Chapter 36: Demonic Trauma

When Rick woke, he stared at a sterile white ceiling. He tried to get up, only for a doctor to press him back down, then create a quick aura technique that eased the sudden ache in his chest. The man looked vaguely familiar to Rick, so he assumed that the doctor was one of the dedicated Showdown healers. Yet when he tried to ask questions, the man just shook his head and left.

Soon after, H entered with a grimace. It was worse than his normal glower, a truly grim expression that focused entirely on Rick. "You do realize you're on thin ice with this. Your Showdown insurance will cover extracurricular activities, but if you exploit it, that will become a problem for both of us."

"My sister almost died." Rick didn't want to show any weakness, but the statement fell bluntly from his lips. H sighed, started to raise a cigarette to his lips, then returned it to his pocket.

"I suspected I would get family problems with you. Try to keep it under control." H rubbed his eyes wearily and shifted to lean back against the wall of the hospital room.

"Is she alright?"

"She was discharged without any major expenses. They say she needs to work through whatever it is herself. I took her costs from your upcoming income. I forgave the extra expenses for you because everything you encountered was good for your defensive cores. Getting shot isn't ideal training, but if you survive it, that's worth something."

Rick didn't answer, just stared at him. Eventually H turned away, though he paused at the door.

"You don't have another event for five days. Take care of everything by then. Whatever else is happening, you need to get your head straight."

Once his mentor was gone, Rick sat up. He still hurt, especially in every place where he'd been shot, but the doctors had done a good job healing him. His clothes and other things all sat in a box near the bed, so he changed into them. As he did so, he found himself coughing a bit - the gas grenades must have done a number on his lungs even though he'd tried not to breathe any of it.

Other than one of the nurses letting him check out, no one bothered him. He supposed that they were used to Showdown fighters getting injured in various surprising ways. A few people tried to talk to him on the way back to the hotel, but he ignored all of them.

When he came to their hallway, he saw Uncle Frank seated outside their hotel room. He looked so grim that for a moment Rick feared the worst, but his uncle only looked up at him with a somber expression. "I tried to talk to Melissa, but... I think she'd be happy to have you there."

Accepting that wordlessly, Rick stepped inside. Immediately he saw that Melissa's bed was a lump of sheets and blankets, all the covers from both beds gathered into one pile. He could only presume that she was at the center of it, because none of her was visible, so he approached slowly.

"Melissa... I just woke up in the hospital." He didn't get a response, so he carefully sat down on the side of the bed near the pile of blankets. "I'm glad you weren't hurt worse. I'm... sorry I couldn't do more to help you."

There were muffled sounds, then Melissa's head poked out from one side of the blankets. "Brother... don't say that... Uncle Frank has been that way too..."

"How are you feeling?" It looked as though she'd been crying, but she didn't look as broken as he'd worried. His question made her sigh and pull the blankets back over her head.

"I'm fine. The doctors said I was healthy, so I'm healthy. It's just in my head... but I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to." Rick shifted closer and rubbed her back through the blankets. "I'm here to talk if you ever want to, but I don't want to force it. Is there anything you do want?"

"Just... could I have some water? And then... just... stay for a bit..."

Rick quickly went to pour her a glass of water. She was so quiet and subdued that he desperately wanted to do something for her, crack some joke that would make her laugh again. But despite whatever the doctors said, he knew that she had been injured in a deeper way, and trying any of that could make things worse.

When he returned with the water, Melissa emerged enough to drink it. He stayed nearby awkwardly, again putting a hand on her back. It shivered, but when he started to pull away, she aggressively moved into him. Suddenly he had a mess of blankets and his sister in his arms. All he could do was wrap his arms around the bundle and hold her as best she could. She wept, but completely silently.

Eventually she seemed to fall asleep. Rick waited until he was sure, then gently lowered her down into a more comfortable position with one of the pillows beneath her head. Even in sleep she didn't seem peaceful, leading him to wonder if there was some leftover demonic condition.

Not wanting to have that conversation with his uncle, Rick instead retreated to the bathroom so he wouldn't wake his sister and spoke softly. "Katenka, is there any lingering demonic effect?"

"The doctors would have noticed it." She manifested beside him, eyes pale and sorrowful. "It would be... easier if there was an explanation like that. But I fear this is simply a matter of trauma."

"What the demon was trying... what did it do to her?"

"From what I can tell, his goal was partially to cause pain, partially to lower her control. He wanted to use her for her ether void, though I don't know how."

"Figure out, if you can." Rick stared at his reflection and was surprised at how dead his eyes looked. He washed his face, but didn't feel much better. At some point during that process, Katenka disappeared, hopefully to learn more.

But no, she was probably right. There would be no easy lucrim solution here.

With nothing else to do, Rick left the room again. Uncle Frank was still seated on the bench, his hands trying to strangle one another. Rick didn't say anything, just sat down beside him. They were silent for a long time, the air conditioning of the hotel a disturbingly normal backdrop, and then his uncle spoke quietly.

"I was a fool to invite you here."

In all their years together, Rick had never seen his uncle so turned against himself. Part of him wanted to offer reassurance, but another part... "How often do things like this happen?"

"Sometimes. Never. Maybe more often than I've told myself." Uncle Frank vigorously rubbed his face with both hands. "That mercenary was the worst, by far. Most scavengers flee when they see someone can defend themselves... I've never seen anyone with such developed Lucores, much less extensive demonic contracts.

