A few Cuts [Josh]

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Rhiannon had a short sword in her right hand, and a survival knife in her left as she attacked a straw and wood dummy. Many deep cuts and scrapes could be seen on the dummy in front of her, and several to her left. Though the ones to her left were in unusable shape. She was breathing hard, and despite the cool wind that blew, and the sun hiding behind light clouds, Rhiannon was drenched in sweat. She sheathed her weapons and made her way over to one of the water skins she had sitting off to the side. A red thread caught her attention, blood running down her arm. After finishing her water she sighed, looking at her arm which a white and red bandage lay peeling off from where she had accidentally cut it. It matched a still solidly wrapped set of bandages on her other arm, both with obvious nicks and cuts in them.

With a sigh Rhiannon tried to warp it back up, Josh had been gone for a couple days so she was actually able to mess around with her swords and knifes. It was dangerous, and Zidane had not been lieing in the slightest when she said two swords was difficult. She had started out with short swords and that had not ended up well at all, she was incredibly lucky to have such good armor. She reminded herself luck had nothing to do with it, all of it was the craftsmanship of the Vulcan kids. She'd already left extra offering to thank the man for his kids though.

The bandages where not wrapping anymore, she had cut them all the way down to her skin. The blood dripping down her arm was from a new cut. She really had to be thankful for the anti scaring medications people came up with, because Josh would have flipped a lid if her saw all the scars on her arms all of a sudden. He was so protective, but she didn't feel she needed it. If people protected her then she was a burden unfit to live, and that was exactly how she saw it. Rhiannon had to practice, had to be perfect, and to be able to fight no matter what, or else she was worthless. Rhiannon pulled the entire thing of bandages off her arm relieving all the cuts that came with her new way of practice, a sharp inhale of breath came as she accidentally ripped off newly formed scabs. Blood began flowing more frequently as she pulled out a new set of bandages and sloppily tried to wrapped it.

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Josh was already bored of being in the infirmary. Yes! He was aware that if a huge Scorpion just stabbed you on the arm and ribs, that if it took a considerable piece of your flesh, the poison would spread all over your body in a rather fast way! But the real problem wasn’t that little thing, but that Jason, who was an amazing young healer, give Josh a shot of liquid ambrosia. It had been an amazing idea and probably would save a lot of lives in the future when he had already tested it good hundred of times, but in that moment, he gave him too much and it almost burned him from the inside. Maybe that was the real reason he had to stay in the infirmary for more than only a couple of days.

When Jason told him at last that he was able to go, he almost jumped from the cot and ran to the beautiful and sunny outside. But Jason told him to be careful, that he couldn’t be jumping and training in at least other two days. Josh nodded at him and walked out from the Infirmary. He sighed and rolled his eyes as soon as he was out of range of Jason’s ears. “No more raids, no more jumping around as if you were a monkey, no more breathing!…” said in a mocking voice as he kept walking down the road. He was really bored and upset, he knew he had done wrong by going out and taking Rick had been a huge mistake! But they needed to go and visit their mother’s grave… Rick more than him so he would do it all over again just to see his brother smile.

He was about to go to the Mess Hall he was hungry! Well starving would be a better word to describe what he was feeling in that moment. He had never liked hospital’s food and infirmary wasn’t the exception. He almost felt his stomach growling, threatening to devour his other organs if he didn’t get enough food soon. But then he frowned and thought on some people, Rick had visited him almost every day unless his centurion didn’t allow him to do it. Felicity yelled at him the first day he got into the infirmary, then visited him a couple of times. But then he couldn’t remember one little person that he thought would be worrier about him… Rhia.

“Little Witch…” he said and frowned a bit more then he went to her cohort to ask for her. They told him she would be in the Fields of Mars. He sighed and thanked the legionary, then he went to the place where most of the Romans in the legion faced their fate in battle, well as much as their centurions did it to them in training. He tried to run but felt a sharp pain pulling his ribs and torso muscles. “ok… no running… Doc” he said as if it had done by Jason who was still in the infirmary.

When he walked into the huge place he looked around for the beautiful, short female with long enchanting brunette curls. Finally he found her, she was by some really damaged dummies and a sword and dagger next to her. He walked closer to scare her but then he was the scared one, there was blood several bandages on the ground all of them stained in red. “It seems that you have been slicing yourself more than the dummies…” he said and smirk but worry was all over his face, his eyes told her he wanted to lift her in arms and run with her to the infirmary. “I thought I would be more important than a dummy…” he said kind of hurt because he didn’t remember she had gone to visit to him.

