Healing

"Wash your hands, remove unnecessary upper-body clothing, and sit on the bed."

The girl handed out instructions with experienced ease, barely looking at him as she placed the box of potions she had been carrying on a desk. With a faint hum, she opened the cabinet doors and pulled out a few bottles and jars.

The room itself was nice and cozy, compared to the luxurious and bustling main lobby. It was now dark out, but there was a small glowing lamp in the corner of the room to illuminate the surroundings.

Otherwise, the small room was filled with a few chairs, a large bed with a curtain for privacy, a desk, and a few pillows for comfort. On the healer's side of the room, there were also many cabinets lining the walls.

Bete obediently followed the instructions, making sure to use a copious amount of soap to wipe off any remaining stenches on his hands.

He placed his gloves and jacket were placed off to the side and hopped up on the bed that was slightly too high for him so his legs dangled childishly.

If someone who didn't know anything was watching the scene, they would probably think the two kids were 'playing doctor.'

"So... you do this often?" Bete awkwardly asked.

The silver-haired girl tilted her head.

"What do you mean?"

"This. Like healing others and stuff. You seem kinda young to be working here."

She laughed. An airy, soft laugh that made his ears twitch.

"And you seem a little too young to be running around half-dead in Orario. Yet here we are."

He was uncomfortable with her quiet maturity that didn't seem to match her youthful look. 

"..."

The girl had apparently finished her preparations. While she closed the cabinet shut, Bete glanced at the table that was now filled with various healing items:

Multiple rolls of bandages, scissors, gauze, towels, some ice in a cool box, three green vials of healing potions, two large jars of something, and a humongous, girthy, 13 inch... needle.

'What the actual fuck?'

The girl didn't notice his strange look, merely patting the injection device affectionately.

"This will do."

'I recommend you leave quickly. I don't think you can survive that.'

'Obviously! I'm just a kid! And she's a freak who wants to a stick a 13 incher inside this 9 year old kid!'

"Oh, don't be too bothered by Miss Ty Needic. We usually don't have to whip her out. Trust me, I'm an official member of the Dian Cecht Familia, Level 1. Now let's get started."

.

.

.

Honestly, she was a lot more attentive than he expected. After scanning his entire top half for a full three minutes, the girl jumped straight into treatment.

With confident, practiced movements, she cut each strip of gauze, smeared some ointment from one of the jars, and gently massaged them onto each of his injuries with precision unbefitting such a young girl.

"You still have so many injuries..."

She was sitting in front of him on a stool, brows furrowed with concern.

"I usually don't tell my patients how they should live their lives but... you shouldn't throw away your opportunities. You're still young. Don't cripple yourself before you can even start."

"Mm."

Bete hummed a reply, merely acknowledging her advice. He knew the path he chose was long and arduous. Injuries like the ones he had would become common.

The girl huffed, realizing he wasn't taking her words seriously. Still, her hands remained stable and undisturbed by her emotions. Truly professional.

Meanwhile, her patient was thinking about one particular thing.

'The room is nice, her hands are so soft, everything would be perfect... if it wasn't for that FUCKING NEEDLE!'

Despite the perfect treatment, Bete was sweating profusely as his sixth sense constantly tingled, especially in his lower regions in fear of the medically engineered bioweapon pointed towards and set on the table right behind him.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

"I shoud get out," Bete quickly spoke.

"Sit down."

The girl yanked at his arm, pulling him back down to the bed.

"You're not even close to finished. Your wounds go back for several years. What kind of treatment have you been receiving?"

"I've been doing fine with what I have," he nonchalantly replied.

"Obviously not! Your parents should take better care of you! You can't go around treating your body like this! If you want, I know some good ointments and doctors around Orario. If money's an issue we can..."

Bete clenched his fists at the mention of his parents. He knew it wasn't fair of him, and that she didn't know. Still, his eyes twitched in annoyance.

'What am I doing? I get beat up by one of their own Familia members and now they're offering to heal me? What is this, a comedy skit? A good cop bad cop, steal the rest of your money routine? Well jokes on you, the only money I have is stolen from your own Familia!'

He quickly sat up once again, only this time swatting away her hand that tried to pull him back.

Smack

"?!"

"I'm leaving. And don't try to stop me this time. I don't have 100,000 valis in my pocket anyways."

She looked shocked at his sudden ire.

"Wait! Please!"

The small store girl seemed truly distressed.

"Did I do something wrong? Your injury still requires further medical attention! You should at least call your family-"

Bete snapped.

