The Soldier and the Siren

by JesterintheNight

New Days

A lonely girl said to no one, bringing her knees to her chest and setting her crossed arms on them in a weak form of defiance. Looking out around her, she would see nothing but the loneliness of her own dreams. It had been like this for a while, ever since her own sisters abandoned her…

“It’s all your fault!” One of her sisters cried out from nowhere. This caused Sonata to flinch. She had heard this over and over whenever she would sleep at nights. They would always blame her whenever things went wrong. Constantly screaming at her, like she was a child. Like her whole existence was nothing but an inconvenience to them…

“No… I did what you told me…” It was true, she did everything they told her. She helped trick Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, the whole school, the Rainbooms, she played her part in the plan. Sure, she was an airhead, and sometimes didn’t get sarcasm. Or didn’t know when people were talking about her, but she did what she was told…

A young man walked over to the sleeping siren with a small tray of items, which he set on the bedside table. Bandages, vials of various painkillers, an empty syringe, scissors, almost enough medical equipment to start a small pharmacy. He even had an IV bag on the tray. He picked it up and checked the expiration date on the bag for a moment.

“Time, 1010. Unknown patient.” He calmly said to no one, though his words caused a small stir from the sleeping siren. It was enough for him to notice, but he soon returned his attention to the bag in his hands. Placing it on a small hook he had hung up a few hours ago for just this purpose.

“Good, hooks strong.” Confirming this he grasped the bag and attached a small length of tubing with practiced hands. He released the bag and let it hang there. He went to pick up a small needle from the tray with an attachment made for the IV tubing and quickly put the final piece together.

“Need alcohol.” Whispering to himself, his eyes scanned the tray seeing that he had forgot it. With a slightly annoyed expression he walked to a nearby medicine cabinet that was attached to the wall closest to the only exit. Opening it up, he quickly found the box of alcohol pads as they were the only things in the cabinet that needed a box.

He opened the box up to take a few pads out, and then set it back in the cabinet. Tearing one of the small packets open he carefully pinched the pad inside, rubbed it between his two fingers to clean them, and stuck the other unopened pads in his pocket. He then returned to the girl taking up his only bed and cleaned the needle with little difficulty. He also wiped down the area around her good arm where he would insert the IV needle, while her other arm was carefully wrapped around the shoulder area.

“Might hurt.” He said to the sleeping girl, his steady hand held the needle an inch away from her vein. His free hand carefully held her arm down just in case she woke up. But as he inserted the needle, he learned it was unnecessary as she didn’t even move a muscle. The exhaustion must have been worse than he was led to believe.

“Might be homeless.” He figured as much, as he had seen her slightly emaciated stomach. Lack of food, proper care, and hydration. He was all too familiar with the signs of starvation, though the signs seemed too recent for her to have grown up homeless. His eyes turned away from her arm while he carefully moved the blanket that covered the rest of her body.

Pulling a chair up to her bedside he sat down, his eyes locked on her sleeping face. “What to do?” He silently said, unsure of what to do with her. He didn’t even know her name, during his search of her person all he found were strange gem shards. He couldn’t figure out what they were, they weren’t rubies, or a broken red diamond.

Tearing his eyes from her peaceful face and turning to the bedside table right above the surgical tray. It was there that the shards rested, though he didn’t know what they were he felt a strange sensation when holding one of the shards. Like a pulsing that almost reminded him of a small heartbeat. As he reached for a shard piece, a small stir from his guest caused him to freeze for a moment, before lowering his hand back to his lap.

“Hm?..” She hums softly, her almost raspberry color eyes look weak as she opened them slowly. He remained quiet as he watched her, easily able to see the confusion blatantly written all over her face. But he waited patiently for her to adjust, after all she had been attacked by dogs a day ago. And… he did almost leave her for dead in an alleyway…

“W-Wher-” She tried to speak only for him to cut her off. “My bed” He stated, Sonata’s eyes moved to him quickly. Her confusion was now replaced with a new look, a look he knew very well. It was fear, which he understood why. After all, a strange man was sitting beside her, and said she was in his bed.

“W-Who are you?” She asked nervously. He thought about his answer for a moment before answering in a calm tone, so not to freak her out. “Red Moon, you?” Red asked reversing her question back on her.

