Card Twelve: The Star

“Stay back!! Don’t get close to him!!” Feather snapped the moment Jayce tried to run near, only to be promptly held back by Achitha, who suddenly felt like following Feather’s orders was the wisest move. Eve didn’t know what to think, and she covered her mouth with a hand as her icy blue eyes were pinned on Cirrus’ mangled arm. Leocadies and Kya were just watching from afar, seemingly unaffected... but that was just because they trusted their leader’s judgement. If anyone would be able to save Cirrus, it would be him, and they knew that better than anyone else.

Although, for once in his life, Feather didn’t feel that confident. He’d been so busy reading and looking for information that he’d reacted too late to prevent this, and it felt like his fault. His concept of anything fueled his healing abilities, and as he lifted up Cirrus’ arm that was only attached to his shoulder by a few chunks of flesh, he smoothed the ligaments and muscles and snapped bone back together as he mended it good as new, or possibly even better than before. And he moved a careful hand to Cirrus’ stomach, fixing the gash that had his insides bubbling out as Feather had them all move back to their original place, flesh molding together and reforming his hard stomach before he noticed that the prince was still struggling to breath.  

His crazed eyes scanned everything he could see, no detail going left unturned as Feather flipped a switch in his mind to be on the highest alert. Something was still wrong, and whatever it was, it was stopping Cirrus from breathing properly. And when he caught sight of the black drool dotting the man’s lips, he suddenly realized what that entire laboratory experience had been about, and felt unimaginable anger fill his gut as he pushed Cirrus onto his hands and knees, pressing a hand to his tailbone as he pushed and guided upward on his spine, yelling his demands, “Puke! You need to puke it out of your system! Keep spitting and heaving, don’t you dare fucking swallow!”

It looked like Cirrus was trying to say something, his amber eyes welling up with tears as his eyepatch grew dark with dampness, his mouth getting overrun by black blood as Feather pressed on his spine again, pushing upwards as he guided the black blood out of Cirrus' stomach, up through his throat, and out of his mouth, his mana curling into the prince's system to force him to heave. It was disgusting and horrible, but it wasn’t enough, because Feather could tell there was still more in his system. His dark skin was about the same shade of a brown deer, so there was no reason it should be looking so pale. 

“Hey, stop trying to hold it in, I told you to puke!!” he yelled harshly, pressing harder on Cirrus’ spine as he sent another wave of his mana through the prince’s body, trying to attach all of the black blood to it so that he could guide it up and out through his mouth. It dripped like thick sludge, and after a moment, Feather turned to Kya with a glare, harshly barking out, “Get me a knife, now!”

“What? What do you need a knife for?” Jayce blanched, but Kya didn’t question her leader as she skillfully pulled a dagger from her boot, tossing it to Feather’s knees as he grabbed it without hesitation. 

The entire group wasn’t sure what to think when they watched Feather tear open a shallow gash on top of Cirrus’ bicep, the very same arm he’d just finished healing. But as the man kept heaving and coughing up more black sludge that was slowly but surely beginning to turn clearer and back into regular saliva, Feather began digging into the wound to get a hand on all the black blood in his bloodstream, carefully taking hold of it with his mana as he forced it out of the open gash. He took the black blood before throwing it on top of all the clumped black puke, and he held Cirrus by his chest as he kept pulling out more and more black blood, until finally, the only color left was red. And he moved to press one more time on the man’s spine to have Cirrus start dry heaving, nothing but perfectly pale saliva dripping from his mouth as he coughed and sputtered, slowly letting Feather position him upright before he tried opening his eyes, clearly still in the middle of panicking. 

But at least he was safe now. Feather couldn’t sense any more black blood in his body, and he trusted his abilities enough to confidently say Cirrus was no longer infected. Still though, he’d had his stomach ripped open and his arm nearly bitten off by a monster from a hellscape, and shortly after had been forced to dry heave for thirty minutes, so… of course he was feeling panicked. Anyone would be. His breathing was shallow and disoriented, his eyes closed as wet tears dripped from his sockets, and it looked like he was about to start hyperventilating now that he had a moment of peace, with the way his chest was trembling and his breaths were becoming sharp and labored. Jayce was about to approach again because of it, but quickly had to stop himself when Feather reached up with both hands and pressed firmly against Cirrus’ temples, giving them a gentle massage as he sent calming mana waves into the man’s brain, soothing him while the prince gasped for another shallow breath of air, before he exhaled and calmed himself, eyes finally blinking open as he turned towards Feather. 

Slowly, it looked like he was returning to his senses, and Cirrus clumsily turned his gaze towards his three companions, before shifting his sights to the puddle of black blood that was right to the side of him. And then he calmly looked back towards Feather, appearing much more levelheaded and like he’d come to terms with his situation, before he asked shakily, “So… I knew you were an incredible healer, and I think all of what you just did was really impressive, but… can I ask what exactly you think just happened?”

