trans_9 | Recovery

"Asuna..." said Matt. "She wasn't well. She was... strange, irrational. She got extremely violent on me when I tried to get her help. I barely survived that but she snapped out of it for just a moment. Told her... princesses shouldn't cry..."

He swallowed, his throat dry. "I hope she made it to contagion. I don't blame her though."

Katara calmed the slow anger rising in her. She knew Asuna by Negi's recollections: she was a bit of a violent girl, and had a tendency to lose her temper violently toward people. She had learned to calm her temper a long time ago, and Asuna was probably under that virus, so she had to forgive it.

She just couldn't think of that when she saw Matt like that.

"There's a virus going around the City," Katara said. "It's started making people angry, more aggressive, and its had to be quarrantined along with other people. That was probably why she acted like that."

Which she was saying more for herself than for matt, whens he was honest.

"What was that about her being a princess?"

"A virus... of course. It had to be something. She's a bit violent but also straight forward and gentle when she needs to be..." Matt smiled and closed his eyes briefly, exhaling softly to clear his mind.

"It just came to me," said Matt honestly. "Something about her screams "little princess" and not in the snobbish kind of way. A genuine princess to be all honest. I can't seem to put it down but I told her not to cry when she nearly broke down..."

He chuckled. "We have gargoyles, robots, vampires... why not princesses?"

"Yeah, I figured. I know her from Negi's memories. Even though I want to beat up whoever did this to you, I figured that it might have been because of what was going around in the City, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Maybe I'll talk to her later or something."

Katara snickered. "No one. Haven't you met Nanashi? She generally has people refer to her as 'your majesty.' Negi never told me about that though: maybe he didn't know? But I wonder what's going on with her."

She looked at him. "Anyway, you SHOULD be worrying about yourself! You know darn well you could have not gotten hurt by Asuna, but you wanted to help her! I think its great and wonder and really really sweet..."

And then she wacked him hard in the back of the head, holding back a tear.

"...But you're going to seriously get yourself hurt some day!"

"Ow," grunted Matt but he was smiling just a little. "Better I get hurt than someone who can't handle it you know."

Of course that was the wrong thing to say but Matt was still worried about her. Instead however, he turned his attention to the other subjects to try and get Katara from being too upset. "You know, she doesn't quite count. I heard she's a queen or something."

He sighed however, and rubbed his head. "I was pretty dumb for just letting her beat on me, huh?"

This earns another sharp jab from Katara. "I don't want you getting hurt either, and neither does anyone else who cares about you! It isn't easy for anyone to see you that way!"

She sighed, shaking her head. "She counts, trust me. When you're being trained by her you can see that queen part of her come out."

See Katara with her hands on her hips, impatiently clucking her tongue?

"What do you think Matt?"

"Points taken," replied Matt, rubbing his head and noting the bandages across the arms. "I should stop being so "it's all on me" huh."

Relaxing back into his bed, Matt sighed. "I promise I won't recklessly not-defend myself next time something happens." He looked over at Katara, brown eyes locking with blue. "I'm good on those, trust me."

He flashed a weak grin, despite the pain of moving his face.

"Yeah," she said, playfully giving him a punch on the shoulder. "It's bad enough when Negi does it, but you're not a kid, you know better Matt. I know you have powers of your own, but you can get hurt just like anyone. Be careful, huh?"

She nodded, unwrapping the bandages and putting on fresh ones. She is slightly blushing a little here, considering his lack of clothing so she decides to look at him instead.

Locking eyes with him, however, creates a different reaction she hadn't expected: she blinks, looking at him a moment, looking genuinely happy he was okay. Then he has that smile, which brings about a warm, strange sensation she hadn't expected. She put a hand to his forehead a moment to distract herself.

"At least you aren't warm," she said, a little quieter than expected. "We don't need you to have a fever too."

She takes her hand off slowly. "Anywhere else hurts? I want to make sure I mended everything."

Edited 2010-10-07 02:44 (UTC)

"Heart's racing, but that's normal," said Matt, damning his honesty. Lately Katara had been giving him odd sensations when he looked at her. There was a void there, something was missing. He knew it, and with GlaDoS taking people for a reason, he was beginning to suspect that he had someone IMPORTANT in her clutches.

But for her to care for him, even in his state of undress was admirable, and he smiled softly at her touch on the bandages. "Everything's okay though. Though I have to wonder, how many days was I out?"

