#unrelated but I also received lots of mail today and one of the arrivals was an itsy bitsy Aki figure!!

[blueish-bird]

stayed home sick today to work through a fever but I think I’m feeling good enough to work on my sick fic lmao

[ask-me-about-datlof]

Thank You, Friend - Chapter 9

Oh boi, oh boi I am tired!

But hey ho, here is the next chapter for you guys to enjoy!

A small mention, one of the characters in this chapter is depressed and while I don’t think it should bother anyone, here is a small warning, just in case. Also hospitals (but completely unrelated to the depression)

You can read this chapter, and all previous chapters on AO3

Zoey had been in hospital since around 5pm yesterday, and in the small hours of the next day, August the 28th, she had given birth to a healthy baby girl. At least according to Fiona who had been texting Hannah throughout the night. And a few hours after Hannah and Lewis had woken up, they had received texts from both Zoey and Fiona, inviting them to the hospital to visit the new baby. And so the pair were en-route to the hospital. Hannah was ecstatic; she couldn’t wait to see how Zoey was doing, and to meet the newborn. Lewis on the other hand was more nervous than excited. He’d had very little experience with babies and while he was pleased for Zoey that everything had gone well, he felt like he didn’t know her quite well enough to be visiting her so soon after giving birth. But she and Fiona had invited him as well as Hannah and he knew it would be very rude to turn down an invitation like that.

The walk to the hospital didn’t take long and when they got there they were quickly shown up to Zoey’s room. The nurse leading them to the room knocked on the door before walking on, Lewis and Hannah following close behind. The room was fairly sparse, like most hospital rooms, but it had a couple of armchairs that looked relatively comfy and a large window that looked out on the city around them. Zoey was sat up in the bed with Fiona snuggled up beside her and in her arms wrapped up in a blanket was her baby girl. Zoey looked up at Hannah and Lewis as they arrived, a beaming smile quickly spreading over her whole face. She looked slightly tired, with grey bags under her eyes but it was clear for everyone in the room to see how overjoyed she was.

“Is everything alright, while I’m here? Do you want me to get anything?” The nurse asked as Lewis and Hannah stepped closer to the bed.

“No, thank you.” Zoey said. The nurse nodded, smiled and left the room closing the door behind them. Zoey was still beaming up at Lewis and Hannah and Fiona slid off the bed slightly so her feet were resting on the ground and she too was smiling from ear to ear. “Hannah, Lewis, look, come and meet my daughter! Her name’s Hope Charlotte and I love her so much! I can’t believe I’m actually a mum! And Fiona’s a mum too! We’re both mums! This is so amazing and I’m so happy!” Zoey gushed, still beaming from ear to ear. Fiona wrapped her arm around Zoey and hugged her tightly.

“This is an amazing time for us.” Fiona said, smiling up at Zoey for a moment before she turned her gaze to Lewis and Hannah. “Sit down, you two, don’t stand around. Make yourselves at home.”

Lewis turned and pulled one of the armchairs closer to the bed as Hannah moved closer to Zoey’s side and looked down at Hope, smiling at her.

“Isn’t she just gorgeous?” Hannah said softly, as Lewis settled himself in the chair.

“She’s beautiful.” Fiona murmured in agreement.

“She’s a little wrinkly, ‘cause all newborns are like that, but I think that she’s got my nose and her hair is so soft and fluffy, although you can’t see it at the moment because it’s under this little hat, but it’s the softest thing I’ve ever touched in my life!” Hannah and Fiona exchanged a smile as they listened to Zoey. “Do you want to hold her, Hannah?” She asked, holding out Hope towards Hannah.

“I’d love to.” Hannah replied, gently taking Hope from Zoey’s arms and cradling in her in her own. “Hello there, Hope!” Hannah cooed softly as she rocked Hope in her arms.

