Chapter Text
Enjin was being…less than cooperative right now. Ever since he was hit by that old man’s giver power, he’d been acting off, to say the least. Well, ‘hit’ was generous, he practically blocked the entire attack with Umbreaker. The old guy seemed pretty apologetic after the fact, though, something about thinking they were enemies sneaking up on them…Turns out they were the ones who hired them, so he was being genuine.
Zanka nearly clobbered the old guy—Lance, they soon learned. But thankfully, Enjin was able to de-escalate the whole thing. There was actually a trash beast too, no elaborate traps. Apparently, one of the two attacker givers that protected the town was sick, so to the Cleaners it was. After all, with the amount of trash beasts there were, it’d be insane to make a single person take them all out and expect them to be alive afterwards. Lance seemed to be fussing over Enjin a bit, apparently concerned about the effects of his vital instrument.
“I’ve never hit a giver’s vital instrument with it before. It seems to have negated the effects of my pocket watch, but…be sure to look after yourself, good sir.”
Enjin had brushed it off at first, a bit careless even for him, but Rudo had long given up on understanding what was going on in that brain of his. Zanka and Riyo didn’t seem too concerned about it at the time too, so it probably was fine, right?
Wrong.
——
Enjin had been on edge ever since they entered the car. They were so busy dealing with the trash beasts, it’d slipped his mind to ask Lance what exactly his vital instrument did. Maybe that was the cause for this foreboding sense of doom he’s feeling? God, he needed to get back to base already and have Semiu take a look at him. He hoped that for once his intuition was wrong because he did NOT want anything bad to happen to Umbreaker because of this.
The three givers in the back were whispering to one another and giving him glances. Tomme was too engrossed in making adjustments to her report, while the other supporters were hanging on for dear life in the back, thanks to Enjin’s stellar driving skills. He sees Rudo about to open his mouth to say something to him, but before he could even get a word out, he interrupted him. The impending sense of doom he was feeling did not make him feel like have a chat right now. “No distracting the driver.”
“I’d be impressed if your driving could get any worse.”
Enjin smirked a bit, “Ehh, we could be in a ditch.” He makes a sudden, sharp turn to avoid a rock, causing a couple of yelps and swearing in the back. “Watch where you’re going dumbass!” Rudo was trying to keep himself upright as the car moved violently. Riyo barely even seemed phased, more focused on lazily looking at the side of Enjin’s head. Zanka was slightly more concerned with keeping himself upright, but was staring dead ahead instead.
“Enjin-!”
“What I say about-“
“ENJIN THE ROAD!”
.
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“So, let me get this straight…” Semiu pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly agitated. “You told the kid to not distract you from the road.” “Yup.” “Then you took a sharp turn to ‘scare em’ a little’.” “Yuh huh.” “Then when Zanka tried to warn you of an incoming piece of trash on the road, you ignored him, which caused you to crash the car.”
Enjin was slightly embarrassed now that she’d actually recited what had happened again. He tried his best to smile and shrug his way out of it. “…Basically?” You could practically see all the veins on Semiu’s face at this point.
“And now you’re gonna tell me you haven’t noticed your scar’s gone either, right?” A look of confusion spread across Enjin’s face for a moment before he went to touch the side of his head. Oh. That’s what they were whispering about.
“By the look on your face, I’m assuming I’m right. Well, I’m always right but still.”
Enjin’s face didn’t lose its confused look as he continued to stare at Semiu. “I was having a bad feeling after I blocked that old guy’s attack.” Semiu adjusted her glasses and hummed, “I’ll take a look at you then, you should probably have Eishia check you out.” The blonde nodded, bringing Umbreaker closer to him so that she could look at him too.
He quietly wondered why he was so short with his teammates…He certainly didn’t mean to be. But it was like there was a fuse inside him ready to go off at a moment's notice. Jeez, being this on edge could not be good for his blood pressure.
Almost as soon as he was getting absorbed in his thoughts, a somewhat more panicked looking Semiu grabbed him by the wrist and started dragging him over to medical. “Hey! Hey! Gentle! Semiu— What’d you see?”
Semiu sucks her teeth, “You–Ugh, the one time you really needed to listen and you’re pulling this shit?” She doesn’t even respond to the explanation of ‘I was thinking!’ just continuing to drag him to, presumably, see Eishia.
In practically no time, the two reach medical. “Oh- Hi Miss Semiu-“ before Eishia could even stutter out a greeting, Semiu pushes Enjin towards his team while she takes Eishia into a corner. Oh god, she’s giving her time to panic beforehand, that doesn’t mean anything good for him.
Rudo and Zanka did not look too pleased, to say the least. Red angry eyes plus ice cold disappointment, ouch. At least Riyo didn’t seem to care too much, she was just kicked back on her bed, chilling. Tomme was already gone, and the remaining supporters were talking amongst themselves, so at least they weren’t mad at him. He combed a hand through his hair and flashed them a smile, “Sorry about the car, you guys good right?”