He too was distracting himself from the sensations he was beginning to slowly identify.

"Yeah, it should be, you've been through a lot," Katara said, checking him (above the chest thank you) thoroughly. "Matt, is it just me, or do you feel like someone's...missing? Like, I feel that whenever I see you, there's someone that was with us, that's not here anymore. Does that sound weird?"

Katara was glad for her BG training: feelings she had for Matt getting hurt had overshadowed anything at that moment, and she was glad he was on the mend. She wanted to make sure that even though the med bay was full, she could help him here. For now, she wanted to fixate on it.

"At least two," she said. "I'm glad you finally woke up. I totally missed podpop because I wanted to make sure you were okay. Arika needs more time with Negi anyway."

"I've been feeling it yeah," admitted Matt as he folded his arms and wincing as he did so, letting them drop to his sides. "You think GlaDoS nabbed someone that we both care about?"

The chances of that were low, or high depending on who you asked, but he wore a worried expression on his face.

"And two... god she must have hit me harder than I thought." He looked up. "New arrivals? They haven't had to deal with the virus did they?"

He smiled at the last part. "That's good. He's a good kid, and needs his mom."

"It's possible," Katara said. "The past few days I've been feeling like I lost someone really important to me. I didn't talk about it to a whole lot of people because we were already mourning losing Cassie. It didn't seem right. If it weren't for Billy and Renne and Beastboy, I'd be more or a wreck."

She shook her head. "No, its supposed to only be happening in the City, so its quarantined. The new pod popped should be okay. Right now they're just getting adjusted."

At this Katara nodded. "He is, but like you he has this thing of helping people whether it hurts him or not. I'm HOPING you don't start imitating him. When I heard you over the comms I thought of what happened to CXassie. It scared me."

Here Katara does look down, knowing full well her eyes would betray whatever expression she had on her face. She was pretty serious about this.

Matt nodded, wondering just who it could be. Only one person came to mind, Will, but she wasn't on the ship, was she? He would have to check her room on the bus first. "I hear you. It just doesn't feel RIGHT y'know? Even if we could remember, the void is sometimes more painful."

"That's good," he said about the pod pop. "Best they get kept out of it for now."

At Katara's downcast expression, he reached up and touched her cheek. "Hey, princesses don't cry," he admonished softly. "You did your best, and I prevented her from hurting anyone else, even if it meant I got beat up."

He trailed a finger across her cheek and smiled sadly. "Someone's going to get hurt when violence breaks out. That's why they call it violence Katara. C'mon."

"Maybe," Katara said, "But I think the worse is when you have pieces, parts of what used to be memories you cherished, you know? I'll remember experiences and I know I've traveled through dreams, but the person with me won't be there, and I know I trained but my teacher's identity will be hazy. It's not a great feeling."

She agreed with him about the podpop, but not about what he was saying.
"I'm NOT a princess," she said, a note of bossiness mixed with genuine concern there. "I'm a waterbender, but more than that, a person who would be affected if something happened to you. I'm a healer, so I know the human body's in and outs, I have to. Do you realize she could have paralyzed you, or hit you in a way that could have killed you? You have magic, but you're not indestructible! Even if THOSE worse case scenarios didn't happen, do you get it? I don't WANT you getting hurt. It bothers me even thinking about it!"

Her voice echoed a little, but Katara looked defiant still, her hand catching his. "The next time, try to not get hurt. If I ever saw that happening, I'd get involved, you understand?"

"I can relate to that," said Matt. "I sometimes don't remember what I've done during my time as a part of Kandrakar. It sucks."

He grinned a little at her sharp tone but he heard the concern overlaying it. "Alright, alright pax. I understand you don't want me getting hurt." His hand twisted in hers and he held it gently, squeezing once.

"I promise I won't get hurt like that trying to protect people again." He grinned just a little. "You can be a little princess-y though. Not really by the way you look or act, but by the open heart you have."

Flatterer. Even when naked, bound in bandages and prone on his back.

"That never happened in my world, but its happened here a lot," Katara said. "My friends have been my anchor to me, and made me so much stronger. I don't want to forget any of them."

She held back, looking at him with a sigh. "Good. I'm glad. Ariak had it bad enough with you injured, she didn't need me bursting in asking you if you were okay when you were comatose. Even that Overlord Zetta was concerned, though he didn't like showing it."

