Disclaimer: I don’t own Witch Hunter Robin. Just my assorted characters that I made up to suit this story. So, there!
Amon: You fool, this is absolutely not like that.
Kitsune: Yeah, Puff, how stupid do you have to be to think something like that?
Puff: I just assumed, based off what you said.
Kitsune: This isn’t about you anymore; this about Amon being wrong.
Amon: No, this argument is about you being wrong.
Kitsune: You’re wrong!
Amon: You are!
Puff: *sigh*
The Joys of Parenthood
Chapter Forty-Nine: Recovery and Discovery
“She’s been stabilized and her vital signs are starting to return to safe levels,” a woman said professionally, not a hinting of emotion in her voice as she spoke, “Yes, doctor, I know that she needs more fluids and a nutritional drip. I don’t think that giving her any more medication would be wise, even if it is to bring down her very slight fever. She should be coming around soon. I am quite aware of the fact it’s been three days. I’ll keep you updated on her condition.” The soft clicking of the phone settling into its charger roused Robin further into a realm of consciousness. She moaned as a tidal wave of dizzying emotional remnants and pain from her own body slammed into her.
“I see you’ve finally awakened,” the nurse stated, fussing with the blankets while Robin fought to focus her bleary green eyes, “Don’t worry about seeing things now. You don’t need to see anything at the moment. All you need to do is lay there, let the fluids drain into your veins, and tell me if your discomfort levels become too much to bear.” She flicked her expertly painted fingernail at the IV line to clear an infinitesimal air bubble and shot Robin a look that showed she was not to be disobeyed.
“What happened?” Robin asked weakly, resigning herself to her weakness. She let herself settle even more heavily on the pile of pillows behind her loose blonde hair and closed her emerald orbs to block out the blindingly bright light that radiated in from the windows.
“The doctors haven’t chosen to reveal that information to me, Robin, so I couldn’t tell you. All I know is that you didn’t have any external injuries but you were in a deep coma for the past three days,” the nurse explained as she ran an ice cube over the craft user’s parched lips, “We were starting to think that you wouldn’t come out of it, given that your vital signs were horribly erratic for the entire time. To tell the truth, we nearly lost you when they first brought you in.” She gently patted the top of Robin’s head and brushed her blonde bangs back.
The craft user lay perfectly still for a few moments while her memories came flooding back. She stifled a cry when she remembered the terrifying creature that had been stalking Javan, the horror of watching Amon and Dr. Takahashi collapse, and the crushing weight of the undying fear before she joined them in blissful nothingness.
“I’m glad I woke up,” Robin whispered, desperate not to let her terror slip into her voice, “Do you know anything about Amon, Dr. Takahashi, and Javan?” The nurse paused for a moment to drag the information out of her mind before she nodded slowly and turned back to Robin.
“The little girl has been in the pediatric wing the entire time, under strict orders that had been written by Dr. Takahashi. Her father woke up just a few hours ago and wasn’t as calm as you were. Dr. Takahashi, well, he doesn’t let anything stop him. He came to after about a day and hasn’t stopped since,” the nurse said calmly, even though a touch of pride slipped into her voice as she spoke about the doctor, “I swear, sometimes I think that man runs off of batteries.” She smiled and fluffed Robin’s pillows.
She smoothed out her white skirt and had begun to settle into a nearby chair when a commotion, loud enough to wake the dead from their graves, rang out from the corridor. The door swung opened quickly, revealing an irate Amon. He shoved a few orderlies backwards and slammed the door back into its frame.
“I apologize for this, nurse,” Amon said after a second, bowing his head slightly towards the stunned woman, “I wasn’t given any information and I was quite worried about Robin. If you could please tell me how’s she’s doing, I would appreciate it.” He offered a forced half-smile as a peace offering while the nurse recovered her cognitive functions.
