It was quiet when Lyra woke up.
The first thing she thought was I'm dead. She felt dead. She couldn't feel anything. It felt as if she were floating. That and everything was so peaceful sounding. The entire area was white. Wherever Lyra moved her eyes, she saw whiteness. The ceiling, walls, even when she looked out the window, everything was white.
Hm… this isn't so bad… She instantly slapped herself. No she couldn't be dead. She could feel her heart beat increasing at the thought. That's when she realized. Her heart was beating. That means she was alive!
Of course she was alive. Why wouldn't she be? But then again… she couldn't remember what happened yesterday. They were fighting Filth Monsters. But how did it end?
Lyra sighed. As she did, tried to sit up. That's when all of the feelings came welcoming back and it was the worst welcome ever. Shocking pain caused from her neck, down her back and throughout her entire body. Lyra bit her lip and closed her eyes trying to wait for the pain to pass, but it stayed for a while. This pain… That meant she screwed up in the fight, thus ending up here.
"Well, well. Looks like sleeping beauty has finally awake." Lyra jumped hearing the voice. She didn't even realize someone was in the room. Either they had their kei hidden, or she just wasn't thinking. Most likely it was the latter.
Lyra then let out a sigh. She didn't even need to look to know who it was, but still she turned her head until her eyes landed on an orange blurb that was next to what she believed to be the door. Lyra blinked a couple times.
Blurb? Why was it a blurb? Movement from the top part of the blurb made her realize it was a person.
"Sharnid is that you?" she asked squinting her eyes.
"The one and only." He replied with a wave, "What's with the squinty eyed look?" he asked.
Lyra blinked a couple times and frowned, "Sorry, I can't see right now." She replied, crossing her arms.
Sharnid had moved from the door to the seat next to her bed. Now she was able to see him better.
"Can't see? What you mean blind?" She heard him ask. From the way he was asking, he actually sounded serious.
Lyra shook her head, "No… not blind. Everything's just really blurry." She explained with her hands out in front of her. Up close, it was perfectly fine, but once her hands were arm lengths away, all the fingers joined together.
"Blurry?" he repeated and then crossed his arms, "Hmm that's strange." He thought.
Just then they heard a knock on the door. Both of them turned their heads towards it. The door opened. Lyra squinted to see who it was. From what she could make out, it was a doctor.
"Oh you're awake?" she said, sounding slightly surprised. Then turning towards Sharnid, "You were supposed to come get me when she woke up."
Sharnid gave a small laugh, "Well, she kinda just woke up." He replied with a shrug.
The nurse just rolled her eyes and turned towards Lyra.
"Um… hi." Lyra started.
"How are you feeling Lyra?" the nurse asked.
"Meh… weird." Lyra replied, attempting to shrug, but her body didn't respond to it exactly.
"Any concerns?" the nurse asked.
Lyra looked at her and then replied, "A lot. Everything hurts, can't move exactly, and I can't see." She explained.
The nurse nodded her head as she wrote it down, "Well the pain is from recent events. You have a couple torn muscles, which we managed to fix, but the pain will be there for the next couple days. I would recommend, you rest for at least a week." She explained.
Lyra nodded her head. That made sense. She didn't exactly remember the battle well, but from the pain she was experiencing, it must have been bad. "What about my eyesight?" she asked.
"Let me see." The nurse replied as she wrote something else down. She then pulled out a small object and started to shine the light in Lyra's eyes.
"Hold still." She said to her as she tilted the younger girl's head up and looked into her eyes. She looked for a while, ordering Lyra to look up, down, left, and right.
She then moved back. "Well from the looks of it, it seems that you exhausted your eyes by channeling your kei." She explained.
Lyra blinked. "Is that even possible?"
The nurse nodded her head. "Especially used for spying purpose, the user will enhance their eyesight by channeling kei towards their eyes. However, the body will involuntarily do it as well when in a fight. This is one of the defense mechanisms that our bodies have evolved to do. So when you were fighting the filth monsters, you were directing your kei from your eyes and to different parts of the body and then back to the eyes. This caused strain to your eyes thus developing myopia." The nurse explained.
