A Black Belt in a Colorful Land

by DismantledAccount

Chapter 13: Homecoming Part 2

Chapter 13: Homecoming Part 2

One Second Later...

"Well?" asked Alexander, looking over at her, or more specifically, over her head.

"It's me, Ditzy, don't you recognize me?" she said, taking a precautionary step backward.

He seemed to relax slightly after hearing her name but he still kept the knife pointed in her direction. "What are you doing here?" he asked, "Going to bring me back to my cell?"

"Well actually, I live here. So I could ask you the same thing," said Ditzy, noticing the way his eyes never seemed to focus on her face. That's funny, he always looked me in the eye before, well, except for when he was staring at my rump.

"You live here?" he asked, seeming slightly surprised. "You seem to have really let the place go."

Ditzy decided to try something and instead of answering, just nodded silently and side stepped a hoof to her left. Alexander's eyes didn't follow her as she moved, leading her one conclusion.

I should put this as delicately as possible. "Are you blind?" she asked. That could have come out better...

Alexander quickly shifted his eyes and knife to point at her again. "Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked.

She tapped the side of her head and said, "From one visually impaired to another, it's easy to tell."

"I'm fine," he said curtly.

"Are you sure? You don't look so good," Ditzy said, stepping a bit closer.

"I'm fine," he said, the knife shaking in his hand.

"Then why haven't you left yet?" she asked.

"Because It's comfortable here," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Can you even stand?" she asked, stepping closer to his hind leg noticing the wet looking spot on his pant leg below the snake.

"What are you talking about?" he said defensively.

"You haven't even moved the entire time we have been talking, and your pant leg is a brownish color," said Ditzy, stopping just out of knife range. I hope...

He chuckled quietly for a few minutes before responding, "You're very observant, you know that?"

"So, are you going to let me help you, or not?" she asked.

"And why would you help the 'evil monster' that has done nothing but damage things and mercilessly tease you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because you're in my house, and everypony else who would help you is looking for you in the Everfree," she responded. I just remembered that Twilight wanted me to join her and her friends in the forest to look for Alexander, and it looks like that's not going to happen... Oops. "So can you please put the knife away? I'm not going to hurt you," she said soothingly.

"The knife stays, but you can take a look at my leg," said Alexander, placing the blade across his chest instead of pointing it at her.

Ditzy walked closer to his left hind leg, literally keeping an eye on the knife. She gently peeled back his pant leg to expose his leg and almost vomited at the sight of it.

"What happened?" she choked out.

"I got bit by this snake," he said, motioning to the snake tied around his leg. "So, how does it look, doc? Because it feels like it is on fire," he said, his smile looking more like a grimace than a smile.

"I... I'm not a doctor -or a hyuman specialist- but that doesn't look healthy..." she said, regretting her decision to help him.

"Describe it to me," he commanded.

"I don't know if I can..." she said, horrified at how disfigured his leg was.

"I can tell you how to treat it if you describe it to me. So describe it," he said forcefully.

"I... I'll try," said Ditzy, steeling herself. It's bad enough looking at it, but describing it will be even worse. "Well, here it goes... All of the skin around the bite for about three inches is... not there anymore, and your muscle is showing and twitching and bleeding blood everywhere, blood bleeding blood everywhe -murmph-" Ditzy ran out of the room clutching her muzzle in one hoof. She made it into kitchen just in time to throw up into the sink.

"Are you okay in there?" Alexander called out over the sound of her retching.

Ditzy rinsed the taste of vomit out if her mouth with water before responding. "I... I... think so," she said, shuddering with revulsion. She walked back into her living room to find that Alexander had still not moved. "I'm back," she said, not looking at the blood everywhere all over his leg and the floor and - No! Stop thinking about it you'll only make it worse.

"Better?" he asked.

"No," she replied truthfully.

He gave a short laugh and asked, "Then how is it when you bandaged my arm up earlier you didn't react like that?"

"That was a lot different, there was hardly anything to see because your fur covered it. But this... is... I don't even know. How aren't you crying, or something?"

He smiled grimly and said, "That is a very good question, isn't it? I'll need you to get a few items for me, can you do that?"

"I think so, what do you need me to get for you?" she asked.

"Are there any other complications that you didn't get to tell me before you lost your lunch?" he asked, seeming deep in thought.

"Nope, that's it," she said, closing her roving left eye that had ended up looking at Alexander's leg.

"In that case I'll need some: warm water, alcohol, a sterile cloth bigger than the hole in my skin, and a strip of cloth long enough to tie around my shin," he said, resting the back of his head against the foreleg rest of the couch.

"Got it," said Ditzy, running upstairs to her bathroom. Water, alcohol, bandage, cloth. Water, alcohol, bandage, cloth. She got a small bucket and filled it up with water from the tub faucet while she collected the other items. She had to make two trips but she got all of the requested items to her living room. "Done. What's next? she asked. I really hope I don't have to get close to his leg again...

