Becoming monsters is the creation of AiLovesToGrow, setting used with permission

  This idea comes from Amethyst Dragonfly. Ronald Beck is the creation of Metgar, cameo with permission.

  —

  Chapter 16: The Blues

  “Hold please.”

  There was a click, then silence from the other end, but Justin knew how this went. The other side was muted, but he wasn’t silenced. He took a couple of calming breaths, trying his hardest to ignore the pain in his face and skin that reminded him of his recent mistakes.

  “Justin?” It was Abbey’s voice, coming from his left. “Your father… he’s military? And working on a Sunday for some reason?”

  “He is, and he usually does. I’m not going to call him a workaholic, but it took him a month to realize I’d left for college. That was back before the Change, when he was trying to get promoted so people would stop calling him ‘Major Majors.’”

  “Oh.” Abbey sounded nonplussed. All things considered, an improvement from the frustrated fury of a few minutes ago. “Um, kind of filing here. I don’t think I remember you ever mentioning him. Not in either set of memories.”

  “I’ll expin more once we’re not on hold. He’s in Colorado right now, I stayed here for college.”

  “Color me happy you did.”

  “Me too. The road’s been bumpy, but I think it’s all worth it.”

  The gentle pressure of her hug was as much of a healing balm as any magic the hospital had avaible to them. It couldn’t st long, though. There was a click, and the man’s voice from the other line was suddenly there again. “Lieutenant Colonel Majors says he will call you in a moment, as a security measure. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  Justin had to force himself to not groan or make a face. The former would not be all that productive. The tter would be remarkably painful. “No, that’s everything. Thank you.”

  He hung up without waiting for the formuic response. “I should have known. He… he knows that if I’m calling him, it’s important. It’ll probably be a video call on the phone so that he can make sure I’m telling the truth.”

  “Your dad won’t trust you when you say it’s important?” Abbey sounded fbbergasted.

  “I may or may not have faked a couple of injuries while I was a kid to try to get him to stay at home.”

  “Oh.” Abbey was silent for a few seconds, a thoughtful kind of space in the talk. “Do you think you can check your Status screen, Justin? I mean, the doctors probably did all kinds of checks, but… well…”

  “But the screens don’t lie. It’s a good point. Status.” Unlike the rest of the room, the Status screen was completely sharp in his mind’s eye. The headache that came with it was sharp and immediate, but he found it tolerable compared to the rest of what had happened to him already. “Health’s at 25%, Mana at 54%. Stamina is… well, unlucky’s the word.”

  “Not surprised. I’m gd you’re okay, but Song said you’re lucky to be alive and that shows it.”

  “Yeah…” His voice drifted off as his eyebrows rose painfully. “Hey, guess one more good thing came. I Leveled up, and a Css Feature’s avaible. Probably got the alert while I was unconscious. Mind running some quick searches if I run into anything I don’t know? Level Three is supposed to be Subcss choices, what I pick here will snt everything I see from now on.”

  “Let me state for the record that I’d really rather you not die for your art next time, but sure. What are your options?”

  “First up is one I know, Shatter. Pretty sure I don’t need help with that one, all things considered, it’s a combat use to let me try to break things.” He chuckled softly in spite of the remaining pain across his chest.

  “No, pretty sure you don’t.” Even if he couldn’t see her face, her dry tone was plenty to be able to imagine her expression.

  “Second is called Atomos. I think it was a thing to use for zoomed-in scales.”

  There was a tapping sound as Abbey did some searching. “Yep. All the way down to molecur levels, but while you’re doing that it’s affecting about three percent of the mass you can normally do at once.”

  “It would be for detail work, anyway. Anything about what it leads to?”

  Abbey took a second to look things up. “You’re right on the detail work thing. It leads to really precise applications, even doing chemical reactions ter on.”

  “Sounds strong. Let’s see… Analyze?”

