In the wake of the sudden and aggressive fighting only nights earlier, Era lay in tatters. Though isolated to several locations in Era, the damage was extensive. The roads and bridges suffered and hindering amounts of damage, in a few instances resulting in routes in the city being shut down indefinitely. Buildings affected saw varying degrees of damage, in the worst situations having to have complete sections of the foundation to be replaced. Even worse, the violence and subsequent instances of crime that immediately followed put a significant toll on the already taxed Rune Knights of Era and the other emergency services. Compared to that of the past, the death tolls were considerably low, though there were no shortages of injured or otherwise displaced people.

Damage was not limited to just within the confines of the city either. In the woods just on the outskirts, another battle had taken place, albeit one that one would not have noticed or realized took place save for several things that could have easily been attributed to natural incidents. She knew better than most not to believe that. After all, Leyaria had been there. That she was there was a bit of an oddity in itself, a woman who otherwise had no business in Era finding herself engaging in what was amongst several critical skirmishes which had taken place during that fateful night. Her presence had been felt however, thanks to a vicious blast of White Dragon Slayer Magic that she had misfired, nearly resulting in the possible deaths of several of the other combatants. While ultimately the blast came to be nothing more than a light show of vicious proportions, it had been largely ineffective, causing no harm to any possible targets.

Ironically enough, she stood perhaps as the one who suffered the greatest from her own attack, a deep gash which extended through both of her forearms. Courtesy of a piece of debris that had erupted out following her attack, Leyaria had at the time simply regarded it as a minor miracle that her injuries were not more significant, that the piece - perhaps a bit of wood or that of a split rock - did not cause a serious injury or even decapitate her. However, now simply ignoring it was not a luxury which she could give real consideration too; lining the outermost part of the wound the skin had become a bright pink and sensitive to the touch, both indications of early signs of infection.

She had attempted to simply ignore it, to pretend as though it was not a serious issue. She hadn't lost mobility in her arms. By all accounts there wasn't any lacking of usual bodily functions or limiting of capabilities she was feeling. Only a steady stream of discomfort, one in which turned to outright pain upon any sort of contact with anything; something especially difficult to avoid in a city as crowded as Era turned out to be. As time went and that discomfort continued to worsen to what eventually amounted to a constant state of nagging pain, she reluctantly conceded that it was not something to which she could continue to ignore.

If there had been one good thing which had come out of the attacks upon Era, it was the reaction and intensity to which the people had responded in the aftermath of everything. Local healers from Era and elsewhere had converged onto the city, offering their services and healing free of charge to whomever needed it. This proved to be a great relief to the city as the main hospital had found itself far less overwhelmed than they had come to originally believe in the immediate aftermath. Perhaps out of intrigue or in a state of blind trust, the people flocked in droves to the healers, captivated by their talents and lessening the strain that would have been put upon the hospital.

Leyaria was not one to share in the people's fascination.

She had long held an uneasy relationship with Magic, not just towards her own affinity towards it, but also that of others who so openly carried it. As far as Leyaria were concerned, someone who was adept in using Healing Magic was no different than that of someone who was skilled in utilizing Fire or Lightning Magic. And as contradictory as it may have seemed, the young Dragon Slayer would much sooner opt to wait to be treated by someone trained in medicine than the immediate relief of a healer. That rational was certainly of the minority than anything else, with the lobby of the hospital nearly empty, save for a few individuals who did not appear to be in any significant injury. Unsurprisingly, more than a few heads had turned at the sight of Leyaria's companion, the golem creature Geth.

Barely minutes passed before a nurse stood before the Dragon Slayer, her eyes quickly gazing over Leyaria in an attempt to quickly diagnose her condition without so much as inquiring as to if there was anything wrong. Taken back slightly by this, Leyaria opened her mouth though not even a full word managed to escape her lips before it was silenced by a sharp pain that resonated through her body as the nurse pressed a gloved finger against the pinkish skin just atop the wound on her arm. "Where did you happen upon that cut?" The nurse asked with an accusing tone, which caused a degree of concern to develop within Leyaria. She did not doubt that the nurse was piecing together the timeline of her injury, very likely realizing that Leyaria had sustained it during the attacks upon Era.

The only question which remained was if she acquired the wound while fighting alongside the attackers or had she been one of those trying to defend the city?

"I..." Leyaria paused. While she could have lied as to where she got her injury, it very likely could have done more harm than good. "It's a long story," she said as passively as possible, hoping to simply move on and deter the nurse's further prodding.

