108 - In-Voice Due
It was taking longer than Lex would have liked to deal with the aftermath of the battle.
The number of wounded had been extremely high, but thanks to the combination of Sonata’s singing, Cozy’s ability to radiate waves of healing energy, and the armor he had created, none of the injuries were particularly severe. Moreover, after Cozy had rested, her ability to heal was replenished; she’d simply instructed everypony that was still hurt to gather close to her, and two waves of healing energy later the number of injured had dropped to almost nothing. The doctors had been quite chagrined, as was Lex himself; his own restorative magic seemed quite feeble in comparison, being able to heal only one individual at a time.
Privately, he’d queried Cloudbank if the Night Mare had given her any powers comparable to Cozy’s, but she’d only shaken her head in reply. Although she could pray for healing spells – real healing spells, unlike how his own magic left scars – she apparently hadn’t received anything like what Cozy had. Although disappointed, Lex hadn’t been very surprised. Based on what he knew of her, the Night Mare wasn’t that tender-hearted.
Even so, that Cloudbank could now pray for divine spells from the goddess that he worked with meant that Lex was, in conjunction with his own magic, healing quickly. But her having a relationship with the Night Mare left Lex feeling uncertain how to relate to her. Although so far their interactions had been quick and business-like, Lex knew that he was going to have to pull Cloudbank aside at some point so they could work out what her new status meant. At the moment she seemed to be less concerned about that than she was with Thermal Draft, and that was fine for now – talking to her about the responsibilities, both religious and otherwise, that came with her new status would need to wait until the current crisis was over – but Lex knew that at some point in the near future he’d need to explain to her the full measure of what she’d become involved with.
But in the meantime there were more pressing concerns, chief among which were those ponies whose injuries couldn’t be healed by magic.
The four ponies that had been injured by the aboleth, before Cloudbank had killed it, were still suffering the effects of whatever it had done to them. Even a few minutes out of the water caused their skin – if the naked, translucent substance could even be called that – to suffer from severe dehydration. The doctors were utterly baffled by what happened, and had no clear idea as to how to treat it. Cozy had tried to cure their condition, using both her healing wave and a proper healing spell, but with no effect. Lex and Cloudbank had both used healing magic of their own, with a similar lack of results.
At first that had been a manageable problem. The rain that the kraken had conjured had lasted for over a day, which meant that the afflicted ponies could remain outside the warehouse and be relatively comfortable. That was far from a perfect solution – it required that others be armed and sent out to guard them in case the undead ponies tried to make a meal, though thankfully nothing like that had happened yet – but at least it was a workable one.
Unfortunately, the rain had eventually stopped, and that left the afflicted ponies with no choice but to spend virtually all of their time in the bay. While that was only a stone’s throw away from the warehouse entrance, the greater problem was how to keep them from drowning, since their condition didn’t change the fact that they couldn’t breathe underwater. Fortunately, C. Shells had come up with a solution to that problem, giving them all lifejackets so that they could fall asleep in the water without going under. But Lex knew that was just a temporary solution.
And then there was the other problem…
“You lied to me!”
Aria’s whisper was sharp enough that it sounded as if it could cut the air, with a glare to match as she blocked Lex’s path out of the warehouse, staring him down. Rearing up as high as she could, the Siren towered over him, waving her hooves menacingly. Although the sight was an imposing one, Lex’s only response was an annoyed snort, knowing that he could use the Night Mare’s power to make her fall into line anytime he wanted. “I did no such thing.”
“You promised you would restore my voice!” snarled Aria. “The deal was that if I worked for you, you’d fix this!” She pointed to the scar across her throat. “I kept my end of the bargain, so now it’s time for you to pay up!”
“Aria-”
“No! No more talking! Heal my throat!”
Lex looked at her for a long moment, noting that the injuries she’d acquired during the battle against her former comrades were completely gone. His eyes slid back up to the faded scar across the base of her neck. Finally, he looked up into her rage-filled eyes before nodding. “Fine. Come closer.”
“Finally!” grunted Aria, slumping down and baring her neck towards him.
Quietly reciting the one low-grade healing spell he had, Lex touched a hoof to her neck as he sprinkled the unholy water over her scar, feeling the spell discharge. Aria gasped softly at the contact, and Lex idly noted that she was shaking, most likely in anticipation. Putting the now-empty flask of water away, Lex watched her quietly, waiting for what was about to happen next.
