The High Cost Of Smurfing/Part 4

In the infirmary, Empath and Smurfette were both beside Vanity as he laid there in a weakened state, being fed intravenously as one of his nostrils was stuffed with as much gauze as could reasonably fit within such an orifice. A heart-monitoring machine created by Handy was busy keeping record of Vanity's heartbeat, beeping at a steady rhythm. His eyes were closed, but he looked as if he were just one step away from death.

Doctor Smurf came in to check up on his patient. "How is he doing, Empath?" he asked.

"He's in a stable condition for now, Doctor," Empath answered. "This smurf had to fix the ruptured blood vessel in his nasal cavity to get him to stop bleeding, but it's only a matter of time whether he will fully recover from the blood loss or not."

"Well, you seem to know more about his condition than I do," Doctor said. "What could have caused him to smurf like that?"

"This smurf senses that he has been inhaling a white powder up his nose, which was irritating his nasal cavity and most likely have caused the blood vessel rupture," Empath replied.

"A white powder?" Doctor said. "Do you know what kind of substance it is?"

"Polaris Psyche has delivered a vial of it to Papa Smurf," Empath said. "He should know exactly what kind of substance we're dealing with."

"Well, if you need me for anything, let me know," Doctor said, recording the information about Vanity's condition on a clipboard before moving on.

"Empath, who could have caused Vanity to smurf this to himself?" Smurfette asked.

"That's what this smurf is hoping to find out, Smurfette," Empath answered. "All this smurf could sense right now is that it could be one of the pixies."

"But could it be his friend Periwinkle?" Smurfette asked.

"We just don't know who it is right now, Smurfette," Empath replied. "But we shouldn't be pointing fingers at anyone until we know for sure."

Soon Vanity had slowly opened his eyes. "Empath...Smurfette...where am I?" he asked weakly.

"You're in the infirmary right now because of a ruptured blood vessel in your nasal cavity, Vanity," Empath answered. "You had quite a loss of blood, so we need to keep you in here for a while until you recover."

"Vanity, what was it that you were trying to hide from me?" Smurfette asked.

Vanity sighed, realizing that he couldn't hide what he was doing anymore. "Pixie dust," he answered softly. "It was pixie dust that I got from a friend among the pixies."

"Pixie dust? What were you smurfing with pixie dust?" Smurfette asked.

"It's supposed to make me feel really smurfy, Smurfette," Vanity replied. "It's like the best feeling that I could ever have. But it doesn't last for long."

"So that's why you have vials of this stuff in your house?" Smurfette asked.

"I'm sorry that I lied to you, saying that they were special fragrances," Vanity said. "I thought that I could hide this habit away from the other Smurfs. I guess that I was wrong."

"But who is it that introduced you to this form of intoxication, Vanity?" Empath asked. "Who?"

Vanity looked like he had a hard time thinking. "Someone among the pixies. I can't remember who it was. Everything's sort of a fuzz in my brain."

Empath nodded, realizing that Vanity needed to have rest. "We'll find out who it is that gave you this poison for your body, Vanity. Trust this smurf."

Vanity smiled weakly before he closed his eyes again and relaxed.

"I should stay at Vanity's bedside in case he awakens, Empath," Smurfette suggested. "I don't think he should smurf here alone."

"This smurf understands and acknowledges, Smurfette," Empath said.

To be expanded on.