North x Northwest

Headnote: The following scene may be distressing for some readers, warning for gore.

Sagastar stammered with his words, not knowing what to say. 

“Sir, Sir Edgar. This is…”

Ed knelt next to Lil. He then slowly stretched out his hand and checked for her pulse and breathing. Sagastar on the other hand fumbled in the air, looking terribly clumsy. 

When Sagastar gazed nervously at his side, an incredibly calm voice was heard.

“Hold it.”

“What?”

“Hold it properly. Or else, it will kill her.”

Sagastar’s throat dried up, for he understood it without the need for further explanation and gave strength to the hand still holding the hilt of the dagger.

“Liloa.”

Ed carefully slapped Lil on her cheek. When her chest no longer rose and fell, his voice rose higher.

“Liloa!”

Just before Ed got to the point of shaking her shoulders, Lil opened her eyes. Her half-exposed pupils rolled around lifelessly before stopping again. She tried to lift her wrist, but failed, making it snap instead. When Ed grabbed it without hesitation, her lips parted slightly.

“You see… Commodore…”

Noticing that the blood that regurgitated in her mouth made a boiling sound, Ed pleaded and begged.

“Stop talking now! Damn it!”

“Stop fighting…”

“Guiadé! Damn it! Get here right now!”

“My name is…”

“Shut up! Please shut up!”

“What’s the matter?”

After arriving in a hurry, Guiadé catched his breath. However, instead of answering, Ed snatched away the doctor’s medical bag. He then tossed it open, dug through various instruments, and pulled out the laryngoscope and tube*.

Guiadé, who sat down next to Ed, bent his upper body to examine Lil. As he scanned her body from head to toe, he muttered to himself.

“…Looks like she’s about to die soon…”

After the intubation, Ed pulled him by the collar. Guiadé, who was suddenly dragged down, stiffened and closed his mouth as soon as he encountered Ed’s deadly face.

“Shut up and move her to the captain’s room. If she doesn’t wake up…”

Blood drained from his face upon imagining that unbearable ending. Ed, becoming as pale as a corpse, let go of the doctor. Understanding his admiral’s words, Guiadé lifted Lil with Sagastar. As the escort officers began clearing their still cluttered path, Ed ordered one of them to go ahead and clear the table.

In an instant, they rushed into the captain’s room, laid Lil down and settled around her. Guiadé and Ed then frantically arranged their tools among them, making Sagastar the only one who had the liberty to look into the captain’s room and encounter a completely unexpected person.

“…Sir Cesar?”

Hearing that familiar name, Ed raised his head.

Cesar stood motionless behind the messy desk like someone whose soul had left its body. 

‘Based on the chaos around him, he seemed to have been destroying evidence linking Liloa to the Bell Rock.’

Seeing Lil like that drained the colour away from Cesar’s face and caused him to bump into the corner of the desk and stumble over the chair.

Ed couldn’t bear to hold himself back from saying something.

“Is this how you planned to do it? You kept saying that you would protect her no matter what, but what are you doing at a moment like this? I’m surprised you even have time to care about such documents.”

“Safely… surrender… I was looking for the documents…”

“If Liloa ever wakes up, explain that to her.”

Cesar didn’t seem to hear Ed any longer. Looking down at the flat, corpse-like patient, he muttered hollowly.

“…Liloa?..”

“…”

“What the hell is this…”

“This is the kind of ending where you no longer have to deny anything at all.”

“…”

Ed struck Cesar’s wrist that was extending towards Lil’s unconscious hand.

“Put that away before I cut it off.”

“…”

Cesar didn’t have the spirit to get angry. Only tears streamed down his dazed face. His lips moved, but no voice came out, making it look more like quivering.

After disinfection, Ed took over the hilt from Sagastar and gripped it tightly. He then ordered without looking back at them.

“Take him out.”

Sagastar expected him to resist, but although his steps were a bit clumsy Cesar followed silently. Cesar was clearly in a state of panic, making it unable for him to notice that he was being dragged out by someone.

When the door shut behind them, Ed looked down at the piece of paper Cesar had dropped, before turning his head away.

Guiadé nodded faintly.

“I’m ready.”

Ed bit his lip and tightened his grip on the hilt of the dagger, turning his knuckles white. Like a man obsessed with perfection, Ed carefully pulled the handle while maintaining the right angle. And eventually, a red blade emitting faint steam was removed from Lil’s body.

Dark red blood gushed out immediately. To make matters worse, they also had to deal with the bleeding that continued from her back. Time was running out, so Guiadé quickly brought his hands to work. Ed, however, couldn’t do much because his left hand hadn’t fully healed yet. 

‘No, even if my hand was fine, I don’t think I would’ve been able to…’

Ed opened and closed his cold, trembling hand. His knees were in an equal state, trembling as if they could collapse at any moment. As a test, he pushed a finger on top of his forceps. The shaking of his fingertip was so apparent that he could easily see it with the naked eye.

Time passed without any favourable results. Blood-soaked gauze piled up under the table and the water buckets have also been replaced several times. It was becoming more and more unbearable for Ed to watch Lil slowly lose her life. But even though he was going crazy from anxiety, he managed to hold himself back in pressing Guiadé. 

Just before his patience was running out, Guiadé declared as if to surrender.

“She’s bleeding too much.”

“Find it.**”

“I can’t see it…”

“What the fuck are you talking about!”

Right at that moment, one of Lil’s blood vessels burst and a stream of blood spurted out. Ed’s face, which had been hovering above the surgical site, was completely covered in it. The hot red liquid trickled down his forehead, the bridge of his nose and down his temples. Ed looked down at the liquid dripping from his chin and wetting palms, clearly taken back.

Guiadé started to frantically search for a gauze.

In the midst of it, Ed only blinked absent-mindedly. Lil’s blood pooled and seeped into his eyes. His face had been covered in blood from countless patients before. But now, it felt unfamiliar as if it happened for the first time in his life. The fishy smell of blood filled his nostrils. It smelled like death. Lil’s face, covered with hair, shards of wood and medical instruments, was suddenly hard to recognize.

Ed was suffocating in the thickening smell, when Guiadé’s miserable voice resounded.

“It’s cardiac arrest. Admiral, it’s over…”

Wiping his face with his forearm, Ed murmured. 

“…Get out of the way…”

His unexpected comment made Guiadé stare blankly at Ed. 

Ed moved around the table, shoved Guiadé, and stuck close to Lil. He then pressed down on her chest vigorously… 

One.

Two.

He constantly pressed down while calling her name, as if he was hoping for an answer any moment.

At some point, the numbers had lost their meaning. Nobody knew how long it had been. But during that endless period of time, Ed never gave up. Guiadé wiped the sweaty brow of Ed’s exhausted face, while the unconscious body shook under constant and intense pressure.

As the table rattled with force, its wooden legs creaked and scraped…

– – – – – 

Footnote:

*As of now, Lil is basically drowning in her own blood. The laryngoscope and tube will be used to open her airway and make it possible for her to keep breathing.

** They’re talking about the cut in a blood vessel that Guiadé has to stitch.