“Right now he’s up north, reviving the dead trees up there” Grus answered, readjusting his messenger bag which was full of medicines, medical equipments, and other necessaries.
.
.
Upon arrival, Grus knelt down beside Tucana to get a good checkup on Andromeda’s state.
“Level 3 poison, seems like he’s been here for about an hour now” the male nurse mentioned, getting out his gloves and mask and putting them on as he prepared a syringe with antidote inside. He started injecting the antidote into Andromeda’s bloodstream with a calm motion. Taking out the syringe, he carefully placed it aside, checking Andromeda’s body one last time.
“The antidote is working, he should be able to move within fifteen minutes to half an hour… the question now—“ Grus turned back to Tucana, not with a suspecting gaze but more of a confused one “—why is he in your room of all people?”
A pang of unnecessary jealous hit Pasha's heart. It was a good question. He stared blankly at Andromeda's body, it seemed a lot more relaxed than it had been. Grus was a very good doctor to be able to treat poison like that so quickly.
He gaze drifted back to Tucana, his eyes a liitle sad. Why am I sad that Andromeda decided to come to Tucana's room…?
Tucana scratched the back of his neck.
“I’m not sure myself. I didn’t invite him over nor did I want him in my room ever…” then the answer hit him. There was the smell of smoke coming from somewhere else inside the room.
Grus turned towards the smell as well. He stood up and walked towards the smell, finding a semi-lit flare.
“Oh I get it…” Grus claimed, picking up the flare.
“The attacker must’ve lit this flare and lure whoever was the one outside to come in—” he turned to the window “—through the window, they came in and went out, leaving no traces behind… at least to the human eye” Grus walked towards the window.
“It was not a fixed target, they just injected the poison to the unlucky one” he mentioned as he made his way to the window, leaning towards it and opening it.
“Rust is new… the attacker might’ve been someone associated with water or at least was soaked when they came in” he examined quickly, brushing the tiny pieces of metal around the perimeter of the open window.
.
.
“Shouldn’t there have been a reason why they chose my room though?” Tucana asked.
“That’s easy, your room in the center of the third floor’s right hall so whoever was walking outside at the exact time would’ve heard the explosion” Grus answered plainly, slipping the flare into his messenger bag.
“I’ll take this to examine later, the results would be out tomorrow morning if you’re interested in seeing it” the doctor claimed, slowly pushing Andromeda’s body aside. He grabbed the shoulders of the knight and leaned him against the wall so blood could flow.
“Now, your wings” he turned to Tucana as the bird spread his wings.
A dark figurine glided down behind Lucisan, touched his shoulder and turned him around to face them. They had their right index up to their lips, making a soft ‘shh’ sound. A black jacket, a bandage over their eyes yet they’re able to see, a scarf blocking something around their neck which was moving, and the scent of pure blood was from the figure in front of the prince.
“Keep quiet if you don’t want to end up like him…” the figure giggled softly, motioning his other hand to the stone statue.
"Who… Who are you?"
Lucisan wasn't as much afraid than he was intrigued. Though the sudden contact was startling at first. The blood didn't bother him, he had seen and smelt enough blood to last a war.
“The name’s Medusa Knight, one of Indas’ higher rank Knights…” the Knight answered, keeping his finger still in front of his lips.
“And yes, I was the one who did that…” the Knight motioned to the stone statue with a sadistic smile, still keeping his eyes bandaged.
Azure looked at his notes.
“From what they told me, she has ice related abilities; being able to create low temperature environments while also being able to freeze things by simply touching them” he answered, nodding to himself as well.
“The last team failed because they were trapped in an iceberg” he added before he closed his notebook.
“As mentioned though, you don’t have to do the capturing yourself as that can be a bit too risky for a first mission”
Lata nodded. "I'd rather know now than later," she said calmly. She placed her helm in her lap, watching Azure.
"I'm assuming I need to head out as soon as possible, right?" the girl asked, secretly hoping she might have a bit of time to relax. It was wishful thinking with her new line of work. For both a defender of Selas and a member of the Silverwings.
“The name’s Medusa Knight, one of Indas’ higher rank Knights…” the Knight answered, keeping his finger still in front of his lips.
“And yes, I was the one who did that…” the Knight motioned to the stone statue with a sadistic smile, still keeping his eyes bandaged.
"Hm, at least you aren't from Selas," Luc remarked, sending a glance over at Isaac. I have no idea what's going on right now, but I'll act like I do. He slowly blinked. "Now, what are you doing in Selas and are you a threat to me?"
“In all honesty, yes, but all our members always have time to rest. We aren’t so cruel to make you work all the time… after all, that’s opposing our purpose” Azure assured with a soft grin.
“Well, I’ll leave you be now and if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask me. Have a good night sleep, peace” he made a quick salute with his index and middle finger with closed eyes and a smile before he climbed through the window, closing it for Lata.
“Well… I was from Selas but that’s for later…” two giant serpents emerged from the ground behind the Medusa Knight, not allowing Isaac to come any closer.
“Now… I am just wandering around Selas, getting a glimpse of what defenses they might have put up during the night and…” the figure sighed in disappointment “… unsurprisingly, there were none so I’ve got nothing else to do… until I found myself the Pisces Knight…” the figure motioned to the statue.
“Now that is not him but one of my own comrades, the Dryad, yet… he disobeyed the orders of lord Indas, attempting to run away from a fight… weak and useless he was” the Medusa Knight went on.
