TW // vomitting and brief medical and blood mentions
mmmm so tired sorry if there's any mistakes I need to mimimi zzzz
also Blaine is the yellow steve w the leather chestplate 👍 just a heads up
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"SAGE- SAGE SAGE SAGE-"
The Green Leader, Sage, sat up in his chair from the yelling. He'd been dozing off, almost perfectly asleep until Amory had bursted in. He grabbed Sage's arm and began yanking him out of his chair, onto his feet.
"Amory- Amory, calm down. What's going on?!" He tried to say more, but noticed the blood on his shoulder. His concern tripled, and he reached a hand to it.
"I-It's not mine- S-Sabre's, it's Sabre's-" M was barely able to mutter out, his voice shaking and wobbling as if he'd collapse like a leaf. Sage didn't need much more than that, he could figure out the situation from there. Sabre was injured, injured enough that he needed help quickly.
"Need- He's lost a lot of blood- h-he's at the Professor's lab-" Sage nodded as Amory muttered out his worries. "Go back to the lab, help the professor as much as you can. I'll grab a few of my healers, I won't be far behind you."
Amory looked at Sage as if he was crazy, then sniffed and nodded. He didn't have the energy to protest, and so he teleported back to the lab. Seconds later, Sage ran out the door, not wasting any time.
He tried to mentally figure out what exactly he'd need, but a bit of blood on M's shoulder didn't measure anything. Better to have more than needed than having too little, right?
/
Professor Red did not have enough blood samples for the whole transfusion. Sure, he had enough combined, but mixing the wrong blood type with Sabre's would be disastrous. It already had bad side effects mixing with a type that matched his, mixing more in that didn't match would lead to things he couldn't fix.
Assistant was trying to help the best he could, but he couldn't do much more than the professor could besides being an extra pair of hands. Both of them were doing everything they could to keep Sabre stable, and they were barely managing to do so.
Lightning crashed in, getting the professor's attention briefly while Assistant continued with the transfusion. They didn't have many blood samples left, and Sabre was still going to be short on quite a bit of it.
M was back now, and he was clearly shaken by the whole thing. Teleporting only a few feet away from Sabre surely didn't help either, as M felt lightheaded enough to pass out for a moment.
"L-Leader's... coming. S-Soon-" M spoke in a manner as if he was floating, his vocals chords unfocused and cracking as he spoke. Professor Red nodded intently, "Light- Take M to his room... please." he called to Light and watched the transfusion slowly.
"No- No I- I want to stay with..." M covered his mouth as if he was going to be sick, and Light- who'd been watching it all from the doorway- walked down and began slowly bringing M to the stairs.
"N-NO! I DON'T WANNA LEAVE HIM!" M tried to shake himself out of Light's arms, but he overpowered him physically and was able to hold him back as M shakily stretched a hand out. He reached out as if it would somehow be able to hold Sabre and reassure him.
Professor Red winced from M yelling, and how it slowly got quieter as Light dragged him further and further away. Assistant fake-coughed to draw the Professor's attention back to the situation, in which all the blood samples had run dry.
The vitals were.. Something. Not stable, by any means, but he wasn't dying anymore. However, keeping him like this was a horrible idea. The professor didn't want to wait, but he didn't have any other option.
Luckily, only a minute later, more lightning sounded down, and Sage, along with a few of the healers, were in the room. It seemed as if they were already informed of the situation and quickly got to work as their leader guided them.
The smaller wounds could be healed by the magic of the steves, however as one of them worked on that the others helped with the transfusion. The Professor had to sort through the blood samples, see what types they were, but thankfully it was just enough to bring Sabre back to stability.
Professor Red's hands were shaking frantically by the time the operation was over. His gloves were soaked in warm blood that made his gloves feel sticky and tight against his skin. Yet, he waited until he knew it was safe before he took them off.
As the vitals slowed beeped faster, to a more pleasantly stable thump, and the healers dispersed back to their homes, Professor Red knew it was safe to take his gloves off. Yet, he still worried something would suddenly go wrong and lead to Sabre's almost-death. It was a horrible feeling, so he stared at Sabre's unconscious body mindlessly. The bloody gloves were still firm against his palms.
Sage drew his attention away from that by beginning to ask his own questions, "So, erm, Professor... I'm assuming you know what you're doing with all this blood stuff but, this won't hurt Sabre right? I mean... this much blood from a different species could be dangerous, he's not exactly 'human' anymore."
Professor Red silently nodded and turned away from Sage to look at Sabre. He had a point, Sabre had more blood from a steve than actual human blood now. At least, that's what Sabre called himself, a human. Now he had to consider how this would affect him. One transfusion most likely had bad side effects, so multiple, especially with the idea of all his blood being different, was...
