Childish (TomTord Fanfic)

Arrival

    "Jack? Jack I think you should-"
    "I refuse to leave him Catherine," The ripper spoke through gritted teeth. His sister let out a frustrated sigh, shifting uncomfortably on the lumpy infirmary bed she was confined to. The instructor had long since left, much to the seamstress's dismay, in fear of evoking their leader's wrath. Now it was just her, a comatose medic, and the worried visage of her brother.
    "You can't stay here all night bro, red leader would kill you if he found out you were shirking your work!"
    "What work? Last I checked we were fresh out of prisoners, besides, work is the last thing on my mind right now, red leader can go f-"
    "-JACK!" The seamstress quickly sat up in her bed, instantly regretting it. Pain shot through her abdomen and she let out a quiet hiss before sinking back down into her lumpy purgatory. The ripper looked over at her with clear concern, and it was the first time since he brought the medic back that the seamstress had really seen his face. He looked exhausted, his eyebrows seemed to be permanently knitted, and his eyes... He looked as if he could burst into tears at any second, something the seamstress had not actually seen him do in many, many years.
    "Are... Are you okay?" His voice sounded just as broken as his expression. The seamstress didn't like this one bit. Her brother and her had always had a sort of constant teasing edge to their dynamic. She'd make fun of him, he'd respond with some logic based quip, and at the end of the day it would always be mutually understood that if one of them needed any help at all, the other would be there in a heartbeat. Now it felt like... Her brother clearly needed help, but not only did she not know how to help, but she felt as if she was part of the problem.
    "I'm fine big bro, don't worry about me, I'm just glad you're back safe... You really worried me when you said you were going to save Davey on your own..."
    "I apologize for scaring you, but I could not have lived with myself if it had come to pass that the red army would simply get a replacement medic..." The ripper trailed off, his attention turning back towards the medic's unconscious form.
    "I know," The seamstress shot her brother a sympathetic frown, knowing he probably wasn't paying enough attention to even notice it.
    "Thank you for letting me use your cameras."
    "Of course bro, I know you need Davey almost as much as you need oxygen," The seamstress chuckled lightly at her own little joke. She hated how just laughing made her stomach lurch. The ripper tensed up at her statement, his hands clenching into fists, his shoulders shaking.
    "...More than oxygen, god Catherine I would gladly give him my last breath if I could," His hands moved up towards his face, as if simply saying it out loud was causing him physical pain.
    "He's gonna need more than that," A voice that could only be described as a little too prim and proper with an Irish tilt to it laughed from the infirmary entrance. Both dark haired siblings turned their attention to the voice, mirrored confusion on their faces.
    "Uh... Sorry, I don't think you're supposed to be in here?" The seamstress frowned. A man in a long, white coat with mid-length brown hair stepped into view, a much taller person with a scarf pulled up over their face close behind him.
    "I'll have you know I at least have more clearance than that man there," The man gestured towards the ripper. The ripper responded with a sharp glare. "Ooh, how frightening! Ah, I don't believe I've introduced myself have I? Quite rude of me, don't you think Iza?" The man turned towards his companion, who seemed to mumble something under their breath that made the man smirk. "Quite right my friend," The man nodded and turned back towards the siblings, straightening out his posture. "My name is Xavier, I can't seem to recall either of your faces from my time here, so I can only assume you don't know me, perhaps you've heard of me at least? From our lovely medic David perhaps?" The man grinned.
    "Uh... No?" The man had done nothing but add fuel to the seamstress's confusion fueled fire. She glanced towards her brother, expecting to see a similar confusion. She was taken aback by the look of recognition on his face.
    "You... You were the medic before David... The one that was exiled..."
    "Indeed I am! So glad to hear David sang my praises for me during my absence!" Xavier, the ex-medic hummed.
    "Sang your praises? He told me you were a monster! Destroying all medical files and tools just to make his job harder once he replaced you, put soldiers through medical procedures they did not even need, he once even told me you had plans to overtake the red army!" The ripper bared his fangs at the ex-medic. The seamstress was in shock. She had heard that red leader had once had to exile a medic, but she had no idea what the circumstances were.
    "Ah, how sweet of him to recount all my best hits to you, although I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed he left a few things out, and to think, I considered him one of my closest friends," The ex-medic sighed dramatically.
    "Closest friends? You tried to murder him!"
    "He did?!" The seamstress gasped. What the heck was wrong with this guy?!
    "Only once or twice, he's technically a soldier, people try murdering him on a daily basis, it's nothing unusual, don't be so dramatic," The ex-medic scoffed.
    "Why are you even here?" The ripper growled, standing in front of the medic's bed with his arms crossed in a protective gesture.
    "Why do you think? Your current medic is currently in a coma, meanwhile you have a seamstress recovering from a bullet wound who needs constant care, a prisoner with a potential concussion, and, I reiterate, a medic in a coma!"
    "...You're here to replace Davey?" The seamstress asked. The ex-medic shifted his attention towards her. He gave her a wide, pleasant grin that should have come across as kind hearted had it come from anyone else.
    "At least someone here has a few brain cells! Why yes, I am, temporarily at least, I have made a deal with your leader, I am to stay here for as long as your medic is unable to do his job, oh and I feel the need to mention, I will also remain the medic if it is found that David over there is unable to do his job... Indefinitely," The ex-medic stifled a chuckle. The seamstress didn't even need to look at her brother to know he was practically seething at this point.
    "David will be fine," The ripper growled.
    "I'll be the judge of that, now won't I?" The ex-medic turned to face the ripper with a smug smile. The ripper suddenly snapped and charged towards him, fist raised. Before he could get even an inch closer to the man, a blade was suddenly at his neck, and the person who was previously on the ex-medic's heels was now right behind the ripper.
"Now now Iza, there's no need for hostility, I'm sure the big guy just lashed out due to stress," The ex-medic called to his companion. The person known as Iza backed up and returned to their place close behind the ex-medic. "My apologies, I'm not a stranger to violence, far from it, in fact I enjoy a little chaos every now and then to keep sane, but I'd prefer not to start anything... Unnecessary, thus where my acquaintance comes in," The ex-medic gestured towards the intimidating person. "Don't be shy Iza, introduce yourself," The ex-medic coaxed.
    "I am Iza, I am his..." Iza trailed off, as if struggling to find the right word.
    "Business partner you could say, you'll have to excuse them, they're still working on their english," The ex-medic completed Iza's sentence for them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do," The ex-medic walked towards the medic's bed, but not before being stopped by the ripper, who quickly stepped in front of him. Iza seemed ready to intervene, but was stopped by a wave of the ex-medic's hand.
    "I will not allow you to lay a finger on him," The ripper glared down at the ex-medic. The ex-medic barely flinched in response.
    "Then how to you expect him to recover? Hm?"
    "We can find another medic, anyone would be better!"
    "You really think that will go over well with your leader? Start too much of a fuss and who knows? Perhaps red leader will decide that David is more trouble than he's worth and ask me to... Pull the plug," The ex-medic shrugged nonchalantly. The ripper froze for a moment, hesitantly clearing the way for the man. "Thanks big guy, now I'll just make sure all of these machines are hooked up properly and be on my way," The ex-medic grinned as he began to mess around with the various machines the ripper and the instructor had haphazardly hooked the medic up to.
    "What? That's it?" The seamstress scoffed.
    "I'm afraid so, I will be back to... Examine him closer, but red leader requested that I prioritize a possibly concussed prisoner he has locked up in his private quarters, I shouldn't have even stopped by here to begin with but... I figured David could use a visit from a friend," The ex-medic quickly stood back to admire his work. "There we are! That should be good for now, I have to commend you all on how close you were to setting things up correctly," The ex-medic said sarcastically.
    "I am telling you right now, if you even think about harming David-"
    "Relax big guy, I won't harm a single curly hair on the idiot's head, now I really must be going, if a miracle happens and David wakes up while I'm gone, do tell him his best pal Xavier dropped by would you?" The ex-medic sauntered off, Iza not far behind. The ripper quickly ran over to the medic's side and checked his pulse, breathing out a sigh of relief to feel that everything seemed normal.
    "...Yikes," The seamstress hummed.
    "No kidding," The ripper mumbled, flopping back down in his chair.