His voice sounded hoarse from throwing up so much of a foreign substance, and Feather’s eyes quickly trailed down to the shallow gash on his arm as he impulsively reached out to poke his bicep once again, the wound quickly stitching itself back together before the skin returned entirely to normal. Cirrus flinched at the touch, looking a little awe-struck and very dazed at Feather's ability to heal such a deep slash with just a poke of his pointer finger, though after everything the blond had just done, he thought it was the least thing to be impressed over, and instead attempted to focus on Feather's confident words. 

“Haha! Of course I can! But why ask me to tell you when this book I stole has all the answers?!” he announced loudly, carefully pulling out a book from behind his cloak as Cirrus immediately found himself stunned stupid.

“...when did you hide that.”

“When you were looking at all of the monsters! I had a feeling we were being watched, so I needed to be sneaky! I didn’t think the owner of that laboratory would want to let me get away with one of their books, so I made sure to be very subtle. Aren’t I amazing?” he grinned proudly, puffing out his chest while straightening his back. 

And Cirrus really couldn’t help but break into a smile, amused with such childish statements as he gave a small, fond nod. “Sure, of course, you’re amazing. Can I look at it?”

“Yup! Here it is!”

Though, while Cirrus took the book Feather had chosen to steal and started slowly reading the contents of the first page, Achitha was the one who finally had the gall to speak up, looking as if she were desperately holding on to the strings of her composure while she asked hesitantly, “Um… Cirrus. I’m not entirely sure what I just saw, though I’m glad you’re okay now, but could you please explain everything that happened to you in detail? I thought you were just going to show Feather the corrupted planet, what... hm,” she frowned, before she changed her soft voice to become more abrasive, turning her gaze upwards to demand, “What the hell happened?”

“Did he attack you?!” Jayce immediately accused, Eve giving him a demeaning glare before she slapped his shoulder. 

“What the hell, Feather clearly just healed him!! Don’t go being paranoid, you ungrateful jerk!!”

Though, in response to Achitha’s question, Feather turned to Cirrus as if he were waiting to see what he wanted to do, when the prince shrugged as he flipped a page in the book, intent on reading it. “You can tell them. Also, Jayce, start preparing a carrier hawk.”

“Uh… yes, sir,” his guard nodded obediently, and Feather beamed at the idea of being able to talk about everything he’d seen. 

And the story truly was a wild one. Feather explained everything in vivid detail with a disturbingly joyous smile, Achitha’s expression turning grim as Kya and Leocadies both processed in silence, with Eve listening quietly while she carefully dug all of the black blood and vomit into a pale so that it didn’t infect anything else. Feather watched her attempt to heal it with her own power, as well, a feeble attempt to purify the blood, but her skill was not nearly close enough to the level needed to do something like that, and she failed with a miserable expression plastered to her face. Jayce was also paying attention to his tale while he used his concept of animal communication to summon a hawk that could travel all the way to Lilino for him, and by the time Feather was finished with reciting all of the events, Achitha was the first to start questioning things. 

“How come you were so certain something was down there beneath the bone?” the serious woman inquired sternly, as if she were suspicious of Feather’s knowledge. “You acted like you were so certain, and you ended up being right. How did you know?”

“Oh… that?” Feather shrugged, playful smile still on his face as he let Cirrus keep reading, although he knew the man was listening to him as well. “I was just thinking about things logically. I was thinking that… well, Viscendant was the first planet to be corrupted by one of reality’s cracks. But why Viscendant? Reality is usually a fair force, and it doesn’t do unreasonable things. You would think that if reality started cracking, it would start at places that it felt particularly offended by, right? So, thinking like that, I assumed Viscendant must have been up to some pretty shady stuff since before the corruption, and started exploring to find it!”

“So you think Viscendant was up to something that played a part in reality’s collapse?” Achitha asked him for clarification, only for Feather to give another careless shrug. 

“Not necessarily, but it’s possible. I’m just saying there’s a reason why they were first to be corrupted. Corruption is drawn to corruption, after all. That’s just how reality works.”

“I see…” Achitha trailed off, taking that into serious consideration as Eve tried to use her concept of snow on the black blood in the hopes of diluting it, clearly still intent on doing something to help, although Feather knew it was unlikely that someone of her skill level would be able to do something like that. She would only be disappointed. 

But after a moment, Leocaides’ eyes snapped back to Cirrus, who was starting to flip faster through the book while his gaze became more sinister. “So the laboratory was probably being used for human experimentation, right? What’s that book say?” the ginger man asked darkly, the prince slowly becoming more and more anxious the more he read. 

