𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐃𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐘

Chapter Three: Virago

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vi·​ra·​go |  /vəˈräɡō/

(n.) a strong, brave, or warlike woman; a
woman who demonstrates exemplary qualities

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When one moves into a new apartment, you'd think that they would have much to do. Alas, this was not the case for me. All of my possessions had been blown up by Monty and Quackity, along with my old house, so there wasn't much unpacking for me to do. Instead, I just sat on the couch, flicking through the channels on my new TV. It had taken me quite a while to figure out how the remote works, but eventually I got it to work.

To my great surprise and joy, I saw that Disney Plus was on the TV, and I instantly began flipping through the films and shows, searching for one that would peak my interest. I was looking for something new to watch, since I had already finished Squid Game. One movie in particular stuck out to me - Avengers: Endgame. I had seen it long ago, and it was truly a beautiful film in my opinion, albeit sad. All of the Marvel movies are masterpieces.

My moment of joy was short-lived, however. Before I was able to press play on the movie, I heard a low groan from behind me, and I jumped, turning around. It seemed that Ballora was beginning to wake up from her hospital drugs, with rather inconvenient timing. I sighed in exasperation, setting down the remote and moving over to the small kitchen, where I grabbed a small glass and held it under the sink, pouring some water into it. Once it was about halfway full, I shut off the faucet and moved over to the side of the bed, watching as she began to stir. She opened her magenta eyes, blinking a few times as she glanced around at her surroundings.

"Where...?" she murmured, her question going unfinished as she saw me. I raised my hand, giving her a little wave.

"Hello!" I greeted in a friendly manner, for some reason.

She stared at me blankly for a few moments, before the sudden realization that she was in an unfamiliar bed, incapacitated, with the woman who had supposedly killed her, struck her. Panic quickly filled her eyes as her breathing quickened, and she attempted to sit up.

"Oh shit-" I muttered. "Rapid movement and elevated heart rate are counterproductive to the healing process- calm down-"

I gently placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to stop her from moving, but this only freaked her out more.

"Get off of me-" she yelped, trying to push me away.

"Ballora, stop moving!" I exclaimed.

She continued to struggle against me, attempting to scramble off of the bed, but suddenly stopped with a shout of pain, her hands flying to her chest. Her breathing hitched, and her face contorted with agony as pain from her gunshot wound flared up from her previous movement.

"That's why I tried to stop you from moving." I told her. "You have extensive injuries, and producing too much movement will only prove ineffective to their healing."

Ballora glared up at me for a moment, breathing hard. I continued speaking.

"I mean, if you want to leave, you can try. Given your condition, I'd say you'd barely make it down the stairs. Besides, you really don't have anywhere else to go."

She processed this information for a moment, before emitting a low groan, looking thoroughly pissed off at this information. I couldn't really blame her.

"Trust me, this is as much of an inconvenience to me as it is to you." I said. "I just moved into this apartment."

Ballora didn't respond to this.

"Where are my clothes...?" she murmured, looking down at the unfamiliar hospital clothing she now wore.

"I have no clue." I told her. "Probably somewhere back at the hospital. They're all covered in blood and lake water now, so it's probably for the best."

I then remembered the glass of water that I was going to give to her, and took it from the bedside table.

"Take this." I offered. She looked at it suspiciously. "I promise it's just water. Dehydration is common after prolonged outdoor exposure."

I held it out to her, and she instantly pushed it away.

"I don't want anything from you." she snapped. I shrugged, slightly annoyed, setting it back down on the table.

"Right then. Die of thirst, after everything I've done to save you." I huffed.

"Why am I here?" Ballora asked. "What do you want with me?"

I paused for a moment. "Nothing, really." I said after a moment. "My friends think I'm going to use you for information, but I would never do that. Harming people isn't something I like to do, and, like I said before, I'm not going to hurt you."

She sighed, leaning back. "If you're planning on killing me, just do it already. At this point it would come as a welcome relief to me."

"I just said-" I groaned in frustration. This woman was thoroughly pissing me off.

"Listen, Ballora. No matter whether you want to kill me or not, I'll still refuse to cause any harm towards you. I just saved your life, for God's sake! I have no ill intentions towards you!"

"Then what are your intentions?"

"To heal you and get you out of my apartment as soon as possible." I said. "You can return to Quackity, or whoever you want, whenever you're fully healed. Then we can go our separate ways, and we won't have to deal with each other any more."

Ballora looked at me, tilting her head. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"I'm not, I-" I sighed. "You want to get rid of me. I want to get rid of you. Frankly, you're really annoying me right now, so I want to get rid of you even more. Therefore I will heal your bullet wound and send you off to Quackity. I won't bother you again."

She watched me for a moment, as if attempting to detect any trace of falsehood in my expression. Her beautiful magenta eyes seemed to sparkle with her anger towards me, and despite the hateful emotion, I found myself starting to get lost in them - wait, what was I doing?!

"Fine." she huffed. I smiled.

"Good. Wonderful."

I turned away, leaving the cup of water where it was in case she wanted it later. I could already tell that these next few days were not going to be fun for me. Good God, I couldn't wait to be rid of her.