Maigo- A BNHA OC Story

The Final Stretch

Behold, the last part of Maigo's hospital journey! There was so much I wanted to put into this arc, I'm sorry if it got chaotic at times!
The first part of this chapter has a paragraph that talks about Maigo's nightmares. These are due to her PTSD and so might be triggering for some people. It's the sixth paragraph in this chapter so hopefully it is easy to skip over!

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   Whatever she had expected from this place, she never thought it would ache as much as it does. Every single inch of her body is sore, like she just finished the most intense workout of her life. Her skin throbs.

   She also never expected to be so tired.

   Nurses come in, give her medicine that helps dull the pain. They still squeeze her arm and poke around her mouth with a thermometer, but at least she knows it'll happen. The doctor stops by, tells her she did a good job. "Your most important jobs right now are resting, drinking lots of water, and eating."

   She nods her head, rolls over, and goes back to sleep. She vaguely hears him tell Shota to walk her in the hall once a day.

   She does not know how much time passes. She wakes up, eats drinks, goes back to sleep. Shota wakes her up to walk twice. She complains both times, eyes closed while she drags her feet down the hall. The nurses coo as she walks by, sometimes offering her stickers or a chance to choose something from the game cabinet.

Sometimes she has nightmares. She is lying on a table. People in white coats with unnerving smiles and long, sharp knives hover over her. She cannot move, only struggle helplessly as they leer and lurch over her. Sometimes Shota is there, fighting, screaming, and being dragged away. The people laugh at both of them, full of cruelty.

Whenever she wakes up, she is always covered in sweat, her heart hammering against her rib cage and throat hoarse from screaming. Shota is never too far away, always quick to hold her and calm her down. More often than not, she is latched on to his side. She whimpers and buries her face into his shirt. He still smells the same. She prefers it over the sterile smell of the hospital.

   When she is finally able to stay awake for more than ten minutes, the doctor comes to visit again. He rolls a chair in, sits down, and offers up a smile that does not quite make it to his eyes.

   "The great news is, you're healing very well," he begins. "Unfortunately, because of the nature of some of your scars, we might have to keep you here a little while longer."

Her stomach drops through the floor. Her chest feels tight and she cannot catch her breath. She barely hears the rest of the conversation over the roar in her ears, but she makes out one word: "Infection."

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"We're worried about one of the deeper cuts in her right leg," Dr. Sasaki continues. He looks almost sheepish. "It's healing fine right now, but we would like to give her some antibiotics just in case."

Shota has not stopped rubbing circles into Maigo's back since the conversation began. Her entire body had locked up as soon as they heard the news. Shota knows she is not taking the hospital stay well, her nightmares tell him that much. But if they leave, her condition might get worse. He chews absentmindedly on his lip, weighing his options. "Is there any way she can take them at home? We can keep her on bed rest there as well."

An apologetic look melts the doctor's features. "Standard practice is that patients receive IV antibiotics after surgery. It would add about three more days to the stay."