“Truly, I’ve got no business with you… though I will be a threat to all of you when lord Indas gives me the order… as for now, I’m a passive character in this childish game all of the royals are playing against each other”
"Hmm, alrighty than." Luc shrugged, he rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Now, I'm going to find somewhere to sleep and or die in a hole. Oh, and please let me see my husband." He usually didn't use the h word.
“I like you… brave and unmoved even in the face of danger… perhaps you should consider selling your soul to lord Indas…” the Medusa Knight put both of their hands in their pockets as the serpents went back down underground. He then walked away without another word and not facing the royal.
Isaac ran to Lucisan.
“Hey, are you hurt?” He seemed quite worried as he couldn’t see what was happening at all behind the serpents.
"No, I'm alright." Luc coughed, bringing some blood up, a bit of blood staining his lips. "Gods above, I hate this kingdom so fucking much." He groaned, just going to hug Isaac. "He wanted me to sell my soul or something. Didn't have the heart to tell him that's pretty much what I did when I married a prince of Phastia."
“Seriously, we all hate Selas and it’s been that way since… who knows when” Isaac agreed to the statement, holding Lucisan relatively close to him.
“And yeah, I can agree” he laughed a bit, still tired.
"Why can't someone just…" Luc waved his hand in the air. "Can't they just blow this place up? It would technically solve all the problems."
“Uh… I mean… they could if it wasn’t for the fact that Selas is in the center of the nine kingdoms around here” Isaac replied with a small yawn. The prince looked at his watch.
“4 AM already?!”
"Doesn't mean they can't still blow it up." Luc gave a huge catlike yawn, frowning afterwards. "Time is a social construct."
Pasha leaned against the wall, watching the other constellations in front of him. Only now did fatigue catch up to him, and his eyes felt rather heavy. Carefully, he removed the badge, and his armour vanished. "Do you think you could explain all that again, but dumbed down for the tired folk in the room?"
“Eh… true. Wanna head back now? The morning call is 5 AM, is it not?” Isaac jerked his thumb towards the castle.
“Someone came into Tucana’s room through the window, unlocked the door, lit up this flare to lure whichever knight was outside at the time to come into the room and injected them with poison in an attempt to commit a murder… though I fear that there’s more to that…” Grus stated, tapping his chin in deep thought.
"What more do you fear there is?" Pasha yawned, making his way over to Tucana, running his fingers tiredly along the unwounded parts of his wings.
“The purpose of injecting someone with poison… if it wasn’t a fixed target, perhaps the poison will have some kind of effect if left for long enough inside someone… I will have to look more into that later” Grus reassured as he got out some bandages.
“And you—“ he called to Tucana “—be careful next time, your wings are your most beautiful feature and the hardest organ to treat so keep them safe for both your and my sake” he started wrapping the bandages on the holes and wounds near the edges of his wings. His motion was calm, chill, and unstressed. As for the holes further away from the edges, Grus got out gauze pads and two syringes. Placing the gauze pads down on them, he carefully pinned them to his feathers so that Tucana could still use them. Once every hole was covered, Grus injected the medicine into Tucana’s wings; one syringe per side.
“Alright, you’re good to go… the medicine is a self-restoration one so you should fully healed in two to three hours” the doctor claimed, setting the syringes down.
While Pasha would agree that Tucana's wings were beautiful, they were not the most beautiful feature of the constellation.. Stop it!
He watched the doctor work, somewhat awed by his calmness. Never would Pasha have the ability to be that calm, especially if someone he knew was hurt.
He turned to Tucana, a nervous smile curled on the corners of his lips. "Am I assume you wish to rest in peace?"
Both of the knights turned to Pasha, a small smirk from Tucana turned into a full burst of laughter from both of them.
“Oh my god…” Grus covered his mouth, trying his best to not lose it. They knew Pasha made a mistake with his wording but that mistake was hilarious.
“Well, Pasha, I would like to sleep in tranquility but maybe the rest in peace could come later” Tucana teased with closed eyes and a grin that spread from his left cheek to his right, happy tears running down from the sudden laughter.
It took Pasha a moment to realise what he had said, but once he did his hand flew over his mouth with a gasp. "I am so sorry, I didn't mean it to come out like that!"
His face burned as the knights laughed. Great way to make a fool of yourself. He averted his gaze from them, biting his lower lip as he mumbled something about him being stupid.
Tucana and Grus shook their heads.
“It’s completely fine, it’s late at night after all… speaking of which, we should all get some rest” Tucana mentioned as Grus nodded in agreement.
“I’ll take him to check on him, you two can enjoy the rest of the night whether together or separately” Grus spoke out confidently without second thought as he slowly picked up Andromeda’s body and made his way out of the room, closing the door on his way out.
As the door closed, Pasha realised he was now alone. With Tucana. In Tucana's room.
"What now?" he asked, as it was the only thing he could think of. Why was it always the stupidest or most obvious questions he always asked?
Part of the knight didn't feel completely safe in that room. Someone had broken into it once, who's to say it wouldn't happen again? Or that the culprit had hidden nasty traps around the room? Calm down, you're tired and over thinking. Some sleep will do you good. But he didn't want to sleep, not with everything that was going on. He wanted to be up and moving, out and about, completing the task Vincent had given him. But a tired knight was a dead knight…
