FSE

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Keenis's paws drooped on his way home, the afternoon air refreshing over his wings as he slowly flapped them. The fatigue he felt was a testament to yet another long double shift at Liberty Private Hospital. He knew he needed a hot bath and a good meal to recover from a long night and morning of reattaching nerve endings and arteries. The constant demands on his mind and body took a toll, but his enjoyment of the work made up for it. He yawned loudly and shook his body while he flew, trying to rouse himself from his drowsiness. A large chunk of his patients were dragons who had collided with each other over the city, so he knew the risks of flying tired; but walking would be worse. Inhaling deeply, the scents of the city were very different from those of the desert at his last occupation. The lack of gunfire and screaming was a nice change, he thought to himself as he aimed towards his apartment on the eastern outskirts of the city.

It was not a short flight, but he enjoyed the exercise and the rent was cheaper. Hunger gnawed at his stomach and he licked his lips, trying to remember what he had in the fridge. Living by himself was lonely, the silence a far cry from the noisy cramped bunks of his squad. He smiled as he remembered the jokes and tales his brothers and sisters would share after a mission, his smile slowly turning sad as he remembered those who didn't make it back.

Coming from a poor family, the idea of becoming a doctor had seemed impossible despite his ability to use magic. He never thought he would be more than a plumber with his gifts, until he saw a poster for the defense force. The dream of traveling the world and being trained as a doctor, all on the taxpayers dime, drew him into the recruitment office.

Calling the deployments 'tours' seemed silly if he thought about it, just one of the many idiosyncrasies of the military. "Defense force" was another of those terms; traveling to other countries to partake in other people's wars didn't sound like defense. Lastly, his "brothers and sisters" came from all walks of life and he had been one of only two dragons in his unit.

He shivered and tried to bury the images of Taalli, the dragoness in his unit. She did not have the medical training that he did, but instead had specialized in explosives and demolitions. Her smile infectious, as she would pull the paddle on a detonator, dropping a building or other strategic target. She hadn't been the dainty kind of 'ness that Keenis saw every day in the city and she would often be covered in dust and soot as she walked around the base.

Keenis adjusted his course, the food in his fridge no longer seemed appealing. He was on good money working at the hospital and felt he needed to reward himself with some takeaway for having such a busy day. He had been relying heavily on a new food delivery service, but the last few days it had been turned off due to 'technical difficulties', which meant he had to pick up his food himself.

He was still a few blocks away, when his blue eyes snapped to the fireball that erupted ahead of him. Without even thinking he flapped his wings hard and dove towards the explosion. His heart beat rapidly as he took in the orange glow, the sound following a brief second later.

The marketplace he was already heading to was ablaze, as he touched down in the epicenter. Timber from the stalls was scattered across the courtyard, their burning canvas awnings and the screams of the injured patrons took Keenis back to the desert. He shook his head and tapped at the tablet on his wrist, it rang twice while he assessed the situation.

A calm voice crackled from his radio "What is your emergency?"

"This is corporal Keenis, we have an explosion in the east markets, multiple injuries, request medivac" he barked, as he dashed over to a human who was bleeding heavily from a large cut in their leg. He used his claws to rip a strip of canvas from a nearby stall and tied it tightly around the human's leg.

Blood covered his paws as he moved to his next fallen comrade. A dragon with burns to the sides of their face, writhing on the ground. "You're ok soldier," Keenis said firmly. He pointed at a human nearby who looked stunned "You! Hold his head, make sure he doesn't rub it on the ground!" The human looked at him in shock and Keenis quickly approached him, dragging him back and showing him how to hold the injured dragon's head.

"Are there any casualties?" The voice from his radio asked. Keenis looked around, the screams of the injured making him swallow hard.

He saw a dragon under a lamp post, hunched over and screaming. 'Screaming is good' he reminded himself 'it means you are alive.' The drake let out a wail that sounded like a dying animal 'You're okay mate' Keenis thought to himself, as he tried to find anyone who was quiet. He stretched his neck high to try and get a better view. Dragons and humans were fleeing the scene, dragging their coughing friends along with them.

Keenis reached for his radio on his shoulder and his paw grabbed nothing. With a quick shake of his head, he forced himself back into the present and remembered where he was, he looked down at his wrist and saw the tablet's screen glowing. "Hard to say, maybe a two dozen injured, many with burns and cuts, but no casualties-"

"PLEASE! SHE ISN'T BREATHING"

Keenis' head snapped towards the drake under the lamp post. His eyes narrowed and he could see another body under the drakes wing now.