Lyra nodded her head slowly. Next to her Sharnid just let out a whistle. "Heh myopia huh? Well that gives me another excuse to add." He remarked leaning back in his chair.
The nurse shook her head, "Those that use long range combat are trained to properly channel the kei from their eyes to other parts of the body. However, your body will naturally do it as well when put in a life threatening situation like you all were."
Lyra bit her lip as she thought. Myopia… that was another term used for nearsightedness. That wasn't good. How was she supposed to see anything far off? It was already difficult enough aiming long range attacks. That's mostly why she wanted to use swords. But if she couldn't see what was far ahead, how was she supposed to prepare?
Forget about training and fighting, just everyday life would be difficult.
"Soo…" Lyra started, but then paused as she tried to reword what she wanted to ask.
"Is this fixable?" Sharnid suddenly ask. Lyra looked up at the nurse, wondering the same thing.
"Of course it is!" The nurse replied. "One way is glasses, but sometimes that just makes your eyesight worse, since your eyes get used to the glasses and depend on it. Another way is contacts and the third is surgery." she explained.
"Surgery?" Lyra blinked.
The nurse nodded her head. "It's not that bad. It has a very high success rate. We can do that here as well. So you wouldn't have to transfer." She explained.
Lyra nodded her head. Glasses, contacts, or surgery? Those were her three options. She would need to choose between the three.
"Personally I think you should just go with the surgery. Wouldn't want you hiding your beautiful face behind a pair of glasses now." Sharnid remarked as he winked at her.
Lyra just rolled her eyes at the comment. But surgery would be better. Glasses would be risky while fighting since they could break easily and the same with contacts, and issues of getting things in the eyes and then that's even more trouble. But they were cheaper…
"I don't know. I'll decide later." She decided.
The nurse nodded her head, "Well now, I would recommend the glasses, they don't cost much at all and it will be a way to see until you decide on the surgery." She added.
Lyra nodded her head. That would be a smarter way to go. "Okay then, do I need to do any specific test?" she asked and instantly felt dumb.
"Yes, you need the eye examination done. We can do that today if you want and you will have a prescription and then you can go to a local glasses store here in the city and order there." She explained as she wrote something down.
"Now excuse me, I'm going to go get it set up for you. Till then just stay here and don't try leaving this time?" she said to Lyra.
Lyra blushed as she remembered how she did that the previous time. "Right… don't worry. I won't." she told the nurse.
"Not like you can either"" Sharnid spoke up and smiled at the nurse, "I'll make sure she doesn't leave."
The nurse nodded her head and then left then room. Lyra sighed staring at the door. As she shut the door, Sharnid let out a sigh and laugh.
Lyra raised a brow as she turned towards him again and squinted. Now she was able to make out his face somewhat. But still it wasn't much.
Sharnid laughed again, "Keep it up and you're gonna get wrinkles." He remarked.
That fixed Lyra's expression. "But I can't see now!" she protested.
Sharnid just shrugged, "It's your choice. Beside, squinting doesn't make that big of a difference."
Lyra sighed. He was right. But still.
It felt strange not being able to make anything out. She looked around the room again. There were pictures on the wall, but they blended in with the white wall behind it. Lyra blinked, trying to see if it would help, but it didn't work.
"Sooo… you're going with glasses now huh?" he suddenly asked.
Lyra shrugged, "For now yes, that is until I can save up enough to get the surgery done." She told him.
"Well it really doesn't cost much to get it done, you know?" he muttered.
Lyra looked at him, "For me, it's still a lot, plus I rather wait…"
"Wait? For what?" he asked.
Lyra shrugged, "Nothing really, I just mean wait and see how it is with glasses and maybe I won't have to get it." She explained.
Sharnid raised a brow, "That's risky you know…"
"Well it depends on how good I am at evading in battles…" she replied.
"And if someone sets a trap and an explosion happens and your glasses go flying off? Then what?" he asked.
Lyra sighed, thinking, "Well… then I could go with contacts?"
"Again same scenario, explosion happens, dust and dirt goes flying in and gets trapped under the lenses and then you risk permanent blindness." Sharnid replied.
