I wanna shine on in the hearts of men

[knew_anyway]

Characters: Nathaniel and Raven
When: Forward dated to Monday, August 22nd. Nat's arrival in Adstringendum.
Where: Random back alley somewhere.
Rating: PG-13? Gorybits
Summary: Nathaniel arrives in Adstring. Oh, and he's also almost fatally wounded.

Comments

[feel_nevermore]

Raven had spent the whole Sunday home but on Monday, she decided she'd go hunt some sandworms into the wastes. Life had to go on after all. Also it seemed that for the first time since she got to Adstring she wasn't affected by the new event which was, in itself, something to be celebrated.

Somewhere along the way, she started sensing some excruciating pain. The same kind of pain she had sensed when she came to heal Jo and she was... about to die. Someone was about to die.

At first she shook her head, deciding not to stop there. What if it was another of Sonja's tricks to turn her into a crazy angry demon again? But then, she realized she didn't sense any demonic aura around... What kind of superhero would she be if she let someone die? Especially after she almost killed someone two days before.

Raven braced herself and flew faster toward the source of the pain. She landed softly a few meter behind the young man she found there, lying alone on the ground, bleeding. He had maybe already lost consciousness.

"Hey!" She called out, running to the boy and kneeling down next to him. He looked about her age. "Can you hear me?"

[knew_anyway]

His vision was blurring in and out as his body struggled to regain consciousness- blood vessels vasoconstricting, trying to direct the flow up to nourish his brain at the expense of his limbs. His arms and legs were slowly going prickly numb, but he found that- beyond his arm pressed against his wounded side- he couldn't care. Any attempt to move them was like trying to lift a car, and so after a few moments, be gave up.

At the voice that permeated his consciousness, Nathaniel could only just barely manage to look up toward Raven, his eyes dim and hazy. Why was she there- where was Kitty?

Slowly, painfully, he nodded in response to her question, taking a deep breath in and letting it out, his hand trying desperately to hold over his side, to keep everything in where it belonged.

[feel_nevermore]

Raven felt slightly reassured when he looked up at her and nodded. It didn't seem possible to transport him to the clinic due to his current state, but maybe she could do something about it and fly them there after.

"Relax. Close your eyes. I'm gonna try to help you." First, she had to alleviate the pain. It would certainly help him relax. Not that she could sense as much panic radiating from the boy as she would have expected.

She laid her hand over his. As her palm brushed against his, all pain passed from him onto her. She winced and after a few seconds, it was gone.

"Are you feeling better?" She knew but it was all she could think of to keep him awake. "Don't move though, only the pain's gone. You're not healed yet."

[knew_anyway]

It was strange, having all of his pain lifted. A little bit like dying, but he could still see, could still sense things. Nathaniel relaxed almost instantly, his body completely numb. And yet- and yet, he could still feel how sluggish his brain was. How his body was reacting to the injuries, if not to the pain. He gave another quick nod and slowly tightened his fingers around hers, as if that link was the only thing keeping the pain at bay.

Later, he would question exactly how she did it- Nathaniel didn't think she was a spirit, and even if she was, he had never heard of a demon being able to heal people. Magician seemed unlikely as well, as she didn't seem to be employing a demon to heal him- and that just looped around to the fact that no demon had ever healed someone. The circular logic kept his fuzzy brain busy for awhile, distracted him, made him lose his focus from trying to not die. But that was alright- the focus was perhaps a hindrance anyway, keeping him tensed up and afraid.

[feel_nevermore]

Raven's instinct is to jerk her hand away as he grasped her hand, but refrained from doing so. It was his way of answering his question, after all. He felt better and he was probably scared the pain would come back if she took her hand away. That was rather irrational, but he was dying. He had mitigating circumstances.

"I'm gonna use magic to try and heal you." She warned him. She was not sure how much she could do but she'd try her best. She closed her eyes and a blue-whitish glow appeared under both her palms. She used her empathy to give an impulse to his own healing system so it'd start working again. Hopefully his body would not reject her magic.

[knew_anyway]

It didn't. His body was quite used to being surrounded by the aura of magic- so much so that the idea of magic directly affecting him, knitting flesh and bone back together- didn't faze it much. The prospect was odd, and it felt strange, but he didn't have the strength to try to push her off. Nor, he rationalized, did he particularly want to. If she was telling the truth, then she was really healing his injuries, and he certainly didn't want to stop her.

He didn't really feel better- he'd lost too much blood for that- but there was certainly a lingering feeling of relief as the bloos slowly stopped pouring out at the rate it had been. He gasped a deep, shuddering breath and squeezed his eyes shut tight, letting her do what she would.

[feel_nevermore]

Raven could tell he was familiar with magic. His body reacted slightly differently from how a regular human body would. Maybe he was a wizard. But not the same kind of wizard as Harry. He felt different. But as long as her abilities worked on him... That meant he wouldn't die on this street and she felt oddly relieved.

The blood vessels were mending themselves slowly but steadily. There was nothing she could do about the blood loss. She pressed slighly over a few open wounds so that the bones would get back into place. Sweat was beading on her forehead. The small cuts were closing up swiftly. But the major wounds were taking a little more time, and would maybe not heal fully, but it'd be close. Because she was putting a lot of herself in that healing. More than she usually would, as if she was doing it for herself, rather than for someone else this time. As if she wanted to prove herself she was still capable of doing good things.