"Standby" Keenis said to his tablet and bounded over. With a heavy shove, he pushed the drake off of the prone form of a teal dragoness.

He quickly put his ear to her throat and pulled back with a grim look on his face. "One unresponsive, dragoness, medium build, significant head trauma, mild burns, possible internal bleeding" he relayed to the operator.

"PLEASE, HELP HER!" the drake wailed.

His drill instructor's voice shouted through his mind, 'get them breathing, stop the bleeding'. He rolled the dragoness onto her back, her wings splayed limp on the ground. Straddling the 'ness, he put his paws on her chest, pushing down hard he could feel the blood that had filled her lungs, he also noticed her pregnant belly. He moved his paws higher and continued to push into her chest, forcing her lungs to expel the fluids that filled them. Looking down at her soot covered body, a shiver went down his spine. He looked around to try and find aid but everyone was in a similar situation. He kept compressing her lungs, trying to force the fluids out and air in, he looked up at the sobbing drake that called him. "You! Can you do this?" He nodded towards his paws.

Between gasps the drake shook his head, his whole body quivering.

"Hey! Listen. Focus on what I'm doing. Come here" Keenis barked, startling the drake out of his thoughts. Keenis moved off the 'ness and motioned with his head for the drake to take his place, "Keep doing that, don't stop, don't be gentle" he said, as he grabbed the drake's paws and put them where his had been.

"I.. I don't-" the drake stuttered

"Want her to live? Keep those compressions going! You stop, she dies!" Keenis knew he was pushing the drake, but he had to get the message across. He quickly moved to the side of the 'ness's neck, placing a firm paw on her throat, and closed his eyes.

Using magic was not something that could be taught. Like breathing it was something that just came naturally, but only to those that had the rare gift. Even still, the ability was severely limited, but being able to access things inside a body was one of the few practical applications of it. He channeled his focus into her airways, gently cupping the fluids and drawing them from her lungs. He moved his paw up her throat and towards her head.

Keenis's snout twitched, as he could smell the blood coming out of the dragoness's nose and mouth and, with a quick flick of his paw, the obstruction was removed. He stumbled back, as the toll of his magic threatened to pull him out of consciousness. Putting his head to her throat, he could hear the air being drawn in and out by the drakes compressions on her chest.

Pulling back, the 'ness was still not moving, he lay down and held her head in his paws, his body feeling sluggish as he drew on his gifts again. With his eyes closed, he tried to visualize her in front of him and used his magic to probe for her injuries. Using magic like this was not as simple as seeing inside the body like an x-ray, but he could feel the shock and pain racing through her body like a network of throbbing, glowing ethereal wires. He felt around and could feel the fractured skull, the optic nerve was calling to him but he ignored it, pushing deeper he found a collection of nerves in her spine which were frayed like an old rope. He blocked out everything and focused on pulling them close to one another, his whole body shaking as he worked. He didn't have the strength to fix them all and had to trace the nerves to find where each one went, as soon as he found the one for her lungs he quickly pulled the two ends together, his magic forcing them to bind to one another. He felt around for another nerve, it was like finding a single thread in twisted rope while it flapped in the wind, but as soon as he found it he gave it a surge of magic, causing it to fire a signal down its length. He felt her whole body convulse as her nervous system fired back up, Keenis was almost blinded and quickly retreated back to his mind as the ness spluttered and hacked.

"Reevian!" The drake shouted and jumped off her. Her body was weak and her lungs were filling back up with blood as she weakly tried to move. Keenis rolled the ness onto her side to try and prolong the time it would take for her lungs to fill with blood.

"Why are you sad?" the 'ness croaked softly, blood dripping from her nose, "Neebis, we won."

The drake opened his mouth and tried to talk, his voice not coming and he just pressed his head against her snout.

Her breathing was becoming labored and Keenis reached for his magic once more only to not feel the power in him. The drake could tell his mates breathing was becoming difficult and looked to Keenis for help.

"Be with her," Keenis said sadly and gave a glance up to the evening sky, still no flashing lights. He turned to his tablet and saw the call was still active. "I've brought her back, but if she doesn't get help now..." his voice breaking slightly.

He could see the drake looking at him, his eyes begging him to help, but there was nothing he could do, her internal injuries were filling her chest with blood and he didn't have the strength left to fix them. He looked down at her pregnant belly and knew he would have to act fast if there was any chance of saving their child.

"I'm sorry," Keenis muttered to the drake as he felt the dragoness's breathing gargle. The drake held his mates head in his paws as her eyes drifted close. He begged and pleaded with her to not leave him as Keenis moved to the dragoness's belly, he quickly cut the harness Reevian wore and, although he didn't have the tools to do this cleanly, he had to do something.

