Chapter 35

The moment Mika heard Aramaleo speak she dropped down on her knees right next to Silva. She put one of her hands on Silva's exposed flank while with other she tried to pull out pieces of glass from the wounds.

Endless tears rolling down her cheeks made the task difficult. Of course, Mika knew that, but she could not help it. Her heart was still trying to bang it’s way out of her chest from the previous shit show they had gone through.

And Mika would not permit anyone else to touch Silva. Not now, first, she had to fix her up. Silva kept retching still under the influence of the teleportation. On the back of her mind, she recognized the place they were now in as her own room. For a moment she wanted to demand explanations from Aramaleo, but the fact that he could teleport to her room was not the first point in her list of 'things to be explained to her'.

Finally, Silva lost her conciseness and Mika carefully made sure that breath properly and won't choke on her own vomit. Mika's mind was working in overdrive with her ability telling that the worst part was over.

Soon she had managed to pull out the last piece of glass and while tired and beaten, Mika allowed herself to take a breath of relief.

It was at that moment that Steven chose to speak. “You forgot about me, didn’t you?”

Mika managed to let out a nervous chuckle. It wasn’t that she forgot. It was that Silva had a more important place in her heart that Steven was.

Some would say that it was natural, and she agreed more than not, but Mika also was feeling bad for Steven. She had known him for years, told him everything. He was her best friend and despite that she, more often than not, let her hormones dictate her actions. And Steven even didn't blame her for it.

“I didn’t.” Mika slapped her cheeks to rouse herself from exhaustion and looked at Steven who was bleeding on another part of her carpet. Concentrating came with difficulty to her, but she managed to focus on Steven.

The ability told Mika that Steven was suffering from even worse blood loss that Silva, but also that he was not in immediate danger. She could slowly fix him completely over the following hour. Less if she cut corners. It would not be easy but what was in her life anymore?

Slowly Mika crawled closer to where Steven was. She didn't want to risk standing up and he was not far enough to have to try. Once she was an arms reach away she touched him letting the leftover mana in her body do its job. The hardest part for Mika was not letting it run towards every hole in Steven's body. It would have left her lying down on the floor next to Silva in exhaustion.

This was not the time to sleep, no matter how much she wanted to. Steven’s body was a bottomless well. Mika already knew it from before, but her attempts to patch him up once again reminded her of the fact.

Mika supposed that it was only natural. While she and Silva were still mostly human and had human limitations, Steven was different. She knew that he did not sleep. He did not get drunk at the same rate as normal people did, his pain tolerance was astronomical and then there was the strength of his muscles and bones. In a word, it was a pain in the ass to heal him. Not that Mika would ever turn him down.

When peace returned to the room Mika realized that there was still the fourth member of the expedition with them. Aramaleo was awkwardly fidgeting by the door as if waiting for anyone to point out his presence. Only when Mika glanced at him he started to speak.

“Uh, so… What was that?”

Suddenly Mika was overcome with anger. Was it not this man that had brought them there? Was it not that stupid debt that had put them in such danger?

“YOU-!” Mika started but winced and quieted down. She did not want to wake Silva up. Steven on the other hand had opened one of his eyes and was now glaring at Aramaleo. “You were the one who brought us there! Didn’t you say that it would not be dangerous? Didn’t you hear us calling? Why didn’t you come faster? We could have died! What were you doing?”

Aramaleo’s face palled and he looked like wanted to object, but in the end, Mika tore into him until she ran out of breath. Heavily panting Mika realized that her control over mana was slipping and she had to readjust the rate she was healing.

“I-, I couldn’t…” Aramaleo whispered just loud enough for Mika to hear. “It’s… Damn, it’s one of the restrictions I have. My employer is the one that decides the spots where to and from I can teleport over long distances. I couldn’t help… What… What was that-, that doll?”

“You tell us!” Mika spat back.

“Right… Let me make a call.” Aramaleo turned around and left the room with a phone in his hands.

“Mika?” Steven used the moment to speak up. “Won’t it be bad if your parents get back?”

That was a good question. Her room now stank of blood and vomit and heir cloches were in taters. She was as good as she could be, considering everything they had gone trough and Steven would be fine after a short rest, but Silva was out for now.

“They won’t be back for another couple of hours.” Mika pondered. “You’ll be fine, with your coat covering the damage you should be able to get back home. You’ll have to help me clean up though.”

“Right… What about Silva?”

“I… Will tell them that she drank too much and has to rest.” Mika tried to figure out what to tell her parents, but Steven shook his head.

“That won’t go over well. Your parents won’t like it.”

“They don’t like a lot of things,” Mika mumbled. Steven had stopped bleeding for now and she used the chance to rest a bit. “Do you have anything better?”

That left Steven stumped for a moment. He too knew her parents well enough. While they were not bad people they would surely raise a lot of objections towards Mika’s and Silva’s friendship if they thought that Silva was someone who got drunk in her spare time. Or used alcohol at all, especially in case of someone underage.

“Shouldn’t she be fine after a couple of hours of sleep? You did fix her up didn’t you?”

