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Awake, and Alive
I shoot up with a gasping breath, my heart pounding out of chest, my body covered in a cold sweat, and my eyes stinging from harsh sunlight beaming directly upon me. My breathing is heavy and fast, and I'm borderline hyperventilating. As a response to harsh light beaming directly onto my face, I immediately cover my eyes with my hands and I feel thick, cotton bandages on my head.
I'm momentarily confused as to why I would have bandages on my head, but then the memories of before flood back into me.
"Nee-chan!" I exclaim suddenly, removing my hands from my face.
The sunlight is still enough to blind me a little, and I quickly close my eyes in pain. Eventually, the pain subsides, and I open my eyes once more, and I look towards the source of the light. My vision is a little blurry, but after a few blinks, it clears up and reveals a sight that made me question whether I was still dreaming. Outside of a window is a sparkling blue lake that is surrounded by a lush green forest, with sunlight reflecting off its beautiful waters. I don't know how long I stare at the mesmerizing sight.
I eventually turn my attention away from the breathtaking sight to look around, and try to figure out where I am. I'm in an ocean blue room, with oak wood floors, and multiple beds with blue sheets organized neatly next to each other. I look down, and notice that I am in one the many beds in the room, wearing some type of white shirt that I know I wasn't wearing before. There was also the fact that it was a little too big for me.
'Am I in a hospital? Seems a bit small…' I think to myself.
The sound of a doorknob turning interrupts my musing, and I tense up, turning my head towards the offending door. A woman with hair a shade of green I've never seen before, wearing what looks like a dress with… fish scales?
She freezes half-way through the doorway as soon as she sees me staring at her, and I make eye contact with her ocean blue eyes. Her face flashes briefly in surprise, before a wry look replaces it and smirk makes its way onto her face.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Kid. For someone so small, you sure can make a hell of a crater. I knew you were a trooper." She said in a joking voice, with a hint of sarcasm.
"U-Uh, um…" was my only response, as I was stunned by this woman's bluntness. I've never seen someone with such terrible bedside manner.
Seeing my bemused expression, her smirk only got bigger. She starts to walk over to me, exuding confidence in every step.
Snapping out of my stupor, a pink stylized M draws my attention to just below her neck. The symbol looks very familiar, but I couldn't quite place where I've seen it before.
The woman grabs a chair that was at the side of the bed I was in, and takes a seat next to me.
"You were lucky I was around to find you. You suffered some serious injuries, Kid. You gotta be careful when using magic at your age. Magic exhaustion is a very serious issue." And the terrible bedside manner returns. Wait… What did she just say?
"W-What!?" I squeak out, and I'm internally hitting myself because of my voice doing that.
"But we can talk about that later. As I have more pressing concerns right now" she says, completely ignoring my incredulous expression.
The woman sighs, and her face loses the smirk and softens a little.
"Listen, I'm not the best with kids, and I have no clue how to comfort them, that's more of Lana's thing, so I'll be quick with this…. Can you tell me what happened?" she asks in a soft voice.
The question snaps me back to reality, and brings tears to my eyes, which it shouldn't, I'm a grown adult and I should be able to control myself. A sob escapes me, and the woman hesitantly puts a hand on my shoulder, perhaps in an attempt to comfort me. Tears start falling down the side of my face, and the sobbing increases.
"Crap… uh… I'm sorry! Please stop crying! I'll buy you candy! Kids like candy! Right!?" she blurts out with slight panic in her voice. Not good with kids indeed.
I have to use all the mental power I have to calm down, and it works. I start calming down, and with the occasional hiccup, I manage to tell her what I know, or at least, what I should know (I didn't tell her any details that I couldn't possibly know). At the end of the ordeal, she has a somber look on her face, and sighs, before mumbling what sounds like a curse under her breath. Her face then hardens, and she then looks me straight in the eyes, her ocean blue eyes conveying conviction.
