"It didn't work again." That person spoke those words silently. after the words came out they ended up bouncing off nothing but the bare walls of the hospital room, reaching noone's ear. There was noone else there with that person, as per usual. So that pers——
——No. Rather, Veyle Othuris lay completely still, staring up at a blank white roof with lifeless, pale blue eyes... In his right eye, lay a strangeness shaped like an hourglass in the pupil. He blinked once and sighed deeply.. Every movement dragged infinitely, like he was still underwater. His white hair was wet on his pillow and stuck to his forehead. His gloves that had a black colouration were still on for some reason, why hadn't anyone taken them off when he was brought in? Maybe the staff thought they were medical or something? Or rather, it was more likely that noone even cared enough to bother. and last but certainly not least a black hospital gown that lay on his pail white skin.. light with thin fabric, it was suffocating in a weird way, kind of like a cage... It most likely felt that way because it was a reminder to him of where he was and what he'd failed to do——
『——Again』
"I should be dead.." he muttered, groaning at the simple fact of being alive, as if he was
Having a conversation with himself.
A heavy breath passed through him, a breath that normally followed disappointment. Feeling his throat dry up, he tried to push himself up for water to quench the burning sensation within, but he quickly realised how futile it was. "Fuck it——" Veyle let out another groan, but this time it was a shuddering noise as his chest huffed, boiling tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
The reality of everything that had happened just an instant ago for him having passed crashed down on him like shower of stars from the night sky, crushing the breath from his lungs. It was a nightmare.. nothing made sense, and the confusion felt like a pressure that was pressing down on his chest. He was unable to fight the exhaustion that was pulling him deeper and deeper, so he gave up.... Or rather he gave in. He sank deeper into the mattress, shut his eyes tight as he was still against the cruelness of being alive and he finally let himself drift into a deep, deep sleep——
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
——Darkness...
——Darkness that stretched beyond what his ■ could sense. Such of which darkness could be considered an endless darkness. There was that person.. deep in something, but his ■ couldn't quite figure out what.. Falling forever and ever, there was only darkness. As he felt nothing... no depth, heat, texture, nor quality. Forever lost. Forever gone——
——Then, a sudden warmth within his hand, as if it were being held by another. Yet, even without sight, he could tell there was no physical hand there. It simply felt like the presence of someone with a deep devotion and love for the person whose hand was being held.
——A hand... maybe the soft hand of a woman? No. He had never been popular with anyone, let alone girls. If this was the death he had hoped for, he wouldn't mind it. But in the end, Veyle really did want to be a dad. If he had been forced to choose anything other than his current fate, he would have chosen to be a father. Maybe with a beautiful wife who would greet him after a long day of hard work, alongside a little girl they could call their own——
——Suddenly there was two sharp pains that had flared up in his head, mimicking a healing stab wound that had pierced right through his skull. Maybe he had hit his head on something while trying to drown. He felt as if he were falling, yet he couldn't feel the air moving around himself. It was a completely blank sensation.. "Veeee—eeeeyle wakey, wakey.. you really took a hit back there hun, oh he's actually waking up?" the calm and mature voice of an older woman filled his head, but before he could even register the it——
"Eh? He's getting up? Ve—Veyle, are you okay? I didn't mean to get you hit, i just slipped and you know how I've been lately.. sorry." a second voice cut through the first. This one sounded like a girl too, maybe two years older then him. Her voice was firm but wavered with guilt.
"Lyra you have no need to worry, I'm sure he'll forgive you.. but you need to try and keep it down, Oh‐kay? he just got hit by a suuuper hard attack and fell asleep, you know?" A third voice. The soft and calming voice of a girl, she sounded maybe a year or two older than Veyle.. with a voice that reminded him instantly of the moon's beauty.. in contrast to the others, this girl was close enough to be right beside him... The moment that thought crossed his mind, the sensation of falling stopped completely... There was no impact. Instead, he felt the physical sensation of soft hands holding his.. He wasn't flat on his back anymore, rather instead he was laying on his side facing the left.. As fine, soft strands of bunched-up hair were resting against his arm. He was perfectly relaxed——
As relaxed as could be——
——Then came the smells.
——The air was thick with the metallic stream of fresh blood. That was the strongest of the smell. But right beneath his nose lay a soft, creamy scent... a fragile and sweet scent that he favored over the rest.. As the Other smells drifted in.. mud, smoke, plastic, and chlorine..