"Assistant, run a test on that." Professor Red spoke as he pinched his nose, slowly getting a headache. What time was it? 10'o'clock? Midnight? He wasn't keeping track. Assistant did what he needed to do while the professor stood there lost in his thoughts. Sage tried to rub his back to soothe him, something the professor barely noticed.
*"Signs show effects such as cramping, nausea, sickness, and passing out for the first few days, along with symptoms from the injuries. Effects may change." He said flatly, for once not leaving any room for a small tone of sassiness or a sarcastic remark. Sage perked from concern, and began pondering the Assistant for questions, to which he answered quickly.
Professor Red just stared at the bloody body. The wounds had been patched long ago, but there were still obvious bloodstains along his body. His gloves were still on, and he looked down to see the clothes Sabre had been wearing, which of course were also bloody.
Everything was covered in blood. Everything, oh god.
*"Professor Red, why don't you go upstairs? Me and the Green Leader will handle it from here." Assistant stated, trying to get the professor's mind off the situation, get him to do something. Yet all Professor Red did was stare, stare, stare.
'Assistant had trouble building the tracker, if I leave what if something goes wrong and they can't handle it? Then Sabre will die, and I won't be able to do anything about it. No, no I stay here. I'm staying here.'
"I-I'll wait here Assistant.. Better to be safe than sorry..."
Assistant raised a fake, mechanical eyebrow and nodded.
/
It only took about a half hour before Professor Red had passed out from the stress of it all.
Assistant peeled off the bloody gloves and took off the professor's lab coat, messily throwing it onto a coat rack. He'd left Sage to take care of Sabre in the meantime. Given the hidden tunnels all around the place, and the fact Assistant was a robot, it wouldn't take long at all to drop the professor back into his room.
Assistant walked out of the wall as it slid aside. He paused for a moment to think, then walked back into the wall. Maybe it was better to leave the professor with M for the night, let them have some comfort together. It would leave them less emotionally isolated in this situation.
The floorboards slid open and Assistant walked up the stairs. He was in the living room now. The light for M's room was still on, but Assistant didn't hear even the faintest of snoring. He slowly went upstairs to see M hidden in his pillows and blankets, and it only took a second for Assistant to hear faint crying.
*"Amory."
M shifted slightly and sighed into a pillow, but didn't lift his head. There was an underlying anxiety in his body, not wanting to hear whatever news the Assistant held, good or bad. The idea of the news being bad made him grip the pillow tighter, but eventually he tilted his head slightly to see Assistant.
*"Sabre is okay. Can you rest with the Professor so I can keep an eye on him?" Assistant put the professor on the bed anyway, regardless of M's answer. M glanced up to Assistant, and tried to be ignorant that he was hiding his hands. M slowly reached his hands up to Professor Red, then slowly hid him under the blankets with him.
It was warm, a little too warm, just enough so M kept one of his limbs out from under the covers. It was obvious that M had been crying, even an idiot would see it. His eyes were bloodshot and red, and there was the slightest shine on his cheeks from the tears he'd shed.
*"Good night, Amory." Assistant flatly said as he pulled on the chain of a lamp, making the room go dark. The only lights left in the room were the ones that glowed from the Assistant's eyes and limbs; a feature Professor Red had added when making him. It was more of a feature for others, since Assistant could see in the dark just fine.
The fading clunk of Assistant leaving was a slight comfort to M, until he was too far away and his footsteps were quiet. M didn't wait for his eyes to adjust to the dark, he could still feel where Professor Red was and pulled him closer, pulling him under the covers and tenderly resting his head against his shoulder.
He didn't bother taking his cloak off, even though he'd be sweating in the morning because of it. M simply clung to the Professor and wished silently that everything would turn out okay. Before, he at least had the comfort in knowing Sabre was alive somewhere, but if he died then M knew he was gone forever.
Not a single happy smile anymore, he would have died in misery. M didn't want that to happen, he needed to make sure he was alright.
Yet, he couldn't make his limbs do anything but hold and hug the professor. He clung to him tightly, and raised his head to be under his chin. Even if Sabre would die, he still had... some of his family left.
M knew that wouldn't be enough to fill that gap, but he tried not to think about it. He tried not to think at all.
/
Light had left to take care of Sorin, he'd told the guards he'd come and meet them.
It took a bit of searching in the Green Kingdom, and there were still colorless guards here and there. He'd asked a few of them questions until one pointed him to where he needed to go. They'd seen a group of them carrying a boy to one of the hospitals, and of course Light found one there.
There were still guards around, of course, but one seemed to be waiting for something. Light approached him, and thankfully he was correct about his assumption.
"General Light, he's been checked into the hospital. I decided to wait for you" He spoke quickly, but Light didn't think much of it. The brutal image of what he just saw was still poisoning his mind, leaving it blank as it tried to breathe.
'You've seen worse, pull it together. They need you.' Light tried to tell himself, and inhaled as he mustered up the will to speak.
