Chapter 4: Open
Noise. The first thing that made her realize she was awake was a loud eerie noise. It took her a few seconds to realize that the sound was air blowing past her. She felt heavy. Her body felt…different somehow. It was hard to describe. Her vision was starting to fade in, becoming less blurry. A roof of sorts came into her view. Her eyes were met with a dimly lit dome of pink and yellow colors. Where were she now? The design of the dome was intricate and eye-catching, filled with hearts and gear-like white lines that made for a pretty sight. The dome swayed with the wind blowing at its thin walls from outside, sending chills down her spine.
She felt the roof over her. It was part of her.
A sudden feeling of being wrapped up overtook her. She didn't like being in this thing at all. She tried to move her wings, but they too felt heavier than before. They felt different. Bigger. Sturdier, yet thinner. Nevertheless, they wouldn't move. She tried again to get her wings to beat, if only just a little. Nothing happened. She couldn't feel her back muscles, or any muscles at all. It was as if her entire body was rearranged. Rewritten.
She shook herself in struggle. The domes construction came apart a little and brilliant blue glittering light lit up the little room. Almost instinctively seeking more of the light, she kept on moving her body. She still felt the individual petal-like sections react to her movement. They felt as if they were connected somehow to her. She stopped and tried to get a good grasp on the husk that wrapped around her. She felt the essence of herself from her back to the tips of the five thin limbs, now more aware of the chilling breeze outside of her shell. She stopped thrashing about. This wasn't working. There had to be a better way to "open up", right?
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and calmed her mind for a few seconds. As if it was second nature to her, she felt the veins in her back react a little bit and began to retract. She opened her eyes slightly. The walls around her were opening up and stretching themselves out.
A starlit scene came into her view. A pale shining moon, brightening up the beautiful night as if it was midday, decorated the luminous night sky. She was very high up, far above the clouds. The chilling wind blew across the white masses far below her, kicking up the clouds as if it was snow dust. A massive dark shadow spread across the white field below her. It was long and thin, ending in the rough shape of a star with several cobweb-like lines behind it. It was confusing. Where was this massive thing? Wanting to look around, she felt an intense pressure on her body as it slowly turned. It felt as if the entire world shook with her movements. A series of floating isles, sitting mesmerizingly still in midair, came into her view, the closest of them completely wrapped in thick vegetation. The vines that was covering the castle like structure's residing on the island were bulky and sturdy, constricting the structure in an unrelenting bind. She could feel the castle. She could feel the world. She followed the pathway of the seemingly infinite flora, looking down as all the vines came together into one collected mass of a flower stem. It continued upwards.
She was stuck in a gigantic flower.
No.
She was the flower.
Now she was panicking. She started to struggle again, her mind not thinking clearly, as she thrashed about and pulled herself as hard as she could. She wanted to get out. She wanted to see the world around her again, not be trapped in this beautiful prison. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a howling screech that echoed into the night endlessly.
But nobody would hear her.
…
…
…
She instantly woke up.
Opening her eyes quietly, but quickly, they were now fully widened from the horrible nightmare. Breathing heavily, her eyesight met with her left hand, laying before her on a messy bedsheet. She was alive, somehow. Still in pain, but anything but dead.
She was lying in a wide bed with a thick blanket over her, keeping her decently warm. She raised herself up, ignoring her now apparent bruises, and looked around the room she was in. The walls and roof were shaped like an igloo with a little window on her right. It was daytime. Around the room was a small desk with a lamp and multiple stacks of papers and folders on top, and an equally small bookshelf with a little healthy plant in a clay pot.
Where was she? The last thing she remembers was people yelling at each other in front of her, while she was laying in the dirt and bleeding. Unintentionally reminding her of her wounds, she pushed the warm blanket off her and looked at herself. Her clothing looked torn in several places, but most of the holes along with her wounds was covered in well-wrapped bandage. Her back was extremely sore, reminding her of the strong kick that shot her down into the ground. She then realized her apparent drowsiness made her take things not as seriously as she probably should. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she decided she did not want to lie in this bed all day, wounded or not. It was comfortable though.
