Dreamcrash

Twenty Nine: Return

Seed returned after a week or so. The AU was almost running smoothly again, Seed returning was a sign of that.  Things continued as they normally would, with me monitoring the AUs and Patch and Seed protecting them. Seed returning was a sign that Crashtale was almost running smoothly again, and a few days later, Patch confirmed it was going good again. I also guessed that the destroyers were injured too, because the very few attacks over the weeks were easily stopped by Patch or Seed. They both said Thread never came, and since he got hit so hard with Pen's godmove, we guessed he was knocked out.

After what I guessed to be two weeks, Pen started waking up. I was half searching for the destroyers' auras, half drawing energy from Seed and Patch, who were cuddled up and resting in another area of the Doodle Sphere. The sound of someone teleporting into the Art Dome shook me awake, and I whipped around, summoning an arrow, only to see Pen behind me. He looked weak, slightly scared, and I could tell he was about to collapse. Dashing over to him, I grabbed his arms to help hold him upright as he was about to fall. Pen looked at me with small, white eyelights and gave me a faint smile.

"Patch! Seed!" I yelled. They both stood up, saw Pen, and ran over, the calm I felt earlier replaced with worry.

"Oh geez, you look like a mess..." Patch muttered. "Pen? You good?"

Pen lifted his head and met Patch's eyes. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it.

"Pen. Come on, you gotta talk to us."

Pen opened his mouth and said something odd. I think it was in another language, because I couldn't understand it. It was short and quiet, but whatever he said made Patch more worried.

"Hey, hey, it's fine. Calm down," He said, fighting to keep his voice steady. "You're gonna be fine." Pen paused, took a deep breath, then said more in the other language, this time a whole lot. Patch responded in the same language, slightly shakey, as if he wasn't sure what to say. Whatever he said made Pen smile and respond, his voice a bit stronger. Patch looked momentarily offended, then said something that made Pen laugh.

I looked at Seed with a confused expression. He shrugged. "I don't know what they're saying either."

After a few more minutes of Patch and Pen talking back and forth, the color in Pen's eyelights returned to the normal mint green and he seemed a bit better. Patch looked at Seed and spoke, this time in Basic.

"Night, do you mind healing Pen? He needs some health and some rest."

I nodded as Seed looked at me in surprise. Pen spoke in the other language, and Patch snapped back with something that made Pen look annoyed, but he nodded. I sit Pen down and hold a hand over him, focusing my power as I did with Patch. It takes a bit longer, so I'm able to see how it looks. The wounds are glowing a faint gold. I sense Patch's aura behind me.

"What did you say?" I ask, not turning away from Pen.

"I told him he needs rest and we can handle the Art Dome ourselves."

"And before that?"

"Oh, not much, just some stuff to cheer him up."

"What language was that?"

"I'm... honestly not sure. I can understand it pretty well, for whatever reason, and can sort of speak it." Patch trailed off, muttering to himself. "Stupid amnesia..."

"Amnesia?" I say, turning around. Patch realized I heard him and froze. If 'Oh shoot' was an emotion, that would be what I sensed from him. 

"Uh... you know, the thing where you can't remember things?"