After a while, she opened her eyes. She was shaking slightly. She might not be able to fly right then. But if his life wasn't in danger anymore, he wouldn't mind waiting for her to get some of her energy back.

"Can you talk now?"

[knew_anyway]

Nathaniel was breathing heavily, laying still and letting the healing take place- for all that he really didn't have another option. He felt a little better, as blood started traveling where it was supposed to go, his body receiving the oxygenation it desperately needed.

When she spoke, he nodded once, giving his body time to recover before moving slightly, taking his hand from his wound and gingerly releasing her own fingers.

"Ah- y-yes. Thank you.". His voice was shake and weak, but it was there.

[feel_nevermore]

Breathing was a good sound, as heavy as it was. It meant the boy was alive.

The hand he'd been holding was both covered in blood now. But so were his clothes, the ground and Raven's knees so it hardly mattered. When he released her hand, Raven seized his shoulders trying to help him sit up.

"What's your name?"

[knew_anyway]

He sat with her aid, but not without difficulty- Nathaniel winced, looking down at his side and taking another shuddering breath. The worst of his injuries were healed, he was pleased to see. But he still wasn't thinking quite clearly- be it from the bloodloss or the confusion from suddenly being here.

He opened his mouth again, speaking in a slurry tongue. He was about to say something, before thinking better of it and giving her his public name.

"John Mandrake. I'm a magician in the-"

Suddenly, his eyes widened, gasping as he grasped onto Raven's wrist.

"Nouda! Did I- is it- what happened? Where's the glass tower? Where's Kitty- did she make it- ?! How did I-"

[feel_nevermore]

Raven slightly nodded in greeting.

"Raven. Nice to meet..."

Her eyes widen slightly as he grasps onto her wrist.

"He... Calm down... John. Don't go reopening those wounds. I'll explain but it might be a little bit hard to believe."

[knew_anyway]

"No- I have to-"

He looked around wildly for any recognizable building or landmark. Upon finding none, he swallowed hard and squirmed, trying to stand up- damn his injuries.

After a moment though, his gaze found the girl again, and he stilled.

"If you're here- that must mean I've succeeded. You don't appear to be posessed, and yet you have power.". A short pause, and he takes in a deep breath, sitting back down. "So, I've done it. But- why am I alive? Where am I?"

[feel_nevermore]

"I said calm down." Raven repeated nearly holding him in place, not that it was really hard given his current condition. But she felt weaker than usual too.

She let out a relieved breath as he stilled and sat back down.

"This is not your world. Nor mine. And there's no such thing as a glass tower here, I'm afraid. This place you've just been brought in is called Adstringendum. It's the result of the compression of numerous universes and timelines into one. A failed scientific experiment no one knows how to fix." She paused a bit before adding. "As for your question about being alive, I'd say you'd probably be dead by now if I didn't happen to pass by."

[knew_anyway]

He grits his teeth, shaking his head slightly at her crazed explanation.

"That- how is that possible?"

Nathaniel's mind was already racing, trying to think of a solution before he could be supplied with one. There wasn't a way that he could have just been transported like that, not right before he-

He shook his head, thinking harder, forcing his sluggish mind to focus. He needed to focus. Would it be possible for someone to open a Void- a gate of sorts, absorbing him in and sending him here on the brink of death? No, no that was impossible, not unless he were standing within a pentacle. He knew this wasn't the Other Place, there weren't demons milling about, but- what did that mean for him?

He finally focused on her words a bit more, frowning. A compression of numerous universes and timelines. Well, that was- odd. The closest thing he could equate that to was Rathmura, collapsing the discord of the Other Place into his own world- but that was only temporary, and in such a small location- this place already seemed bigger than that.

[feel_nevermore]

Raven shrugged. "Told you it'd be hard to believe." After all what she was getting from him was only the classical new arrival's reaction.

"I got it you were doing something important when you were brought here... At least you might be glad to know that time kinda freezes in our home worlds while we're here. When you'll be sent home, it'll be as if you'd never left and you won't even remember having ever been here. ...I just can't tell you when it'll be."

Raven paused for a bit. "And so you're a... magician? I guess that's different from being a wizard, right?"

[knew_anyway]

He nods slowly, not quite able to comprehend all of what she was saying- but it was certainly easier, and met with much less backtalk in his addled state. There was a long pause before he spoke- as if he didn't even register her question at all- but after a few moments, he took a deep breath and nodded.

"Magician is the proper term."

And then a thought struck him- if this were true- if everything she was saying was true- then this place didn't obey the rules of his home. She didn't even seem to know what a magician was, what one did. Nathaniel swallowed hard, staring up at her for a moment. Thousands of years of magician's rule- completely unaffecting this place. What if the magic-wielders weren't in charge here? Nathaniel shuddered to think of the chaos that would have had to ensue.

"But yes- I am a magician. One of the most powerful, in fact."

His pride fluffed up a little there, and his words seemed almost hard to believe- he didn't look to be any older than Raven herself- but the lines under his eyes, the way he presented himself, even when injured, his suit, and the faintest scent or rosemary and dust that seemed to cling to him, just beneath the blood... there was definite evidence that what he was saying was the truth.