A Time To Heal

Wearing a blue t-shirt, black skirt with bike shorts underneath, and white tennis shoes, Victoria strolled into Sakuramori for the first time since the "Night of Eternal Darkness" incident and the disbanding of Black Rose. She had come here to follow up on the note from Florence Manderley, a woman who claimed to be a friend of her adopted father Lawrence Sheridan. Victoria was fairly certain that Sakuramori had resisted the influence of the Corlones because the town still proudly displayed Black Rose's emblem on banners and other locations. She was not worried about the Corlones because her magic had become stronger since her capture by the criminal organization. If they came after her again, she was able and willing to defend herself.

A police officer walked up to Victoria and greeted her.

"Hey there kid. I heard about what happened to Black Rose. That's sad to hear." The male officer said to her.

"Yeah, it is." Victoria commented.

"Black Rose always looked after us. They saved the town from those weird things that night and none of the townspeople even knew anything was amiss. Without Black Rose's protection, I'm not sure if we would have made it through the night." He continued.

"As far as I'm concerned, we'll always be part of Black Rose. Their mages are always welcome here." He concluded. Victoria was pleased to hear that. Sakuramori could be considered a safe zone for her and other ex-Black Rose members.

"So kid, what brings you here?" The officer asked.

"I'm looking for a woman named Florence Manderley. Do you know where she is?" Victoria asked the man.

"Oh yeah, I can take you there! Follow me." He said to her. Victoria wordlessly followed the officer through the streets of Sakuramori. The mage was taking a trip down Memory Lane.

[Word Count: 302]
[Total Word Count: 302/2,000]

-Sakuramori, Florence Manderley's apartment-

"Well, here we are, kid. Florence Manderley's apartment. She works at the local medical clinic." The officer said as the pair stopped in front of a normal-looking apartment with a picket fence. It reminded Victoria of the one she had visited to stop Miss Cooper from being killed for growing better flowers than the person who wanted her dead.

"I'd better get back on patrol. See ya later, kid." The officer said before walking away. Victoria faced the front door of the apartment and walked towards it. She stopped on the front doorstep and just raised her hand to knock on the door when it opened and a tall blonde-haired young woman with golden eyes greeted her.

"Oh, hi there sweetie! You must be Victoria Sheridan!" She said.

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?" Victoria asked.

"Lawrence told me all about you! Also, we heard about your work with Black Rose and what you did for us and for Rose Garden. You're something of a legend around here." The young woman replied. Victoria did not know that she was that popular. Maybe since she was one of the last of the Black Rose members who were still around, she had acquired a certain celebrity.

"By the way, I'm Florence Manderley. It's nice to meet you." She finally introduced herself.

[Word Count: 223]
[Total Word Count: 525/2,000]

Florence Manderley's Appearance:

-Inside Florence's apartment-

Victoria was ushered inside the apartment by Florence. Inside the apartment was clean and the shelves were neatly organized. Medical books and journals filled the shelves. The brunette saw books on medical subjects such as brain surgery, postoperative care, and the human anatomy. On Florence's coffee table was a stack of medical magazines and the occasional cheap romance novel.

"What can I get you to drink, Victoria?" Florence asked as she walked into the kitchen. Victoria fought the urge to request a screwdriver. She did not drink on the job. She had kept to that rule during her tenure with Black Rose and she would keep to it during her tenure with Sabertooth.

"Do you have any kind of soft drinks?" Victoria asked her hostess. She sat at the small, round, and wooden kitchen table. Spilled soft drinks on carpet would be a major pain to clean up.

"Yeah. I've got Cherry Charge, Strawberry Slam, Grape Grenade..." Florence listed off the drinks in her refrigerator.

"I'll take a Strawberry Slam, please." Victoria requested. Florence grabbed the canned drink and walked over to the table before setting it in front of her guest.

"Thanks." Victoria said while opening the drink.

"I'll cut to the chase. I saw your father in Sakuramori a month ago. He came by here asking me to help you." Florence told her.

"How did he know I needed help?" Victoria asked.

