"FRIENDS"
As dawn broke, Aurora idly footed a stone round her room with sharpened focus and youthful precision. Sounds of coughing and wheezing emitted from next door—where her hosts stayed, but she remained unfazed. Abruptly, the door burst open as Elizabeth staggered in, carrying the unconscious Bonnie on her back, while Anna carried the unconscious Rodri in her arms, gliding on her wings.
Elizabeth pleaded, "Aurora! P-Please, help…us! We… we were attacked. The… the Hexclaw Menace... it attacked us! Please, we have n-nowhere else to go…"
Observing the situation, Aurora snapped coldly, "You were not supposed to come back here! What were you thinking!"
Elizabeth dropped to her knees, head bowed, and through sobs, she begged, "P-Please... th-th-they're my… my friends…"
After a moment of hesitation, Aurora's heart softened, and she then felt compelled—or rather, obligated to aid them.
"Come with me," she instructed, "but cover your face; the disease still reaches this place."
Elizabeth then used her hoodie as a makeshift mask, and with that, the two followed Aurora into the next room. Stepping in, they met the bizarre family of four sleeping lazily and snoring wildly, except for the little girl—who was wide awake and trying to eat a brick.
They continued through another door straight ahead, and as they marched on, the little girl's interest spiked. She began to follow quietly, her eyes wide and mouth open. She walked closely by Elizabeth, breathing down her neck and sniffing her hair with fascination. Elizabeth grew slightly uncomfortable, but she avoided eye contact and pressed on. Reaching another door deep in the shelter, wooden and dusty, Aurora turned to ask Elizabeth to open it. Getting inside, a lone wooden table awaited amidst a pitch-black room.
"Leave them on the table," Aurora instructed. As Elizabeth placed the bodies down, she continued, "I'll examine them a little, see what can be done. In the meantime, wait for me in my room."
"Th-Thank you s-s-so much!" Elizabeth expressed with relieved eyes and a hopeful smile. "I don't know h-how I… c-can repay you. I'm v...v...v-v...very grateful."
"But one thing," Aurora began sternly, "do NOT come into this room unless I say so, no matter what. Any disturbances—"
Elizabeth slowly nodded, and with Anna in tow, she left the room. However, the dirty little girl stayed behind, gazing at Aurora with wonder.
Aurora, despite already being the same height as the girl, kneeled on one knee and kindly asked, "Gloria, why are you up so early in the morning? A pretty girl needs to be getting enough rest in order to grow into a beautiful woman, you know." Wiping a mark off of Gloria's cheek, she continued with a gentle smile, "Why don't you go sleep with your mum and dad? When it's time to wake up, we can play the game again for as long as you want. Okay?"
Gloria smiled brightly, nodding vigorously in agreement, and with much excitement, she ran off to the other room, slamming the door behind her. Finally alone in the pitch-black room, Aurora stood front of the two bodies, carefully observing them.
Critically analyzing their bodies, she muttered, "But, they're already dead. Wait… Never mind, they're still alive."
She readied herself, focusing intently on the bodies.
With a ghastly gasp out of the unholy, and from within a plane unseen, numerous hands, of white smoke, manifested from her backside—each thin, wrinkly-looking, and adorned with pointy black nails…
Targeting Bonnie, the hands glided forward, disappearing into his skin…
They then reappeared from beneath his chest, offering a thick, golden cloud. His essence…
Aurora attentively observed as the cloud of gold danced around and animated a replay showcasing events in the life of the young, fiery brown-haired Dr. Kaya…
Scenes depicted him walking through the doors of Nadiria General Hospital, dressed professionally in his lab coat, and greeting the staff with a certain bravado about him. He was a favorite, and he would greet the staff with a tilt of the head, a wave, and a smile—an almost automated gesture…
The scenes sped up, and a compilation of Dr. Kaya treating multiple patients in the hospital commenced, each scene lasting only a second. The golden cloud thickened, cutting to various scenes before sinking back into Bonnie's body…
"A healer then," Aurora muttered to herself before summoning the ghostly hands again.
She then directed them towards Rodri's minuscule body, and his essence was offered as well.
A white cloud animated two blacksmiths, a boy and a girl, working together by a wooden desk…
Both wore heavy-duty leather aprons over messy shirts, along with heat-resistant gloves, safety goggles, and leather pants over leather boots…
Together they skillfully forged various weapons of war with their small hands, from shotguns to rifles to cannon barrels, and they also used various smithing tools, from hammers to chisels to tongs…
The clouds depicted more scenes of them diligently blacksmithing, before finally sinking back into Rodri. The hands returned to Aurora.