"Now I need you to stand next to my leg and gently pour the water onto my leg, but not the wound."

Ponyfeathers. "Like this?" she asked, doing as instructed while looking at his injury as little as possible.

"Perfect," he said, wincing.

"Alright, now what?" she said, emptying the bucket and creating a huge bloody mess on the carpet.

"Now pour the alcohol directly on the wound," he said.

"How much?" she asked.

"All of it," he said without hesitation.

Dear Celestia he can't be serious. "Are you crazy!?" she exclaimed.

"Do it, or I will." he commanded.

Ditzy closed her eyes and slowly drenched Alexander's leg in the burning liquid. She could hear him groaning and hissing in pain but he didn't tell her to stop so she kept going until she could feel that the bottle was empty. "Now what?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Put on the bandage," he grunted, still appearing to be in extreme pain.

"I couldn't find a bandage that big. Will this clean towel do?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, that's fine, just put it on and tie it tightly," he said, wincing as she tied the makeshift bandage down with one of her winter scarves.

"Good," he said, starting to sound groggy, "And now I need any extra blankets you have, otherwise I could go into shock from the blood loss and die anyway."

"After all that work?" she asked, incredulously.

"Yes. Now please, the blankets."

"Oh, right," she said running upstairs to her bedroom. She grabbed all the blankets from her bed and ran back downstairs. Extra blankets? Yeah, right. I wish.

She ran back down stairs and spread the blankets over Alexander. "Anything else?" she asked, sincerely hoping not. I didn't sign up for this! I thought he had a scratch or more Poison Joke or something not... this.

"Yes, I need you to talk to me for as long as possible before I fall asleep."

Wait what? "What do you need me to do?" Ditzy asked, more than mildly confused over the sudden shift from near surgery to conversation.

"Just keep talking with me. The longer I stay awake the better chance I have of waking up in the morning. But once I fall asleep you probably won't be able to wake me up, so either I'll wake up or be dead in the morning," he stated.

She shivered at the cold and emotionless tone before responding, "Okay then... Ummmmmm... I can see the snake is what caused your leg to get like that... But, how did you go blind?"

"It has to be from the snake, there is no other explanation. Apparently it has a highly acidic, blinding venom. My guess is that this snake of absurd colors would probably be a very effective hunter of large beasts," he said adjusting his blankets. "I gave up trying to explain how it happened before I started."

"Are you a doctor? Because you seem really smart." she asked.

He gave a grim smile before responding, "No, not a doctor. I'm just skilled in keeping myself alive," he said weakly. "And in order to do that, one has to know the body intimately," he said, with a suggestive wink aimed over her right shoulder.

"Why do you keep teasing me like that? Its not funny," said Ditzy, blushing slightly and stamping her hoof on the floor to accentuate her sentence.

"I just can't resist, your blush is just," -he yawned widely- "so freaking... adorable... I don't even have to see you to know you're blushing... And on the contrary, I find it quite funny..." Alexander closed his eyes and laid his head back. "Oh, by the way, Alex says thank you..."

Huh? That's not an answer. And who is this Alex? "Hello? Hello? Alexander?" I guess he fell asleep. I hope he was awake long enough to wake up in the morning, she thought, walking wearily up to her room and collapsing on her bed. It would be terrible if he didn't make... No! I won't think like that, he will wake up in the morning. She pulled her pillow out of its case and set it on the bed next to her. She then crawled into her pillowcase and curled up in a small bundle and started shivering from the horrors she had committed to Alexander's leg. "First Bane, and then Alexander. Why can't I just have normal days," she choked out, before crying herself to sleep.

Author's Note:

I don't know about anyone else but I find the thought of Ditzy using a pillowcase as a sleeping bag really, really cute. Do you know if there is a picture of it somewhere out there?

Comments

[Sethi]

Poor Derpy, Alex got courage, lot's, it'll be funny to see moar

[Sethi]

Ditzy sleeping on a makeshift sleeping bag? Oh my heart

[Laughing Jack]

Nightwolf, Are you trying to give u-
HNNNGGGG!
... us... diabetes?

[Stone Cold Steve Buscemi]

Bane... I knew Catwomen didn't kill him !

[NightmareKnight]

D'awwww, cute Derpy is cute!

[DismantledAccount]

3224062
3223737
3223082
benzworld.org/forums/attachments/w163-m-class/515218d1368590738-2000-ml-55-amg-very-best-success-kid-meme.jpg

[Tehonepony]

Alex has an insanely high pain tolerance...

In other news, I failed to notice any grammar or spelling errors, nice job.

[DismantledAccount]

3226705
Why thank you, I do my best.