"Dont'cha go babyin' 'er jus' 'cause she's been showin' emotions more often lately.. ya'll are makin' me sick, be sure ta have fun wit' this puny lil' pity party. I'm out ya brats.." A rough voice of a man, tone full of annoyance.. he was maybe thirty? And he sounded royally pissed off.. Veyle heard the sound of heavy boots leaving the room as the soft girl's grip tightened..
"Phad, what the hell man? You can't be throwing around that kind of shit right now, you know this.." The response came from a younger man, his voice coming out oddly, muffled as if speaking through a helmet that collected the words before Veyle's ears could.. from the voice alone Veyle could tell he was probably the casual, laid-back type of person.. maybe around 25 years old? Veyle couldn't really pinpoint it for this man——
"Shut yer trap soroki..."
——A door slammed shut in the distance, cutting off the argument before either side could escalate it. The room fell quiet, aside for the crackle of a fire and the delicate breathing of the person sitting right in front of him.
"Ignore him, Lyra. You know how sensitive he gets when it comes to Veyle——" the older woman sighed.. "——Seren, could you be a dear and fetch some fresh water for when Vivi wakes up?" The older woman added again..
——Taste suddenly flooded his mouth..
The only taste available was nothing but bitter saliva that lay on his tongue, His mind was already racing at three thousand miles per hour. If his hypothesis was correct, a certain sequence was nearly complete. Pain, hearing, touch, smell, taste... and finally, vision. if his assumption were correct, the next sense he would gain would be sight.. annoyingly though, off the bat Veyle would have to deal with people arguing and he couldn't be bothered to do so.. but there was a strange feeling, he couldn't just quite figure out... He was about to open his eyes to a room full of arguing strangers, But the older woman's final words replayed in his mind, a strange shock ran through his system——
『——For when Vivi wakes up?』
The only person in his entire life who had ever called him Vivi was his mother. She was a deaf woman who had passed away years ago. This couldn't be an elaborate prank nor a hallucination. These people knew him by name... and how could he hallucinate details this precise? They were explicitly talking about Veyle. Yet, he did not recognize a single one of their voices. How was that possible? Or rather how was this possible——
——Further more to think of it, the girl whose name he hadn't caught yet had mentioned he had been knocked out by a 'suuuper hard attack', speaking as if it were a casual fighting game.. The thing that was even weirder is that the Lyra girl was decided to have caused it.. or to have had a hand in it to some extent, so if that were true——
——Inside his chest, Veyle's ■ began to beat faster and faster. Cold fear crept into his veins. The truth was undeniable now...
——he wasn't in the hospital. He hadn't even thought about that possibly until he had completely crossed it off the list. These strangers genuinely believed they had a deep, unbreakable connection to him. To Veyle... When his eyes finally opened and the vision returned, what was he supposed to do? Should he confess the truth and tell them he wasn't the person they loved? Or should he play along? Veyle was the type to hate seeing others in pain and he struged lying to people he saw as genuinely good.. But as he felt the warmth of the girl's hand and the aching in his skull, a strange, comforting thought crossed his mind——
——If this body truly belonged to a Veyle Othuris.. would he really even be really lying?
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. As the dark prison his eyes had been trapped in broke, allowing a blinding luminescence to invade his consciousness in a hurry——
——As
——Vision had returned.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
The blinding light had finally softened enough to allow Veyle's vision to Ignite. The scene was slowly melting into focus, as his eyes slowly revealed the soft face of the girl sitting right ahead of him——
『——She was an impossibility.』
——She was that of a girl
Whom of which was so radiantly beautiful, So strikingly cute and So frantically alluring that she felt completely from another world, or rather, to put it in a word——
——she looked otherworldly to the point that Veyle's breath caught in his own throat at her visage, for that of a mere moment——
——He had never seen ANYONE like her in his entire life.
Her hair.... it was like that of the moon's reflection of white that arised from the deep, darkness of the ocean. Or rather, in other words——
——the endless deep darkness that had such audacity to bleach the apex of her head and the brightness that filled in the blanks made a deep contrast, one of which that mimicked the full moon reflected off the deep and endless sea. At the very top of her head, some white hair looped up in a little cowlick like a wave that carried the light beyond where it had been originally sent, shaped like the crescent of the moon. Her mesmerizing hair hung down over her shoulder in a long and low side tail——
——It was that of the very same hair that rested gently against Veyle's arm.
