A musical humming filled the wolf's ears, making them twitch slightly as he came to. Opening his eyes, a topless Gareeku looked around as his blurry vision came into view. Sitting up, he found himself to be in a hospital ward, the other beds in the ward being occupied by other patients. Looking to his right, he saw a figure, a bat-winged orange female squirrel, standing by the window at the end of the ward arranging some flowers. Raising an eyebrow, he noticed the white coloured hat atop the squirrel's head.
"Ah, so you're awake, welcome to the land of the living!" the squirrel said merrily, turning around to face him as a warm smile adorned her facial features.
"What...what happened...?" Gareeku muttered to himself, rubbing his forehead due to the slight headache that now made itself present. The warrior had no recollection of what had happened, aside from being overcome with a severe migrane.
"Well, you weren't looking too great when you came in," the squirrel said with a slight giggle, taking off her hat for a few seconds to check for any rips in it, revealing a pair of bat-like headwings in the process, "you just have to look at the bruises and cuts on your body to see that."
Checking his body, Gareeku found what the squirrel had said to be true. Cuts and bruises covered his body, the warrior counting himself lucky that he had not sustained any more injuries, considering he and the group had been fighting a powerful succubus. Thinking about the group made Gareeku realise that none of them were currently present in the ward.
"Excuse me nurse, but have you seen a group of-" Gareeku began.
"-creatures? Yes I have. Another one of your friends were very badly injured. 'Aisha', I think they said her name was. Severe lacerations to her stomach, if I remember correctly. Your friends are probably with her now," the squirrel said, a reasurring smile on her face, "just call me Raine."
"Is she ok?! Where is she being treated?!" Gareeku said, his eyes widening as he heard Raine's words. Getting up, Gareeku was about to make his way of the ward when Raine stepped in front of him, a calm but stern expression on her face.
"Now, Mr. Manoko, you're not going anywhere until we've finished with you. Aisha will be fine. She's already been treated and is currently resting. You had some slight internal bleeding, so you also need to rest to make sure your body heals fully." Raine said to the wolf sternly, taking him back to his bed.
"But why would we need to rest? Don't you use magic?" Gareeku asked the squirrel nurse as he sat back down on his bed, an eyebrow raised slightly at what Raine had said.
"Oh yes, we do use magic, but we only use it to a certain extent. If we used magic to fully heal patients all the time, then the healing abilities our body naturally have would begin to diminsh. We just give them a helping hand." Raine said, the warm smile reappearing on her face.
With a slight groan, Aisha opened her eyes, her blurry vision coming into focus as she found many members of the group sat around her bed. Smiles of happiness and relief appeared on the group's faces as they saw her come to, happy to see that their comrade was doing alright.
"Where am I...?" Aisha asked, sitting up in her bed.
"You're in hospital now. You had a deep gash to your stomach. If it wasn't for Nero, you may not have lived. He never left your side." Ryn said, a warm smile on her face as she explained what had happened to the panthress. Looking over at Nero, who was sat nearest her, Aisha looked with surprise for a few seconds, tears beginning to stream down her face before she suddenly wrapped her arms around Nero in a tight hug.
"Thank you..." she whispered, the tears contiuing to flow. Nero, meanwhile, could only blush, his cheeks turning a bright pink colour through his normal red fur as he returned the hug. As he looked on, a slight smile appeard on Paladin's face, before diminishing slightly as he thought of something. Slipping away without the rest of the group noticing, Paladin headed for the ward Gareeku was in.
"Hey there..." Gareeku suddenly heard a voice say. Looking up, he saw Paladin walk in to the little alcove where his bed was situated after Raine left the ward.
"Hey. How's Aisha doing?" Gareeku asked, worried for his ally.
"She'll be fine, she's just woken up," Paladin said with a slight smile, before it again diminished, "Gareeku, we need to talk."
A little while later, Gareeku, now dressed in his normal attire, and Paladin were sat on the roof of the hospital, looking out at the city before them. After a few moments of silence, Paladin spoke.
"James told us about your problem..." Paladin said, turning to his old friend as he spoke. Hearing his friend's words, Gareeku closed his eyes, his head bowed slightly.
"It happened again, didn't it...?" Gareeku asked, his eyes opening to look at Paladin.
"Yes...it did. No one was seriously hurt thankfully, but you nearly absorbed the soul of that succubus," Paladin explained, not taking his eyes off of his friend, "In case you were wondering, the succubus was being controlled by Charline. It seems that she had sent the necklace to the succubus under the disguise as an anonymous stranger."
"Figures..." Gareeku commented upon hearing Charline being mentioned, a few more moments of silence passing before Gareeku spoke again, "...I think it would be best if I continued this journey alone."
"What makes you think that?" Paladin asked, glancing towards his old friend with a raised eyebrow.
"I would hurt anybody who would accompany me. I'm too dangerous to be around. I haven't hurt any allies of mine, but that doesn't mean I never will." Gareeku stated, not taking his eyes off of the city view.
"You'll need someone to keep an eye on you, Gareeku. Letting you run around this world unchecked would be risky in itself. I, for one, am -not- going to let that happen," Paladin stated flatly, before turning to Gareeku with a grin, "besides, what are friends for?"
"You're not going anywhere without me." Another voice suddenly said, Gabi revealing herself as she walked up to the two wolves.
"I'll also be coming along for the ride, mate." Xzeliea said as she appeared, a grin on her face as she spoke.
"If the battle against that succubus is anything to go by, you can count me in, even -if- you got that freaky cubi thing going on." Ramsey said jokingly as he appeared on the rooftop, a grin also on his face as he winked. Hearing the words of comfort from his comrades comforted Gareeku greatly, bringing a warm smile to his face.
"Thank you all..." he said with gratitude, before something occured which quickly dispelled the moment. A explosion suddenly rocked the streets below. Looking out over the city, the group saw that there was fighting between various gangs.
"Damn it...I should have known...now that the Johan Cross impersonator is gone, it's created a power vacuum. Now these gangs want to take control of the city." Paladin growled as he observed the fighting below.
"Well then..." Gareeku said with a smirk as he reached for his sword, "it looks like we'll just have to keep the peace."