Rough Wound Placement⬆️➡️
Song: Moon Trance - Lindsey Stirling (Lindsey Stirling)
Word Count: 2101
Nonna came home about an hour after Akia and Eiden told me who I really was. She returned with grocery bags filed with supplies for dinner, as well as gauze packages, which I was rather surprised about. After all, she did tell Eiden to heal me.
I looked up at the siblings, pulled away from our game of Dos by the sound of the door slamming. We set our cards down on the bed, Eiden promptly getting smacked by Akia for sneaking a look at her hand. I just chuckled, shoving my hands into my hoodie pocket as I lead the two out of my bedroom and down the stairs.
"Hoodie, off," Nonna commanded the moment I walked into the kitchen. I glanced at Akia before we both looked at Eiden, who immediately turned around and went to hide in my room. I chuckled before stripping off the black sweatshirt, carrying it with me as I walked over to my grandmother. I hopped onto the island, watching Akia follow behind me and sit on one of the stools beneath the counter.
Nonna dropped the plastic bag onto the granite countertop, taking out the three gauze packages and unwrapping them. Akia pulled the curtains over the windows, making sure they were all closed, before running to turn the lights on.
"Well, it certainly looks better," Nonna murmured as she inspected my bare wound. "Let me see..."
I bit my lip quickly as I tilted my head to the side, glancing over at Akia. Nonna had one hand pressed against my wounded neck and the other hand against my collarbone. She started inspecting the wound, poking and prodding at the sensitive skin. I sucked at my teeth, squeezing my eyes closed at the sharp needles. Akia rushed towards me, grabbing my hand in hers. I squeezed it tightly, biting my still-healing lip at the continuous pain.
Suddenly, it stopped.
"Perfect, it's scarred over." I looked down at my shoulder once Nonna pulled away. The once violently red, pink scabs were now wide, white scars, slightly pink around the untouched skin. Clear teeth imprints were now permanently imprinted on two parts of my body.
"I think that it looks really good." Akia walked over and looked at the scars, nodding in approval.
"While it may look fine, I still want it wrapped up for tonight, just to be sure," Nonna frowned, picking up one of the rolls of gauze. She wrapped up my chest and shoulders before allowing me to pull the hoodie back over my head.
"What did you do?" I asked, situating the black fabric over my body.
"I didn't do anything, I just looked at it before wrapping it up," Nonna responded throwing away all of the trash that she just made.
"Then why did it hurt so much?"
"The skin is still sensitive. It is confused, to put it simply. You got the wound a couple hours ago and now it's almost fully healed, so it's still going to bring that spike of pain. Nothing bad is actually happening, it's just a defense mechanism."
"Oh...well, thanks, Nonna," I grinned, crossing my legs on the island.
"You're welcome," the old woman paused, turning to look at the girl beside me. "Akia, could you get your brother?"
"Yeah, I'll go." Akia spun around and ran back to the stairs, sprinting up them as fast as she could.
Nonna cleared her throat, causing me to turn my attention to her. "So, I'm assuming they told you everything?" I nodded. "To what extent?"
I swallowed, running my thumb over my scarred wrist. "Well, they told be about all of the species, about the division between the good and the bad, about my parents, about me, and...about you."
Nonna flinched, her eyes flashing as she spun around to meet my gaze. "What did they say?"
"Um...they just said that you're a female...Barrin, or whatever they're called."
My head tilted to the side as Nonna let out a breath, one that seemed to be out of relief. "Alright...So you know that you're not my nipotina?"
I nodded.
"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you."
"It's okay," I shrugged. "I'd rather be raised by you than anyone else."
Nonna smiled, chuckling a bit. She was about to say something else, but she was cut off by Akia and Eiden tromping down the stairs. The two walked into the kitchen, Eiden immediately walking over to the fruit bowl beside me.
Eiden grabbed an apple and took a large bite, wiping the juice off of his chin. "So," he spoke around a mouthful of fruit, "what are we going to do now that she knows?"
Nonna glanced at me, before turning back to Eiden. "We will discuss that over dinner." the old woman shooed us away, pulling a box of pasta out of the grocery bag. Akia grabbed my arm, pulling me off the counter and into the living room, Eiden following behind her.
Akia huffed. "I'm bored," she mumbled, collapsing into the recliner and draping her legs over the arm rest. Eiden and I sat on the couch, him sitting normally and me sitting cross legged on the leather. "What do you wanna do?"
I shrugged.
"Not helpful. Eiden?"
He shrugged.
"I swear to god, you two."
I slowly blinked, twisting to rest my head against the arm chair. "I'm tired," I mumbled, burrowing into the soft leather.
"That's because of the healing. It takes a lot out of your body," Eiden responded, patting my ankle.
"What even happens when you do that healing thing?" I yawned.
"Basically, we force your cells to move faster and speed up the natural healing process. It's nothing too special," Akia explained, shimmying deeper into the armchair.
I scoffed. "Yeah, not too special."
We were silent after that, the only sound being Nonna making her Italian delicacies. I let my eyes close as I shifted to a more comfortable position, switching to rest my head on Eiden's lap. I let out another yawn, grinning slightly at the comforting feeling of Eiden braiding the loose strands of my hair together.
