Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 218: Nightmares and Mission Parameters

Chapter 218: Nightmares and Mission Parameters

I knew that I was sensitive about some things, my time at Camp Hell being the biggest one.

I was trying not to take his comment as a shot or a personal attack, but that was how I felt. It wasn’t my fault that I felt safe last night and didn’t have a nightmare. I couldn’t control what my brain did while I was still asleep.

"Then I am not healing normally?" I asked, and I felt Rip’s arm around me tighten. It wasn’t so tight that it hurt, more so to let me know where he was and that he was there if I needed him.

"That is not what I am saying at all," assured Ye Yao ZU, almost surprised that I would have reacted that way. Great, yet another thing I wasn’t doing normally. It was amazing that any psychologists got married if all they did was treat their spouse as yet another patient.

Not that we were married or anything.

"The thing with recovering from a trauma is different for everyone. No two people experience the same thing, so no two people can recover the same," soothed Ye Yao Zu, more than aware that everyone in the tent was now awake and listening to our conversation.

"But I should have nightmares," I stated. "I considered it a good thing that I felt so safe with everyone around that I didn’t dream, but that isn’t normal. Right?"

Okay, so I was being a bit of a bitch, and I know that he didn’t mean anything by it, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

"On the contrary, I think that it is absolutely amazing that you feel that way," replied Ye Yao Zu as he took my hand.

My powers rushed into him, completely out of control, as it tried to heal him. He wasn’t injured or even in pain, but that didn’t seem to matter to it. Instead, it healed every ache or pain from old injuries and gave him a strengthening boost.

As if upset that it couldn’t do anything else for him, my power then wrapped a portion of itself around his heart, much like it had done to Bin An Sha and Rip. Finally satisfied that it would always be able to find or help him, it returned to me, humming in contentment.

"Holy shit," blinked Ye Yao Zu, sounding a lot less clinical. "That’s your power?"

"A part of it," I grumbled, hating the fact that I healed someone who didn’t ask for it. Poor Ye Yao Zu was pressing all of my triggers this morning. At least he didn’t mention my eyes. That would have been the last nail in his coffin.

"Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I am hungry," announced Bai Long Qiang as he sat up. He reached over Ye Yao Zu to give me a kiss on the forehead. "And I am so happy to see your eyes after so long."

"Wait! I thought we weren’t talking about them!" cried out Si Dong as he placed his hand on my leg. I looked down to see him sleeping at the bottom of the air mattress by my feet.

"I got it through a childhood accident. The doctors couldn’t explain it, so I wore a contact to cover the blue one. Get over it," I grumbled, putting on the glasses Rip handed me.

"It’s gorgeous; it’s part of you, and I wouldn’t change a thing," shrugged Bai Long Qiang. "Now... breakfast."

----

The awkward conversation this morning was over and done with once Bai Long Qiang picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. He opened the zipper flap of the tent and brought me over to the fire.

Gently placing me on the log, he sat down beside me.

"Good morning," smiled Chang Guo Zi, already wide awake with a mug of coffee in his hand. "Want one?"

"Yes!" I hissed, looking back toward the tent to make sure that Bin An Sha wasn’t going to take it away from me. The man swore by this ’mud water’ crap that was basically a bunch of different mushrooms, cacao, and chai. In fact, he tried to take away everyone’s coffee and replace it with the stuff, but after the first time, Rip threatened to rip off his head if he did it again, so he stopped.

If I closed my eyes and plugged my nose, I could stand it, but... for the record... cacao is not the same as chocolate, no matter what anyone tries to tell me.

Chang Guo Zi chuckled and handed me a cup. "Don’t ever let anyone tell you that fairy tales aren’t real. I drink a potion made from magic beans every day, and it brings me back to life," he joked, and I grunted my agreement.

There wasn’t any milk or sugar, but coffee was coffee... and so much better than mud water.

"Are we going to try and grab some supplies while we are out here? Other than what is on the list?" asked Bai Long Qiang as he took his own cup.

"Can’t," grunted Chang Guo Zi, clearly not impressed by that fact.

Then again, neither Bai Long Qiang nor I were.

"Why the fuck not?" asked Bai Long Qiang as the rest of the guys made their way out of the tent. Ye Yao Zu was looking a bit rougher than he was before I left, and I smiled into my mug. I loved how protective the guys were of me. They wouldn’t put up with any crap that upset me, even if it came from one of our own.

"Because if something happened to us because we went off script and searched for more supplies, then the mission we were sent out on wouldn’t be completed," grumbled Hao Yuan Jun, pouring himself his own mug of coffee.

Seeing as it was getting low, Yuan Bao put on another batch.

"Our mission is for glassware and sheets. Is that really more important than food?" asked Si Dong, more than a little confused.

"Ah, but our mission is given to us by the Princess herself; we need to stay within the parameters, or else we will be fined and kicked out of the guild," added Duan Zhao Hui as he stood beside Yuan Bao, watching him as he made some flatbreads before putting them on the fire.

"Who’s going to know?" asked Bai Long Qiang with a smirk.

"It’s not a matter of who is going to know, but who is going to tell," muttered Chang Guo Zi, using his mug as a shield.

Everyone’s attention turned to the section of camp reserved for the Princess Teams.