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Rhiannon was not paying attention to her surroundings, but despite the focus she had on the task at hand something creeped into her subconscious. The overwhelming urge to keep her valuables secure. She passed it off as the obvious, a child of Mercury must have been around, probably practicing his own swordsmanship. She had no worry about it being Josh, since even if he left the infirmary there was no reason for him to some to the fields. She would see him else where, when she could keep her arms covered. Rhiannon continued what she was doing, until a familiar voice floated into her mind. Her head jerked to see Josh walking toward her, a sigh escaped her.

When she could, her hand found the bridge of her nose. Rhiannon rubbed the bridge of her nose with her left hand, a bit different from the normal use of her right. "I wasn't expecting to see you here in the fields so soon, shouldn't you still be resting? was the first thing she asked, she was concerned about his well being but it hadn't quite come out that way. Rhiannon looked at her arms, then looked at the dummies. He had a point. Though the cuts on her arms where no where near as deep and it wasn't as serious, she still would have been made to sit in the infirmary. There was also the very real possibility of Josh making her be more careful.

"Oh don't, don't give me that face. I can't win against that face. Rhiannon said almost pleading, she hated when he gave her the face. He wanted to help her, to take her away from what was hurting her. She was a big girl and knew what she was doing. Rhiannon tried to keep herself calm, he was obviously hurt she didn't see him in the infirmary. "Stop that, you were only there for a few days. It was nothing to worry about. she said firmly, she had tried to visit him but was stopped. It was the first day she had tried training, the short swords had gotten more than just the better of her. They had sliced her arms up pretty bad, and even nicked her neck. It was mostly hidden enough for her to not worry Josh, but the medics had a weird ability to just sense these things. That's how it seemed to her anyway, and she had not wanted to worry Josh by being at his side in the infirmary, so instead she turned tail and ran. Not her most proud moment, but better than worrying the already worry wart that was her best friend.

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Rhia's arms were still bleeding and Josh had to use a lot of selfcontrol to stop himself from running towards her and helping her with the bandages she was trying to put around the several cuts on them. He tilted his head and rised a brow when she said that she wasn't expecting him to be there so soon. He slightly snorted and shrugged. "Rhia you know me very well, I tend not to listen to what others tell me not to do... that includes healers and authority figures." He counted them with his fingers and then rolled his eyes, then he smiled a bit more and then walked a couple of steps closer to where she was standing.

He looked at the dummies, the hundreds of cuts and slashes that each of them had were almost a master piece, if they had been enemies, all of them would be dead. "what face?" he asked before looking back at Rhia, just for a second before turning again to admire the dummies. Yes they were all 'dead', but still Rhia's arms told him that her technique with two blades wasn't perfect, she was still cutting herself with them and that wasn't a very good thing in battle, one of those cuts could severly injure her and then she would fell weak by blood loss, any experimented enemy could see that and use it as a leverage to end with her life.

"I know... I'm just being dramatic, in fact I wasn't expecting anyone to go and visit me." He told her abut her not visiting him in the infirmary. Who would worry about a sneak thief like himself? Then he put his best smile on his face, that kind of smile that hid behind it, pain, shyness, sorrow and worries. Rhia had been for 8 years his best friend, maybe the only friend he had, besides his brothers, Zidane and Rick and his father, Mercury. But they were family, so well family must be with you in the good times and bad times, right? but Rhia... she had been there for him not because she was family, she had been there because she was his friend, which he really thank the gods for, yet he really missed not having his little witch, as he called Rhia all the time, there in the infirmary.

He looked back at her once more and saw that dagger and sword by her side. "you've been practiving the two blade techniques?" he knew the answer to that, he could even imagine her face at the question, yet he asked as if he didn't know her so well. But he was asking himself, why she hadn't waited for Zidane or him to train that! they both told her it wasn't easy and sometimes even dangerous!

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He was right, it should have been obvious to her that no matter who told Josh to stay put he would never do it. She sighed and rolled her eyes, none in camp could control this thick headed man, what made her think he would sit still just because of injuries? A foolish mistake on her part, but it didn't matter. He needed to rest, and he even admitted to not doing as the medic asked him too. It was probably something she needed to do also, rest. It had been the reason she didn't go see Josh after all, not listening to the medics. She supposed she couldn't bother him too much about it. "That face, the worried face. I'm fine, just a few cuts." she said pointing at his face after she had gotten her arms wrapped decently again.