  “It lets you get a detailed feel for an entire object. What it’s composed of, if there’s internal damage, possibly even who made it if you’re strong enough. It’s what the people in Greece and Italy are using to repair statues and fix historical records. What’s the st one?”

  “Patent. If I remember right, there was a lot of debate about the subcss.”

  “It’s a powerful one, but really hard to use. Once you make something, you can attempt to designate it as your own pattern. If nothing too simir exists anywhere else, you codify it and get a ton of bonuses to making it.”

  “Let me guess. Nobody knows what the exact criteria are?”

  “Got it in one, Justin. Plus the cooldown is a month on the ability. Pretty high frequency if you are getting hits, terrible if you are struggling to find one.”

  His headache was sharpening steadily, this conversation would have to end soon. “Okay. Definitely not Shatter, and I don’t want to deal with Patents. That leaves Analyze or Atomos. Um, of the two, I think Analyze is easier to do in some other way. That means I’m picking up micro-scale manipution. Sounds good?”

  “Sounds good. Your Css, your choice.”

  “We’re in this together, Abbey.” Justin frowned. “There’s no such thing as something that only affects me anymore.” He only had to wait a few more moments for her response.

  “I…” she seemed to have trouble finding her voice. “Thank you, Justin. Today’s been hard, but I’m gd I’m here with you. You just proved why. Yes, Atomos sounds good.”

  “Picking it, then.” Justin focused on the option and confirmed his selection, permanently setting his path in his Css, then closed the Status screen. The headache remained, but was receding slowly. Very slowly. Painfully slowly, especially since he couldn’t just pop a random painkiller to try to fight it. Presumably, he was already on all the ones the doctors would let him be on.

  His phone suddenly rang, the tone indicating it was a video call. Justin nodded at Abbey, who accepted the call. A gentle chime, a “Hello?” from Abbey, and Justin heard his father’s voice for the first time in over two years.

  “Who are you and what have you done to my son?” Her expression shifted, her mouth open to respond and inform the man of what was going on. At least, it was until he barreled onward. “Put him on, you blue-skinned freak!” It was not exactly the best way to kick off the conversation. Justin coughed politely to get attention. Abbey icily pointed the phone at her boyfriend. “Justin! What did you do this time?”

  “Good evening, Dad, nice to talk to you, too. Had a project blow up in my face. Wasn’t exactly what I was trying to do, since I like being able to see.” He couldn’t quite help the razor-sharp sarcastic tone in his voice. To be fair to him, he did manage to restrain about two-thirds of it. Impressive, really.

  “Let me guess. You’re calling for health insurance.”

  “It isn’t for pstic surgery funds, so yes. I figure if you wanted to know about how school was doing or my social life, you’d have asked at some point.”

  Justin couldn’t see his father’s reaction, but could picture it well. Abbey, just outside of the camera’s view, could absolutely see it. The man had retively delicate features to go with blond hair cut military-short, but what his son said made his face go red and thunderous. It even reached up into his ears, though oddly it avoided a strip near the top of each.

  “I should tell you no for that…”

  “We both know you aren’t allowed to do that. I know your ID number, so the only difference is if you have to expin it to your superiors before or after that happens. Parental abandonment might not be the fastest way to end a proud military career, but I’m pretty sure it’s in the top five. I called to let you know I was using it, since BuckStar barista pay won’t cover what I need.”

  “Fine.” The man’s tone indicated that it was anything but fine, but he moved one. “Who was that girl in the room with you?”

  “That’s Abbey. My girlfriend. We’re pretty serious.”

  Abbey, for her part, was surprised. Not by Justin’s statement, though it gave her the warm fuzzies in her soul. She just didn’t think Mr. Majors’s face could get any redder or angrier, and was proven wrong. When he spoke, he was noticeably louder than before. “What? And you didn’t think to tell me? Especially when she’s a… a…”

  “When she’s my main support in life right now. And it all happened since the st time we talked. Whether that was two months ago or twenty is not important.”

