Chapter Text
He can’t remember a time he had been so hot. Well, he could think of a couple, but none of those times mattered as much as this very moment. Mind fuzzy and body tingling, Chilchuck dug around in his brain to piece everything together into something a bit more cohesive. He was vaguely aware of someone moving around next to him and something cool and wet running over his face.
“Hmm?” he muttered, failing to form the question that was in his head.
There was a pause in the touch and then his face was cupped - patted.
“St’p,” the half-foot whined, trying to swat the hand away, but he never made contact and he could only assume it was because he missed. Or maybe his hand never moved at all. With how heavy his whole body felt, that was a much more likely possibility.
“Chil? C’n you hear me?”
The words were starting to clear up, but he still couldn’t muster the energy to open his eyes. Regardless, he supposed he had to give some sort of a response. And so, he just hummed again, hoping it got the point across well enough.
Seems as though it did because soon more questions began to follow.
“How are you feeling?”
His brow pinched. He was finally able to place a face with that voice - Marcille. Only she would bug him as soon as he woke up. He must have been taking too long to answer because she was tapping his cheek again, earning an irritated groan.
“F’ne,” he lied, just wanting her to stay quiet and leave him alone. Of course, he knew that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
“You still have a fever…”
“I kn’w.”
“If that’s the case then you can’t be feeling fine.”
“If you knew, th’n why ask?”
He tried to turn over to his side, but a hand on his chest stopped him from moving more than an inch.
“Don’t move,” she warned, sounding genuinely panicked. “You have to keep as still as possible, especially your leg. I just got everything under control and we can’t have you messing it up. So please, just lay there.”
Now that he thought about it, there was a cold breeze on his leg, and only the one leg. Curiosity got the better of him and he finally forced himself to crack an eye open and peered down. That was an instant mistake.
“Wh… what did you do?” he stammered, eyes wide as he was unable to look away from the exposed wound on his lower leg.
“Don’t worry, it’s helping, I promise. I just, you know, let some of my mana flow into the wound to neutralize the infection. But, it’s still in the process of cleaning so I can’t close it off just yet. I promise, though, it won’t take too long and your body should be clear of it by the morning.”
All he could do was stare at her. None of that was making him feel any better about any of it. Then, after a few seconds, it all finally clicked.
“You what?”
“Saved your life, that’s what. At the rate that infection was spreading, you may have been dead within a couple days, you know. A little appreciation would be nice.”
Chilchuck let out a long groan and pressed the back of his head into his pillow. So that was why he was tingly all over. It was magic … messing with his insides. Just the idea of it was enough to make him feel nauseous. Now, every time he felt a tickle or an itch, his skin crawled, and then even that set his mind buzzing with discomfort.
“Was that necessary?” he asked, voice shuddering slightly. “Couldn’t I have just taken something and let it run its course?”
Marcille thought about it for a moment. “Perhaps if we had access to actual medicine. But we do not, so this was the best option. The only one, really. It was that or die a slow and painful death. And I don’t know about you, but one of those sounds at least a little worse than the other.”
“Is death the better option?” he muttered under his breath, shivering slightly. This time he wasn’t sure if it was from him being grossed out or from the fever. He must have looked as sick as he felt because Marcille placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
“Are you alright?”
“No,” Chilchuck mouthed.
In fact, he was far from alright. He could make a whole list for her right there on the spot, but there were far too many to list and his head was still a little too jumbled to be bothered. He drew in a shaky breath and slowly let it out through his nose.
“Where are the others?” he asked, not hiding the fact that he was trying to change the subject.
Marcille drew her legs up to wrap her arms around. “They went out looking for supplies.” She turned to look out into the clearing. “They should be back soon enough; it’s been a few hours now.” She hoped they didn’t run into more trouble. Honestly, she didn’t have the mana for healing anyone else beyond closing this wound later and she was sure Laios wasn’t going to be much help after his first healing attempt.
“Oh,” was all he said before closing his eyes and letting his body relax a bit more.