"What are you doing?" Asked the drake, his voice horse.

"What I can. I might be able to save the egg," he said, as he placed nature's scalpel on her belly. His claws were not as sharp as a scalpel and instead of a nice, clean line between the scales, his incision tore at her belly as he opened her up. He swallowed hard and inserted his paws into her body. Her body temperature was colder than it should have been and there was a significant lack of bleeding due to her low blood pressure.

Reaching in he felt the soft membrane of an egg, it's shell had not yet formed, but getting it out of the dying mother was critical. The embryo inside drew in oxygen from the mother and with that not flowing, there was only a limited window that could result in a living hatchling. As he carefully pulled the large egg out of the ness, he buried a painful memory, the wound and the blood on soot covered scales taking him back to losing his own mate.

Red and blue lights illuminated the scene from above and Keenis held the egg to the drake "Hold this! Keep it warm, be gentle with it," he said firmly.

"HERE, MEDIC!" Keenis shouted, getting the attention of the dragons gliding down towards them. They wore harnesses with a red cross on it, red and blue LEDs stitched into the straps which illuminated the area around them, The dragon's thin wing membranes diffusing the light as they quickly descended.

The medical dragons exchanged a look as they landed. "What happened-" one of them started before being interrupted.

"I need a lung punch, Scale bind, Two shots of adrenaline and a blood bag, Now!" Keenis barked.

The medical team snapped to and dropped their bags, opening them wide and started pulling out all sorts of medical tools. Keenis quickly looked and snatched up a long metal cylinder in a sterile wrapper.

"You! Help me roll her onto her back." Keenis shouted at the white drake who was still holding the premature egg. He gently put the egg in his harness, into a large pocket conveniently across the front. Together they rolled the dragoness onto her back and Keenis quickly unwrapped the metal cylinder with his mouth, he spat out the wrapper and placed the tube against her side. With a sickening thud, he punched the tube into her side with a paw, its sharp edge sinking deep into her body and a jet of blood came spurting out of her side.

Her mate was no help, as he stood in shock and the medical dragons helped roll the ness over to her side again, the tube that was punched into her lung, started to drain the blood out. One of the medical drake's attached a clear rubber muzzle over the dragoness' snout and wrapped its straps around the back of her head, he connected the muzzle to an oxygen bottle and quickly opened the valve. The other began placing adhesive pads onto the teal dragoness, which were connected to a small tablet with thin wires; in an instant, her vitals began flashing on the screen, accompanied by a rapid audible beep. Her heartbeat was irregular, between the pain and losing so much blood so quickly, her body was beginning to shut down and her heart was struggling.

"Scale bind" the other medical drake said and passed Keenis a can with a long nozzle. He gave it a quick shake and used one paw to pull her stomach wound closed. The can made a horrible noise as it spluttered out a thick yellow foam across her hide, the strong scent of adhesive filling Keenis' nose. He held it for a few seconds as the foam changed from a matte colour to a gloss, a clear indicator that the glue was setting.

One of the medical drakes passed him two long needles of adrenaline "Two is too much, her blood pressure is too low… She is flatlining!"

Keenis lined one of the needles up with Reevian's heart and drove the long needle into her body, slamming his paw on the plunger, the cold liquid flooding her heart. He quickly pulled it out and tossed it near the pile of wrappers.

"I know," he said as he lined the second needle up with his own chest. One of the medical dragons tried to stop him, but was too slow as he slammed the needle in, groaning out as he felt cold fill his chest. . His eyes dilated, as he felt the adrenaline flood his heart and then shoot around his body, he pulled the needle out and threw it to the side. "Get the blood bag in her," he said, as he placed a paw onto her neck again.

Using magic while tired was risky, using it while under the effects of alcohol was hazardous, but using magic under the influence of drugs or while a massive dose of adrenaline rushed through his mind... that was often deadly.

He quickly found the nerves that controlled her heart and gave it a powerful surge of magic, the synthetic impulse causing her heart to give a sudden pump and then stop. A dragon's heart was a powerful muscle, however it was always operating with an existing circulation of blood. Now it needed to move stagnant blood through her whole body. However, because of her injuries, there was not a lot of blood to deal with.

He gave the nerve another pulse and her heart spasmed, he sent another and felt her heart weakly beat twice. He steadied himself, the adrenaline causing him to twitch and shiver "Come on Taalli!" he yelled, as he gave her another pulse and her heart started beating what little blood she still had. A rattle came from her as she tried to breathe. Her mate pulled her head up and called out to her.