"I- That's good.. I-Is he going to be alright?" Damn it. He stuttered too much. He needed to at least try and sound strong, yet he sounded as small and unsure as M or the professor were. He was a general.
Silence was present for a moment, and then a faint flick on his head, "Relax, he's fine, it's a concussion and a broken arm. Do you need to take a breather?"
Of course, Light recognized that voice. It was Blaine, one of his friends. At least Sorin was mostly stable; a concussion and broken arm were obviously bad, but it was less bad than bleeding out from every limb and part of your body. Silver lining, he supposed?
"..Sabre's not in a good condition."
"I saw." Blaine replied plainly, rubbing Light's arm despite them now being crossed. Light couldn't see his face, but he could tell it held a sympathetic expression. Light looked to the sky, it had to be close to midnight, right? Maybe not. He didn't really know. His eyes softened, and he was tired despite having definitely gone through worse before.
Light rested his head on Blaine's armored shoulder and groaned loudly. Blaine chuckled and patted Light's back.
"C'mon, let's get you home, captain." Blaine said with an underlying teasing tone. Light chose to ignore it and hummed quietly as a way to agree.
/
Beep, beep, beep
That was all he could hear.
Beep, beep, beep
He couldn't tell if it was real or in his head. The beeps got fainter and fainter as the world got brighter. He tried to close his eyes to push it away, but to no avail. Could he even close his eyes?
It was soft. Gentle. Was he in bed?
Where was he? He tried to push himself up, but something was attached to his finger, and his arm. His chest too? Ow.
*"Please try not to squirm. Are you awake, Sabre?"
He didn't even process it as the Assistant's voice for a second, Sabre just blankly stared out as the world became something that made sense around him. He was in a bed, but he didn't recognize where. The professor's lab?
"..where...?" He sounded raspy, and didn't recognize it as his own voice, but he knew he said it so it had to be his. Assistant replied back, but he didn't quite catch it. The world was still zoning in.
*"Running diagnostics. Subject appears to be woozy from blood transfusion. Would you like something to drink?"
Transfusion?
Sabre nodded absentmindedly, trying to remember what that meant. Blood transfusion, blood transfusion, something with his blood. What did it mean, and why would he need one?
Oh. Sorin.
Wait-
Sabre suddenly felt something acidic crawling up his throat, and he lurched forwards.
/
Assistant heard it from the other room, and let out a mechanic sigh. Either he had nothing in his stomach, or it was side effects of mixing him with a different species; or both. Regardless, it would be a mess.
*"SABRE, TRY NOT TO MAKE A MESS... ANYMORE. I'LL BE BACK SHORTLY."
It didn't seem to have much of an effect, and the Assistant didn't even know if he heard him. It was definitely going to be a long morning, and an even longer week. Despite that, Assistant knew the best he could do was help. So, for the meantime that's what he would do. Trying to keep Sabre alright, and making sure the rest of his family didn't pass out from the sheer stress of it all was the best possible outcome.
He paused, and quickly ran more estimates in his head. Now he was seeing a tad more risk with the transfusion. The blood types were still identical, sure, same blood type. However, the amount of variating energy between the two seemed to quickly become a more and more apparent issue.
Sabre's body wasn't able to naturally hold energy, like their species could. It'd require more procedures to get the energy removed somehow, or it could have horrible effects on him, such as killing him.
He ran through these ideas in his head, all of them having about the same result. One way or another, he'd need surgery to deal with this. Assistant would have to tell the professor, he couldn't just cut Sabre open without any sort of warning.
[Flawless Success Levels: 19%; Chances of success with flaws such as: nerve problems, weakness, and temporary drowsiness are 48%. Not completing the surgery could cause: death, muscle cramps, paralysis, asphyxiation...]
He tuned out the rest of his internal processor.
Assistant could already imagine the Professor's reaction to this news. He'd be panicked, overwhelmed, and probably end up staying in Amory's house for hours- he always did that when he was upset- and overwork himself trying to deal with the aftermath of the surgery.
It still was a matter if such a surgery was even possible, but it had to be done somehow. Some of the animals here feed off energy, so there clearly was a way to do it.
Assistant grabbed a bucket off the floor and began to wander back to Sabre, no longer hearing any lurching or retching. There was still a puddle on the ground of what came out, though.
"...S-Sorry... what time is it...?"
*"Nighttime."
"Mm." Sabre was too exhausted to deal with the Assistant's sarcasm. He slid a little farther into the hospital bed, looking to the ceiling, "I'm... seeing weird- the ceiling's all wobbly..."
*"You're tired. Please rest."
"...what... happened?"
*"It'll be explained in the morning. If you need to puke again, please go into the bucket." Which Assistant tapped quickly and put it on a table nearby. Sabre nodded and sighed.
*"Good night Sabre."
"...night..."