The Doctor

I almost couldn’t believe how bad I felt when I regained consciousness. My shoulder wasn’t the only part of me that was hurting. It was like my body had turned against me.

Still, this didn’t distract me from the sudden panic I had when I realized everything was black. I shot up to a sitting position, wincing horribly as pain shot through my body, then nearly hit myself upside the head when it became obvious that my eyes were simply closed.

While, true, I wasn’t in the place with the towering sticks anymore and the room I was in was dimly lit, it was clearly not the endless blackness. The candle on the table to my right was evidence enough of that. I’d have laughed at how silly I probably looked if my body hadn’t been screaming out in horror.

I slowly lowered myself back down on my back, and tried to get my bearings. Aside from the candle, and the bed I was laying on, the room I was in was quite bare. Just an empty stone room with a table, a bed, and a candle. Something did make a jingling noise as I moved my hand to hold my head, but my body hurt too much for me to care.

“What, no smile this time? I thought you liked pain,” spoke a familiar voice, breaking through the almost complete silence.

The voice was coming from beyond the door at the far end. It looked like there was a little window on the upper part of it. It must’ve been the same girl from the stick-place, but I couldn’t see her face all that well through the bars in the window.

“Open the cell, and fetch the doctor,” the girl instructed.

“Yes, my lady,” answered another voice. This one was more masculine, but I couldn’t see anyone else from where I was.

The door clicked shortly after, then creaked open enough for the girl to walk in. Her steps were short and hesitant, but her face never showed a hint of fear. She was still wearing the same green blouse and brown trousers, but she didn’t have her bow with her this time. She was carrying what looked like a neatly folded piece of black cloth in her hands, which she proceeded to set on the table next to the candle.

“Here. I brought you some clothes for when you get out of those bandages. We’ll bring you food later,” the girl told me, gently lowering herself onto the edge of the bed. “You’ve been out for a few days. The doctor thought you’d die after losing as much blood as you did, but your heart kept beating, so we didn’t toss you out.”

Her back remained straight as she sat down, and her shoulders tensed as I met her gaze… was she expecting me to attack her? I ignored the thought for a moment to examine myself a bit and brushed my hand along my chest. My torso was covered in bandages from the bottom of the rib cage to my neck.

“Well, I appreciate it… I think,” I answered, taking care not to move too quickly as I pulled myself up to a sitting position.

Pain shot through my body again and I grabbed my ribs out of reflex. When I did, something jingled again. That’s when I noticed the chains on my wrists. There were chains leading from metal loops around my wrists to the wall left of the bed. They didn’t stretch very far, but were long enough for me to sit comfortably.

“What are these?” I asked, gently pulling against them.

“Precautions. I still don’t know who you are, how you got here, or why you’re here. You could be dangerous. I mean, you were kinda nude when I found you and you acted pretty strange,” she explained. “That being said, I have a few questions for you. Ones I probably should have asked before I shot you with an arrow. Sorry about that, by the way. I was trying to barely miss you.”

“I kind of figured that. I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can…”

“Good,” she said, heaving a sigh of relief. “I was worried you’d be stubborn.”

”What’s… stub-burn?” I asked her, fidgeting with the metal loops on my wrists. They weren’t very comfortable.

“Um…. W-well, i-it’s…” she stammered, with a confused look. She quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat. “So, first question… You’ve already told me your name is Marceline. Now, tell me who you are exactly. Your pointed ears suggest you’re an Elf or a fairy, but why would either wander so deep into Human lands unaccompanied? Who are you?”

Her questions only brought more questions to my mind. Elf, Fairy, Human… what were those things? I couldn’t remember any of those words. More importantly… I could only come up with one answer to her question.

“I’m… the ‘Void Princess.’”

“‘Void Princess’? Right. And I’m Queen of the Universe.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise. She scoffed and let her face fall into her hand.

“If you’re going to mess with me, I can always just leave you chained up in here.”

“But… I’m not messing with you. That’s just… all I can remember.”

“Amnesia then?” She heaved a sigh. “Well, you’re either a good liar, or you’re telling the truth. Regardless, this makes my other questions pointless.”

“I’m sorry…”

“If you really have amnesia, then it’s not your fault,” she pointed out.

“Oh, okay… so, who are you? You didn’t tell me before.”

“I’m Petra. Petra Silverspoon, Princess of Lestantia,” she answered, looking like she was mentally cursing herself afterward. “I’m guessing you probably have a lot of questions. But the doctor would kill me if she learned I had you talking this long. So, we’ll have to keep talking another time.”

“Yes, you will,” a stern voice interrupted. “You should’ve come to grab me yourself, Princess.”

“I knew you wouldn’t let me question her if I did,” Petra replied as a tall-ish woman entered the room. She walked with less hesitation than Petra did, even making it a point to sneer at me as she grew closer.

She was older than Petra, but it didn’t look like she was too old. Maybe in her early adulthood at most. She came to a stop next to the bed and set the bag she was carrying on the floor. After eying me for a few seconds, she motioned for Petra to move and took her place on the bed. She had to adjust her white gown after she plopped down with a thud.

“So, conscious at last,” she mused, brushing her short brown hair back over her head. “I’m Doctor Eliza. Now that you’re awake, I guess we have to waste even more resources on you.”

“Doctor!”

