It Ain't Gold that Dazzles

by Gyro Steambass

She Made The Cut, But Not The One She Would've Liked

It was sunday again, which usually was Blackjack’s day off, but he instead decided to help Adagio practice some more. After all, she was eventually going to have to help him prepare his products. And she was definitely getting better at it, but she also needed to get faster. If she could make the primary cuts almost as fast as he could, it would save him a lot of time. Because usually he had to do both the primary and secondary cuts. But if she’s doing the primary cuts, that would mean he could make the secondary cuts in the meantime.

But there was a slight problem. Adagio was getting bored. She was improving and was improving faster than both of them expected, but it was just the same over and over again.

Her thoughts started to stray back to her sisters, but she tried to shake those thoughts away. It was a lot harder than she would’ve liked. It frustrated her.

‘Why did they get a job in Canterlot?’ She thought to herself. ‘Why not me?’

Thunk it went, as she started cutting harder.

‘Why did they leave me?’ She started cutting faster, paying less and less attention. ‘Weren’t we like sisters?’

Tears were slowly rolling down her cheeks, her swings becoming less and less precise.

‘Why did I have to get to this stupid sh-’

Schk

She froze. It got awfully quiet after that sound, as both of them stopped what they were doing. For a few moments, time seemed to stand still. She looked down at where the sound came from, blinking slowly. It was yellow and red. But something was missing.

Plip Plop

Something was dripping, but she kept looking at it.

“Adagio?” Jack asked quietly, sounding concerned.

“Yes?” Her voice was shaky, her brain having only partially realized what had happened.

“What did you do?”

“I-I...” she swallowed. Her hands started shaking. Her vision was blurring. It started to hurt. She dropped the cleaver, letting it hit the floor with a resounding clang. She grabbed the wrist of her right hand. It hurt a lot. “I c-cut m-m-myself...” Blood started flowing faster.

Jack got up quickly and suddenly, knocking over his chair as he seemed to teleport over to her. She didn’t look at him. She was too focused on the fact that one of her fingers was lying on the meat she was supposed to cut.

“Fuck.” She heard him mumble. “Keep pressure on your hand. It’ll make it bleed less.” He then quickly walked to a small closet on the wall above the sink, taking out a first aid kit.

Tears were flowing down her face when he got back. He made her sit down and grabbed her hand.

“Okay, this is going to sting a lot, but we need to clean it before we can get some help.” Before she could even open her mouth, he had already started putting the alcohol on the finger. And it hurt. She barely managed to bite back a scream. The pain she felt from cutting herself wasn’t actually that bad compared to this.

“Seems like the bleeding is slowing down.” Jack mumbled, already applying some gauze, wrapping it tightly around her finger. He then got up again, taking the cut of finger and walking towards the small closet again. He started cleaning of the grime from the finger.

“W-what are you doing?” She asked, wondering what he was gonna do with her finger. After grabbing some plastic bags he opened the door to the kitchen and took some cooler pads out of the fridge.

“I’m trying to keep it cold and clean.” He put the finger in the plastic bag, along with the pads. He walked back to her, motioning for her to follow. “Maybe they can reattach it, but don’t get your hopes up.”

---

“This is going to sound cliche, but I’ve got bad news and good news.” It was the same doctor as before. Apparently he worked at both the police office and at the hospital. He seemed to skim through the papers quickly, one bored green eye quickly peeking through the yellow hair for a short moment. “The good news? No infections and it should heal pretty quickly.”

“And the bad news?” Jack asked. Adagio wished the doctor had started with the bad news. Ending with the bad news is never fun.

“We can’t reattach your index finger.” There it is.

“Why?” Her voice was calmer than she actually felt. The doctor walked over to the table next to her and lifted up the bag holding the finger.

“It’s cuz you managed to cut at the joint and at a slight angle.” He said, pointing at the end with the cut. “We could’ve reattached it if you had cut at any other point and it would’ve been fine. But the thing with joints is that they’re a lot more delicate, which in this case means that the joint got shattered.” He put the finger back down and sighed. “If we reattached it, it wouldn’t heal right and it probably would just end up more worse than if we left it like this. ‘Sides,” he said, shrugging. “You only cut of the top part. Most probably won’t even notice you’re missing a part of your finger.”

“But I will...” she whispered, staring at said finger, it being covered in bandages. It still hurt a little, even with painkillers. At least the operation was quick and not that painful.

“Yep. But you’ll get over it.” She gave him a harsh glare for that. “What? It’s true. Unless ya let it bother you for the rest of your life, you’ll get over it.”

She huffed. “Doesn’t mean you have to be so blunt about it.” She crossed her arms, wincing at the slight pain of brushing her finger across her shirt.

“I kinda stopped caring about not being blunt.” He picked up his notepad, and walked away. “Didn’t really see the point in it. Have a nice day.”

“Sure, you to.” She said halfheartedly. She got of the bed and walked out the room, Jack following her.

---

During their walk back home, Jack’s silence was beginning to bother her. When they got to the front door of the butchery, she stopped and suddenly turned, giving him a light glare and putting her hands on her hips.

“Spill it.” The tone in her voice left no room for discussion, which made him and his thoughts stop in their tracks. He would never get used to how she managed to talk like that to him. He could probably snap her in half if he tried, yet she talked to him like she could snap him in half.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t give me that. You’ve been quiet ever since the doctor gave us the bad news.” She crossed her arms, her glare letting up. “Are you seriously blaming yourself?”

“...” He didn’t look at her, but his silence said enough.

“Oh my god. You are.” She sighed, using her left to pinch the bridge of her nose, as to not aggravate her injury. “Can you tell me why on earth you are blaming yourself for something I did?”

“I-” He sighed. “I should have taught you more about safety.” He scratched the back of his head, looking to the side.

‘A nervous tic, hm?’ She sighed. “You want to know why I ended up cutting myself?” She didn’t wait for a response. “I was thinking about my sisters. About how I messed up. It...” She bit her lip and looked away as well, willing her tears away. “It made me mad and I lost focus. That’s why.” She looked back, Jack’s shoulders in a more relaxed position. He still looked concerned.

“Still feels like I messed up though...” He mumbled.

“Come on Jack.” She walked up to him, giving him a slight smirk. “I’m not stupid. I know how to handle myself around knifes, I just got distracted and it cost me. Now stop being an idiot and unlock the door.”

He stared down at her for a few seconds, studying her face. He then chuckled. He decided that he didn’t mind someone besides Chrysalis having the guts to stand up to him. It was refreshing. “You sure are a weird little lady, ya know.”

Her smirk got wider. “Says the giant.”

“Fair enough.”

Author's Note:

Soooo... It's been a while. And not just a short while. But I'm back! Why? SUMMER VACATION! And during said vacation I'll be trying to write as much as I can think of.

Comments

[BronyGal]

Hope you've been enjoying your break. It's great to see the story active again too.

[Gyro Steambass]

8274938
Let's hope I can keep it active. :P