Shoving herself of the bed, she instantly regretted moving at all as a sharp wave of fresh pain overtook her, causing her to inhale a sharp breath through gritted teeth. She almost fell over, only barely catching herself with her hands on the wooden floor. Her wing was burning. She turned her head, trying her hardest to ignore the pain as she twisted her torso around to get the wing into better view. The wing itself wasn't bent at an awkward angle anymore, but it was instead covered partially in several layers of bandages, weighing it down quite a bit on top of the pain. It felt like a nuisance, but she convinced herself that it was necessary. Trying to get up again, her balance faltered several times before she could levitate decently without causing too much pressure on her damaged appendage. She took a deep breath. She would get through this. First, she had to know where she was though. Looking around again, a door was standing to her left. The door was a little on the small side of things, but it was a tad bit larger than the rest of the objects in the room. Besides the giant bed of course.
The door looked so inviting. It practically begged her to open it, to see the rest of the world. Pushing any painful feeling aside, she slowly approached her exit.
"What?! You can't be serious!"
She froze. Somebody was yelling at someone else. Their tone was clearly upset, even more apparent from the sound of hands slamming a table. But that was not what caught her attention.
It was the voice.
It was the voice.
The same voice that was stuck in her mind.
Her only memory.
Her only clue.
More curious than ever, she carefully glided over, focusing her hearing towards and beyond the door. She had to be careful not to make a sound. Wouldn't want the people out there find out she was spying on them.
A different voice spoke
"….I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do about this."
"But can't you see the hypocrisy? What about Magolor? He tried to take over the entire universe, WILLINGLY, but he gets away scot-free because he feels sorry about it?"
This confused her...Taking over the universe? And they let this supposed conqueror go free? What kind of over the top society did she end up in? The voice was certainly upset about it.
"…The circumstances here are different."
"How? The only thing that's remotely different in this case is you not giving her an opportunity to speak for herself! I refuse letting them treat her differently from me!"
She was taken aback. The last part was practically yelled out, paving way for a wave of now complete silence. Was it her the two beyond the door were arguing about? The voice from her memory seemed to be arguing for her case, clearly overwhelming the other, more deep voice. The argument seemed to have stopped now. The lower pitched voice finally spoke.
"…it's been a long day for you. I suggest you check up on her condition and then go to bed early. I will speak with the king about this matter to find a definitive answer."
The sound of a chair pushing across the floor filled the room, followed by heavy footsteps that clanged with an iron-like noise. The footsteps eventually stopped as the deep voice continued.
"Taranza."
A brief moment of silence, one she patiently waited to end. She needed more details. Who was this "Taranza?" Was it their home? The name of the voice? Did she know them?
"You have presented me with the ideology that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter their sins…..I trust you to convince me of this philosophy."
"….I will."
"Good. Farewell."
A door closed on the other side. She could hear the remaining party sigh loudly before fiddling with what sounded like silverware and plates. Then the clattering stopped. The sound of silence took over again. It remained that way for a while, but she did not stop listening. It eventually payed off as she started hearing unidentifiably quiet noises from the other room. She wondered for a brief moment what they could be, her antennae subconsciously twitching to measure in on the sound. It sounded like…..stuttered breaths. The weird inhaling and muttering increased until it finally clicked for her.
They were crying.
She didn't know what to do. She couldn't obviously barge in like she understood, but she desperately wanted to help. Even though they haven't actually talked, or at least as far as she knows, she felt a sort of connection to the one bearing the voice that was stuck in her memories. She certainly felt bad sitting by the door and just listening to the voice sobbing all alone. She raised her hand and curled it into a semi-clenched fist. She stopped for a moment. She couldn't do this, she didn't have the courage. But they were still crying, even though they seemed to have calmed down a little bit. Her curiosity, no, her soul was begging to help them. She swallowed a lump in her throat before taking a deep breath and knocked twice on the door, calling out:
"Hello?"