  “You know there are going to be consequences for this conversation.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll call you back in a few months.” He paused there, the silence dragging a bit. “Once I know I’m going to graduate, anyway. Already got a job lined up. Maybe you’ll visit if you ever get stationed back this way. Goodbye.” Without needing to see, he knew where the button to hang up was. The phone clicked and gave a couple of beeps, and was silent. He sighed. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Abbey. I’m not exactly my dad’s biggest fan, and the feeling’s mutual.”

  “I could tell. Do you think it’s smart to be antagonizing him like that?”

  “Probably not, but then again it’s not like there’s anything he can do about it right now and it’s not like I pn to move back in after I graduate. I have you, and a life I can live with, and a pce to live with you. None of that requires his help.”

  “I have so many questions right now that I can’t even keep them straight. I mean, his face when you were talking. Everything on his face went so red, even his ears. Except…”

  “Oh, you noticed. Well, I’ll summarize. Dad’s one of the most Racist people you’ll ever have the misfortune of meeting. Doesn’t care about skin color, but if you aren’t Human you aren’t a person. Bit awkward for someone who came out of the Change as an Aelf, but he paid someone to trim down the pointed tips of his ears. Always did say he had a problem listening, then he did that. I’d say the jokes write themselves but I was already out of the house.”

  There was a lull in the conversation as Justin id back, the bitterness apparently out of his system for now. Abbey had to think hard about what she had just seen. It was alien to her, really. Although she hadn’t called her own parents in a bit too long given all the distractions, she loved them and always looked forward to their conversations. This kind of talk was well outside of anything she could dream of having.

  Abbey looked over at her boyfriend and saw that her pondering had taken a bit too long. Justin had fallen asleep, the pain and fatigue of his injuries combining with the emotional toll of the call. All of it conspired to send him deep into his dreams. The beeping of the monitors slowed as his mind sank to where the pain couldn’t reach. Abbey found that despite the remaining te-afternoon sun, her own eyelids began to droop. She joined him in dreamnd shortly thereafter, leaning back in the chair by his side.

  The sleep was good while it sted. Not nearly long enough, but when is it ever? Both suddenly awoke to the rising sun when what seemed like a battalion of medical personnel invaded. Justin got poked and prodded, people took notes and pictures and readings. It was hard to remember that this was their job and they weren’t specifically trying to make Abbey and Justin miserable. It helped that one of the st ones in this bunch examined his eyes, consulted charts, and applied some kind of eye drops that made the pain ease off a bit. They paused briefly to let Abbey and Justin eat breakfast (the tter with significant assistance from the former) before doing even more tests and scans.

  The very st one in the room was Dr. Gulo. Alone this time, his students were not with him. Unlike Justin, Abbey could see the shape of the enormous Wolverine Beastfolk to go with the deep voice and slight musk. “Alright, before I let you get some much-needed lunch and rest, I do need to go over a few details with you two. Bad news and good news, shall we say.”

  Abbey looked at her boyfriend, exhausted on the hospital bed and still wrapped in bandages. “What’s the bad news?”

  “It’s quite a list. Justin’s eyes will never naturally heal, the damage was simply too extensive on examination. Range of motion and precision will be simirly compromised, even with physical therapy. At least two major tendons were damaged by gss shards, not to mention the scarring.”

  Justin’s ears registered the words. He recognized they were words, and each even had meaning. Put together in that order, though? His mind refused. It just couldn’t be. “What…” he coughed to clear his throat, suddenly feeling like he was suffocating under the weight of it all. “What could possibly be the good news?”

  “The good news is that we aren’t limited to ‘natural.’ We have two on call who can assist, and given that lesser measures are unlikely to help you we are referring you to them immediately. Nurse Johnson has been called in from other duties and will be here after lunch, likely with Doctor Beck as well. Lunch is going to be quite rge. Please eat everything you can, you will need all of it.”

  “Uh… what do you mean by that, Doctor?” Justin’s emotions were on a bit of a rollercoaster.

