Case #4: Triage

"EVERYONE DOWN!" Haruno yelled, "ANYONE ABLE TO PLACE A BARRIER DO IT NOW!" she instructed, but was too late. 

*FFSSSSSSS* *THUNK* *FSSSSSSS*, the sound of bullets ricocheting was heard, with Haruno opening her eyes to see eight barriers deployed around the venue. Ana knew what Haruno was going to request once she had given the warning to get down and create the barriers immediately. 

"N-N-No, not again," a voice cried
"It's all because she returned," another voice complained. 

"What do you mean again?" Haruno wondered, with the sound of bullets stopping. "Out of ammo?" she wondered, staring into the distance with her Eyes of Seraphim to see what the gunman was doing. 

The gunman was lying flat on a makeshift platform near the upper tree line, dressed in a green camo poncho. The gunman reloaded his rifle, placing it on the side, and proceeded to bring out a M24 sniper rifle, mouthing a few words before firing.

"MOTHER, GET DOWN!" Haruno warned, tackling Ana down as the bullet pierced through all eight barriers and grazed her on the shoulder. 

"HARUNO!" Ana yelled, with Haruno's blood soaking into her light green dress, followed by the barrier shattering as five more bullets pierced it. 

As soon as the barrier was shattered, the gunman began to spray onto the guests as they ran for cover for a full minute before disappearing from his post. 

The entire wedding venue was covered with injured people lying around as the medical team arrived. 

"Mother, we need to take Haruno to the medical ward," Emila suggested, as she remained in shock on the ground to support Haruno's head on her lap.

"Ah....yes, we should," Ana stated, picking up Haruno off the ground, and started to walk towards the medical ward. "This familiar scene, the smell of iron-rich blood filling the air, and the intense gaze putting me at fault, it's truly nostalgic," she realized. 

At the medical ward, the entire medical team was scrambling, trying to save as many people as they could as they bled out onto the bed. 

"Ahhhh...this scene is familiar too," Ana muttered, staring intensely at the hectic scene. "It must be my fault again,". 

"It's not your fault, mother," Haruno assured Ana. "Put me down already, it was just a small graze," she requested. 

"I'm going to start Triage now," Haruno announced, changing from her heels to leather boots. "Emila, since you spent the past week with the medical team, I want you to assign the right staff member to assist with patients based on my diagnoses. All the patients that are code red are automatically assigned to you, okay?" she stated. 

"I understand," Emila said as she stood next to her, ready to begin. 

Triage is a common medical assessment used to determine the order of medical care given during an emergency.

Patients are assigned one of four colors: Red, Yellow, Green, or Black, where Red indicates critical and requires immediate care, and Green indicates minimal. Black would indicate the patient has unfortunately passed away already

Haruno began to walk up to the closest patient's bed, with the medical staff trying to stop her from interfering with Emila stepping between, requesting they all listen. 

"Patient is female, broken right femur, and the break is clean, "Haruno quickly evaluated by feeling the bone position, "Code Yellow, I've aligned the broken femur, please support it with a split," she requested, with Emila providing detailed steps. 

"Patient is male, two open gunshot wounds going directly through the back of his shoulder, breaking his clavicle," Haruno evaluated. "I don't see any bullet fragments lodged inside, so it must have traveled out," she verified with unique skill, Eyes of Seraphim, using it as an X-ray. "Code Yellow, please clean the wound and proceed to heal the bone with a healing skill," she instructed. 

"Patient is male, two...no, three abdominal wounds with extensive damage to the small & large intestine, all two bullets are whole while the third one fragments," Haruno elvaumated, "Code Red, Emila, treatment requires opening up the stomach and removing the two bullets and fragments." with Emila taking over. 

"Patient is female, slight abrasion near the knee caps," Haruno evaluated, "Code Green, clean the wounds and heal the wound," she instructed. 

As Haruno & Emila began to work on treating the injured, Ana began to walk out of the medical ward and aimlessly walked down the long hallway. Ana finally returned to the wedding venue, where the King & Queen were speaking to the Lars. 

"Are you okay?" Queen Lyariel asked, embracing Ana, "This isn't your fault, okay?" she assured. 

"What have you found out so far?" Ana asked, looking at Lars, who was reluctant to speak with her. 

"Answer her, Lars!" King Eldrin ordered, with Lars taking out the green camo poncho from his item box.

