Single post in Shedding Strength: Lucille Aftermath -- [COMPLETED]

Gasping heavily, Lucille’s eyes jerked open to blended bright colors. Making sense of the mixing blurs and deafening sounds seemed impossible with all the pains plaguing her body. Hands pinned her shoulders to barely comfortable cushions as she fought to catch her breath. “…to calm down…” she barely heard a voice shout before a cool, damp air licked the fingers on her right hand. “It’s not…” another voice added as a loud buzzing gradually drowned it and all other sounds. The very familiar buzz explained the damp air working its way around Lucille’s hand. With a little focus, she pushed her fingers through the thick pressure of air into the chilly liquid beyond. She had only done this once before—accidentally—but the shiver that followed was unmistakable. Somehow, the orb was in her hand. Calming herself by envisioning the sea-blue, sparkling mist it contained, Lucille could vividly picture it seeping out of its faux-glass container and snaking up her arm while subduing aches and spiking pains as it crept. She tried keeping as still as possible as the Orb of Minva worked its restorative mojo, but Lucille hadn’t gotten a handle on her labored breathing yet. Parts of her body shuddered uncontrollably. This was worse than before. She couldn’t trick her mind into focusing on anything other than the various pains throughout her body… or why she felt so terribly beaten up. Her head throbbed. Still, the orb pressed on. She would too. She had to remember something that made sense. Through the migraine, she rewound jumbled thoughts and zeroed in on waiting outside the high school. The spotty memories skipped ahead to a brief image of a beach that was quickly replaced by rapidly spiraling greenery and light. Agonizing screams echoed throughout so badly that she couldn’t take it anymore. The orb’s cool mist reached her head, relaxing her frantic thoughts as well as the plaguing migraine. The buzz, now a soothing hum, eased the panic and helped slow her breathing and pounding heart. Lucille parted her eyelids, her vision considerably clearer than before if the fluorescent lights above were any indication. The thin mist swam in and out of view as it worked its way back and forth across the rest of her body. “It’s working!” she heard a feminine voice shout. Lucille rolled her head aside quick enough to glimpse a mop of dark hair flee the room while shouting, “I’ll use the other one on Rondrio!” Rondrio was here too? It probably wasn’t a smart move, but Lucille sat up and wondered aloud, “Was I fighting?” She quickly scanned her mist-covered body before noticing her sister Pilar and a pair of shocked nurses at her hospital bedside. A quick glance and she spotted Valeria and Kaia, unconscious in two of the other three beds in the room, connected to monitors that beeped as loudly and rapidly as hers. Lucille felt a heavy, concerned frown come over her as the words left her lips. “How did we get here?”