Lyra frowned, "Jeez, you're actually thinking this out for once." She muttered.
Sharnid shrugged, "Hey, it's happened in battles before… and you know Nina would be pissed if the reason we lost was simply because of a pair of glasses…that or worse, you going blind"
Lyra looked at him and squinted before turning away. He did make some good points. Her real reason was because she didn't want to go through with the surgery. It was mostly because she hated the feeling of needles and surgeries in general. They made her uncomfortable, so she'd do anything but surgeries.
Lyra soon let out a sigh. "Speaking of battles… what happened with the attack?"
Sharnid shrugged, "Meh, the usual. Layfon found the nest, destroyed the queen, baby filth monsters ran away, then end."
Lyra nodded her head, slowly. "And everyone from the platoon is all right?" she asked.
Sharnid let out a nervous chuckle, "Heh, everyone is fine, yeah. Just a couple scratches, but you however are as good as dead, my dear."
Lyra blinked at that. "Me? Why? What'd I do?"
Sharnid shrugged, "You tell me. What happened on the field?" he asked.
Lyra raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Sharnid smirked, "Well first off, you just lie there and nearly get yourself killed and then suddenly you're running across the field like a bolt of lightning…"
"Bolt of lightning?" Lyra interrupted him.
Now Sharnid raised a brow. "You seriously don't remember?"
Lyra stared at the blank wall in front of her. "Well… I mean I remember the fight and helping out someone… a smack to the back of the head and that's it." She replied, thinking.
Sharnid let out a chuckle, "Well, you're missing a huge part then."
Lyra furrowed her brows, looking at him. "What part?"
"Well…" Sharnid sighed as he thought of how to explain, but just then there was a knock on the door. Both of their heads turned towards the door as they heard mumbling. "Uh oh…" Sharnid muttered and then chuckled. "Nice knowing ya, Lyra." He remarked.
Lyra frowned at that. She didn't think Nina would be that mad now. After all, she didn't do anything wrong. Nina would most likely scold her, for almost getting herself killed out of the field. "Come in." she called out.
The door went swinging open and in walked her captain and Harley right behind her. Instantly as the Captain entered, she felt cold air follow. Lyra was suddenly nervous, but didn't show it.
"Nina… please be easy…" Harley was finishing saying.
Lyra looked at the captain and saw no sort of anger on her face. She gave a slight smile, waving to her.
Nina nodded her head back, "Good to see you finally awake. How are you feeling?" she asked.
Lyra shifted a little and then shook her head, "Well feeling a lot better now." She replied.
Nina's face brightened a little, "No pain, signs of fainting?" she asked. She was now standing right next to Lyra's bed now. Behind her Lyra saw Sharnid and Harley glance at one another. Lyra blinked and shook her head slowly, wondering what was up.
"No… nothing." She replied.
Nina sighed as she stood up straight with her eyes closed. "Well that's good to know… Mind telling me what happened out on the field then?" Lyra flinched. The captain who stood before her with a perfectly calm face, was now looming right over her, her face inches from Lyra's with the most anger filled expression ever. Lyra blinked as she leaned back a little a gulped.
"I'm sorry captain… I wasn't focusing. I know I worried you by just standing there and allowing myself to get hit in the back, but…"
"I'm not talking about that act. I mean after that, when you bolted across the field, destroying all the filth monsters with it."
Lyra bit her lip as she tried to think. "I honestly don't remember that, Captain. Are you sure it was me?"
"I know it was you. We all saw it!" Nina growled, doing her best not to get angry.
Lyra sighed as she thought. There was one attack that was popping in her mind and it would explain the pain she was feeling. But that was a move that Lyra vowed she would only use as a last minute resort. That was probably it.
However, before Lyra could reply, Nina let out a sigh. "Oh well… right now I shouldn't be putting the pressure on you like this. Right now you should focus on getting better." She suddenly said.
Lyra blinked, "Huh?"
Harley and Sharnid both had the same expression of surprise.
Nina just nodded her head and then smiled, "Well I have to get to work. I just wanted to come see you first. Get better soon." She waved and then turned around, leaving the room.