"I'll make sure whoever did this pays, and I promise you, I will get your sister back…" she stops her declaration abruptly, and her face turns a little confused.
"…What did you say your name was again?" she asks suddenly.
If my life were an anime (oh the irony), I would be sweat dropping. The question totally killed moment.
"Um… You didn't ask me for my name, Stranger-san… you haven't even told me where I am…" and right after these words leave mouth, she looks at me for a couple of seconds, blinks once or twice, and then her face turns a little red.
'Well, so much for the whole serious atmosphere…' I think to myself as the woman recovers from her mild embarrassment.
"*Ahem* Right, sorry about that. I was too caught up in the moment that I completely forgot. My name is Celia Marea, first master of the magic guild, Mermaid Heel, and you are currently in Salice."
'Did she just say Mermaid Heel? Wasn't that the female only guild that Kagura was in? That explains why the mark below her neck was so familiar-'
"You gonna introduce yourself, Kid, or are you just going to stare my chest all day?" My thoughts are interrupted by her statement, and my face starts feeling warm from embarrassment.
"M-My name is, Rubina" I say with embarrassment.
"No last name?" she asks without thinking.
"No…never had one…" I say, letting her come to her own conclusion.
Thankfully, she connects the dots, and promptly groans and face palms at her bluntness, before mumbling something about a woman named Lana.
"Right, sorry about that, I'm not the most subtle person in the world. Anyway, you are currently in my guild infirmary, recovering from a head wound and magic depletion. Oh right, congratulations on unlocking your magic by the way, not many unlock theirs at such a young age. I'm sorry that the circumstances were not the best though."
Oh, I completely forgot, she mentioned something about me having magic earlier.
"I have m-magic?!" I squeak out. I'm starting to hate this child body.
Her wry smirk returns.
"Oh you have magic alright, and quite big reserves for your age too. You caused quite the crater when I found you." At her statement, my face flushes.
"Don't be so embarrassed, Kid, it happens to the best of us" she says in a lighthearted matter.
"But anyway, I have preposition for you, Kid. As much as I hate to say it, you don't have anywhere to go, and I can't in good conscience let you go out into the world on your own. So… I was thinking you could stay here, at Mermaid Heel."
'Is she doing what I think she's doing?'
"And I would highly recommend this, as you will have the opportunity to develop your gift, and you'll also be more certain on where your life will be going as well. And when you hit ten years old, you'll be able to join a guild legally and if you decide to stay here, I can guarantee that you will be accepted."
'Yep, she totally is. She does realize she is technically talking to a six year old, right? She really doesn't know how to talk to kids.
The woman, Celia, sighs.
"I'll give you some time to think about it."She says before getting up and starts walking towards the door on the other side of the room.
When she gets to the door, she looks back at with me with sad eyes.
"I'm sorry this happened to you, Kid. I really am." She starts to walk, and then stops again.
"Oh, before I forget, the other girl that was with you is here as well." And with that, she leaves, closing the door behind her.
I look the window to my side, to the lake outside, its water sparkling a brilliant blue. I'm sitting in the bed, finally alone again. I spend this alone time to reflect on the most recent happenings of my new life.
A teardrop hits the bed sheet. Then it's followed by another, then another, before a river of tears flows down my face. I don't remember the last time I cried like this, but I'm sure this was the longest cry I've ever had.
I don't how long I stayed like that, but the sun eventually went down and I eventually cried myself to sleep.
This chapter took a long time for me to write. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I was going to write it. As you can see, Celia has no idea how to talk to kids, and talks to them almost like adults. She is very blunt, and sometimes doesn't think before saying stuff, but she does have a caring side. I wanted to fit more info about the guild into this, but it wouldn't of fit the mood of the chapter, so I'll have to save it for the next. From now on, updates will take a few days, and once chapter sizes inevitably get bigger, I will try to update it weekly. Thank you for your Reviews and Follows.