With apparent reluctance, the nurse said nothing more, gesturing for Leyaria to follow as she then immediately departed into the labyrinth that was the hospital hallways. After venturing through a number of hallways and turning more corners than she could count, Leyaria eventually found herself waiting in a more public room, a thick white curtain separating the space allotted to her and that of the spaces dedicated towards several other beds. Taking a seat onto the bed positioned within the center of the space, Leyaria waited as the nurse took several notes, her eyes every so often glancing up towards Leyaria. This repeated for several more minutes before she finally spoke, her words remaining as cold as they had before. "The doctor will be around shortly. Sit tight."

The Dragon Slayer simply sat there, silent as the woman departed back into the labyrinth as she possibly sought out a doctor for Leyaria, or perhaps as likely looking for an available Rune Knight to question her. Once she was out of sight, Leyaria shook her head very slightly, "Bitch."

There was an uneasiness to just sitting there. Waiting. The whole scenario, her being on this hospital bed, just waiting for someone who Leyaria at least hoped was actually going to see her with regards to treating injury, all the while knowing that there stood the possibility that it could have instead been a Rune Knight expected to ask questions, it felt wrong. Off putting, in fact. Geth simply stood near the foot of the bed, paying no significant heed to what was going on, quite possibly unable to process just what was going on, nor the terror that Leyaria secretly harbored. Though she was not involved in the attack upon Era, there had begun to be a blanketed feeling throughout Era - especially in recent days - that those who openly admitted to engaging in Magical combat weren't to be trusted. Because of that, the last thing she hoped to appear through that door was a Rune Knight, or even worse, a number of Rune Knights.

Some commotion could be faintly heard from beyond the closed door, doing little to reassure Leyaria's concern. A part of her was ready to leave right then and now, worried that if it were Rune Knights that she could end up being an instance of collateral damage. Throughout her travels, beginning in Hargeon to even now in Era, she had not heard no shortages of horror stories, of Rune Knights who had exercised excessive force and ultimately caused more harm than good. She worried what could have happened if today ended up being another such example.

The sounds seemed to continue, progressively getting a bit louder and louder as time went, though slower than what she'd expect of Rune Knights. After all, moving more slowly through an environment, whether it was a hospital or otherwise, left more time for the pursued mage to act and fight back, which should at least be what they didn't want. Furthermore, as she paid more attention to the commotion outside, the less she came to believe it were Rune Knights. She'd expect military jargon and things of that nature, but rather it seemed more like that of people just trying to calm someone down.

Leyaria was almost inclined to get up herself, to simply just take a peak out of the door to see what was going on. But for as intrigued as she may have been, she knew that was not the brightest decision. She had acted on impulse during the fight not too long ago and the results of her decision showed in the form of the infected cuts. In this case, there were far too many questions, too many unpredictable factors. It was as likely that it could have been something deathly dangerous, far outside of what she was capable of handling, as it was possible that it was insignificant, something that was being blown way out of proportions. 

However, not everything was an unknown variable. Sitting there, she seemed to smell something; a scent that she seemed to recall, and on past occasions at that. It was difficult to wholly distinguish just who it was; the memory being unfortunately to the murky void of her mind, the several months in which she couldn't recall much, if anything as to what happened. She did not feel as though it was during that period from which she recalled the scent, but rather earlier. And later as well. Recently, in fact. Her mind raced as she tried to understand just who it could have been, especially as she vaguely at least recalled the most recent occurrence of the scent; the battle in which she suffered the wounds on her arms.

The sounds outside got louder as it appeared to come to just outside of the room in which Leyaria sat within, coming to a head suddenly there emerged a woman falling to her knees just before the young Dragon Slayer as she fell to her knees in apparent pain. Looking, Leyaria could see what looked like an open wound still upon the woman, a pool of blood beginning to form beneath the woman, acting as a sort of deterrent as nurses and doctors all flooded into the room themselves, though keeping their distance between them and the woman. As she gazed onto what was going on, Leyaria could tell that the scent was coming from this woman, though she still struggled to tell just who it was. They must have met before. There was no way that it could have been that she'd recall the scent so vividly and yet not know the woman.

It was then as she locked eyes with the woman that it seemed everything clicked, or more specifically, when the woman called out Leyaria's name. It was then as she heard the woman's words, it registered to Leyaria just whom it was that was speaking to her and as to why it was that the woman's scent was familiar. They had met before.

"Bianca!?"

As it dawned upon her that Leyaria was looking before the woman that she had met once before, the woman who she regarded as perhaps one of the closest things to that of an individual that had shown any real degree of care towards her, the woman who was had been one of the few friendly faces that she had encountered within Crocus, the young Dragon Slayer couldn't believe it. Though whatever excitement she may have had towards this chance reunion was as quickly cut off as she realized the circumstances surrounding it, namely the pool of blood to which she was still kneeling in. Panic quickly overtook Leyaria as she jumped down in hoping to do something, anything to help her friend.

