Chapter 2: Only if you fight, you can survive
Zhalia leeched on to him. Dante stroke her back. How could that happen? Why was that happening? Zhalia lost her eyesight. That couldn't be true. Zhalia was crying bitterly. It was to much for her. „I'm always there for you.", Dante tried to cheer her up. But it didn't work. Zhalia was devastated. Slowly she detached herself from him. There she was, sitting on the bedside, her head bend down. There she was helpless and sad about the truth. She wiped the tears away from her face. Dante was quietly looking at her.
„Please don't tell the others about that.", she said. „I don't want them to know about it."
„Why not?", he asked. Maybe he shouldn't have done that. He saw that Zhalia's eyes were filled with tears again. One of them was running down her cheek but Dante wiped it off. Then he hugged her again. „I won't tell them.", he whispered into her ear.
„Thank you.", she sobbed. She laid her legs on the bed and blanket herself. Then she lay aside with her face to Dante and closed her eyes. He was looking at her.
„I want to sleep now.", she said quietly.
„Okay. I will be back in the afternoon."
„You don't need to. I will be asleep.", she answered.
Dante didn't say anything. He kissed her head and went out of the room. Zhalia lay down on her back and opened her eyes. Darkness. She couldn't see anything. A tear was running down her face. I want to die. Why didn't I die?, she thought. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Dante reached his house. He didn't know how he was getting there. Lost in thoughts he was walking through the city. Slowly he opened the door and went in. He closed the door behind himself and lay done on the sofa. It was lunchtime but Dante wasn't hungry. His body was saggy and he was tired. He stared to the ceiling. Zhalia was blind and it was only his fault. Maybe that wouldn't have happenend if he had taken more care of her. He would have loved to throw himself off the roof. How could he be so reckless? Why couldn't he simply put Rassimov out of action before he had fired this spell? It was senseless to reproach yourself or to commit suicide . Now he had to be there for Zhalia. No matter how. He knew that she had given herself up. But that doesn't mean that he had given her up, too. He had to give her new courage to face life, to train her and to help her to deal with that handicap. And he knew exactly how he would to that. He stood up and felt that he wasn't tired anymore – he was powerful. Dante went to the kitchen and took an old book out of a chest. Back in the livingroom he sat down on the armchair and opened the book. It was an old training book he got from Metz. Together they worked through the whole book . They did every exercise, that was described in the book. 'exercises with the blindfold' was one headline. These were the sides Dante was searching for. He would do those exercises with Zhalia. He read all 30 sides over and over again until he knew everything by heart. Dante turned his head away from the book and noticed that it was midnight. Obviously he had spend the whole day with studying the book. He yawned and closed it. Then he went upstairs to his bedroom, lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
The next morning Zhalia woke up because of a weird noise. It was quiet but anyway really annoying. It was an alarm-clock that doesn't stopped ringing. Zhalia opened her eyes. But does that make any sense? No! She anyway couldn't see anything. Today she wasn't sad about this awareness, she was angry. Angry just about the fact that she was blind. Not mad at somebody, just angry about the awareness. She crossed her arms and was listening to the annoying noise. Where does it came from? Suddenly the door opened.
„Zhalia are you awake?" It was Dante, he had opened the door just a crack and stuck his head through it. „Yes, come in.", she said nerved. Not because of Dante – because of the noise.
„How are you?", he asked and said down on the chair. Zhalia turned her head to him. „Good, if you forget about the fact that I'm blind and that this weird noise is driving me crazy!", she lurched him. But she regretted it in the same moment. „I'm sorry! It's not your fault. It's just... I don't know.", Zhalia apologize.
„It's ok. If I were blind, I would be andry, too.."
„It's not just because I'm blind. I'm also angry because that annoying noise woke me up", she explained.
„I can't hear anything.", Dante said confused. „Really? I... I think it's an alarm-clock.", she discribed. „No. I can't hear anything." Dante turned his head and tried to listen more specific but he couldn't here anything. Did he got bad ears? Or was it just Zhalia, having really good ears? He remembered something he had written somewhere. If you lose one sense, the others form stronger. But Zhalia was blind only since 2 days. Was it possible that her senses form faster because she was a seeker? Dante was looking at her. Then the door opened and a nurse came in with breakfast.
