sirenspull_logs | this needs to stop happening

Who: Gilbert Nightray & whoever wants to visit
When: afternoon of the 17th
Where: Skye Medical
Summary: Xigbar's creepy monster dog-thing messed him up good for his part in the newcomer hunt raid. He never saw it coming.
Warnings: slight spoilers for PH, mentions of blood and injury

Gil has been overcome by the darkness a few times in the last few years. For the most part, every time he's gotten out of the situation with scratches and bruises, a couple larger wounds, a bullet wound once. But this time had been different. This time the monster seemed far more interested in hurting him; in killing him. And it was quick enough to do damage while he floundered through attempting to use Raven and failing, miserably. The familiar pain in his left hand told him that he was putting too much strain on the Hatter and B Rabbit's seals, and he'd hesitated as he'd been struck.

Again. And again.

If he'd been conscious, he would have told whoever transported him to take him home. If the Core reacted the same way that it did last time, he'd be healed in no time. A day or two, and he wouldn't have to waste time away from his master in the meanwhile. But he stays asleep during the pick up, transport, and the initial check-in to the hospital. He doesn't wake until halfway through the day, several ribs shattered, a wrist and ankle broken, a concussion, bruises and cuts and gashes up his neck and across his chest and legs.

And every single one of those injuries is healing, slowly but surely, without anyone needing to lift a finger to help him.

Crap.

His eyes snap open at the sound of familiar, rhythmic beeping. That's all it takes for him to realize where he's ended up, the memory of this morning rushing back all at once. Crap, crap, crap! Not good!

He doesn't bother to check if anyone else is in the room first before throwing back the blanket and attempting to run as fast as his healing feet will take him, no matter how many wires and tubes are currently attached to him. Stop him, egg him on, catch the aftermath upon failure. He'll be here for a couple of days.

[ooc - have at it, visitors. also I'm still sick, so tags will probably continue to be slow, but I promise I'll get to them all! thank you for putting up with me!]

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She waits until he's seated completely before she wipes a hand across her eyes quickly, offering no explanation. When she speaks, she looks at the ground, not wanting to take in his bruises and cuts.

"Dad, what happened?"

"I was going to work, and..."

And he doubts he has to finish that sentence. By now, it's probably obvious when he had left and what had happened. It had been a creature in the darkness, one unlike anything that he'd encountered before. One that he'd offended, apparently.

"...I just didn't get away in time," he finishes with a small cough.

She reaches for his hand wordlessly, moving her thumb over the top of his palm, hoping it doesn't cause him any more pain.

"You shouldn't go out there when it's like that."

He cracks his eyes open and looks down at where she's touched his hand, eyes narrowing painfully. Not from the touch, but the knowledge that he's made he worry; he can hear the old tears in her voice now that he's stopped to listen.

"...I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

She looks toward him at surprise at that question, though it shouldn't really be shocking. It was just like him to be concerned about her when he was the one sitting in that hospital bed.

"I'm fine. I'm not the one I'm worried about."

"This..."

He glances down at himself, trying to register what's actually happened to him. There's pain everywhere, he can feel that now, and because of that his eyes are actually a little more unfocused than they normally are. He blinks and shakes his head.

"I-I'm sure it looks worse than it is!" he finishes, hoping that it sounds encouraging.

"Even if that's the case, it's still pretty bad."

She winces, looking away from the injuries again with a careful swallow.

"Is there anything you want me to get you? Do you want me to call the nurse?"

"No, I don't need anything, really - "

He cuts himself off, turns to look frantically for a clock on the wall or on the table.

"What time is it? How long have I been here?"

"Calm down! It's okay. It's, um... I think it's probably around one or two by now. It's only been a few hours, if this happened in the early morning."

"Damn it!" he hisses under his breath, covering his face with his good hand.

"I never opened the shop..."

"Is that really what you're worried about? Other people work there too!"

It comes out a little more frustrated than she means it, and there's a few seconds of pause before she speaks again, more subdued this time.

"Sorry."

That shuts him up. After giving her a wounded (very wounded) puppy dog face for a second, he turns his eyes back down to his lap and sighs.

"No...I'm sorry. This is my own fault, I wasn't paying close enough attention."

Again, she shouldn't be surprised, but there's a second of pause nonetheless, before a small sigh.

"You getting hurt isn't your fault, that isn't a good way to think! You shouldn't have been out there, but... I don't think you should blame yourself."

He turns to look at her as he leans back to actually lie down properly. Slowly! Because yeah, that still hurts no matter how fast it's trying to heal. And he'd very much like to continue to blame himself, but there's a more important question that he needs to ask first.

"How long have you been here?"

"Ever since I found out you were in here. It's only been a few hours, though, so don't worry about it, okay? For now, you should focus on trying to rest. Are you tired?"

"No, but," he says, hesitating before finishing. He doesn't want to ask her for anything, he doesn't want to ask anyone for anything, but at the same time if he's going to let his body continue to heal and get out of here so he can get back to normal life, he's going to have to let people at least hand him things.

Hesitantly, he finishes his thought, "-but I'm thirsty. Sort of."

She smiles at that, hurriedly standing up from her chair and smoothing out her dress.

"I'll get it! I'll be back really soon."

"Just water!" he makes sure to clarify before she can get too far away.

"I know, I know!"

She hurries out of the room, closing the door gently behind her as she goes off in search of water.

As soon as he's sure that she's left the room completely, he finally looks down at the mess of injuries on his body, trying to take in just where the pain is coming from. He doesn't remember getting quite this beat up, but everything happened too fast to really recall everything.

The seal.

Shit.

When she reenter he's staring down at his left hand, clutching it with his right, looking startled.

She opens the door with a smile, but once she sees him looking so alarmed it fades quickly. She rushes in, setting the water down on the bedside table before hurrying to his side.

"Dad, what is it? What's the matter? Do you need me to call the nurse?"

"Huh?"

He glances back up, curling his hand into a fist as he shakes his head.

"N-no, just...did you see Oz this morning? Or Break?"

She shakes her head, biting her lip.

"No, I haven't. But you shouldn't be worrying about them now."

"But the seal isn't - "

He closes his eyes and tries to concentrate on his Chain, on Raven's connection to B Rabbit and the Mad Hatter, but it only makes his head and his hand ache, and he only ends up wincing in pain.

She leans in, worry clear on her face, voice tense.

"The seal isn't what? Dad, what's the matter?"

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