Tagress: Hospital: Recovery Ward"Hello, Mister Rex... Um, it's good news, right?"
Estelle’s head tilted backwards until she was able to see Lisette, upside down, Tiberius’ own head slowly popping into view. He gradually eased Estelle’s grip of him loose, settling her back down gradually onto the floor. The rest of the Pride; Syed, Moira, Trixie and Lucien, began to occupy spaces on their beds.
“Hello there, Miss Marchand. There’s some good news, and some bad news.” Tiberius replied, scratching his chin. “Not sure where exactly to start, but… I’ll just report everything we’ve managed to find.”
“First of all, you guys weren’t the only ones at the Manor. When we arrived, there were a number of confused people outside showing signs of petrification recovery. From what we can gather, they had been turned into statues by one of the Family members you fought against. They’re all recovering though, and should be absolutely fine soon. There are some problems, however… some of them are a bit lost, and in a state of shock. Several of them had been statues for years, so recovery is going to be a bit slow…”
Tiberius’ sombre expression then shifted, cracking a smile.
“But recover they will. And speaking of recovery, we managed to find all of your gear, stored in a couple of crates. We’ve got them all in storage at the Guild for when you guys are discharged.”
“Ooh, goodie!” Lisette’s face chirped up, her hands clapping together with a bright smile.
“Oh joy, all of Sy’s boring shit he keeps carrying is safe too then.” Moira yawned, lying on the bed with her head supported up by her arm. The lack of interest lying in her face was palpable.
“As for the matter of the Family… Lucifer’s been apprehended and taken into Empire custody. The man managed to survive. His body is quite extraordinary… when we arrived, his wounds had healed over. However, he’s still without his arms. I would think the Empire will have him sentenced to Zatvor. That’s where most of the major criminals go. He shouldn’t be a threat anymore.”
“However… other then the remains of an old man, and two… unusual machines, we weren’t able to locate any of the other individuals you said you all fought.”
“What?” The Pride’s faces all looked up in surprise, and mild worry. Drusilla, Megaera, Jack, Valentine and the two children Damian and Alice… were all missing?
“What about Billy?” Estelle asked, and Tiberius’ face turned blank.
“…Billy?”
“There was a prisoner with us called Billy. We rescued him when we were getting out and… he actually helped us a lot. I was just wondering if he was okay?” Estelle bit her lower lip.
“I don’t recall anyone by the name of Billy…?”
“He was a bald git.” Moira kindly explained.
“Oh… no, there were no bald people.” Tiberius frowned and shrugged. The Pride looked to each other, worry etched on their faces.
“I hope he’s okay…” Estelle trailed off.
“Now… the main bad news and good news. What would you like to hear first?” Tiberius edged himself onto a seat.
Eyes darted towards one another, before Syed then spoke up. “There’s more bad news… um, let’s hear all of it then? The bad news?”
“Gosh you’re always so pessimistic!” Moira groaned.
“No I only want to save the good news for last!” Syed insisted.
“Bad news then. Okay… well…” Tiberius turned to look to Marcus. “You know how I told you that Rize and Kara headed to Vandrell after passing here? Well… that was a lie.”
Silence… and then frenetic screaming. “Whaaaaaaaaat?”
“Yeah… well. Let me explain…” Tiberius motioned his hand down and down, urging his charges to calm down. “It’s no secret that I saw the troubles you were all going through as a group. So… I sent you to Vandrell. We’ve heard a lot of reports of strange behaviour coming from there, and I thought that the Hawthorne Family was pretty suspicious. I hoped by sending you all there, you could help discover what was going on, solve any problems there and… help recover as a group. Which, thankfully, seems to have been the case. Even so…”
Tiberius suddenly sunk to his knees, bringing his large, massive frame low in front of everyone else. Kneeling in front of them, bowing his head down low, for forgiveness.
“I never anticipated, or wished for things to have been as dangerous as they were. The Family’s plans, and Abraxis… I put you all through so much danger and hardship. So many injuries… all of that is my fault. I’m sorry.”
The Pride were left completely bewildered and speechless. The image of a Guild Leader bowing in front of them and apologising was just… unbelievable.
“Hey, hey, Tiberius, it’s okay…” Estelle laughing, waving him to stand back up, feeling uncomfortable. “We got through it, and everything’s okay…”
“Yeah, that’s right!” Lisette chirped in. “Because we were together!”
“And we kicked butt!” Trixie snickered.
“Yup yup, we’re pretty awesome.” Lucien grinned with a hearty thumbsup.
“No, shut up you guys. I want to savour this.” Moira scowled, pleased with the sudden turn of events. Getting one up over Tiberius, even for a fleeting moment like this… the feeling was transcendent. “No forget your sword was broken Estelle, and it wouldn’t have been if it wasn’t for this ahole!”
“Oh… yeah. My sword.” Estelle’s shoulders and smile dropped. “…Mum is going to beat the crap out of me for it… I… wait! Wait, Moira’s right! It’s all your fault, Tiberius!” Estelle’s cheer was brought back. “I’ll explain why it broke and everything that happened and-”
“No no no you can’t do that!” Tiberius’ hands waved frantically in front of him. “Do that and your mum won’t just kill me! She’ll torture, maim and brutalise me for years before finally killing me! Please, give me mercy!”
“Hahaha~!”
“Hnn…” Tiberius scratched the back of his neck, before folding his heavy, muscular arms over his chest. “I came to make things right… look. I do know where Rize and Kara went, and I intend to tell you all too. That is, after your injuries have healed and you’re well enough to leave the hospital. I’m not taking any chances with you all trying to escape… The doctors’ said three weeks, so then I’ll tell you. Also… for those of you who wish them, I’ll supply you with new weapons. Swordwise, I don’t have anything nearly as good as Rachael’s creations, but it should do, and I think you’ll like it, until you can get a proper replacement. I think you might also like a better bow, Miss Marchand? I can do that for you and your friends. And you, Mr… Maddox, was it? You’re a summoner, right? I’ve managed to acquire a couple of summoning cards in my time… would suck to part with them considering how rare they are, but I think it’s going to a good cause…”
The three Guilders’ eyes all lit up together.
“Oh, I have one more bit of news… and the main thing I wanted to tell you all, actually. I think you’ll like this one.” A wide grin formed. “Check your Guilder IDs…”
Puzzled, one by one, each of the assembled Guilders took out their IDs… and shrieked upon noticing what Tiberius was referring to.
“Rank… rank…
rank…!” Estelle almost looked to be having a panic attack.
“I’m rank F!!!!”“So am I…” Marcus laughed.
“All of you ranked up.” Tiberius laughed. “You managed to prevent the resurrection of a dark God. I think you deserve it, don’t you? Congratulations.”
“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
The cat on Marcus’ lap slowly stirred and woke up, stretching her paws out lazily before then reforming into her more human form. Nikki rubbed her eye, sleepily looking out towards everyone. “What’s with all the noise…? What’s going on…?”
“Ahhh! Cat! Bad kitty! Get off Marcus’ lap!!” Estelle jumped off her bed in a panic.