Something warm and liquid trickled down the front inside of Rhiannon's leather vest, and an annoyed look passed over her face temporarily. It seemed the wound on her neck re opened, and it had such a nice scab growing on it. Rhiannon supposed it might be for the best to really see an Apollo kid, later. To avoid Josh's worrying. It would have been impossible with him laid up in the building, but now he was out. She had hoped to be better at this two handed fighting by the time he was allowed to walk around freely.

"I'd have visited you if it was anything serious, you're one of the few people I actually care about. Can't let you think I'd forgive you leaving for the Underworld." Rhiannon knew for the most part what was on his mind, she had known him long enough to figure things out even if he didn't say them. That lack of self confidence hidden behind his smile never fazed her. She used to be annoyed by it, but could still accept everyone had something they didn't think they deserved. Rhiannon was pretty sure she didn't deserve a good friend like Josh, but there he was. Josh had been the only person to stick with her no matter her attitude for eight years, even when she blew up at him. She tried her best to keep her emotion in check now, but it wasn't always like that. Even now sometimes she had outbursts that would end with Josh being on the undesired end. He'd always be the one to calm her down too, though she didn't understand why.

Rhiannon looked away from Josh at his question, obviously she had been practicing. She wasn't supposed to but she had gotten impatient. A poor quality of hers. "Yeah, it's got some good damage out put, but I don't think I'd be able to accurately defend. Heh, especially from myself right?" she asked trying to lighten the mood a little, she was never as good at is as Josh. "Anyway, you shouldn't be out and about yet. Let's go sit down." Maybe then I can get away to re bandage my neck.

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Josh smiled at Rhia when she told him about his worried face. She was right, he was worried about her, he was worried to lose her to not being able to help her if it was needed at some time. But he didn't know about it, it was just a sleeping feeling in the back of his mind. In that moment he only knew he was worried about his friend for being reckless by training such technique without supervision. Not that she was a little girl and that she couldn't take care of herself. He knew Rhia and she was an amazing 16 year old young woman, a Roman capable of fighting and surviving, still he was worried about her. "Well, yeah I'm worried... I don't want to lose my best friend by her own hand." He smirked and then tilted his head to the other side. "You're my only friend and I wouldn't like to lose you... then who would I bother everyday without being hated?" he winked at her, it was a joke.

'Leaving for the underworld..."
She said those words and Josh smiled again, she thought that he didn't face Mors while he was iin the infirmary, well maybe it was the best. Maybe it was good that others thought that he had only being in the infirmary because few cuts and bruises, than actually due the reason he got in there. He almost knowcked that Felicity's father's castle door, Mors stood by his bed once or twice while he was in the infirmary, he remembered that guy very well... He even saw Lilith talking to him one night when everyone was asleep. He would have to talk to her about that, but later not in that moment at least. but he was glad that Rhia didn't had to worry for him or his stupid actions. "you're right, I wasn't that sick... nothing that serious, nothing to worry about." he shrugged. "I was just joking and dramatizing."

Josh rolled his eyes when he heard that joke from her, she was maybe not that good with jokes, but they made him laugh. She had the ability to make him laugh and feel calm. when he met her they were really young, she was 8 he was 10, she was a live wire, but he never let that burn him, he thought she only needed some time to calm down and heal inside, so he kept by her side. After 8 years of friendship, she had been the only one capable to be around him without being pushed away by his unsteady and umbalanced personality. She was his anchor in many ways even when he hadn't noticed it yet. "no... in fact you're a mess you know?"

He smiled at her and then frowned when she told him to sit down. He wasn't tired, yet, but he knew that she was right. that was other thing about their friendship, he always listened to her. He could have Remus on his back yeling at him about the bad soldier he was and that he needed to stop doing this or that and he wouldn't listen, but if Rhia told him to stop doing something, he listened to her reasons and he considerate to do it, she was also his grasshopper in his mind... like Pinoccio's. "Okay..." said but then breathed deeply and walked a bit closer to her. his voice was a bit more serious, just a bit.

"but you need to take care of those wounds... you can't fool me Rhia. I can smell the fresh blood, I know you don't want me to get worried, so as I don't want you to be worried for me..." he shrugged and continued. "but you need to let an Apollo kid or maybe Alistair check those cuts... or you allow me to bandage them for you, I can use both hands." He smirk getting back his playful tone trying to keep it in a joke-serious way. "you can't ask me to do something you don't do yourself" he said and smirked with a wink.