Curious, Lewis stood up and moved closer to Hannah so he could get a better look at Hope. Wrapped up in a blanket with a little pink hat on her head and only her small face was showing. Zoey was right when she said she was a little wrinkly. Hope’s face was wrinkled, and her eyes were closed tightly as she slept, one tiny hand poking out from the blanket. Lewis moved his hand up to her and gently placed his finger by Hope’s hand. Unconsciously she wrapped her little fingers around Lewis’s and gripped on tightly. He smiled as he looked at her. He still didn’t know anything about babies, but that wasn’t stopping him from being happy for Zoey and Fiona and their little baby girl.

“How much does she weigh?” Hannah asked, glancing up from Hope to look towards Zoey and Fiona.

“Six pounds and eight ounces.” Zoey announced proudly, the beaming smile, that had appeared when Hannah and Lewis first walked in, still on her face. “You guys don’t happen to know where Rythian is do you?” Both Hannah and Lewis looked up at Zoey. “Only I sent him a couple of texts and asked him if he’d come and visit and he hasn’t replied and I’m just really worried about him.” Hannah frowned slightly.

“He’s not been replying to my texts for a while now. I think I’ll go over to his today and make sure everything’s alright, and if he’s up for it I’ll bring him to visit you.” Hannah said, gently handing Hope over to Fiona and pulling out her phone. “I’ll send him a text, to see if he replies. I’ll visit anyway, just to see him because I haven’t seen him in months.” Zoey nodded as Hannah quickly wrote out a text and sent it.

“You have to make sure he visits, Hannah, I want him to be Hope’s godfather. And I want him to see her, I want him to be a part of her life as she’s growing up.” Hannah looked over at Zoey and smiled.

“I’ll make sure he visits. I promise.”

It was about an hour after Hannah had sent her text to Rythian, and now she and Lewis were standing outside his flat. Hannah had never got a reply from Rythian so she’d asked Lewis to send a text and unsurprisingly, he hadn’t got a reply either. The block of flats that Rythian lived in were old and rundown; there were damp patches in the ceilings of the corridors and unsavoury stains on the floors. The block of flats resided in one of the rougher areas of Datlof and as a result of this, the prices of the flats in this area were cheap and affordable to those who had minimum wage jobs, or were living off benefits. But just because they were affordable didn’t mean that they were in any way nice. Lewis had never been to this part of the city before and he was appalled by the poverty he saw around him. He knew from Danny that it was in these rougher areas that a lot of werewolves and werewolf packs existed; it was hard for them to get any kind of jobs, let along jobs that paid well.

The door to Rythian’s flat had been painted blue at one point, but the blue paint was faded and peeling, stained by years of rain and damp at the bottom. There was a set of metal numbers hammered into the door reading out 356 and the letterbox had the days mail poking out of it, the edges of the letters slightly damp from the light drizzle that was in the air. Hannah lifted her hand and knocked loudly at the door.

“Hey, Ryth! You in there?” Hannah called out as she finished knocking. Lewis glanced around as Hannah took a step back from the door.

“Do you think he’s in?” Lewis asked. She shrugged.

“He might be at work. Although…” She trailed off as she frowned at the door. “Come on, Ryth. Open up!” She knocked again.

“Although?” Lewis enquired, frowning slightly at Hannah. She was about to reply when they heard the clicking of the lock turning and the door swung inwards.

Rythian was almost as tall as Lewis, only about an inch or so shorter, and he was very thin and skinny, too thin to be healthy. His face had a gaunt look about it and there were large dark circles under his bright teal blue eyes. Rythian’s hair was dark brown and was swept back from his face. His dark skin seemed to have a slight blue tint to it. Rythian was wearing black trousers and a black tank top, and hanging around his neck was a long beautifully made dark purple scarf. Hannah’s eyes swept over Rythian quickly as she looked at him, a smile breaking out over her face. Lewis smiled too, to be polite.

“Hey. I thought you weren’t going to open the door then.” Hannah said, smiling warmly at Rythian. His face twitched into a smile, but it didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes.

“Hey.” He murmured quietly, an unusual accent thick in his voice. As he spoke, Lewis caught sight of sharp pointed teeth inside Rythian’s mouth.

