The two siblings held each other on the bed, crying for what felt like hours. Ria, Mia’s older sister, pulled herself away from her, frozen tears sticking to her face.
“You are finally, finally awake!” she laughed, shaking her head “I thought, no, doesn’t matter, I am here!”
Mia was pulled into a hug, it felt warm, a forgotten feeling she had not experienced in who knows how long “Ria? How did you find me? How long was I…” she thought she would wake up in the void, having died to the monster, yet here she was. She was sure she was not dreaming either, everything felt too real.
Ria pulled herself away, staring at her sister for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief “Followed your scent and trail.” She smiled “who would’a guessed my little sis would make such a mess.” She pulled her in for another hug, ruffling her head.
“M-m-mess?”
“The talk of the villages!” she chuckled “a little black haired fox sl-“ she paused, her face contorting into one of pain, shaking it off she continued, forcing herself “Girl, escaping with a hero, heading south, dad and i-“
“Dad?!” Mia shot up, wincing as pain throbbed at the base of her spine, distracting her. She began to turn to inspect it, but her sister grabbed her, forcing her attention on her.
“He isn’t here, he stayed behind to look for mother.” She said, sternly.
“…Mother? She wasn’t…with you?” Mia was confused, she was sure she had gotten away in this timeline, spared, if they found her easily then…
Ria shook her head “No, we were hoping you knew, or if she was with you but.” She pulled Mia in for another hug “I am glad you are safe.”
Mia nodded, tears welling up in her eyes again “Y-yeah.”
“Before you two start again, may I have a moment?”
The two’s attention was brought to the door frame as a tall man draped in a white coat tapped on the door fame “yes, hello-“the man waved “-I am the doctor in charge of little miss Mia, Doctor Brown. Glad to see you are finally up sleepy head.”
“Mn.” Mia nodded, inspecting the man he appeared to be human, but a doctor? So she was in a hospital? She also noted Ria had shuffled up beside her, pulling her close and wrapping her tail around her. Comforting.
“…Yes well.” The doctor cleared his throat, entering the room “You might be confused so I’ll start with this, you are in the guild’s emergency room, a hospital set up for immediate critical care for adventurers returning in the worst of conditions.” He then pointed to Mia, raising his other hand to catch a clipboard that fell out of his inventory “Any questions so far?”
She blinked, was a surprise but a welcome one, at least she wasn’t dead, but who brought her here? “hm, who bro-“
“No, carry on.” Ria interrupted, grabbing hold of her sister’s hand, who had turned to look at her questioningly.
“…Ok, with Mia up we will now begin the patient release process which includes a final check up and in your case will be going over injuries, treatment, and the condition you have been in.” he flipped through some papers on the clipboard, walking to the foot of the bed “may seem abrupt but we do get a lot of traffic through here and, frankly, you have been hogging the bed…which brings me to the first point, please remain calm, promise you won’t freak out?”
Mia nodded “Mn, pro-“
“She won’t freak out, continue.” Ria interrupted again.
Mia slowly turned her head towards her sister, her face plastered in confusion as to what she was doing.
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The doctor shook his head “Alright, after suffering grave injuries being caught in a translocation trap and being rescued by guild staff and an adventurer, miss Mia-“
“Translocation trap?” Mia interrupted, not remembering that. She recalled getting flung by someone, not a trap.
“Mia?” Ria looked at her, confused at her inquiry.
“Yes, while unusual a trap was even on the first level, especially one that transported you deeper into the haunt, it’s not unheard of.” The doctor paused, looking back to the door and kicking it closed with his foot “…the guild expects foul play in this case, the guild staff will get with you when you are feeling well, Mia.”
“Right.” She was curious if that was the case, the voice she heard would mean otherwise but she had not the slightest clue how to explain she essentially got kidnapped.
“…”
Ria was staring at her younger sister for some reason, Mia having no clue what was wrong with her, just ignored her. She did not remember her doing like thi-oh.
“Continuing, after being brought here, receiving treatment and the successful reattachment of your tail, you have been in a coma for one month.”