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That voice, the slight tremble she heard as he spoke. The carelessness he used while speaking, the over compensation he only used while with her. Everything he said in that one sentence burned her on the inside. He was lying, it had been serious. It had been so serious he could joke about it. Rhiannon wanted to take a sword to the dummy again, wanted to grab her shield and leave it several inches into the wooden chest it had. Nothing serious, nothing to worry about where his words and they made her angry. He should have known better than to lie to her. She was just about the only one who saw through his every lie. Being with someone for half your life will do that. Even if she couldn't see through his lies, had he really thought Rick or anyone else would keep her in the dark about his condition? She knew he had been injected with liquid ambrosia, she had seen the man who did it, and while it saved him from the poison it was extremely reckless for a so called physician.

Without warning Rhia's arm gripped the hilt of her short sword and she swung with the strength of someone worthy of the name demi-god. Her sharp blade cleaved through the dummy behind her as her shoulder popped out of place from the impact. She was no Mars child, but the dummy now lacked an upper torso. "Fine, Apollo section." she said calmly, turning to face Josh once again. Her arm hung limp by her side as she grabbed her sword with the other hand and placed it back in it's scabbard. The entirety of her angry flowed into that one hit, leaving her able to look Josh in his lying face again. "I don't appreciate the babying Josh, I know you can't always tell Rick when you're hurting but I'm supposed to be your best friend. I know your heart stopped in that room Josh. I also know someone injected liquid ambrosia into your arm. You should realize every time I went in there I wanted to cut his head off, even if it was to save you from the poison. Anger management Josh. You now I need it sometimes."

Rhiannon brought her arm up wincing at the pain as she bend her elbow so she could cross her arms and almost look normal. "Grab my shield and bag please, I can't carry it right now." She said motioning with her shoulder and immediately regretting it. Pain throbbed through her shoulders and down her back. It wasn't that bad, but Rhiannon knew better than to set it herself. Pinching a nerve was always something to worry about when putting a shoulder back in it's place. When she saw him gather her things Rhiannon headed toward the medical area, which was still a distance away. She did her best to avoid it being known she injured herself with that hit, people where already looking at her for it.

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Josh looks at Rhia and notices that sh is kind of angry at him, she may be trying to hide it or maybe she just don't want to explode at his face. but then she grabbed her sword and attacked the dummy that was closer to where she was. Josh frowned at her movements and then when she slashed the dummy he heard both the dummy and Rhia's shoulder make a strong 'crack' sound. He shook his head and knew that this time she would have to go to the Infirmary. "I think Jason is in the infirmary now, he's good and will patch her in a moment" He thought and walked a step or two closer to her, but then she looked at him and she didn't seem to be really happy, she was really angry at him.

She told him that she didn't need the babying, well he wasn't really doing that! He hadn't told her the bad stuff of his time in the infirmary not because he was protecting her, but because he wasn't going to whin all day long about it. Then she mentioned Rick, she was right on that, the babying was for Rick, he wanted to protect his baby brother from his stupid older brother. He was about to say something in his defence when she told him she knew about the moment that his heart had stopped in the infirmary. He sighed heavily and then frowned. "who told you about that?" he asked and then let her continue with her angry moment.

He looked at her when she said she wanted to kill Jason, Josh couldn't keep a smile crosisng his face in that moment. He thought Jason was a great healer, if it wasn't because of him, he would have died due the scorpion's poison, but he liked to see that Rhia really cared and concerned about him. "Jason is a great healer, in fact he would be the best to take care of your cuts and your shoulder" He said and knew that Rhia would glare at him after that, but he didn't want to fight about if he almost died or not, he was changing the subject. Besides, what did Rhia wanted to know? that she was right? that he almost died? that he saw Mors right next to him in that moment? It scared him, so why worrying her about it?!

She ordered him to take her stuff, he sighed and grabbed the bag and stuff. "I'll do it, because I want you to hurry to get to the infirmary and get checked, but smile first" he winks then looks at her unbalanced shoulder and her cuts, then he shook his head. "I'm sorry if I worried you, but then... all cold charmed Rhia really cares about this thief!" smiles and then walks slowly with her. "and you can practice your self control when Jason checks on those cuts and shoulder." winked at her again, but inside he still had the image of Mors by his side, in a way it made him shiver. He looked at the people looking at them and didn't know if they looked at Rhia and all her injuries or they looked at him after Rhia yelled that he died for a second in the infirmary.