“Oh, come now. You were thinking the same thing, Princess. While unconscious all we had to waste was a good bed, a small amount of food and water, and basic medicines to help her heal. Now she needs to eat and drink in larger servings, and we may have to use more expensive medication on her. Depending on what issues arise. It’d be simpler if you just killed her now,” the doctor explained matter-of-factly.

“That’s enough. Just do your job and get out of here,” Petra snapped, causing the doctor to giggle with glee.

“Uh…” I began, catching their attention. “What does ‘killed’ mean?” Eliza looked at me in disbelief, then snickered and burst into a laughing fit.

“She really is an idiot!”

“If you’re not going to do your job, then leave!” Petra ordered, pointing to the door. Eliza stopped laughing, looking a bit surprised to be cut off, then cleared her throat.

“Yes, Princess. I apologize,” she said quietly. “Now then, how are you feeling, young lady?” I studied her face for a moment, then went back to fiddling with the metal loops.

“My head hurts, my shoulder is sore and my body feels like its turned against me.”

“Not surprising. You were in a considerably bad state, and I don’t just mean the blood loss.”

“What do you mean then?”

“Your body is…. degraded, for lack of a better term. If you ignore the injury, you look fine physically. No one would be able to tell that anything was wrong with you just by looking at the surface. But us doctors have a little thing we like to call ‘Solomon's Eye’. It’s a magic spell that lets us examine a body better than a normal person could. See everything and anything that’s wrong with it, no matter how subtle,” she explained. “Since you’re an idiot, I guess you don’t know what magic is, do you?”

“Magic is an energy that flows through everything. It can be used to hurt, heal, and has many practical uses,” I answered in an almost monotone voice, causing her brows to flare up in surprise. “It’s… one of the few words I remember.”

“‘One of the few’? Wait, do you have…? Why didn’t you tell me she had amnesia, Princess?” Eliza asked, immediately waving Petra away as she tried to answer. “Whatever. As I was saying before, Solomon’s Eye lets me see everything that’s wrong with your body, and yours seems like it hasn’t moved for decades. Maybe even longer. Unfortunately, that causes some issues when you lose blood. Especially as much as you did. Pulling that arrow out was pretty stupid.”

“So… what does that mean?” I asked. She stood up and leaned forward so she was towering over me.

“It means you’re going to be with us for some time. So you’d better behave, or you may end up getting kicked out, or better yet, put on the executioner’s block.” I stared at her for a moment, trying to think if that should scare me or not. Her bright blue eyes twinkled as she waited for my response, then dimmed a bit when I didn’t react. “Oh, come on. Not even a peep? Usually people start quivering.”

“You really are horrible,” Petra interrupted, pulling her away from me. “Give her something for the pain and get out of here, before you end up on the executioner’s block.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Eliza whined, a wave of disappointment washing over her.

She sat down again and picked her bag up off the ground. When she opened it, a strange scent filled the air. It wasn’t a bad smell, but it certainly didn’t smell like it belonged in a bag.

“Here we go,” she said, pulling a small bottle from the bag.

She reached in with her other hand and pulled out a long tube-like thing with a needle on one end. After sticking the needle into the bottle and pulling some of the liquid inside out and into the tube, she grabbed my left arm and gently poked the needle into the lower part of my upper arm. I winced as it pierced my skin, but felt almost instant relief as she injected the liquid from the tube into my arm. It numbed the pain in my arm within seconds.

“Okay, now, in about fifteen or so minutes, it will spread to the rest of your body. You’ll be pain free for a while. Assuming you don’t hurt yourself again in the meantime,” Eliza stated. “I’m done now. Let me know if any more problems arise. Blah, blah, blah, you know the drill Princess.”

“Thank you,” I called after Eliza as she made for the door. She smiled back at me before vanishing beyond the door frame.

“Dreadful woman,” Petra mumbled before turning to me. “Marceline. You shouldn’t try to walk for a few days. The doctor doesn’t usually use that bottle, but when she does, it means business.”

“Um… alright.”

“Oh, and…” she started, pulling a key out of her pocket. She quickly used the key to make the loops open up, then tossed the chains off the bed. She backed up as she did, putting a small bit of distance between us. “T-there, it would probably be more comfortable with those off.”

“I thought you said I could be dangerous…” Petra chuckled, turning her nose up and crossing her arms like she hadn’t been scared at all.

“I think the guards can handle an injured kid with amnesia. I mean, I’m fourteen myself, and train daily, so if I can’t fight them and win, I doubt you could. Especially in that state.”

That repeated in my mind a few times. “Fourteen.” Her and I looked about the same age…. was I fourteen years old?

My time in that void felt longer than that.

Reviews

[DarkArtz 0703]

wonderful I love it the name you gave the main character literally reminds me of my favourite tv show adventure time. over all I think this is quite good keep up the great work.
~k

[Nicole]

Thanks. :3 I’m going to try. I know this probably seems abandoned, since I haven’t updated in a while, but it still ongoing. I’m just suffering through writer’s block. ^^” Thank you for reading this. I’m glad you liked it. :3

[Nicole]

And yes, Marceline from adventure time was a small inspiration for the name. Well, by “small,” I mean, “she helped push the final decision.” XD I had Marceline as a name for my MC long before I had even heard of the show.

[DarkArtz 0703]

your very welcome keep writing and don't give up. your a natural