You were sitting on a white beach. A treeline of tall, coconut filled palm trees stretched out behind you. Casting a line of shade that didn't quite reach you. There was a light breeze that swayed the branches and cooled your skin. Instantly and almost a little frantically, you took in a deep breath of it through your nose. Relishing in the scent of fresh air, palm trees, and the ocean. Something you hadn't smelled in who knows how long.
In front of you, about two or three meters, a bright blue ocean stretched all the way across the horizon. Its waters were crystal clear, and if you looked hard enough you could see little crustaceans scuttling around under the surface. You looked side to side, looking at how the Island stretched for a way's, then circled back around to where you could not see.
You started to breathe a little heavily. Tears coming out of both of your eyes. A joyous feeling surged throughout your body. You never thought you would see the sun again, let alone be on a warm beach. You dug your fingers through the warm sand, feeling the cool sand underneath the warm layer. You did the same with your toes. However, you only felt one of your legs.
Looking down, you were punched with the reminder that, you were now missing your entire left leg. You had been so happy about finally being out of the Abyss, that you had forgotten all about it. Leaning down as far as you could, you could see that the wound was covered in some type of leaf.
You hesitantly reached out and touched the edge of your wound with one of your fingers. A sharp bolt of pain shot up your torso, you gasped lightly and immediately pulled your hand back. As soon as your hand left the wound it returned to dull discomfort. You tried to turn around and look at the scenery behind you, but twisting your body brought more pain, So you straightened your body and looked out to the water again.
The water was calm. If you looked for off to the edge of the sky you could see where the water got darker blue as the ocean got deeper. Over there the waves were not huge, but strong. Right here the waves were calm, serenely lapping across the sand. You wanted to go and let your body soak in the tropical water, but you still couldn't move.
Above you, somewhere to your rear left, you heard the sound of birds flapping among the trees and crying out to each other. You closed your eyes. Basking in the warm light of the sun, feeling its warmth seep all the way into your bones. Loving how the gentle breeze swayed your hair. Smelling the ocean, and the palm trees. Listening to the birds and the waves. Cherishing all that you thought you would never experience again.
The trees behind you snapped as if something big was moving through them. Suddenly all peace was washed away and cold fear paralyzed you. You knew what was happening. Hoolan was coming your way. You dropped your top half to the ground, laying down once more, closed your eyes, and tried to slow your breathing. You didn't want him to know that you were awake.
A moment went by before you heard a quiet grunting sound, followed by the noise of what sounded like something being dragged. You tried to keep your breathing as even as possible and your body from shaking as footsteps sounded just a few feet from your head.
After a moment or so of what sounded like shuffling around, something was set above you. You could tell because you could no longer see the sun under your eyelids, and it got slightly cooler. You dreaded for a moment that Hoolan was standing over you, but when you heard the sound of footsteps to your left you knew it wasn't the case.
You continued to remain as still as possible, and keep your breathing as even as you could, as the footsteps walked all around you for the next few minutes. Then, they faded in the distance again. You tentatively opened one of your eyes. There was no one there, but you were right, there was something above you now.
It looked like a makeshift tarp made out of palm leaves suspended in the air by long sticks. Hoolan must have made it to keep the sun off of you. You looked to your left to where you heard the footsteps fade. You saw the tracks leading away from you, but also a little ways from you, there was a half-carved stick laying in the sand. As you examined it, you could tell it looked sort of like a crutch.
You hesitantly reached out, cringing a little from the pain your wound shot through your body, and stroked it, barely reaching it with the tips of your fingers. It was only about a third of the way carved, but it still was carved as if a master was doing it. Had Hoolan done this before? You tried to look behind you again, but you couldn't turn around without bolts of pain. You were gonna try anyway.
You gritted your teeth before bouncing on your right hip, Giving out a small whimper as the area of your amputated leg strongly disagreed with your actions. You gave it a moment to subside before you tried again. This time however you got nowhere, and instead just bounced in the same spot, causing your injury to flare up again, but with more pain than last time. You bit your bottom lip in frustration, you didn't want to be here when Hoolan returned, but you were getting absolutely nowhere with this.
