The Long Sleep [Open]

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

[ This takes place after the exorcism of Haku thread. ]

Haku woke slowly, with an ache in his head that was like a deep bruise, tender and throbbing. For a long while, he simply stared at the ceiling, and remembered what it was like to breathe. In....out, the texture of the air in his mouth was strangely liberating. He affected a sigh, just to prove he could do so on command, a soft twitch that broke the spell of paralysis that sleep had cast on him. Real sleep, good sleep, not the forced, painful sleep he'd kept since the Nightmare King's corruption had taken hold.

It took a little effort to pull himself onto his elbows. Someone had covered him with a thick blanket and it was heavy enough to give him pause in pushing it back. His feet were bare when he swung them over the edge of the bed— his feet had always been bare, and thankfully he was dressed in his own Hakama and not the clinging plantsuit. Haku had had enough of close-clinging and constriction for a long while. The floor felt strange under his feet, and for a moment he staggered in trying to stand, as if the intervening days of sleeping had made him forget.


...and then he remembered what had happened, and between the revulsion and his own unsteadiness he had to sit. What had he done? What the must think of him.

Comments

[on_errantry]

In a way, Rhiow was glad Haku hadn't awoken yet. It had taken a good long while for her to build up enough of her strength to even wash properly, or to do anything but sleep, eat, and sleep again.

She stayed in the medbay - between Tycho and Haku she'd spent far too much time here recently - so she would know when he awoke. The sound of cloth stirring, the bed creaking reached her ears and she sat up and stretched.

"Good morning," she said softly. She wasn't really sure how she should address Haku - she'd spoken his full, true name twice, and through picking it apart and building the spell, she probably knew more about him than he had ever wanted anyone to know. "Are you feeling well again?"

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

His head came up, though for a until he turned to face her, Haku's face was still obscured by his hair. His expression was serious, and for a moment he remembered the dear old face of Kamaji, the last time something like this had happened.

"I'm fine," He replied, quite softly, and set a hand on the folded-back coverlet in a gesture of invitation, "What happened?"

[on_errantry]

"A pretty ticklish piece of wizardry," Rhiow said, hesitating only a moment before jumping up on the bed. She licked her nose - it still felt... strange to be this close to one of the Powers. "We got rid of the corruption. It took some doing, but I'm fairly certain it's gone if you are...?"

Her voice trailed off into a questioning tone. Of course she wanted to believe in the integrity of her own wizardry, but her own wizardry had not been one hundred percent functional on board for a long while.

"Oh, and the thing managed to break clear out of one of the cells in the brig. We have someone repairing it, but... the bars are fairly warped."

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

He blinked, his memory painted in flashes and gasps around the gaps her story left. He had been in such darkness...but he remembered the calm moments, the horror on Mulan's face, a flash of the cat beside him puffed to three times her size in horror. His brow furrowed slightly, and he turned away, searching inwardly for the true response to her question.

"I feel fine," he repeated, then on impulse stroked his hand down Rhiow's back, "I got my name back."

[on_errantry]

Rhiow sighed softly - thank Iau for that. She sat up, setting to work grooming herself. She paused mid-groom when she remembered - should she tell him now, or would it be better if she surprised him later?

Later, she thought. When he was well enough to walk around on his own power again. "I'm glad," she said. "Like I said, the wizardry was a little ticklish - I was worried I had forgotten a parameter or something..." her whiskers twitched. "And that was some awful black gunk you vomited all over Dh'aim'hon at the end of it."

[sent-herself.livejournal.com]

Someone's here to answer that last question.

Mulan has a can of peaches. Who knows what she had to do to get them? Probably move very, very quietly.

"Haku? I heard you were better -"

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

His head came up, and for a moment as he turned he was surprised. She'd come to see him? Even after he'd tried to kill her? Even after he'd been...

"I feel fine," He reassured her softly, "You came."

[sent-herself.livejournal.com]

She puts the can of peaches (open) on the table nearby, and bowed. Not as deep as usual, just enough to get it out of the way.

"I thought you could use a friend." When she rises out of her bow, she's smiling sheepishly. "I hoped you wouldn't mind one, anyway -"

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

He bowed in return, as deeply as he could manage without falling off the bed.

"I can always use friends," he replied, "But, I owe you an apology"

[sent-herself.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no, you really don't." Mulan sits down, endeavoring to smile for Haku's sake. "You weren't yourself. I'm the one who's sorry." Her smile drops. "You were in pain, and I didn't help at all."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

There was one other person who came to visit Haku: someone who had been quietly working for the past few weeks once she'd heard the Nightmare King's influence might have affected one of her teammates on the Outsiders. But Katara had not been happy with the little that she could do for him: while helping to make the river for him would come in handy later, it was her inability to help with the exoricism that had made her feel useless. Nonetheless, she was here now, hoping to see that Haku was doing a little better.

"Hey," she said, hanging back a little. She wasn't sure if he would remember her attempt to use waterbending to prevent his demonic self from attacking Rhiow. If he did, she wouldn't blame him for being a little annoyed with her.

