He's alive.

After a little hesitation, I leapt into the hole.

He's alive, but I still don't know where he is. I think he's here, in Stars-whatever, otherwise he probably wouldn't have brought me here, but beyond that, I'm not certain.

I ran out of the alley. I can figure this out as I move. I can't imagine it'll be hard, if he was in critical condition, he probably just did whatever the first thing that came to his head was. 

At this point, I'm mostly back at normal physical form, though I'm still chuckling a little bit, and I think I've still got a manic smile spread across my face. Which is good, because people are pretty obviously staying the hell away from me, making it far easier to run. 

Where would he be? Knee jerk reaction says probably a hospital or a church or something of that nature, but I doubt he'd actually know where to look, especially since he can't read in this place.

Almost as soon as I left the alleyway, I neared the guil- THE GUILD HALL! That's probably it! It's a hub for adventurers, what with the quest board and bar and all that, and healers are pretty common among those people, I think, and, in the first place, it stands to reason they'd probably have one on standby... Now that I'm thinking about it, I think he might've gone here the other day for... Some reason, I guess, I dunno, wasn't really paying attention, I just had it on in the background while I was fishing, background noise to zone out to, y'know? 

Anyways, he's probably in there! I pushed open the door-

?

DAMNIT, IS THE DOOR LOCK- oh, wait, it's a pull door. 

STOP DESTROYING THE ESTABLISHED PACING FOR A CHEAP GAG WE'VE ALREADY USED SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE, DAMNIT! THIS IS A REALLY TENSE MOMENT FOR SOME OF US!

I pulled open the door. God, please let him be alright... If he's- No. He's fine. I wouldn't be here if he wasn't. 

Inside, there's the attendant chick from earlier, who looked both confused and horrified about something, totally flushed, but also like she was trying to hide it. She wasn't doing a great job. Beyes is-

"Heh-Oh thank God, bro, are you okay?" I said as soon as I saw him. He's sitting on a bench near the door, looking the same as ever.

"Oh, h-hey Sis. Sorry for r-running off back there." He said.

Whhheeeeewww... He's alive. Doesn't look hurt, either, but I should check just to be sure-

?

What's up with his left pant leg? It's completely torn off the rest of the pants, but it's still on his leg-

'It's unfortunate that his head was guarded, but a leg should do nicely in its place.' 

I recalled the words of that stupid pony before it turned itself into an unwieldy fashion accessory. 

"Y-your leg! Is it-" 

"Oh, u-uh, yeah, one of the... Things hit it. Yeah, g-got, uh, scratched up pretty bad." He explained. I couldn't help but notice the attendant obviously looking away as he said that. "Tore my pants but good, too..." Why's he sound significantly more perturbed about that? "A-anyways, leg was bleeding pretty bad, I had to run. Sh-should be fine now, I-I think I might have overreacted a little bit." He said, smiling weakly, with a bit of nervous laughter. 

It bled pretty bad, did it?

. . . 

I couldn't help but sigh.

I can feel moisture building up in my eyes, again... I quickly blinked it away. 

"That's... I'm glad." I said, with a smile, looking down at the ground. "Really... I'm..."

"Y-yeah, s-sorry." He said, weakly. 

"No, it's... I'm sorry that I-"

"No, no, it's not your fault. I wasn't hurt that bad, anyways." 

. . .

I blinked hard again, a few times. 

"Yeah..."

So, that's how it is...

. . .

I didn't tell him that I already knew he couldn't bleed anymore. 

---

BLECH-

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY LEG!

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Aaaaaaahh?

This... This doesn't hurt nearly as much as I think it should, actually. Which is actually still pretty concerning, to be honest. Might be more concerning, actually. 

Bleh- Uhg, pain being weird or not, it doesn't not look... There's something about seeing ones own leg anywhere that isn't connected to ones torso that just... Bleh. 

Oh man, I really don't wanna do this. Oh, but I really, really wanna. Uhh... 

With my eyes squinted heavily, my head slowly turned over to where my left leg was supposed to be.

