Author's Note:: Hello! Thank you soooo much for reading! I'm so happy that everyone seems to like this story! There are only a few chapters left, so I hope everyone is prepared for the ending soon! Please review and let me know what you think!
Thank youuuu!
..
Amaya's mind was so cloudy.
She still slept, and her nightmares returned, and every time she was jolted awake, she made sure Stein was still beside her.
But, her madness controlled her as she slept.
She woke up once, and Stein's arm wasn't around her. She was cold.
Panic automatically flared up inside her, and her heart kicked up several notches.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes, her breath shallow with her fear.
"Stein-" Amaya whispered, her eyes flashing around the room. "Stein!" The room was empty, and the front door was standing wide open. A cool breeze was drifting in, and Amaya felt her eyes burn. Something was wrong-
"Stein!" she cried.
...
"I'm right here," came a voice, from beside her.
She opened her eyes, and felt his arm around her shoulder. Looking up, Amaya saw that Stein was still beside her on the couch, the darkness of the room concealing his expression.
Had it been a dream?
"I'm still here," Stein told her, quietly. "It was just a dream. Go back to sleep."
Amaya's heavy eyelids drifted shut once again, and she slumped against his chest, falling back to sleep immediately.
...
There was a hand on her arm, shaking her awake. Amaya cracked open an eye, worriedly.
There was a bit of sunlight breaking into the room, as if it were very early morning.
She sleepily saw Stein standing above her, still fully dressed.
"I'll be right back," he whispered to her. "If you wake up and I'm gone, I've just went to the store."
"No," Amaya whispered, still half-asleep. "Don't leave-"
"I'll be back-" he started.
"I'm coming, too," Amaya insisted, sitting up, rubbing her exhausted eyes. "What time is it?"
"Five in the morning," Stein replied. "There's a store in the next town over that opens soon."
Amaya stood and sleepily blinked.
She felt something pull over her arms as Stein helped her put on a jacket.
"It won't take very long," he added, opening the front door.
"Is this a dream?" Amaya whispered, following Stein through the damp early morning air to his car.
He chuckled.
"No," he replied.
They both got inside, and Stein drove off. It was early, and the sun had barely peeped over the horizon. It was still dark out for the most part.
Amaya rested her head back against the seat, and the movement of the car with the blurring scenery out the window lulled her into a restless sleep.
After a while, the car stopped, and Amaya woke up. She was too exhausted to open her eyes, so she stayed still.
It was quiet.
She finally pried her eyes open, and looked around, but the driver's seat was empty.
Where had Stein gone?
Amaya blinked her heavy lids and looked around. They had parked in front of a store of some kind.
Her mind was just so foggy.
Suddenly, the driver's door opened, and Stein slid back inside.
"Are you alright?" Stein asked her, concerned. "You look as if you're upset about something."
"Is this a dream?" Amaya asked.
"No," Stein replied, studying her. Finally, he reached out and placed two pills in her shaking hand. "Here, take these."
"What are they?" Amaya inquired, staring at them in her palm.
"They'll suppress your dreams. It'll make the Kishin unable to give you anymore nightmares. Here," Stein handed her an orange juice. "You can take them with this."
Amaya felt doubt creep into her mind for a second. What if this was a nightmare? Could the Kishin be tricking her somehow?
"Trust me," Stein added. "This is real. These pills will help you, I promise."
"What's my last name?" Amaya asked, trying to keep her eyes open and her mind clear enough to think.
"Why does that matter right now?" Stein asked back, confused.
"Just tell me," Amaya said. "Do you know what my last name is?"
"Stein," he replied, casually. "Well, once the papers come back, of course."
Amaya nodded, silently.
"Why?" he asked, still confused.
"I wanted to know if it was a dream," Amaya told him, only half-lying. "I wanted to know if it had happened. I couldn't tell."
Amaya set the pills on her tongue and opened the orange juice. Taking a drink, she swallowed the pills and hoped they did their job.
She looked at Stein, who had a pill bottle in one hand. He slid it into an inside pocket in his coat.
"I have enough for a few weeks," he told her. "They'll help you. Get some rest now."
Amaya leaned back against the seat, like she had before.
"Thank you, Stein," Amaya said, then closed her eyes to block out the rising sun's laughing face.
...
Blissful, quiet darkness.
Peace.
Amaya's mind floated in restful nothingness, healing what damage the nightmares had done. Her exhausted body restored itself, her mind regained it's rational sanity.
Maybe things would work out.
She slept.
...