"You're a mage, dear. You go into dangerous situations all the time. He read about the jobs you took for Black Rose and worried that you might one day get in over your head." Florence answered. The brunette could not argue with that response because it was right. Victoria tended to take dangerous jobs that involved a lot of fighting and a lot of Jewels.

"I can't argue with that. What did you have in mind?" Victoria asked. Florence smiled.

"Your father and I served in the same unit a long time ago. I used to be a combat medic. I work at the local medical clinic, so I still treat people and save lives, only now I don't have to worry about being shot at while I work." Florence informed her. She stood up, walked over to a bookshelf, and shoved it aside, revealing a notebook-sized brown book stashed in a hitherto hidden alcove.

"How would you like to learn the ways of the combat medic?" Florence asked Victoria.

[Word Count: 407]
[Total Word Count: 932/2,000]

"Combat medic?" Victoria asked her hostess.

"Yes, dear. The simplest way to explain the job is this. A combat medic is a soldier with some medical training." Florence patiently explained.

"They're not supposed to fully heal their patients while the fighting's still going on. Instead, they're supposed to stabilize the wounded until they can be transported to specialized care facilities like field hospitals." Florence continued her patient explanation of what exactly a combat medic did. Victoria liked the sound of that. She tended to get into a lot of fighting and tended to take a few hits that needed attention. If what Florence was saying was true, the magic could help her a lot more than slapping bandages on ever could.

"OK, I'm on board. What do I need to do?" Victoria asked Florence. Florence placed the book on the coffee table in front of her.

"Read this book. I'll be right beside you to help you understand it." Florence assured her. Victoria had never been much of a reader. Even when Lawrence helped bring her up to basic literacy, it was still a challenge for her to get the hang of reading because she had never really held a book before she was ten years old. Now Victoria could read well enough to get around without issue, but it was quite the struggle.

"I hope you know what you're getting into. It could take awhile." Victoria warned her.

"Don't worry, Victoria. Lawrence told me about your... upbringing. It's OK. I'm not going to judge." Florence assured her. Victoria opened the book and noticed that it glowed gold. The mage could feel the magical signature coming from the pages. This was the first time she had ever gotten to read from a magical book. There was a first time for everything.

"How To Mend A Paper Cut." Victoria read the name of the first chapter aloud.

[Word Count: 316]
[Total Word Count: 1,248/2,000]

-Eight hours later-

Victoria had read the book from cover to cover. Thanks to Florence's extraordinary patience and willingness to help explain the more difficult concepts, the Sabertooth mage had learned the magic within the book. The brunette was more than a little tired from the effort involved in learning the magic.

The magic was named Combat Medic. Combat Medic was an interesting magic style because while it mostly focused on healing spells and removing negative effects, it also offered a few weapons with which to defend herself and her patients. It also allowed her to purify water with a simple spell, so she could make virtually any water safe to drink within a matter of seconds. That last ability would be of immense value away from the comforts of civilization. She could bottle water from almost any source, cast the spell, and have clean water that was ready to drink in a far shorter time than it took to boil water or run it through an improvised filter.

"Well done, Victoria! You did it! You learned everything there is to know about Combat Medic!" Florence congratulated her. Victoria liked the sound of everything she had learned. She would be able to contribute more to a team than just firepower or a warm body. She would be able to heal teammates and keep them in the fight. She would also be able to heal herself when the going got rough.

"Thanks." Victoria replied. She was glad that she had made the trip to Sakuramori in order to follow up on Florence's note. Even if she did not get any magic out of the trip, it was worth the effort to learn that her adopted father was still alive and somewhere in Earthland. Where that somewhere was she did not know, but Lawrence Sheridan was still somewhere out there. That was reason enough to keep searching for him.

Florence opened her sage green curtains and looked out a window. It was dark outside... the comforting orange glow of lanterns was the only thing lighting the streets. Florence gently closed the curtains and looked at Victoria.

"It's too dark to head back to your guild hall now. Bandits are all over the roads and looking for travelers to prey on. It'd be safer if you spent the night here and waited until morning to leave Sakuramori, but I won't stop you if you really want to leave." Florence said to her. Victoria did not feel much like traveling right now. It would be smart to just spend the night and travel when it was daylight.