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Rhiannon had spoken calmly and quietly, but perhaps that was what made her sound like she had been really angry. In reality she was hurt. Josh had left camp and in an effort to protect his brother got himself poisoned badly. He was the only friend she had, and while she hated herself for it she didn't know what she'd do without him. It happened often enough, not as much recently but when he was younger he got hurt more. She always scolded him for it, but this time was much worse. He had almost died from the poison, then again from the ambrosia. He asked who told her, she remain quiet about that choosing to ignore it. People talked far too much around this camp, and whenever someone dropped Josh's name she automatically listened. She wasn't sure when or why she picked up the habit, but she had. She had even confronted Jason about it the first time she heard about it, much calmer than one may expect.

With a heavy sigh, Rhiannon walked with Josh. “I know he's an excellent healer, I know he saved your life. I talked to him while you were out.” The memory of the conversation brought a bit of red to her cheeks, she had been doing everything possible to forget his stupid suggestion. She avoided looking at Josh, they had been friends forever. It seemed that way anyway. Rhiannon bit her lip, it was a stupid idea but Rhiannon couldn't stop thinking about it. “While he is a good guy, I'd still rather not see him right now...” she gave Josh a small smile.

She looked at the infirmary ahead of them, and wondered if Jason was actually there. She hoped he wasn't, but Josh had said he would be. She wondered if he would bring the subject up again, or ask if she thought about it. All the possibilities clouded her head, and her vision. Her face was flushed, what was left of her blood that hadn't been in the bandages rushed to her face. Her vision blackened and the though crossed her mind, how much blood had she lost? “Josh my vision just went....I think...my hearing too...” Her balance became unsteady, and her legs gave way. This was definitely not the process she had in mind for getting to the infirmary, and she'd hate to tell two people they were right.

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Josh was still kind of joking with her, he wanted her to smile, to forget how mad she was at him because of how fool he had been by going outside with Rick. He did all of that but he didn't want her to worry that much, in fact something in his heart made him feel bad whenever he saw Rhia so worried. He remembered some moments in their lives since they got into the legion when he had gotten injured, it hadn't mattered if it was just a training injury, if someone had found out that he had just stole something from them and decided to beat him up, or maybe just a stupid acrobatics. There she had always gotten worried about him, but couldn't remember any of those moments that she was as worried as she was in that moment.

When he told her about Jason being a good healer, he thought that she didn’t know him, he thought that she hated Jason because of what he did to him, because he almost killed him when he injected some ambrosia in his body and almost ended with his life instead of helping him. But then something happened, Rhia told him she knew Jason, she knew he was a good healer, something that would have been perfectly normal if it wasn’t for the slightest detail of her cheeks turning pink while she was talking about the time she talked to him about Josh’s injuries! Josh tilted his head to a side and glared at her. He didn’t noticed he had done that, he wasn’t aware that he had lost his poker face at the sight of her pink cheeks and related them to the mention of Jason.

“Well either if you want or not, you’ll have to see him or any other Apollo kid to get that shoulder and those cuts healed…” he walked right next to her but feeling some kind of weird acid being poured into his stomach, something that he had felt before when Felicity talked about Robo-Remus, but this time was different, it wasn’t just in his stomach but also being poured in his heart and mind! But why was it happening to him in that moment?! It wasn’t Felicity who was there with him! It was Rhia, his best friend since he was 10 years old! Better said she was his only real friend… He sighed at the thought of that and tried to make up some reasons why he got… jealous. ”She’s my only friend! Maybe I’m jealous because if she got a boyfriend, then she wouldn’t have all of her free time to spend it with me… YEAH!! That is the real reason!”

He thought about it when he heard her voice again, she sounded weak and kind of fading. He looked at her and saw how the black circle in her eyes was becoming bigger and she was losing balance. “Rhia!” He said in a bit of loud voice and caught her with his left arm before she hit the ground. Josh clenched his eyes because the move had been some hurtful to his left side, still he didn’t care about him, he cared about Rhia. He left the shield and sword on the ground, he would find them later, then he used his right arm to lift her legs and carry her in a lady in distress way to the infirmary. “Rhia… talk to me… come on… tell me about the last spell you was practicing…” he told her trying to keep her awake. ”how could you be so dumb Rhia!... Mors please… don’t come… please…” He walked into the infirmary with Rhia on arms and looked around for a bed to place her.

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Rhiannon had not fallen unconscious, she was in fact very aware of the face she could not see, or hear. She was also aware of her body in relation to the ground, and sudden feeling of losing her balance and all her strength. The feeling of her body tipping forward and the inability to do anything for it make her feel pathetic. Something caught her at her abdomen, being that Josh had been the only one available she could only guess he was the one to catch her. She cursed inside her own head, he had not even healed from his own injuries. If he did too much work for her he might end up reopening his wounds. For a few moments the only words that filled her conscious mind were curses, mostly of her own folly. Her body posture was adjusted and she felt like a simple rag doll as her legs were swept up. She could not hear him, but Rhiannon could only guess the words Josh spoke. He was undoubtedly full of worry.