Nothing. No response, no reaction, no nothing. The crying stopped immediately, but so did all other sounds in the house.
At least, right until the door opened.
Looking upwards with wide silvery eyes, the same eyes she remembers back from her assault, the person in front of her was about a third of her size. Right above their glowing pair of orbs were two shiny topaz colored gems that reflected the light shining in through the door opening. From their long pale hair that seemed to glister from the light, two orange horns sprouted upwards, ending in a yellow tip. Their multiple hands were wearing white gloves with an orange motif, levitating in midair pointing downwards, save for the one left hand still resting on the doorknob. Around their wide mouth were small, cute little orange fangs that looked mostly cosmetic, complementing their brown skin color. Their face looked a bit heated, most likely from crying and wiping off tears earlier. This was definitely her savior from earlier. He did not look as determined now as he did back then, now only showing signs of sadness and worry. He wore a green vest with a red-lined pattern and white buttons, complimented with a big olive cape that had a golden web like design. Like her, he had no legs and instead floated in midair, actually being second nature for the both of them.
Feeling the tenseness of the situation, she wanted to continue with her line of question. She didn't want to say anything stupid of course, but nothing fitting came to mind. She would have to carefully select the correct choice of words.
"U-uhm….are you alright?"
Instant regret invaded her thoughts. This was not the correct choice of words at all. She felt so awkward. So stupid. Her own thoughts scolded her; "Of course he isn't alright, you insensitive idiot! You've just finished spying on him, you know he's not!" Not only was the issue of listening in on a private conversation bad enough as is, but occupying their house and clearly overstepping boundaries, as a guest was unforgivable.
Yet he didn't seem to mind as he answered;
"Im…Im fine, yeah."
"…"
"…"
"…What about you?"
"Huh?"
"Your wounds. How are they…?"
Admittedly, she hadn't been paying attention to her own state for a while. Overstepping several codes of privacy seemed a bit more important to her at the time. Sure, her body was still screaming at every movement she did, but it had become tolerable. Or maybe she just got used to it. Either way her several wounds were still very much hurting, but not agonizingly so. Even so, she didn't get to come up with any sort of answer, as the person in front of her continued.
"Im sorry but…I need to take another look at them. Your bandages." A surprising request, but a sensible one at the same time. It's wasn't like she could check them herself.
"Right. Of course you can, thanks."
"Okay…Do you mind if I enter?"
"Oh uhm…sorry." She had been basically blocking the entrance the entire time, her size easily trumping the doors. It was clear this house wasn't built for someone her size. She moved out and to the side, slightly cringing at the pain flowing through her body. Maybe she had overestimated her recovery. The small arachnid entered what presumably was his room and flew closer to her. Carefully he grabbed one of the bandages on her abdomen and adjusted it, before tightening it and moving on to the next. His face was concentrated and serious, yet he insisted on avoiding eye contact completely. After checking up on most bandages, the only one left was the break on her wing. Suddenly, he finally looked her straight into her eyes with a furrowed brow, seeking her attention.
"Are you ok with me taking a different type of look at your wing? I'll be very careful, but it might sting a little."
Her eyes widened and sought downwards at the proposition. In truth, she really didn't want him, or anyone else, to even come near the broken wing. The sheer amount of pain she had to endure just to stand upright was already bad enough, so even the slightest touch might make her fall over. But she knew that it was necessary in the end. She nodded.