"I'm still surprised you're taking it so well," Eiden mumbled.
I scoffed. "Just wait. In a couple days, I'll realize what happened and freak out on you."
"A few days?"
"My adrenaline takes a while to calm down."
"But you're about to go to sleep..." Akia cut in.
"Adrenaline doesn't stop you from sleeping," I yawned, closing my eyes and rolling on my stomach, closer to the edge of the couch.
"But-"
"Shhh."
Both Akia and Eiden went quiet, allowing me to get a bit of sleep. It felt like only a few seconds went by before I was jolted awake by Nonna. "Dinner!" she shouted, the sudden sound surprising me so much that I fell off the couch.
"Ow..." I mumbled, slowly shifting to sit in my ankles. I hit the carpet face first and now my nose was hurting. I angrily rubbed the sore spot. "Great."
Akia laughed, causing me to glare at her. "Come on, dinner time."
Climbing to my feet, I followed the siblings into the kitchen, inhaling the smell of fresh tomatoes and Oregano. "Could you help me set the table?" Nonna asked the three of us, pulling a knitted potholder off of the hook above the stove. I nodded, immediately going to our silverware drawer and pulling out four sets of cutlery. Akia got the Parmesan cheese from the fridge, as well as another pot holder before she brought the sauce pot over to the table. Eiden and Nonna strained the spaghetti quickly and while the former got a cup of water for everyone, Nonna set the pot down on the cushion she grabbed earlier. I got plates and napkins, finishing setting up everyone's place at the table before we all sat down. We all took a breath before we started to eat.
This felt normal. It felt like a normal dinner that we would have, one from the time before I found out that I was a goddess, my best friends were Wilhemines, and my grandmother was a Barrin, even though that was just last night.
I sat down beside Eiden with Nonna across from me, Akia next to her. I used the rings to give myself a decent helping of spaghetti, pouring sauce all over the noodles and sprinkling some parmasean cheese overtop once everyone had food on their plate, we began discussing everything.
"So, Red, now that you know everything-" Nonna cut herself off with a forkful of spaghetti, swallowing it quickly before she continued, "-the Bathildes will start planning their attack. They don't want you getting any stronger than you already are."
I scoffed, swirling my fork around in my meal. "I don't know anything, how strong can I be?"
Nonna's gaze sharpened as she stared at me. "You know what you are, that's enough."
"Well, what do we do?" Akia cut in, causing Nonna to look at her.
"She needs to establish the fact that she is needed," Nonna insisted.
"How? People have lived and died without her for years-"
"Not naturally. Before Red, even now, her mother and father decided when people died, but that's all. Red can do so much more. With training she would be able to revive people, kill them with a snap of her fingers, and decide the future for all creatures. No other god or goddess can even dream of doing that.
"So...basically, I control people's fate?" I mumbled, looking at the other three people at the table.
"No, you don't control it. You create it. You can resolve mistakes, create paths, and absolve sins."
"Woah." I swallowed thickly, staring at my grandmother.
Nonna nodded. "And that is why you are needed,"
Eiden set down his fork. "While we may have been around, we were all just surviving. We were watching the sun and the moon go by, not really living or dying. We followed the normal path of reproduction and the normal path of destruction, but that was all we did. There was nothing to it. "
I frowned. "Why should there be something to it now?"
Nonna swallowed another mouthful fo spaghetti before looking at me. "The victors shall be rewarded and the sinners shall be punished. The goddess of life and death shall see to that."
I swallowed the saliva building in my throat, wordlessly eating another forkful of spaghetti.
I didn't like how she said that.
"So what are we planning to do to prepare her?" Akia asked, which I as thankful for.
"We have to train everyone, not just her." Nonna are more of her spaghetti, finishing what was left on her plate. "We have to call them all to Moakdé."
Eiden choked on his dinner at the mention of the word. My eyes widened and I quickly began patting his back, continuing until he pushed my arm away. He swallowed down his mouthful before looking at Nonna. "No one has gone to Moakdé in years and now you're asking everyone to go? Are you planning on giving them some kind of explanation?"
I frowned, extremely confused. "But...but we live in Moakdé?"
Akia chuckled, bringing my attention over to her. "This Moakdé is a secret hideout in the forest. We're not talking about the actual city."
Without even acknowledging the fact that his sister and I had just been talking, Eiden continued arguing with Nonna. "What can we tell them? The goddess is aware of who she is and were all preparing for a war?"
Now it was my turn to choke. "What do you mean war?"
Nonna looked at me. "How do you think the rivalry between the Bathildes and Gervais will end? Do you think they will just peacefully accept you as their goddess?"
"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "I was just told about whole thing! Do you expect me to be an Einsten, because I'm sorry to disappoint!" I shoved another forkful of spaghetti into my mouth.
Everything was silent for a moment, forks and knives frozen against our sauce-stained plates. Eventually, Nonna spoke again, "I expect you two to go with her."
Akia and Eiden didn't protest like I expected them to; they just wordlessly nodded and continued to eat.
"Red." I looked up at Nonna as she turned to me. "You will leave in the morning, make sure you are ready."
I scoffed. "Will I ever be ready for a war?"
"You have to be."