Carnivore

v) Repudium

BLOOD AND RUST WERE THE HUES THAT TAINTED HER VISION. They were the colours that followed her wherever she went. It stained the air, tainted her very being. And it manifested itself within her very quirk, as if reminding her that she could never escape it's grasp.

Kali lay resting in one of the hospital rooms dedicated to long-stay patients when Zinnia arrived with arms of her mother's luggage in tow, and a sharp crease between her brows as she gazed upon the sickly woman's ghostly visage. A drip was hooked into her arm with a unit of blood feeding into her, and all the standard monitoring equipment was attached like the lifelines they were synonymous with. Zinnia could see without fail that her mother's readings were a little high, as she'd already come to expect.

But at least she was stable.

In and out, the woman breathed, labored perhaps, but otherwise still undeniably "alive", and the rhythmic tones of the heart-rate monitor only confirmed the information for Zinnia. And yet, in spite of that, she couldn't help but gaze at Kali's form to burn the reminder into every facet of her conscious mind until it took permanent hold of her gnawing doubts.

'She will be asleep for at least a short while.' Spoke a voice from the door of the room, bringing Zinnia's attention away from her mother within an instance.

Seiya's familiar form stood in the doorway, with his doctors coat affixed in place and his hands otherwise buried in the pockets of his coat. His rather expressionless form was a common sight, however the edge of his gaze shifting towards Kali's form lying in the hospital bed was perhaps, a little more stern than what he usually wore.

'At the present moment she needs undisturbed rest, so we are keeping her in an induced coma to accommodate that.' The man who may well be dubbed as Zinnia's mentor spoke as he turned his attention back to her. 'She will be roused in twenty four hours to check her recovery progress, as you should already know.'

Zinnia inclined her head forward in a brief nod as she carefully set Kali's belongings on the table at her bedside. 'The umm ... dog apparently jumped up onto her...'

'So Hatori had informed me when they brought her in.' Seiya responded in almost a rather dismissive manner.

'... This isn't as bad as other relapses she's had, right?'

There was no immediate response, even as Seiya turned on his heel to head back out onto the floor.

'You have more important things to concern yourself with right now, do you not?' Was all he said as he disappeared from sight, leaving Zinnia to stand there staring down at Kali's unconscious form. 'Don't forget to increase your intake of fluids while you can.'

More important things, was it?

Zinnia's breath trembled as she tried to get her thoughts back in order.

Seiya was right; Now wasn't the time to sit dutifully at her mother's bedside while she was in an induced coma. She had things she needed to do, things that would make life a lot easier for her parents if she actually succeeded.

If she succeeded, then maybe they could afford better treatment for Kali.

'I have to do this...' Zinnia told herself as she grit her teeth.

It was the only thing she could do right now.

And as she managed to convince herself that she really did need to focus, she turned and left, with just one last fleeting glance towards Kali's form as she shut the door behind her.

However, Zinnia was not expecting the peculiarity of being seized by a duo of the ward nurses the very moment she looked up at the clock, both of whom were quick to hand her what turned out to be one of the smallest sets of paramedic uniforms from the locker room and a large bottle of bright orange cordial, with instructions to change out of her marred uniform.