Lavi looked up from his book. Even with the myriad of goings-on, there was work to be done, and besides that it kept his mind occupied. Admittedly, reading about ancient Chinese medicine was not the most riveting topic. He glanced over to the window looking into Magnolia's private room, and he suppressed the urge to acknowledge that his heart did indeed cringe at Ava's pinched face. The toddler lay on the hospital bed with her head on Maggie's chest, Lily watching the oldest Valdis sibling take laborious breath after breath.
There was no reason for her swift decline. It was almost as if she were losing the will to live. Hospital magic could only do so much.
"You're still here, I see," said a gravelly, ancient voice, and inwardly Lavi groaned.
"I read easier in hospitals. It's quieter, with Matron shushing every person in a twenty foot radius," Lavi joked as he looked over at the old man, who took up residence in the seat beside the Apprentice Bookman.
"I'm sure that is why you picked a chair right in front of your student's room," Bookman grumbled irately as he folded his hands in his lap.
Lavi smiled and stated, "A pretty face to look at while I'm not studying."
Bookman stared at the young man, and Lavi knew he was fooling no one. The old man was too perceptive by half, and besides that he knew the young man too well to buy that Lavi felt nothing towards the woman and her family.
"I understand that when you train another, it is difficult to cut ties, but this may be something you must do. I predict that Kanda will not choose a popular course of action," Bookman sighed, his voice more of a slightly articulated mumble.
"And what does that mean? You think he'll let her just waste away?" Lavi asked sardonically.
"No, indeed not. I think he will kill her out of mercy," Bookman stated with alacrity, and it was Lavi's turn to stare, mortified.
"He wouldn't."
"It would be most advantageous for everyone involved. Her innocence would be freed for the next Accommodator, she will have suffered as painless a death as any Exorcist perhaps ever will, and the Order loses no resources attempting to keep her alive," Bookman sighed. "The chances of survival are slim, my apprentice. There is little to be done. Soon, she will need help to even breathe."
Lavi glanced over at the hospital room, entertaining the thought of a world without the young woman. He had, indeed, considered that as a possibility, but that she would be thrown away like a broken knife... The warmth and normality, the order and composure that Magnolia seemed to radiate would be gone. All the work he'd put into her training, all the months of small talks, warm hands, staunch determination, and sudden, surprising, amazing growth - extinguished. No more chocolate, no more gossiping about others in French, no more debates on bad fiction, no more shared gazes and pregnant pauses.
Instead, a body, like all the others he'd seen.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of black blurs moving towards the hospital room, and he stood up, recognizing them as CROW. The dour looking men glanced at the Bookman Apprentice without a hint of emotion, making a beeline towards Magnolia's room, four of them in all. Quickly, he got up from his chair to intercept them, but he was a few moments too late, as they barged into the room. Lily immediately removed Ava, who promptly went into a screaming fit as they began to unlock the wheels on Magnolia's bed.
"Oh - be careful with that! She needs that IV line, and there's a whole lot of other things she's hooked into," Lily fretted as she tried to calm down a fighting toddler.
"Let go of her! Stop it! Stop!" Ava screeched as Lavi stormed into the room. "Give her back! Lala, make 'em stop! Stop 'em!"
"Hey! What's going on here?" Lavi demanded, Bookman a few paces behind, as he tried to ignore the ripping sensation in his chest that Ava's pleas engendered.
"Indeed. She is in no state to be moved," Bookman interjected, to Lavi's surprise.
"Ask Komui. He will explain. We do not have time to debate," said one of the black-suited men as the other three prepared to wheel her out.
"Komui...?" Lily asked almost angrily, wincing as a small fist hit her in the chin.
The Exorcists in the room glanced to each other in question before leaving after the CROW.
"I'll follow them to ensure no harm is done - at least, no more than what has already occurred," Bookman grumbled to Lavi as the three bustled out.
Lavi gave him a look and asked, "I thought we weren't supposed to be attached?"
Bookman huffed as he trailed behind the CROW.
"She is as much history as anyone else here. Hurry to Komui. There are questions that need answered."
My arms were beginning to feel like overcooked pasta. I still had no idea where I was, or what I was doing. All I knew by now was to pull, pull, pull. My eyes traced the horizon as I ran my tongue over my lips. My hands were inside-out porcupines, my throat was dry as a dog's bone, and I was sure my butt had fallen off somewhere in the boat, seeing as I couldn't feel it anymore.
And everywhere around me, there was water, water, water. Nothing but.
"Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink," I muttered to myself.
I let go of the rope and hung over the gunwale, letting my hands drift into the soft waves. Even the sea was lukewarm, and they felt like stinging heaven to my hands. I was hoping that this boat couldn't go off course. I didn't figure that it could, but what do I know? I was tugging for miles on a rope going nowhere in the middle of the ocean. My efforts could be leading me to the edge of the earth for all I could tell. Yet, I had an inkling that this was the right direction.
What was it that Mickey had said? Meeting opposition means you're headed in the right direction. I'd encountered two of my personal demons so far. I must be doing something.
"It looks like you're awfully tired," said a familiar voice, and I scrunched my eyes shut.
"Oh, please, no," I mumbled.
A pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders, and a chin descended into the crook of my neck. I smelled ink, paper, the myriad of scents that make up a new book, and my heart thudded in my ears. Oh, of course. First there was the temptation to stay with my mother. Then there was the temptation to just let guilt drown me. Now, I'm being teased by my ovaries.
"There's no rush," he said in French, and I rested my head against the gunwale.
His nearness nearly made me forget my hands felt like raw pincushions. I bit my lip and shook my head, singsonging, "Mm-mm. No. Not listening."
A hand caressed my hair away from my ear, and I swallowed.
"We could stay here. This place... it's limbo. As long as you're here, nothing changes. Going back, or going forward, you'll die, but if you stay here..."
"Tempting offer, but I've got to keep on keeping on, you know? People to see, things to do, family to get back to..." I said with nervous cheer, pulling myself up and putting both soaking hands to the rope ahead of me.
"Stop denying it. You want to be here."
Oh, God, did I want to be. I glanced over my shoulder, a mistake. Lavi held my gaze with two green eyes.
"This war did things to you that even Bentham couldn't. You didn't deserve any of this," he said. "I mean, you may have deserved that conk to the head from a tree, but that was probably the most of it."
I let my hands fall into my lap and stared at him. The light glimmered off his face, his smile just slightly crooked. He'd complained about the fact he was getting freckles and they'd blemish his skin, but I'd always considered them boyish and a little bit flattering to his complexion. His hands were still long, spidery, and dexterous as they took my worn hands. His skin was soft, but dry.
I recalled the last time he'd taken my hands, telling me, in no few words, exactly what had been on his mind. And I, in turn, did the same, only for us to realize as we talked that we were like two trains on parallel tracks - moving in opposite directions, only near enough to see each other for the time being, just long enough to admire the other before disappearing.
"Stay. For a little while," Lavi asked me, cocking his head to the side with a smile.
He opened his arms to me, inviting, and I stared a moment.
I fell into his arms with more gusto than was probably appropriate. His heart beat beneath my ear, and I squeezed him hard. I knew, in my heart of hearts, I would regret it, but to live this fantasy for even an hour seemed worthwhile.
What could it hurt?
"Her Innocence... is rejecting her," Komui breathed slowly.
Kanda's brow furrowed as he glared at the bespectacled man sitting at his overburdened desk. The other Valdis siblings, sans Ava, were in close proximity, sitting in stunned silence on various piles of books, papers, and furniture. Lavi, himself, was poring over a book case, perhaps to hide his own expression. The cadre of Exorcists were completely quiet as they waited for him to continue.
"For whatever reason, her synchronization rate has fallen rapidly in the past day or so. She lost about twenty percentage points in something like four hours. That is a monumental fall in such a short amount of time," Komui stated. "Hevlaska is required to inform us of a desynchronization event, just in case an Exorcist-"
"Falls," Sebastian finished with a long stare.
Komui's concerned expression turned to one of surprise.
"Yes. If her synchronization rate falls to zero, she will become a Fallen One," Komui stated. "For the safety of all involved, she has been placed in a special facility for this exact purpose."
"What is a Fallen One?" Lily asked hesitantly, glancing about the room as she twirled a strand of black hair around her finger.
"A Fallen One is an Exorcist who betrays the Church. They become a mindless being of rage and guilt, decimating whatever is nearest to them. Magnolia has done something to cause a fall in synchronization, but she's not conscious. There's no telling what it is or when it will stop," Kanda stated, heading off Komui's no-doubt sugarcoated answer.
"What will you do if she hits zero?" Erastus asked, leaning forward from his perch.
"She will not have the chance to," Komui said, shuffling papers at his desk.
