Caelestis' eyes fluttered open and then closed again gently. Groaning, she rubbed at her eyes and tried to crack them open again, her head still feeling a little funny from whatever it was the "doctors" had given her. At first, all she could see was white. White tiles lining the ceiling of the room. She vaguely remembered those words from Onyx during their walk while she was describing the inside of various buildings.
"Finally back with the living, eh?" came a familiar voice on her right. Caelestis flicked her eyes in that direction to find Onyx sitting beside her, a big grin splitting across her dark face like pearls at night. The warm greeting made Caelestis smile herself, forcing away the disorientation that had enveloped her earlier.
"Where am I?" Caelestis asked as she propped herself up on an arm.
"In the hospital, silly," Onyx responded. "That anesthetic really played a number on you, huh?" Caelestis nodded, rubbing at her temple slightly as she tried to jog her own memory. She recalled stepping into the hospital with Onyx and then a flurry of activity as several people gathered around them. One particular man seemed very angry with Onyx and had pulled her aside to talk as the others whisked Caelestis away in what they called a wheelchair. After that, the person who had spoken to Onyx had approached her and gave her a vague idea of what was going on. They gave her something that they said would keep her from feeling any pain while they worked on her sunburnt wounds, and then she could recall no more.
With that last thought, she pulled back the blankets that covered her and found her feet completely bandaged with clean white fabric.
"That was the worst part," Onyx explained as they stared at her feet. "Between the split blisters, lacerated skin, and the sand that was embedded in it, the Doctor was shocked that you didn't have some kind of infection or gangrene. Even after I mentioned your aura, he said that you were lucky to be standing with what little aura you had left."
"Lucky…" Caelestis whispered. The word lanced her through the heart. With a rough jerk of her arm, she flung the blankets back over her feet and allowed herself to flop back onto the pillows behind her. The movement jarred her slightly and caused her burnt skin to sting, but she didn't care. She found that she was tired of being so "lucky", especially now that she was left with nothing.
"Caelestis…?" Onyx leaned forward in concern.
"Why are you helping me?" Caelestis suddenly demanded with a sting she had not intended. Onyx frowned and sat back in her chair, taken aback by the sudden venom in her voice.
"Why…because it was the right thing to do," Onyx replied automatically.
In that instant, Caelestis knew she was lying, or at least not being completely honest. She couldn't quite put her finger on how she knew—perhaps it was the stiffness in her shoulders or the timber of her voice—but she was certain of it. It angered her more to hear that silent omission, not so much because Onyx was hiding some ulterior motive, but because it seemed like the whole universe was using her for its own amusement. This was just one more petal on the flower.
"Oh, hey! You have a roomy, too!" Onyx suddenly chirped, clapping her hands together as if she had just remembered something important. "Say 'hi', Gauri!" Onyx turned to look across the small distance between the two beds towards the other patient Caelestis' hadn't even noticed.
Gauri barely turned her head to acknowledge them, her one eye shining in the bright sun from the window. Caelestis frowned, her anger immediately dampening beneath the sight of that mangled being who uttered not a word. Her head was bandaged over her right eye firmly, her hair cut so short that it was barely a dark carpet of black across her skull. Her left arm was bandaged up from the shoulder as well, and her right leg was suspended by some kind of rope. It, too, was completely bandaged and held in some kind of solid casing. In short, she was a mess and obviously far worse off than Caelestis was.
"What happened to her?" Caelestis asked in a soft whisper, all venom gone from her voice.
"It's…a long story," Onyx replied just as softly. "I don't think here is a good place to go into it…" Caelestis merely nodded, understanding the unspoken statement.
"Sorry about getting angry at you," Caelestis said suddenly. She turned her eyes to Onyx again, an invisible plea for forgiveness.
"Don't worry about it," Onyx smiled. "You've been through a lot, I can tell. We can talk about it later. Right now, you slept longer than anyone expected and visiting hours are almost over. You should get some more rest, anyway. The Doctor said that your aura would recover faster if you ate and slept, and then it could get to work on your wounds."
"Okay," Caelestis replied automatically. She wasn't sure what some of that meant, but she understood food and rest. "Come to think of it… I am kind of hungry." As if on cue, a loud rumble erupted from her stomach. Onyx and Caelestis looked at her stomach, then at each before bursting into giggles.