As Amaya's eyes fluttered open, a bright light filtered into the room.
Beneath her, she felt thick blankets, and sheets. She was in an actual bed. Stein's bed.
Amaya could feel the stitches from the pillow pressing against her cheek.
She breathed easy, and sat up.
Her mind was so clear.
She wasn't dreaming. She was wide awake, and she knew it. Her body's aches had almost vanished, and the only discomfort she felt was that she was extremely thirsty.
But the last she remembered, she'd fallen asleep in the car...
Assuming that Stein had carried her inside, Amaya got out of the bed, and made up the blankets.
Then, she headed into the kitchen.
She wondered why Stein was always in the kitchen, anyway.
Amaya walked in, and saw him sitting at the table, papers scattered around him. He turned the bolt attached to his temple.
"Hello," she greeted, and he looked up at her.
"Good afternoon," he smiled.
Amaya looked up at the clock.
"It's two-thirty?!" she exclaimed, sitting beside him.
"Yes," Stein replied. "I was actually expecting you to be asleep for a couple more hours. How do you feel?"
"Actually, I feel pretty good," Amaya said. "I... I slept so well. I didn't dream of anything. I didn't have any nightmares. You didn't die."
She put a hand to her head, with a laugh.
"I can't believe it," she breathed. "Thank you. Those pills really worked. Thanks for going to get them for me."
"I'm glad they helped," Stein replied, pushing his glasses further up his nose.
"But... Why aren't we at school?" Amaya asked, confused.
"It's Saturday," Stein answered, with a chuckle.
"Oh," Amaya said, holding her head. "That week felt like a lifetime."
She walked to the sink and poured a glass of water, drinking it down, quickly.
"Look what came in," Stein said, pushing an envelope across the table towards her.
Amaya set her empty glass in the sink and stared at the envelope.
"Is that the...?" Amaya asked, with wide eyes.
"Read it," he said, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
Amaya grabbed up the envelope, which had already been opened, and pulled the paper out. Her eyes skimmed across the pages, and after a minute she flung herself at Stein, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"They approved it!" Amaya laughed, squeezing him. "I can't believe it! It feels like we filled those papers out months ago! This is great!"
Stein laughed silently at her happiness.
"So now you are officially Amaya Stein," he said, trying to prop his head in his hand although she still had him in a tight hug.
"I know!" Amaya replied. "We're legally related now! This is so cool! I'm so glad I was sane and lucid for this! This is the best day ever!"
She squeezed him tighter, with a happy squeal.
She let him go quickly and picked up the paper again, which she had dropped in her excitement.
There was a heading, which the government just filled in for whoever they were sending the document to that time, and it said 'Amaya Stein' in bold letters.
She stared at it for a couple seconds, and suddenly started crying.
She burst into tears and threw her arms around Stein again, who looked surprised at her quick change of mood.
"Thank you so much!" she cried, happily. "You can never understand how happy I am right now! Just- thank you!"
"You're... welcome?" Stein replied, slowly, a bit confused.
"I'm sorry," Amaya laughed through her tears. "It's just- seeing it on paper just makes me feel like I actually belong somewhere."
She had never felt like she had belonged anywhere, before.
The closest she had come was when she was with River. They had been destined to meet each other.
But, still, that hadn't been by choice. Of course, she had wanted to stay with River once they had met. She had loved him. But still...
This.
'Amaya Stein' had happened by choice.
That's why she was thanking Stein.
She desperately tried to find how to say all of this to him, but she ended up just opening and closing her mouth, with no words escaping.
Stein patted her arm, because she was still hugging him.
"Don't cry," he said, calmly.
Amaya laughed and hugged him tighter.
"I'm not crying because I'm sad," she replied.
Stein didn't say anything to that.
Amaya finally let go- for the second time- and wiped her face.
Still looking at the words printed on the paper, it felt hard for her to calm down. It was like her excitement had grown to fill up her entire chest, and her lungs didn't even have room to expand with her breaths.
"Breathe, Amaya," Stein reminded her, sounding a bit worried, sort of reaching a hand towards her as if she would collapse.
Finally finding her breath, Amaya laughed, a hand on the back of her neck.
"I'm fine," she replied. "I was just really excited." She took a deep breath to steady them out. "I do that a lot."
"Forget to breathe?" Stein asked, amusedly shaking his head.
"Yes," Amaya answered. "Whenever I concentrate."
She set the papers back on the table.
"I want to keep those," she said.
Stein didn't respond.