“S-Sonata…Dusk.” A hint of suspicion now in her voice. Red nodded briefly before looking at the tray on the table. “Do you have any allergies?” He asked as confusion once again took over her features. She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head weakly.

“Good, makes this easier.” Sitting up a bit to straighten himself, he reached for a vial. Reading ‘Morphine’ on the label, strongest dosage he had at his disposal. He took the syringe and carefully stabbed it into the vial before he turned them both upside down so that no air would go into the syringe. Using his thumb, he carefully pulled the clear liquid into the syringe.

“W-What’s that for?” Sonata asked. Not bothering to even look at her he answered. “Morphine, numbs the pain.” Sonata looked a bit confused at him “Whose pain?” She asked, as he pulled the syringe from the vial he gently pushed some of the morphine out so no air would enter the young lady.

“Yours” As he turned to face her, her eyes widened in panic as she figured out what he meant. “N-N-N-NO I DON’T LIKE NEEDLES!” She screamed out as she began to pull at the IV tubing in her arm. Visibly flinching at the pain, Red blinked a bit confused at her reaction. As she pulled at the tubing that led to the IV bag, it slipped off the hook and fell to the floor.

“Hey!” Red shouted, suddenly becoming annoyed with the girl. Stepping toward her his foot stepped on the IV bag, which under his weight, popped effortlessly. Splashing the fluid all over the floor, looking down was the last thing he did before his foot slipped under the bed. His other foot slipped backwards resulting in a full split, while his chest slammed into the bed. His head on the other hand slammed into Sonata’s.

“OW!” She cried out in pain while the arm with the IV tubing still in it moved to her head to rub the impact spot several times. She turned to look at Red and make sure he was okay but found him just staring at her. Sonata lowered her hand as a faint pink hue pulled at her cheeks in embarrassment, she could see his forehead was bright red from colliding with her.

“A-Are you okay?” She asked, Red closed his eyes taking a deep breath. Calmly he exhaled before pulling his hand up from his side to reveal an empty syringe. Sonata stared at it for a moment, she remembered that it had been full before. Hence her panic, then where did it go?

“…Oops..” She whispered as she figured out where it went, opening his eyes finally he set the empty syringe on the bedside table. He then pulled his leg out from under the bed, so he could get to his feet. As he fully stood up, his legs started to shake badly. He grabbed the chair he had been sitting for support before he turned his head to look at her.

“Thanks… a lot…” He said in a slightly dark and annoyed tone, Sonata turned a bit away from him pretending nothing had happened. Letting out a light sigh, he sat himself back down in his chair as he couldn’t move away without dragging himself.

The two of them sat in silence for a while. Sonata didn’t really know what to say. She accidentally stabbed the young man who introduced himself as ‘Red Moon’. Though she could swear she saw him from somewhere before though she was drawing a blank as to where.

In fact, how had she gotten there to begin with? The last thing she could remember was trying to stay awake in the alleyway, dropping her last bit of food in the snow, and... growling? As if on cue Red spoke to her, his annoyed tone from before gone.

“Confused?” He asked. Sonata turned to him nodding once. “Attacked by dogs, happened to be walking by. Saved you.” He answered her, although now she was confused by how he answered. It was short, sweet, and to the point. It was almost like he didn’t want to talk at all unless necessary, which brought a small frown to her lips.

‘First person to finally talk to me, and he acts like I’m the worst.’ Sonata thought. She almost wanted to cross her arms like she was having one of her petty arguments with her sisters. At least they wanted to talk her, well even though it was more of fighting then talking. It was something, unlike what her silent savior was offering.

While she had been lost in thought, Red had managed without the use of his legs to set up a new IV bag since he had two extra on the tray from before. He had even cleaned the IV tubing with the spare pads in his pocket before he reattached the tubing. That way the fluid could once again flow into her arm. Though he couldn’t clean the syringe with the pads since it had stuck him. He needed to order some more since it was the last one in his supply cache.

He grabbed one of the bottles of Ibuprofen, even though it wasn’t his first choice, it would help her relax a little. Taking two pills from the bottle he set them on the tray and looked around for some water.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be across the room. Sighing lightly he pressed down on floor with his legs to find that the wobbly effect from the morphine was, thankfully, gone. He could only assume that the needle from the syringe just managed to hit the muscle wrong. Standing up he moved to the dresser, it was here he left some food, though it was in strange sealed packages, and several bottles of water.