Eh... Eh... Ehh... Gettin' there... Ah, man I don't wanna l-

OH. AHHH. That's... Well, that's... Darkness, I guess? Some sort of wriggly dark something was seeping out of the hole that remained, and I could see, poking out-

Nopenopenopenopenopenope, okay, just, uh, okay... Uh, I should mention that, while this doesn't hurt as much as it should, it does hurt quite a lot, still. I wager it'd be a good idea to get moving. Like, now.

Ok, uh... Well, I can still move my hands. So, that's good. 

Hole, hole, reach through, grab leg.

Ah. I am now holding my leg. Huh. That's... Wow, it's heavier than I expected. Man, this is weird... Now, to get this thing back on my torso. Only doctor I know is the lady at the guild hall. Guess I'm headed there next. I put my hands together, and set a course for the guild hall. 

I felt bad about ditching Sis, but, well, I think I could be forgiven, in this case. Plus, I still fully intend to pick her up when this is over with. 

As I hopped through the hole, I could hear a lot of noise coming from the bar next door, which, combined with the noise coming from the storm outside created a symphony of ear-hurting like none other. So, uh, yeah, the bar seems pretty packed. People taking shelter from the rain, I wager. 

I put myself near the job board, hopped over to the wall and clung to it, in an effort not to be seen by anyone. Though, it doesn't look like anyone's in here right now... Crap, did everyone run off to the bar? I guess the chances of anyone coming in are pretty slim, but don't use the storm as an excuse to skip work!

"H-hey, anyone there?" I said, as loud as I could. 

"Humph- Huh? Wha? Someone there?" It sounded like I woke someone up. Sounded like the usual attendant lady. How the heck was she able to sleep through all this noise?!

"Uh y-yeah. C-could you grab the healer lady?"

"Whuh- Oh, s-sorry sir, I must've fell asleep I-I didn't see you come in!" Sir? Eh? Oh, must be delirious from just waking up. "A-are you okay? And why are you standing over there? And what's that smell?" She asked. Oh, right, still covered in vomit. 

"Uh, yeah, no. No. And, uh, d-don't worry about it. Just, uh, g-grab the healer, please." I said, quickly reaching for one of those shower-can thingies. 

"Oh, yes, right away!" She said, quickly exiting her desk area.

"Also, uh, don't loo-"

Ah. I really should have opened with that. 

Uh, basically, on her way out, I guess she looked over at me, and... Well...

I've never seen color drain from someone's face so quickly. Also, she let out a banshee-esque shriek like none I'd ever heard before. That day, I learned that TV just doesn't do real, actual horrific shrieking justice. You can hear real shrieking with your bones. The noise from the bar died almost instantly. And, needless to say, the guild lady looked horrified. 

Obviously, it's hard to blame her. This is a pretty weird sight, after all. Kid in sweater and cargo pants, covered in wet vomit, holding his own detached leg in one hand, with his other reaching in his pockets for something, while there's some sort of animate darkness seeping out of where the leg should be, all with a perfectly unflinching straight face, that's probably pretty odd.  

Anyways, she ran out, and into the bar, still screaming. "NOBODY GO IN THERE!" She screamed very loudly as she slammed the door. "PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT GET OVER HERE...-"

Oh, so the doc's name is Pat. Cool.

I grabbed one of those shower-cans and used it on myself before she came in. Getting all that dirt and mess and vomit off of me seemed like a good idea, considering they'd gotta get pretty close for healing stuff to work. I think. She was close last time, so I assume-

The door slammed open again, with the guild lady practically shoving the drunken doctor lady in here with her eyes closed.

"What're you blabbin' 'bout, lady? Can't ye see I'm tryna- HOLY SWEET F-" She kept saying things for a while, but mostly just in various obscenities. I didn't recognize some of them, but I get the feeling they're best not repeated. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?"

I shrugged. Some things are better left unexplained. "C-Can you fix it?" I asked.

"NO WAY IN HELL!" She said.

Ah. That's concerning.

Then, she took out a hip flask, and took a pretty hefty swig out of it. She blinked hard a few times, and seemed to sway a little. "NOW I CAN!"

AH! THAT'S CONCERNING!  

"TIME FOR SOME DOCTOR'IN!" She shouted, as she reached out her now glowing hand. 

What is that, your catchphrase?!