Keenis looked up and saw that the medical dragons had attached a blood bag to her paw and the tube began delivering fresh blood. They were now quickly unfolding halves of a litter from the underside of their bags and were putting the pieces together. All of them knew they needed to get this 'ness to the hospital quickly if there was any chance of saving her. Keenis straddled Reevian and lifted her front half, allowing the medical dragons to slide the litter under her shoulders and neck, he then shuffled back and did the same to her hips, the litter clicking together and they quickly pulled on ratchet straps, which were hidden in the sides it, to secure her wings, tail and neck onto the sturdy frame.

"Go, I will catch you up," Keenis said, as the medical dragons attached tethers from their harnesses to the corners of Reevian's litter. The two took a couple of steps away from her and launched into the air, their wingbeats heavy, and caused smoke and soot to swirl around them, as they took off towards the hospital.

He turned to Reevian's mate and quickly grabbed him around the neck with his strong paws. "You did good," he said, his powerful blue eyes staring deep into Neebis's scared amber eyes. "But you need to fly slowly with the egg. Do you understand?" Keenis said sternly.

"But, Reevian, will she be ok?" Neebis asked, his voice breaking.

"She is in good hands, but she has lost a lot of blood," He said sadly. "But you need to listen, for the sake of your egg, Please. DO NOT RUSH!" he said, shaking Neebis to emphasize his point. "Walk if you have to, that egg has no shell and if it breaks your child will die! Do you understand?" Neebis gave a little nod. "If you get to the hospital too quickly, I will personally lay you out. Do you understand?" he said with a snarl. Neebis gave another frantic, scared nod.

Keenis gave a nod in acknowledgement back and leapt to the sky. The medical dragons were already a fair way ahead, so he beat his wings quickly. The adrenaline was still coursing through his veins and was letting him push his body well past the breaking point, as he rushed towards the hospital. The late afternoon air chilled his scales, which, combined with the come down from the adrenaline, was causing his teeth to chatter as he pushed his body on. The smell of blood and soot still in his nostrils as he powered through his fatigue.

Liberty Private Hospital came into view as he caught up with the medical dragons. They gave him a nervous look as he overtook them and rushed towards the hospital to help prepare the hospital for an influx of patients. He landed at full speed on the large landing platform that jutted out from the white building and skidded through the clear automatic doors which only just opened in time. The emergency department was alive with the sounds of beds and patients being rushed around, those that could be moved to other wings were being hurriedly transferred in preparation for the victims of the explosion.

"You know Keenis, if you wanted overtime..." said a friendly voice. He turned to see one of the other doctors passing a folder to a nurse.

"Oh you know me Meggles," he teased.

He had joined the hospital around the same time as Meg had moved from interstate. They shared a dark sense of humor and had bonded quickly, many of the other staff had joked that she was his 'work-wife' .

"I just cause drama wherever I go," he added.

"Well it looks like you have been.... Up to your elbows," she said, taking note of the blood and soot up his paws: At some point he must have also wiped a paw across his chest, the blood contrasting against his leaf green hide.

"We have a 'ness coming in, she was pregnant but I had to get the egg out. Punctured lung, lots of internal bleeding and a fractured skull, we are going to need to..." he paused, as the room swirled, he widened his footing and shook his head, "We are going to need to get her into an operating room when she touches down"

Meg rushed over and put a hand on his chest, "Are you okay?" He nodded, not wanting to open his mouth to speak anymore as nausea crept up on him. "Okay, I'll get a room ready," she snapped her fingers and relayed a message to her colleagues, who rushed off down a corridor. She could feel Keenis swaying slightly on his feet with his eyes closed, "Hey, buddy. Feeling good?"

"Just the adrenaline wearing off," he said and patted his chest, a small dribble of dried blood was the only evidence of the needle, he flinched as she put a gentle finger on the wound.

"And how much adrenaline exactly..." she asked sternly.

He shook his head and turned to see the automatic doors opening, the two medical drakes carrying Reevian's litter on their shoulders. One of her eyes was open and looked towards a vacant area beside her with a sad smile. "I was flying?" she murmured in her delirious state.

"That's my patient," Keenis said and led the dragons down the corridor down to an operating room.

The cold table caused Reevian to gasp as the litter was removed, the bright white lights blinding her as the masked faces of humans filled her vision. They poked and prodded her with instruments, their hands moving over her body with little care for her dignity, as they inserted tubes into most of her orifices. Keenis took his position at her head, which he took in his paws. His magic wavered, but he pushed through and tapped into his gifts. He ran his mind through her fractured skull and into her brain, where he gently applied pressure to the part of the brain that managed pain and, in response, he felt her relax. Her blood pressure would be too low for any sort of anesthetic and he needed to ease the pressure on her brain from her broken skull.