Rudo growled before starting to yell at him, “No shit we’re fine! No thanks to you FLIPPING the car! You’re lucky no one got seriously hurt!” Zanka just huffed indignantly, “Seriously dude…” “It’s fine~ The past is the past, you owe us dinner though.”
Enjin sighed a bit, “Yeah, that’s the least I can do, I guess.” “That and not crash the car again, trudface.”
Seems like Eishia was done freaking out in the corner now, making her way over to Enjin to begin examining him. She’s mumbling under her breath, still clearly panicked, “No injuries…at all…” Enjin smirks confidently, “Not even an ache, Eishia, I’m good.” That didn’t seem to calm her though, if anything, that seemed to put her more on edge. Zanka seemed a bit annoyed still, “Which definitely makes no sense since you flew through the window.” “I don’t know, Rudo fell from the Sphere, and he only had a few bumps and bruises.” “Yeah! He still had at least some injuries. How’d that lucky bastard manage to avoid getting ANY injuries??”
“Because he didn’t.”
The group’s focus turned to Semiu as she adjusted her glasses. “He got injured, he just didn’t stay injured.” Everyone looked at her, confused, before she continued.
“Enjin. You’re body’s aging backwards.”
Silence, you could almost hear a pin drop. Even the supporters who were talking amongst themselves had stopped to listen.
“Huh?”
Semiu sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, “You were 28 when you left for the job, and now you’re 22. Lance’s vital instrument is the likely cause, I’ll have to contact him about it. Luckily, you’re stable and don’t seem to be de-aging anymore, for now at least.”
Another bead of silence.
Enjin couldn’t help but chuckle a bit nervously, not that anyone other than Semiu would have been able to notice that difference though. “No wonder I was looking so good in the mirrors when we were leaving.” If the word ‘worried’ was written all over Rudo’s face, it still wouldn’t illustrate half the worry he was feeling. “This isn’t the time to joke about something like this!” “Hate to say but I agree with the brat…is this a permanent sort of thing?”
Semiu places one of her hands on her hip, “From all I can gather, no, as for how exactly to make it reverse…Well, I ain’t contacting Lance for nothing.” Zanka lets out a sigh of relief, relaxing a bit. Rudo nodded, “That’s good…The old man didn’t seem like too bad of a guy.”
Enjin looks at Riyo, she’d been a bit quiet, which didn’t exactly sit well with him. She was staring at him, she seemed a bit surprised when their eyes met. Riyo just smiled though, “Makes sense that your scar is gone then.” Ah, that’s why then. Enjin tried his best to smile back at her, “Yeah, feels weird though, feels like someone placed Play-Doh on where it was.” “Literally?” “Nah, more metaphorically.” “What’s Play-Doh??” “Please don’t ask stupid crap like that right now.”
Semiu’s sigh stops their conversation from devolving into meaningless banter, “Right, anyways, I’m gonna go get the boss. He will definitely want to know ‘bout this.” She pointed a finger at Enjin, “You stay put. And Eishia, do not let him push you around to get outta being looked at properly. And you two.” She turned to face Rudo and Zanka, “Sorry, but you’re needed for another job ASAP, large horde of trash beasts are running straight towards a settlement as we speak.”
Rudo groaned a bit, while Zanka didn’t say anything, instead just having an exhausted look in his eyes. “Is there seriously no one else to take it?” “Nah, all out on their own missions. And I’d rather not have Riyo out there after spraining her ankle.” “Aw, come on~ I’m pretty much all better!” “Plus, I need more than two eyes on Enjin.” Semiu just pinched the bridge of her nose yet again. She was going to need some painkillers for the headache caused by the utter disaster that had been today. “I was gonna send Enjin, but absolutely not in the state he’s in now.” “Aw~ No fun for me?” “Shutcha mouth.”
She starts to make her way to the door, “Now hurry it up while I get the boss and give Lance a call, would ya?” Rudo and Zanka sing a chorus of ‘yes ma’am’s as they get out of the beds they were sitting in. Enjin kind of feels…bad? They seem way more exhausted than him and were even injured a bit during the car crash. Eishia did pretty much fix them up, but she wasn’t some magic cure-all. Not to mention they just fought trash beasts earlier today! Enjin was completely uninjured, not to mention being full of energy! Maybe being 22 wasn’t too bad of a thing…If it meant no injuries and more energy, wouldn’t it be better to fight trash beasts like this?
Semiu was usually right about these things though…So he should at least consider listening to her…
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Eishia had just turned around to get pain medicine for Enjin, she’d turned away from him for 2 seconds! She knew it couldn’t have been longer than that…
Then how…
How was he already gone?!
Riyo was just there taking a nap like she wasn’t supposed to be watching him too!
She walked over to Riyo and gently shook her awake. As soon as she did, she looked to where Enjin was supposed to be, “...Crap.”
“Semiu’s gonna be pissed…”