Not a person to thank

Nova had talked most of the way to the infirmary. Had it distracted Victor at all from the pain he must have been in? Maybe. She really hoped it had. It was not like he was groaning in pain, he was actually being very tough about the whole situation, much more than she had suspected. But when, instead of accepting her apology, or even just agreeing with her, he argued that he should not be thanked, it really surprised her.

She had known since quite early in the conversation that Victor was a modest person, but she never expected him to break his arm to save her and then blame himself for standing up to a brute. It was enough to bring on another wave of the extremely one-sided conversation they were having.

"No. That is ridiculous! are you seriously wondering about the morals of what you just did? It was amazing! He was the one who attacked first, remember? And you came out more hurt than he was. I still do not understand your power though. Can you just run really fast?"

Whatever it was, Nova was definitely impressed. Her respect for him had gone up so much after he did that, not because of his physical prowess, but because of his bravery.

They entered the infirmary, which had a funny smell to it, and a short, plump woman greeted them immediately. The rest of the place was quite bare. She had expected more students to be there, but aside from the staff there were nobody. The woman took one look at Victor's injury and said, "This way, hun." She then turned around and walked up to what seemed to be a cross between a bench and a bed. "You better lay down, hun. This could take a while." Nova sat herself down on a plastic chair near the bench-bed.

Her thoughts on the nurse straight up were annoying but doing her job. As she left the room, Nova opened her mouth once more. "How are you feeling?" she looked at him sympathetically. He had done this to himself to save her.

"You do not understand it, do you? Neither of you are even unconscious! You did not go near killing him, and do you know why? You are smart, Victor. You acted out of instinct, but you knew what was too far. And your only using half strength proves that." she sighed. How was he able to save people and Nova seemed only able to destroy? If both of them had been killed back there, that would have been it. She could not live with herself knowing another two deaths were her own fault. She shivered. Her morals were fraying and unravelling, but she knew what Victor did was the right thing to do.

Most of what Victor said flew in one ear and straight out the other. As if she knew what a temporal plane was! But at least she understood he controlled time. That made sense to her. "Ohh. So you were not going super fast- we were going super slow?" she asked. "But- everything felt so fast!" her society on her old planet were about as scientifically advanced as medieval people, if a little more efficient and humane. Talk of time manipulation was way out of her knowledge spectrum.

"That is good. I am glad you are alright, especially because anything bad... anything bad would be my fault."

Soon enough, the plump lady returned, a strange looking bottle filled with golden liquid in her hand. She crossed the room to a bench top and went about mixing a few things together, creating a less than pleasant looking concoction. "Won't be a second, hun!" she said to Victor. Gosh her voice annoys me, Nova thought.

That was about as much argument as Nova could take, even if she was telling Victor that he did the right thing. Memories of horrible, horrible times threatened to break into her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was make the situation about her, so she said, "...Look. You did not come close to killing the guy. You cannot be in control of everything, Victor. Things... Things happen. And you just have to consider yourself lucky that the situation was as in control as it was. I for one think you did the right thing." she pushed the memories away successfully, but it made her just a little more sad.

"Um... Okay?" she said. She did not need to know more than the fact that Victor could go super fast and super slow. That in itself was very new to her. Science was very new to her. She was not religious, but her species focused less on why things were the way they were and more on what they could do with them.

Once again, the memories were so close to getting to her. Yeah, not my fault, she thought. Just like it is not my fault that I could have saved my entire species from death! The thought of it was driving her mad, and she desperately wanted to let it out, but instead she just nodded her head really fast and blinked quite fast too so there were no tears coming out of her eyes. Again, they were there because of Victor. It was not about her and she could not let it become about her. Because it always seemed to be that way.

Nova giggled, louder than she meant to. The nurse spun around and said, "What's so funny, hun? Your friend here seems to have broke his funny bone. He can't have come up with anything too good." The nurse then returned to her mixture, which was turning into some sort of gloopy paste. Nova wondered what it was, as well as why they did not have it already made up of it was to treat Victor.

Nova noticed Victor's curiosity when she was sad. Determined not to bring in emotions, she said, "It- it is fine, really. This right now is about you and everything that is happening to you."

Wow. Nova was overcome with jokes that were hilariously not funny. She had none of her own that she could reply with, so instead she laughed at the wit of the nurse and Victor. Well, at least the situation was not awkward, she thought. And it was not awkward until about ten seconds later, when the lady stepped away from her bench.

Nova knew, well, nothing about magic. She had no idea what would happen to Victor when the nurse approached the bed he was on. To stay out of the way, she tucked her knees to her chest on the chair she was seated on. The gloopy liquid, now at least as thick as honey and coloured an awfully unattractive shade of khaki, was still in a bowl in her hands. A wooden spoon-like thing was resting in the bowl, and Nova just hoped he would not have to drink it.

"What is happening?" She asked out of curiosity but really just sounded annoying.

The nurse looked over at her with a sigh. "Not all of us have that fancy healing magic, hun. Some of us need some assistance. Not to worry, your friend her will be ready to go in a while. But for now, gimme your arm, hun," The last part was directed at Victor. Nova had a look of worry on her face. She did not know what the substance was.

The nurse paused as he said he only needed to be injured for a day. "But hun, you got a broken bone!" Nova paused. She was not even a part of the conversation anymore and just felt awkward curled up in a little ball on her chair. "We could give it an X-ray and all, but I'm tellin' you it's broken! You'll be out of action for weeks, I'm sorry." The nurse proceeded to approach him with the goo before stopping in her tracks.

"...Wait a minute. Are you one of those healing people, hun?" She took a step back, contemplating whether or not she should treat him. "Maybe this is a bad idea then. Healing people sometimes get some funny side effects from this. Don't you worry! If you're sure, I can just put it in a sling for you hun?" With this, she put the bowl back on the counter, rested her hand on the edge of it and waited for a reply.

Nova was very uncomfortable in the situation. Now that the nurse had moved away from her chair, she decided the path was clear and she should move away to allow her clear access to the bed. She then stood up and sat upon another identical looking bed across the room, leaning on the wall with her back. Immediately she felt pain as she leant on the wall. "Ow!" she whispered, wincing. It was not loud enough to hear, but had anyone been looking her way they wouldn't have noticed her facial expression. Looking at her back, she saw a dark green patch on her skin that hurt upon touching. She had never had anything like it before, but knew it must have been from falling. It did not hurt unless it was touched, but she just sat up straight after that.