The last comment caused her to flush pretty violently. It wouldn't have been so bad if Jamie or Billy had said it, but from Matt she could tell he was really being genuine, and not just calling her little sister or squabbling friend. He meant it.

"T-thanks," she said, trying to shake it off, "But I'm just me, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. Having an open heart is just what I think is right, that's all."

Matt nodded at everything, and at the last he smiled. "Following the heart is more powerful than thinking with your mind. At least all the philosopher's said so. I always found that doing so lead to happiness."

He squeezed her hand gently once more as he added, "Thanks for staying with me Katara. It means a lot and it helps me deal with my actions. Besides, I don't get to talk with you as often as I'd like to recently and I've been feeling cooped up since the whole meeting about everything." He chuckled. "Though I'll have to thank Zetta and Arika for helping out too."

Katara smiled a little here, nodding. "Well, not always. Sometimes it can blow up in your face too. Sometimes people can say you feel too much. But I think that its the only way I'd want to be. If I had to die doing anything, it'd be protecting people here. It's why you're a council member, right?"

She shook her head. "Did you think I wasn't going to hear you Matt? You're one of the closest people to me on the ship. I know we're both going to be busy and everything, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take the time to sit and enjoy those small times where things are normal on the ship. The moment I heard the message, I swore if you were okay, I'd make sure we got to spend more time together and not be strangers."

And here, she took his hand and squeezed.

"Yeah, I'm here to think with my mind and keep an open heart. Not cold or jaded, but warm and giving. It's why I'm on there, exactly."

"I appreciate it," said Matt sincerely as he squeezed back. In that moment, he hummed a little as a soft acapella came forth.

We were strangers, starting out on a journey,
never dreaming what dreams would come true...

He blushed just a little as he paused. "I heard Negi singing it under his breath about four days ago. I think he and Sasami had a moment that I wish I saw. Seemed to involve music. And dancing. He even pirouetted too."

"Good. They couldn't have chosen a better person." She said that, but looked away, as she was turning red at an alarming rate and was getting a suspicion she might know why. "You'd stay impartial, I mean, because you're just and fair."

Yup, backpedaling just a little, but still not letting go of the hand.

She listened quietly, remembering how much she loved it when Matt would sing. It had been one of the things that had always stuck out in her mind, the beauty of music in general, but Matt was unique in making it his won, even if it wasn't something he himself wrote.

"It's pretty," Katara said. "You know, I wish you'd come to Nanashi's ball a few days ago. You would have liked it, and I'd have like to see what you would have worn."

"Yeah I'm sorry I couldn't, but the Council was making their final decisions on a few things and I really couldn't get away," sighed Matt. "I would have liked to go at least." He chuckled. "I sound like Cinderella, sighing so much about a ball."

"Maybe later once I can walk again, we could go dancing as friends in the sensoriums? I hear that ballroom dancing is the in-thing lately." The last was a bit of a teasing tone as he squeezed her hand gently.

"Well, that is more important" Katara said matter-of-factly. She wasn't going to ask Matt what they talked about: for all she knew it was only information for Council Members only, and that meant she would just have to see what was happening next like everyone else on the ship.

"Yeah, that would be great!" Katara said, telling herself it was definitely not a date. He said friends, AS FRIENDS, so there was nothing wrong with it in the slightest! Besides, now she'd have a reason to wear that dress and put her hair up again. Matt deserved to at least know what it had been like minus the viking pillage that took place later.

"Great! I'll have to get something done up by Rein then," said Matt as he smiled at the thought. "We could conjure up a nice ballroom and have a dance or two... and music. Lots of music."

Yeah, as friends. FRIENDS. Really, even if her caring for him made his heart flutter in ways he thought he missed come to the fore.

"That sounds great! I mean, I liked the music they played at the last one, but if we can tailor to some of our own I can do some quicker pace dances, and I can even show you some of the new ones that I learned! But you have to let me cook, okay? I mean, they did have thes small sandwitches and everything, but not enough to really make anyone feel satisfied."

She grinned. Down time. For BOTH of them. A crazy concept, but one she willingly embraced. She could figure out why she felt so strange about it later.

"That would be great," admitted Matt, clearly happy that they would get that downtime both of them much deserved. "And yeah, you get to cook. I'd love to see what you make from your world!"

Such honesty delivered in a way that it made Matt sound very excited for it, and it showed. He was smiling, the smile reaching his eyes and he was very much relaxed.

Now if that feeling would just ease off a little, he'd be okay.

Recovery

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