"Hey- Nina!" Harley called after her, "Um… Gotta go too. Sorry Lyra. See ya later!" he said and went after the captain.
Lyra just blinked, staring at the door. A laugh from Sharnid reminded her that he was still there.
Lyra frowned looking at him as he continued to laugh.
"That was not expected at all. Wow… she's pissed." He remarked.
Lyra just shook her head. She didn't understand the whole concept of getting angry because of what she did. After all, she did manage to survive and help prevent the filth monsters from breaking into Zuellini right?
So what she did should have made Nina happy. After all, the captain would do whatever she could to protect Zuellini and Lyra wanted to help.
Suddenly Lyra heard a snapping noise. She blinked and looked to see Sharnid's fingers in front of her face in a snapping position.
Lyra shook her head and looked at him. "Sorry, what?" she asked.
"You okay?" Sharnid asked. From the sound of his voice, he actually seemed concerned.
Lyra just shrugged, "I wish I knew what you were talking about." She replied.
Sharnid sighed as he stretched. "Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure that you'll remember what happened in the next couple days. I mean, you just woke up, remember that and you took some pretty bad hits." He noted.
Lyra nodded her head slowly. "And that makes Captain mad why?"
"Probably because you were holding back from us the entire time. She was pretty pissed when Layfon suddenly let out all this power during our first platoon match." He explained.
Lyra tensed. Of course, that would be a reason, but she still wanted to know what she did.
Lyra then sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know…" she trailed off at the knock on the door.
Both Sharnid and Lyra looked up as the door opened and in walked the nurse.
"I have everything set up now. Shall we head to the examining room?" she asked.
Lyra nodded her head slowly as she shifted, attempting to sit up straight. She could feel her muscles protesting as she moved so suddenly and paused to cringe.
"Whoa, you okay?" Sharnid asked, raising a brow as he noticed the cringe.
Lyra nodded her head. "Perfectly fine."
Sharnid smirked as he leaned back in the chair again, "Okay, if you say so."
"Please don't move so suddenly. It's going to hurt." The nurse spoke up.
Lyra eyed her. No kidding? Was her thought to the comment, "So how am I supposed to move?"
"Well you can move, but just carefully." She explained.
Lyra raised a brow, but then shrugged, "Alrighty then." She muttered as she slowly lifted her legs, pulling them in, before turning to swing them off the bed. The nurse had taken a couple steps forwards while Sharnid stood up from the chair to help, but Lyra just continued on her own and soon she slid out of bed. She looked up at the two, smiling with satisfaction.
"There. See? No problems." She remarked. However, as soon as she took a step forward, her legs gave out and she went falling backwards.
"Whoa now," Sharnid chuckled as he took a step forward and moved his arm behind her as she landed against it and pulled her in, before she had a chance to slip out.
Lyra blinked her eyes open as he caught her and found herself looking into his eyes.
Sharnid smiled, closing them. "Let's not celebrate too early now." He remarked.
Lyra blushed and shook her head as he helped her stand up straight again.
"Are you alright, Lyra?" the nurse asked walking over.
Lyra nodded her head as she straightened herself up. "I'm fine. Just wasn't expecting that…" she replied.
The nurse nodded her head and then lifted to show her a pair of jeans and a shirt. "Perhaps you would like to change into these. I'm sure you don't want to walk around in a gown. Your friend brought these earlier."
Lyra tensed as she looked down and found herself wearing a hospital gown. She blushed as she noticed that. "Umm. Yeah. I think I'm going to change."
"Aww… but Lyra-chan looks cute in it." Sharnid remarked.
Lyra looked at him, raising a brow.
"Aw come on, I mean it!" he protested.
Lyra nodded her head slowly. "I'm going to head to the bathroom and change now." She said as she slowly started to head towards the bathroom.
"Do you need help?" The nurse asked.
"I'll be fine." She replied.
"Are you sure?" Sharnid asked.
Lyra looked back, raising a brow. This time, the nurse had looked as well.
Sharnid looked at the two. "I was kidding!" he protested, jumping back with his hands in front of him.
"Yeah… I'll be right back." Lyra replied as she limped off towards the bathroom.