"Don't worry, im not gonna touch it. I'll just…." He reached out a hand and placed it right behind the bandage wrapped around the broken wing. She looked away and closed her eyes, anticipating, but not being prepared, for any pain that might spike. Suddenly, a dim shade of magenta light glowed into her closed eyelids. Turning her head towards the source, she was shocked to see some form of….energy sparking from her hosts hand behind her wing. The bandage was now lit up with a purple and turquoise glow, that made the covering cloth almost completely transparent. She could see her wing beneath the protective wrapping, how it was broken in several places, destroying the otherwise symmetrical lines. It hurt to look at, but at the same time she couldn't take her gaze away from it. The arachnid eventually let the flame die down and removed his hand from the bandage, floating down again to hover a little bit over the floor.
"Well….the good news is that most of your bruises and cuts seem to be healing just fine. I'm not sure about your wing though. It has several partial breaks and two fully broken sections. Other than that I think your recovery should be relatively fast."
Well that was certainly nice to hear. It was refreshing to have some actual good news for once after her past few days. It didn't exactly make her pains feel better, but the situation felt less pressuring and hopeless, which made her relax a little bit. Still, her main question still nagged at her. Who was the person standing in front of her? Why did they help her. Why is their voice the only memories she has left? She needed to know. The question had been killing her before…well before someone actually tried to kill her.
Realizing that she only would make it more awkward the more she waited to pop the question, she decided to take action, no matter how terribly she would word it. It had to be said sooner or later.
"…Thank you, but uhm….I hope you don't mind me asking this but…"
"..yeah?" He stood confused, yet steadfast. If he was hiding other emotions, she didn't notice.
"…..Do I…..know you from somewhere?"
This surprised him, clearly not taking it well. His overall facial expression fell greatly as his mouth opened a tiny bit to silently gasp, before his eyes started to look downwards with a sad look fixated on the floor. It was like he didn't believe what she just said to him. It made her doubt if it was the right choice to ask in the end. Eventually, he closed his eyes and swallowed a big lump in his throat before answering.
"Look…..there are a lot of things I have to tell you…about everything really. Do you….are you hungry? I was preparing some stuff for when you woke up, but…." He trailed out. Was he not finished? Maybe he got interrupted. Either way maybe a bite of anything could be just the thing she needed to get her energy back, or at least some of it.
"Some food sounds lovely, yeah."
He nodded in agreement before continuing "Good, then follow me. Try to not to overload yourself when walking…"
"Okay…"
She took a deep breath before attempting to go forward. But from the first figurative step she took, her body instantly crumbled and she fell over from sheer pain and agony. Air sucked in between gritted teeth as she tried to endure the pain, but it worked as well as her pathetic attempt at walking. She was weak, a waste of time. Utterly useless. Instantly reacting, her host sped to her before lifting her up from the ground.
"You really shouldn't have left the bed you know. Here, let me help you." Using all 3 pair of hands, he held her in a supporting lock before helping her get off the ground again. Now with her standing up in a slumped over posture, he turned over to her side and helped her walk towards the door.
"Watch the frame, it's a bit low."
Ducking her head, they went through the door to enter a room of a much larger scale than the previous bedroom. Having a similar igloo-like structure as before, the main room had a wooden table with several chairs in the middle with two porcelain plates filled with breadcrumbs on it. In the corner of the room, a small kitchen complete with a stove and several drawers was hung up in a nice homely fashion. Other than that the room looked relatively empty. No flowers, no decorations, not even a nail in the wall for a future painting. Still practically carrying her, the arachnid led her to the side of the table before asking of her.
"Sit here, I'll prepare some tea."
After a couple of minutes of seeing her supposed savior warm up a kettle and packets of tealeaves with several spices, the boiling porcelain cup of flavored water was now in her hands, waiting to be slurped up at a nice, slow pace. The aroma of the steam that rose from the tea was an exotic one that seemed to reawaken her senses after a not-so-nice slumber. The smell was intoxicating in its overall consistence and how overall nice it smelled. Thanking him for the drink, she closed her eyes as she took a little sip of the tea, being careful not to scald her tongue. The taste was incredible, as if she was feeling the warmth of the sun on her taste buds, spreading out into an explosion of spices. Re-opening her eyes again, she glanced over at the obviously talented brewer and smiled at him in gratitude. It felt nice to do that. To smile. To share happiness instead of only sadness and pain.