"You want to know what's wrong?! This entire fucking Familia! The only reason I'm this battered up is because of your idiotic side-bitches who run around attacking children on the streets instead of doing Adventurer shit!"

"I-I'm sorry? What?"

"Some dumbass who called himself Runaway Shit on Me. A Level 1 from your Dian Cecht Familia approached me and tried to kill me today, and almost succeeded! Is that the kind of principles you preach around here, huh?!"

". . . I'm sorry, who?"

The girl wore the ever most confused expression.

"Runaway Shit on Me? Some asshole from the Far East?"

"???"

"Black hair. Uses a hidden dagger. Has a shit ton of weird potions."

"Hitomi-san?"

Bete snapped his fingers.

"Yeah, that guy."

Betraying his expectation, the girl didn't rise to the man's defense. Instead, a fiery rage filled her purple eyes as she angrily stood up and slammed her petite hands on the wooden table, making him flinch.

"Him! I knew we should never have let him in! And I warned Dian Cecht-sama too!"

"You know this guy?"

She sadly nodded.

"A new recruit. To be frank, he doesn't even deserve to step foot in this city, much less our Familia. He bought his way in with money and connections from his family. I had a bad feeling about him, but to think he was bullying children..."

'Well that does explain the countless potions. That guy was stacked.'

The girl suddenly trembled, her eyes shut in a guilty expression. Then, she bent her waist into a perfect 90 degrees bow. He secretly marveled at how her gravity-defying hat somehow stuck in the same position.

"I... I apologize! Truly! At least let me heal you — Free of charge!"

She added the last part quickly, in case he had any reservations.

"..."

At the start, he was obviously suspicious. An innocent-looking girl from the same Familia of the guy he just beat the shit out of? Of course he would be wary.

"Please... can we start off on the right foot this time?"

Despite his initial thoughts, he was now noticing her violet eyes were different than Freya's. While the Goddess' were dark purple and powerful, the little girl's eyes were light purple, more lilac. It was hard not to notice when those two gems were cutely framed in irresistibly sad, puppy-dog eyes that begged him for forgiveness.

"Ughhh!"

'Don't look at her eyes. The moment you look at her eyes, it's over.'

"Please~"

"Gah! Fine! Heal me if that's what you want to do so badly!"

"Hehe."

The girl silently cheered.

.

.

.

"I wasn't initially going to do this... but I feel personally responsible for this injury since it was caused by a member of my Familia."

The store girl now sat behind Bete on the bed, her comfortable and pleasant palms flat against his back. He could see a faint yellow light from the corner of his eyes.

"Magic?"

His eyes widened in shock.

"Didn't you say you were Level 1?"

She nodded, though a peculiar dark look passed through her visage.

"I'm a bit special, you see. When I was accepted into the Familia, I was given a unique magic in the form of [Dia Fratel]. Thanks to that, I can heal better than almost any healer regardless of their levels."

'She isn't just a random girl? Wait, this girl's like... really incredible, isn't she?'

'Indeed, even I'm impressed at her prowess. This is the first time in a while I've encountered such healing abilities.'

"..."

Snip, snip

After applying her magic, the girl decided to finish up the rest manually and through non-magical means. Her hands were firm yet secure, tearing the perfect amount of bandage for each injury. Smearing just the right amount of balm so it wasn't too dry nor too moist. Even when it came to offering a few lowest rank potions to drink, she offered enough liquid so he wasn't dehydrated yet not too much that he felt bloated.

'Holy shit, she's like the Goddess of Perfection reincarnated. Next thing you know, she's gonna waltz into the home of three bears and shoot judgemental looks at bowls of soup like Rordan Gamsey. You forking donkey.'

A few more minutes passed by in peaceful silence, Miss Ty Needic was gloomily forgotten in a corner as the two young children went about their business.

"So... what's your name?"

Bete wasn't much for small talk but even he felt awkward just staring at the girl work.

"Airmid. Airmid Teasanare. What's yours?"

Honestly, it was a little crazy that they had gone almost two hours into healing without either of them knowing the other's name.

"Bete Loga. I just arrived in Orario."

Airmid paused her work, hands mid-way through unraveling a roll of gauze.

"You... don't have a Falna?"

Bete furrowed his brows.

"No. Duh. I wouldn't be in this situation if I had one, would I?"

"B-but you fought against Hitomi-san. No matter how utterly trash that excuse of a man is at fighting, he is still a bonafide Level 1 who was blessed by Dian Cecht-sama. How could a normal boy somehow survive that?"

