Lex’s eyes snapped open, bridging the gap between sleep and total wakefulness in a single jarring instant the way he always did.
It was a horrible way to wake up, which made it a perfect match for the horrible nightmares that plagued him every night, of which last night had been no exception. It was enough to make Lex grit his teeth in bitter disappointment. Although he’d known better than to get his hopes up, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from wondering if maybe, just maybe, he’d turned a corner on controlling that tulpa the Night Mare had inflicted on him. After all, it had come to his aid twice yesterday, and so when Sonata had helped him stumble to one of the outpatient tents last night, he’d found himself daring to consider the possibility that for the first time in almost a year, he’d be able to have a night’s peace.
He hadn’t. If anything, his nightmares were worse now; the events of yesterday had given that spiteful fragment of his mind plenty of new horrors to torment him with, and it had seen fit to use all of them. Just the thought of that being what his nights would be like from now on was almost enough to drive Lex into another bout of despair like the one that had gripped him in the aftermath of the battle, but this time he caught himself, shoving the emotion away before it could envelope him. I was able to control it at least a little yesterday. He let out a slow breath as he held onto that thought. That’s the beginning of being able to control it permanently. Perhaps even reintegrating it back into my greater cognitive framework. This is progress.
Nodding to himself, he put the matter out of his thoughts, knowing that there were more important tasks that needed to be attended to, of which confirming the camp’s current security was the most immediate. Although Aria had reported that she’d found no ghouls last night after she and Severance returned from checking the battlefield, Lex couldn’t help but be suspicious as to whether or not the undead ponies were completely gone, and not just because that could result in another preventable death. Those things reproduce via transmitting a disease. If even one of them is still in Vanhoover, it could start this all over again, he knew.
Nor was that the only situation that required immediate attention. Today marked the second day of everypony going without food, which meant that a solution had to be enacted as soon as possible. Only marginally less urgent was the cleanup in the aftermath of last night’s battle; there was currently a battlefield with two thousand ghouls’ worth of body parts right outside, which in the summer heat would turn into a serious health hazard in very short order if something wasn’t done. (Especially if a disease contracted that way was also capable of turning living ponies into ghouls.)
The rail lines also needed to be reopened. An emergency supply of rainclouds needed to be ordered from Cloudsdale. Restoration of Vanhoover proper needed to begin so everypony could start moving back in. Someone had to be sent to Las Pegasus to negotiate a loan in order to pay for it all. And all of it, as he’d mentioned to Sonata last night while they were waiting for her sister to return from patrolling for surviving ghouls, needed to happen as soon as equinely possible.
The war to retake Vanhoover had been won. Now the city needed to be actually reclaimed.
Despite knowing that, Lex made no move to get up from the bedroll he was lying on. Or rather, he couldn’t get up; there was a body lying on top of him. Despite not being able to see her, he knew who it was immediately, since she’d laid down with him last night. Sonata.
Hidden beneath his cloak, which was now draped over him like a blanket – Sonata having retrieved it on their way to the tent last night, after the doctors had moved to attend to Fencer – Lex couldn’t help but take a moment to indulge in her closeness. She was half-draped over him, her head resting on his chest, and every breath she took made the soft, feminine curves of her body press against him. She was lightly embracing him, clinging to him gently even in her sleep. Her back legs were intertwined with his own in a manner not dissimilar to the aftermath of the last time they’d expressed their love physically, back in that warehouse in Vanhoover.
Despite the impossibility of getting up without displacing her, Lex couldn’t help but try, shifting slightly to try and move out from underneath her. But a stabbing pain through his muscles let him know that he wasn’t anywhere near recovered enough to attempt such a thing, and he abandoned the attempt immediately. “Sonata,” he murmured, unable to bring himself to speak more harshly; the kiss that they’d shared last night in the wake of the battle was still fresh in his mind. “Sonata, wake up.”
Her only response was a quiet grunt and a slight squeeze around his middle, clinging to him tighter and bringing a smile to his lips. “Sonata, wake up,” he repeated, still keeping his voice just above a whisper. Raising a hoof, he gently pushed back the top of his cloak, revealing her beautiful blonde curls and charcoal coat-
-and went rigid as he realized that he’d misidentified the mare on top of him. “Wh-, Nosey?!”
That last word left his lips at a considerably higher decibel level, and it was enough to make the mare in question raise her head blearily, blinking as she looked around before her eyes locked onto his. “Ah…” He felt her tense up then, and the look that crossed her face was uncharacteristically demure, biting her lip before she looked down shyly. “G-good morning…”
Lex reflexively struggled to get up again, her unexpected presence and unusual behavior only unnerving him further. “What do you mean ‘good m-,’ what are you doing here?!” He used his circlet to check for magical auras then, but found only those from his own magic items and protective enchantments. That knowledge calmed him only a little, however.
“Sorry.” She winced slightly as she said it, slowly separating herself from him. She climbed out from under his cloak, but only to the point where she was lying next to him instead of on top of him. “Sonata said it was okay.”
