#not more of me wordvomiting all over your Dashboards

[nossumusmanus]

so the wiki states that "Quintus was severely injured, losing his ability to wield his weapon" after fleeing from the capital to the train station. what kind of injuries do you think he had? how were the Ist legion able to handle his wounds with such limited resources? (do you think, had he known of alphinaud and co's ability to heal - or even their medical supplies they brought to broken glass - that it would have swayed his decisions at all? he couldn't have been the only one wounded.)

OKAY SO STRAP YOURSELF IN FOR A LONG RIDE HERE. As you know, my Quintus's primary weapon is a greatsword. Don't get me wrong, he's skilled with a myriad of weapons, but the greatsword along with guns are the ones he is by and far the most proficient with, though he ordinarily reserves his revolver for a last resort.

My headcanon is that he was injured while trying to keep the Tempered, and Vergilia in particular, occupied so that his remaining troops could escape the city with what civilians they had managed to save.

Vergilia basically uses Menenius from Bozja's moveset from his duel, with a few missing skills(thankfully including the fucking landmines); likewise, her gunlance is the same model that Menenius's was. Even in her Tempered state, she still utilized her full arsenal and tricks, including things like the various types of ammunition.

Now, don't get me wrong, I also headcanon that Quintus was able to go toe to toe against Vergilia, because I like to believe that the two were both pretty evenly matched. But Vergilia was Tempered, which means she had no inhibitors to limit her. No emotions like fear, nothing to make her hesitate, no pain threshold to make her stop. That's the crucial difference between her and Quintus. No matter how hard he fought, he wouldn't win, because she would wear him down over time.

So to answer your question -- given the fact that Vergilia uses a gunlance, and retains her tactical prowess even while Tempered(if the instanced battle with her is any indication), I just headcanon that she managed to stagger him with a well-timed explosive ammo round, slashed at his legs with Giga Tempest more than likely to incapacitate him, then gave him another good slashing and impalement in the abdominal region. He would have died from his wounds if a group of his men hadn't gone back to try and help him, and thus rushed him to the safety of the train station where everyone else was gathered.

Why did Vergilia not finish him off? Because he was already as good as dead. She'd done her job of eliminating the threat to Anima's orders, there was no further point in toying with Quintus.

All of that being said, my Quintus suffers injuries to at least one of his legs, but the primary and most grievous wounds are the ones on his abdomen. Those ones specifically are why he isn't able to wield his greatsword anymore; greatswords are heavier and require at least a fair bit of core body strength to swing around, not to mention the amount of stamina and endurance needed to use them effectively, which Quintus now lacks because of those injuries in particular. His leg wounds are the icing on the, forgive my bluntness, shit cake of the situation.

The Ist Legion did what they could for him, but given that they had very limited medical equipment to work with at that moment, the primary concern would be to disinfect the wounds and dress them so that he wouldn't die of infection. (I headcanon that they probably had to rely on things like alcoholic drinks as their primary source of defense against this.) Sutures would have to be rationed between all of the wounded as well, which means that even someone like Quintus would only be able to receive the bare minimum surgically to ensure his survival. Which is fine -- he himself would want it that way, preferring that even those supplies used to stabilize him go to helping someone else instead, though that desire or command was not heeded.

The short of it is, he'd need to be exceedingly careful, because his injuries could and would very easily reopen. So even if his abdominal muscles weren't damaged or destroyed, he still wouldn't be able to wield his greatsword, given that he no longer has the stamina or endurance to keep up with swinging it effectively, and doing so would cause him immense pain and reopen his wounds.

He definitely wasn't the only one who was wounded, on top of those who were falling ill from the stress of the situation combined with the harsh cold from lack of proper heat. However, I don't think his opinion would have changed had he known about the twins' healing magicks, no. Even while injured, he's still incredibly prideful and mistrusting of both outsiders and magick, not to mention the glaring issues of his insistence over not putting themselves in a situation where they'll owe outsiders for their assistance and his negative beliefs towards magick. These stubborn stances along with his immense pride on the matters make him short-sighted to the suffering of the very same people he ordinarily would be so caring towards -- and so he would prioritize self-sufficiency and their survival when it comes to matters of dealing with the sick and wounded, as well as taking back the capital. (It also leads him to choosing to prioritize taking back the capital over taking care of his charges, but that's another story for another time.)

He would, ordinarily, rather die than accept outside help, and doubly so when it comes to being healed with magick.