  “I will not sugarcoat this, young man. Magical healing works, but the next two or three days are not going to be particurly pleasant for you. I am not an expert in that method of healing, but like many other therapies you may be asked to do things that seem awkward, difficult, or actively uncomfortable to facilitate it. The more you can do, the better it will go.”

  “Uncomfortable? Am I going to hurt?”

  “This isn’t physical therapy, but the advice I generally give is that if it feels like you’re being tortured for state secrets you’re doing it right.”

  “Not sure what to say to that.”

  “No need. Just make sure you do what the healers say so that we don’t get you in the Curse Annex two days ter.” The doctor left shortly thereafter, just in time for food to be wheeled in.

  He had not been kidding about the quantities involved. At all. Three trays were on the cart, and none of the three were intended for Abbey. Justin did his best, like the doctor said, and this was helped by the rapid nature of breakfast that morning. He was not, however, a particurly rge man. Nor was he a Gluttony Demon to be taking on this particur pile of sustenance. Nor, it should be noted, was the food particurly delicious to trick him into eating more than normal.

  Abbey had intended to excuse herself to go get something from the cafeteria. By the time Justin tapped out, though, there was still plenty left for her. Conversation was minimal. Really, avoiding the elephant in the room would have been difficult if their mouths weren’t full. Instead, she walked over to the window and looked out. There wasn’t too much to see, just the street leading up to the ER entrance and the traffic there, but the feel of the sun was good despite the Seattle clouds it had to get through to reach her.

  A knock at the door startled both of them. Before either could respond, an odd pair came in. In front was a smallish Asian woman in nurse’s scrubs. Perhaps Japanese? Her name tag read “Johnson, Emily,” and she seemed in a determined hurry. The other was much taller and much younger, a Human man with a shock of dark brown hair and a close-cropped beard who seemed entirely too young to be in a doctor’s uniform. His own name tag read “Dr. Beck, Ronald.”

  Nurse Johnson sized up the patient rapidly and reviewed the charts. “Mr. Majors?” He nodded, as best he could. “I can see why they called us in, and unfortunately the more dedicated true healers at the Guild Hall are not avaible. I am Nuse Johnson, and I will be performing the first steps of this healing process. It normally reduces pain instantly, but you will likely not be such a case. I have to unseat the initial scarring and healing in order to make sure they heal correctly, do you understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Justin looked nervous. Understandably.

  “Once I am done, Doctor Beck will be doing the rest. I’ll let him expin once we get to him. Are you ready?”

  Justin nodded, and wondered for a moment why she seemed to be in such a rush. But then remembered that Doctor Gulo mentioned she was doing something else today. By the time his idle thought was completed, though, her small hands were on either side of his head, and he no longer had thoughts to spare for such trivialities. A tracery of fire seemed to light over his skin, starting from the scoured areas of his arms but making its way rapidly across his chest and up to his face. When it reached his eyes, it was all he could do to not scream in agony. He could practically feel every grain of sand and shard of gss that had struck them once more, the memory of the initial shock nearly as bad as the physical pain he was experiencing for the second time.

  Abbey looked on in worry. She could see the lines and abrasions appearing on Emily’s arms and face, just like she could see Justin’s back arch in pain. What Nurse Johnson did only sted for a few moments before she released her power, stumbling back a few steps before finding her feet. “Mr. Majors, I know I’m not the first to say this, but you are an unbelievably lucky man. What you just lived through is more than I can say some Delvers managed. You are lucky to be alive.” She began to glow, obviously invoking magic on herself. “I think I managed to reset what needed to be done. It hurts right now, and believe me when I say I know exactly how much it hurts right now, but this time around it will get better. Might have to use this bit of knowledge with my Guild Leader.” She looked over her shoulder. “Doctor Beck? I’m done with what I can do for now.”

