They waited, gripping their wounds. There was another knock from the other side. Armel knocked again. Slowly, the door opened, revealing a wide room filled with all kinds of creatures with weapons. There were a few golems and dragons as well as a couple gryphons and a sphinx. Heartless bristled at the sight of them, whispering to each other and staring at her.

“Ryuu!” Armel called out, “I might need Havoc!” He spit some blood out on the ground. An elderly looking dragon appeared behind a set of doors off to the right.

“Yes, yes, I’m here,” he rasped, closing in on Armel. Heartless’ head turned back and forth, eyeing the presences in the room.

“Get out! Get out, everyone,” the dragon rasped out, waving his thin arms around. Everyone filtered out slowly, save for Ryuu, the old dragon, Armel, and Heartless. Heartless snapped at a golem who spit at her but remained near the door of the cell.

Heartless flared her nostrils, “Where is Seren?” Ryuu looked at Armel. Armel nodded. Ryuu walked to a set of doors, knocking on the metal.

“He will be here shortly,” Ryuu said, turning towards Heartless, “I suggest you rest a minute and let Dr. Havoc tend to you.” The old dragon was already busily examining Armel who was sitting straight in a chair, bleeding heavily from his head. Heartless bristled but stayed still.

The room was much bigger than the cell. It was bright and shiny with a few tables and chairs scattered around. There were three other sets of doors on each wall, one on which Ryuu knocked and another which the old dragon doctor had appeared. Heartless eyed the one on which Ryuu knocked.

“Well now, Armel, you’ve certainly done a number on yourself this time. Unicorn bodies are amazing, you know, being able to heal rather quickly.” Armel grunted. Heartless shifted her gaze to him at the sound of his name.

“Hornclaw, you share your name?” she said, stomping her hoof. He grimaced as Havoc cleaned his wounds.

“Hush, filly. Let Ryuu look at your arm. It is dislocated.” Ryuu looked over at her and motioned to the chair. She lifted her left arm up, but wincing, she jerked her head away from him. Unperturbed, he walked up to her.

“You made quite the escape. I did expect you to fight, but I didn’t expect you to jump out from three stories.” She said nothing; he eyed her arm.

“Looks like it hurts. It will probably take a few weeks to heal. I’m going to need to pop it back in. I know how to do that much, at least.” He reached out his fingers to her arm. She jerked back a bit, and he hesitated, arm still outstretched.

“You know…When Armel first came in here, he had nearly taken off my head and had killed two of our best fighters. It was bloody. Gave me this,” he said, lifting up his arm to reveal a wide scar, “And you know…when it was all over, he just sat there, in the corner of a room from where we lived before. And you know what he said?” Heartless did not respond.

“Armel? What did you say?” Ryuu called over. Armel grunted and snorted.

“He said ‘I would rather we not fight anymore,’” Ryuu responded, laughing a bit, “He said it just like he knew that he could probably take ten more of us out before we could kill him. And he probably could’ve. But afterwards, we fixed each other up and have been friends ever since.” Armel snorted again.

“Well…as much as a unicorn can be friends with anyone, really. Either way, it was a start to a great relationship. After a few weeks, he was actually the one who found this place to set up camp at. It’s been a great area, you know. We are well insulated from many of the unicorn clans, the fairy mafia, and the outliers who don’t really want to work with us. Armel’s been great with helping us with the unicorn tracks, so we’ve managed to avoid most of them. It’s been a rough few years lately though, with the food situation and all. We’ve just managed to figure out a way to grow some indoor crops using the basement tunnels. Patel figured out the system, actually. He’s pretty good at the old tech lying around everywhere. It’s like a goldmine-“

“Just shut up and fix my arm,” Heartless hissed, thrusting her arm at him, “You smoke seethers talk too much.” Ryuu grinned up at her and gripped her arm, pulling gently in a few directions.

With a wince, her arm joint was back in place. She pulled away from him.

“Okay, we’re going have to put it in a sling. We also have some pills that help with inflammation and pain, so we’ll give you those,” Ryuu said, turning away from her towards Havoc, “Dr. Havoc, you’ll have to do the rest. The food should be here soon with the medicine. You should sit for a while.”

Heartless slowly sat in one of the chairs. It was made of metal and plastic. The plastic was warped and bumpy. She did not shift once she sat but placed both of her hands on her knees and watched the door on which Ryuu had knocked.

Dr. Havoc wrapped Armel’s head with a thick white cloth.

“Make sure someone wakes you every few hours. I’m sure you’ve got some kind of brain damage with the beating you’ve got. One more of those kinds of hits, I’m sure you won’t wake up!” the doctor said, “I wonder if I could have your hand here…some minor cuts now.”

Armel snorted, “You speak truth, Heartless. The dragons talk too much.” She flashed a strained grin.

Through the doors came a golem and a gryphon. The gryphon was holding Seren, wrapped up in a bluish green blanket. Heartless stood to her feet and leaped over a chair to get to the gryphon. The gryphon let out a shriek and turned away from her. The golem dropped the dishes she was carrying and made to block Heartless, but Heartless only reached out with her left arm, fingers sprawled and ducked around her to reach the baby.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” Ryuu said loudly, “She won’t hurt you. It’s okay. Just let her take him.” He scurried towards the golem to put a hand on her shoulder. The gryphon released her hold, and Heartless grabbed the baby from her arms, examining the warm bundle.

There he was, asleep and white as snow, though much hotter. Her fingers burned a little even touching the blanket, but she touched the top of his head and ran a bloodied finger down his cheek. He stirred a little and settled. Heartless made no expression but sat down in the chair she had chosen before, gripping Seren close to her, and watching the others in the room.

The gryphon had fainted once the baby left her arms and the golem was busy cleaning up the mess made, trying to pick up any scrap of food she could save. Dr. Havoc moved on to examine her, but she only made slight movements when needed and did not set Seren down.

“Now, now. You’re quite a mess. It’s quite a mess everywhere here. Poor Sylvie. Such a fright you gave her! Of course, I’m used to those rush and scamper movements of yours. Armel’s always dashing off here or there before I’m finished. Now, move your arm over here. The baby’ll be fine. Got to have a look at him earlier. What a remarkable creature!”

Heartless glowered and stuck her fingers in the food that Ryuu had gathered onto the table for her. It was a gruel, sticky and brown and thick. She tried to lift her left arm to drink from the bowl but stopped partway and left it hanging in the sling that Havoc had made up for her. Seren rustled a little in her good arm.

She licked a bit of the gruel from her fingers.

“Tastes like shit.”