Previously in NWC-
The doctor is confused to find the mystery liquid in Reno's blood now sitting on the window to his clinic. With no other choice, he violates every modern day medical law and gives Reno the mystery fluid without running any tests. Finally wake up, Reno talks to the doctor, learning more about what happened. After hyping up Reno for his fight, the doctor leaves to let Reno gather his thoughts...
An hour passes with Reno having nothing to do but think. No matter what he tried, his mind kept returning to the thought of Medusa and Luna. "They're probably worried about me. I bet Medusa is sad. God, I feel like a piece of shit." Despite not having any control over the situation, Reno experiences a level of guilt close to that of when he thinks about Arthur. Before he's able to slip into a state of thought induced depression, a sound comes from the window. It sounds equivalent to a bird flying into a window, which is essentially what it is. Reno looks over to see Luna repeatedly flying into the window to get his attention. "Luna?!" Reno pushes through the pain and hobbles over to open the window.
"Reno!" Luna flies over as fast as she can and flies all over him, making sure it was really him and not a dream. "You're alive! We were so worried! Medusa's been crying for a day straight now!"
His face drops to a pained expression upon hearing this. "She is?" His voice is shaky and tinged with guilt. He feels an overwhelming need to sit back down in bed.
Luna quickly realizes her mistake and tries to fix it. "Well, I mean, yes… but at least I can tell her you're coming back!"
"Yeah, could you?" Reno gives Luna a pleading look and does his best to hide his devastation.
"Sure, I will as soon as I get back. But before then, you owe me an explanation! What the heck happened?!"
Reno sighs, knowing he'd have to explain to Luna. "The celebration of life was attacked by the bandits. I wasn't there when they showed up, so I was able to go get the guns from Mr. Kent's place. Then, it was all down hill from there. Long story short, I got stabbed in the back and poisoned. But, apparently, Medusa's mystery medicine was still in my blood and it actually saved me."
"I knew bringing those vials were a good idea!"
"I appreciate you keeping me alive to experience this pain like no other, but now the doctor is suspicious! Who wouldn't be when an unknown substance floating in some guys blood shows up quite literally at their window?!" Before Luna and Reno can get too far into their conversation, the mayor's voice can be heard.
"Where is he?! You said he's awake!"
Luna sighs, floating back to the window. "I'm glad you're alive, Reno. Medusa will be more than happy to hear of your recovery. I'll come by later. Goodbye, Reno."
"See ya'." Reno watches as Lunas flies away, his attention immediately being drawn to the door after it swing open at full speed.
"Young Reno!" The mayor rushes over and gently places his hand on Reno's shoulder. "Boy, you're alive! Thank Mixzys, you're alive!" The mayor holds back tears after seeing Reno's face finally awake.
Reno laughs uncomfortably, not quite certain how to process the mayor's reaction. "Yeah, I'm alive. You gotta have a bit more faith in me, old man!"
The mayor chuckles, wiping his tears away and gathering his thoughts. "I knew you'd make it, but seeing and believing are two different things, young Reno." The mayor wanders over and sits on the chair next to the bed, sighing with relief. "You really know how to scare an old man, young Reno."
"I didn't mean to, I promise."
"I know, I know." The mayor's voice trails off as his expression shifts to a more somber tone. "You saved my life, young Reno. I would've died if you hadn't been there."
Reno's caught off guard by the sudden shift of tone but he manages to recover. "I mean, you saved me too. If you hadn't shot him then I would've been cut into God knows how many pieces."
The mayor smiles, regaining a bit of his cheer. "That's true, I suppose. But you're still the one who risked his life first. You should be proud, young Reno. Most people wouldn't have been able to do what you did."
Reno thinks to himself, realizing the truth in the mayor's words. "Thanks, old man. I don't even know how I did it either. My body just kind of moved on its own."
"You were guided by the goddess herself! That must be the only explanation!"
"(If only you knew.) I guess that must be it!"