Taking one of them from the stash he turned back to Sonata whose eyes were locked on him. Actually, they were looking past him, glancing back he quickly discovered what she was looking at. The food, taking one of the packages he returns to her side.

“Hungry?” He asks taking his seat back, nodding once to his question he began to open the package in his hands. “What’s that?” He looked at the side of the package, it read ‘Beef Stew’ though he doubted that was what she wanted to know.

“MRE, Meals Ready to Eat. Full of calories to keep you going.” He answered, Sonata was a little surprised. That was the longest thing Red had said to her so far. Watching him as he opened the package she could feel her own hunger growing more and more, if that was even possible. He took out a small box from the package, and opened it to reveal a small olive drab colored package. When he tore the top of it off the aroma of the beef reached her nose. Smiling a bit at the idea of getting a meal in her, she tried to sit up.

But she came to a stop as her bad shoulder began throbbing with pain. Gritting her teeth in frustration she tried to look at her injury. “Don’t move, shoulder was dislocated. Had to force it back in.” He said casually, setting the package of food on the bedside table along with the rest of it.

He then took the ibuprofen from the table, moving from the chair to the bed he sat down on the edge. Making sure to avoid the IV tubing, he brought the pills to her lips which she stared at for a moment.

“Open.” He ordered. Normally she’d resist someone’s help like this. But, it was slightly nice to have someone take care of her after so long. Parting her lips a bit he carefully slipped the pills between her blue lips. He then picked up the water he had set aside, opened it up and threw the cap on the bedside table. Adjusting himself he carefully put his free hand behind her head.

“What are you doing?” She asked, her words slightly messy thanks to the chalky tasting pills on her tongue. She could feel his fingers combing through her slightly dirty hair till he had a decent grasp on the back of her skull, it brought a soft blush to her light blue cheeks. Carefully he lifted her head up so she was better positioned, then brought the bottle of water to her lips.

“It will help with the pain.” He said, his normal calm tone was different this time. Sonata couldn’t place her finger on it but it seemed to have a caring quality to it, which made her wonder if it was a slip up. But deciding against saying anything she carefully began sipping at the water. The cool liquid almost hurt. Which didn’t help when the pills went down her throat either, as it felt itchy.

But soon enough it slid down her throat after a few more sips of water, and he carefully set her head back down on the pillow. He then set the bottle of water on the bedside table, picking up the food this time. His other hand slipped into the main package taking out a plastic spoon that was wrapped in plastic.

He bit into one end of the plastic wrap, ripping it off in a swift motion. Slipping the spoon out of the wrapper he stuck it in the food, he then paused for the moment looking her over. It wouldn’t be possible to hold her head, hold the food, and spoon feed her. Standing up from the bed he slips under the tubing of the IV to get behind the hurt siren.

“Dusk, work with me.” He said, he slipped one hand under her back. “W-What are you doing!?” She shouted, her face turning slightly pink but she didn’t fight him like before. Mostly because there wasn’t a needle involved, just him trying to help her. As he lifted her up, he slipped behind her to sit down. His legs dangled off the edge of the bed so that her head could rest on his lap, as he settled her down onto his lap.

He took notice of her red face, which stuck out pretty badly with her light blue cheeks. “Don’t be nervous, not going to do anything inappropriate.” He said, though that wasn’t what Sonata was embarrassed about. Even she knew a girl resting their head on a boy’s lap was something reserved for couples, and he was about to feed her no less.

It was like something from a bad romance anime, did that make her a tsundere in this case? No that was more like her sister Aria, Sonata just never had anyone this close to her. Aside from her sisters, normally Adagio was the one to get close to guys to use them as puppets. While Sonata just stayed as far away as she was told…

“Come on, eat.” Red said, snapping her out of her little day dreams. He was holding the spoon with what looked almost like cat food, though it sure smelled more appetizing than cat food. Opening her mouth fully he carefully stuck the spoon in her mouth, which he pulled out quickly as she began to chew slowly.

‘It isn’t half bad for cat food’ She thought, a small smile came to her lips. She giggled softly to herself earning a slightly curious look from the young man who brought another spoonful of food to her goofy smiling lips. He was about to question her, but decided against it… He’d let her be happy…