"I'll just stay here." Victoria announced her decision. Florence smiled.

"Great!" Florence exclaimed.

"Don't bother booking a hotel room. You can stay with me!" Florence offered.

"...Would you mind if I did?" Victoria asked hesitantly.

"Not at all! I promised Lawrence that I'd help you!" Florence answered with certainty. Victoria took off her shoes and placed them near the door. Florence brought out another Strawberry Slam for the brunette. Today had been a good day.

[Word Count: 508]
[Total Word Count: 1,756/2,000]

-The next morning-

Victoria had slept on the couch because there was no guest bedroom in the apartment and it would have been incredibly awkward to sleep beside Florence on the bed. She woke up to the sound of a coffee maker and the aroma of coffee. She got up and found Florence sitting in the kitchen sipping coffee from a generic white coffee mug.

"Well, looks like someone's up early!" Florence said in a sickeningly sweet way. Victoria was not a morning person. Only the scent of coffee had made her get up. It was too early.

"Yeah." Victoria mumbled. Florence looked at her with concern.

"Lawrence told me that you don't remember your original family." Florence started off the conversation.

"No. Not at all. I don't remember anything about my life before the age of six. The first thing I remember is somehow ending up on the streets of Capital Crocus. Then I remember trying to find food behind a restaurant before some lunatic swinging a length of chain chased me off from his spot." Victoria briefly delved into her fuzzy past.

"How did you make it?" Florence asked. Victoria could tell that the blonde's interest was real.

"I hung out with a bunch of other street kids in a place managed by a girl named Burr. She talked funny, but she provided us food and kept us safe from the teenagers and adults who tried to beat us up and take our food. She also repaired the run-down apartment we lived in so at least the roof wouldn't collapse on our heads." Victoria recounted what she could remember.

"We ate out of garbage cans. We stole food from street vendors. We stole stuff to sell to buy food. I lost track of how many times I raided garbage cans for food." Victoria added. Florence looked devastated and horrified by that admission.

"I lived in a bad part of town, one the town guard wouldn't go in unless there were at least ten of them in a group. They were more worried about keeping us street trash in our neighborhood than stopping the crime that made our streets dangerous to start with. Thanks to the negligence of the police, gangs were everywhere. You couldn't throw a rock without hitting a gang member." Victoria recounted bitterly.

"Lawrence told me that he saved you from slavers. He said that you were seconds away from being caught by them." Florence interjected. The change of subject was likely deliberate. The brunette went with it because the memories were starting to become more than a little depressing.

"Yeah. Lawrence saved my life. That's no exaggeration. Those slavers caught almost all the kids I was with, everyone except me. I was the only one who got away when they raided our apartment. If it wasn't for Lawrence, I might not still be alive." Victoria grimly recalled. Florence put down the coffee mug, walked over to her, and silently hugged Victoria.

"You've been through so much." Florence said softly.

"You never knew your birth family. You went through things no child should have to go through." Florence continued. Victoria never gave it much thought because she was not the introspective type. She lived in the present and lived for the moment.

"I'll find Lawrence one day. I owe him that much." Victoria vowed. Florence released her from the hug.

"I'll help you find him." Florence made her own vow.

"I'll send any information I get on him your way. My door's also open to you, any time of day. If you're ever in Sakuramori and you need a place to stay for the night, just come by here." Florence said to her. Victoria did not want to abuse that privilege, but she would accept the offer to avoid hurting Florence's feelings.

"I will." Victoria affirmed. She put on her shoes and got ready to go. It was the perfect time to get going. The bandits were retreating to their caves for the day. Florence walked over to the front door and opened it.

"Good luck, Victoria! Don't be a stranger!" Florence bade her farewell.

"I won't." Victoria assured Florence. The door shut behind her. Victoria took one last look at the apartment and then set out for Ace of Spades and Sabertooth territory. She had learned a useful new healing magic and made a new friend in a town friendly to ex-Black Rose mages. It was not a bad trade for only a day of her time.

[Word Count: 752]
[Total Word Count: 2,508/2,000]