With a mess of unkempt, nappy hair and a set of brown, inquisitive, bug-like eyes, Dawn hoped that the man who bounced over the small set of stairs to walk toward them was the doctor. He walked in a near skip around Dawn, who cradled Baron in her arms, as the tall, dark-skinned man jovially smiled with what seemed like little concern for their situation.

  Silently glancing toward Abel while standing in the poorly lit, musty brick walls of an alley where you'd buy drugs or get robbed for carelessly wandering, Dawn shook her head, uncertain if this was the best option for their injured friend.

  "This guy's not looking great," the 'doctor' said, while circling Dawn as he looked over their injured friend from a distance, with a pair of white, angelic wings excitedly vibrating on his back. Dawn assumed they were of Dimidae descent, though she wasn't sure if they had spirit or fae ancestry. "You two consider getting him some help?" he asked with a smug, unserious smile that both irritated and worried Dawn.

  Pausing, Dawn wasn't entirely sure how to react; should she confront him for making a joke of their situation, or play nice since he could potentially help? Not willing to trust her unsteady will, she looked to Abel for a helping hand.

  "Well, of course, you did! Otherwise, you wouldn't have brought him to Tamrat's Immediate Care." Before Abel could take over for Dawn, the doctor spoke loudly, with his arms dramatically stretched outwards on both sides, as someone shorter in scrubs followed out of the building with a stretcher in tow.

  "Are you sure you’ll be able to help him?" Unwilling to put Baron down, Dawn asked while looking toward Abel; his blank, hard-to-read expression did not make her feel any more comfortable.

  "Absolutely," the doctor responded, his voice filled with an unwavering, almost unhinged amount of confidence as his masked nurse laid out the stretcher in front of Dawn.

  "How can we be sure?" Abel spoke up for her as he stepped closer toward her to place a hand on her shoulder; his supportive touch made her feel safer and more certain in the decision she'd make, not alone, but with the aid of her friend.

  "Because I'm Doctor Henok Tamrat, the best medical practitioner on this piece of space debris floating through space," Doctor Tamrat said, his wings opening outwards with his wide, outstretched arms—though the showy display didn't comfort Dawn.

  "Okay, whatever, just please help our friend," Abel said before Dawn could speak, though she paused hesitantly for a moment, and while unsure if she should hand over Baron to this crazy doctor, she decided to trust Abel's plan as she carefully placed their injured friend onto the set-up stretcher. And when she laid him down, Doctor Tamrat and the nurse lifted the platform supporting him up the stairs to roll him in through the opened entrance.

  Quick to follow them inside, Dawn, with Abel a step behind her, bounded up the short set of stairs to enter a small, clean-smelling lobby illuminated brightly with LED lights - her worry slightly diminishing at the notable cleanliness of the building's inside compared to the exterior - and after they rolled their friend through one of the two wooden doors, the nurse waited in the partially closed doorway for them.

  "The doctor will immediately begin treatment; we just ask that two of you remain out here for the sake of the patient's recovery," the nurse finished before closing the door behind them. Dawn felt her shoulders grow tense with uncertain worry, as a light throbbing sensation irritated the faded scar on her forehead.

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  With a step back toward a set of simple waiting room chairs, Dawn couldn't help but think there was a chance they accidentally brought him to some clinic fronting as an organ trafficking ring. Though she didn't know anything about how those operated, she couldn't help but consider kicking down the door to oversee Baron.

  First, she took a seat in the corner of the decoration-less room; Abel followed, sitting beside her with the same neutral, confident, almost bored look on his face. Dawn envied his silent, self-assurance, as she often did. "It'll be alright," he said with a lowered, more subdued voice than normal. Dawn assumed he could pick up on her unease.

  "Yeah, I'm sure it's all gonna be okay…" Dawn quietly trailed into silence, and while she trusted Abel more than almost anyone else, she couldn't get rid of this bad gut feeling. Not having the energy to keep the conversation going, Dawn fell silent as she looked down at her red hands and once-black tank top, both coated in Baron's blood - a reminder of the horrifying state they found Baron in. "I'm, uh, I'm gonna to go clean up…" She said before slowly walking toward the clinic's available restroom.

  Closing and locking the door behind her, Dawn turned the faucets to warm the water. Despite being in her 'human form', she could still see her bloodied, draconic reflection staring back at her through the spotless mirror above the sink. The scar on her forehead throbbed at the sight of Baron's still warm blood over her monstrous features.

  Facing herself, as she often had to, Dawn silently stared at herself with a look of judgment.

  You already know you're a fuck-up, she told herself before she washed her face with a refreshing cupping of water. But you can't let down Baron because of that, she reminded herself – a line Dawn set to consider herself not only an alright friend but a decent person, considering the beacon of innocent goodness she saw Baron as.

  And with a splash of refreshing water, her worries felt like they mixed with the water and blood that ran down her face into the sink below, a brief relief as she continued cleaning herself up, though her cute clothes were likely stained beyond repair.

  After taking some time to wash up, Dawn exited the restroom with a handful of paper towels to help dry off her damp face. But before she walked across the small, minimally decorated lobby to sit again, Dawn slowed as she silently stared toward the closed door they took Baron through.

  "You doing okay?" Though Abel seemed like he was doing better than her as he asked with his quiet, yet reliable voice, Dawn had a feeling he was shaken up like her beneath the surface.

  Nodding her head, Dawn didn't feel like saying much as she leaned forward in the chair she sat in, her elbows planted on her legs while she looked toward the hanging clock: its long arm inching forward with each slow minute that ticked by, until fifteen minutes passed, then thirty, then an hour; Dawn watched it as her leg shook with angst.

  When suddenly the door Baron had been taken through swung open, Doctor Tamrat, with his lab coat still white, revealed himself in the doorway with his hands on his hips and a smug, satisfied-looking smirk. Though she tried to peer past him, she couldn't see anything past his tall build and broad wings.

  "The patient will be receiving visitors if you'd like to evaluate my work," the doctor said with a casual energy, as he stepped to the side with his arm lifted to welcome them into the pristinely clean room organized with labeled glass cabinets of medicine and a set of hospital beds—one of them wrapped around with a curtain. "Then we'll discuss business," he finished, his index and thumb rubbing at the topic of money.

  Deciding not to worry about the money, Dawn slipped past him with Abel in a similar rush, before she gripped the cloth barrier between them to reveal Baron, nervous that she'd see another painful sight. But instead of seeing their bloodied friend when she pulled back the curtain, they saw Baron wrapped in bandages, his previous wounds appearing cleaned and treated, as a set of machines ran tubes into his wrist.

  Knowing she didn't let Baron down gave Dawn a relief she'd rarely felt before that pushed away her doubts and worry, a couple of joyful tears running down her cheek as she looked down at Baron, who, despite still looking rough, seemed supernaturally healed from his previous life-altering injuries, like his snapped arm, which now appeared to be only a minor wound considering everything.

  "We got you," Abel said with an uncharacteristically joyful smile, which Dawn noticed from the corner of her eye, the two of them sharing in this feeling of solace from nearly losing their friend.