Aster massaged the scar on his neck in reminiscence, wondering where Enzo was now in life. Lovett was standing next to him. The doctor from earlier walked with various x-rays, sliding them into a display so that they could see. It depicted a spine, which was Aster's. Near the bottom of the spine, various cracks and twists were clear to see.
"Whatever hit you and launched you into the generator room hit your lower spine, the lumbar part specifically," the doctor explained, "it was hard enough to fracture multiple of your vertebrae, and damaged your spinal cord. Recovery—is improbable and unlikely."
"What are you hinting at, doctor?" Lovett questioned, her voice rising a little.
He sighed before stating, "Aster will probably never walk again." He turned and explained, "even with the existence of Midnight Weapons, we can only heal flesh wounds, and even before the sinking, there wasn't any way to repair a spinal cord with this much damage." Lovett looked down at Aster, his eyes already shaded and dull. Lovett pushed Aster out of the dark room, he slumped over in his wheelchair, not really caring about the heavy light beating down on his eyes.
"Hey, Aster," Lovett leaned down beside him, "are you alive?"
"Yeah, I am," he said, his voice so soft he was almost whispering.
"Can I talk with you? Somewhere quiet?"
"I don't really have a choice," he said, staring down at the wheels that spun beside him. She pushed him into the elevator and took out a key, inserting it into the 'A' slot. For the first time, Aster went up the elevator instead of down. The door opened to a styled and modern hallway, with plenty of space in between the doors. Lovett opened one and pushed Aster in. The room was big, with a single queen sized bed, a sizable window, a private bathroom, and a small kitchen. "So this is the Class A dormitory."
"Yes, this is my room," Lovett confirmed, sitting down on a small chair from the kitchen.
He lifelessly store into her eyes and asked, "what did you want to talk to me about?"
She sighed much like the doctor before and said, "Aster, we lost a lot of people in this raid, we have to spend all of our resources to rebuild and regroup, we don't even know the status of The Marina, our other base." Her eyes wavered a little. "And with you—paralyzed from the waist down, I don't think that you'll ever be able to fight. I need you to go home, Aster."
"But—but I formed a connection with my blade! I did, I killed that demon, I remember it clearly!" Lovett's face didn't change, she kept her pitiful stare aimed at him. "You'd not believe me, do you?"
"It's not that I don't believe you, I—just..." Aster's eyes shined once more with a rebellious glow,
He declared, "I get it, fine, I'll go home—with my blade, Conduit."