The guild attendant lady just ran behind her desk, and, I assume tried her best to forget this whole deal. Which makes sense, I would probably do the same if I wasn't living it.

"Allllright, just, eh... OI, GET THE COT!" She shouted towards the desk.

After a moment, the guild lady ran out, holding the cot out with both arms, with her eyes closed and head turned the other way. 

"GREAT!" Pat grabbed the cot, and slammed it on the floor. "You! Sit on it! Also, hold yer leg up to where it's s'possed to be! I don't know what that black stuff is but I don't wanna look at it anymore!"

"O-okay." I did as she asked. Bleh. Almost vomm'd again. "Sh-shouldn't I be out for this?"

"I ain't sharin'!"

What? Oh, whatever. I made sure to hold my leg steady, ensuring no more of that dark-something was leaking out. Ah man, my pants are all torn up! I just got these fixed, dangit! 

"Right, now, let's just... Yep..." Her glowing hand hovered just above my wound for a bit, and, fortunately, the thing did, seemingly, begin to reattach. It kinda felt like my leg was asleep, but... More. And also painful, at the same time. Ultimately, while it hurts less now than it did last time I was here, somehow, but this is definitely a lot more uncomfortable.   

. . .

Right, I forgot... Healing takes ages.

. . .

*Sniff*

. . .

"Storm's letting up." Pat said. 

"Oh, y-yeah. It is. That's, uh... Good."

"Uhuh." 

. . .

"Gotta say, I've never had such an easy time reattaching a limb." 

"Y-You do this often?"

"Eh, once twice... Four times." 

. . .

Yeah, the healing process took some time. I'm not quite sure how long, exactly, I kinda zoned out at some point. 

There wasn't much else to do, so I spent the time thinking.

I thought about a number of things. Sis, the battle with that horse thing,

S...

. . .

The guild attendant lady's horrified face came up pretty frequently too, probably because it was so fresh in my mind. 

I guess it was inevitable that someone would've eventually seen it, but... I really should have been more careful. She didn't need to see that. That was preventable. 

Nobody should have seen this...

Well, okay, maybe the doctor would've had to, anyways, but...

. . .

"H-hey," I said, probably a little louder than I needed to. "Uh, my someone, m-my sister is gonna show up here soon. C-could you, like, uh, n-not tell her about this?" I don't really know, but... I'd rather not have anyone else know about this ordeal. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool, thinking about it, but it's a little... Inhuman. I... I don't wanna scare anyone... I don't want that...

Plus, she might feel bad about the whole thing, which I'd like to avoid. It wasn't a big deal at the end of the day, I don't want her to worry too much.

Pat shrugged. "Whatever." 

"Th-thanks." 

. . .

Eventually, the healing process was all done. My leg was, once again, connected to my torso. I swung it around a bit, for good measure. It seemed to be working as intended, though it did sting quite a bit. 

"Thanks, doc." I said. Always wanted to say that one.

"Yeah, yeah... Unfortunately, you're not obligated to pay me this time, so... I'm gonna go forget everything that happened today. Later." She said, waving briefly, and quickly making her wave to the bar.

"... Later."

Hard to blame her for running off like that, really. I would've done the same. 

Anyways, I figured I should pick Sis up. Crap, I've left her hanging for a while now, haven't I? Man... I am a terrible guardian.

I limped over to the job board again, and turned around, away from the door, just incase someone walked in. I put my hands together, one way up above the butte (haha), and one here, just in front of me.

She wasn't there. In fact, there wasn't any trace she'd been there at all.

Crap! How long's she been done? Has she started walking back by herself? Ahhhh, I'm the worst! 

I moved the hole around, and checked around the butte (haha)... No, not here either... Crap, crap... Oh, hey, there's the hole the anvil made. Neat. Wait, no, focus! Uhh... She's probably headed off towards town, if I just look in that direction...

. . .

Ah, is that- Yeah, I think that's her! Huh. She's kinda hunched over, and she's carrying something... Is she limping? Was she injured? Aaahhh that's not good. Well, she's okay enough to walk, at least, that's good. Still, I shouldn't keep her walking too much. I closed the holes, reopened one of them in the nearest convenient alley, and another right in front of her. Hopefully, she puts 2 and 2 together...