Chapter Text
Razz loved the Forest. She loved the quiet, and the Forest was an interesting character when it was just the two of them. The birds would chitter, the deer would meander, and the sunbeams danced between the leaves. The Forest was alive and welcoming.
But once someone else arrived, invading their privacy, the Forest would try to remove them. Send its deadliest snakes and place the most harmful plants in their way. The Forest was not welcoming to outsiders, which is why when Razz was walking down the path and stumbled into a quiet pocket, she got chills.
Something wasn’t right.
There was a man along the edge of the river, laying down.
She could only assume he was awake, given his feet were kicking fruitlessly at the water. There were no birds or snakes here, only her, the man, and the Forest. From the edge of the bushes, she could hear his breath, raspy and loud. Amplified in the silence.
Despite the Forest’s very obvious disapproval, she couldn’t leave this man out here alone. It was very far from the village, and he was slowing his kicks by the minute. Something was very wrong with him. He didn’t attempt to get out of the water other than the kicking, his arms thrown uselessly at his sides. He was lying in a puddle of dark red mixed with the river water, which was lapping at him. The river was threatening to drag him back in.
Razz approached him, footsteps quiet. His red hair was plastered to his face, drenched from the river. And like his hair, his clothes were plastered to him and shredded in places. The source of the blood was two very obvious injuries to his chest. Possibly stab wounds? His eyes were closed, and his legs were almost completely still now. The river had sapped most of his strength, and was now pulling him back in.
Razz pursed her lips and dragged the strange man by his armpits further on shore. Once he was completely out of the water, she pushed the hair from his face and gently patted one cheek to see if there was any reaction. His face was horribly bruised, and a scar was over one of his eyes. Two black horns protruded from his hairline, reminding her of a bull. So, he was a Faunus.
That was one possibility to his injuries. She had heard that- further up the river- they did not take so kindly to Faunus. Maybe he had gotten tangled up with someone up there?
She had never met a Faunus before.
Razz knew that, now that she was committed, she couldn’t just leave him on the shoreline to die. So, she heaved him up onto her back, and huffed at the effort. While his clothes were wet, cold, and heavy, he wasn’t nearly as heavy as them. His hips poked at her back, and upon the closer inspection of his face, his cheeks were hollow. This was weird, considering how nice his clothes were tailored. At least, she could only guess, as now they were bloody, wet, and torn.
The trek back to her home was slow. If she walked too fast along the trail she knew so well, he was grunt in pain as he was jostled. While that was a good sign to him being alive, one of his arms that she had slung over her shoulder was bent at an unnatural angle. She could only assume that it was broken.
After half an hour, she could see her cabin peeking between the trees.
She hurried inside despite his unconscious protests. The Forest was quiet the whole time she had walked, making her nervous.
Razz deposited her new friend onto the futon in once she made it inside, then set about to gather her medical kit. She only had some basics- pain killer, gauze, antibiotics, and other wound care. She was very careful not to get hurt, but if anything major happened she would limp into the village to get help. Something told her that this man didn’t have the option to get to a village doctor.
While the basics took care of most of his wounds, she did end up having to find two sturdy sticks to make a splint for his arm. She wasn’t able to tell if the arm was shattered, but gentle palpitations told her that most of the bones were intact.
Now she could only wait for him to wake up. And sometimes waiting was the hardest part.