Cider entered the house, allowing Aaron to set himself down on the couch. He removed his shoe and took a look at the metal. He whimpered sadly. It was but a dull stinging at the moment, but the injury looked TERRIBLE. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk after this.
“Yeah, that looks bad,” Cider commented.
“Thank you, captain obvious,” Aaron growled.
“Hey, who helped you get over here?” Cider asked rhetorically, leaning over the table.
“So where’s your friend that can help me?” Aaron questioned. “This wasn’t a ploy or something, was it? If you’re gonna murder me or take my kidneys, do it quick...”
“I’m... Not interested in your kidneys,” Cider chuckled nervously. “He’s upstairs... But... He’s asleep. If I wake him up, I might raise hell.
“Oh you’ll raise hell, alright,” Cider heard an angered voice call from the top of the steps. He looked up and saw Chronos descending the stairs, clearly less than enthused about what he was seeing. “Cider, who the hell is this?”
“This is Aaron,” Cider said bluntly. “Found ‘im in the junkyard.”
“Hi...” Aaron muttered, Chronos’ icy cold glare could have pierced through him harder than the metal at that moment.
“He hurt his foot,” Cider explained. “I dunno where he came from but I mean, look at this kid. I couldn’t leave him there.”
“I’m not a kid...” Aaron defended. “I’m 17.”
“Like I said,” Cider snickered.
“Ugh...” Aaron grumbled. “Um, are you the guy that can help me?”
“I’m not so sure,” Chronos shook his head, kneeling next to Aaron, taking a look at his foot. “That looks pretty bad... But you aren’t bleeding. Which means by some miracle you didn’t hit any veins. But it pierced the bone it looks like. If I remove it, I might injure you worse. I’m not a doctor or anything, so I’m not suited for stuff like this.”
“Great, I’m stuck with some metal in my foot, I’m on the run from the police, AND I’m gonna die soon. I’m having a great time,” Aaron ranted.
“You’re gonna WHAT?” Cider gasped.
“I’m sure I could take it out...” Chronos muttered. “But if it went through the bone, I don’t think you could walk on it for a good while.”
“Can you... Try?” Aaron sighed. He didn’t want to agree to this, but he didn’t want to be stuck here, at least not for long.
“Alright. But don’t get upset if I end up taking your foot off,” Chronos said, before getting to work.
“Wait, if you what- OW! God... Damn it!” Aaron cried in pain as Chronos began his attempts to get it out. “Nevermindnevermindnevermindnevermind! Shit, shit, shit! Stop!”
“I can’t get it out any other way. Hold still,” Chronos scolded. “It’ll hurt more if you keep moving around.”
“It HURTS, damn it!”
“It’s GOING to hurt. Now be quiet, we have someone sleeping upstairs,” Chronos reprimanded him as he continued.
Despite his commands, the damage had already been done. Upstairs, Zephyr pressed his ear to the door, listening to the commotion going on downstairs. What the hell was going on? Was someone else here?
“Sounds like a party,” Seth joked, appearing next to him. Startled, Zephyr jumped back, before seeing who it was.
“Yeah... I think I should go check it out,” Zephyr said.
“No way,” Seth scoffed. “I’ll do it. I wanna see what all the fuss it about. Besides, it might be serious, so you should stay up here and pretend you’re still asleep.”
“I... Guess...” Zephyr nodded. “If it’s serious, Chronos might get mad if I interrupt.”
“Everyone’s always mad at you,” Seth jabbed a final time before heading downstairs. By the time he peeked his head downstairs, the commotion had stopped. Chronos set the bloodied piece of metal on the table, and watched as Aaron sobbed in pain as he laid down on the couch. He muttered several pearl-clutching not safe for church obscenities to himself as he held his foot.
“Now wait, I’m gonna see if we have anything to bandage it up. We don’t have anything to disinfect it, but I’m sure just bandaging it will work,” Chronos explained, heading to the boxes by the front door. “Cider, check upstairs.”
“You got it,” Cider agreed, walking upstairs. As he did so, he felt a chill pass through him. What on earth was that? Having no luck with his search, Chronos searched the boxes in the kitchen. Seth finally made his way into the living room. Huh. What do you know. Another person was here for once. Aaron wiped the tears from his face and sat up, he turned to face Seth and cried in surprise.
“Oh! Jeez, sorry... I didn’t hear you come in,” Aaron chuckled. Seth turned around, and looked around. Who was he talking to? Then, he noticed Aaron’s gaze was on him.
