Chapter 162

162 Risky Experiment

***THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS 18+ CONTENT. LANGUAGE, BLOOD, GORE. VIEWERS DISCRETION ADVISED***

“What the Hell are you doing to my wife?!” Tidas’ voice was so loud it made some specimen jars on a shelf rattle.

Doctor Gohan stared at the prince unflinchingly; “I would appreciate you keeping your voice down in the medical ward my friend. There’s sick and recovering people here-”

Tidas was now near the table where Skye’s bloody hand lay sprawled; “Oh, don’t give me that bullshit, Tien! Why are you smashing Skye’s hand?!”

Lawrence stood off to the side of his younger brother, near the end of Skye’s bed; “This is kind of crazy, doc..”

Doctor Gohan shifted his view to the foreign king; “Resetting broken bones after they’ve healed incorrectly is common. Skye’s hands healed wrong, so we’re rebreaking them. I don’t see why you to are so shocked.”

Tidas’ face twisted with frustration and anger; “Not with a Damn mallet!”

Tien shrugged, “It was convenient.”

“We’re re-breakin’ me hand so I can heal it properly! I didn’t do it correctly the first time, so this is what needs to be done to fix it! Now everybody Back Off, and let the doctor finish his job! This Fucking Hurts! And I want it done NOW!”

.....

All three men jumped as Skye’s harsh language. She rarely ever cursed except to punctuate a point. Her face was still beet red, and sweat and tears streamed down her face. Her breathing was hard, loud, and ragged.

Tidas’ heart ached to see his wife in such a state. He wanted to scream and punch Tien in his placid face. At the very least, he should’ve sent someone to tell the prince that his wife was in the medical ward. If he hadn’t of had a question for him, then Tidas may never have known about what his wife was going through now.

Skye looked to the doctor, who was surprised that the petite woman’s voice had startled him. She was didn’t seem like the type to use such language lightly. Any idiot with half a brain could see that what they were doing wasn’t a particularly good idea, but the princess had insisted.

Skye didn’t want to schedule a surgery, or even have Dr. Gohan open her hands up for her. She wanted nothing that would require paperwork or the king’s knowledge. Everything medical the doctors or nurses did had to be documented. Marco was extremely vigilant about the kingdom’s finances. Every penny needed to be accounted for.

If Marco came across paperwork with Skye’s name on it, pertaining to a surgery in any way, he would most likely notify Magnus of it. Then the king would have an excuse to deny her participation in the Mage Trials. She also hadn’t wanted her husband to find out and cause him to worry, but that hadn’t have worked out.

Tien had always seen Tidas as a rational person. He was highly intelligent, even as a child. His reaction to seeing his wife’s state was completely understandable; anyone would rightfully flip out if they walked in to a room and saw what he saw. But instead of blowing up further, Tidas took a deep breath before he calmly spoke to his wife.

“I can’t say that I understand why you’re going about it this way, but I do trust Tien. If he agreed to do this, then he must believe you can fix yourself.. We’ll talk about you not telling me anything about this later..”

Tidas turned towards the doctor; “I came down because I needed more details for your D&R request. I’ll wait out in the hall until you two are done.. I don’t want to see this.”

Without waiting for an answer, the prince turned about on his heel, and left the room. Lawrence apologized again, then followed after his brother to try and calm his ire. After he shut the door, Skye’s breathing became much more labored; like she’d been holding back, which Tien knew she was.

Skye could tell that her husband was boarderline furious with her, but now wasn’t the time to worry about it. Skye was barely keeping her pain in check as blood pooled around her hand on the table. Slivers of bone poked out in random places, adding to the grotesque sight.

Right as the doctor readied the mallet to swing, the nurses came into the room. The younger one named Nora gasped with horror at the sight of Skye’s mangled hand. The older one named Helen put her hand on her hips and glared at the doctor, reminding Skye of Peggy for a moment.

“What is going on here?! This is not proper procedure in any way!”

The doctor simply looked at the nurses and said; “This isn’t a procedure, this is a friend helping out another. Now, what did you bring the princess for food?”

The two nurses glanced at each other in confusion before Helen replied; “We brought her some lemon garlic mackerel with seasoned green beans, two slices of bread, a cup of broth, and a large cup of chilled milk.”

The doctor smiled; “Excellent. Leave the tray here, and go grab another meal. The princess is a magic user, after all. This will barely count as a snack for her, and she’ll need plenty of energy for what we’re doing.”

The two nurses exchanged hesitant expressions before looking at Skye for conformation. When she nodded in the positive, the two women left. The doctor turned and looked at Skye with amusement on his face. When the princess asked about it, he replied; “I just think it’s funny that everyone seems to need your approval to leave the room, that’s all.. Like they think this was my idea.”