——Every single individual thread of her hair had immense quality. Her eyes were closed, but her medium eyelashes lay against her skin and framed her face like a piece of art——
——To Veyle she was the definition of beauty.
「 Holy Shit 」
「 Oh God, she's... she's so unbelievably Cute—–— 」
——Veyle's mind completely shorted out. His internal panic was put on pause by his newfound awe.
「 —–—No, seriously.. Wait. Wait, wait, wait. No. Calm down, Veyle. Get a grip of yourself man. This is really not the time to be getting delusional over some girl.. Look at the situation——!! And Analyze it—– 」
「 I'm reeeally supposed to be having a massive crisis right now. logically I should be panicking over the fact that I'm in a completely different room with people that are convinced they know me when I don't even know them in the slightest, but for the life of me I can't seem to in the slightest. JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE CARD——!!! Staring at that endless beauty? All of those life or death thoughts just suddenly disappeared into nothingness. My mind is denying to process anything else except the girl in front of me. She is so unfairly pretty that it should be illegal or something 」
In the small and brief moment between the girl's eyelashes.. in that tiny percentage of a second where everything seemed to completely pause before both of her eyelids could fully part from eachother‐–
「 My hand is still wrapped in Hers.. Her Delicate hand is like a little jacket wrapped around mine, so cute.. Her grip is tight as if she's scared to let go ,It's warm and It's soft. She's completely short circuiting whatever logic I have. If this is what I get for failing to die.. if this is what I've been dragged into—– 」
‐–In that single moment—–
「 I'll take responsibility, I will.. you seriously have to believe me. I don't care if I'm hallucinating and I don't care if I'm dreaming. I don't care if God is real.. So if God Is real, which i really doubt. I'll take anything they throw at me, i don't care—— 」
□■□■, □■□ □□■□ □■□ □■□■□ □■■□ □□■■□■..
「 ——Not in the slightest.. So, just a little longer. Please, just let me stare at her for a few seconds before everything forces its way back in 」
‐—Veyle Othuris's mind had made a single, desperate and unrevertable bargain with fate.
「 Please 」
——The tiny percentage of a second finally finished and her eyelids had finally opened completely. Her eyes were a clear gray. They reminded him instantly of a cut piece of pure moonstone.. Those gray irises trembled fully focused on Veyle's face. The grip she had on his hand was forced to tighten. Suddenly becoming unnecessarily painful, in the end she had kept his hand in hers as she didn't dare loosen it at all. As the strangely quiet panic in her laying form melted away like ice to a flame, replaced by an slightly pouty look that cut softly straight through Veyle's thoughts.
『——The star shaped pupils that lay resting inside her pure moonstone eyes were an impossibility.』
"Oh—!!" Her voice came out of her throat completely in a rushed gasp as if she were completely startled by his open and dazed eyes, such eyes that suddenly shimmered and shined with a deep and vast blue that reminded her of blue apatite. As that inhale of air that seemed to go on for infinity had passed, it was like a trigger was pulled for a singular domino effect that spread across the entire room.
"Huh, Maia are you okay? is he awake?!" The woman whom Veyle only knew as 'Lyra' spoke in a rushed voice from the corner of the room.
"Ehhh——?!" 'Maia' had completely froze, her mouth was hanging wide open as her mind had failed to catch up to what her eyes were seeing. In a sudden movement Maia sat up straight from her laying position. As her posture tried to bunch itself up, she desperately kept her hand held tightly around Veyle's——–
"Kid finally openin' 'is eyes?" The younger man Veyle could only assume as the one named 'Soroki' who stood near the doorway questioned as such. He hurried over in a jogging motion closer to the bed, his muffled voice raised in pitch. "Move aside, let me see hi——"
"Don't crowd him dear. Stay by the doorway, Soroki." The older woman's calm voice interrupted him in a soft and lovely chuckle before Soroki could reach the bedside.
"But——"
"Kiki, honey..." The older woman responded with a soft authority that instantly stopped the oncoming rant that was to be Soroki's words.