Amaya felt deep inside of herself that maybe her life could be looking up. Maybe she could finally have all the things in life she'd never had before.
Maybe she could actually belong somewhere.
Maybe they could win in this fight against the Kishin.
And maybe she could finally be happy again.
...
Stein was sitting in his office, thinking to himself, his lamp the only source of light in the room.
It was late, probably a little after midnight. Amaya would be asleep by now, he knew. Especially since she had the dream suppressants.
He found himself chuckling a bit for some reason he didn't quite fully understand, and picked up his new roster for class.
It had been changed, because he had dropped a student, River had died, Amaya's last name had changed, and he'd gained another student halfway though the semester.
He stared at the paper, still a bit in disbelief.
Amaya Stein.
He would have never in a million years thought that something like this would happen to him.
Stein found himself suddenly standing up and walking into the living room.
It was dark, as usual, but he felt his way over to the table lamp and clicked it on.
Light splashed into the room, a soft orange glow permeating the atmosphere.
Amaya was curled up on the couch, her blankets tucked around her.
Her face was so peaceful; more peaceful than Stein had ever seen it.
He sat down in the armchair that was beside the couch, and watched her for a few minutes.
Her white-blonde hair was spilled on the pillow around her head, and her face was pale in contrast with her dark stitches.
Her eyelashes fanned against her cheek like soft black feathers.
This girl.
Stein admitted to himself that he thought of her as his family. But he didn't understand why she seemed to care about him so much.
She always seemed to be worrying about him, trying to help him.
Honestly. The Kishin was driving her into her madness by giving her nightmares of Stein dying.
He didn't understand it.
Why?
The girl had hugged him, worn his glasses, kissed his cheek, slept in his arms when she was frightened.
He hadn't realized it until that very second, but Amaya had slowly been breaking through his barriers.
The ones he'd had since he was a child.
Stein wanted her to be happy. Even though the things she wanted confused him, and didn't make any sense.
Since staying with him, she had never asked for a single material possession, except his kitchen devices. Instead, she asked for things that just... confused him.
Like, wanting to keep her stitches. Wanting to change her last name. Wanting to go with him to the store. Wanting him to stay next to her so she could ensure his safety.
Stein didn't understand. Why did she even care about him? Why? Why him? Why not someone else? Why hadn't she become so attached to Spirit, or Shinigami?
Stein had never had someone that actually cared for him.
His own parents...
He shook his head.
Stein just couldn't imagine anyone crying over him, in sadness or happiness, but this girl had several times.
He thought back to her initial reactions to him. Unlike so many others, Amaya had never been afraid of him.
He could remember overhearing her and Black Star's fight.
Black Star had said something rude about Stein, and Amaya had asked why he would insult Stein when Stein had never done anything to him before. And Black Star had answered that that was only because he'd never been stupid enough to be alone in the same room with Stein.
People were afraid of Stein, and Stein was very much aware of this.
But Amaya had never hesitated to trust him.
She'd let him soul resonate with her after only knowing him for a couple days. She'd agreed to stay alone with him in his own house, and that had completely surprised him.
She had let him drive her to an unknown location at five in the morning. She had taken two random pills that he'd given her, only taking them because he'd said they were safe.
Hell. She'd trusted him to stitch her head back together, knowing that he lost control sometimes.
And on top of it all, she not only trusted him, but she tried to help him and actually cared about him.
It was almost too difficult to believe.
There had to be some sort of catch.
He couldn't actually be this content with life without repercussions.
Amaya sighed in her sleep but her still lashes showed that her slumber was dreamless.
Stein was glad that she was resting, though.
She had been starting to scare him with all her nightmares and disorientation.
Suddenly, Amaya's eyes opened, and Stein flinched, startled.
But her eyes were unfocused as if she were still sleeping, or her mind wasn't fully awake.
She looked up at Stein for a second, and smiled sleepily at him. She raised her hand at him, propping her elbow up on a pillow.
Stein was confused at first, then took her hand, gently, and she wrapped her fingers around his.
Then, with her arm still propped up, her eyes closed again and she fell back asleep.
Stein chuckled once, a bit amazed.
Then he realized that he was stuck. He couldn't get his fingers out of Amaya's grasp.
He struggled silently for a couple seconds, trying not to wake her, before her clutch on his hand finally loosened.
She was still asleep, to Stein's relief, and he moved her arm so it was back under the blanket.
With a small smile, he leaned over and pressed his forehead against her temple.
He closed his eyes for a moment, and wondered if this was what it felt like to have a family.
