Heyyy haven't updated this in a while sorry !! Lost motavation for it
The hospital/medical scenes may not be too accurate to how these situations actually work my apologies for that; I'm most basing it off of when I got hospitalized becuz surgery lol
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It was way too warm.
Professor clung to M, lightly tracing the skin on his arm.
He stared and held M under his arms, staring into his fluffy hair. He played with it with one hand, being careful of how curly it was and how it felt as if it hugged his hand and curled around his wrist. He smiled at the feeling of it, and frowned as he thought back to the situation.
Rightfully, he knew M wasn't a child anymore. He'd become a leader, and even if he was still a kid, he'd been through enough to have the mind of an adult. Yet, the professor still wished he'd never had to go through all of this. He didn't want M to suffer the same losses he did.
Or maybe he was still overreacting to those deaths.
He shook his head and rubbed his own forehead. Professor Red's head was aching horribly, and he looked at the time to try and get a bearing of how long it'd been. He looked at the clock.
Around 10. He'd been asleep too long.
Professor Red sighed, and looked back down to M. The sheets and pillows were messily sorted around him, it was obvious of the struggle he'd felt when he was dragged back up here.
His eyes softened, and he leaned over and gently sorted the pillows back to their proper place under M's neck; he already was going to develop a bad posture and neck damage with how much he hunched over. Professor smiled sadly at M and rubbed his shoulder in an attempt to silently comfort him.
So, what to do now? Surely he had to check up on Sabre. He was certain that Assistant had been checking up on him and making sure he was stable, yet he still had his own doubts.
Professor Red slid off the bed and grabbed his lab coat, looking around the house. It wasn't overly bright, nor overly dark. It felt too normal, considering Sabre could be dying a few floors under him.
He was certain Assistant had taken fine care of him, but still worried dearly.
/
"Assistant! Any-... ah."
The Assistant wasn't there. Presumably, he was charging. The next thing the professor looked to was Sabre, who was resting on the bed with a table brought over him. The table had a plate on it, with bits of bread. There was also a remote with something on it, although professor couldn't see exactly- it looked like icons. There was a big red button near the top of it, which he assumed was an emergency button.
"Sabre! Are you-"
"Awake. Yes." Sabre replied groggily, eating scraps of bread left on the plate, "Wish I slept a bit longer...". Sabre spoke as if saying that was a joke, but considering the circumstances it felt nothing like one. Professor sighed and walked to Sabre, looking at the bandages and how they were already turning brown from the blood.
"We need to check your bandages again. Did Assistant tell you about the transfusion?"
"...Mhm."
"Do you feel alright?" Professor Red spoke as he dealt with the wounds that were easy to access. He paused, and decided to wait before he dealt with Sabre's eye. He wearily changed the bandages without thinking.
"...Felt better. Threw my guts up a few times."
"Metaphorically or literally?"
Sabre looked at him funny as if he could actually do that, and Professor chuckled.
"Relax, I'm joking. Have you taken any pain medicine?"
"Assistant shot some stuff up the IV like, 6 hours ago. I passed out for a bit. I've also had some pain pills every so-so amount of hours."
"That's expected." Professor tugged on Sabre's sleeve, "I'm sorry, but you need to sit up for this... and also take off the medical gown. You were stabbed in the stomach and torso a few times."
A moment of silence, then Sabre nodded and sat up and began untying the thin string on the back of the gown, but Professor Red slapped his hands away quickly.
"Ow- hey!"
"You have been stabbed. You should try not to stretch your arms." Professor stated matter-of-factly, looking down slightly to finish untying the string.
"..Moron." He whispered at the last bit of his sentence, smirking slightly.
"I hope you never untie that thing. I hope I recover quickly so I can remove that word from Assistant's programming."
"As if you could!" Professor Red joked, and opened the back of the gown.
Nothing new, most of the wounds were in the front. Sabre noticed this too, and quickly turned around. It took a second for the professor to realize he hadn't grabbed any of the gauze or bandages, so he slid off the bed and went to the cabinets to get them.
"...You know how to do this stuff, right?" Sabre asked with a hint of worry in his voice, considering Professor Red was more of a mechanic than a doctor.
"Basics. Enough to help you. If I need help, I'll get Sage or Assistant!"
"...Great...! Ye- Ow-"
"Are you alright?" Professor Red rushed back over with the medical supplies in his arms, "After this, I'll give you another dose of pain medicine, okay?"
