Elaclea Electronic

Chapter Four: Time Passes

(Whoa, it's been a while since my last update, and I see the last chapter ended with a cliffhanger! ; Sorry!! I've been writing so much that now I have two chapters ready to be posted! Oh, by the way, this is an alternate universe fic, for those of you who do not know…So it does not go along with the actual plot of Last Exile AT ALL. Meaning that Luciola could have his name before he met Dio. Anywho, hope everybody had a good x-mas/ whatever else. I know I did. XD Now, ON WITH THE FIC!!!)

To think that Ressius still had more bad news to tell me about Dio was enough to make my head spin. Although Dio certainly had not seemed normal upon our first meeting, now I was seeing him in a much different light. Honestly, I did not want to hear anymore of what he had to say, but I knew that I had to know what was wrong with him since I was going to be around him so much.

Ressius also seemed as though he did not want to go on. He probably had to explain Dio's condition dozens of times before. I felt guilty about making him repeat it again. "I hope this does not make you think any differently of Dio," the doctor said, "But anyway, I may as well just hurry up and tell you." I was glad that he did not want to dwell on the subject because I certainly did not want to either.

"When Dio was a child, I noticed that he would laugh or cry at very random intervals. Also, he often chewed on his lower lip and had other strange habits like that. At first, I thought these things would stop as he grew older, but they did not…The strangest thing was that when someone asked him why he was laughing or crying, he was not even aware that he was doing it."

This was even more surprising than anything I had heard in the past few days. I did not want to believe what Ressius was telling me. Although he paused for me to ask questions, I could think of nothing.

"Since no doctors here in the Guild could actually diagnose Dio's problem, we secretly took him to Anatoray and met with the best doctors there. They told us that he had something called temporal epilepsy. It was discovered by a doctor in north Anatoray. You see, the disease is caused by a problem in communication between the brain's nerve cells. Normally, such cells communicate with one another by sending electrical signals back and forth. In someone like Dio, the signals from one group of nerve cells occasionally become too strong; so strong that they overwhelm neighboring parts of the brain. It is this sudden, excessive electrical discharge that causes the basic symptoms of epilepsy, which is called an epileptic seizure. That is what is happening in his brain, and is a vague explanation for his emotional outbursts. However, he sometimes has fits of grand mal epilepsy, meaning that he actually has a full body seizure. That has only happened a few times in his life, though.

"While we have medicine that keeps his seizures at a minimum, it does not always keep his emotions at bay. Normally, he remembers to take it on his own, but when he forgets, you must be ready; Dio can get fairly violent."

I did not know how to react. It did not make me think of him any differently, for I was still forming an opinion of him. Even if I had wanted to say something, my mind was completely blank.

After that, Ressius went on to tell me about what the medicines did and such, but I could hardly recall all that now. Dio had been right; he really did take hours to explain things. When he finally announced that he had nothing more to say, I figured my turn had come. "So, do you think there will ever be a complete cure available?" I questioned, desperately wanting some hope to hold on to. I thought it was incredibly unfair that Dio had to suffer so much while the rest of us suffered so little.

Ressius gave me a grave look. "At the moment there is no cure. However, I recently heard that in Anatoray, they are developing something. If that works, I will be sure that Dio gets the treatment right away," he replied.

After that, Ressius told me that it was my turn to wait in his office while he gave Dio his monthly check up. Right as I went in, Dio's head popped up from behind the doctor's desk. He grinned and stood up. "What's the matter, Luciola? You look like you've just seen a ghost," he asked, a curious expression forming on his face.

How could I explain how I was feeling? Although I had not known Dio very long, I already thought he and I were fairly close, and so when Ressius revealed all that to me, it was like a blow to the chest. Never in my life had I experienced such feelings for another person.

Before I could blink, Dio's face was only an inch away from mine. His eyes seemed almost opaque at this distance. "Hey, Luciola! Anybody home?" he teased, waving his hands in front of me.

I snapped back into reality and immediately felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something." I did not think it sounded like a good reason for me to not have been paying attention to him, but, apparently, it was good enough for Dio. He simply shrugged and walked out, leaving me alone. I could not help but think that he was oblivious to his condition. He was so happy and carefree, after all.

The cure that Ressius spoke of was impossible to think of. I had no idea how anyone could fix a problem as serious as that.

Of course, I could not even imagine all the awful possibilities.

As the days went on and we became better acquainted, I began to realize that I enjoyed being around Dio more than anyone else. He and I had similar views on many subjects, despite our major differences in personalities. Still, I felt more and more close to him with each passing moment. However, I had no way of knowing how he felt toward me, and I certainly was not going to inquire. I did very much want to know, but it was not in my nature to pry.

During our first few weeks together, we saw little of Delphine. Occasionally, we would meet her in the garden, but most of the time, she would not even acknowledge us. I started thinking that she did not think too highly of her brother.

Thankfully, Dio had not yet had any outbursts, but I know that one would happen eventually.

Half a month passed, in which very little occurred. Of course, nothing ever stays the same, and so it would figure that when nobles from Anatoray arrived, things began to tumble down hill. You may have heard that my country and Anatoray waged war against one another several years ago. That war ended five years before I met Dio. I never would have thought that we would be having peace conferences with them so soon after both countries had been devastated.

The night before they were to arrive, the Maestro called us to her private quarters. Just as I had expected, her rooms were more extravagant than the rest of the palace. Honestly, I was becoming somewhat sick of all the unnecessary beauty around me. It made me realize that although Delphine was our leader, she did not care much for her subjects, because thousands had been left without homes and food after the war. My family, however, was one of the luckier ones.

I followed Dio as he stomped past an enormous fish tank, which had the strangest species of animals I ever saw. Obviously, Dio was not looking forward to talking to his sister, but he had no say in the matter. While I knew that he disliked Delphine because she kept him confined to certain areas of the palace, I still did not know the while story. Dio did not seem too eager to reveal it to me yet either.

Delphine welcomed us into a small (I use the word very lightly here) room which I assumed was some kind of reception room. The same smile I had seen her wear upon our first meeting was there once again. This time, however, it did not look as sweet. She ignored me, which I was quite used to, and went straight to Dio. "I haven't seen you in such a long time, Dio!" she cried, pulling him into a tight embrace. Her voice almost held a fake quality of sweetness in it. She was not so nice to Dio when I was not around.

Dio balled his hands into fists, which was a habit he did when angry or annoyed. He had his back to me, but I knew that he was probably frowning and rolling his eyes. Delphine, of all people, should have known that he hated receiving hugs; he liked giving them…but certainly not to her.

The Maestro released him and shot me a quick glance. "You, your name is Luciola, correct?" she snapped.

"Yes, Maestro." Delphine was not good with names.

"I thought so. When the Anatoray nobles arrive, I want you to keep Dio away from them at all times," she stated, "Do you understand?" While she had been acting like I was not in the room only moments ago, now, she was treating Dio that way.

The way she spoke of her brother reminded me of a warden talking about a prisoner. "I understand." I replied, although I, myself, wanted to at least get a glimpse of them. I had never seen foreigners before.

Curiosity killed the cat, I suppose.

(Ch 4 end! ; Guess it's sort of another cliff hanger. I have a habit of doing that…Oh well. I'll be putting the next one up verrry soon!)