Several of the nurses assisted Leyaria in the matter, grabbing hold of Bianca as she was helped up onto the bed which had originally been designated for the young Dragon Slayer. Scared, she could do little more than watch and fear for what may happen to her friend as the nurses and doctors tended to her right then and there. The lack of understanding as to what was going on, what they were doing, what had happened to Bianca, that lack of information terrified Leyaria. Though given the looks on the doctors as they dealt with Bianca, it as least appeared like things were going well, that things did not appear to be too serious.

She wanted to be close to Bianca, to provide at the very least some sort of reassurance towards her friend, but every effort was met with resistance by the nurses there. All she could was simply stand there powerless, hoping and praying that they were going to be able to do something, "Please... please help her..."

She had come for some sort of remedy to the injuries on her arm, in an effort to repress the nagging pain in which they were causing her. That pain was all but forgotten as dread and sadness overtook her, the sight of seeing Bianca - one of the few women to whom had shown Leyaria any sort of genuine care and compassion - in agonizing pain, crying out in agony as more and more nurses and doctors rushed into the small room, utterly flooding any remaining room that have been available as they tried to tend to her. Meanwhile, the young Dragon Slayer was utterly helpless, forced into a small tug of war as she continued to push closer and closer towards Bianca, even in spite how much those worked in the hospital protested.

In particular, what stung and felt like an arrow being shot through her back were the calls to her that Bianca cried out. It sounded as much as it was a hysterical cry as it was a plea for her help, the combination of which caused Leyaria's blood to boil, culminating at a point in which she finally found herself swinging her arm in a wild gesture, narrowly avoiding one of the nurses who had tried to restrain her. "Leave her alone!"

While missing her, instead Leyaria's arm knocked against a nearby medical item, causing it to fall and the contents to shatter as they made contact with the ground. Between it and a weak yelp of pain by the nurse as shards of glass shot upwards, attention within the room had diverted itself away from Bianca, if even for a minute. The sight before them was enough to prompt them to step back, the faintest traces of White Dragon Slayer Magic beginning to permeate from Leyaria's body, the possibility of what may happen next being a complete mystery, though not something to which they were willing to risk.

Admist the standoff, one of the doctors, an elderly man who had spent the greater majority of his time right beside Bianca, took charge, ushering away the majority of those who had either entered the room during the commotion or otherwise had not contributed to her treatment. As they migrated out of the room and back to their regular tasks, it left only Leyaria, the doctor, and two nurses there still, all of their attention fixated directly towards Bianca, who continued to cry out. With tears descending down her cheeks, Leyaria looked on, her hands tightly gripping against Bianca's with no intention of letting go, lest the doctors or whomever they called forcibly tear her away. "It's OK Bianca, I'm here..." Her voice was hoarse, her words barely coming out as her cries drowned them out.

"I won't leave..."

Leyaria remained at Bianca's side, at one point finding herself wrapping herself entirely around Bianca, doing whatever capable to comfort the woman as she cried out in agony. It tore her apart as she listened to the woman crying out, powerless to do anything. She wished for anything, willing to give anything such that Bianca's pain would subside, even to just a slight degree. It was what this woman deserved, her pain resonating with Leyaria as well, her grip tightening very slightly as Bianca's cries continued, their tears intermingling as they cried their hearts out, Bianca for the injury that she described in her hysteria, and Leyaria for Bianca.

Time seemed to drag on, exhaustion and grief overtaking Leyaria as Bianca finally appeared to calm down as the doctor's treatment seemed to aid, if only to a degree of calming the woman. Once satisfied of the status of Bianca, he and a nurse made an attempt to move Leyaria, to check upon her injuries, the cuts in which she had originally come in to have examined now soaked in a mixture of sweat, tears, and blood, much of which coming from both. However, every effort made by the two of them to move her were met with resistance as the young Dragon Slayer pulled back from their gentle grips, her body retracting back to around the semi-peaceful body of Bianca's.

Until Bianca were to awaken again by her own power, Leyaria had no intention of moving from where she sat, cradled up next to Bianca, her eyes depleted of crying, her memories desperately trying to erase the sights and sounds of the woman's suffering. To see the woman like this, it killed Leyaria inside and right now, making sure that she was alright came well ahead of her own injuries or concerns.

"I'm not leaving her."

Exhaustion overtook her, Leyaria fighting desperately to stay awake, to fight any signs that may have shown her wavering fortitude. The last thing that she wanted, or more appropriately the last thing she could bear to allow Bianca to see, was her showing any sign of exhaustion, any reason to think that she had anywhere else to be. Right now, there wasn't.

