Arthur returned to Hayes Manor to find Ariadne lying motionless in the healing chamber, pale as parchment, blood dried in streaks across her collarbone and arms.
Winky hovered anxiously beside her, her small hands still glowing faintly with the remnants of stabilization magic. When she saw Arthur, relief flooded her features.
"Master! Winky tried best to stop bleeding, but Ari hurt too bad! Winky is not healer!"
Arthur crossed to the bed, his hands already moving through diagnostic patterns. Golden light washed over Ariadne's body as he assessed the damage with clinical precision.
Multiple broken ribs. Fractured shoulder. Internal bleeding in several places. Severe lacerations. Concussion. And beneath it all, something worse—her chi pathways were scorched, completely depleted beyond what should be possible.
Serious injuries. Very serious. But the physical damage was manageable. The chi depletion, however...
"What happened?" Arthur asked, his hands already beginning the healing process as golden magic flowed into Ariadne's broken body.
"Ari went to Hand headquarters again," Winky said, wringing her hands. "Alone. Fought many bad people. Then very strong woman at end—stronger than Ari, much experience. Ari won but..." She gestured helplessly at Ariadne's condition.
Arthur's jaw tightened as he worked, sealing internal bleeding first, then realigning broken bones. "Even after everything, she still has her pride. Still needs to prove she can do everything alone." He muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else. "What am I supposed to do with her? Should I just kill all the Hand Fingers myself and finish her goals so I don't have to keep healing her from near-death every few months?"
The room offered no answers. Winky stayed silent, knowing her Master was venting frustration. Ariadne remained unconscious, oblivious to Arthur's complaints.
Arthur sighed, recognizing the futility of his own words. He wasn't actually going to eliminate the Hand leadership. The organization controlled massive portions of Earth's criminal underworld across multiple continents. If he suddenly removed all five Fingers, the resulting power vacuum would make what happened in Europe after he'd killed those three lords look like a minor disturbance. There would be gang wars spanning continents, countless casualties, chaos that could destabilize entire regions.
So no. He wouldn't do it.
But that left him with a problem: what to do with Ariadne?
Once the worst of her physical wounds were stabilized, Arthur turned to the real issue: chi.
Ariadne's chi was gone. Completely.
He had no formal training in healing chi depletion. K'un-Lun's secrets hadn't included that. But he had an idea, and he was almost sure that it would work.
Arthur extended his right hand, concentrating. Rich golden light began to pool in his palm—dragon chi. The energy built slowly, carefully measured.
When he'd gathered enough, Arthur placed his glowing hand on Ariadne's chest, directly over her ravaged chi pathways. Then, with intense focus, he began guiding the foreign energy into her system.
This has to work, he thought. Otherwise I'll have to drag her back to K'un-Lun and beg Lei Kung for help.
But everything seemed to be working. Ariadne's body accepted the dragon chi, her depleted pathways drinking it in desperately. The foreign chi didn't reject her. And as it flowed, it accelerated her healing—mending what magic alone could not.
Arthur maintained careful control, ensuring the transfer remained steady and safe.
As he worked, his mind drifted. He'd thought about giving Ariadne the Iron Fist power—making her stronger, more capable of handling threats like Alexandra Reid on her own.
But after the astronomical cost of his own transformation, he'd abandoned the idea. Regrowing the dragon heart fragment had required a fortune in rare magical materials—phoenix tears, basilisk components, dragon heartstring, and more. Materials so rare that gathering them again would be nearly impossible, certainly not worth the time investment.
There was another path—the ritual Davos had used in the canon to steal Danny Rand's power. Clean. Reversible. Efficient.
Unfortunately, that knowledge appeared to be deeply secret. Arthur had searched K'un-Lun's library extensively during his time there and found nothing about power transfer rituals. Either it was hidden… or never written down.
Ariadne will have to wait for Davos to rebel, Arthur thought wryly. Or she could compete for the Iron Fist herself against Davos and Danny. She'd stand a reasonable chance, actually. Would save me the hassle.
He filed the thoughts away, returning his focus to the healing.
An hour later, the dragon chi had been fully absorbed. Arthur proceeded to finish the remaining work—ensuring bones were properly aligned, healing residual internal damage, closing the worst of the external lacerations. By the time he finished, Ariadne's condition had stabilized completely. She'd need a few days of rest and some strengthening potions, but she would recover fully.
Arthur stepped back, allowing himself a sigh of relief. His work was done.
He left the healing room, refreshed himself with a quick cleansing charm, changed out of his party wear into comfortable clothes, and had a light meal in the kitchen. Winky fussed around him, clearly still worried about Ariadne.
"She'll be fine," Arthur assured the house-elf. "Just needs rest now."
—
An hour after Arthur had finished healing, Ariadne stirred.
Her eyes opened slowly, consciousness returning in fragments. She blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling, then turned her head to see Arthur sitting in a chair beside the bed, reading a book.
"Arthur?" Her voice was hoarse, throat raw. "How—where am I?"
"Hayes Manor," Arthur said simply, not looking up from his book. "Specifically, the healing room. It's not your time to leave this world yet. You still have unfinished business."
Memory flooded back. The fight. Alexandra. The desperate final strike. "Alexandra?" she rasped.
Arthur finally looked up, eyebrow raised. "Oh? Did you face her tonight? Was she the 'very strong woman' Winky mentioned?"
"Yes." Ariadne tried to sit up, winced, then tried again more carefully. "She was... difficult. Stronger than me. Far more experience. I didn't stand a chance in a straight fight." She paused, shame coloring her voice. "If not for Winky..."
Arthur turned his gaze to where Winky was organizing potions on a nearby shelf. "You intervened?"
"I had to," Winky said firmly. "Or Ari would be dead."
Ariadne nodded weakly. "It's true. Without Winky freezing Alexandra for just a moment, my desperate attack wouldn't have landed. I'd be the one dead on that floor."
Arthur was quiet for a moment, processing. "What's done is done. But tell me—did you confirm Alexandra's death? Destroy her body?"
Ariadne frowned, struggling to remember through the fog of pain and exhaustion. "I remember... my blade went through her heart. I watched her fall. But then I passed out." She looked at Arthur with growing concern. "She should be dead, shouldn't she?"
Arthur turned to Winky. "What happened after Ariadne lost consciousness?"
"Winky floated Miss Ari carefully," the house-elf explained. "Found the red button Ari had found—the one to make building go boom. Winky pressed it and left fast."
"Good thinking with the self-destruct," Arthur said. "But what about Alexandra's body?"
Winky looked confused. "Winky did not do anything with body. Miss Ari needed healing badly—very badly! So Winky just brought her straight here."
Ariadne frowned "Is something wrong?"
"If the body wasn't destroyed," Arthur said quietly, "she might come back."
"What?" Ariadne's eyes widened. "How?"
"The Hand has its ways," Arthur said simply. "Methods from K'un-Lun. Dragon bone essence can resurrect the recently dead."
Winky's large eyes filled with distress. "Winky is sorry! Winky should have destroyed bad woman's body!"
"It's not your fault, Winky," Arthur said firmly. "It's mine. I should have explained this to both of you earlier. There might still be time." He stood. "Winky, take me to the Hand headquarters. Now."
With a soft pop, Arthur and Winky vanished, leaving Ariadne alone in the healing room.