[b] [u] [s] Daisy [/s] Athalus, Alaira, and Mar. A relatively short collab for once. [/u] [/b] Althalus had awoken soon after Xyden had been lead away by Sam. The first thing he noticed was the fact that it felt like the left half of his skull had been bashed in repeatedly. Groaning and muttering a curse, the assassin picked himself up off the ground, holding his head. Nothing felt broken, even if he had a headache from the Inferno itself. "Why in the name of the Gods do I-" Althalus began, before it all came back in a flash. Xyden. Mar and Lyn. Trying to protect them. Failure. Unconsciousness. Panic surged through him, and Althalus whirled around, at first only registering the fact that Mar was covered in blood and Lyn was next to her. "No!" Althalus was on his knees next the two of them in an instant, ignoring the cool blood that began to soak his knees. It didn't take long, however, for him to notice that she was breathing. Lyn awoke at his shout, and began to wail. Letting out a sigh of relief, he picked her up and shushed her. "It's okay..I didn't mean to." He murmured gently. This continued for a few moments until his daughter gave a drowsy coo, and fell back asleep. Carefully, he set her back next to her mother, and then stood. He couldn't just leave them unconscious and covered in blood and other fluids. "I suppose it's too late for me to ask for those helpful Golems with the bathtub of warm water?" He asked aloud. Seeing as he was the only concious one in the medical wing, there was no response. "I thought so." With that, he walked out of the makeshift room and searched around. Soon enough he found a large bowl with runes that kept the water warm. "It'll have to do." With that, he hauled the bowl into the room and began the ardorous process of washing an unconscious Naga and a wiggling, giggling, baby. When he was finally done, Mar was set back on her bed, with a sleeping Lyn next to her. Both were cleaned and Althalus' hands and some of his arms were soaked. The bowl was a dark red. His head still hurt abominably. Setting himself up in front of the makeshift door so that anyone who walked in without first checking would assuredly trip over him and he would likely be alerted if someone tried to step over him. Then, he fell asleep. And immediately awoke to Alaira screaming at him. He winced, cursed, and held his still aching head. "Stop yelling." He mumbled. Rubbing his temples, he began to pick himself up and respond to Alaira when two more injured students were dragged in and Lucilia told them to shut up and leave or help. [i]Me? Be helpful with this headache? Not likely.[/i] Gesturing at Alaira to both be quiet and follow him, he went into the room with Mar and Lyn. When she had joined him, he began. "Short version is, you were knocked unconscious, Xyden got in here, Sam tried and failed to stop him, he declared his intention to kill Mar and Lyn, I stabbed him in the armpit, we fought for a while, he cornered me, I tried to stab him again, he hit me in the head with his trident and I blacked out then. When I awoke, Mar and Lyn were both fine, healthy even, if covered in blood and other fluids. I cleaned them up, made them comfortable, then set myself up to intercept anymore would be assassins and fell asleep. Until you started screaming." He sat down on the floor, watching his family. "I have a horrible headache, so keep shouting to a minimum. Or, better yet, don't shout at all." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alaira was quiet for a moment, before speaking again. [b]"So, I guess that means it wasn't a hallucination huh?"[/b] She said. [b]"But... how come we aren't hurt? You should've seen how Xyden left me..."[/b] Alaira asked. There was no 'recovering' from the mess she was. In fact, she was pretty sure nothing short of divine intervention would ever let her walk again, but that was just silly. When did gods ever care? And Sam... why would he try to stop the fish? If she and Daisy couldn't do it he sure as hell couldn't. [b]"Don't you think it's a bit weird how we ain't dead? I mean, I thought you killed the bastard..."[/b] She said. Now, this was a big damn deal. Who the hell actually saved them? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Althalus shrugged. "We're in the middle of a Medical wing of the only magical College in the land. Unless your wounds would have killed you immediately or at least soon after you lost consciousness, I doubt the healers couldn't have saved you." To be perfectly honest, Althalus didn't care. Both Mar and Lyn were alive and safe, and he wouldn't begin questioning who, or what, did it and why. He was just incredibly relieved that Lyn and Mar were safe and alive. At her final comment, he briefly turned his gaze from Lyn and Mar to Alaira. "Of course I find it strange. Xyden hit me hard enough to send bone shards into my brain. From what you say, he did worse to you. And yes, he would have died soon after. A lot of blood was being lost. But, I just care about two things; Mar and Lyn. They're both safe, and I don't care who saved them. I'm just grateful that they did." He paused, considering, and then corrected himself. "Well, no. Xyden wouldn't have really died from the wound I gave him. Not in our sense of the word." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mar had pulled closed to Lyn, her mind stirred slowly from the dead slumber she had fallen into. Eyes slightly blurred had took some moment to focus once again. The Naga's head had started to rise, her left arm slid under her and propped herself upright. Her skin, first to note, felt strange as she saw the lacking flith which had covered it before was gone. It surprised Mar enough for her eyes to widen then darted over her child. Lyn was sucking upon her little toes and curled into a small ball, not paying a mind to the world around her. Only when she seemed to had felt her mother's eyes upon her, did the baby shift to rise little chubby arms in a cry to be held. Her little voice wailed with a high pitch squeal until it finally fell into a giggle. Again, Mar blinked. Her expression was one lost and confused, her head turned to spot the pair who's voices she knew well enough: Athalus and Alaira. Upon hearing dying, Mar's own words groggily added in a bit from her own personal knowledge. "If you wounded him enough, no he won't just die. Malice would've setted in and we all would've been dead." Still blurry in her vision, her mouth felt eerily empty. She opened it and gently prodded her fangs and realized her vemon had been ejected from them when she pulled her finger away with a murky liquid dripping from it. Slowly the images had resorted up to the point she was stabbed. Instinctively her head jerked down to where she could feel the ghost weapon jab her middle, where the flesh was injured and bled. She expected to see the marks, bloodied and torn, only to find nothing. Her hand traveled to her navel to ensure her mind wasn't playing tricks as she gently touched the surface. Nothing. Nothing at all. "Strange...there should've been puncture marks..." She spoke her observation outloud. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alaira smirked at his 'I only care about two things' comment. [b]"Aw, big bad contract killer going soft?"[/b] She said. Well, at least she was back to normal. [b]"I'd like to remind you I didn't have to do anything, I could've just run."[/b] She said. She almost couldn't really bring herself to say the next words. [b]"I didn't really fight to fight I..."[/b] Alaira's tone had gone more somber before she brightened up, her proud smile returning. [b]"I fought so you three'd be safe."[/b] She said as she put her hand on his shoulder. [b]"Athalus, I hate to say it but you just might be a good friend. And I couldn't let any of you three be without eachother."[/b] She said, the fact she used his actal name as opposed to his derogitory nickname highly relevant. She withdrew her hand. She remembered the day her father died, a bear had taken a small chunk out of him and the wound was infected. He didn't even live to see the first Lyn... [b]"You put up with me for six months, and you even let me name your child. that's gotta count for something."[/b] She shook herself after that last line. She could be sentimental later. She was confused at what Athalus had said. Were these bastards immortal? that would explain why she just could not kill him. It wasn't long before Mar had answered. She also seemed confused at the apparent health of the three of them. It was then that she remembered that Lucilia needed help. Now, she implied it was optional, but she was sure that meant she would just drag one of them in later. [b]"I know. Xyden or whatever his name was sliced my arm up and crushed my lower body to powder. Yet, here I am..."[/b] she said. She didn't wait for a reply as she left the tent, though she decided to say something in passing before she left. [b]"Think about it, crazy stuff we don't understand is going down, and I think it does matter. Now, I'm going to go keep Lucilia off your damn backs."[/b] Now, that's when things started to go downhill.