"I guess that makes it unanimous! I will send the nurse in with some food. See you tomorrow, Caelestis!" Onyx jumped up and made to leave. "See you, Gauri!" she called cheerfully to the one on the other bed. Gauri made no reply. Caelestis watched in confusion at the exchange. It was obvious that Onyx saw Gauri as a friend, but Gauri seemed to think otherwise. She barely noticed the dejected sigh that Onyx let hum from her nose before she straightened up with a smile and bounced out of the room.
Caelestis and Gauri exchange a look from across the small expanse of floor between them. It was a brief, momentary glance that ended as Gauri moved her gaze to her window. Caelestis leaned back in her bed and closed her eyes for a moment, centering herself in her mind and trying to piece together everything she was seeing and learning. It wasn't easy. She felt like a mountain had been dropped on her, crushing her with the weight of everything she had discovered in such a short period of time. It wasn't just the mystery between Gauri and Onyx, either. It was everything. The whole world had become a strange, demonic universe to her. Caves that people made and lived in, lightning that made things move on their own, and a plethora of otherworldly things that made her wonder if she was going crazy. And to top it off, she was completely alone while facing this monstrous new life. She wanted normalcy. She wanted the soft green woods and the cascading waterfalls of home. But most of all…she wanted a familiar face.
"Hello, Ladies!" an energetic voice suddenly boomed from the doorway. Both Gauri and Caelestis looked towards the door with a start. A young man pushing a cart before him had entered the room. He was wearing the blue-gray nurse's uniform and smiling broadly to both of them, his brown eyes sparkling with their own inner merriment. Atop his head, two mule-like ears swiveled back and forth as if attempting to pick up on some secret signal or sound.
"A Faunus," Caelestis breathed in relief. She felt a small smile creep up at the corners of her mouth. For a reason she couldn't exactly pinpoint, it made her feel better to see a Faunus in the room. It could have been the simple fact that it bore a resemblance to home, what with the half-Faunus tribe they had frequently bartered with. She couldn't recall if she had seen any on the street during their walk as she hadn't paid any attention to the people around her.
"I heard you two were a little hungry," he winked at Caelestis as he spoke, stopping the cart just at the foot of her bed. "Here is a lovely dish from home—sure to make you feel right as rain again!" With a practiced ease, he moved a tray over the bed and positioned it just before her. Once he was satisfied with the arrangement, he placed a tray before her.
"What is it?" Caelestis asked curiously, poking at the exotic food before her with her finger.
"Fried vegetables sautéed with herbs and spices and a hint of sauce," he responded. "Good for what ails you and delicious to boot!" He gave her a lopsided grin as she picked up a leaf between her thumb and forefinger. Cautiously, she brought it closer and sniffed at the foreign food. The aroma was a soft mixture that reminded her of the valley tribe's feast when she was younger. She couldn't quite describe it as her own people never used such things. Earthy and warm was probably the best she could do. She nibbled on the tip of the leaf. Her eyes widened.
"This is wonderful!" she cried out in delight. Immediately, she downed the rest of the leaf and reached for another. The man stopped her hand in mid-reach and tsked good-naturedly.
"I don't know where you came from, little Lady, but around here, we use these." He presented before her a metallic object that had four tines across it.
"Shiny stone…" Caelestis said in awe. Only a few warriors of her tribe had metal tips on their spears and arrows, and only one had an actual knife. She had touched it once as a child out of innocent curiosity and had been reprimanded fiercely for it. She hadn't touched the mysterious, rare material since, and now this stranger was presenting it to her like a gift.
"Go on, take it and eat up," he said.
Gingerly, Caelestis took the object reverently in her hand and turned it around and around, examining every inch of it. It felt cool and smooth against her skin, nothing like the knife she had touched ages ago.
Caelestis looked up to ask him how to use this object, but found that he had already wheeled his cart across the room to tend to Gauri. Undeterred, she turned her attention back to the tool and moved it around in her hands. She held it in a clenched fist as she would a knife and stabbed the tines down towards the food, spearing a large leaf and some meat.
"Are you serious?" Gauri said from across the room. Caelestis paused mid-bite to look up and found Gauri watching her with an almost mortified expression upon her face. It was probably the first thing she had said since Caelestis awoke. Caelestis finished off the bit on her fork while maintaining eye-contact with Gauri.
"What?" she asked around a mouthful of the food.
"You really have never seen a fork before?" Gauri asked. Caelestis was impressed. She had managed to get two sentences out of her when Onyx hadn't even gotten one. She swallowed and sat back a little, setting the fork on the tray before her.
"So how else do you use these things?"
