Who: Li, Ahsoka and Yang What: Li wakes up with some injuries and makes a hospital visit. When: This morning Where Their apartment, then the hospital Warnings: Medium-ish for broken bones and talk of a battle with a demon lord
The path to Azmodan had not been the easiest. Li had to cut through his entire demon army. Bastion’s Keep had been overrun with demons when she’d arrived, and she’d literally carved her way from the keep, both inside and out, to the bottom of Mount Arreat, also known as the Broken Mountain, where she found Azmodan awaiting her. She’d cast his armies back from Bation’s Keep, destroyed his siege engines and killed his concubine and daughters in the process.
She hadn’t known what to expect during her fight with him, only that it would be hard fought. Azmodan was the Lord of Sin, and he was the tactical master of the Burning Hells. His armies were the worst of all seven Lords of Hell. Yet Li had made relatively short work of them.
But the fight with Azmodan hadn’t gone anywhere near as smoothly as the fight with his brother Belial. For starters, she was trapped in a smaller, circular area, and at one point the ground around her turned into black lava, limiting the area she could safely move on. She’d managed to avoid stepping in that as she dodged fireballs that Azmodan threw at her. She even fought off the minions he summoned to his side. What she hadn’t counted on was the very literal rain of bodies he unleashed. Most of them she’d dodged, but as she’d sensed him weakening, Li focused more on him and less on his peripheral attacks.
A body landed on her, knocking her to the ground awkwardly. She felt a bone in her forearm snap at the awkward landing. A second body then landed on top of her and she felt her ribs compress painfully. Crying out in immense pain, Li, with help from Kormac, managed to get out from under the bodies and survive long enough to kill Azmodan. His soul was trapped within the Black Soulstone with his six brethren, and the time was at hand that they could finally destroy all evil and put an end to the Eternal Conflict.
That was where her dream left off, and Li suddenly woke in pain. She moaned and tried to move, but both her arm and ribs protested and she nearly screamed. Clenching her teeth, she started cursing in a constant string of Chinese. This waking up injured after battles with a demon lord seemed to be a thing. And she didn’t like it. Though she hoped that she didn’t have scars like she’d gotten after defeating Belial.
Ahsoka was woken by the sound of Li in pain, the Force vibrating with the trauma of Li’s injuries. Suddenly alert, she turned to Li and put her hands on her shoulders. “Don’t move. Keep cursing. Let me look you over.”
Li’s arm was badly broken, but it didn’t look like a compound fracture and no bones were exposed. But she could feel broken ribs too, and then it was her turn to curse. In Huttese. “What happened?”
She kept cursing, the language then shifting into the language she spoke in her dreams. Pain was radiating up her left arm. It was also pulsating in her chest, especially whenever she tried to breathe relatively deeply. But as far as she could tell, she didn’t have a punctured lung. She undoubtedly had bruising starting to form, but she couldn’t see. And she didn’t dare try to move to see it.
“Azmodan.” She hissed. “Got hit by one of his attacks. It was raining bodies. Landing wrong on my arm, ribs cracked when a second body landed on top of me.” Yes, that sounded crazy and probably rather graphic, but it was what had happened. Li had been crushed, but it could’ve been so much worse. “Fuck it hurts. Can’t breathe easily.” It was hard to remain still with the pain she was in. She shifted and cried out as her ribs protested the movement, loud enough that Yang probably heard it. Then came a long string of vulgar Chinese.
Ahsoka let Li vent out her cursing, still holding her down so she didn’t thrash or move any more than she’d done so initially. She wasn’t a healer. She wasn’t Barriss, that had never been her strong suit. But she could do battle medicine in a pinch. They just needed to figure out how to get her helped without someone assuming Ahsoka was an abuser. “Gods. That’s crazy. I don’t hear any rattling, I don’t think your lung was punctured. But I can...see the broken bones.” She tapped her head. Togruta basically had a little bit of echolocation.
“You guys okay?” Yang peaked her head in.
“Dreams,” Ahsoka explained.
Li was doing amazing for not letting out tears of pain. She was in a lot of pain, but she was probably also in a bit of shock. She closed her eyes for some moments, wishing she could just will the pain away. She tried to take a breath, but it hurt. She cursed again, not really struggling against Ahsoka keeping her held down.
“Doctor.” Li pleaded. She wished Kormac was here, he could fix her up good as new in no time. He’d saved her ass more times than she cared to count with his healing ability.
“Okay.” Ahsoka turned her attention back to Li, and the bedroom. She looked at a shelf over the bed, and sighed. “I’ll pull that down, with those heavy books it can look like it collapsed while you were in bed.”
She lifted her hand, and used the force to bring the books and shelf down, arranging them as though they’d dug Li out of the pile. She brought in a really heavy pair of books from the other room to cover up the arm and ribs. “Serves us right for having a shelf above the bed, doesn’t it.”
“Ambulance should be a few minutes,” Yang said, getting off the phone and throwing some pants at Ahsoka.