“Can we come inside?” Hannah asked gently.

Rythian nodded his head slightly and disappeared back inside, leaving the door to his apartment open. Hannah walked in, followed by Lewis who closed the door behind them. As they walked into the apartment, they instantly started shivering from the cold air in the room, and as the door swung shut, they were enveloped in darkness.

“Jesus Christ, it’s freezing in here!” Hannah exclaimed as she navigated her way across the room towards the window and opened up the curtains, sending the grey light of day shining around the apartment. “And you need to get some light in here too.”

“I am sorry, I was sleeping.” Rythian replied quietly. His English, although good, was slightly broken and it was clear that he’d had little chance to develop his language skills.

In the grey light, Lewis looked around Rythian’s apartment. It was small. Rythian’s bed was up a small set of steps and underneath the bed there was a small storage space and a door that Lewis assumed lead to the apartment’s bathroom. The kitchen had a tiny stove and a meagre amount of counter space and in the corner of the room there was a fridge-freezer. There was an old table surrounded by a couple of wooden chairs and looking towards the window was an old sofa. There was very little in the way of personal belongings lying about and the whole apartment felt very empty, despite being lived in. Hannah glanced towards Lewis before she looked at Rythian more closely.

“Would you like a drink?” Rythian asked, turning away from Hannah and going to open the cupboards, pulling out a half empty packet of instant coffee.

“Have you got any tea?” Lewis asked, still looking around Rythian’s flat curiously. Rythian shook his head as he filled up the kettle, putting it on to boil.

“No, I am sorry. Hannah, would you like a drink?”

“I’ll have some water, thank you.” Rythian filled a glass of water and passed it over to Hannah. “Thank you.” She murmured, before she took told of Lewis’s arm and pulled him over to the sofa where they both sat down. The boiling of the kettle allowed the pair to have a hushed conversation without Rythian hearing them. “I’m worried about Rythian.”

“Why?”

“Look at him! He’s obviously been barely eating, and I’m just worried he’s not looking after himself.” Hannah’s face was creased into a concerned frown and Lewis glanced over at Rythian. Rythian’s movements were slow and he seemed tired, right down to the bones. And as he’d noticed before, Rythian did seem unhealthily thin. The kettle boiled and their quiet conversation fell silent as Rythian filled a mug with the boiling water and stirred it a couple of times before wrapping his fingers around it and turning to face Lewis and Hannah, a bright smile on his face. “How come you never replied to our texts?” Hannah asked gently as Rythian sat himself down on one of the chairs at the table. His smile faltered for a moment.

“Texts? I did not receive any texts.” His smile seemed to become more forced as he spoke. Hannah glanced worriedly towards Lewis before she turned back to Rythian.

“Are you sure?” Her voice was gentle, trying to be as non-accusatory as possible. “Lewis and I sent one each, and I think Zoey sent about three or four…” Rythian smiled slightly over at Hannah.

“I did not receive any texts.” He repeated. “You can check my mobile…” He gestured towards an cheap phone that was resting on the arm of the sofa.

It was a £20 Nokia phone and built like a brick. Hannah picked it up and quickly navigated through it, checking the messages that had been sent. Lewis glanced over her shoulder as she looked and although there were apparently no messages from today, he caught sight of the many other texts that had been completely ignored. Hannah shrugged slightly and moved to put the phone back down. Lewis glanced up at Rythian, who was gazing into his coffee, and took the phone from Hannah. His fingers moved quickly as he passed through the phone’s menus, arriving at a folder named ‘DELETED TEXTS’. Lewis opened it and staring up at him were the texts that everyone had sent that day. He nudged Hannah softly and held the phone out to her.

“Oh, Rythian…” She murmured loud enough for only Lewis to hear before she placed the phone down and looked over at Rythian. “Rythian, are you ok?” Rythian glanced up from his coffee and smiled over at Hannah, but once again the smile didn’t seem to reach his eyes.

“I am fine.”

“When was the last time you ate?” He hesitated before he replied.

“This morning.”

