POV Snippets: A scene from the past 1/3 - Laurent

To slaughter a Distant Healer, you need to ensure that their body can no longer regenerate itself. A shot to the head, third-degree burns covering more than sixty percent of the skin, anything shy of dismembering the person results in Torpor -  a prolonged coma - during which the Healer recuperates to their full strength.

Laurent knows it. Where he might be lacking in other areas he was consistently a top-notch student; everything that can be learned he learned, everything that can be memorized he memorized... And yet, at the sight of Daron crushed under the ruins of the six-stores mall had Laurent abandon all rationality.

Three hours later and he is still struggling to regain it.

It’s an irregular situation. Hospitals are the lone place excluding his former home that Laurent refuses to enter of his own volition, after years he spent there, waking up to the same white walls. Even just the stench of antiseptic never ceases to make a mockery of his training.

Trying to focus on anything other than the slow beeping of Darion’s heart monitor coming through the closed door, Laurent presses his back tighter against the wall, hoping to merge with it and disappear. His own pulse refuses to decelerate to match the sound, the speed of it doubles his nausea.

“He’s fine,” Nino declares, unceremoniously materializing in the middle of the hall, startling a gaggle of nurses.

She doesn’t seem to care about their reaction nor the volume of her voice. Brushing a hand over her buzzcut, she drops on the chair closest to where Flavio is hunched into himself on the floor, head in his hands.

“They said he’s lucky his brain is in one place. He should be back in two years max.”

It’s hard to believe. Even though Laurent wasn’t the one to pull Daron out of the rubble, he saw the man on the stretches. There was no patch of skin undisturbed for Flavio to latch onto without fear of causing further injury.

He had to hold something, though; on Fortin’s orders, it was crucial for Flavio to see the last moments of Daron’s death for himself as soon as possible. In a way, she most likely preferred Daron to die during the ride to the closest ED hospital - having to wait until he awakes will only hinder the investigation.

“What about the arsonist?”

“Fortin said the leader wiped our perp’s memory clear. As a precaution.”

So the mastermind is an Allurer... strong enough to use a thrall that lasts. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.

“I th-“ Flavio begins, but a gasp half between a wail and a sob gurgles out of his throat. Months ago, Laurent would do nearly anything to make his partner cease cracking jokes, but now he’d rather hear him babble his usual random facts that had Daron snort into his official documents with a feigned scowl.

Alas, Nino’s expression cracks. Laurent looks away to the side where a doctor just walked out from one room, and immediately headed for another.

It’s a busy night after the accident, and Daron is not the only person wounded. Thankfully this time there were no casualties. Their team was the target, not the civilians. Not that it amounted to much.

Nino has to be exhausted as well, there are remnants of blood smeared over her upper lips, dried and oxidized. If anything, she looks bored. Cracking open a can of energy drink and staring straight ahead with her pale empty eyes.

Knowing her for years, Laurent’s aware that she’s not completely heartless - everybody saw what she did to the only instigator of the arson they were able to catch. Nino’s not known to be the gentlest with handling the arrestees, but this time it was clear she only left the culprit alive so that Fortin could find all the others involved in the attack.

With Daron being WIA, their team will either be disbanded or, if they can recruit another Distant Healer on such short notice, Nino will get the promotion, and they will carry on.

In the meantime. “What are the orders?”

Nino shrugs, raising her free arm. “We need to wait.”

Nothing much to be done besides.