At this point in time, Li wasn’t even aware if she was clothed or not, but she was actually wearing pajamas, top and bottom, so she would be decent when the ambulance arrived. When Yang said that the ambulance was on its way and Ahsoka staged it to look as though the books had fallen on her, that was when Li finally let the tears out with a pain-filled sob. She was in pain, the sob only making her ribs hurt that much more, but what could she do? It hurt and she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She wasn’t in the middle of trying to kill a demon lord, she didn’t have to be strong.
“Shh..” Ahsoka brushed her fingers through Li’s hair, wishing she could take away the pain, or at least share the load. Like people did in that giant robot movie. “We’ll get you looked at soon. They’ll give you something for the pain and you’ll be high as a kite and I’ll let Yang tell you jokes.”
Li tried to keep her sobs to a minimum because they hurt, but the tears didn’t stop. Each sob was followed by a curse, mostly in Chinese. But it wasn’t long before the paramedics arrived.
“What seems to be the problem?” One asked as they were let into the apartment. To Li, it felt like it had taken forever for them to arrive. But of course, she was used to near-instant healing in her dreams, either from Kormac or from healing potions.
“Shelf fell on top of her,” Ahsoka explained. “I think she’s broken her arm, and at least one rib.” If she had to, she’d force trick people into accepting the explanation. Luckily, she didn’t have to, not yet. Li was carefully moved onto a stretcher and some pain killers were administered once they felt it was safe. Yang said she’d meet them at the hospital once she gathered some things for Li, and Ahsoka climbed into the ambulance.
Luckily there wasn’t too much jostling involved in moving her onto the stretcher, but she still whimpered a bit in pain. Though she was more than thankful for the painkillers when they were administered and started kicking in. Li reached out to take Ahsoka’s hand with her uninjured one, both wanting and needing the comfort it brought.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Li was taken to the emergency room and given a room rather quickly. Given the state of her arm, which was obviously broken just looking at it, they had a rush on a doctor being there to give her a preliminary look over before X-rays would be taken. The ribs were also examined, which brought Li no small amount of pain and discomfort. Then came the X-rays so the doctor could figure out if surgery was needed to help set the bone.
And then came the waiting while the X-rays were getting developed. Li just laid there, head buzzing a bit from the painkillers. “I’m sorry if I gave you a rude awakening,” Li said after the doctor left the room.
Every time Li whimpered, Ahsoka experienced a pain in her chest. But she was really good at holding herself together, for both their sakes. She put her hand on Li’s shoulder, trying to exude calm and use the force to help the painkillers go through. Then she was left alone in the waiting room while Li was examined, until Yang arrived with a bag.
“Brought your tablet, and you forgot your phone,” Yang said, holding out the bag. She figured something to pass the time would probably help.
When Li was ready to be seen again, they slipped into the room, and Ahsoka took Li’s hand. “I’ve had worse. How do you feel?”
The use of the Force certainly helped her. Li did calm down and she was rather mellow. Probably something that would only help when it came time to set her broken arm, then have a cast put on it. As for the ribs, well, there was little they could do about those. They weren’t something that could be put in a cast to heal.
“Better, thanks.” Li squeezed Ahsoka’s hand, then looked over at Yang. “Sorry if I woke you up.” Even with the pain dulled by medication and Ahsoka’s application of calm and the Force, Li was still taking shallow breaths, nothing too deep otherwise it wouldn’t be good.
"Not getting sleep is the least of our problems," Yang told her, shaking her head and smiling. "At first I thought you'd gotten too rough. Forgotten the safe word."
Ahsoka groaned. "Anyway. I wish I knew how long you were gonna be here."
“I wish,” Li said. That would’ve been preferable to having gone through the fight she had. At least in that she knew that Ahsoka would never mean to hurt her. Not that she was thinking of trying to get more rough or anything. “The X-rays are being developed, so I should know relatively soon.” After all, her arm needed to be set sooner rather than later.
Luckily, it wasn’t long before the doctor returned. “Alright, the X-rays showed that we don’t need to put pins in your arm, so once we set the bone, we’ll put a cast on it so that it can heal. Your ribs, however, are a different matter. Two of your ribs are broken, but they will heal just fine. Neither of your lungs were punctured nor collapsed, so those are both good signs. But you will need to be careful. No strenuous activity, and I’ll give you some information on breathing exercises. These are extremely important for you to follow because you could develop pneumonia if you don’t do them.” In this, the doctor was also addressing Ahsoka and Yang, knowing Li had painkillers in her, so best to also have two completely lucid people aware of this.
“That’s what the Force is for,” Ahsoka mumbled, just loud enough to make Yang laugh and then shut up. She squeezed Li’s good hand, and nodded at the doctor when he came in. “Understood. We’ll make sure she rests.”
“Might have to tie her down, she’s worse than I am when I’m sick,” Yang added, grinning. Probably not. But it was still funny to her, and funny was better than worrying.
