Chapter Text
The Nightmare Orioles had been in a bit of a fight. As such, some of them were busy tending to their wounds after patrol.
Illuga had been as careful as he could, but a small fireball still hit his shoulder.
“Hey, could you help me check my shoulder?” He asked Helmi, who had been one of the few to make it out unscathed.
With her confirmation, he stood up and pulled off his sleeveless turtleneck, revealing a decently sized but overall normal burn on his shoulder. There was nothing abyssal about it, but Helmi hesitated before speaking.
On his back were wounds that very clearly didn’t come from the Wild Hunt. Bruises with finger marks just above his pant line, bite marks and smaller little bruises all over his upper back, the burn removing some of them. Worst were the plethora of scratches on his unburned shoulder…
”Helmi?” Illuga turned his head to look at her, seeing Nikolai and a few others staring intently and got nervous, “It is that bad?”
Before she could say a word, Nikolai squeaked out, “Nope! It’s not abyssal!”
He breathed out a sigh of relief.
”Helmi, I would like to speak with you,” his father came in the door, causing the entire squad to sit up a little straighter.
”Of course, what would you like to speak about?” She tore her eyes away from the mildly concerning sight to look at the Starshyna.
”Meet me outside, this is about something personal,” he looked a little sorrowful, as if he had bad news.
So Helmi nodded, passing by Illuga, who gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, to leave.
Nikita sighed, “Illuga, you may be without a Vice Captain for a few days, but Helmi will be back if she chooses to stay.” Turning around, he audibly gasped.
The rest of the Nightmare Orioles folded a bit into themselves, waiting for something bad to happen.
Illuga was confused, turning around to look at Nikita. “Is it abyssal?”
Ignoring the “Hey!” from Nikolai, his father took a deep breath and started out the door, mumbling something about having to message that recluse as he passed by his son.
It took a moment after the Starshyna left for the situation to hit Illuga in the face.
”Oh no…” he looked over at the others, “I’m so sorry, I forgot!”
They all started laughing, some of them trying to comfort their captain through the giggles.
Illuga knew he was lucky that his brothers in arms didn’t press any further, because poor Kyryll would never hear the end of it if they had.