But he returned the smile with a guilty one of his own. Again avoiding eye contact he spoke to her as if he was apologizing:
"…I'm glad you like it. Its licorice mixed with some ginger. It…used to be your favorite…"
This confused her a bit. It was clear that this person knew her, somehow, but know her as well as to know her preferences in food? In tea nonetheless. How much more did he know about her?
He continued.
"…This will be a lot to take in but…It's for the best in the end. You deserve to know who you are after all."
"…..yeah?" Here it comes. Her identity, her name, herself. Without noticing, her grip on the cup tightened a little bit as she now was fully concentrated in anticipation. This was it. The moment her relatively short existence had been waiting for.
"….My name is Taranza…and yours is Sectonia. You are….was my best friend."
Sectonia. So that really was her name. She remember that knight calling her that. She didn't want to remember more about that event. Still, Taranza's shift from present to past tense concerned her. His tone wasn't exactly the most happy one either. She decided to press it.
"…I'm sorry, was?"
"I…might as well say it as it is." He took a quick sip of his tea. The wait was killing her. "There isn't any reason to keep it from you. Until today you've been considered…D-dead for almost two years."
…..Dead? Dead. It certainly explained many of the problems she had about her memory, but it did not remove the gravity of the situation. She had been dead for two years. How did she get back? Well she remembers why, but how and why did it work like that? Was it really that easy to just come back from the dead?
And how did she die? Did Taranza know? The details around her demise hadn't become any clearer too her, if those flashbacks and nightmares meant something to begin with. It wasn't something she wanted to know, but rather something she knew she had to find out sooner or later. Might as well do it now.
"...how exactly did I…?"
"I…." He trailed out. He definitely knew something. Did she sound too demanding? There was no reason to suspect him, but his behavior was…thought provoking to say the least. "…is it ok if I save that for later? I can tell you anything else you want to know but…that specific part is…it's hard for me to talk about. Is that okay?"
She understood, at least from an emotional point of view. She kept the question in the back of her head as she nodded. The past was in the past after all, might as well ask about some of her more lively qualities.
"That's fine. If you don't want to talk about, who am I to force you? I would be a pretty bad guest…..or friend if I did."
He looked up again to her eyes and smiled. It was a rather nice smile, if she had to judge. Of course, she had only seen a grand number of two in total, her own being fifty percent of them, but it was nice to make someone happy instead of scared or angry for once. In truth, she was longing for that prospect, to have someone to talk with.
A friend.
"T-thank you, really. If there is anything, anything at all that you want to know, I will tell you! Promise!"
His sudden eagerness surprised her "W-well…"
"Oh! I'm sorry for getting carried away a bit there. It's just…nice seeing you again, really."
She couldn't blame him, easily seeing herself in the same situation. If she had remembered anything about friends to begin with. As for questions, she had so many of them she didn't know where to start. With perhaps a bit too much eagerness she started to pry.
"So uh….What about where we are right now? I mean- I know we are at your house….I think it's your house, but…." She already messed up. She was tumbling over her own words, trying her hardest to form a single good question. She felt like a dunce, an awkward outcast. Perhaps her social skills had veined a bit the past…two years or so.
However, Taranza simply gave her a hearty laugh before answering.
"It's fine, I know what you mean. This is actually my house, yeah. I moved in here a couple of weeks ago after living at a friend's house for a while…that's his bed you slept in by the way, we momentarily borrowed it for you."
"We?"
"Ah right, should have told you. I couldn't carry you all the way from the main road to the house on my own, so I got…..Meta Knight to help me."
Meta Knight….was he the same knight that attacked her? Why would he help her after almost killing her? From what she could remember, they had a decently deep and rough voice as well…
"Was…Was this knight the one you argued with earlier?"