Several seconds went by, and Aria’s expression became one of confusion. She opened her mouth, apparently trying to speak, before closing it again. Putting a hoof to her neck, she tried a second time, and once again no sound came from her. Finally, she looked back at Lex, her face filling with anger. “What’s going on?! Is this some sort of sick joke?!” Her whisper was even harsher than before, twisted to a strangled rasp. “Heal my voice already!”
“I can’t.” Lex’s reply was delivered dispassionately, his face completely calm. “There’s nothing there to heal.”
“What?! What are you talking about?!”
Lex raised a hoof to point at her. “You were hurt during the battle, and yet your wounds are completely gone. Why?”
“Huh? What does that-”
“Answer the question.”
Frowning, Aria tried to figure out what game he was playing. But no matter how she wrapped her head around it, she couldn’t see where he was going with this. Narrowing her eyes, she gave her answer a moment later. “I gathered around when whatshername, Cozy, said she’d heal everypony’s injuries.”
“And yet your voice wasn’t repaired then.”
“That…I thought…” Aria trailed off, a gobsmacked look on her face. For whatever reason, it hadn’t occurred to her to even consider that the healing energy that the crystal mare was so easily throwing around would have fixed her voice. That had somehow seemed too…too casual for an injury that had effectively ruined her life. “I thought that was different,” she muttered sourly. Her stomach had begun to tighten as she realized where this was going.
“Different how?”
“How should I know?! I thought that you could do something more than Little Miss Crystal Flank! You keep acting like such a bigshot so I thought you’d have some sort of…of, I don’t know, better healing magic!”
“That scar on your throat,” Lex continued calmly, ignoring her tantrum, “is it surgical in nature?”
“Who cares?! If you can’t hea-”
“Aria! Is your scar surgical in nature?”
“…yes. That wretched, miserable queen had one of her doctors do this to me.”
“I thought so,” nodded Lex. “The clean nature of it isn’t something that would have happened in a fight. When you said before that ‘they took away’ your voice, that made it fairly easy to guess what had happened.”
“What are you talking about?! What does that have to do with none of you being able to heal my voice?!”
“I’m trying to tell you, there’s nothing there to heal.”
Lex’s pronouncement caused Aria to gape at him, her eyes wide and her mouth open, a horrified look slowly spreading across her face. “That can't... Of course there is!”
Lex shook his head. “No, there isn’t. Your vocal cords weren’t simply cut, they were removed altogether.” He looked away, and his brow creased slightly as he continued. “From what I’ve been able to piece together, healing magic is exceptionally versatile. A single spell releases energy into the body which acts as a reparative agent, able to do anything from repairing torn ligaments to restoring ruptured organs to mending broken bones and more. It can even stimulate blood production to replace any that was lost in the initial injury, or stop any associated complications that would arise during normal medical treatment, at least according to what the doctors told me when I consulted with them.”
He paused, and his frown deepened as he thought through the implications of that. “It’s actually rather strange. A spell with such a high degree of versatility should be much more difficult to use. The sheer amount of information embedded within the spell’s structure so that it can effectively treat virtually any kind of injury should be staggering, and yet Cozy and Cloudbank can use them without any undue problems. My own healing spell is essentially amplifying the body’s natural healing process through the stimulated emission of pl-”
“No one cares!” Aria’s breathing had grown ragged, and her eyes were open slightly too wide. “What about my voice?!”
Annoyed at his musings being interrupted, Lex turned his attention back to Aria. “I was trying to tell you. Healing magic can repair almost anything, but there has to be something there for it to fix in the first place. Your vocal chords are gone, which means that they don’t need to be healed per se; they need to be regenerated altogether, and that’s not something that I or Cozy or anypony here can do.”
“No…”
Aria staggered back, utterly stricken. For a moment she looked as though she were about to faint, but then her features suddenly tightened. Her gaze slid back towards Lex, and even though he had never been very good at reading people, even he could see the murder in her eyes. She started to furiously hiss a spell, waving a hoof in a pattern, and he recognized the words to a fireball like the one she had attacked him with barely a day ago.
But he had been expecting something like this, and held out his left hoof. “Stop.” The Night Mare’s power immediately coiled around her, making her cease her spell against her will. “Hold still,” he ordered as he approached her calmly.
