The Seven Revels

Hidden Wounds

(Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to write this chapter and sorry it's basically just a really depressing filler episode. The next chapter will get back to the action (sort of). Just a few notes, this chapter marked three hundred pages of this book, which is the most I've ever written so that's really cool for me. I've got about six chapters left and then the story will be complete. I don't know when I'll get to finishing the next chapter, but it'll happen eventually. There were some problems with character development in this chapter which is part of the reason it took so long to write. Anyway, hopefully this chapter explains Quill a little more. Thanks for reading!)

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Quill's mind faded from around him as he looked down at Daniel and he was swiftly lost in a memory. There was no pain accompanying it, though. His breath came and went as normally as ever, fury didn't flood through his veins. Rather, sadness did.

He remembered sinking into the cold water, watching as the little light he had was removed with the replacement of the manhole cover. He remembered the water slowly filling his lungs. He remembered the pain, but he didn't feel it now. He didn't know why.

He remembered the splash as someone hit the water next to him and the arm wrapping around him, dragging him away from the edge of death.

He'd taken a moment to dispel the water from his lungs and catch his breath. Then he had started to cry, not caring who saw. He was so scared he couldn't think. He had almost died. Life had almost been taken away from him, with no one knowing, no one caring. He had been so scared he'd forgotten to think about someone, the way he always thought you should when you were about to die.

He didn't know who was holding him, but they pulled him to the side of the water and pushed him up onto the thin strip of concrete that he hadn't seen before. Fear tended to blind a person.

"Hey, you okay?" a voice asked him. He stared at the person, tears still dripping onto his cheeks. It was too dark. He couldn't see anything of them, not even a silhouette. The voice was too low to be a woman, but too high pitched to be a man. He couldn't figure it out. He didn't respond, just letting his fear get the best of him. He didn't want to do anything but revel in the fact that he was alive.

"Hey, come on," the voice said again. "You're okay, aren't ya'?"

Quill was silent for a long time, trying to decide if the voice was male or female. Finally, he spoke, his voice raspy and tired. "Who are you?"

The other person sighed, clearly relieved. "Thank god. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"They... they almost killed me," Quill said.

"I know," the voice said. "What I want to know is if they did anything else. Are you hurt?"

"No," Quill said. "Just..."

"Scared?" they finished for him. They chuckled. "It's okay to be scared. Christ, I'd be out of my mind with terror if I were you. But you're safe now."

"Who are you?" Quill asked again.

They hummed a short laugh. "Straight to the point, aren't you kid? My name is Penn. And you are?" Quill scowled. The name wasn't helping him figure out their gender.

"Quill," he told them. "Quill Vandansk."

"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar, Q. Ellie was your mom, right?"

Quill was shocked. "You knew my mom?"

"Everyone knew your mom, Q. Saved quite a few lives a few years back. She was a genius and I like to think she was a magic healer. She did wonders."