The mayor's eyes light up as he begins to reach inside of his pocket. He pulls out a shard that glows a bright white-blue light, much like Luna. "Speaking of goddess; George had this on him. It remind me of the Goddess Mixzys, the way it shines. I think since you were the one who beat the bastard, you should have it!"
Reno's eyes grow wide as he gently reaches out to take the shard. "(Is this-?!)" Reno looks at the mayor and flashes a bright smile. "It's amazing! Thank you, old man!" Reno hugs the mayor, his stomach screaming with pain. He lets go of the mayor, still smiling as he looks at the shard glowing in his hand. "(I'm one step closer to you Arthur! Big brother is on his way home soon, bud.)" Reno's eyes are incapable of averting their gaze from the object. The mayor smiles, happy that Reno likes his reward.
He chuckles as he slowly stands up. "Well, young Reno, I just had to see ya' awake with my own eyes. I'll let you get some rest now."
Reno waves goodbye as he watches the mayor leave. As soon as the door is closed, Reno looks back at the shard. He holds it up, inspecting it from every angle and admiring the way it glows. "It's pretty… I wonder what Arthur would say about this thing? Hell! About the whole situation?! I'm gonna be the coolest big brother when I tell him all about this! He might not even believe me… No, of course he would! He's never doubted me, that little brat." Reno chuckles as he thinks back on all his fond memories of his brother, a new sense of hope and anticipation growing inside of him. The excitement causes Reno to slowly drift to sleep due to exhaustion. He naps for a couple hours before he's woken up by a dinging sound on the window. "Hmm?" Reno rubs his eyes while he sits up. "Luna?" He looks outside to see Luna, much clearer do the sun having begun to set, Luna's body glowing as usual. He groans and slowly stands up, going to open the window again. "The doc must have closed while I was sleeping. Hello, Lu-" As Reno opens the window, Luna rushes in full speed.
"I can feel it! Where is it?!" She begins flying around like crazy in every direction. "Where's the power shard?!" Her excitement is too much handle as she begins getting impatient.
"Slow down, slow down!" Reno chuckles as he pulls the power shard out of his pocket and holds it up. Luna immediately flies over, running in to it. As she contacts it, a bright blinding light erupts from Luna and the shard. Reno's blinded, covering his eyes to save himself from losing his vision. The light lasts for 5 seconds before slowly dimming. As it finally dims to manageable level, Reno slowly uncovers his eyes. "What the hell did you do?" He sees Luna, but not the shard. "You ate it?! What the hell man?! I didn't even get to look at it that much!"
"I'm sorry, Reno… I was just so excited…" Luna sounds genuinely regretful of her actions.
Not wanting to ruin the mood, he tries to lighten things up. "So! What sort of miracle do I get this time? No, I won't ask you to change my hair color again."
"Huh? Oh! By the end of tomorrow, I should have regained the power completely and be able to grant another wish!"
"Really?! I already know what I want!"
"If you say to go back to your brother then I'm sorry, I don't have the strength to perform cross universe miracles. I'm barely capable of that with all of my power."
"Damn."
"Would you care for a recommendation?"
Reno scratches his chin, thinking. "Sure, hit me."
"I can cast a miracle that will allow you to learn magic spells at an inhuman speed. Immediately, even."
"Seriously?! I get to use magic?!"
"But, there's a catch."
Reno sighs, deflating slightly. "There ALWAYS is."
"The catch is: while you can learn the spells immediately, someone needs to teach you."
"So I just need to find someone to teach me a bunch of spells? Easy!"
"No, Reno, it's not that simple. I'm not certain what your idea of magic is, but most people are only capable of learning one element. In fact, only a handful of mages throughout history have been able to learn multiple spells in their lifetime, and only one of those is able to cast multiple elements at once."
"So I need to find a bunch of people who know a different spell each then I can use multiple?"
"Technically, yes, but not quite."
Reno looks at Luna with slight irritation. "Bruh."
TO BE CONTINUED...