  “That means I’m up.” His voice betrayed his retive youth. The man could not be all that much older than Justin himself, and yet here he was. “It says here that Doctor Gulo was the one here earlier? Good. I can see that you were eating up, so I assume he told you the special instructions. Let me tell you what is about to happen. My healing abilities are indirect. I just encourage your body to do what it needs to do a lot faster than it would normally be willing to do it. In your case, I need to make sure this is fairly rapid so that we don’t risk infection or another misaligned heal. Same with your arms. That’s going to take fuel. It isn’t going to hurt quite as much as what Nurse Johnson was doing, but this will not be something you want to do twice.”

  Justin gulped. “Okay. Do your worst.”

  “Trust me when I say you don’t want that, either. This will be, oh, call it a seven out of ten for intensity.” He, too, glowed momentarily. “There we go. I’ll make sure to have the care team get you started on some more significant painkillers than you’ve been taking.”

  “... did you do anything, doctor?” Justin looked confused, a look that suddenly left his face as his body started reporting a truly unfortunate combination of intense soreness and equally-intense itching. It was like he’d been doing a full-body weightlifting routine in the middle of a cloud of mosquitoes.

  “Yep, you’re feeling it now. The sensations will recede as you heal, but this first part is never pleasant. Make sure you keep the eye shields on for at least the next hour, and do not touch your eyes until at least morning. That tter might be easier if you left the protection on until then.” Doctor Beck and Nurse Johnson spent a few more moments checking over things to make sure what they did had taken, leaving once the floor team brought an increasingly-desperate Justin a fairly powerful dosage of more than one more typical pain killer.

  By the time the pain faded, he found himself starving and cleared all remaining ptes from the lunch cart. He tried to look at the clock, realized he still couldn’t, and wondered when dinner was going to be. As soon as the thought was done, however, it was banished by another knock at the door. Not one they were expecting, either. “Abbey, can you do me a favor and see who’s knocking? Kind of can’t, myself.”

  The combination of the wry humor and the knowledge that the condition should now be temporary gave her a smile. It felt like the first real one she’d had all day, a relief as much as any given to Justin by magic or medicine. A smile that rapidly shifted to surprise when she opened the door. “Brittany! I didn’t expect to see you here!”

  The chipper blonde woman gave a little bit of a wave. “I didn’t expect to have to come find you here, either! Worked with you for two years, Abbey, and today’s the first time you no-call no-showed us at the bank! The whole crew’s worried something happened to you, thinks you quit, or both.”

  She blinked and looked over at the bedside table where her own phone sat. The screen was dead bck, and since she hadn’t been thinking about bringing her charger when she carried Justin to the ambunce the previous day she figured she knew why she’d missed them calling her. “Oh. Oh no! I remembered to call Justin’s work and forgot all about ours. Uh, come in, I guess? If you managed to find me here I guess you know why I missed things.”

  “Had a hunch, but I’ll admit that your boyfriend in the hospital bed wasn’t what I was expecting to see. Thankfully there aren’t all that many blue women running around in business suits, so that wasn’t too hard. Not like this st week, anyway.” She walked over to an empty chair and sat down, her own working clothes combining with the seat to give the impression that she knew a lot more than she was letting on.

  Justin shifted uncomfortably in his hospital bed, trying to track Brittany by the sound of her voice. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I’m pretty sure you know what I mean, Justin. Sure, I saw her at work, but after that? Poof! Vanished without a trace, every day! She goes to hang out with you, but then as far as I could tell you just stopped existing when you got back to your dorms. You show up again to go to css, and then poof! Gone again. Nobody can evade me like that. So you tell me. What have you been doing and where?”

  They both stammered for a moment, trying to reconcile what actually happened with what they dared tell her, when another knock came at the door. Without thinking Abbey reached out to open the door, seeing who was behind it. “Todd! Thanks for visiting us!”

  The man stepped in carrying a bck backpack. “Hey, figured you two didn’t have time to pack much, so I grabbed some of your clothing and charging cables…” his eyes had taken that long to nd on the woman in the chair, who in turn was openly staring back at him. “Brittany? What are YOU doing here?”