Even with many of the doctors and nurses who had originally been within the pursuit of Bianca, the seldom few who remained, who were actually tending to her; they had done very little to warrant any trust or belief from Leyaria that they had her friend's interest at heart. On several occasions, even when the signs of exhaustion were plainly beginning to show upon her face, she remained there besides Bianca, denying any and all of the nurses' requests to take a seat, to move, or anything. If it involved splitting of the two, Leyaria would not have it.

By all accounts, she had no reason to even believe that these people truly were even willing to save Bianca, given how adversely they had originally taken to her. While an outsider may have found sympathy with them, understanding their hesitation, Leyaria could not. She knew Bianca and while their encounter when they had last met in Crocus had been a fleeting one, the kindness that she had shown, it was impossible to believe that she could do anything that may have warranted this adversarial behavior. And as she heard Bianca speak, her words weak yet reassuring all the same, Leyaria couldn't help but smile. A weak smile, but a smile nonetheless.

This was the Bianca she knew. The one who she put her trust in; not the doctors nor the nurses.

Her eyes widened however, as Bianca's words immediately caused her to assume the worst. Looking around in almost a frenzied state, she feared just what may have been going on, what the nurses tending to her could be doing to make her as she was. "Get out!" she barked out as she stood from where she had been sitting, her hand never retracting its grip from Bianca's. The nurse, an older woman who had been working on the side opposite of where Leyaria had been, simply looked up at the Dragon Slayer, stunned as much by the woman as she were by her words, the tone seething with anger and determination.

So much so that the doctor who had been tending to Bianca found himself standing in place, a part of him perhaps as frightened by what he had just heard of her as the nurse was. In silence, they and another nurse who had also been present exchanged glances and began to promptly leave the room, leaving only Bianca, Leyaria, and the golem-like Geth there still. With her eyes remaining focused as they left one by one, the last one closing the door and providing them what little privacy they could earnestly expect to receive in such an environment, Leyaria turned her attention back towards Bianca.

"It's alright. They're gone," she said calmly, her throat still hoarse and her eyes feeling drained from crying. She hoped this would be of some reassurance to Bianca, a much needed opportunity to perhaps feel safe. Leyaria heard what Bianca had said, the unusually cryptic tones to which she used, her distrust and suspicion towards the doctors and nurses being cemented beyond any degree of detraction. For a moment, she simply looked at Bianca, stunned at how much time had passed since the last time that the two had met, the dreadful irony of how their apparent situations seemed to reverse, and how much Leyaria wished it that it could have gone back to how it had been before. She'd have gladly accepted it to spare Bianca whatever it was that was tormenting her.

"Bianca," she spoke softly, neither wanting to stun nor concern her friend, "what happened?" Leyaria did not wish to say more than that, worried that too much would overwhelm her. But so too did not knowing, thinking that there was more that she could do to help, but being without the knowledge to do so. While she hated the idea of it, circumstances had left with her little choice but to inquire, to know just what had happened.

"Please.... You can trust me..." She swallowed hard, "Please..."

Leyaria couldn't help but blush to Bianca's words. Even in her apparent pain, she still held the girl in such high regard, far more than what Leyaria could ever believe she deserved herself. She wished that she one day live up to the kind words spoken, though it was a far cry to believe that that would be anytime soon. Too, she hated herself for being unable to contradict Bianca, as much being honored as she was guilty being praised as much as she was.

To what more took Leyaria though, was what Bianca said afterwards, her references to unborn children, to them being taken from her. Leyaria wished to understand further, her words still seeming to lack whole cohesiveness to them. It wasn't until she parted her eyes from that of Bianca's, taking the time to scroll down her body, the hospital gown that was of white, save for the heavy crimson towards nearest bottom, did the pieces finally come together within her head. Her eyes widened in disbelief, the realization finally having dawned on her. "Oh God..." she stammered out, unable to come up with the words, if any, to say.

She was left stunned, feeling compelled to reach and hug the woman, feeling that no words could have done solace, could have remedied the pain that Bianca was suffering. Granted, Leyaria was no stranger to pain, but to what Bianca was suffering, it was a different animal entirely; an everlasting reminder that would carry with her, one that she would not be able to escape from. It was one thing to have lost a family as Leyaria had, but it was another entirely to lose one that had not come to this world.

A sickly feeling began to creep within her, the young Dragon Slayer immediately coming to regret her insistence on finding out just what happened to her. Having done so now and knowing, she worried that any degree of calmness or peace that Bianca may have been feeling was gone.