"Yer 'ight, yer 'ight.." Soroki muttered from behind his helmet. As he, himself took a singular and extremely exaggerated step backward toward the door ,his boots making a sound that reminded Veyle of a childish pout. In the end, after hearing the sudden commotion and movements, Veyle's instinct was to move his head toward them. His eyes, now that of a full deep and vast blue in contrast to before waking up.. were he had nothing but blank eyes, his eyes were entirely ready to fully and finally scan the rest of the room to face the people demanding his attention, as if they knew him on a deep and personal level.
『——But he never got the chance to 』
Before he could even get a proper glance at the room and before his neck could even finish turning—–—
——An aggressive white out had happened. As a thick and heavy blanket was suddenly grabbed upward by a pair of slim and trembling hands. the quilt sealed off his head, completely covering his face and his entire body in a sudden endless darkness. The quiet outsiders of the blanket had made the air thick enough to chew on. If Veyle could see through the fabric right now, he would have probably witnessed four varying looks of different levels of pure judgment that was directed entirely at the girl that was sitting over him.
"I–I didn't, Uhh——" 'Maia' squeaked out in embarrassment, her voice reaching that of an incredibly high pitch. Veyle could hear the soft and continuous beat of her soft and delicate ■ through the cloth as her hands scrambled and moved over the outside of the blanket, tucking it around his shoulders like a little shield to hide him away. She moved as if she were full of nothing but unmasked panic.
"I just... I just thought he might be cold——!!!" Maia's brain was running at three thousand miles per hour as her voice shook with an unconvincing panic. "Y-Yeah, He's been shivering——!! He's sweating so much from that attack, so I figured—— uhhh ——He would prooooobaly need a blanket, Yeah——!! right this second——!! It has nothing to do with him waking up, he's totally still asleep, Absolutely out cold——!!!!!!" Beneath the blanket Veyle's lungs were burning hot——
「 God, it's so hot in here 」
"Oh——!! Well, if he's shivering, then keeping him covered is definitely the right call——" Lyra said, her previous confusion completely switching into a deep relief. Nodding her head up and down quickly in understanding, she clapped her hands together in unison. "Good catch, Maia——!! I didn't even notice he was cold. Thank goodness you're paying such close attention to him."
"Yeah, that makes tooooooootal sense——" Soroki chimed into the conversation from the doorway, in a sarcastic tone that suggested he had caught her little lie. "Tho' in all seriousness" he muttered. "You've got great instincts, Maia. I trust your judgment completely."
"Of course she does——" the older woman added with a warm and proud smile that was stitched to her face, as she reached out and gently patted the blanket where Maia's hands were resting. "Maia has been looking after our Vivi with so much care. If she says he needs to stay tucked in under there to recover.. then that's it—!"
"In the end i feel bad for Seren the most.. not being able to communicate to us without Veyle.. so make sure you have him better soon. Right Maia——?" Lyra added softly.
Hearing that collection of words, the girl sitting over him let out a long sigh.. The posture that she had locked up her body with completely dissolved into nothingness. With the people of the room giving her nothing but trust, her panic slowly melted away fully as if it was evaporating. She slowly lay back down. Sinking into the soft and squishy bed, she kept her arms up high to hold the blanket like a little tent, keeping Veyle completely sealed off from any outside light. She stayed right there as she kept his hand tightly held in hers.
"T-Thank you, Lyra.." Maia said softly, her voice muffled to the people on the outside, But rather carrying a much calmer tone then before. "I'll make sure he recovers completely, I promise... But umm——" She paused for that of a single second, as her grip on Veyle's hand tightened. "——Since he's shivering suuuper badly and needs to rest quietly.. I think it'd also be better if maybe at most two people stayed with him in here.. For now at the very least. Too many voices might make his head hurt when he starts to drift back awake, you know?"
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Footsteps had exploded outward and faded as the heavy door opened and shut within that of a moment, leaving the room nearly empty. Veyle was left with only two sounds.. Soroki's muffled breathing caused by his helmet and the thumping of Maia's ■ just inches away from Veyle.
Until that of a third noise made it's presence known——
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"They're gone now." Soroki's voice cut through the endless darkness that Veyle had grown accustomed to. The teasing tone from before was completely gone now, replaced by that of a cold and somewhat empty tone. As he hadn't moved from the doorway a single inch.. "Just you 'n me now, Maia. And.. whatever's left of the kid under there."