“You should just talk to her, since she’s awake,” the nurse said simply, standing up to leave the room, “I’ll give you two some privacy.” Before Amon could say anything else, she had already disappeared. His pale cheeks tinted a vague pink as he realized that Robin had been alert the entire time.
“How do you feel, Robin?” Amon asked uncomfortably as the craft user smiled widely at him. He turned away and set himself down in the chair the nurse had originally claimed, letting his bangs fall over his face until the redness faded out.
“I’m doing much better now,” Robin said brightly, watching him out of the corners of her vivid lime eyes, “Something just cheered me up and made me feel a lot better.” She eased herself into a sitting position and massaged at her sore muscles gently, wincing when she reached a spot on her neck where a good deal of weight had been pressing on it for three days straight.
“That’s good,” Amon commented calmly, relaxing as the heat drained from his face, “Do you feel well enough to go visit Dr. Takahashi? He has some explaining to do.” He pulled a robe and a pair of slippers out of the closet, setting them at the foot of Robin’s bed.
“I guess so,” Robin said uncertainly, staring at the needles that were taped into place on her arm, “But what do I do about these?” Amon looked quickly around the room before he walked over to Robin’s side and carefully pulled the tape off. The dark hunter gently slid the needles out of her veins and dabbed at the blood droplets with a pure white tissue that he had snatched off the nightstand.
“There, that’s not a problem anymore. Let’s go,” Amon said impatiently, gesturing for Robin to hurry, “Are you going to be able to walk?” Robin nodded slowly and dressed herself in the extra layers that Amon had set out for her, slipping her legs over the edge of the bed. As all of her weight settled onto them, her knees buckled and Amon barely had a second’s time to catch the thin girl. He glared reproachfully at her, pushing her back into her bed.
“Don’t do that. I’m fine, Amon, you don’t have to baby me,” Robin snapped, surprising even herself with the tone, “We’d best catch the doctor before he comes up with another crazy experiment that’ll kill us all.” Amon shrugged and led his hunting partner out of the room, neither of them realizing that he still held on tightly to her arm.
“Ah, there you two are!” Dr. Takahashi chirped, grinning broadly as he spotted how closely the hunters stood, “I’ve been waiting. But I can see that you both had other things on your minds, much more important things, so all is forgiven.” Amon and Robin looked around with confused expressions painting their faces for a moment before they noticed their proximity and stepped away from each other.
“Come, sit down. We have so many things to discuss in the short amount of time before I have to insist that you go back to your rooms,” Dr. Takahashi cooed, making faces identical to ones that a person would make to placate an extremely young child. The hunters took the seats that the doctor had pointed to and watched him intently as he gathered up a few stacks of paper.
“Doctor, are you going to be able to explain what happened?” Amon prompted, as his patience grew thin, his near-black eyes bubbling with anger for the second time that day. Dr. Takahashi whirled around to face his patient and nodded carefully, easing himself down into a plastic chair.
“It would seem that my calculations about Javan’s abilities were off,” Dr. Takahashi said sadly, doodling on the margin of a piece of paper, “She either overwhelmed my machines or her powers doubled within the few days before the fear test. I’m more inclined to say that my machines failed, because her power increasing exponentially like that would have killed her.”
“So, you’re saying that my two-year-old, almost three-year-old, daughter is more powerful than most every witch that the STN-J has ever faced?” Amon asked sharply, looking like he wasn’t sure that he even wanted an answer from the doctor whom was still absentmindedly drawing all over his notes.
“Basically, that’s correct. But the thing about Javan is that she doesn’t seem to be able to control her craft consciously yet; when she does, which is still a good way into the future, her usable energy will be much less than her raw energy,” Dr. Takahashi explained, setting his stack of paper onto the low coffee table, “I haven’t talked to Javan yet about what happened during the test, but it’s a major leap in her training. She projected her fear away from herself before it overwhelmed her and protected herself, even if it was an instinct. I’m still amazed that it happened.”
Back to The Joys of Parenthood