Then, as Leyaria heard Bianca continue, listening to what had happened specifically, Leyaria wanted to die.

The pieces within her head started to click further. The unexplained instances, the recollection of her scent, the preceding events within the forest in Era not too long ago, it all came together.

Bianca had been there.

Bianca had been injured at the battle within the forests just outside Era.

Bianca was injured there and Leyaria didn't stop it from happening...

All color left her face, Leyaria struggling with all of her might to keep herself from throwing up with guilt. Whatever torment she may have felt seeing Bianca in such a state of pain and misery, however she may have felt having her to recall the images, none of it compared with the pain that she was now feeling. The pain of knowing it was all her fault.

"Bianca..." Even the most minor words were like fighting through a storm of emotions, a part of her wishing to die, most of her wishing that their fortunes could have been reversed.

"I... should have..." Her words were frail, having barely any life to them, nor did she feel she had either. Her body went limp, it taking all of her strength to stop herself from falling upon Bianca, and even that, she doubted there remained any strength to do so a second time. "I..."

There were no tears to which fell upon the bedsheets. She had fallen to such a degree that no longer would those suffice.

It was though history had repeated itself.

First she had failed to help her sister, and her sister was the one who paid.

Now she had failed Bianca, and just like last time, Bianca was the one who paid the price.

For a moment, the world remained frozen in place. Nothing moved. Sound did not travel. There was no indication that she was even alive. Then, as though she were hit by an unbelievable force, everything came back to normal.

She collapsed on the ground beside the bed which Bianca lay in, whatever control she had over her body having utterly been gone. The sensation of throwing up, it brought no relief, only the sudden pouring of tears and brought forward the pain which had quickly accumulated inside her. "I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry Bianca!"

The thought of what Bianca might think of her, while a moment ago being one to which she would have cared greatly for, it was lost. If Bianca viewed her as trash, it was warranted, almost something that Leyaria was expecting. It would be only fitting for such a failure.

"Please... I'm so sorry..." However anyone may have viewed or regarded Bianca a moment ago, it was only fitting now that that perception be instead cast upon Leyaria, on her hands and knees teetering between utter dismay and the point of complete defeat. "I wish I could take it back! I wish I could have stopped it..."

"I failed you..."

She felt broken, like there was little that she could, that there was little that she could provide to Bianca to make up for her failings. To try to make things right, as if there were at all possible anymore. A part of her wanted to just leave, to give Bianca some solace in knowing that the woman who may have allowed her to suffer depart, but she knew better than that. If there were any positive thing to come from the pain she had endured, Leyaria knew that to simply abandon someone would leave her as nothing better than those who had walked out before her.

Leyaria wasn't prepared to allow that to happen to someone that she cared for.

Not while she was able to still be there for them.

And least of all, someone who mattered as much to her as Bianca did.

As time went, she finally got up, her eyes now having been exhausted of tears, her body feeling weak as the scent of vomit remained near the side of Bianca's bed. Of those in the room, who had the misfortune of being witness to the entire encounter, both Bianca's and then her own breakdown, they did not seem to mind. While she struggled to get back to her feet, Leyaria eventually did so, her mind happening to think for a moment that the sight of Bianca, her beginning to drift out of consciousness being a welcoming a welcome sight than anything else.

It at least appeared on the surface that Bianca did not wholly understand why it was that the young Dragon Slayer was so utterly devastated, and there was a mixed feeling that Leyaria carried towards this. On one hand, it was a welcoming thing knowing that there would come a time in which the two could talk in a different environment, when the two would be both more in the right frame of minds, and also have the luxury of privacy. That said though, it also meant that both would have to keep going on with what they knew - or in Bianca's case, did not know - and that was a burden to which Leyaria was going to have to carry.

Bianca spoke of where they were to meet next time, to which Leyaria was wholly intending on seeing happen. Oak Town. It was a place that she had never been to but had heard different stories about, not all of them flattering. It seemed out of place that someone as kind and sweet as Bianca would be living in a place like that, but it was a home, and Leyaria was hardly in a position to criticize that. Listening with intent as Bianca continued to speak, her words further slurring as she seemed to fall to a greatly reduced degree of understanding, Leyaria simply smiled, her hands clenched closely with Bianca's.

She stood there, remaining there until she was positive that Bianca was asleep, that she was as calm as was feasible. Lifting her hand up as she kissed the back of Bianca's hand, Leyaria smiled, determined not to cry again.

"Don't worry. I'll be there, Bianca."

She began to walk out, the day's events having exhausted her to the point where getting her arms checked and the cuts examined could wait for another day. Right now, she - like Bianca - needed a chance to rest.

"I won't let you down again. I promise..."

[Exit]