mysterious voice get out we are having a moment here. 8|]

[attheclocktower]

[Mysterious voice plz

The song is very soothing, and as Xion's sobs continue to abate, she leans back against the bed, her head listing a little to the side until it rested against the pillow. A few solitary tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes still, and she hiccuped every now and again, but the delayed emotional reaction was all but spent.

And a fair bit of her energy too, as it happened. She's still working on building that back up. Aqua will find though that the grip on her hand hasn't loosened all that much, though. If anything she seems reluctant to let go.

Still, there was something nagging at her.]

Do... do Personas make it... so certain attacks hit you harder than they did before?

[Because while she may not have had the ground explode in her face, she's been hit by debris before without it having that bad of an effect. And having a Persona is the biggest difference she can think of.]

[destinedwaters]

[Aqua continued to hum until the sobs abated, occasionally rubbing her thumb in circles on the back of Xion's hand. She wasn't going to leave any time soon. In fact, she was likely going to be moved to a normal room soon since she isn't in any real danger, now.

Yet as strong as Aqua is, it seems she's reluctant to let go, too.

The question leaves her a bit puzzled for a moment. Hit harder-? ...Wait. She remembered how she was when she once got hit with a Garu skill, and how it was when she was physically struck... How she always seemed to fall down because of it when she didn't dodge.]

...Yes. Though, they can also make you stronger to others.

[That was Not Fun to find out, okay.]

[whereibelong]

[There's a moment where her eyes widen slightly in surprise. She hadn't actually expected to be right. Then her mouth falls into a tight line and she looks away.]

I think that's what happened.

[Her opponent had found a weakness, and taken good advantage of it. She isn't sure she likes this, suddenly having to watch out for or be afraid of something hitting her that hadn't been a problem before.

No gift was perfect it seemed. Not even ones given to people who were supposed to save a world]

[destinedwaters]

...I see. [Aqua is silent for a moment, contemplative before she lightly taps her thumb on Xion's hand. Hey... don't look away, when she knows she has weaknesses, too.]

...I can help you figure out what they are later, once we've both healed. That way... we can help each other better in trying to avoid those spell type from hitting you.

[No gift was perfect, as was no real power. Perfect power meant an absolute, and they were human or human-like in nature if you had some sort of mutation (dammit Aqua you had been around Charles too long). But at least she could try and help protect her friends.]

That's what aunts are for, after all. [...was that a wink.]

[attheclocktower]

[Well if the thumb tapping her hand hadn't gotten Xion's attention, that last bit sure did. Xion's eyes snap onto her, more than a little wide. H-how...]

Wh-what... [she swallows] what do you mean?

[Xion, what do you think she meant?]

[destinedwaters]

[Aqua laughed quietly at that, a little amused.]

Well, when I was admitted for my own injuries... they asked if I had any family members here as well. [eyetwinkle.] Of course, I said "My brother, Terra... also my girls Kairi and Naminé."

But I was worried about you too, and I know they wouldn't tell me how you were if I said I was your teacher. [Because generally, that was a family-first kind of thing. And since Lea had asked her to make sure she and Roxas were safe...] ...So I said I was your aunt after mentioning Terra. ...They kind of counted Sora as my nephew, too.