Valkyrie (Complete)

11: Dealing with Loss

After Eira's funeral, the three remaining Mauliks make their way back to The Academy. All three of them are pretty beat up, though they can't feel that right now. Kaj is completely silent and as Valkyrie takes a peek at his face, she finds tears running down his cheeks. Without saying anything, she reaches over to lace her fingers with his and then gives his hand a gentle squeeze. He looks at her but his eyes are glazed and she doubts he is even paying attention.

Her adrenaline is still running high and she knows that as soon as it wears off, she'll be absolutely exhausted and likely in pain from the bullet wound in her calf. Kaj has a few cuts from the Ankathians' swords but nothing too serious and Phoenix has a gash in his side that's visible through a tear in his uniform.

They make it back to The Academy and she leads the two boys to the medical wing. They follow her silently, as if they're in a trance and cannot focus on their surroundings. She seats them both in chairs while she gathers medical supplies. She goes to Kaj first and he peels his uniform off at her insistence. He's left in shorts and no shirt as she gently cleans his cuts, most of which are on his torso. He has quite a few, but none of them are too deep. She stitches up the deeper ones and bandages the rest before getting him a pair of pajama pants and a loose t-shirt. The entire time, his eyes remain unfocused as they stare at the wall across the room. Tears have gathered in his eyes but do not fall. She sighs softly before standing him up and leading him across the room to a cot. She helps him lie down and then covers him with a blanket. "Sleep," she whispers, as if talking to a frightened child. His eyes remain open and unblinking, so she turns his face to hers and a flicker of recognition passes through his eyes as they meet hers. "Kaj," she murmurs. "Can you hear me?"

He nods slightly, his deep brown eyes slowly coming back to life.

"You need to sleep," she tells him. "It's been a long day and your injuries need to heal before our next battle."

"I don't want to do anything without her," he replies, his voice breaking.

Her heart thumps quickly as she swallows tears of her own. "I know, but you have to. We need you, and she needs you to keep living. I know it's hard though." She kisses his forehead with sisterly love. "We're here for you if you need anything."

His eyes close slowly as his exhaustion catches up with him. He falls asleep quickly, and then Valkyrie moves back to Phoenix.

His head is leaning against the wall and a slight sweat has formed on his face. She puts a hand on his shoulder and he cracks his eyes open. "Are you okay?"

He nods but motions to his side. "It isn't too bad, but it hurts like hell."

"Can you take off your shirt so I can stitch it up?"

He nods before moving to remove the top of his uniform. She sucks in a breath and she suddenly can't think.

Lord, she knew he had abs, but not like this, not so defined and tight and obviously displaying the strength she knew he had. Her cheeks turn pink and she turns around quickly to grab what she needs for stitches.

He moves from the chair to an exam table so she has easier access to his side. He lays on his back with his arm above his head, groaning in pain every so often. She wipes away the blood with a damp cloth and begins tight, small stitches. Every little bit, she cleans the wound before stitching, making sure that it's secure and straight. Finally, she's done and able to put a think bandage around it. He sits up and she wraps it around his torso. Then, she leads him over to another cot and tells him to sleep.

He doesn't. He stays sitting upright and catches her wrist as she tries to push him backwards.

"You need to sleep," she tells him. "It's been a long day." She echoes the words that she spoke to Kaj.

"You need to take care of your leg."

"I will, and then I'll go to sleep too. Get some rest. I'll get some medicine for you so your side doesn't hurt, and then I'll take care of it before I rest."

"I can clean and stitch it."

She shakes her head. "Nix, I can tell how much your side hurts. I'm telling you, my leg isn't bad. I can take care of it myself."

He points to the floor, where there's a thin blood trail where she's been walking around the room. The back of her pant-leg and her shoe are completely soaked with it, but she's been too preoccupied with her friends to feel the pain of it. "Let me do it."

"You aren't going to sleep until you do, are you?"

He shakes his head and she sighs, giving in. She walks back to the exam table and lays face-down. Phoenix rolls her pant-leg up to her knee and cleans it with a towel. She hisses when the rough material of the cloth hits the open wound.

Her adrenaline finally wears off as she lays down, finally giving her body some rest. Her calf throbs now that the energy is no longer blocking her pain and she can feel the heat radiating from it and the sticky warmth that's coating her leg and foot.

Phoenix works silently, cleaning the wound thoroughly and stitching the entry and exit wounds as best as he can and then wrapping it tightly. Even so, he knows it's going to take a while to heal since it's obviously a hole through her leg. He prays that the next battle is not for a while, because their team just lost an important member and they need time to recover enough to be able to fight again.

Valkyrie sits up when he's done and looks up at his grim face. Her legs are on either side of his as he stands but doesn't look at her, lost in thought. He snaps out of it when her gentle fingers adjust the bandage around his side.

His heart pounds in his chest as she thoughtfully rearranges the bandage to be more comfortable and secure. The table is low and he's eye-level with her when he kneels down. She hasn't said anything in a while now, not even a peep while he was working on her leg, even though that must have been painful. "Are you okay?" He whispers.

She nods but still stares at her hands, which are gripping the edge of the table tightly. He takes her hands in his and uses his other hand to tilt her face up to his. Her eyes are watery and sad and he realizes that she was taking care of them to avoid breaking down. He hugs her tightly and she squeezes back, mindful the whole time of his side.

She pulls away and swipes at her face even though it's dry. "You need to sleep," she says, hating how weak her voice sounds.

"So do you," he whispers, tilting her head once more to face his. She meets his eyes directly and he can see a range of emotions flickering through them at a rapid pace.

"I'll take first watch. We don't know when the Ankathians are coming back, so someone should."

"Will you stay close?"

His question shocks her. "Of course."

He complies to her request to sleep after he's satisfied with her answer. Before he lays down, he pulls a chair between his bed and Kaj's bed and she assumes that it must be where he wants her to sit. She sits down and suddenly another chair is in front of her. Phoenix lifts her leg up and rests it on the chair and she smiles at his thoughtfulness.

Finally, he goes to sleep, and as the sun sets and the room falls quiet, she allows herself to cry. Silently, the tears fall as she mourns for her friend teammate, but most of all, the one she loves like a sister.