13. [Action] (backdated to a day or two after the battle, while checkups are happening)

[rewritethis]

[Somehow, Ed's footsteps lead him right back to the infirmary.

They'd run tests on him as well once everyone came back, but nothing that kept him for long. As far as most anyone else is concerned, and certainly as far as Ed was willing to admit, he could have been stabbed on the battlefield before anything weird(er than a freaking Lunar Cry) happened; junctioning and Cure spells can work wonders sometimes, and there's no trace of any lasting injury. From what he's heard and what he saw in there, he was lucky. It figures, doesn't it? The only good luck he ever gets is the kind he'd rather have done without.

It's interesting to listen to the ways other people are talking about it, in itself. "Spirit worlds", huh? If Ed's honest, he isn't even sure they're wrong.

He shouldn't hang around here, he tells himself as he meanders past the beds. Even ignoring the fact that he's nothing remotely close to a doctor and would arguably be more use keeping out of the way instead of bugging people for errands to run... it's a more welcome sight than a mass grave, almost anything is, but he can't shake the feeling that he doesn't have the right.

There's nowhere else he can think of to go, though. And it is an overwhelming relief to run into anyone he knows, bedridden or otherwise - hell, even people he's only ever seen from a distance, if he recognises their face.]

Hey. [His smile is too tired to be hiding any kind of guile, although that might be uncharacteristic enough to be uncanny all on its own.] Everything okay here?

Comments

[elementofloyalty]

Another pony?

[She's clearly teasing him. She's happy to see him looking a little happier at least.]

[rewritethis]

Ha, well. [Jerk him around and he'll jerk back - albeit a bit more sleepily.] I suppose if you can't, you'll never need to know. Gotta keep that place tidy, after all. It'd only make things harder if it didn't look right.

[His expression softens.]

Say... They didn't find anything weird so far, right? I mean, you look fine.

[elementofloyalty]

I'm totally fine! This all is just dumb. [She gestures to the leads stuck to her... where, embarrassingly, they had to shave small patches of her fur to attack them.]

So what'd you find?

[rewritethis]

[His eyes stray over the leads, and his smile wavers for a second, but he gets over it.]

Hey, you can't blame them for it. Seems like nobody has any clue exactly what it is Time Compression does to a body under normal - well, "normal" circumstances. Something like this...

[He says it as if he's about to continue, but after hesitating for a few seconds he just deflates a little and rubs his eyes.]

...I'm glad you're okay, anyway. I'll get going. I didn't really finish, I just took a break. But if you get out of here soon, just come and find me. I'll give you the brush back then. [So much for cultivating an air of mystery.]

[elementofloyalty]

Hey, stay and talk with me for a bit! I'm going crazy here. The last time I got stuck in a hospital for this long I learned to love reading, I'm afraid of what I'm gonna end up doing for entertainment this time. I'll end up playing Go or something.

[She shudders in open disgust and fear.]

It's cool you found the brush, though!

[rewritethis]

[Ed looks briefly nonplussed. (Amestrian problems.)] Playing what now?

[It's not an important detail, though. He shifts his weight awkwardly, like he still wants to head off.] Don't rush them, anyway. It's hard enough streamlining stuff like this when you do know what you need to concentrate on.

[elementofloyalty]

It's a board game. That can take hours. Enough said.

[She waves a hoof and then barrels right into a question that is a lot more awkward than she makes it sound.]

So how'd you get so hurt when I found you anyway?

[rewritethis]

[He freezes. It doesn't have to sound awkward to be one of the questions he didn't want to hear.]

Oh, you know... One thing led to another, I guess. Didn't really notice it until we were on the other side. Must've been the adrenaline. But as far as anyone here can tell, it healed up just fine.

[elementofloyalty]

Really. You didn't notice a hole clean through you that pretty much dropped you to a pile?

[Skeptical pony is skeptical, Ed. Because she kinda has a theory about that injury.]

[rewritethis]

What're you saying? Of course I noticed! I just... lost a lot of blood. It's kind of hazy. I'm just glad it looks like everyone pulled through.

[He eyes her right back, as if to suggest she's the one acting suspicious.] Where'd this come from all of a sudden, anyway?

[elementofloyalty]

Just wondering if you had it before that whole weird thing happened, or after. Seems like the kinda thing that might have happened when everypony changed.

[Obviously, she just is mad he's not stuck in the infirmary too... right?]

[rewritethis]

Well, I don't remember!

[A moment passes before, hesitantly, he lowers the fist he hadn't intended to raise.]

I mean... I don't. Sorry.

[elementofloyalty]

[She's pretty convinced now that her suspicions are correct, so she nods quietly.]

When I get out of here... you and I are gonna have a long talk, okay?

[rewritethis]

[Eventually he realises that glaring furiously at his own feet is not making that outburst less awkward any time soon, and shoves his hands in his pockets.]

...Just don't forget your brush.

[With that, he walks away.]