“No, no tying me down.” Li protested. Though it might actually come to that. Li wasn’t one to sit still for long. In her dreams, she was always moving from one fight to another, pausing only long enough to discuss the next step with her friends and to resupply herself and dump the equipment she didn’t need any longer.
“Alright. I will prescribe some painkillers as well. Managing the pain is also crucial.” He then went on to explain about how long it would take the arm and ribs to heal, and when Li should get checked out by a doctor to ensure the healing process was going well. It was probably better that Li wasn’t growing anymore, otherwise the healing bones might have complications due to growth spurts or something. “When you are ready, I’ll set the bone in your arm.” He had the X-ray of her arm on the display screen so that he could properly set it. It was definitely painful to look at on the X-ray.
Ahsoka memorized everything. She’d taken care of injured jedi, Li couldn’t possibly be as bad as Anakin. She also memorized the x-rays. It would help to know where exactly to avoid pressure. She’d probably be sleeping in the extra room for awhile.
“Wanna borrow mine?” Yang asked, unhooking her arm and offering it to Li.
When Yang offered her arm, Li actually started laughing. It was a good play, except for the part where Li’s ribs protested the action and coughing ensued. But she managed to calm down with no further damage done. “Thank you, Yang,” she said. At least she’d gotten a laugh out of it. Though as for sleeping, Li was wondering if she’d even be able to lay down easily. She might have to sleep in a chair until her ribs healed enough to allow her to fully lay down.
“Okay, now I will set the bone in your arm.” And that, of course, entailed the doctor manipulating the bone and pushing it back into place with his hands. “Once it is set, then we’ll get a cast put on it. Did you want your cast to be a certain color?” Li seemed young enough to care about having a color or not.
“Purple. I want a purple cast.” Purple was her favorite color. The doctor nodded, then stuck his head out into the hall to call for a nurse to come assist him with the cast and so forth.
"You're welcome." Yang grinned, putting her arm back and happy to ease the situation at least a little bit.
"Good thing purple looks good on you." Ahsoka made sure to be there as much as the doctor would let her. It wasn’t her fault, obviously, but she just wanted Li to remain calm.
Li was probably one of those people that looked good in most colors. Though there wasn’t much time for more talk when the doctor took Li’s broken arm and set the bone. It went back into place, and the cast was applied to it. With that done, the doctor gave out the instructions for caring for the broken bones, and gave some papers with said information printed on them. He also wrote a prescription for some painkillers and handed it over. Then Li was discharged.
“Well, that could have been worse,” she said as they were leaving.
Honestly, Li could wear a paper sack after spending six months in a 6x6 cell and Ahsoka would think she was the most beautiful person in existence. It took all her will power not to just carry her out.
Yang just shrugged. She’d insisted that they wheel Li out in a wheel chair and also insisted on pushing it. Probably unsafely fast complete with coasting before she had to relinquish it. “Yeah, it coulda been. I’m glad you guys are okay. I hope you didn’t mind, but I drove your car here.”
Li hadn’t wanted a wheelchair, as far as she was concerned she could walk. It was her arm and ribs that were injured, not her legs. But she didn’t put up much of a fight about it. Not this time, at any rate. Though she didn’t mind Yang pushing her too fast. “I don’t mind. Probably better that way.” Three of them piling on Yang’s motorcycle would definitely be unsafe, especially when Li already had broken bones.
“Yeah, figured safer than Ahsoka using the force to balance us all.” She grinned, helping Li up out of the chair so they could return it to the poor, long suffering nurse.
Ahsoka took the keys from Yang, offering her arm for Li to keep steady. “And Li is high as a kite so that doesn’t help the steadiness.”
“I’m so jealous. Of the drugs, not the owies.”
“Am I high a kite?” Li asked, looking down at the ground, then up at the sky. “It doesn’t look like I’m high as a kite.” But it certainly felt like she was high as a kite. She wobbled on her feet before she realized Ahsoka was offering her arm to her, and she took it.
Yang giggled as Ahsoka unlocked the car. She got the door, and the two of them helped get Li inside, careful to avoid banging her rips. “You’re gonna look like a bunch of books fell on you. I told you not to do that much heavy reading before bed.”
Ahsoka just groaned.
Li laughed again. That just tickled her funny bone. “Heavy reading. Well, I can be a bookworm!” She said as she got into the car. She was less careful about things considering she was high on painkillers. Though at least the cast on her left forearm would keep her arm protected.
“You’re in charge of keeping her smiling,” Ahsoka said, punching Yang in the shoulder.
“That’s usually your job, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but this is your only chance to have someone laugh at your puns.” Grinning, Ahsoka got into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll have you know I’m punderful.” Yang got into the back seat. “Isn’t that right?”
“You are definitely punderful,” Li agreed with a nod. Right at this current moment, she was feeling amazing. It was the drugs making her feel that way, of course, but she didn’t mind it right now. This could be a very long recovery time, depending on how stir crazy Li became. But at least they had painkillers to give her as needed to make her happy if things got too bad?