Chapter 8: ICU

Two weeks later

Hong-ju

It had been a month since Yeon and his adopted sister Rose appeared in our lives, his face lit up whenever he talked about her. Since the emergency surgery he has spent a lot of time with different people sparring, this showed me he needed to release his emotions. It was an intense and dangerous situation which could have led to her disappearing forever. I saw how the surgery effected Moo-young, he was shaken up by how damaged her core was.

Flashback

“Moo-young you’re awake and you look traumatised; how did it go?” I asked him. “It was more intense than I had expected because I wasn’t expecting her core so full of holes. I was surprised she was still able function from what Future Yeon told me. The layer closet to her core made me bargain with it before I could remove it. Overall, the amount of control I had to use was crazy and I wasn’t prepared for it.”

I looked at him with a caring smile “I trust you and so does Yeon so I know in my heart, this was a key moment for rose’s healing. you were able to help her in her darkest hour so be proud of yourself” I told him with pride. I pulled the cover up and told him “get some sleep you deserve it”

End of flashback

The way he used his skills to help another supernatural being was part of his redemption arc after he tried to kill Yeon six months ago. I wonder if Rose has the same coloured fox eyes as Yeon, we had to wait due to her blind eyes. It was a different feeling to not be jealous of her as she was his sister. I couldn’t wait to truly meet her once she was a bit more recovered. Speaking of sparing Current Yeon knocked on the door, “want to come join in with our training Hong-ju?” My response was to follow him to the training section.

Rose

I was resting as advised by Moo-young, he had taken me off vocal rest but extended my telepathy rest for one more month. Normally my annoyance would be directed towards the doctor in charge of my case, I had made an exception for Moo-young as the surgery saved my life. He told me Yeon had given permission as next of kin for the surgery in order, I didn’t realise how close to death I and I wondered how I had been surviving for over 200 years.

In order to give myself the best chance of success with the recovery, I was taking it easy as something Moo-young said stuck out to me. He said, “this was the only time your core can be repaired this way due to the risk to the individual”, hearing this made me realise I was lucky to have a future friend with the right skills.

I was able to feel both Yeon’s energy within me while the rest of my holes filled themselves, it was hard to describe how I was feeling internally to other people. It was a slightly uncomfortable, new but familiar feeling all at the same time, so my core didn’t know how to process it. I was so used to dealing with the limitations of a damaged core, at times the stable energy was overwhelming me.

This wasn’t including how I was feeling with losing my vision again so I wondered if my confusion could be seen by others.

During this whole time, I knew there was someone next to me, I wasn’t sure if it was only to watch over me or also to provide comfort to my changing core.

I was brought out of my head by a question asked by current Yeon, “how long have you been walking around with a holey core?” “The short answer to your question is 1788” I replied. “If you are interested in the long version, gather Moo-young, Hong-ju and my Yeon so I only need to say it once.

A little while longer I heard the door open, Moo-young, Hong-ju and my Yeon walked in and the table near me was moved closer with a bowl placed on the table. The scent coming from the bowl told me it was rice porridge, so I asked “I need assistance to sit up.” One pair of hands helped me sit up while another placed a blanket over my shoulders and back to keep me warm.

“Is that position comfortable and are you feeling warm enough sister” I heard my brother say, I responded with “this position is better for talking and eat the rice porridge I can smell.” A noise rang out in the room, which turned out to be my stomach and I was help to eat a few spoonfuls. I got the sense it was Moo-young helping me by the gentle movements and it allowed me time to figure out how much of my past I was ready to reveal.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself, “I am ready to reveal the important parts of my past to help you to understand the damage Moo-young repaired.”

Flashback

I had been assisting the ancestor spirits since I turned 18 by being the person the local could come to if they need to contact the ancestor spirits. This was my safe normal day to day living until 1788 when the English arrived and this altered the course for the aboriginal nations in the worse way.

I was reassigned to protect the aboriginals against the invading English, each time there was a conflict I was directly involved with, a hole formed in my core. There was no outside sign this was happening, it took over a century for physical signs to show. The ancestor spirits started getting worried about my health so they transferred me in 1901 to a department where my health would be supported. The demon hunting department had the right structure and processes in place to protect and allow me to do my job in relative safety.

End flashback

“It took 236 years for all the holes to threaten my existence“, I stopped talking as a thought came into my mind, “the familiar energy I am sensing mixed in with your energy, Yeons is from before 1788. “

I felt a pair of arms gently hug me from behind and Hong-ju’s voice asking me “Rose are you ok? You have tears streaming down your face.” my brain hesitated before I answered “I’m crying? I have no idea why I’m crying” I replied in confusion. My confusion continued as my eyes filled with tears and my nose started to run.

My voice sounded thicker as I asked, “please hug me a tiny bit harder, it is helping to ground my confusing emotions.” I could tell it was Current Yeon hugging me as he had longer hair, he whispered in my left ear “I can see why we adopt you as a sister. I can see on my face how open we have become, thank you for opening up our heart. I can’t wait to be your big brother.”

I cried so much it made my eyes hurt even through I had no vision in them and it took both yeon’s to get me calm enough to allow my body to sleep. If my telepathy was allowed, I would have seen both Yeon’s next to me and one of the patting my head.

Moo-young

Current Yeon got his Shin-ju to watch over Rose while the four of us headed to Hong-ju’s room. I looked around the room at everyone’s faces and it was clear she had dropped huge information about her past. Tears started falling down Future Yeon’s face “she has suffered for 236 years with the damage getting worse as time went on” his eyes widened. “The old hag knew Rose’s existence was in danger when she suggested the ritual and sent us here to save her adopted daughter.”

Hong-ju looked shocked to hear of the old hag using her eyes to see the future. “I can’t remember a time where she used her eyes for one of us kids, this tells me of the bond her and Rose have. I can see why you are so emotionally affected by this situation” she gently acknowledged. Current Yeon looked me with a serious look on his face, “this whole time you have been so calm. I understand it was important to stay calm during the surgery and now hearing how she has survived all this time makes me so glad you were one to save her life.”

The mental image of Current Yeon holding his future self while bawling his eyes would never leave my memory, I was taken of my musing by hong-ju asking “what’s the next step in rose’s recovery? How much longer does she need to be inside the interior barrier?” I took a deep breath before explaining “she needs another month with both barriers for protection, we see a body but in reality, it’s just her core. I have a feeling it will be two-month mark when the bandage dissolves, this will let me know it’s safe for her powers to be retrained. Her power level will be higher than she is used to so we need to help her to get used to the new level.”

Future Yeon turned his tear-stained face around “the ritual knew this would be the safest time or location for newly recharged abilities to be trained.” He hesitated then said with a shocked face “I will need to give granny a hug when Rose and I get back to our time.” The silence in the room spoke so loudly at how we had never expected to say anything like Yeon said out loud.

“Thank you Future yeon for giving me the inspiration for how we will seal her core, you shock me with a lightening bolt when I blinded you six months ago” I thanked him. The current Yeon gave me a ‘we need to talk’ look “this is the first time I’m hearing about this. We will be discussing this at a later time.” I had a gut feeling I wouldn’t be leaving Rose’s life after her recovery and I hoped hong-ju would be involved somehow. I left the room to go check on Rose while hong-ju and both Yeons to continue to process everything that had happened so far.

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Chapter 7: Welcome to 1938 and Life Saving Surgery

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Chapter 9: release from ICU and new clothes