"...Fine, just- Ow..." Sabre turned around and let Professor take the bandages off his wounds. Professor didn't hide his wince seeing them uncovered. There was still traces of red and a golden brown along the wounds, and they looked glossy.
"...All good?"
Professor Red didn't reply, only began to take off the rest of the bandages for the fatal wounds and re-wrap them with gauze and fresh bandages. He didn't do it for the smaller wounds, not quite yet. They hadn't bled as badly.
For a moment, he looked back up to Sabre's eye, but decided against it. That was too fatal to just take off. He wanted to give it a bit more time to heal, maybe later tonight he'd fix it.
Sabre sat awkwardly and glanced around the room out of boredom. The professor's lab was much bigger than he remembered; either that or he'd never been in this room before. The walls were lined with lab tables and counters, and upon a bit more inspection Sabre noted he was against the wall, with a hallway presumably leading to a different part of the lab on the far left.
He assumed the wall he was pressed against had some sort or redstone, or something that was the equivalent to electricity here.
"All done. I'll get you some medicine and- Oh! The violet steves might have some healing potions, that'll speed up the recovery!" Professor Red snapped his fingers in the air and turned on his heels, "I'll get the medicine, wait right here!"
Sabre didn't reply as he darted away. The gown was still untied, but he didn't really care. It was cold, but it was almost as if Sabre didn't feel it. It felt so far away.
He glanced at his torso, looking at the newfound scars that'd been cast onto his body. While he couldn't actually see them due to the bandages, he could tell that there were enough on his stomach and chest to the point they were overlapping with his old scars.
One down his chest and stomach from when Nightmare killed him, another from Demon Void slicing his stomach, and now some from Sorin. The ones from Nightmare and Demon Void already overlapped, but this...
Sabre absentmindedly itched at the new ones. He didn't want them there.
Some were covering his arms too. His hands. His shoulders.
His eye.
The professor must've forgotten about it. He began to itch at the bandages.
He wanted to rip the scars off his body as if they were just wet pieces of paper stuck onto his skin. It felt like that too; it felt like he could just peel it off, but maybe that was just the mix of the stickiness of blood and the bandages stuck on his skin.
Get it off, Get it off-
He itched a little harder, letting his fingers seep under the bandages and pry against the stickiness of it. Even though he couldn't actually feel what was left of his eye, he could feel the air stuck under the bandages. It was wet, humid, and somehow also dry.
How badly had he been ruined?
Sabre reluctantly pulled his hand away and tried to put the nightgown back on, but it hurt to move. He tried to just leave it over his torso, but then his attention drew to the bandages covering his arms.
GET THE DAMN THINGS OFF.
Sabre yanked at the bandages over his arms, as if the scars were bubbling under his skin. Horrifying images of his arms barely even being a normal color, only being red and broken tanned, dried skin were haunting him. He needed to know.
One of the bandages came loose, and Sabre yanked at it. All of the bandages spooled and wrapped around his arm pulled loose.
There were stabs along his arms, trickled into the burn marks. Sabre began to itch and yank at them, ignoring how the blood lightly began to spool against his fingernails.
"Sabre! SABRE CUT IT OUT!"
He wanted to itch into his skin and bones.
"SABRE!"
Professor Red yanked his hand away, firmly grabbing it. Sabre looked at him as if he didn't notice what he was doing to himself.
"Sabre, you can't do that! You were stabbed and you..." Sabre zoned out, only focusing on how tightly Professor was gripping his hand. Professor Red went on and on, until eventually noticing the silence from Sabre. He stared off into space, breathing gently.
Professor Red sighed, letting go of his wrist. He reached up and pushed Sabre gently back down onto the bed. He made sure the IV was still attached to Sabre's vein, and injected the pain medicine.
Sabre felt woozy, and in a minute he was asleep. Professor noticed a tear had latched onto his eyelids as they closed. He waited a moment and then sighed. Maybe it'd be a good idea to let Sabre have something to fidget with; he had a bunch of fidget toys lying around to stim with, so Sabre could borrow some for the time being.
There might also be something at his home in the village that could help keep him calm as well; he'd look later. For now, he had to go borrow potions from the violet steves.
"...Professor...?"
He paused as he heard M, and turned to face him.
It was clear he just woke up, his hair was still messy, his crown wasn't on, and he wore nothing but a t-shirt and shorts. Yet, regardless of his tired nature, he stared up at the Professor with a lingering curiosity in his eyes, and Professor Red answered his silent question before he could speak.
