Chapter Text
It had been the third time Trucy’s dad clenched his fist that morning, in that specific way the girl knew all too well. In the way that meant something was wrong.
“Daddy, are you okay?” She looked up at him as they walked to the bus stop together.
“Of course, Truce.” He lifted his hand to adjust the blue beanie she’d made for him.
She made a face upon seeing the familiar gesture and stopped walking, folding her small arms.
“C’mon, you know we don’t have time for this,” he said with a sigh. “You’re already late.”
“I’m not going anywhere while you’re lying to me.” She stubbornly stayed in place, looking up at her dad with those wide blue eyes of hers.
“I’m not lying-” he started, turning back towards his daughter. But before he could finish, he suddenly paled and grabbed the lamppost next to him for balance.
“Daddy!” She reached out to him but could only watch helplessly as her dad squeezed his eyes shut and started breathing more and more heavily.
A moment later, he collapsed and now was lying on the ground completely still, more still than Trucy had ever seen a person be. She couldn’t pinpoint any of the small movements she’d gotten to know so well, not even the slight rise and fall of a sleeping person’s chest or an involuntary twitch of a muscle. She’d thought that stillness to be only a feature of photographs or statues, not real people. It was scary to see her dad like that. Her dad who was still moving a second ago and now he was not anymore.
After a moment of standing on the sidewalk frozen from shock, Trucy opened her mouth to call out for help, but just as she was about to make a sound, someone else noticed the scene and made their way towards them.
“OH MY GOD! ARE YOU ALRIGHT, SIR?” shouted the young man. He was about the age of the seniors in Trucy’s school, his brown hair styled in two ridiculous spikes.
He gestured for another person, this one black haired and wearing a sweater with the logo of the GYAXA space agency on it, to catch up. Then, he knelt down next to the unconscious man.
“Hello sir? Can you hear me?” he asked, gently shaking him by the shoulders. No answer. Next, he carefully tilted the man's chin upwards and leaned closer to his mouth with his ear tilted towards it, watching his chest closely.
Trucy knew what he was looking for. He was wasting his time.
“He’s not breathing,” she said in a small voice.
The boy sighed. “I still need to check.”
Trucy looked into his eyes and shook her head. “He's not. I can see.”
He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, then turned his focus back on the unconscious man. His lips moved slightly as he counted the seconds. Trucy waited patiently as he got to ten, closed his eyes and whispered a barely audible fuck. If the situation hadn't been so terrible, she would've stuck out her tongue and rubbed in his face how wrong he'd been with a triumphant i told you so. Right now, though, she could only watch silently, wide eyes taking in every detail of the scene.
“DON’T WORRY SIR, YOU’LL BE FINE!” yelled the boy as he started pressing on his chest in that way Trucy had only seen in movies.
“Dude, he can’t hear you,” said his companion in the GYAXA hoodie.
Trucy figured the boy knew that already. Sometimes grownups pretended they were being all loud and confident for someone else, when it was really for themselves.
“Whatever. Just call an ambulance, okay?” He was slightly out of breath already, his hair spikes bouncing a bit to the rhythm of his compressions. “Tell them I started CPR.”
Trucy listened as the other boy explained the situation on the phone. She was now definitely late for school. She clung onto that annoyance as if it still mattered, because if it did, that meant everything was still normal. It meant later that day, her dad would open his laptop to find yet another email from her teachers detailing her issues with punctuality and lightly scold her for it. It meant he would wake up to read that email. He would be okay.
The boy hung up.
“You wanna switch?” he asked, stepping next to his friend, who already had sweat dripping down his forehead. He nodded, and the black haired teen soon took over the resuscitation.
The shorter boy took a moment to regain his breath, then stood next to Trucy. They watched as the other boy alternated between compressions and rescue breaths and winced in unison when they heard a crack as he pressed down on the man’s chest. Trucy could see the brown haired boy glance at her sometimes from the corner of her eye. Finally, he turned to her and spoke.
“So. Your… dad, he’s your dad, right?” He gestured awkwardly at the unconscious man. When Trucy nodded, he continued. “Right. Don’t worry, your dad’s going to be okay.” He fidgeted with the bracelet he wore on his left hand.
Trucy narrowed her eyes at the motion.
“You’re not telling the truth, are you?”
“I…” The boy sighed. “Alright, I can’t know for sure whether he’ll be okay or not. But my friend is working really hard to help him until they can take him to the hospital, where he’ll be in even better hands. That’s all I can promise.” He gave her a sad smile. This time, he didn’t even touch his bracelet for one second.
Trucy opened her mouth for a thank you. The quickly approaching sound of sirens cut her off, though. The two of them turned at the same time to see an ambulance - finally - park nearby.
Everything happened fast after that. Paramedics got out of the car, one quickly taking over the resuscitation and letting the black haired boy finally rest, another talking to his shorter friend. They shocked her dad with a strange medical device - in retrospect, Trucy wished she'd looked away. Finally, her dad woke up and looked around confused, then shot his daughter a weak smile before being wheeled into the back of the ambulance. One of the paramedics asked her if she had anyone she could stay with while her dad is in the hospital. Trucy called Uncle Valant, the only person she could think of, and he arrived not long after to pick her up.
Just before she left with the magician, she could see the paramedics get back in the ambulance. As they sped off, Trucy finally let out a quiet sob.