Kyle and the Princesses of Power

Chapter Seven: Trying to Heal the Broken

When Bow was finally allowed into the room his gaze zeroed in on the extensive injuries that the blonde haired boy had.

Most of it was covered up by casts, bandages, plasters and the blanket that went up to just below his chest but the damage was still painfully evident. Splodges of purple, blue and black peaked out from underneath the bandages, littering his arm which wasn't broken. Some of them were clearly from the fall – dark and prominent against the colourless and drained skin – but others were days (even weeks) old. It made Bow feel a surprising surge of anger but to who he didn't know. Himself for not getting Kyle out of there? Adora for not thinking of doing so when she knew what it was like and evidentially knew Kyle. Everyone in the Horde for letting one of their own break down so far? Bow didn't know. All of them. None of them. It didn't matter. What mattered was the fragile condition that Kyle was in.

"How is he?" he asked the exhausted looking healers. He felt the need to clarify what really mattered. "Will he survive?"
"He should," the head healer replied; Bow felt a staggering sense of relief. "It will be a slow healing progress though. In terms of broken bones, as well as his arm and leg, he has four broken ribs." Bow inwardly flinched. He had broken one rib before and it had been incredibly painful and a slow healing process.
"Adora can help with that," Bow pointed out. Adora was getting pretty good at healing and Bow knew she wouldn't leave someone to suffer like this. "What..." He swallowed. "What are all these tubes for?"
"Nutrition and hydration," the healer replied. "He is showing a lot of signs of malnutrition and dehydration; I truly doubt he eats more than a couple of times a week currently." Looking at how frail Kyle looked...yeah that seemed entirely likely.

"At least he'll be okay eventually..." Bow muttered, sitting in the chair by the bed, impulsively making the decision that he was not leaving until Kyle work up. The last thing he wanted was to confirm Kyle's belief that he would never be his friends (friends, after all, would be there when their comatose friend woke up).
"Physically he might," the healer agreed. "But mentally..." She trailed off and sighed. Bow frowned. She was right, he knew that much. Kyle had tried to kill himself and that wasn't a sign that he was okay. Plus he had no one to turn to evidentially. And all of this could have been solved if he hadn't been such an idiot and – No. This wasn't the time to think about that. He could do that when he had an inkling on how to handle this.

He waited for Adora and Glimmer to return, tapping his fingers impatiently. Kyle, of course, doesn't wake up.

Bow mostly sat but sometimes he paced back and forth, sometimes he went to ask the healer if there were any changes, sometimes he just stared blankly as the scene of Kyle jumping replayed in his mind. He really, really wanted to get it out but at the same time it replaying reminded him of the level of work there was to do.

Bow sank back into the chair after a pacing session and as he resumed watching Kyle, waiting for a sign he was waking up although he knew it was almost impossible so soon he noticed a scar curling to the back of his wrist from the front. No. Not a scar. Dozens. More. Bow had a distinct feeling that the other side of his wrist would be much worse but he didn't check. He didn't want to push the limits of privacy too much past what they had already been.

So he waited. What else was there to do?


----------------------------------------

Adora wasn't quite used to the feel of Glimmer's hand holding hers. She definitely wasn't used to the other girl jumping up to kiss her forehead either but she certainly wasn't complaining. Perfuma kept telling them how adorable she thought that it was. Adora wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Glimmer kept saying she knew that her girlfriend was adorable then kissing her on the forehead again. That made Adora blush most of the time and thus the cycle would repeat.

Their mission had been a success and they were excited to share it but when they arrived Bow wasn't waiting for them. Glimmer and Adora exchanged a look at that. Bow was always there when they got back.
"His mission may have just overrun," Perfuma suggested optimistically. Adora wasn't so sure. That mission had been based on timing and they were hardly going to hover around a Horde camp without an easy escape plan. She really hoped that Bow and the others hadn't been captured: she didn't think they could successfully pull off another successful Fright Zone bust in. They had never really been that successful at them in the first place with losing Entrapta and reality itself being ripped into shreds. It was nothing short of a miracle that Queen Angela had survived but returning from the other side of the portal had ripped her of her immortality and connection to the Moonstone. The cost was a great one but, as Glimmer reminded her when she felt guilty, not as great as it might have been.

Mermista approached them which did not relieve any of the worry Adora was feeling. She didn't seem like her often indifferent self; her braid was coming undone and she was visibly stressed.
"Mermista?" Glimmer questioned, voice wavering slightly. She too, must be thinking about Bow. Besides Sea Hawk he was pretty much the only one lacking magic.
"You need to come with me," Memrista said to Adora. "Hopefully you're healing is working." That...was not promising.
"Whose hurt?" Glimmer demanded. "It isn't Bow is it? Bow is okay, isn't he? If-"
"Not Bow," Mermista replied. "Someone from the Horde actually."

Today was getting weirder and weirder. Helping their enemy was an ill-advised battle plan for victory. Then again if they injured someone that badly then they were likely to help. Bow especially.
"He jumped off the waterfall," Mermista muttered, looking ahead. "It was a close one...we're lucky really that Sea Hawk knows CPR. Bow is busy blaming himself."
"Why?" Adora asked, shocked. That was nearly unheard of in the Horde, it was instilled in them that it would be cowardly to do that. Trying could result in severe punishment (now she was out of the Horde she really understood how messed up that was).
"He couldn't convince him not to jump," Mermista said with a shrug. "Apparently they met in the Fright Zone and Bow thinks if he'd offered he would have joined then rather than...Well..." She trailed off, frowning. "It's someone you know, Adora apparently. Kyle?"

Kyle. No. Not Kyle.

Maybe it was another Kyle in the Horde. There was surely more than one right? Kyle of all people would not...Adora was failing to convince herself. Kyle was treated horribly in the Horde and she knew that he would never have it in himself to really hurt someone. In the Horde that was probably the biggest weakness of all.

They got to the healing wing and...yes it was Kyle. Pale, thinner than ever, casts and bandages everywhere... Adora felt sick. Forget Bow not reaching out, why hadn't she? Adora knew that Kyle wasn't really one for the Horde, why didn't she at least try to ask him to join? She had opportunities to do so!

Now wasn't the time for that though. She had to heal him. That many injuries...if she didn't it would be a long and painful road to recovery. She could reduce that. She could help him.

Adora focused. She did everything that Shadow Weaver had taught her, everything that usually worked. A warm glow formed but nothing. Not so much as a bruise disappeared. She tried again, beads of sweat glistening on her brow. Nothing.
"It...Why isn't it working?!" she panicked, voice cracking slightly. "This should be working!"

No one had an answer for her.