    Hey. Uh... Hey. Awkward. So I suppose I should give the usual spiel regarding my reasons for not updating for so long and well... A lack of interest for one thing, and lots of major life events. Heck especially now what with... Y'know, EVERYTHING. As a member of the graduating class of 2020, I've been constantly stressed about how to function as a normal member of today's corrupt society and that has led to a LOT of subconscious procrastination, so all I can say is, I'm sorry. In other news, I finally got around to introducing Xavier the corrupt medic and Iza the assassin. I actually made Xavier with the hope that I could make another character to sort of bounce his ideas off of when a good friend of mine invented Iza. Said friend was actually the same person who made Eleanor and I am forever indebted to her. Xavier and Iza are probably going to end up being a huge source of conflict so watch out for that. I still cannot promise updates are going to be frequent, but I'll try my hardest to finish what I've started. And now, time for you to all openly despise me as much as I despise myself. During my... "Leave of absence" my phone finally decided six years was enough and completely stopped functioning. I managed to get a "new" one after a week and while transferring all of my data, the folder I kept fan art in got sorta... Scrambled? My fan art folder contains a grand total of 1971 photos, both of fan art and screenshots of usernames as well as requests to remain anonymous. I had this folder very careful organized, and now I can hardly tell what's what anymore. I will do my best to sort everything out but for now I don't feel confident enough to add on the usual fan art segment here. I will hopefully get this sorted by the next chapter. Until then I thank you kindly for your patience, and I will gladly accept whatever hate is thrown my way. Thank you for reading.