Waking [Open] - After Stevening is done

[starlight_ace]

Truth be told, Nanoha hadn't expected to wake up. She'd still been in the beast's clutches as the lights had gone out around her, and that she hadn't been crushed or devoured in her unconsciousness was practically a miracle

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[thunder_ace]

One of the first things Nanoha might notice is Fate, eyes closed and head resting on her folded arms at the edge of the bed. She had been trying to hold off sleep as best as she could, wanting to be here when Nanoha woke up... but there's only so long a person can go without sleeping, so she had decided to rest. Just for a few minutes, though! Only long enough to fight off the sleepiness...

[starlight_ace]

"Fate-chan..." her voice is a bit raspy from unused vocal chords; it's still hard to draw breath... but at this moment, Nanoha wants nothing more than to sit up and take the other girl into her arms.

Of course, she can't do that. Even if she weren't strapped down, it might be difficult.

[thunder_ace]

Fate stirred when she heard her name, eyes fluttering open and blinking a few times to get rid of the haziness of her short nap. She nearly jumped up and out of her seat when she saw Nanoha was awake, though, and all traces of weariness were instantly replaced by both worry and relief.

"N-Nanoha! You're awake... thank goodness."

[starlight_ace]

The mage looked slightly to the side, knowing that look and feeling a rush of embarrassment. Had Fate really been sleeping by her bed like that? "Fate-chan... I'm sorry for worrying you."

[ghost_bait]

Miku had spent the last few days thinking. Steve wasn't awake yet, and it wasn't like she'd gone to check on him anyway. In fact, she'd done a very good job of keeping out of sight, trying to figure things out on her own.

But, eventually, she'd made it into the medical bay without turning around and leaving like she had the last several days previously. At least today she could pretend that she was visiting Nanoha, and not trying escape out of seeing Steve.

She was a horrible girlfriend. "I'm so sorry," Miku said quietly as she looked over Nanoha's injuries that Steve-as-a-Monster had caused. Miku's injuries weren't nearly as severe, surprisingly. Several cracked and bruised ribs, a nasty bruise around her ankles where the plant had gotten her as well as strained muscle from trying to escape it. Looking at Nanoha, Miku realized just how much worse it could have been. "I had hoped nothing like this would've happened to you."

[starlight_ace]

Nanoha looked up at the other girl with a sheepish little smile, and she waved her other arm as much as she could (not much, considering it was the one with the IV in it). "Ah, well, this sort of thing happens in my line of work, you know?" She gave a weak little chuckle.

"If I'm not prepared for it to happen, I'd never get anything done. Don't worry about me, Miku-chan."

[ghost_bait]

"But it shouldn't have happened at all...!" Miku protested softly. "It... he..." she deflated a bit. "I'm still very sorry."

[starlight_ace]

"Miku-chan, don't apologize," Nanoha shook her head. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"It isn't though I knew this couldn't happen."

[i_am_the_bafo]

The Overlord had a nagging worry that Ruffnut had done something really stupid. Like challenge the Tyrant. (To be fair, Zetta could've handled it in one shot, damn it! But no one trusts the book to do anything around here.) So crashing on through the Medbay came the loud book in its minions arms, glaring around like he's about to smash stuff.

Sentient books, that's completely unique and new to Nanoha, right?

[starlight_ace]

Unfortunately, no. No it isn't. This is a different kind of sentience than she's used to, though, and Nanoha is just going to look at the minion and book with an incredulous expression on her face.

[i_am_the_bafo]

Zetta, for a moment, failed to notice that expression. "Hey, you haven't seen a Viking girl, uses lightning, awesome spirit, no brains in here... hey, you look like you got hit by a Drill Tank." Zetta had finally noticed the condition Nanoha was in, and for reasons best known only to himself, elected to comment on it.

Then he noticed the expression. "....What?"

[starlight_ace]

"Sorry, I've. Never seen a talking book like you before," Nanoha admitted. "And I'm afraid I haven't seen the person you're talking about, either."

[livingontheweb]

"Good to see you're up," said the brown haired teen, who took a quick glanced at the chart. "And it looks like I didn't screw up with the splint after all. Was kinda worried about that."

[starlight_ace]

"Ah?" Nanoha smiled sheepishly. "I-I'm sorry, I don't think I know you. But if you've helped me here, I'm very grateful."

[livingontheweb]

"Ah, right. I'm Peter Parker. I kinda found you during the battle and brought you back here." He said, consciously leaving out the part about him having done it while battered and bruised. No need to bring up his own problems.

"Just wanted to check in on you and make sure everything was alright. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure I really needed to. You've got a lot of people on this ship that care about you." Peter's voice tried to be his usual glib tone, but there was tinge of melancholy to it. After all, the only person he really knew likely didn't remember him at all

[starlight_ace]

"Thank you," she said genuinely with a soft smile. "If it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead right now."

"I'll be fine, so you don't need to worry about me. And my name's Nanoha."

[diabolic_ace]

There was a polite knocking at the door...

[starlight_ace]

A hoarse call from within. "Come in!"

[diabolic_ace]

Hayate took a steadying breath before she opened the door and tried to smile; she wanted to cheer her friend up, after all. Even so, it was hard to do. Hospitals weren't really a fond thing for Hayate, after all.

"Pardon me--" She began as she opened the door, but she was not prepared for Nanoha's visibly awful condition. She dropped her bag and bouquet at her feet in the doorway.

[starlight_ace]

Nanoha's face fell, though she was still maintaining good humor as much as she could. "That bad, huh?"