Chapter Two - Bouquets

Amon had stayed by her side watching her chest move up and down every single second that she wasn't awake though his eyes were searching in the oblivion of his own soul. In that one moment, he thought. That one moment that I left her alone, that I looked away… It happened. Why couldn't he protect her? Why didn't he? He mentally cursed himself, tightening his grip on her pale, motionless hand.

He looked up from Robin to Sakaki, who was on the other side of her bed. His dark hair covered his bluish-green eyes which were looking to Robin with concern as well. Doujima was in the chair across from her bed, playing with her hair not really paying attention to anyone else around her. Amon sighed heavily and looked back to Robin.

He looked up as her grip tightened for just a moment. She let out a moan of pain as she moved her head to the side. She slowly opened her eyes, the light piercing her vision. "Amon?" She asked the silence, hoping that he was there beside her.

Amon gave a smile, finally, and placed his hand on her cheek. "..Robin."

She smiled weakly as he brushed independent strands of hair from her face which was slowly gathering that beautiful color once again.

Amon was happy that she was awake, but all of them were still worried.

"ROBIN!" A shriek thundered through the silence as Doujima threw Amon out of the way.

"Robin? Robin?" She asked, looking into her eyes. "Are you alright!"

Robin pushed herself to sit up and nodded. "Hai," she answered as Doujima hugged her with a smile.

Amon sunk back and stood in the doorway, looking upon all of them. Karasuma came up behind him, looking to his back. "I see she's awake now."

"Yes." Was all he said.

Sakaki smiled to her and handed her a small bouquet of flowers. Robin smiled and placed them on her lap. "Thank you." She looked up into his eyes.

"They're from the Chief." He said, patting her head. "I'm glad you finally woke up! You had us worried there." He smirked.

"Oh," she said, looking back down to the flowers. "I'm sor-."

"It's alright." He interrupted her apology. "We're just glad you're okay."

Robin smiled and looked towards Amon and Miho and in return, they both gave a small smile back. "When is she coming back?"

"I don't know." He answered. "It may be tonight." He shrugged and turned to face her, his head drooping from his shoulders slightly as his dark as death hair curled into his face.

Miho sighed, seeing his sorrows. "Amon, it was not your fault." She stepped towards him, hesitant. "…It's not-.."

She was cut off by his deadly, cold eyes. "Don't say that." He growled. "If I would have kept an eye on her, this wouldn't have happened."

Miho sighed and looked to the bouquet in her hands. "You can't keep an eye on her all the time. Now can you?"

Amon kept his head down. He knew she was right, but he didn't want to admit it. It just felt that he could have done something more to prevent it.

"I'm happy you got there when you did.. Or--." She cut herself off; she didn't even want to think of that situation that was now stuck in her thoughts. She stepped into the room, placing the bouquet next to Robin. "Here you go," she gave a comforting smile.

"Thank you, Miho." Robin looked into her eyes and placed them beneath her nose to smell the agricultural beauty. Robin blinked and pulled away from the flowers for a moment. She was happy that they were all here when she woke, but something seemed different - strange - frightening. Like she was on-edge. She tried and tried, but in these moments she couldn't quite pinpoint it.

--

Karasuma was in the corridor of the hospital, leaning against the wall beside Robin's door. "Robin!" She knocked on the door with haste. "Come on! What's taking you so long?" She asked looking to her watch which blinked 8:28 P.M. They were now officially late for the briefing. "Come on, Robin!"

"Hai!" Robin yelled back, pulling her hair back up. She was a bit lethargic and deliberate, weak as well. But she was too anxious to just lay in bed and do absolutely nothing for a couple of days. She was determined to help out tonight, anyway necessary. She finally finished and walked over towards the door.

She paused, her eyes dilating going in and out of focus suddenly. She backed away from the door, seeing a slight glow once again. In her head, she could hear the laughter and she closed her eyes. It's not real. It' just a hallucination. It's not real. She told herself, hoping it would work. As she opened her eyes, she gave a sigh of relief. That thing was gone.

She gathered herself and reached for the door knob turning and smiling to more than impatient and frustrated Miho Karasuma.

"Finally!" She laughed and pushed herself to a slow walk.

"Forgive me, Miho. I am just a bit slow tonight." Robin answered with a cool, calm and collected voice.

"It's okay. Let's just hurry, now. Shall we?" Karasuma laughed and pulled her keys from her jacket pocket. "Come on now," she said laying a hand on Robin's shoulder

Robin looked up and forced a smile. She didn't want to tell them, she didn't know how.. Or, if they would believe her. They would think that if the witch was at the Factory, that they wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.. But, they were terribly wrong. He had haunted her dreams morphing the happy smiles into screams of pain. It hadn't became really bad.. But she knew it would take time.

She hoped she could find solitude and peace later on, and only hoped that things would get better. But like the rest of them, she was wrong.

Terribly wrong.