"I also beat him up too. And stole his money. Ah, I probably shouldn't have said that last part."

"Y-you won? How?!"

Airmid seemed truly mystified by his claims.

"Training. Technique. Experience. Without his hidden potions, I could easily kick his ass."

It seemed to take her a while to accept his infalliable logic.

"I... see. So that's why Hitomi-san hasn't showed up with his annoying posse recently. I should be thanking you for saving me from a headache"

Bete brushed her thanks off.

"Please, I would pay to do it again. Anyways, Do you mind if I ask you some basic questions? I came here alone and without much resources. I need some information."

The silver-haired girl blinked.

"You came here alone? Not even a caretaker?"

Bete frowned, nodding in confirmation.

Airmid quickly realized she had touched something she probably should have left alone.

'So that's why... when I used the word family...'

"I-I'm sorry if I touched a sensitive topic..."

'What is it with these women and apologizing? Grow a fucking backbone and cut to the chase!'

"Don't be," he curtly replied. "Anyways. Let's jump in. First things first, what exactly do Familias do? What is a Falna? What exactly are levels and what do they represent? How do-"

"O-okay, one by one please," Airmid squeaked, overwhelmed by the mountain of questions.

.

.

.

For the next few hours, Airmid filled him with the basics of Orario. The know-hows, the common sense, what not to do in a dungeon, as well as some terminology that he didn't know.

She even threw in extra information as a bonus. Stuff like the political structure of Familias, the Denatus, how the Gods operated, and the rules they were constricted by.

Despite his rough upbringing, Bete wasn't stupid. He knew the basics on how to read and write. He was an avid learner when it came to fighting, and it seemed that transferred to non-violent knowledge as well.

He absorbed everything Airmid said like a sponge, keeping in mind that every morsel of information could come in handy.

"Wait. So I can't go and challenge a God to a fight?"

Airmid weakly nodded.

"Well... I guess you could. It's just that it would be like fighting a normal human. Even your current physique could defeat the God of War, Ares himself in his current state."

Sigh

'There goes one of my life goals...'

"And that's that! You're fully healed."

Bete raised his brows. He hadn't even realized time passing by because of all the information passing. In fact, it was probably midnight already.

'Fuck, I'll have to sleep in an alley again.'

Still, he wasn't an ungrateful bastard.

"Thanks. For real. You probably saved my life down the line."

Airmid's lips twitched upwards.

"Just doing my job."

Bete chuckled in response.

"Your job is to be a bloodthirsty mosquito who sucks the money out of people after minimal treatment and expensive products. You probably could have treated what, like 3 or 4 patients in the time you spent on me?"

"7, actually. Without using my magic."

The healer's voice contained a hint of pride.

He itched his head. "Yeah, I have no doubts after what you did for me. Anyways, thanks again. You're... uh... you're a lot more mature than you look."

"I could say the same thing about you," Airmid responded, a teasing glint in her violet eyes.

"Me?"

"Not a lot of kids have the bravery to go around Orario alone, beating up Adventurers."

Bete winced. "I'm not sure if you'd call that bravery. I just did what I have to."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you did."

"Hey, watch it."

"Hm?" Airmid leaned in closer until her lips were almost touching his furry ears. "What will you ever do to me, mister big bad wolf?"

Her words sent a shiver down his spine. It was similar yet different to how he felt with Freya. Perhaps the two weren't completely different after all." 

"H-how old are you?"

"10."

He widened his eyes.

"I'm 9. I thought you would be at least a few years older."

"Only 9? To be honest, I thought you would be at least 12."

 "What made you think that?"

"Just the way you talk and move. You seem experienced."

Airmid pulled a jar of medical salve from the cabinet and scooped up a handful with her fingertips.

"And your body. It's very well developed."

The girl traced her small, tender fingertips up his bandaged chest. It was almost ticklish. He could smell the intoxicating, lilac scent from her hair that was only amplified by his Beast-Human senses.

 "Uh..." cough. "I trained a lot while living in the plains with my tribe."

"Hmm."

Airmid curiously poked at his abs a few times.

"What about you?"

He struggled to change the subject and get her away. His nose was tingling with a sensation he was unfamiliar with.

"Me?"

"Yeah, what's your story? A little 10 year old girl working for such a grand Familia, there has to be something interesting."

Airmid's gaze dropped to the floor, the mood shifting.

'You idiot.'

"A-ah, you don't have to say anything. I was just-"

"No, it's okay. Since you told me about your story, I should tell you some of mine at the very least."