„Good morning, Miss Moon.", she greeted Zhalia polite. „I hope you slept well."
„Yes, since that awful noise woke me up this morning. It is now driving me crazy since 10 minutes."
The nurse looked at Dante with a interrogative look but he just shrugged his shoulders. „Ähm...", the woman began. „Please don't tell me that can't hear it, too.", Zhalia broke in on her. „No, sorry.", she said and put the tablet on the desk. Before she went out she said: „At the bottom floor is a woman and her alarm-clock is wringing every day at 9 o'clock. Maybe that's what you hear." Then she turned around and went out.
„How is that possible?", Zhalia asked Dante. He leaned forward. „Your other senses are forming stronger and faster. I think it's because you're a seeker.", he telled her. Zhalia reduced her head. „What do I get from this?", she said after a moment of silence. „I'm blind and useless. I put everyone out, so it's not useful to hear or smell better than others."
„You're not useless.", said Dante and sat down on the bedside. „And don't put anybody out." He took her hands. Zhalia lifted her head. Her eyes were searching for his. But she would never see his eyes again. Everything she saw was darkness. A tear was running down her face and Dante wiped it away. „I'll be there for you, Zhalia. And together we can bring it off."
„Bring what off? Dante, I'm blind. If you're blind you can't bring anything off.", she said.
„Yes we can.", he said and took her face in his hands. „Listen to me. In the past Metz and I were working through a specific training book . While those exercises I was wearing a blindfold, so I couldn't see something." He stopped but then he went on. Zhalia was listening to him. „This training contributed to me, concentrating on my other senses. I learned to survive, even if I couldn't see anything. And I know that you can also learn it." Zhalia drowned another tear.
„Sounds really good, but I'm not even able to stay without falling down. That can not work." She tried to drown a tear again but this time it doesn't worked. The tears filled her eyes.
„Zhalia, please, you can't give up yourself without trying. Only if you fight you can survive. And I want to help you but you have to trust me." She began smiling. „Why are you doing this?"
„Because you are a strong, self confident, young woman, who can't just give up herself. You have your whole life ahead of you.", he said smiling.
„Ok, let's try it." Dante smiled satisfied and stood up.
„So then, stand up, I want to see if your troubles with balance are really that bad." Zhalia paused. She wasn't sure if this was a good idea. „I'm there. I'll catch you if you fall.", he becalmed her. Zhalia took a heart and sat down on the bedside. Dante took her hand and dragged her to him. The white hospiatl gown reached her knees. She was so close to Dante that she could feel his breath and hear his heartbeat. With one hand she held on to his pullover, the other clutched his hand. „You don't have to be afraid.", he whispered. „I will let you go now." He let his hand slip away from her hand and took a step back, but Zhalia's hand grabbed his. „No. Please don't go.", she begged. „I'm here. I'll catch you if you fall.", he repeated his words. He let her go again. This time Zhalia doesn't grabbed his hand. Dante took another step back. Zhalia was standing – alone, without backup. She tumbled a little bit but didn't fell down. Dante smiled. It was unbelievable. Zhalia laughed. „I am standing!.", she cried but now she tumbled more and more and fell down. Dante grabbed her arms just in time. Both of them fell to the ground. Zhalia was laying with her head on his chest. She was breathing hard. She felt his heartbeat, being faster than before. Obiously he got frightened when she was falling. Dante stroke her back. „That was not bad for tha start.", he said. Zhalia took a deep breathe and lifted her head. „Thank you.", she said with a smile.
„For what?, Dante asked. He didn't knew why she was thanking him. There was no reason for her to thank him. It was his fault that she was blind. And helping her was the least thing he could do.
„That you don't give me up.", she answered and lay her head back on his chest.
„No problem.", he said and stroke her hair. After a while they stood up. Dante was helping Zhalia to sat down on the bed.
„And now we go home.", he said and took her bag, which was laying under the bed to pack it. But at first he took Zhalia to the bathroom so that she could change her clothes. When they were ready he carried her on his arms in bridalstyle. Zhalia took her bag. Together they left the hospital made their way to Dante's house.
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