“And when did you last leave the apartment?” The pause was longer this time.

“Yesterday…” There was a crack in Rythian’s voice and he quickly looked down into his mug of coffee again, blinking rapidly.

“Rythian…” Hannah stood up and walked over to Rythian. She placed her hands over his hands. “How about Lewis and I take you out for lunch. And then we can go and visit Zoey and Fiona in the hospital, and you’ll get to meet Hope. I know Zoey really wants you to meet her.”

“I…” Rythian’s voice broke again and a couple of tears dripped down his face. Hannah gently took the mug from his grasp and placed it down on the table before she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Lewis looked away, slightly awkwardly.

“It’s alright. It’ll be alright. I’m sorry I haven’t been around for you, but I’m here now, and I’ll help you. I promise” She murmured quietly as Rythian broke down crying.

Hannah smoothed his hair gently as his body shook with tears. The room fell silent apart from the quiet noises of Rythian crying, and after a few minutes, Rythian pulled away from Hannah, wiping his eyes and sniffing.

“Are you alright for now?” Hannah asked, moving away from Rythian slightly. He nodded slightly, still sniffing, his eyes red from the tears. “Are you ready to go get some lunch?” Rythian nodded again. Hannah stood up and Lewis got to his feet too. “Come on then.” She said.

Rythian got to his feet and wound his scarf around his neck so it wouldn’t be trailing on the floor and quietly moved towards the door, grabbing his keys from the lock. Hannah and Lewis moved over towards the door as Rythian pulled it open and stepped outside, Lewis and Hannah following. Once Rythian had locked the door, Hannah reached up and placed her hand on his shoulders, not quite tall enough to put her whole arm around, and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.

“Let’s go get something to eat. Lead the way, Lewis.” Lewis moved off, with Hannah and Rythian in tow behind him.

Over their lunch Lewis learnt, partially from Hannah and partially from Rythian, that Rythian had been in Datlof for a little over a year, having come to Datlof from the End when he was seventeen years old. Rythian had been reluctant to speak throughout the entire meal, but he had told Lewis of a few things from his home realm, like how magic was their equivalent of technology, and how he missed his home. And once they’d finished eating, the trio headed to the hospital and Hannah, Lewis and Fiona left the room to let Zoey and Rythian catch up together for a while. So they went to grab some coffee and some tea, talking as they went.

“Rythian seemed, quiet when he came in. Is everything alright?” Fiona asked as they walked along the corridor. Hannah sighed.

“I don’t think so. I think he’s homesick, tired of being constantly ill, and struggling financially at the moment. I just hope we can help him.” Fiona nodded.

“Can’t you cure him with your magic if he’s ill?” Lewis asked, thinking back to how Hannah had healed his wound when they first met. Hannah pulled a face.

“Unfortunately it doesn’t really work like that. Healing a physical injury, like a broken bone or a cut is fairly simple. All I’m doing is speeding up the healing process. But with an illness, like a cold, or flu, I could in theory heal someone, but then they wouldn’t have built up any resistances to the illness. And so next time it came around, they’d get ill again. And for Rythian, right now, he needs to build up his immune system. You should be able to understand that, Lewis.” Lewis nodded.

“I suppose that if one of us were to go to the End, we’d get ill because our immune systems aren’t equipped for dealing with their illnesses.” Hannah nodded.

“At the moment, there’s not quite enough movement between Datlof and the End for both groups to have immune systems capable of dealing with the bugs and germs that are found in each place. And so this first year for Rythian has been particularly tough because every time he’s recovered from one illness, he’s caught another, and I think it’s beginning to take it’s toll on him, physically and mentally.”

“He sure has had it rough. Datlof’s not exactly the friendliest place to outsiders, either.” Hannah nodded in agreement with Fiona as they reached a little cafe area filled with patients and visitors alike.

“What do you guys want? I’ll go get it.” Fiona said, turning to face Lewis and Hannah.

“Tea please.” Hannah said, speaking first.

“Same here.” Lewis said after Hannah. Fiona nodded.

