Chapter 400 - Side Story (Dimitri)(6)(unedited)
Angel opened her eyes to see the sun's rays peeking thru some opening from the rain clouds above. It looked like the storm had just passed and a bright day is waiting ahead.
Angel tried to remember what happened and felt her body sore all over. She then remembered what happened before, and that made her sit up abruptly. Her body ached all over and it felt heavy. Her body is all covered with mud. She was lying at the side of the river where she can see debris of fallen trees going with the flow.
"Dimitri!" Angel realized that Dimitri was with her when she fell into the landslide.
Angel remembered when a big tree was rushing her way at full speed, it was Dimitri that pushed her out of the way. She remembered how he hugged her body tightly as if not wanting any harm to befall her. The last thing she remembers was them fall into the rushing water and being swept away with the strong flow.
"My lord! Where are you?!" Angel tried to push her heavy body to get up and look around. "My lord!"
'He must be just around here.' Angel thought. 'You should be safe, Dimitri.'
Angel was having a turmoil of emotions right now. She frantically searched at the river side, hoping to see Dimitri alive and well. After looking around with her heart thumping so hard inside her c.h.e.s.t, she saw Dimitri lying face down not far from where she woke up.
"My lord!" Angel started running to him. "My lord, my lord!" she tried calling out to him.
Angel pushed Dimitri to face up. She put her ears on his c.h.e.s.t and tried to hear his heartbeat.
"His heartbeat is weak. And he is not breathing." Angel felt alarmed. "No! Don't you die on me."
Angel started to pump his c.h.e.s.t and tried to revive him. She pumped air to his mouth using hers and then pumped his c.h.e.s.t in intervals.
"Come on, breathe!" Angel was getting hysterical. She cannot imagine Dimitri dying. "I still need to tell you something, please!"
After pumping air to Dimitri's mouth, he coughed out water. He was breathing easily now.
"A-Angel?" Dimitri said. He was blinking his eyes until he can see more clearly.
"Dimitri! Thank goodness." Angel said while tears started to fall from her eyes. "I should be the one protecting you. I am such an incompetent captain."
"Don't say that." Dimitri replied. "You are a person worth saving." He smiled to Angel but just made her cry more.
Dimitri was fl.u.s.tered seeing Angel cry out loud. He did not know what to do to console a crying lady. Then he remembered what Regaleon does whenever he sees Alicia cry. Dimitri was hesitant at first but then wrapped his arms around Angel and pulled her in an embrace. He started patting her back, trying to calm her down.
"Hush now." Dimitri said with a soothing voice. "I am alright now."
Angel's cries started to die down until it became light sobs. She was comforted with what Dimitri was doing.
"T-Thanks." Angel tried to pull away, but then Dimitri flinched.
"Ahh…" Dimitri flinched in pain.
"W-What is it?" Angel was startled when she saw Dimitri's face being in pain. She looked all over his body and saw some blood on his side.
Upon a more closer look, Angel saw a tree branch sticking on Dimitri's side. It looked quite nasty.
"Dimitri, you… you got injured!" Angel said.
"I probably got it from a tree or something." Dimitri replied.
"You got injured because of me, when I should be the one protecting you." Angel's tears started to come out again.
"Please don't cry." Dimitri wiped her tears with his fingers. "I cannot just see you get hurt in front of me. If this happens again, I will do what I did and save you. So do not blame yourself for this. Okay?"
"Hmm…" Angel wiped her tears away. "At least let me make first aid on your wound. Let us find a good spot first."
"Okay." Dimitri agreed.
Angel helped Dimitri up. His arms were wrapped around Angel's shoulder and helped him walk to a grassy side of the riverbanks. Angel gently laid Dimitri down.
"Wait here. I will find some wood to start some fire." Angel said.
Angel the ran towards the wooded area of the riverbanks. Many of the trees were either uprooted or cut because of the flash flood earlier, and all the trees were wet which will be hard to use to start a fire. But fortunately, Angel was a wind magic attribute user and has a little fire attribute.
"Welcome back." Dimitri greeted her with a smile.
Angel saw Dimitri's face filled with sweat, knowing that he was in pain. She felt a pang in her heart and moved swiftly to start a fire.
"Just hold on for a while, I will start a fire right away." Angel said.
Angel put the tree branches on the ground and used her wind magic to try and dry them. Once she knew they were nearly dry, she combined some fire magic and start a fire successfully. When she saw the fire burning, she smiled. She then quickly moved to Dimitri's side.
"I will pull the branch out and then close the wound with fire." Angel said. "This is the best I can do. Hopefully the others will find us, and you could have some medicine to prevent your wound from getting inflamed and infected."
"I understand." Dimitri nodded.
Angel held the branch that was sticking by Dimitri's side firmly. She took a deep breath and looked at him.
"Are you ready?" Angel asked with a serious face.
"Yes, I am ready." Dimitri nodded.
"Ahhh…" Dimitri flinched but was able to b.a.r.e the pain.
Angel then used a cloth that she tore from her own clothes and washed it by the river to put on the wound. Dimitri was in visible pain but was trying to hold it in. The cloth was stained with blood quickly and Angel knew she should act fast. She wiped away the blood and took a firewood from the fire she created and was about to use it to close the wound.
"Here I go." Angel said.
Ange put the fire off first and when the wood only had ambers left, she pushed it on the wound.
"Ahhhh…" Dimitri screamed in pain.
Angel was frightened that Dimitri could cut of his tongue from the pain and she just realized she had forgotten to give him something to chew on. Because of the situation, she offered her arm for Dimitri to bite on.
Dimitri was not in his right mind because of the pain and when he felt something being offered in his mouth, he just bit it. Angel flinched after feeling Dimitri's teeth sink on her flesh but did not mind the pain. Her love was in pain because of her and so she thought feeling this pain is a price she needs to take.