You turned back to your left and looked and the partially made crutch again. It may not have been finished, but perhaps you could use it to help you turn. The problem was however, It was a little bit away from you, if you wanted to grab it, you would need to crawl that way. The stick was on your left side though, the same side where your leg got removed. If you moved too much on that side, something bad could happen.
Still, you tried. You tried burying your right foot into the sand and pushing your body to the left. Your wound started to sting badly as it was rubbed against the sand, but you were just barely able to touch it again, you were so close. So against better judgment, you continued reaching.
Right as you were able to reach your second knuckle over it you felt the healing would give way, tearing open. You gave out a cry and clutched your pelvis right above the wound. Watching as the white sand underneath you was drowned in bright red blood. You clenched your eyes shut as tear's started to dribble down your cheeks. Trying to suppress the moans of pain coming out of your mouth.
Your breath hitched in your throat though when you heard a slight thudding in the distance, that was getting louder by the second. The trees where the footsteps vanished into rustled before the big figure of Hoolan charged out of them and straight at you. You gave a yelp as he skidded to a halt next to you.
" Y/N! what happened?" He asked frantically, looking down at your leg. You could not reply through the pain, and instead just hung your head and refused to meet his eyes. You took in a sharp intake of breath though when he put a hand on your chest and gently pushed you back into a laying position.
" Don't move Polyp." He said as he took the palm leaves off of your injury. You squealed in pain as the rest of the wound was re-opened. God why were you such an idiot, you knew you should not have moved like that, but you did it anyway. Now, look at the state you were in.
Hoolan gently pressed his forehead against yours for a brief second. Shushing you before tending to your wound. He quickly gathered some more palm leaves before sprinkling some unknown plant on them. After that, he applied it to your wound and used some plant fibers to secure it to your body.
You kept your eyes clenched tightly shut throughout the whole thing, trying to keep yourself from crying out. After the palm leaves were secured on your leg you felt a cold breath on your face before Hoolan nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck. Deeply inhaling your scent. You let out a small whimper as he did so. His beard tickled your throat, and you tried to shift away. At your movement, he lifted his head up and stared into your E/C eyes with his black ones.
" Y/N, Are you ok? What happened?" He said, reaching a hand over to wipe the tears off of your face. You nodded through your sobs before looking at him in the eyes fearfully.
" I... Just moved around *sob* too much." You breathed out between sobs. You looked to the side again, not wanting to look him in the eyes. It didn't matter that he had just aided you, He still poisoned you and ripped off your leg, so you were still terrified of him.
He continued to look down at you as you shook in fear under him. You let out another sob as he gently took your chin in his hand and gently rubbed it with his rough fingers.
" Y/N, Please look at me." He said in a shaky voice. You just shut your eyes harder and continued to shake uncontrollably. He let out a strangled breath and nuzzled his face in your neck again. You felt him shudder softly in sadness as he stroked your chin with the hand still at your face.
" Polyp, I am so sorry for what I have done to you." He said in a slight sob of his own. His cold breath lighting on your neck again. He continued. " I promise I will never lay a harmful hand on you ever again. I will never let anything hurt you, I'll take care of you, REALLY take care of you from now on." He said, lifting his head up and trying to tilt your head toward him again. You let his hand guide your face back to the left, before slowly opening your eyes and looking into his again.
" How can I be sure of that Hoolan, After what you did to me?" You said in a shaky voice. " How can I be sure that you won't go off and hurt me again? How can I be sure that you will keep that promise?" You said, the tears starting to come back and blur your vision.
He leaned down suddenly and gave you a kiss. Your eyes widened in surprise as he lifted his hands up and held both sides of your face in them. The kiss only lasted for a mere second, but to you, it seemed an eternity. The only sounds were the waves of the water and your breathing. He slowly pulled away from you, still holding your face in a soft grip. He opened his eyes and you saw a tear slip out of the corner of his left eye.
" I would never polyp. I love you too much to hurt you like that again." He said, his breath fanning against your face.
" But what if you do break that promise?" You said, looking at him intently in the eyes. He pressed his forehead against yours again, his grip becoming slightly tighter, but nowhere near painful.
" Then the sun will dry out my rotting corpse."