Emblems

Chapter 28: Change

“How long do I have to stay here?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Beats me. Calida’s the one who knows about medic stuff. But Felix said at least a week. Till it stops hurting, I guess.”

She raised a hand and touched the bandages on her forehead, frowning. “I hurt my head?” He nodded. “How bad? I’m going to lose my memory or I’m a vegetable or I can’t do math anymore or…?” She trailed off and another frown seemed to float across her features.

“… Were you going to say ‘or something’?” he prompted her.

Her puzzled frown deepened. “I don't think so. Have I ever said that before?”

“It might be temporary amnesia?” he offered up a suggestion and regretted it the moment her face turned horrified. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He raised his hands in a placating gesture.

She seemed to try to calm herself, blowing out her breath slowly. “It’s okay,” she said, and then squinted at the clock. “Hey… it’s late already, isn’t it? You should go train. Leone’s probably wondering where you are,” she said with a small smile.

“But—”

“But nothing,” she interrupted and shook her head. “The world is depending on us, the Emblems. It’s bad enough that I’m in the med bay because of some fiasco with a bunch of Demons. You and Calida have to pick up the slack, okay? Achieve your potential.” The slight smile made a reappearance.

“Uh, okay,” he conceded, pushing up his glasses. “But I’m coming tomorrow morning, okay?”

She nodded and just before he stepped out the door, she called out his name. He turned and she gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks for staying with me, Daniel.” He gave her a two-fingered wave, but somehow his usual grin was harder to call up, and when he forced it onto his face it felt more uneasy than anything.  

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She woke to the sound of voices and footsteps on the floor of the med bay. Opening her eyes, she found a stretcher moving past her, being carried manually by four medics. Another soon followed, and when she turned her head to the side, ignoring the twinge of pain that radiated down her spine from her neck, she saw that there was a long line of stretchers out the door, and like a parade they floated past her, each carrying an injured Human, Beast, or even a pile of cloth she thought to be an Ethereal. When the last stretched passed, a medic came over and drew the curtains surrounding her bed shut, so she couldn't see anything in the med bay anymore.

There must have been a battle while she'd been sleeping. She let a frown cross her face. They must have put her on so much drugs that she had slept through all the noise. And it was probably those same drugs that made her eyelids heavy after a while of watching the silhouettes on the curtains shift as the medics worked on the wounded. She fell asleep again, to the rustle of bandages being wrapped around injuries.

The next time she woke was when Leone's voice sounded somewhere near her. It took a lot of effort and an extremely long time to fight out of the painkiller drug haze before she could force her eyes open. The voices quieted while her vision came into focus. "Water?" she croaked, and cool glass met her lips. She sipped slowly, and the hand took the glass away after she nodded, satisfied. Tilting her head and wincing, she touched the badges on her bed as Daniel helped her sit up. "Can anyone tell me why I feel worse than last time? And shouldn’t you be training?"

"Leone gave me the afternoon off. Like they say, the second day's always the worst," Daniel said in a joking tone. Behind him, Leone nodded, smiling a little. She smiled back to signal that she was okay. "Anyway... I dropped in in the morning, but you were sleeping."

"You're saying that you watched me sleep? Creepy pedophile." She pointed a finger at him and gave a mock shudder. After a while her arm became numb and she let it drop.

Daniel gave her an indignant look. "Hey, I only stayed for a few minutes!" She stuck her tongue out at him and both of them started laughing. But her chuckle died in a choking sound as she doubled over, clutching her head, which sent waves of pain to every nerve, like her entire body was on fire. "Shit, sorry. I shouldn't have made you laugh," Daniel muttered as he held her shoulder, easing her back onto the pillows he'd propped up behind her. "Just relax."

It passed soon after, and as she straightened, she gave him a shaky smile. "It's okay. Wasn't your fault anyway. Thanks." He nodded, though the concerned look didn't go away, even as he passed her the glass of water again.

By the time she leaned back and her breathing had returned to normal, Leone had stepped forward, placing a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "I'm glad to see that both of are getting along so well, and I would leave you two alone with your banter for now, but I have to ask you a few important questions."

"You want to know why I ran?" Amber asked. Leone nodded. When Daniel stood up to leave she shook her head. "Daniel, stay. It's not confidential information." He settled back down, a dubious look on his face, and she started, "Nicholas told me about how mine and Daniel's parents were killed by Vortex assassins  ten years ago. I told Daniel about it because Nicholas requested it, but even before talking to him I was blinded by a desire for revenge. I wanted to find Vortex and the people that killed my parents, deal out the same punishment that they'd given me."

She told Leone about her conversation with Daniel in the library, not even leaving out the part where they'd questioned how the other had changed. "I'm sorry, Leone." Amber bowed her head. "It's not even Daniel's fault for not telling the Delegates. He tried to convince me to stay and that revenge wasn't worth it, but I was too stubborn to listen. And since he couldn't stop me, he tried to buy me time and help me out a little.

"I don't even know what I was thinking," she continued, fingers tangling themselves in the sheets of her bed. "I rushed out on a selfish whim and put everything that you've built at risk. I was stupid and reckless. Leone," she looked up, "if you're going to punish someone, punish me."

"I'm not going to mete out anything to either of you," Leone said, shaking her head. "Just hearing that explanation is enough for me to know that you regret what you've done. But," she turned to Daniel, "I always thought that you would be the one with a more vengeful streak."

He gave a sheepish chuckle. "Yeah, for a time I was kind of messed up. But I've grown out of it, thanks to my time here." He smiled up at her.

Suddenly she raised a hand to her ear, as if taking a call with an imaginary mobile phone. Her face became serious for a moment, then she blinked and said with another smile, "Felix just contacted me. I have a million other things to attend to now because of all the chaos outside."

"What's going on outside?" she asked.

Daniel touched her hand, suddenly solemn, and she realised that he was wearing a leather sheathe at his waist, the hilt of his sword jutting out. "Demons started attacking the Athenaeum last night."