“...it’s talking about turning humans into monsters,” he eventually admitted, amber eye widening as he went to cover his mouth. “Feather… did you—”

“Of course I prevented it,” the blond immediately snapped, looking clearly offended that Cirrus would even dare to ask. “I got rid of every single drop of black blood in your body, so you’re not gonna turn into a monster. I’m the best healer in the world, so you can trust me,” he glared, as if that very sentence was somehow a threat. 

But it made Cirrus smile, and he chuckled slightly as he lifted the book up for Achitha to look through as well. “You’re right. Thank you, Feather.”

“Hmph, whatever.”

Although, the more Achitha flipped through the book’s contents, the more she began to share Cirrus’ feelings of dread. “This is talking about manufacturing humans into monsters… but for what purpose? What does this person want to use them for?”

“I’m not sure, there weren’t any books talking about what this person’s actual goal was besides corrupting everything,” Feather replied, carefully stretching his limbs out as he stared at the bright orange sun fading beneath the horizon. “But I suggest you send the whole book to Queen Nadia, and make sure it goes straight to her. We don’t know who this person actually is, so you need to specify with the queen that she can’t let just anyone get a hold of it.”

“Yeah, I know that! That’s obvious!” Jayce snapped irritably as he looked up from writing the letter, a hawk perched on his shoulder while he glared at Feather. “I’m not stupid!”

“Haha, I dunno, you look pretty stupid to me!” Feather taunted in return, Jayce glaring at him with all his might before he accidentally snapped his quill, and looked down at it in surprise.

“Oh.”

“Haha! Stupid!”

“Shut it, you psycho!”

“Heheh, no way! I’ll never shut it!”

And Cirrus chuckled softly at the back and forth banter between Jayce and Feather, finding it amusing as he tried to distract himself with any sense of normalcy. He hadn't been certain if he could trust Feather before, especially when spending time with him inside that laboratory… he’d seemed so detached from everything, like he’d completely disassociated from what it meant to be afraid and instead replaced all dark emotions with a manic sense of joy. Cirrus hadn't really been able to understand it, and granted, he still didn't... but back there, for just a moment, he was hesitating to trust Ruba’s judgement… after all, he didn’t want to recruit someone with so much nihilistic apathy. Yet in the end, Feather wasn’t really like that at all. He'd had no reason to heal Cirrus. He could’ve let him die or turn into a monster and just killed him afterwards if he’d really wanted to. It wasn’t like anyone else would have been able to heal him had Feather decided he wasn’t worth his time. But instead of anything like that, the crazy blond had decided to help… and he’d done everything in his power to make sure Cirrus ended up alright. He was childish, and immature, and slightly apathetic, but he wasn’t heartless. He… he was kind. 

Still, he’d understand if Feather no longer had any desire to help. He’d acted like he was having the time of his life exploring that underground facility, but if it ended up being too much, Cirrus didn’t think he’d have the heart to blame him. And yet, as Feather rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, popping the bones in his back as he let himself relax, he was surprised to have the blond turn to him with a neutral face, like he was expecting something. “What are we doing next?”

“Oh… huh?” Cirrus blinked, and he watched as Achitha, Jayce, and Eve all turned to look at him in surprise, all while Leocadies and Kya just smiled. 

“I said, what are we doing next?” Feather repeated innocently, as if he truly didn’t believe his words held that much weight or importance. “You’re on a mission to recruit people, aren’t you? Who’s our next target to persuade?”

“Oh… oh, um, we’re looking for the miracle worker,” Cirrus answered honestly, surprised that Feather was so entirely on board after what they’d both just experienced. His three companions looked shocked as well, as if they’d been expecting the chaotic evader to use this as a chance and excuse to turn tail and run. Though, they also both looked very proud of him. 

Yet Feather just smirked at the mention of the miracle worker, and he laid his chin against his knee while giving a small hum. “Ahh, the miracle worker... I see. He’ll be a hard one to catch, I’ve never even seen the man before with my own eyes.”

“Yes, I know it will be difficult,” Cirrus smiled politely, completely oblivious to the true identity of the man he was talking to, and Feather was enjoying that fact a bit too much. “But especially after today, we need strong allies. I just hope the miracle worker will be cooperative…”

And oh, he didn’t know the half of it. But that just made things all the more entertaining, and Feather was quick to start brainstorming different concepts he could say he had that would encompass healing. This really did sound like a lot of fun, and he wanted to get to the bottom of whoever was experimenting on humans and turning them into monsters. Not to mention, even though no one had stated this out loud yet… someone had opened those cages and let the monsters out. That by itself proved that they had most likely never been truly alone, and yet even Feather hadn’t been able to sense a person’s presence besides the vague feeling of being watched. Why was that? Who were they? What did they want? And, above all else, the most important question of all… when had they had the chance to infect Cirrus in the first place?