He gently re-positioned the fragments of her skull into roughly the right place, 'done not perfect' he said to himself. Moving on to her nerve endings, he found a new pile of torn nerves and traced them back, focusing on the vital ones before trying to fix the others.

He felt like he was a spectator outside of his body as his legs gave out from under him. One of the other doctors yelled as his head hit the side of the operating table. He tried to pull himself together and stand up, but couldn't. Gentle hands heaved his head up onto a warm shoulder and guided him away from the table, his eyes losing focus as he crawled, but he could see his mate on the table, gut ripped open and blood covering her sooty scales. He tried to call out to her as his vision darkened and he collapsed on the cold floor, the adrenaline leaving his body and hours of stress catching up to him all at once.

---

"That's our new doc?"

"Keep it down, let him rest, he has had a long flight."

"But captain... He is a dragon."

"Yes Taalli.... How did you pass recon training..."

"But cap, two dragons in a unit? Has that been done before?" Taalli said.

"It's being done now," the captain said shortly.

"Sorry Taalli, looks like you're not special anymore," another voice joked

"His file says he can do magic," said the captain

"Hear that Taalli? He has a magic touch for your special 'needs'," the other voice joked.

"Well fuck, hit me with a brick and call me 'hur-dur'. He can take care of my special needs any day. Look at him!" Taalli whispered loudly, "I haven't had a drake under my tail that didn't need batteries in..."

"Hey we need those bats for NVGs!" the third voice exclaimed.

"You can have them back then. I think I'm going to book myself in for a check-up with our new doc. You know, make sure the plumbing is still working."

"Easy Taalli, or we will change your callsign from Tally-ho to Taalli-hoe," the captain teased.

"I'm awake," murmured Keenis, his head pounding and his body sore as he slowly opened his eyes, his heart stopping as he saw Taalli looking at him concerned.

Keenis blinked slowly and he was back in the hospital, sprawled out on a couch in the doctors break room. Meg was sitting on the arm of the couch looking at him concerned. "I'm awake," he muttered sadly.

"Hey buddy... How are you feeling," Meg asked and put a hand on his snout.

Keenis smacked his lips, he knew it wasn't real but using magic often left a bad tasting sensation in his mouth. "Like death," he said and closed his eyes again.

Meg let him rest and gently stroked between his eyes, "You know... If the boss found out that you performed surgery on the street while high on drugs... He would take your license."

Keenis's breath hitched and he snapped his eyes open. "I.. I had too-"

"Which is why I had a chat with the first responders. You dropped the first adrenaline needle. Good thing they had a second," she said with a stern look.

Keenis let out a loud sigh. "Thankyou," he whispered.

"Be careful next time butter fingers," she teased and returned to stroking his snout, the feeling of his hard green scales sliding under her touch was satisfying to the woman. Stroking a dragon's hide without permission would often end up with you on the ground in a world of hurt, but working so close to Keenis it was very common for them to have to share personal space and a reassuring pat on the snout was nothing new.

"What time is it?" Keenis asked sleepily.

"About 7am. Which means my shift ended an hour ago," she said and stood up.

"Ugh, that means I start in an hour," he groaned, keeping his eyes closed as he stretched his sore body on the couch.

"Easy tiger, not in your condition, you need to recover," she said and stood up from the couch.

"Tell that to the boss, I swear he has it in for me," Keenis said, as he opened his eyes and lifted his head.

"I did.... Turns out collapsing in the theater after a double shift and pulling overtime, doesn't make the hospital look good," she said with a smile, "You have 48 hours to get yourself back together."

"Thankyou Meggles," he said softly, " I need a feed and a firm bed, then I'll be okay."

"Come on then soldier. Your shout," she said happily and opened the door to the break room. "What? You are not flying in your state. I'll make sure you get home okay."

With a groan Keenis rolled off the couch and caught himself on his paws. "I'm not arguing with you," he said defeatedly.

"By the way, who is Taalli?" Meg asked, as they left the breakroom and noticed him stiffen. "In the operating room you said that name," she paused and looked at him "You sly drake? Is she a mate you have on the side?" she asked and put her weight behind a playful shove.

Keenis swallowed hard and buried his feelings. "Nah, not anymore.... You're the only flame for me, Meggles," he lied and gave her a gentle shove back, sending her stumbling.