Walter Works opened his eyes in a well lit white room with a tall ceiling that sohow felt claustrophobic due to the thin curtain that enveloped his bed. The curtain also kept him from seeing his surroundings, but the enhanced senses of a hunter allowed him to identify the stench of blood beneath the strong disinfectant odor informing him of all he needed to know for the ti being. He was alright and was currently being taken care of by allies, but not people from his company. The last part he was certain of as no one on his payroll would ever think of putting him in such a secluded place and together with so many people.
Knowing more or less his situation, he rushed to stand up trying to rember what happened to him, but the fussy mories eluded him and a sudden feebleness prevented him from digging up his mind. No hunter would ever struggle so hard to stand up on their own as their muscles were far more efficient than those of regular humans, which is why Walter lingered for a few monts before moving the curtain to the side.
"You're woken up." A man said with a dead pan expression, his white coat indicated he was a doctor but the red stains made him look more like a butcher than a healer.
"Would you mind telling what happened?" Walter politely asked.
"That can be answered by a five second talk or by a complete course on human history. Unfortunately, I've been instructed not to answer any of your questions." Lamar adjusted his glasses without taking his eyes from the old man.
"Instructed by who?"
"That is also a question I must not answer." Lamar insisted.
"Don't bother, that guy is a pain to deal with." The voice of a fellow old man coming from behind another set of curtains cald Walter's fears.
"That voice... is that you, Mister Quill?"
"There's no need to pretend to not know my na, Walter." Scofield let out a soft chuckle.
"Fair enough, Xavier. Can you tell what happened?"
"I'm afraid there's not much I can say. It's not that I don't want to, I've been here for a while now."
"Where is here?"
"I also don't know that." Xavier Scofield, the renowned hunter known by humanity as the Quill, moved aside the curtains with a crutch and limped his way out of bed.
"Who did this to you!?" Walter asked fearing it could have been his fault after he lost to Zeus in a battle of wills.
"It was , I did this to ," Xavier replied, then continued. "official diagnose is flux deprivation, but I know I won't be able to recover from this. I didn't just spend flux, in order to draw my ultimate power I had to cut my ties with the muses. I'm still a hunter, but only in na."
"I see..., is that what happened to too?" Walter asked Lamar, the doctor whose robe was stained with blood.
"Your case is similar, yes, but it is also different," Lamar took a sip from a shady flask before continuing. "don't pay too much mind to what Mister Scofield says. As a doctor, I believe we can find a cure to your ailnt. In Mister Scofield's case, I think ti and enriched food along with acupuncture would suffice. In your case, I'm afraid your body and soul were strained beyond the limits and it may need experintal treatnt."
Walter didn't like the strange glimr coming off from Lamar's eyes just as he didn't enjoy the sound of the word 'experintal' in his tongue. Being treated by overly enthusiast doctors was a patient's worst nightmare since it was Walter's belief that no sane person would be able to open up a person like a at slab, let alone get excited by it. Even if it was for healing purposes, it felt wrong for soone who was born in a ti when dicine was mostly just drinking wine and waiting it out.
Taking Lamar's distraction as an opportunity to escape, Walter made his way towards the exit and beca rigid when a strong hand placed on his shoulder stopped him.
"I knew it, I'm a hostage." Walter let out a sigh as he gave in to his fate knowing there was no other way why would his enemies keep him alive.
"I just want to check your blood pressure to make sure you won't faint on my watch. That would be pretty troubleso." Lamar did as he said then released Walter after confirming his vitals were normal leaving Walter even more puzzled.
He didn't know where he was, who had taken him or why would anyone let him roam free despite knowing he betrayed humanity as a species. The fact that he did it out of love was a poor excuse considering how many people had likely paid the price for his own selfish desire, but he was hopeful that they would at least give him a painless death.
Such thoughts occupied his mind as he walked aimlessly across unending halls of what seed to be a makeshift hospital. The stench of blood was strong which ant it was a combat hospital, but the fact that it lacked the overwhelming shouts of agony common to such facilities ant that at least a few days had passed since the battle.
The silence was then broken by a loud argunt taking place at a distance and Walter drew near out of curiosity at first, but then a familiar voice made him rush his steps.
"You can't possibly expect us to sit here with our arms crossed while he's out there!" dusa shouted as Walter listened with his keen hearing from a safe distance.
"And what do you propose? For us to go look for him and pretend nothing happened after what he did!?" Nika's voice, also familiar to Walter, ca out amidst snarls.
"I'm not saying he's innocent, but he must have had his reasons." dusa insisted to which Nika rebuked shaking her head.
"Stop trying to justify his actions! You can't possibly say you didn't notice anything off with him. For all we know, it may as well been Water warlock and not Uriel the one who did it. If not, why would he leave without saying anything else?" Nika refused to believe Uriel would abandon them without an explanation, but Walter was more interested in the ntion of a na he had never heard spoken out loud and he was determined to find out who was this 'Water warlock' they referred to before making his presence known to the young won.
"No, that's not it. You know I've been there and I can say for sure that Water warlock would not take his free will from Uriel." Sam intervened.
"So, you're admitting that the cris you committed were only your fault?" Luna glared at Sam who seemingly shrunk under her gaze.
"Well...," He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "you need to understand that when he possessed I was pretty angry. At first I thought I was making a pact with a devil or sothing, not that I cared, but I just wanted my revenge. It took a while to realize that Water warlock was acting all shy and slippery, just like Uriel back when he wasn't a hunter."
The ntion of Uriel finally did the trick and Walter finished putting the pieces together. Enough at least to know he had a couple bargaining chips to deal with his captors.
"Winnie..."
"Grampa, what are you doing here? You should be resting. Professor Lamar said you'd need at least two more weeks to recover."
"Uhm... he's here already. That ans Professor Lamar let him go, so it ans he's fine." Luna explained her reasoning.
"May I ask you a question?" Walter probed receiving only affirmative nods in reply. His first instinct was to ask what happened like before, but now he started to believe what Lamar said about it being either a very brief or incredibly long answer which is why he settled for sothing more specific. "how is Mister Sage involved in what happened?"
"That's... a bit too long to explain." dusa awkwardly replied.
"Then answer this. Did he find it? The fountain of youth?" Walter asked.
"No... well, yes... actually, I don't know. It's complicated." dusa shook her head.
"He did." Sam casually said.
"Winnie! We need to hurry up and find him, he's the only one who can save our family. There's no ti to explain, but your mother..."
"Calm down," dusa led a very flustered Walter to a chair then carried on in a soft tone. "she's alright. Mom is also here. She's been by your side from the minute we brought you in and we had to convince her to take a nap sowhere more comfortable."
"If shooing her away with a broom counts as convincing," Nika laughed then addressed Walter in a more serious tone. "did you always know what was in those ruins?"
"Yes."
"And you sent us there without any intel nonetheless?"
"Nika, this is not the ti." dusa shook her head.
"You're only saying this because it wasn't you who was sent into the most dangerous dungeon with a whiny college student without so much as a warning!" Nika grunted.
"I'm telling on Uriel you called him whiny." Luna declared.
"Good luck finding him when even I can't feel our bond anymore!"
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