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Keyleth wasn't too sure what it was about the stranger (Percy they had found out through a label in his coat) they had picked up that stuck out to her the most. Was it his pure white hair? Was it how he never spoke? Was it how well he got on with Vex like no-one except Vax and Trinket? Was it his weapon of choice, the loud metal thing? Or was it the fact that they had found him in a cell?
Maybe some of those, maybe all of them, Keyleth didn't really know. But what she did know was that she wanted to get to know him better. So what better way than giving him a surprise flower. It was a truly amazing and beautiful one too. It was a lovely light shade of blue that reflected the colour of his eyes so well. She had first seen it during a fight with some bandits that crossed paths with them.
During the fight Keyleth lost her footing and slipped. The bandit holding a sword went for the kill with a sick grin on her face. Keyleth was terrified but accepted her fate. But then like an angel with a mini hand cannon, Percy got it in the way of her and the bandit and blocked the sword slash with the elongated part of the weapon where the small balls of metal came flying out of. Keyleth could've sworn that she saw some smoke emerge from his sleeve, but she must've just been seeing the smoke his weapon puffed out every now and then. The bandit was quick with the sword, but Percy seemed to get out of the way of all of the bandit's attacks. Percy then fired his weapon and blew the man's head off with the one shot. He then picked Keyleth back onto her feet as well as her staff, and gave it back to her. Keyleth never had the chance to thank him for it before he went running back into the fight. But now she could thank him and welcome him into the group with a gift.
Once the group had set up camp and listening to Scanlan's nightly serenade and Grog's story about how he and Pike once did a tavern crawl and ended up in an alley, Pike covered in her own vomit and Grog seemingly fine, probably due to size. One thing she took notice of was that Vax kept on glancing at someone behind her so she looked behind her and... no-one was there. Wait was he looking at her? He was wasn't he? That made her cheeks flush as she smiled back. Behind Vax she saw Percy and Vex, Vex seemed to be doing something with her hands but was unsure on what she could be gesturing. Whatever it was made Percy laugh. Percy then seemed to give Vex his weapon as she non-seriously pointed it and taking his glasses off his face, she seemed to be trying to mimic him. Then... Vex paused. She turned the weapon around and looked at the side of it. She looked curiously at Percy, but Percy's face had turned to a face of sadness and fear. He had stuck his hand out and Vex gave his weapon back to him as well as his glasses. He then walked into the forest, leaving Vex with a saddened look. Only Vax noticed but Vex waved him off. Keyleth, knowing from her limited knowledge of Vex as a person, chose to leave her alone. Instead she went to find Percy.
The forest would be creepy to some, but being a druid Keyleth found it beautiful and full of life. But despite her liking of nature it didn't mean she liked how easy it was to get lost. Considering she was following Percy's footprints, it seemed like Percy was trying to get purposefully lost. However, she was also not as good a tracker as Vex or Vax so she could very easily be following some other creature's footprints, but she was too far into the forest to turn back now. So, she continued to strive forward until she saw a silhouette. She wasn't sure it was Percy until she could make out his unmissable head of white hair. She moved forward until Percy was shirtless causing her pause. But it wasn't the mere fact he was shirtless that caused her to pause. It was what she could see.
Scars... dozens of scars.
Were these from earlier today. He never said anything never even made a yelp or a noise of pain. Wait had he? Was she too caught up in the heat of the moment to notice something?
"Percy!" Keyleth yelled running up to Percy now with these scars as motivation to run to Percy faster. He turned around in shock, quickly going to grab his shirt but before he could, Keyleth enveloped him in a hug that held back his arms. Now with a better view of the scars, she saw some bleeding. She was right, they were from today.
"Hold on," She hurriedly said. "I can heal these." Keyleth began to channel green energy into Percy's body, but then he did something unexpected.
He pushed her away, shaking his head. Keyleth was left confused and worried. Why wouldn't he let her help?
He began making gestures with his hands like what Vex doing earlier.
Wait....
Was this some kind of hand language. She had heard about it but had never seen it used in real life before.
"Percy, I can't understand what you're trying to tell me. Sorry." Keyleth admitted, a bit of shame filled her voice. Clearly, Percy picked up on it as his face turned to sadness that seemed targeted towards himself for making her upset. He proceeded to walk over to His coat and shirt which both laid on a nearby log, and put them back on before pulling out a notebook and Pencil writing something and Showing it Keyleth.
Please don't apologise. It's my fault, you weren't supposed to see this.
"See your scars?" Percy nodded. "But I can heal them." Percy nodded again and proceeded to write further.
I understand that. And I mean no offense, but I have had a bad history with healing magic being twisted in its own way.
Keyleth was left shocked. Who would twist healing magic.
"How is that possible?" She didn't mean to say it aloud but her mouth moved faster than her brain in this case. Percy wrote, then scribbled, then tore away the page and threw it on the ground. He wrote again and this time showed it to Keyleth.
They healed me to hurt me again.
Keyleth nearly cried as she read it.
He then wrote more and showed it.
But not everything healed when they did it. As you saw when we first met.
Keyleth, wiping tears from her eyes was once again confused.
"What do you mean?"
Are you sure you want to see?
"Yes. At least then I can know how to help."
He inhaled and looked ashamed, but not of Keyleth, of himself. He then proceeded to open his mouth.