“You should try and get some sleep, it will make the process quicker and a lot more tolerable for you.” She crawled back over, taking the cloth from his forehead to redip it before placing it back.
Chilchuck let out an involuntary sigh. There was no need to tell him, he was already on it. His brain was clouding back over and he wasn’t sure he could open his eyes back up even if he wanted to. Unfortunately, the last thing he remembered was the feeling of his whole body tingling from the inside out.
He didn’t wake again until aromas began to tickle his nose. And he had to admit, this time his mind was a lot more clear and his body seemed a lot more willing to cooperate. Regardless, he thought it better not to move right away.
“Ah, lad, you’re awake,” Senshi said, spoon in hand as he stirred the contents of his pot. From the smell, it was some sort of stew or soup. Very hearty whatever it was. And Chilchuck couldn’t lie, it did smell quite tempting, almost enough to entice him to go ahead and get up. And he might have even done so if it wasn’t for the fact that he remembered his leg was split open.
Pulse picking up, the half-foot sat up, gaze landing right on his lower half.
He blinked as he looked at nothing but a blanket covering him. Not quite believing it, he tore it away and again, just stared for a moment as his brain caught up with what he was seeing. There was no wound. His pant leg was rolled back down and it looked as though there was nothing there.
He hummed, unaware of the multiple pairs of eyes resting on him.
Chilchuck gave them an awkward wave. “Hey,” he whispered, looking from one to the other.
“You slept a little longer than I thought you would,” Marcille admitted. “I managed to heal your leg back up while you were asleep. From the looks of it, you are feeling a lot better at least.”
The half-foot nodded. Actually, he did feel a lot better. Exhausted and a little shaky all over. But overall, he felt as though he could at least function mostly normally. And that proved to be true when he went to stand and lost his balance less than a second later. Luckily, Laios was close enough to catch him by his upper arm and keep him on his feet.
“Whoa, maybe take it a little slower,” the knight suggested, guiding him slowly to sit with them around the fire.
“Yeah,” Marcille chimed in. “The purification took a lot of energy. I used a lot to infuse it in you, but it was using your energy to do the actual healing.”
“You must be starving,” Senshi said, already spooning some of the stew into a bowl before the other could respond.
Without a word, Chilchuck sat where he was placed, unsure if he could get up from that spot, and took the offered meal. It had everything a stew needed at least, meat, veggies and broth. It wasn’t the most grand thing they’ve had, but it was more than good enough. He had no idea where the meat had come from and honestly, he really didn’t think he wanted to know.
He took an experimental sip of the broth. It was damn near perfect as far as he was concerned. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until then. Then again, with how weak his body still felt, he could only imagine how much it needed after Marcille’s mana ran rampant through his system. Which still disgusted him deep down to think about.
“I hate wolves,” Chilchuck said after a moment, trying desperately to keep his eyes open as he sat there. Even after sleeping all day, he was still exhausted. He could easily sleep for at least another half a day, easily.
“How could you hate them?” Laios exclaimed, almost spilling his broth as he leaned forward. “They are the perfect manifestation of loyalty and…”
Chilchuck didn’t hear much beyond that, he had mastered the art of tuning the man out quite some time ago. All he ever did was talk in circles and gush about monster facts that none of them really cared about and would have no use for. The only part he really heard was the tail end of his ramblings.
“...and now we know they taste pretty great, too. Actually, I think this is the same one…,” he added at the end, squinting at the pieces of meat in his bowl as if he would be able to identify it after being skinned, chopped and cooked.
Chilchuck nearly spit out his mouthful but just barely managed to keep it in. Though, he did chew a lot slower. He couldn’t deny, it did taste pretty good, but knowing this was possibly the same one that nearly killed him. Well, he wasn’t sure. It did feel pretty good to be above it on the food chain when just a day ago the tables would have been turned.
Actually, he couldn’t help but feel a little smug about it. It was eat or be eaten down there after all.