"Weapons?" she mused, her brow furrowing with confusion.
Shifting her attention back to Bonnie, the hands glided toward him and disappeared into his chest before yet again offering the golden cloud. Stretching out her cylindrical right arm, the hands left Bonnie's body and released the gold cloud into it before vanishing. Aurora absorbed Bonnie's golden essence…
Her arm then gleamed with golden light from beneath the skin, lighting up the room softly…
Placing her handless arm over Bonnie's forehead, she established contact with her wrist, and with time, his wounds would begin to regenerate, slowly, but surely returning his body to normal…
She repeated the process with Rodri, and his body too underwent a sluggish advancement towards becoming restored…
Stepping back, she stretched out her glowing right arm again, and those many pale and unsightly hands absorbed the gold from her body with a simple stretch of the fingers until it balled up into a thick cloud which they would hold with a careful demeanor. They seemed to have a consciousness of their own…
They glided in the direction of Bonnie's body, and the golden cloud they held escaped from their grasp back into Bonnie's healed body, concluding the loan…
The ghostly hands returned to Aurora, fading away into her as she finally left the room, leaving the bodies of Bonnie and Rodri behind in the dark chamber.
. . .
In Aurora's room, Elizabeth and Anna sat quietly on the floor, legs crossed, patiently awaiting Aurora's return. Elizabeth sat with eyes wide, staring deeply into space, not once executing a blink. Although her face was scarved by her hoodie, an expression of pure bewilderment sat in her ocean eyes, lacking any sort of awareness or connection to the present moment. Her right hand tightly clenched onto the fabric of her trousers as she released short and irregular breaths. She remained still, and the unbearable temperature of the room only seemed to grow colder with each passing second.
She turned to Anna, and slowly gathering her strength, she broke the silence. "Err… Anna."
"Huh?" Anna responded softly.
"After… th…this is all… over... wha… what's gonna happen?"
"Hmm?"
"W-Well, my…my home is destroyed n-now, and… I'll probably ha-have to… ask s-some people a…round to le… let me live, in their house, in exchange for work. Tha-That means I won't be able to… to offer you shelter anymore, so... Wh-Where...will you go, after this is all over?"
Anna took a moment before responding. "Uh... well, Rodri and I will probably continue to live our lives, I guess."
"Oh… r-right. I… forgot. Aurora s-said that Na…Na…Nadiria ain't safe no more, so... Do you have a place in mind? That you're gonna...stay at?"
"I don't know. I'll work somethin out with Rodri once he wakes up."
"Oh... Okay."
Seconds passed, and both sat in awkward silence, before Anna spoke up once again.
"Hey, I don't know how to do this sorta thing... 'Consolin children,' or whatever ya call it, but, we're gonna make sure you're okay before we part ways. So, don't feel scared or anythin like that. At least for now, you and I can...go through this together. We're gonna struggle through this in twos."
Elizabeth blushed slightly before softly muttering, "Yeah…"
Aurora finally came through the door, and they both got up with anticipation.
"They're fine," Aurora said. "But you're gonna have to wait a while before they wake up…"
Elizabeth and Anna beamed with bright smiles.
"Uhhh… they…won't awaken for another few months."
Elizabeth and Anna's faces quickly turned solemn.
"Months...?" Elizabeth muttered.
"I'm sorry. But, they're okay. Let's just say… they're in something of a slumber."
"What kind of slumber?" Anna pressed.
"Uhh… the good kind," Aurora nervously said. "It's not anything serious. I promise. Their bodies just need time to heal a little, that's all."
"They're… dead," Elizabeth gravely proclaimed.
"No, man, they're not dead!" Aurora expressed with animated frustration, while the two sat hollow. "Listen, they're gonna be fine, okay. You're just gonna need to trust me on this one."
"Well," Anna began, "we're all gonna die anyway…"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic."
"Th-Thank you… for yer efforts, Aurora," Elizabeth softly said.
Aurora sighed, and sitting beside them she said, "Let's just rest here a moment, in the…cold. It's still early." She looked at them, but they kept their heads down, before finally looking in her direction. And with certainty, she said, "Everything's gonna be fine."
They then sat relaxed and closed their eyes.
Suddenly, screams from outside erupted.
CHAPTER 13 of 'Bonnie's Touch' ends