“I’m sorry, ME?” Seth questioned.
“Yeah, you surprised me is all...” Aaron sighed.
“No, no, I mean... How can you see me?” Seth prodded.
“Huh?” Aaron cocked his head. “Oh, wait!” Then, he lowered his visor. Taking it off his face, the green projections and holograms that previously swirled inside turned off, making it clear and empty. “Huh...” He said, as if he had confirmed something, before returning the glasses to his face. “That’s... That’s weird. This hasn’t happened before...”
“What are you-” Before Seth could continue, Chronos came back in, stepping right through him.
“Here, I found this,” He said, placing the small roll of white bandages on the table in front of Aaron. “It’s all we have, but surely you can make use of it.”
“Oh, thank you,” Aaron nodded, taking the bandage wrap and slowly wrapping it around his foot, wincing and breathing heavily as he did so. “I’m, uh, sorry about all this...”
“Don’t be,” Chronos shrugged. “You’d be surprised at how often Cider drags unwanted things in. Not to be offensive or anything.”
“Yeah...” Aaron sighed, placing the roll back on the table after he was done. All that was left was one short piece. “Jeez, it wasn’t bloody before, but it definitely was when you were through with it.”
“It’s not in your foot anymore though, now is it? Anyways, I’m hoping to wrap this up soon. Can you walk on it?”
“Uh... Guess I’ll try,” Aaron braced himself, gripping the edge of the couch. He slowly pushed himself forward, planting his right foot down, and then, ever so delicately, he pressed his injured foot to the floor. After a wobbly five seconds, he stood upright. “Th-There. It hurts a bit, but... I’ll find somewhere to stay and rest up a bit. I should feel better soon. But, um, I’d like to leave... A-As soon as possible.”
“That won’t happen,” Chronos began. “There’s no means of leaving. This planet is completely abandoned, we ourselves are only stuck here because our ship broke down, and we’ve been trying to fix it for a good while now.”
“You mean... I’m... Stuck here?” Aaron’s voice cracked. Seriously? He wasn’t going to spend his final days trapped on a ghost planet with some strangers and some... weird spirit thing. Whatever it was that he saw... That he talked to even. But he’d figure that out later. He sighed, and slumped back down on the couch.
“We’re all stuck here. But how about this? If we find a way to get out of here, we’ll take you with us. You can’t STAY with us, of course, but we’ll take you out of here and then take you somewhere else, alright?” Chronos offered.
“You’d do that?” Aaron asked, but his face bore no emotion. He stared at the table in front of him blankly, suddenly, nothing was on his mind. The world around him went out of focus. He really didn’t want to die in a place like this. How did he even survive the fall from the ship in the first place?
“Don’t look so sad,” Chronos muttered. “We’re gonna leave soon, I’m sure of it. Now go find somewhere to stay, there are about a thousand places here for you to raid like we did. If need be, I’m sure we could lend you some supplies. Don’t count on us giving you much, though. We’d like to keep them for ourselves.”
“Do you... Have any food? I haven’t eaten in a few days now...” Aaron asked. “If I could have something to eat then I’ll be on my way...”
“We don’t have anything. I apologize,” Chronos said. “Maybe you’ll find something. Now it’s late, so I’d suggest you get going.”
“Okay...” Aaron sighed. “Well, do you have flashlights or anything so I can see?”
“We don’t. Here, just use this,” Chronos handed him a candle, and lit it with a match in one swift and annoyed motion. It was clear he didn’t want him here any longer. And Aaron could definitely tell he was overstaying his welcome. So, without any further argument, he thanked Chronos once again and headed out to find somewhere to stay. Seth had gone upstairs once Chronos was finished playing doctor, and arrived as Zeph sat himself on a bed impatiently.
“Well, what was going on?” Zephyr asked.
“’Dunno,” Seth shrugged. “Chronos yelling at Cider or something.”
“Oh, yeah... ‘Guess I kinda figured,” Zephyr nodded.
“I think Crow’s coming. Better hurry up and pretend you’re asleep,” Seth lied, as he disappeared into nothing. Zephyr quickly covered himself up and closed his eyes. As if he was playing along, Chronos headed upstairs and opened the door just a crack to check on Zephyr. As he saw it, he was still asleep. Satisfied, he headed off to a separate room to take a nap himself.