“I'm still here Josh, I can't hear you, but I know you must be having a miniature heart attack.” Rhiannon whispered barely able to speak. She found she could in fact move, but only a small insignificant movements. Attempting to move her arm to Josh's face ended in failure, she could only lay still in his arms. “I'm sorry, I feel so pathetic right now.” She spoke softly, not only because of her lack of energy but also her mood. She was regretful, and her heart hurt at the thought of causing Josh pain. His side was sure to bother him, he wasn't even supposed to be out and about walking and here he was carrying her.

Her arms were the first to be moved, something solid and soft lifting them, before her head gently touched what she believed to be a pillow. Rhiannon felt her body being lowered onto the soft flat surface, and Josh's arm slipped out from behind her neck. He let her legs fall softly to the bed as she tried to look around, to see or to hear anything. Still she was in a dark world, barely able to move. She felt scared, she hadn't even been able to hear herself talk earlier. The only sense she knew was working was her sense of touch, and all she had now was the bed. Her heart beat rapidly as she looked to the side where Josh had been, she tried to see through the darkness, to see Josh but she could not. “Josh?” she called softly, her eyes still searching. “Are you okay? Your side...”

Rhiannon flinched when someone touched her left arm, some how she knew it wasn't Josh. Something was tied tight around her upper arm, and after a few good taps something pricked the cress of her arm. Rhiannon could only guess it was an IV, possibly blood or some other fluid. She still attempted to listen, to see. Slowly her world came into view, it was as if it became clear. Despite the seemingly black landscape she had been seeing her eyes had not needed to adjust, she wondered if the impulse simply were not sent to her brain instead of her eyes doing anything wrong. Her eyes were finally able to fix on people, and things. It wasn't long before someone came over to check her vitals again, and shine an annoyingly bright light into each of her eyes. She assured them she could see and hear fine now.

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While Josh was carrying Rhia into the infirmary, he looked down at her face from time to time. Her cheeks were still blushed but the rest of her skin was paler than usual, for sure she lied to him, for sure the cuts that covered her body were more than she allowed him to see. He Didn’t want to think what could have happened to her if he hadn’t gone to the Fields of Mars that day. He was no hero, he had never thought like that about himself and he would never do it! Yet, he was glad he had come there to talk to his friend.

He kept talking to her, he didn’t want her to fall asleep, he knew that in battle when a warrior was injured and fell asleep it was because of the gentle work ok of Somnus, so when his brother Mors came to pick up their souls, the warriors wouldn’t suffer, they would only fall asleep and when they’d opened their eyes they would be already walking with Mors to the River Styx. He knew that! He hadn’t seen Somnus the day the scorpions got him, but he saw Mors by his bed, so he at least knew a part of the stories were real.

Rhia told him she was there, she couldn’t listen to him, but she knew he was having a heart attack. Well she was right! Josh wasn’t a bad man, he was gentle and friendly, when people around him deserved it, if not, he was as cold as Khione’s heart. Rhia was his best and only friend, so for him she was placed almost on the same level as family. So yes, he was having a miniature heart attack at the thought of losing her! He smiled and shook his head when she told him how pathetic she felt in that moment. He rolled his eyes and would save his comments for the moment she could listen to him again.

A medic told him where to put her. So he walked to the bed and gently placed her on it. When he bent he felt how the muscles of his torso were pulling themselves, the scars were fresh. It wasn’t as if they were going to be opened again, but still it hurt. He pulled back his right arm first so her legs were on the bed, then he gently placed her back and head on the mattress. He acted as if she was made out of crystal or something even more delicate.

Then medics came and told him to stay back, they needed the space to work and a sasquatch of 6’3” wasn’t much help in that moment. He stepped back but didn’t leave, he wasn’t going to leave her there. Then he heard her voice again, she asked about his side, well he wasn’t telling her that it hurt. He waited until the medics put the IV and cleaned all the cuts. He even looked away when the medics checked if she had any other cuts in other parts of her body. Then when they finished, Josh got closer again and sat on a chair by her side. The Apollo kids told him to go away, but he wasn’t going to do it. He just glared at them and then held her free hand in his. “I’m here Little Witch…”