“Alright, I can do that. I’ll meet you over there.” She pointed to a little table by a window.

“Alright.” Hannah and Lewis moved off towards the table that Fiona had pointed out as she moved into the queue.

“So why did Rythian come to Datlof in the first place?” Lewis asked as he and Hannah settled themselves down around the table.

“He told me he came here to learn our magic.”

“There are different types of magic?” Lewis asked, staring at Hannah. She grinned at his bemused expression.

“Yes, just like there are different fields of science; chemistry, biology, physics, to name a few. Magic can vary quite vastly from culture to culture, and for those who are keen on learning different types of magic, traveling to different realms is one of the most logical options. End magic is highly different from the kind of magic I use, for example, I’ve heard that End healing magic is much more sophisticated than the healing magic I use.” Lewis was once more fascinated by the complexity behind magic and how it worked.

“So how does it differ? And how come their healing magic is so sophisticated?” Hannah laughed.

“I don’t know, Lewis. You’d have to ask Rythian, he’s the expert.” Lewis sighed, smiling slightly as Fiona walked over with a tray holding three mugs and a selection of little UHT milk cartons and some packets of sugar.

“Alright, tea all around. Grab whichever one you fancy, they’re all the same at the moment.” Fiona said, lowering the tray onto the table.

Hannah and Lewis both grabbed a mug and Fiona moved the last mug onto the table before she slid the milk and sugar onto the table, enabling her to take the tray away. Hannah grabbed a carton of milk and opened it, tipping it into her tea as Fiona returned and sat herself down. She too tipped some milk into her tea along with a packet of sugar and stirred it before she took a small sip, sighed and lent back in the chair.

“What are you guys going to do after this?” Fiona asked, looking at Lewis and Hannah.

“Well, I need to head into Yoglabs, there’s a lot of stuff I need to do there, and I haven’t had a chance to say hi to Simon or Lal today.” Lewis said, taking a slurp from his tea.

“I think I’ll stick with Rythian for the rest of today. I think he needs the company.” Hannah said gazing thoughtfully down into her mug of tea. “What about you?”

“I’ll be staying late at the hospital tonight before going home, then hopefully Zoey and Hope will be discharged sometime tomorrow lunch time and I can take them home.” Fiona said smiling.

“Would I be able to visit you when you’re at home?” Hannah asked.

“Sure!” Fiona said.

“I’ll probably bring Rythian along with me too, I’m thinking of letting him stay the night at mine tonight. I hope you don’t mind, Lewis?” Hannah turned to look towards Lewis.

“No, that’s fine. He’s your friend and it’s your house.” He said, smiling slightly.

“Good.” Lewis glanced at a clock on the wall, and dread suddenly filled him.

“Oh shit!” He swore. Both Hannah and Fiona looked towards him in surprise.

“Lewis?” Hannah asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I need to go, otherwise I won’t be able to get anything done today!” Lewis took a large gulp of his tea, the liquid burning as it went down his throat and stood up. He’d forgotten about the mountain of work that kept piling higher and higher on his desk and the thought of the chaos he might turn up to at Yoglabs made his blood run cold. “I’d love to stay with you some more, but I have so much I need to do! I’m so sorry,”

“No, it’s fine! Go! I wouldn’t want you to be worrying about work.” Fiona said, flapping her hands in a shooing motion at Lewis.

“Ah, thank you so much! If I have time, I’ll drop by with Hannah tomorrow.”

“That’d be great.”

“Ah, good.” Lewis moved around the table and gave Hannah a quick kiss on the lips. “Right, well, I’ll be off and I’ll maybe see you tomorrow.” He said, looking at Fiona. “And I’ll see you when I get back tonight.” He turned his gaze to Hannah.

“And don’t forget that Rythian will probably be there too.” Hannah called out as Lewis backed away from the table. He nodded.

“I won’t. I’ll see you later. Love you!”

“Love you too.”

“Bye, Lewis!” Fiona said as Lewis turned away from the table and headed towards the exit.