“Not entirely.” Mika shook her head. “You just had to go and get hurt as well.” She tried to joke.

"You should just wake her up for a moment when your parents arrive. After Silva greets them she can return to her sleep again. Then pretend that you are watching films until she is ready to leave."

“Maybe… Yes, you are right. It’s just…”

“I know.” Steven stopped her. “I know. But you can’t sacrifice your life just to avoid a small inconvenience that Silva would have to go through.”

“Steven…” Mika timidly touched Steven’s arm. “Thank you…” She felt herself once again tearing up.

“Am I interrupting?” Aramaleo had the worst timing.

“No. Explain,” Steven ordered.

“Ah, um, well…” Aramaleo delayed.

“You did find out at least something?” Steven’s voice trembled with barely masked anger. “Right?”

“Yes! In fact, I did!” Aramaleo hurried to respond. “It… It was the Tainted Doll you met. There-, there is not much we know about it. There was only one more time one of ours met it, but it was a different team. They were not so lucky… Only one person survived…”

“How… How did they defeat it?” Mika could not believe that there were humans that could fight it and she was proven right when Aramaleo continued to talk.

“Three others sacrificed themselves so that the survivor could get away…”

“But… But couldn’t they teleport? How did…” Steven revealed his doubts.

“No, I am the only one who can teleport. There should be no other. And as I said… My ability is not as great as it would seem and that’s before… Anyway, from what our employer told me there is no way for us to fight it…”

"But she could, right? That employer of yours, she could!" Mika hopped. That thing, whatever it was, it had to be stopped.

“Maybe…” Aramaleo did not deny.

“What now?” Mika felt powerless. “Will we have to do more of these missions? Even after we failed the very first one?”

“You didn’t fail.” Aramaleo shook his head. “Your task was to set that poor creature free… I don’t know what happened back there and I won’t ask, but… The task was finished.”

“Can we stop? I… I don’t want to…” Mika pleaded.

“Mika…” She felt Steven hugging her. It did help, but not as much as she wished it did.

“I am afraid not.” Aramaleo hesitated. “What happened today was unfortunate, but… We will try to keep track of the doll… And while I understand… No, while I think I understand what you are going trough I can assure you… If you have any conscience the alternative is… Not better.” He tried to explain.

Mika wanted to scoff at the man’s words. But under gentle embrace, she couldn’t. Her gaze returned to Silva, who was still in her sleep. They probably should move and clean her, Mika reckoned. The stench was becoming unbearable and they had to start to clean.

“What now?” Mika finally repeated her question.

“I… Uh, have to go. There is something else, a reimbursement if you like. Monetary, but… It will probably help. Just send me your account numbers and we will arrange the rest. It’s… least we can do for the trouble… So, um, I’ll see myself out and… You probably don’t want to hear it but until next time.” Aramaleo gave a short bow and left once again. Soon after they heard the doors open and close.

“I should have punched him,” Steven commented, then paused. “How much do you think they will give us?”

“Not the time Steven.” Mika got up freeing herself from the hug. “We have to start cleaning.”

“Right. So, what do we do about Silva?” Steven joined her and got up.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t take it the wrong way, but… We have to clean her, right?”

“Of course.” Mika did not like where this was going.

“And it definitely can’t be me. I won’t beat the bush here, don’t do anything, uh, improper to her.”

Mika narrowed her eyes. “Start cleaning, Steven.”

“Just saying!” Steven raised his hands in surrender. “I am just worried that you’ll do something that you’ll regret.”

“Get moving already…” Mika sighed. “Wait, help me get her to the bathroom.”

Finding herself alone with Silva in the bathtub Mika could not help but grumble. She didn’t feel like she had done anything that deserved Steven’s unwarranted comment. “Have I?” Mika stopped for a moment, before returning her attention to Silva.

“Even then, I would never use this situation to take advantage.” Mika started to undress her friend, not forgetting to slowly send the healing energy into her body. "And look at you, getting banged up this badly." She gathered her resolve and started to pull off Silva's sweater, followed by shoes, socks, jeans…

“I am not that simple, look, not even ogling her or anything,” Mika mumbled. “Ah, your underwear is bloody too, let me… Ugh, that’s a bit.” Mika managed to stop herself. There was no need to remove Silva’s panties, was there?

There wasn’t Mika belatedly decided. And moved to the white t-shirt. Getting it off was harder than she had thought because at this point Mika did not want to risk and take a peek.

Once more Mika looked at the pile of bloody rags and berated herself. Just a moment ago she had been emotionally drained and now… “Is it a rebound?” She asked to no one.

“What?” Silva asked.

“What?” Mika mirrored. When she looked at Silva, who was now blushing more than Mika had ever seen her, she started to explain the situation. Or she would have if she wasn't frozen in place with her hands still trying to pull off the treacherous t-shirt. “I can explain.” But it was too late.

“No!” Silva exclaimed leaving Mika with her mouth hanging open as her friend tried to cover herself.

A moment later a loud banging at bathrooms doors revealed Steven’s presence.

“I can explain.” Mika mechanically repeated as Silva’s hand closed in on her cheek.