Keyleth couldn't see anything wrong at first. She could see his teeth, but as she looked closer she realised.
He didn't have a tongue.
Then the tears came back again.
She held onto him again, stronger than before.
"I'm healing you." She said full of determination. "If I can't heal that, I can heal these." She said gesturing to his torso.
You can't heal all of them I'm afraid.
"Let me help what I can." She said, pleading. "Please." Percy responded with a nod.
She channelled the green magic into Percy as it healed the recent scars from his fight with the bandit. As they were Keyleth had one itch in her mind she had to have scratched.
"Does Vex know?" She said, but then quickly realising she may be crossing bounderies, she quickly spoke again. "Not that you have to say or anything. I've just seen that you and her get along really well and I saw Vex making hand gestures like the one you made earlier."
Percy wrote again and showed it.
Yes she does. She realised something was off and asked me. I was unsure how to respond, but then she said it again but in sign langauge as well as "You can trust me Percival Darling"
Keyleth chuckled at his quick correction but spoke again. "So no-one else knows?" Percy shook his head. "I'll keep it that way then. I promise." Percy looked grateful. "But Percy?" Percy looked down at her. "Please let me heal you. And if you ever get hurt again, just say my name and I;ll be there." Keyleth then realised what she said and immediately felt guilty. "Shit! Wrong choice of words. I'm so sorry please don't be mad." She was nervous she had offended Percy but he just...laughed? He then wrote again.
Please don't apologise, it was actually funny.
"Oh okay, sorr-- I mean, just, in the future, if you're injured, you don't have to go to Pike, She's better at healing than me. But, at least come to me."
Partners in crime?
"Yeah, Partners in crime." She laughed as her healing magic faded as Percy's recent scars healed. But as Keyleth could clearly see, His other scars remained. His most prominent marked across his torso and was so big it must've cut him open. She began to realise why Percy was so scared of the people who healed him, just to hurt him all over again.
After being healed as much as he could be, he went over to his shirt and coat and put them back on. He then gestured to Keyleth to come with him.
"I'll catch up in a minuet, I just need to catch my breath." Percy stopped walking, wordlessly saying that he would stay. "No it's fine, go on I won't be too long." Percy reluctantly continued walking.
As much as Keyleth would hate to admit it though, she was not tired. She walked over to the piece of paper he had torn out and slipped it into her pocket. She then ran to catch up with Percy.
As they walked Keyleth had one final question on her mind that she needed to ask.
"Why did you come into the forest in the first place? I know you were injured. But you seemed fine. And I saw you and Vex. I saw you give her your weapon and then she saw something that caused you to go. What happened?"
At first Keyleth thought she had touched a nerve when Percy hadn't responded in a few moments. But then he wrote.
She saw something that I didn't want her seeing. I was scared what she would think of me. So I walked away, like an idiot.
"Hey!" Keyleth said, whipping around to look at Percy. "You were not an idiot, you were just scared of what someone you care about might think about you, that's normal." Percy didn't look too convinced, but he eventually nodded. It was then that keyleth realised that she had forgotten something.
Shit...The flower.
"Can I quickly give you something when we get back?"
You have already healed me. You do not need to do that.
"I know I don't need to. But I want to, you're my friend Percy, and I want to show it, alright?" Percy looked guilty at that. As if he didn't feel he deserved it. It made Keyleth's heart break.
When they got back to their camp everyone but Vex (Who was on watch) was sleeping. Pike, Scanlan and Grog were all huddled together, seemingly for warmth. Vax was asleep near the fire. Trinket was sleeping near to where Vex was standing. Percy was looking down at his feet, not risking to make eye contact with Vex. Keyleth brought Percy over to where she planned to sleep and picked up her gift for Percy.
"Here you go Percy." Keyleth eagerly awaited Percy's reply. "I know it's just a flower but I didn't really know what else to get you as a gift considering on the road."
It's beautiful. It matches my eye colour.
Keyleth chuckled at that. "That's exactly what I thought. Great minds I guess."
Yes, Indeed. Thank you so much.
"Anything for a-" Before Keyleth could finish her sentence she was embraced in a hug from Percy that, although it took her by surprise, she happily returned it.
After they finished hugging, Percy wrote again.
You remind me of my older sister. I've missed what it felt like have one.
Keyleth never had any siblings, but to have been told (although admittingly cryptically) that she was like a sister to Percy. It meant more than she thought it would. And as much as Percy tried to hide it. He was very clearly trying to hold back tears.
"Good night Percy." Keyleth said with a smile.
Good night Keyleth. Thank you for the gift and for healing me. I shall have to pay you back.
Before Keyleth could reply that there was no need for that, Percy had gone over to Vex. She could see Percy and Vex conversing through that hand language. She saw Percy and Vex seemingly make up as they hugged and Percy seemed to take over from Vex as Percy led her to trinket. Keyleth wasn't sure if there was more to their relationship than just friends. But if there was, they had Keyleth's full support.
Before Keyleth went to bed, she pulled out the note that she had snuck into her pocket. She made sure not to tear it as she uncurled it out of a ball and read what it said.
A couple and their bitch of a doctor tor--
The sentence may not have been finished but she easily guessed what it was meant to say.
Tortured.
Percy was tortured.
Well, if she ever ran into the people who did that to him. They would learn what her tiger claws felt like, she would make sure of it.
What else were siblings for if not protecting each other.