Those words. Those words you had heard as you tried to drag yourself forward lingered in your mind, echoing in your ears. Your tired (E/c) eyes opened to the world, but you found yourself looking up at the same ceiling. The ceiling you stared at so often you had memorized it int her back of your mind. This was your room in the Boar hat. But... the angle was different. Your eyes lazily moved to look at your surroundings, finding that you were in an elevated position. Two pillows were forced behind your neck and torso to keep you propped up. 

???: I see you're up.

A voice filled your ears as you turned to look at the door. There stood... a kid? 

(Y/n): How... did a kid get up here?

???: W-What? I"m no kid! Don't you remember me?!

(Y/n): No...

You muttered out before taking in a quick breath. 

King: It's me! You know, King!

(Y/n): Congrats... on loosing all that... weight.

King: Do you really think you should be joking in your state, (Y/n)?

(Y/n): What state?

King let out a soft sigh and moved to take a seat next to your bed. You moved your eyes to look at him, finding it too draining and painful to make the effort to turn your head.

King: You can barely move and your breathing sounds awful. Your knocking at death's door and it may open soon if you don't do something.

(Y/n): I don't know... maybe I wish I was more like you guys. I've seen you take more punishment than this and walk it off after... a few moments. I took one back strike to the chest and now I can barely move. 

King: Well not all of us are like you (Y/n). I mean look at Daine and me! We're not even human! Ban can't die and captain is... well... captain. If you keep pushing yourself to this extent, I don't know if you will make it out of the next battle.

You let out a soft sigh. King was certainly right. You were in no state to battle let alone continue on this supposed journey of revenge. Hell... did you even care anymore? What was the point of trying to keep your father's killer if the journey killed you in the process?

(Y/n): I think...

King: What do you think? Do you need a drink?

You nodded slightly. King proceeded to stand up and move out of the room, presumably to the bar. What King said certainly made sense... a lot of sense... You heard a voice on the other side of the door presumably talking to King, who's faint voice you could barely hear. Before you knew it, the conversation had ended and King had returned to your side.

King: Here just lean up a bit...

He spoke as he helped your head lift, drinking from a glass of water. You drank your fill before letting out a cough and plopping your head back onto the pillow. Somewhere through the pain, you managed a very short chuckle.

(Y/n): I kinda hoped you would... grab some booze...

King: Ban seems to have beaten you to that and you don't really need alcohol right now.

(Y/n): I'm quite the sight, huh? (Y/n) (L/n), heir to the (L/n) name, once the chivalrous knight and later brave merc, is dying in a bed on a giant pig. It's an... interesting story but not the one I would have... picked, you know?

King: You're not dying, (Y/n). You just need to take it easy and find a doctor in the next town we stop in. I'll tell the others an-

(Y/n): No... they probably already know... something is wrong but this is... too much right now.

King: (Y/n) you're our teammate! If something is wrong with you the others need to know.

(Y/n): They don't need my health on top of their... list of worries right now. Teammate or not... what they are doing is more important than my petty revenge.

King simply let out a yawn and set the glass aside. He glanced at the door before letting out a sigh as his gaze turned back to your form. 

(Y/n): I think... I'm done.

King: Done? Done with what?

(Y/n): Whatever comes first. I could die today and I'm done or I can... I can... *sigh*.

King: You need to tell me (Y/n).

(Y/n): Of course my dear maid... what would I be without you. I think after this next town... I'm gonna retire from all this... near-death stuff.

King: I won't stop you if you need to, heck I encourage it if you can find a way to settle in this troubling time.

(Y/n): Dear maid your words made me think. I'm not even in my twenties and yet my life has been threatened... so many times. I'm covered in enough scars to make my... ancestors blush and yet I keep pushing forward. Maybe I should settle down and start... rebuilding my family. That seems like a good... goal-

It seems your lungs had caught up with your little spiel as you entered a coughing fit. King simply moved forward and wiped your face with a cloth, cleaning it of the coughed-up material.

King: Is that what you want to do?

Your shoulders rose up and dropped in a shrug. You didn't know how to live normally at this point so suddenly dropping this whole adventuring thing and moving on to politics and home design wasn't really something you necessarily wanted to do... just something you needed to. It was more of a leash of a goal to tie you down long enough to at least fix yourself before you get killed trying to keep going like this.

King: Hmm... Why don't you think about this and get some rest? I'm sure one of us will check on you later so don't worry. When we arrive in the next town we'll let you know. 

Your head nodded slowly before you turned slightly to look at a darker part of the room. It wasn't long before your general exhaustion lulled you into sleep. King exited the room and thought about your situation. Your goal was a nice one to pursue, but he knew that your protective nature of the princess would argue against your logic. Your injuries were also troubling as well, seeing as you were bed-ridden with no clear outer injuries meant that something was wrong with your ribs or your lung. King would try to figure out what to do in the next town. He believed it was called Vaizel...