"But... but how many times have I run into someone using a lucrim gun? I think I've tricked myself into believing it almost never happens, but that isn't true. God... I once invited the two of you to come work with me. Such a fool... that would have been a disaster. It could have gotten you killed. And now, Melissa..."

His uncle trailed off, staring into nothing with a haunted expression. Rick didn't know what to say to him, and didn't have much to give. But the self-recrimination he heard was enough to soften his heart. "It wasn't your fault, Uncle Frank. You couldn't have predicted that we'd run into someone like that."

"But I knew it was a risk, and I took it."

"We were the ones who asked."

"But I'm supposed to be the one who guides you, not who..." Uncle Frank took a deep breath and straightened up a little. "But that's the past now. Without you, that would have gone much worse. I don't think I would have been able to rescue Melissa without you, or without that demonic bond. What... what actually happened in there?"

"You don't know?" Rick looked over in surprise. "I assumed that the authorities... what happened to the mercenary?"

"I sent a distress call to international authorities as soon as I saw he had a gun, it's just that it took them some time to arrive. When they did, they gave you emergency treatment and had him arrested. It... feels wrong to say, but they actually paid us for this. There was a price on his head."

"Then just who is he?"

"That, we don't know. Apparently they had a tip that someone had violated their borders in a lucrim vehicle, but there seems to be no information about how. They said they'd call me back, but I don't think they will. There's always some game among the wealthy and powerful, and no one who's responsible will ever ever face any justice. At least the bastard is behind bars."

All Rick could do was consider that in silence. It certainly wasn't satisfying - part of him still wanted to tear the man apart with his own hands. At least the mercenary hadn't been put in a local jail where he would probably end up released due to some corruption or other. As far as he knew, when international authorities took someone down, that was the end of their free lives.

"I won't judge." Uncle Frank looked over at him and again twisted his hands together. "Just... tell me what happened in there."

"A demon tortured Melissa." It hurt to say it, but there was no point trying to soften the truth. "I think the mercenary might actually have been working for it, though I don't know why. It seemed to be bad luck, just... opportunistic."

"And what happened to it?"

"The demon that did that to her? It was destroyed. Melissa actually did it herself, but the whole ordeal..." Rick lapsed into silence, because there was nothing else to really say. He hadn't explained half of what he'd seen, but it was enough. All they could do now was try to cope as best they could.

Over the next day, they simply abided in the hotel. When they spoke, it was quietly and without substance. Melissa slept a lot, but Rick tried to be nearby whenever she needed something. Though it felt wrong to train while she was suffering, he ended up going through his usual routine just because he felt so helpless and there was nothing else he could do.

While seated with his legs crossed one evening, he was surprised when Melissa suddenly shifted up against his back. He hadn't heard her leave the bed even though she'd dragged all the blankets with her.

"Melissa? I'm sorry, I was just..."

"Don't stop." She wriggled around so that her bundle was partially propped against him. "Just feeling that makes things seem more... normal. Actually, I want to..."

After taking a deep breath, Melissa let it out slowly and darkness expanded around her. At first Rick was tense, remembering the destructive aura that had torn into him, but the void left him untouched. It was her Manifest Destruction technique, he realized, though improved since the last time he'd seen it. Since it knew him, it just wrapped him in shadows. Soon the lights flickered out and they sat alone in near total darkness.

"I'm sorry." Melissa took a shuddering breath before continuing. "Because of me, both of you..."

"How can you say that?" Rick found her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "You weren't responsible for us being attacked. Uncle Frank has been beating himself up over this ever since. I've wished that I could do more. But the truth is, it was just one terrible man."

"But I pushed us to go out further and didn't take the risks seriously. I thought that I could defend myself, but I was so naive..."

"Don't say that. You were unlucky. Do you know how many risks I've taken? How many times I've nearly been dismembered or could have ruined our lives over stupid mistakes? Most of those worked out, but that was just dumb luck too."

"I guess... we're both just lucky idiots." Melissa sniffled, but shifted to lean her head against him. "Um, please thank Katenka for me. I tried to be brave, but I was starting to lose hope. But then she came through and started fighting the other demon and I was able to hold on."

"If she didn't hear, I'll tell her." Rick wanted to say more, but all words felt inadequate. He settled for just rubbing her shoulder and back.

Now Melissa was no longer crying, but she still seemed fragile. There was no grinning or joking and he wondered if those would ever return. Would this one accident be something that changed her life forever? He didn't think so, having seen her overcome so much, but he couldn't know what she was feeling. All he could do was resolve to help her as much as he could.

"I..." Melissa spoke up, then paused for an extremely long time, so long that Rick wondered if she'd changed her mind. But eventually she spoke just above a whisper. "I felt so helpless. That's what still claws at me from the inside. I've been in some scary situations, but I've never felt..."

Rick could listen to her words, but he couldn't know exactly what she was feeling. All he had were the same simple comforts that felt so inadequate. Yet when his hand stopped rubbing her back, she jostled his arm for more. It was almost like her old self, and when she looked at him, she gave a teary smile.

"I'll be alright, Rick. Really, I will. But I need time."

"We'll give it to you." He hugged her close and this time they both wept.

The moment stretched until his phone beeped. Rick saw that H had scheduled him for another Showdown event. He methodically turned off the phone, set it aside, and wrapped his arms around his sister.