"This can't be!" Ana exclaimed, "He should be dead!" she cried, falling to the ground, unconscious. 


"Haruno, you shouldn't play with that!" Emila exclaimed, trying to stop Haruno from fidgeting with something. 

"W-What are you two doing now?" Ana asked, as she slowly woke up, "How long have I been asleep now?" 

"Only two days," Haruno answered, jumping onto the large bed and resting next to Ana. 

"Do you want to join us?" Ana offered Emila as she stood by hesitantly. 

"Yes, please," Emila answered, resting on the other side. 

"Did anyone die?" Ana asked. 

"Nope, we save everyone!" Haruno assured Ana as tears began to fall down her face. 

"T-That's so good to hear," Ana cried, with Haruno & Emila snuggling close to her.

After crying for ten minutes, Ana regained her composure once again. 

"I'm sure you two have a lot of questions, and I know you won't ask me due to the sensitive topic, so I'll just speak out loud to myself," Ana said, brushing her two daughters' hair as they pretended to be asleep. 

"It was around five hundredish years ago that I met a lost individual named Cedric in the middle of the Maze Forest, hiding from monsters on top of a tall tree." Ana began to tell her story, "After saving him, I tried to communicate with him, but the words coming out of his mouth did not make any sense. I requested assistance from a spirit to help grant him temporary speech so I could speak with him, and the first thing he said was, Will you marry me?" She chuckled, with Haruno & Emila unable to hold in their laughter. 

"What did you say?" Emila asked, excited to hear more about Ana's past. 

"Of course, she said no!" Haruno stated. 

"The correct answer is...........nothing," Ana answered, "We were immediately ambushed by a pack of daemon wolves," with Haruno & Emila laughing. 

"Of course, being a lost, I knew I had to protect Cedric from the monsters, but when I turned around, everything changed," Ana said, "All I saw were bright lights and loud popping noise as Cedric quickly ran in front and killed the wolves in less than a minute, leaving me in shock. For me, I was extremely curious to know what type of  magic he possessed as a lost." 

"It wasn't magic, was it?" Haruno answered with an uneasy tone. 

"Yes, you are correct," Ana answered, "Cedric had called it a Gun, and proceeded to show off two black long, black metal sticks inside a green bag. He proceeded to demonstrate what it could do by killing an Orc from a dozen meters away. As we continued to travel together inside the Maze Forest, I was amazed by how cool he looked while he was focusing, and eventually fell in love with him." 

"OOOOOOOOOO, MOM HAD A CRUSH!!" Haruno & Emila teased Ana. 

"After escaping the Maze Forest, I introduced Cedric to everyone as my future partner," Ana continued, "Cedric was immediately accepted by everyone, especially by my deceased older brother, Eirik, who was fascinated by the guns he had. The two would spend hours talking about it, with Cedric showing him how to disassemble it and clean it until one day, they stopped talking about it." 

"I don't like where this is going," Emila stated to Haruno, telepathically. 

"Me either," Haruno replied as they both braced for it. 

"When I had asked Cedric about what had happened between him & Eirik, he stated nothing had happened and went to train with Lars," Ana stated. "I didn't see much of Eirik until my wedding day, as he appeared holding Cedric's guns in his hands. Eirik had stolen the guns from the Treasury Vault after it was locked away forever per Cedric's request. Eirik began to fire on everyone at the venue, striking me in the stomach as I fell unconscious." 

"When I woke up in the medical ward two days later, I was informed both Cedric & Eirik had passed away after the two fell from the castle walls during a struggle," Ana stated. "I went to say my final goodbyes to Cedric & Eirik and watch both their bodies cremated the following day, and the guns used were destroyed. I was also informed that the injury I took could prevent me from ever giving birth in the future." 

"Why do people treat you the way they do?" Haruno questioned, "From what it sounds like, Eirik was the bad guy?" she asked. 

"Eirik was very loved by everyone as he was kind, compassionate, and worked hard to make everyone's livelihood better," Ana explained. "They believed that Cedric corrupted the kind-hearted Eirik, and that was the reason he acted the way he did. In other words, I'm the traitor who brought the person who corrupted their kind-hearted Eirik, even though I was his little sister," she cried. "That's why I left this Kingdom and haven't returned since."

"What a load of crap," Emila yelled, "There has to be more to this story, right, Haruno?"

"Of course, there is," Haruno answered, "Let's find the truth to this tale together, right, mother?" she asked, with Ana nodding her head.