The girl took a deep breath to prepare herself.

"I was an orphan. Abandoned in Orario by a mother who I don't hold any memories of. I spent most of my time scrounging for scraps, trying to survive on the streets. Many people tried to capture me for my unique appearance. Luckily, I managed to avoid them."

"..." Bete remained silent, his face dark.

"I resented my parents a lot back then for bringing me into this world. Sometimes I even thought of..."

Airmid heavily swallowed, refusing to finish her train of thought.

"So when Dian Cecht-sama found me and offered me a spot in his Familia, I took the chance immediately. That was around 4 years ago."

She laughed humorlessly. "I guess... that's why I always seem more mature to others. I had to grow up, or I wouldn't have survived. Orario... it can be quite cruel."

"..."

"Ah, I apologize. Did I bring the mood down?"

'I think you did that yourself, Werewolf.'

"Why you..."

Bete pounced on her, grabbing her cheeks with his calloused hands and forcefully bending her mouth into a crescent semicircle.

"B-bleah! Don't put your finger in my mouth!"

Airmid went through the strangest treatment she had ever experienced.

"That's right, smile! You're just a little squirt! What do you think you're doing all brooding and shit!"

The girl blinked, now knocked flat on her back to the bed.

"H-how dare you! I'm a year older than you! You should be the one acting childish and calling me onee-chan!"

"Onee-chan my ass!"

"Why you-"

The two broke into a scuffle, filled with tickles and laughter.

"H-haa- y-y-amete! I-I surrender!"

"That's right! You thought you could beat me?!"

Bete stood triumphant on the bed as if he had done something worth praise.

'You expect praise for defiling an innocent, little girl? What has the world become?'

"Haa..."

Airmid's relentless laughter soon cooled down into a deep smile.

"Thanks, Bete."

"!"

"What?"

Bete scratched his cheek.

"Uh, it's just... You're the first one to call me by my name in some while."

'What about that guy in the street?'

'Shut up, that guy didn't count.'

Airmid pensively stared at his face.

"Hm. Bete."

"Yeah?"

"Bete, Bete, Bete-"

"O-okay, I get it!"

"Bete Bete Bete Bete Bete-"

"Stop!"

"Heheh! It's fun!"

Vibrant eyes still filled with amusement, Airmid got up from the bed and walked towards the cabinet.

Rummage, rummage

She quickly emerged with a pillow and a large, thick blanket.

"Stay warm here for the night. I'll cover for your payment."

Bete nodded. "Thanks."

Airmid glanced back before turning off the lamp.

"You too. It was... nice having someone my age to talk to. Cathartic, even."

He smirked.

"I think you're the first to say that to me as well."

She only widened her warm smile, closing the door behind her with a small wave.

Click

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.

Outside of the pharmacy, Airmid fidgeted with her hands.

"You don't have to go, you know. I could ask Dian Cecht-sama for a room. You could work for us, maybe even join-"

"Airmid," Bete calmed her. "As much as I appreciate everything, that's solely for you. The rest of this Familia can go to hell."

She pouted, though didn't look too angry.

"Hey! That's my Familia you're talking about!"

"Yeah, so take responsibility for their shitty actions," he snorted.

"I-I'll try," she winced. He knew he was being harsh on her, but it wasn't something he was pressing too hard. Bete didn't have that high of an expectation.

Magic and healing she may have, Airmid was just a 10 year old girl.

"Just five years ago... I didn't think I would be alive by now."

Bete's expression immediately soured.

"A-ah, of course, it's not like that now. I have a satisfactory home, a respectable job... and now I made a friend!"

The Werewolf froze.

'A... friend?'

"Aren't we friends?" Airmid asked with a worried look. And in her face, he saw another silver haired girl.

[Even if I'm not strong, I want to be with Bete...]

". . . Yeah. Friends."

With the best smile he could muster, Bete offered a handshake.

Mirroring his expression, Airmid confidently shook it. Somehow, her hand felt more comfortable than Freya's.

"..."

"Airmid! Where are you!"

A loud, boisterous voice called out for the little girl.

"I'll be there soon, Dian Cecht-sama!"

She turned back to Bete with a wink.

"Sorry, I have to go now. Promise you'll visit?"

"I'll try my best."

He meant it.

"Mhm! Come back often! I'll always make time for you!"

As Bete took one last look at the little girl waving at him with a wide grin, he thought that she finally looked like someone her age.

'You do know you're a year younger than her?'

"Fuck off," he swore, pleasantly smiling.