[1-3] The Nose

[Amaterasu]

While most of the group fought the attacking cannibals, Fiara had forced herself to hold back. Not all of the employees were armed yet, and even if they were the crude spears and maces that they had fashioned out of wreckage pieces were no match for the well-made weapons of their attackers. They were intended so that they would have SOME form of self-defense, something basic so that they had something to hunt and could hold off predators with more than their bare hands. Not to mention that most of the employees lacked any form of combat training and couldn't stand a chance against someone who used their spear on a daily basis and knew the island inside out. If all of them charged in and left them alone, soon it'd be just the four of them left.

She should not even be here... curse her bad luck, curse whatever had crashed the plane, curse the plane for splitting in half and separating her from Saber! She should be finding the only person that she knew by more than looks, so they could make it through together! Instead here she was, stuck with a pair of beings that looked more metal than man and the hulk called Okor that she still wasn't sure about if he was a Plaguelord or not. Curse Okor above all, in fact... curse him for being right. For having pointed out that they needed to stick together, to secure the site, to protect and lead the bunch of people that were with them. She'd wanted to run out into the forest and search for Saber, for the other half of the plane if it was around. But deep down she realized that in a place like this it would be suicide. Except that she didn't want to listen to that voice deep down, though she knew it was right. But now she had been given a role, a responsibility that she couldn't just ignore. She wanted to throw herself into the battle and blast someone's face in to alleviate her rage, but she forced that down too. A voice pulled her back to reality.


"Please... help...!" a meek voice called out from among a bunch of corpses. One of the employees was laying there with a bleeding wound on her leg and the body of one of the cannibals next to her. The latter's torso was a complete mess... Fiara looked up at Okor as she picked up the spear and helped the woman to her feet then handed her the weapon. "Use this as a crutch to get back to the wreckage with the others. Once you're there give it to someone else, okay? You're gonna be fine." There was no way of telling how bad the injury was on such a short notice and in the midst of a battlefield. But this was no time to be honest and tell the woman that she might possibly bleed out. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a movement and noticed Marcus stepping in the way of a pair of savages who had been coming for her, blocking their path. She bit her lip and nodded to him as a thanking gesture before bringing the woman close enough to safety that she could make it, and returned to the fight after that. She ran through the battlesite, wary of remaining behind the other Primes and to dodge fights as she helped whoever else she could to their feet to get them to run to safety, if they could make it.

That is, until her retreat path was cut off by two of the attackers who had split off from the main group and now grinned beneath their war-paint as they thrusted their spears at her, forcing her to step back. Did they want to separate her from the others? No, they wanted to cut all of them off from the wreckage so they could attack the weakest link of their chain, the holed-up employees. She could still hear Okor's weapon somewhere and the others had held their ground too, so they weren't dead, but... could they have been caught up in their own fights and forgotten about the ones they were protecting? More of the savages were going for the plane, though at least the spears of the employees slowed their advance a little as they thrusted them through any openings there were and kept them at bay. But that wouldn't last forever.

Fiara gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists as the Phoenix Blasters on her wrists sprung to life and wrapped around her lower arms, entering their battle state. With mechanical clicks the mechanisms got into place, the muzzle pushed its way out on the front side and the ammunition was loaded. "Out of my way, idiots", she hissed at them. They probably didn't understand her but she wanted to vent her anger. When they just advanced and readied their spear for more stabs she screamed with rage and threw herself right at them as the flames on her wrists lit up brightly. That sudden explosion of flame was what saved her life - she would have been pierced through the chest otherwise. But the flinch caused in both men made them mis-aim their attacks, one of which grazed her right shoulder and neck and only left her with a pair of bleeding, but shallow cuts, while the other spear cut deeper into her left side slightly beneath her chest and was stopped by Fiara's ribs. Before the pain could make its way to her brain Fiara slammed both hands forward and punched the men in the warpainted faces, still screaming in rage. Then she fired her Phoenix Blasters.

At a close range the shotgun-like gauntlets were designed to add to the strength of one's punch by firing projectiles of kinetic energy, typically knocking an opponent back or even sending them flying, if applied to the chest or stomach area. They could also leave severe injuries. But against the unprotected heads with a small area to target the effect was amplified by a lot. Neither of the men had time to scream or even register the pain as a part of their head - the left and right side, respectively - disappeared in a red cloud. Fiara's jump and the dual blast knocked them both to the ground, where Fiara fell onto the corpses and the spear in her left side dislodged itself and left her with a deeper cut. Then, just as the automatic pump mechanism of her Phoenix Blasters threw out the empty shells, came the pain... Fiara's enraged scream turned into a pained one as it flooded her mind. She could do nothing but curl up and press her hands to the cut from which blood poured, frantically covering it with her shirt. She was going to die here, wasn't she? What a stupid way to end her search...

It was then that her former efforts saved her. Two of the employees, now armed with decent spears from the cannibals, ran out of the wreckage and covered her body while a third one used disinfectant and the spare bandages from a first-aid kit that they had found in the wreckage to treat the wound. They had no doctor with them that could have properly treated Fiara, and even if they had it would have been with severely limited resources, but it was better than nothing. The bandages slowly turned red but they held back the blood. Fiara had had the great luck that no organs or arteries had been hit by the spear, nor had it been poisoned. Had it slid between her ribs it might have caused much worse damage. It hurt, certainly, but it wasn't life-threatening. Then again, anyone struck by pain like this would have thought that they were going to die.

The adrenaline began to take effect inside the phoenix girl soon after, and with her injury treated she pushed herself to her feet, grabbing the spear that had pierced her. "Go back to the wreck. I have to..."

"You're coming with us", the employee that treated her cut her off. "You're in no condition to fight."

Fiara glared at her, but the employee sternly looked back. She was a mother of two adolescent daughters, she got glares like that every day. Fiara might be a bit older but that didn't matter. "You can still help us. Protect the wreckage while your friends do the cleaning up. Come now." She passed Fiara's right arm over her shoulder and helped her to her feet, careful to not touch the wound, and Fiara grunted but followed after.

Her flames continued to burn. She was angry. There the others were, fighting like true heroes, like samurai on the battlefield, determined until their last breath. They probably had sustained worse injuries than her already. And yet it was her who was being carried from the battlefield after one scratch? The woman seemed to notice what Fiara was thinking and followed her eyes towards one of the fighters that was holding off a group of the cannibals. "Take it easy. There will be more fights before we're off this island. You'll have plenty of time to prove your worth, Fiara."

"A samurai never backs from the battlefield unless their general tells them to", Fiara replied, but the flames were dying down.

"Then go out if you want to get yourself killed. Or stay with us if you want to actually help."

And Fiara stayed. Like Okor, this woman had a point. One she did not like, but one whose truth she could not deny. She gritted her teeth and took a stab through a hole in the wreckage, forcing an attacker to back off. Next time, then... next time she'd show them all.

1709 words.
Also just for clarity, the medical treatment is intended to be RP fluff, not actual healing or damage reduction.