“She said what was okay? Where is she?” With Nosey’s weight gone, Lex managed to sit up, though the effort made his body scream in protest.
Nosey’s horn glowed as she picked up her glasses from the far corner of the tent, taking a deep breath as she put them on. When she spoke next, she sounded more like her usual self. “You were already asleep, so I asked her if it was alright for me to sleep in here with you guys. She said, and I quote, ‘don’t worry about it.’ As for your second question, she left a little while ago to go get food.”
Lex’s eyes widened in horror. “She did what?!” He almost turned to shadow right then – able to feel that his dark magic had replenished itself now that he’d rested – so that he could go outside, struck by a sudden urge to go confirm Sonata’s absence for himself. But he managed to quell that impulse, knowing that Nosey was his best source of information at the moment.
Nosey nodded. “She thought you might freak out, so she woke me up before she left. She wanted me to tell you that she’s going to take some of those bits you gathered and a bunch of ponies and go get food for everyone from one of the farms nearby.” Nosey neglected to mention that Sonata’s exit had also been her cue to move from sleeping across from Lex to sharing his bedroll, having known instinctively that being in contact with him would keep Xiriel out of her dreams.
For a moment Lex couldn’t even react, his stomach clenching so hard that he was momentarily nauseous. “When did she leave?” he croaked.
Nosey blinked, then glanced at the tent flap, where bright sunlight was streaming in from around its edges. “I don’t know. A few hours ago at least. I think it was around dawn. Why?”
Lex didn’t answer, simply staring into space as he tried to fight down a rising tide of panic. If Sonata had left several hours ago, then there was no way to catch up to her, not that he knew precisely where she’d gone anyway. Which meant that, short of preparing and casting his spell to send and receive a short message with someone – the only long-range communication spell he could use now, since his scrying spell required an ornate mirror that he no longer had – there was no way to know if she was alright. Which means if wherever she’d headed has another monster like Xiriel, or some more ghouls, or something else that she can’t handle, she’ll end up just like Cloudbank and the others! If that happened…
It took him only a fraction of a second to locate his saddlebags, set off in another corner of the tent, and he all but telekinetically ripped them open, bringing out the large ruby that he’d gotten from the Night Mare. It was only when it was held within his purple aura that he felt his heartbeat slow down, a shudder of relief working its way through him. Although resurrecting Sonata was far less desirable than protecting her from harm in the first place, it was much better than having her be lost to him forever. No matter that the Night Mare had directed him to use it to bring back Cloudbank; if he had to risk the goddess’s anger to be reunited with his beloved, then so be it!
“…Lex? What’s that?”
Nosey’s voice brought him back to sanity, and Lex licked his suddenly-dry lips as he started to calm down. What was he thinking? There was no evidence to suggest that any of the nearby farms were a danger to anyone, no reason to presume that Sonata was headed into danger.
There was no evidence of Xiriel’s existence either, came the voiceless words from his shadow.
A shudder went down Lex’s spine at that, and he fought to keep his composure intact. There had been evidence about Xiriel’s existence, such as the necromantic aura around Block Party; he had just failed to decipher it in time! The same was not true here! After all, the camp ponies had been raiding those farms for at least a little while, and based on what Lex knew none of them had encountered anything dangerous or even overly unusual. More likely, the biggest issue Sonata would encounter would be transportation problems for whatever she managed to acquire, since there were no wagons or carts in the camp for her to use.
Belatedly realizing that Nosey was still looking at him, he shoved the ruby back in his saddlebag. “It’s nothing you need to be concerned about,” he mumbled, chagrined that he’d let her get a glimpse of it. Despite her unusual behavior (which was doubtlessly a reaction to what she’d been through, even if he couldn’t figure out how), Nosey was still a reporter; it would be a disaster if everypony else learned that he had a spell that was capable of resurrecting one and only one person. The last thing he needed was to be inundated with ponies that wanted someone they’d lost to be the one brought back…which reminded him that there was another item on the list of things that needed to be done: examine the spell embedded in that gemstone in greater detail and see if he could reverse-engineer it.
Because if he could, and could add it to his personal repertoire of spells, then he wouldn’t need to be limited to bringing just one person back.
But that was a project that wasn’t time-sensitive, or at least not as much as other problems that needed to be taken care of. It was with that thought in mind that Lex clenched his jaw, struggling to climb to all fours. “I need to check on things,” he grunted, somehow managing to stand. Now if he could just move without falling over…
Nosey was by his side instantly, pressing her body again his. “Let me help.” Her horn was already glowing, moving to put his saddlebags on him, then his cloak.
“I don’t-” He almost snapped at her, still embarrassed by her having been in bed with him barely a minute ago. But he caught himself at the last instant, remembering what he’d realized yesterday: that Nosey was his friend. And assisting him like this…this was what friends did, right? “…alright.”
She gave him a warm smile in response, and side-by-side the two of them exited the tent.