With great, exaggerated movements, Gauri picked up the fork in her hand, holding it between her thumb, middle and index fingers, the tines pointing up away from her food. She swooped the fork in an arc towards the plate, half-scoping and half-stabbing some of the food before continuing the arc up into her mouth.
"Like that," she stated simply.
"Um…actually...Miss Gauri…" the nurse stepped in with a nervous smile. "The tines should be pointing down, not up…and…"
Gauri shot him a look that immediately silenced him. She continued eating, her eyes never leaving Caelestis. It was not only a challenge, but a statement. Gauri was labeling her as an incapable imbecile: all because she couldn't use this thing called a fork.
Caelestis took the challenge without hesitation, determined to not live her life as useless commodity any longer. She would prove her worth with whatever tasks they gave her; even it was the simple task of eating. She picked up the fork and attempted to place it in her hands in the same manner which Gauri had demonstrated. It felt awkward in her fingers, but she pressed on, her eyes locked on Gauri as firmly as the other watched her. The nurse had taken a step back and was watching the two of them, a confused look upon his face.
The fork suddenly clattered to the tray, breaking free of Caelestis' awkward grip. With a grunt, she picked up the fork again and repositioned it as she had seen Gauri do. After she felt it was secure, she returned her eyes to Gauri, who was watching her intensely. Copying Gauri's exaggerated movements to mock her, she swooped in towards the food and managed to get a large pile upon the fork. She smirked and opened her mouth wide, taking in as much of the food as possible. Several bits crashed down to the plate as she bit into the food. From across the room, she saw a small twitch at the corner of Gauri's mouth that was instantly smoothed over.
"Better," Gauri stated flatly. She returned her gaze to the window. "I can't stand ignorance."
"Ignor…what?" Caelestis asked around the mouthful of food. Gauri glanced at her from the corner of her eye, but did not answer. She had reverted to her silent state once more.
"And don't talk with your mouth full," Gauri added under her breath as an after-thought, not once turning to look at her again. Caelestis finished off the food quickly, her stomach grumbling happily now that it was finally full.
"Would you like some more, Miss?" the nurse asked.
"Is…that okay?" Caelestis asked in disbelief.
"But of course!" And with that, he collected her plates, handed her a piece of square cloth with an admonition to clean her face, and then pushed his cart out of the room.
"That was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten!" Caelestis grinned. "Do you guys always eat like this?"
Gauri's response was silence. Caelestis shrugged, and used the napkin to carefully wipe the sauce from her lips. It still stung a little to touch the burned parts of her skin, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when she had first arrived. Between a full stomach, warmth, and a feeling of security she had never had before, Caelestis began to feel something akin to peace. She waited in anticipation for the next plate of food—two meals at once!—her mind turning over the positive in a vain attempt to ignore the darkness lurking at the back of her mind.
"Hey, Onyx! Over here!" Echo called out from the cafeteria table. Onyx balanced her tray in one hand and waved the other to let her know that she had heard her, and then moved through the crowded room towards the seat.
"Where are the others?" Onyx asked as she sat down.
"Oh, you know how they are. Sumi despises the cafeteria and Namid prefers to eat and run." Echo smiled sweetly as she nibbled on her bread and sipped at her drink.
"Don't you ever get lonely at lunch?" Onyx inquired as she brought her sandwich to her lips.
"Not when I have at least you to talk to," Echo grinned. Her pale blue hair seemed to shimmer as much under indoor lights as it did in the sun. "Rumor has it that you have managed to bring a little visitor onto the campus. Is this true?"
"Yup! She'll be cute once we get her cleaned up, too," Onyx chirped cheerfully.
"I also heard tell that the headmistress will be speaking with on the matter shortly," Echo added nonchalantly before taking a sip of her drink. Onyx chewed her food thoughtfully.
"Figures," she finally said.
"I would love to meet this little friend of yours, if the time is appropriate," Echo said after a moment's silence.
"I'll bring her around after they release her," Onyx nodded. "She's in with Gauri, so it might not be a good idea to see her now." Echo nodded knowingly. The two began to drift on to other topics about the lessons in class, homework, and the upcoming Vytal festival. All the while, Onyx was considering Echo's words. It had been a friendly heads up to let her know that her secret wasn't so secret. She had originally hoped to sneak Caelestis onto the campus without many people noticing, but with the hospital on the second tier, it had proved to be impossible. Echo had just let Onyx know the headmistress was not angry but that a petition for Caelestis' continued stay would be necessary. If the headmistress had been angry, Echo would have used the words "demanding an audience with you" rather than speaking. At least now Onyx could prepare for the meeting.