Maia didn't answer. Rather instead, she pulled her knees up to her chest as she gave Veyle a soft smile.. Veyle couldn't see her face through the endless blackness. But he could feel the way the mattress sunk with her movements, not to mention he could also feel the heat of her proximity pushing closer to himself then before. Yet despite all these factors in the freezing room, her hand——
——No rather
——the grip on his hand hadn't loosened for a single second
——nor even that of an inch
"I—I–I haven't a clue what you're rambling about Soroki.." Maia responded, her voice trembling under that of a crumbling facade of innocence.
"If you say so——" Soroki muttered. "—Well Praise the stars, you're actually awake Veyle. But i expect a explanation soon."
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
A click could be heard from the doorway as Soroki turned. The heavy door, opening and closing as his young man's footsteps faded away into the distance of the hall——
——Beneath the safety of the blanket, Veyle's cheeks instantly bleached red with a burning sensation, that of which had nothing to do with lack of air. His ■ was beating at that of an insane speed in his chest. The craziness of his situation, overlapping with the proximity of the girl right ahead of him——
——his head was growing fuzzy.
——as he forced his vocal cords to wake up
——he swallowed down hard, gulping deeply as he found his voice in the darkness of the endless ocean
——guided by only that of the blinding moon overhead
"S—So.. Why did.. Why did you do that?" He whispered the question as such, his voice breathless.. Completely muffled by the thick blanket.
For that of a singular moment, no voice responded. The only indication of her hearing him was a sudden breath being caught in her own throat. "——I know it was wrong..." she spoke calmly, wothout a sliver of panic seeping in from the edges of her voice. "But.. i reaally wanted to be the first one to hear your voice."
「 Stop sounding so sincere—— My ■ is going to explode through my chest 」
"You threw a blanket over me just for that?" Veyle whispered out, his tone steadying "That's pretty extreme just to hear some Guy mumble in the dark before everyone else did."
"It's not extreme in the slightest.." Maia whispered back in a giggle, her voice in that of a light and teasing tone. "Even then——" she added softly before continuing. "——you're stuck beneath here with me, for now at least. So you can't look at anyone else and you can't talk to anyone else. I'd say my plan worked immaculately. Ahh wait, not like i plan on keeping you to myself forever though——!!!!"
「 Who even says "immaculately" in this day and age... this new girl is really really old-school, huh. 」
His face was burning a deep heat——
——The source of such heat was that of a blush that coloured his face beneath the surface of the blanket. "If i suffocate, you're to blame and I believe in collecting compensation——!!!"
"——Ehhh——?!!" Maia gasped out in exaggeration. "——Then I'll just have to keep holding your hand to make sure you stay alive.." she replied in a cheeky tone. To push and emphasize her point, her fingers slid between his own, to softly intertwine their hands together against fate's wishes, she tightened her grip. "See? I'm protecting you. So.. You'd better be suuuuper nice to your new and beautiful savior." She blushed a deep and wide red at how direct she was being, but in the end she decided to play along with her own tone and keep it going. "S–s—so how about you tell me what I want to know~"
「 want to know? oh fuck.. don't make me choose on whether—— 」
「 ——I act 」
「 ——Or tell the truth 」
「 Wait,why am I panicing? I've already decided on what i want to do.. so i just have to act on my desires—— 」
「 ——Though there is a question I think i need to ask first 」
"Would you mind answering one for me first?"
"Ehh? Uh sure, if you really have one. Go ahead I'd be happy too, it isnt everyday you ask me a question. I'm ready, hit me with it——!!!"
"I've been wondering. Why would you want to hear my voice?" His question drifted out softly into the endless darkne——
"——Ehh?"
——The blanket was violently pushed away.
——As the blinding light rushed back in, it didn't register in his brain. For the reason of that Veyle's eyes were instantly locked onto Maia's.
——Locked onto that person
——Whom of which had thrown the covers that veiled his face off in that of an instant.
——In a sudden motion.
——She was sitting directly over him, her face completely frozen in shock. Her clear gray moonstone eyes grew clouded as they stared directly into his deep, vast blue irises that held an hourglass-like pupil. Her own eyes wide and trembling as if she were looking at a ghost. The silence between in the empty room stretched on for what felt like minutes but in reality only a couple seconds.
"Veyle are you okay—?"