"Sabre's alright M. I just gave him some medicine, so he's asleep right now. I'm leaving to get some healing potions."
"...Oh." M looked to the ground, sighing, "Is he gonna be awake soon?..."
Professor Red's eyes softened, "About an hour or so? It's not exact. He'll be up... soon."
M didn't reply, he just turned and peeked into the room Sabre was in.
"Are the bandages supposed to be loose on his arm...?"
".. fuck-" Professor Red turned and went back in the room, and as he did so M caught a glimpse of the eyebags that held onto his eyelids. Not to say M couldn't feel bags forming on his own eyes, but it still made him worry for the professor. That worry only mixed into all the other anxieties he had.
M grabbed Professor's arm and yanked him back before he got too far.
Professor turned to look at M as he did so, "M- M we don't have time for th-"
"I'll go get the potions." M spoke in the voice he only used for his subjects, one that was firm and masked the fear under his voice, "You stay here." As M said that, he could see the confusion build in Professor Red's face.
"I thought you'd want to stay here with-"
"I do, but you're tired and know how to deal with this stuff better. I'll get the potions, you stay here and make sure Sabre's alright. Understood?"
Professor Red narrowed his eyes and sighed. It'd probably be fine. Probably.
"Can you stop by Sabre's house as well? I wanted to see if there was anything there that'd help comfort him. Like a... hm. Something... ah..."
M nodded and turned to leave before he heard anything else. Professor Red turned back around to Sabre and began to wrap up the bandages again.
/
*"Professor Red?"
"Mmmm.... Morning Assistant."
Professor Red tapped the rail on the hospital bed quiet, trying to keep himself focused. Assistant didn't seem to care much, only approaching the two.
*"Has anything gone wrong?"
Professor Red didn't even reply, he just let his head fall onto the railing. He was tired, but he slept fine- well, not exactly. A few hours short of what he usually slept, but it never affected him this badly. He thinks it was a few hours. He lost track of time.
*"...I have news about Sabre."
No response. Professor just slumped more and gestured his hand for Assistant to keep speaking.
*"The amount of energy that was injected into him [in the steve blood] is more than his body can handle, which will have side effects that will not benefi-"
"You can say he'll die Assistant."
*"...He will die eventually if it is not removed of it's energy. The demons had a way of stealing energy from other steves [or at least, one that Sabre encountered did], so it is possible."
"It doesn't matter how possible it is, it matters how long it'll take. If he'll eventually die and we can't eventually find a way to remove it then it's all so DAMN POINTLESS!"
Professor Red pushed himself up from the stool he sat on as he did so; The stool was pushed back by how quickly he got up, clanging against the wall. He wasn't angry, but everything was so frustrating now. His friend was something they couldn't quite fix up without hurting him in some other way.
*"Professor Red, maybe we shou-"
Before Assistant could try and calm him down, the professor began to walk faster and quickly ran off before Assistant could properly stop him. For a moment, he stood there and considered going after him, but it would be better to let him calm down first and then try and reason with him. Besides, it wasn't a good idea to leave Sabre alone either.
Seconds passed silently, and those turned into minutes.
9 minutes and 3 seconds, 4 seconds, 5 seconds, 6 seconds, 7 seconds, 8 seconds, 9 seconds, 10 seconds, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24-
Lightning rang out not far from the entrance.
'That must be M.'
"PROFESSOR! PROFESSOR I GOT THE POTIONS! AND SOME- UH- STUFF?"
M ran down the stairs only for Assistant to see him holding a basket filled with pink and magenta colored potions, and his arms overflowing with multiple nature, frog and mushroom themed items.
*"Need help, Amory?"
"O-Oh, yes... W-Where's-?"
*"Professor Red went to his lab. It's locked." Assistant said the last part of his sentence with a firmer tone, letting M catch on what he meant, "Put the potions on the table, I'll give them to Sabre. Leave the rest of the stuff on one of the empty tables, preferably one that isn't covered with chemicals."
M was on it immediately, "And you?"
*"I'll go talk to the professor." Assistant said flatly.
"Wait! Uh- one more thing?" M spoke up, and Assistant tilted his head slightly to the left, "Can you make me and Sabre some food, please?"
Silence. Assistant Steve groaned.
*"Fine. I'm only making the moron food because he's hospitalized, though."
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I had another scene planned in here but I forgot how to write it aaaaugh. Maybe next chapter