‘My tail?!’ she started to turn around to check on her tail but froze “A…a month?!” she flipped around, she tried to get up but was held in place by her sister, her body feeling stiff “I have been sleeping for a month?!”
“M-mia?! C-calm down!” Ria held her in place “How are you-? ack! Cold!? Why!?” she was flinching from Mia’s sharp decrees in temperature but held her tight.
“Yes, a month.” The doctor, seeing Mia was successfully being held in place, casually flipped through his papers “And that is it, we will do one final check to make sure you won’t suddenly drop dead on your way out and you can continue your adventuring at your discretion.” He slapped the clipboard and shoved it back into his inventory “just be sure to drop by the guild staff for a debrief before you do.”
Mia plopped back down “A month…” that was a lot of time gone and wasted, how did she even do that? Sleep for a month? How is that even possible? She brought her knees close and wrapped her tail arou-
A thin, thinly furred, rope-like appendage plopped into her lap.
She stared at it, unsure what she was looking at. “What is this?” she asked, grabbing it and looking up at the do- the doctor was no longer in the room.
“Ah, that’s your tail.” Ria said, nervously looking away.
“My…tail?” she grabbed it, feeling her hand wrap around the appendage “why is it… like this?”
“…They apparently had to shave it to get it to attach cleanly.” Ria coughed “It uh, looks fine, and uhm… will grow back, eventually. It is fine~” Ria patted Mia on the back, trying to comfort her as Mia slowly sunk in on herself, gripping her tail.
‘I’m going back in time…’ she thought ‘lost a month of training… my tail is looks like a rat’s tail… my sister is…’ she didn’t know where to start with that one, she had a pretty good idea as to why she was interrupting her earlier and was confused to why she was talking to the doctor but forget explaining it.
She was just going to go back and put it off for a month.
[Good morning sleepy head, you might want to check your status before you do that.]
Oh, and Ami exists, but fine.
Name: Mia
Status: [Weakened: Major]
Age: 8
Race: Fox Beastman
LVL: 68
Points: 1,250
HP: 150/1510 MP: 520/5,300
Str: 15 (151)
Con: 15 (150)
Dex: 89 (895)
Int: 115 (1,150)
Mnd: 26 (265)
Lck: 1
“Twenty-five?!” She shot up again, surprising Ria, ‘How did I go up twenty-five levels? One thousand…’ this changes things. She was confused about what her status was but considering her reduced stats she could guess what it did.
[That is what happens when you kill a monster that is much higher level than you. Would have been even higher if a certain mouse didn’t hit it, but considering she saved you, call it even.]
‘Ok, fine, won’t go back.’ She didn’t get any skill levels, but she didn’t care, those points were worth it. Progress was abysmally slow in the haunt’s first level; this was a much needed boost.
“…seriously Mia, what is going on?” Ria asked, patting Mia’s shoulder, who had been unknowingly giggling to herself “I have never seen you like this before.”
“Oh…” Right, since she was staying she could not put this off either.
Why she was interrupting her was simple, back in the village Mia was a brainwashed child who could barely interact with her own family, let alone other people. She would zone out and become almost unresponsive when their aunt came around too. She never followed anything that happened during those times.
She didn’t even remember the times her aunt came around… so did Ria always cover for her like that? Or just expected her to zone out in the presence of adults? Did she even know about the brainwashing?
“Mia?”
Right, no putting it off. Just going to do it bluntly.
“Ria… I uhm, am no longer brai- OOMPH?!” Mia was tackled on the bed, being forced to lay down as Ria threw herself on top of her.
“Thank goodness! thank goodness! Thank goodness! Thank goodness!” Ria was gripping Mia’s upper body, rubbing her face into Mia’s head and rapidly rubbing her head and shoulders.
Mia laid there, wide eyed and helpless.
It was safe to say she knew about the brainwashing, but with this reaction…
“Finally! Finally! Thank goodness! Yes! Mia!” Ria shouted, seemingly happier than when Mia woke up from her coma.
Mia smiled; she did not hold anything against her.