"…..Yes, he was. I'm sorry you had to hear all that…um a-anything else?"
"Hm? Oh, um…where are we right now? Like as in country, city or…something similar."
"The kingdom we are in right now is called "Dreamland." It's currently ruled by King Dedede, which, coincidently, is the friend I lived at."
"Oh…I see" It clicked for her all of the sudden. The strange name on the sign made a tiny bit more sense now.
"He is….a bit full of himself, but he's got his heart in the right place. I actually mistook him for someone else completely when I met him first."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I certainly didn't treat him like royalty that time, that's for sure. He forgave me for it though. Helped me set up my new home here too."
"It's a very nice home."
"You think so? It looks pretty boring so far, at least in my opinion."
She partially understood where he was coming from. Although the walls had a nice, relaxing indigo color, they seemed a bit empty without any form of painting, drawers or decorations. Taking a quick look around the room with a curious gaze, the rest of it was just as empty with even a few cardboard boxes sitting in a corner.
"Oh right, those are just some old papers, don't mind them too much."
"Papers? What for?"
Diving for his tea again, he took an unusual long sip before sighing from the taste and answering. "Just some work, really. Some long and boring work."
"Are they like the papers on your desk?"
"Hm? Oh right, those. Yeah similar work, same job." He took a finishing sip of his tea, leaving his cup empty of contents. "I really need to tidy up now that I've got a long-term guest."
Job? This was interesting. Not to undermine his size or anything…he was probably average size here, compared to her at least, but for some reason she had forgotten the whole aspect of working. Maybe the magic, misery and murderous swordsmen had distracted her.
Anyway, she decided to refrain asking him about it. She had already spied on him, wanting more personal details would be rude.
"Long-term?"
"Well that's…if you want to stay here of course. I won't keep you here if you don't want to but…"
He stopped, looked up at her again and glanced over several parts of her body. His eyes grew progressively more worried for each bandage and bruise he studied. She read his thoughts. She was in nowhere near of a stable enough condition to wander around like earlier.
"It's just…I'm just worried about you Sectonia."
As soon as his words ended, her mind erupted into a searing pain. Her hands instantly reached for her head to clench it in a tight grip, dropping the expensive porcelain teacup to the ground causing it to shatter into several pieces. Those words. Those exact words. It was what she heard at the lake, but…clearer, refined. Complete. She felt her body ricochet from hitting something. She had fallen over, now writhing on the floor from her intense headache. Pictures had begun flashing in her mind. Was her memory coming back to her? The images became clearer. The scene before her was a barely lit dark room with a small figure looking at the ground, fiddling with their hands. They spoke, but no sound came out. The only thing heard was the words of the voice. The voice of her past. Taranza's voice. Her mind could barely hold on any longer, now swaying dangerously close to unconsciousness again…
But she forced herself to stay awake. Through all the pains she had endured recently, her mind must have grown either resistant or morbidly used to it. The vision suddenly started to fade, her headache now declining.
Moreover, she felt herself embraced.
"…..!...nia! Please, snap out of it!"
Her sight returned to normal, causing her to gasp loudly. She found her back being slightly lifted up from the hard ground. Taranza was now right by her side, meeting her wide and colorful eyes with slim, glistering platinum ones. He had raised her off the ground with two pairs of hands, holding her in a usual resting position. After taking several short breaths, she began speaking.
"I'm….I'm alright….I've just…had it with fainting." Her breathing now was slowing down, now feeling as if she could fall over again at any minute.
Loosening the grip on her and looking into her tired eyes with wide ones of his own, his worried expression lessened before closing his lids again and exhaling a long sigh of relief. When his white orbs reopened, it was now decorated with a serious face, determinate and sure of what to do. He was collected.
"You…You really scared me there. What exactly happened?"