Although she knew she was about to be punished for trying to attack him, Aria didn’t care. She thrashed for everything she was worth as he walked towards her, utterly overcome with rage. “How dare you?! How DARE you?! I trusted you! You said you would give me back my voice and YOU LIED TO-”
“Be silent.” Lex’s command caused her to instantly shut her mouth, unable to even whisper. A moment later he was in leg’s reach of her, and she couldn’t stop tears from running down her cheeks, overcome with frustration and despair at just how utterly unfair everything was. Even so, she did her best to glare at him, trying to silently let him know that she would never, ever forgive this betraya-
“I will fix your voice.” The words, delivered with utter conviction, cut through Aria’s anger and self-pity, causing her to blink as she looked at him.
“I don’t have the magic to do it right now,” he admitted, “and there are more pressing concerns at the moment, but I have every intention of keeping my promise to you. I will fix your voice, and make you a pony, without fail.” He paused for a long moment, trying to judge her reaction, before he silently withdrew the Night Mare’s power, prepared to use it again if she did anything foolish.
Feeling her freedom returned, Aria half-turned away from him, sniffling as she angrily wiped a hoof across her face. Gathering up what was left of her dignity, Aria shot Lex a petulant frown. “You had better mean that.”
“I always keep my word once I give it, no matter what.”
“Yeah, well…hurry it up already.” Aria was already leaving as she spoke, not giving him a chance to say anything else. Getting the last word in was a meaningless victory, but it was still a victory, and she’d take what she could get. Still, at least he’d seemed sincere about living up to his promise. For some reason, the way he’d acted just seemed…reassuring, almost. As though his certainty in himself had bled into her somehow.
After everything that she’d been through in the last few months, that actually felt kind of nice...
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Well, at least we know the surgeon was quite thorough when she operated on Aria so it wasn't too much of a surprise that a healing spell wouldn't work. At least there's a chance to restore Aria's voice so she'll stick around a bit longer to help and ensure Lex keeps his end of the deal.
Somehow I think Aria missed the "...and make you a pony..." bit.
Ya gotta pay attention to the details with the Lawful Evil types...
8191808 Aria is the sort of person who treats others like crap, and so expects that others will treat her that way. The only people who were actually there for her were her sisters, and Sonata split, with Adagio being (as far as Aria's concerned) currently MIA. So she's trying to digest the idea that Lex isn't going to screw her over now that she's done her part.
I didn't manage to work this into the chapter, because Lex's part in it was rather tenuous, but he does know a little bit about regenerative magic. He had just debuted back in A Dangerous Sparkle when Rainbow Dash lost one of her wings, only to have it back by the time she and her friends came to retrieve Lex and Sonata and co. after the train wreck that they were in.
8191856 She did overlook that part (though she noted it before).
I get the feeling that at this point, and especially after having been a human for so long anyway, she doesn't care so much about the body she's in nearly as much as she does being able to use her voice.
8191862 That makes sense. I imagine Lex's insistence that Aria be turned into a pony will ultimately bother Sonata much more that it would Aria.
Well, I know someone who's getting reincarnated >.>
Pity Regeneration spells cant be based on axlotls. Take a Healing Spell, add some Vitamin A. Not too much or they grow a siamese twin.
8191894 No doubt, particularly since Aria has already figured out that flirting with Lex is likely to be a good way to mess with her sister (even if she's not in the mood to try it yet).
...and he's Lawful Neutral, darn it!
8192161 Mmmmmaybe.
8192164 Better to go for straight-up magic than try and be part salamander, I would think. That sort of thing has a habit of backfiring, at least according to the more popular genres.
8192384 He says he's lawful neutral, but lawful, and that's basically the same as evil. Stupid evil laws, ruining all my fun...
I just wrote a Night Mare adventure.
8193909 Ah excellent! I saw that the voting for that particular choice was winning (I voted for it too) and was quite excited!
8194311 Do you wish for the sneakiest of sneak previews?
8194321 I'm philosophically opposed to spoilers...but a preview is different! So please preview away!
No typos in here. You must have cleaned house recently.
8380536 Woot! Typo-free like I wanna be!
The lady killer perk Lex has is offsetting his low charisma stat pretty well eh?
11581204 Having a blessing from a love goddess will do that. Though it's worth remembering that Kara is an evil love goddess.