*****

Dr. Gohan had refused Skye at first. He hadn’t wanted to go along with the princess’ crazy plan. After he’d explained how osteoblasts worked, she asked him all kinds of questions about what foods had calcium and collagen in them. After a little back and forth, he’d finally asked her why she wanted to know such random things.

“I can’t let ye fix me doc, sorry. I can’t have anyone else knowin’ that I was even here that doesn’t already know. I believe I can fix me self after I learn what I need. Thanks to me Earth trait, I should be able to extract what I need from food and other sources, and use them to reinforce me healing.”

Tien was shocked to learn about Skye’s other two traits. He hardly ever listened to gossip, so he barely knew anything about Skye aside for her childhood. The Shaman trait she possessed was similar to his, but far more advanced. Skye could break things down to a molecular level if she wanted to; with proper training. As she explained how she would infuse the materials into herself, the doctor found her plan both ingenious and psychotic.

Trying to keep her calm, the doctor explained to her how much less pain she’d suffer if she would go with the surgery instead. Skye had told him of her situation pertaining to the Mage Trials as he’d prepared the table to smash her hand. She told him of how the king would use her hand against her, to get her to drop out of the trials.

Skye had also explained that she knew the king’s concern came from a place of kindness and love. She didn’t tell the doctor or the king about her dreams, just that she needed to stand by her husband’s side; wherever he went. Joining the Royal Mages Corp would allow her to do that.

Tien sighed heavily as he grabbed and laid towels on the floor under the table while still trying to convince her; “That’s only if you rank high enough, my dear. Anyone below a general is subject to their unit placement. Aside from the two MacArthurs, no one has ever achieved a high enough score to rank.”

Skye quirked an eyebrow as she spread her hand out on the table; “The ‘two’ MacArthurs? What other MacArthur did as well as Tidas?”

Dr. Gohan grinned as he walked over to a tool box, and grabbed the mallet; “Tidas’ great, great grandfather: Tiberius.”

Skye sat in contemplation a moment before her eyes lit up in remembrance; “That’s right! Maevis told me a wee bit about him..”

Not hearing the princess’ ramble, Tien asked a final time; “Are you Sure I can’t convince you to have a proper surgery.. With anesthesia?”

Skye didn’t hesitate; “I can do it me self if ye prefer, doc.”

“Tien, please.. And I can be assured that if something goes wrong, you or your husband won’t hold me accountable?”

Skye spread her fingers out on the small table the doctor had set up; “Tien... The point of this is so the king and me husband Never find out about this..”

Tien moved to the side of the table that Skye had sprawled her hand out on with a defeated expression; “Alright then.. I believe we have everything we need until the nurses get back.. Are you ready, or should we wait for them?”

Skye automatically shook her head in the negative; “No, we can start now. It shouldn’t take that long to get down to the kitchen and back. This way, hopefully, most of the gross part will be over before they get back.”

Dr. Gohan nodded with worry in his eyes. This entire thing went against his conscience, and made him extremely uncomfortable. If Skye wasn’t so Adamant about it, he would simply refuse. The determination in her eyes from earlier had convinced him that even if he turned her down, she would still go through with it herself. At least this way, he was there if something went wrong.

*****

Skye forced herself to focus on the doctor’s words as she struggled through her pain; “Alright I’m going to continue now..”

Skye strained not to cry out as she spoke; “No offense Tien, but about Bloody time!”

The doctor slammed the heavy mallet down several times in quick succession. Attempting to minimize the length of time and amount of pain Skye was in. She bit down on the blanket that was on her bed in an effort to stifle her screams, but fabric only went so far. As Tien pummeled her hand, Skye tried to keep in mind the pain she’d felt at the hot spring.

The princess thought that if she could keep the memory of that pain in the back of her mind, then her current pain wouldn’t seem so bad. It worked a little, but pain was pain. She could feel all of her bone fragments being crushed and grinding against one another. She could feel every pierce of her skin. The pain was making her want to pass out, she was so overwhelmed by it.

The moment he finished smashing up the princess’ hand, Dr. Gohan poured the broth on top of it. Skye screamed out, but it’d been mostly muffled by the blanket. The broth at the palace was made from the leftover bones. It gave the broth a much heartier flavor, and doing so also softened them up for the dogs.

It was hot, but Skye could immediately sense all the vitamins and minerals within the broth. She separated out anything that wasn’t useful for reconstructing her hand. The damage to her arms and other hand was not nearly as bad as her left, which was also her dominant hand. If their little experiment didn’t work, there was no way Skye would be able to join the RMC...