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

Haku looked up, as if Katara's voice was a warning rather than a greeting. For a second she seemed incongruously dangerous, huddled back as if afraid of him, like the reflection of water at the end of a deep well.

But, it was only the girl.

"Hello," he replied awkwardly. He remembered the anger, the desire to destroy this child— it was another's anger, but still... "Come here."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara obeyed the request without question. It was plain, looking at him, that he was not the angry spirit she had seen a few days ago- it was Haku again, wary of her but not dangerous, starting to slwoly recover. That, to be honest, was the best news she'd had in awhile.

"I'm really glad to see you're okay," she said softly. "I'd asked Static before, but he didn't seem to know, so I thought that when you got better, you might want a river to relax in. It should be okay now: Rhiow and Negi helped with it. I-" She sighed, her hands trembling a little. "Well, I was scared a little when the demon side came out of you, but now I'm just really happy its gone."

She knew she was babbling, but she knew it was also likely he wouldn't have understood how bothered she'd been, knowing he was suffering. They hadn't had a chance to meet or talk much, but she'd always privately been pleased someone of her element was on the ship and on her team.

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

What was it about females that gave them the ability to gabble as such high speed? Haku blinked and held up a hand, relieved when she finally became understandable again. Whatever she'd just said, he'd puzzle it out some other time. Women.

"I apologize," he told her, then looked away, unable to maintain eye contact over the sudden well of guilt, "I...you could have been killed. It should never have happened, I'm sorry."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara shook her head. "I wouldn't have let myself get killed Haku...but I wouldn't have hurt you either. We're on the same team, remember?"

She wouldn't have gotten killed, but there was definitely a possibility of her getting maimed, she knew that for sure. All the waterbending and BG training in the world didn't prepare you for a dragon that could come after you at breakneck speed.

"But that's over now, and I'm glad. I like seeing you at peace...that's why I got Stacy's okay to make something for you when you got out."

[killsfengshui.livejournal.com]

"So this is how one provides medical coverage for spirits." Mei-Xing had been curious when word around ship had reached her where they were keeping Haku. Spirits being taken down by tranquilizers was odd enough, but them actually getting some kind of medical aid was mindblowing to her.

So, of course, she'd checked it out. And found him sleeping it all off. She had to admit, he looked like a cute human kid when he was asleep, it wasn't until she'd looked into the astral plane that she could tell the truth of the matter. He was the same spirit, sans spiritual tumor.

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

Haku looked blankly at Mei-Xing, and tried to force himself to remember who she was. They'd never met and so his gaze angled with suspicion.

"Who are you?" The dragon-boy asked, calm and only slightly accusatory. He'd had many years to perfect that air of propriety.

[killsfengshui.livejournal.com]

Ha. It wasn't surprising that he didn't remember her, and she didn't feel like reminding him about just who had tried to banish him.

Mei-Xing waves a hand in front of her face and grins. "Just a crewmate, that's all. I'd heard they had some kind of spirit laid up in medical, and I started wondering just how one would pull medical aid on a spirit." After all, they don't usually have physical bodies.

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

"The same as anyone else," His reply was sidelong, suspicious. No one had ever taken curious about Haku in a way that turned out well for him. He decided very easily not to give this girl his true name, "What's your name?"

[killsfengshui.livejournal.com]

"Mei-Xing." She's about as honest about her real name as Haku plans to be. "You'd be Haku, yeah? Sounds Japanese." Then again, a spirit could call themselves what they liked. Usually.

[curiousredsoul]

Have another entering the med-bay, this one a dragon, entering half out of curiosity and half to meet the one she had aided. Casting her gaze about the place before resting on Haku himself. The dragon giving something of a smile to see the other currently conscious. The fact that he was in human form now not surprising to her, though still a particular point of interest for her as she padded over calmly.

"Greetings and good day to you," Celena spoke up before giving a dip of her head in greetings, before giving the other a smile, "It is good to see that you have recovered well,"

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

Haku watched Celena's approach with wary interest. She was...how long had it been since he'd seen another dragon? The river-spirits visited the bath-house, but he'd always been away.

Or hiding his shame.

"I....thank you," He nearly snapped, then a vague memory of Celena's teeth and claws— had he fought her? Guilt was a live thing, clawing in his gut, "Who are you?"

[curiousredsoul]

"You are welcome," She replied with a light incline of her head before giving a bow of her head in introduction, "I am Celena Vantari, I provided Rhiow with a good portion of the energy needed for her spell," She explained by way of introduction.

Noting his reaction to her with interest though before she went on, "It was necessary to restrain you before the spell could be cast. I hope I did not cause you any great injury while attempting to do so,"

[thekohakuriver.livejournal.com]

"No, I feel fine," he replied evenly, "And thank you. If I injured you, I—"

He hesitated, and looked away in shame, "I'm sorry. It should never have happened."

[curiousredsoul]

"I am glad to hear it," Replying with a smile before dipping here head in response, "Happy to help, and you needn't worry, a few scratches and cuts, nothing more, already nice and healed up,"

"Do not worry yourself, what happened happened, that all are fine and you are well is all that matters now," Celena went on with a reassuring smile, showing that she bore no ill will toward the other.