"I…I'm not sure, I…I think I might have…seen something?" Whatever it was, it was perplexing, to say the least. This was her first real memory. The first time she got any clue about anything of her past, and she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Perhaps she would be more frustrated about it if she wasn't feeling like she was dying. Her host took a moment to think before answering her.
"…I see. This might sound…strict, but I think it would be best if you rested again. Whatever just happened there almost took all of your energy."
She did feel pretty tired. Sure, it wasn't exactly late but she had been up for a good two hours without almost passing out, at least until now. That was decently impressive, at least in her own deprived eyes.
"….Alright…"
Lightly setting her down on the wooden floor, Taranza released his grip on her to then levitate gently over her. His six individual hands all opened up and extended outwards, clearly preparing to pick her up.
"I'm gonna try to carry you…..It might tickle a bit at first."
Barely managing to nod, she observed in wonder and confusion as his hands started to glow with a faint pink glow. He held true to his words, as her body tensed up from a bolt of a weak ticklish sensation traveled throughout her body, ending in the middle of her chest. The next moment she felt being pulled upwards by an invisible force, slightly floating mid-air. Gently levitating through the door frame and then the subsequent bedroom again, she suddenly felt the grip on her grow substantially weaker, causing her to slowly drop a bit of altitude.
"Sorry, I have to have a pair of hands free for the duvet."
Dragging her upwards and onto the soft mattress, Taranza carefully adjusted her head to rest on one of the colorful and soft pillows. Fine-tuning the finishing touch, the faint light on his hands weakened before dissolving completely. Floating over to the side of the enormous bed, he grabbed the edges of the warm blanket and slowly wrapped her bigger form in the warm cloth.
"There we are. Now, I don't have a strict plan for tomorrow, but I do have something in mind for the day. But please, rest as much as possible or until you get bored! I will be home for the entirety of the day, so if you ever need me for something, just call out, okay?"
"….Right…"
Giving her a wide smile, Taranza turned around and slowly went for the other room. Even though she understood he wanted to give her some space and privacy, she didn't really want him to leave. So far he had been the only one to make her feel appreciated and listened to her. And there was the topic of her past too. It was…
"…Taranza?"
Even though her voice was barely a whisper by now, his attention was still caught with ease. Turning around with an attentive and open-minded look, he let her continue. She struggled with what to say next. She hadn't really been thinking before opening her mouth, but there was just so much to say. She wanted to compliment his tea. To apologize for intruding on his privacy. She wanted to thank him for protecting her earlier. To tell him how ashamed she was for ever forgetting about her only friend. But her mind was blank, growing groggy. She didn't know which of the millions of thoughts she wanted to tell him.
"….Yes?"
"…uhm….I'm…sorry about your teacup…"
Looking at her with a tiny bit of bewilderment for just a second, he shook his head before answering; "Oh that old thing? Never mind that. That stuff was made to be expendable…"
She looked down, partially out of shame for the antique cup, partially out of shame for apologizing for something so trivial. Shifting herself onto her side, she bluntly hit her head on her pillow, before sighing decently loud.
"Im…just gonna sleep now…okay?"
"Fine by me" He said, chuckling for himself about the display of the regal figure in front of him acting a bit scatterbrained. Once again turning for the living room, he grabbed the doorknob and slowly began closing the door, leaving it just slightly ajar.
"Sleep tight." Was the final words he whispered before closing the door, leaving her alone in the mediocrely lit bedroom.
She didn't have any dreams that night.
AN: Hello everyone, i am sorry for the next chapter taking so long. This chapter has been long overdue and i am sorry for taking this long to post it. Nevertheless, thank you for sticking with this story so far. I have updated the structure of the previous chapters, so they should be a bit more neat to look at.
For my first reviewer: Thank you so very much for your kind words. I hope this chapter will satisfy your needs.
Sidetrack, i've noticed i have pretty much doubled the total wordcount per chapter, with every chapter i post. I believe it should stay at this level for a while now though.