Kanda looked up while Lavi glanced over, fingertips tracing a book, as the archiver finished, "Because she'll die before then?"
Komui's grip on his papers tightened.
"You'll kill her," Violet stated in disbelief.
"You don't know what a Fallen One is capable of. Even at the containment facility, she could possibly kill every person there," Komui said wearily. "But, I will try and keep the CROW from enacting the protocol for as long as possible. There's a chance this is just a side effect of whatever's been done to her."
"But how low are they willing to go? And who's going to be allowed to accompany her?" Lavi asked, leaning against the book case.
Komui remained quiet as he sat at his desk, mulling it over.
"Kanda is her medical liaison. He may be present at the facility, for ease of access. But the rest of you... we cannot risk potentially seven Exorcists. The best I can do is allow you to visit in shifts," Komui said sadly, looking at each of the Valdis siblings. "I... suggest you talk among yourselves about arrangements. It would not do to be caught unawares."
Violet, true to her nature, left the room in a hurry, covering up the tears that streamed down her face. Her twin brothers followed behind, before Lily also vacated the room wordlessly, casting a glance at Komui with a shake of her head. Only Lavi and Kanda remained.
"I might be able to get them to hold off if it falls to even ten percent. I can't promise anymore. Kanda?" Komui asked, adjusting his glasses. "Can you deal with her, if she-"
"I'll handle it."
"I should go. This is history," Lavi stated, putting his hands in his pockets. "If she dies, I have to record it."
"If she dies, you'll know regardless of whether you're here or there. We'll tell you. You're staying," Komui said gently, though he put a hand on his desk to emphasize his point.
However, Lavi's piercing gaze gave him a moment to reconsider. The young man helped bring her from whelp to warrior, no small feat, and there was a lot of emotion in the mix. Komui knew that Lavi would, no doubt, defy orders anyways. Hierarchy was fuzzy with the Bookmen.
"Alright, fine. Both of you can go, but don't breathe a word to anyone. Those five will have my head, and I like it where it is, thank you," Komui finally acquiesced, motioning for them to leave his office. The two did so wordlessly, leaving the man to his thoughts.
As they walked the hall towards the exit, Lavi asked, "What are you going to do? If her synchro rate falls below ten?"
He glanced at the Japanese Exorcist, unsurprised to find that he was stoic as ever, his eyebrows drawn into a perpetual scowl.
"Whatever is needed," was his terse answer.
We lay at the bottom of the boat, watching the clouds that lazily passed overhead. Our hands were tangled together as I pointed with my free hand at another passing cloud.
"That one looks like train smoke," I said.
Lavi looked at me with lifted eyebrows and retorted, "Maggie, every cloud looks like train smoke."
"I meant the smoke stack with the smoke, smart alleck."
I didn't really know how much time had passed. We had done nothing but sit and talk, occasionally admiring each other, discussing how life would have been different had the war not pulled us out of our everyday lives. He said he would've probably opened up a pub. I told him I'd always wanted to take dancing lessons. We both agreed that London is an awful place to live, even on sunny days.
"I used to think about staying on board trains when I first started with the Exorcists," I mentioned.
"Did you? What for?"
"Oh, there seems to be a million reasons. I wanted to get away from it all. It was just so overwhelming. I couldn't see my family. I never had a minute's peace. I had no earthly idea what I was doing. I slept probably ten minutes a night. It all seemed like a really, really bad dream," I murmured, fiddling with his fingers. "So I'd fantasize about staying on the train and going somewhere else, anywhere else - heck, Zimbabwe was beginning to look attractive. I knew I wouldn't - I couldn't abandon the others - but it was a nice dream. Eventually, things weren't so bad."
"Nearly getting shot or sawed in half or blown to a million pieces isn't 'so bad'?" he asked, turning over and moving a strand of hair off my forehead.
"Well, I had the rest of the kids, and I was beginning to learn, and... I guess I just grew into it," I said, the sky seeming to move overhead. "I mean, yes, getting shot at still scares the ever-loving jeebus right out of me, but it became background noise. There are more important things going on, like evacuating buildings and covering for you or for Kanda or for Marie. Once I started focusing on ending the war... making the world a safer place for my family...making a future for us..."
I trailed off and glanced at Lavi. He stared with a blank look, before averting his gaze. Both eyes turned away from me, and I felt a twinge.
"We have no future here," I murmured, touching his face and turning him to face me.
"You have no future there, either," he stressed.
"And what is there for me in this dinghy? Open water? A boat seat? A nice view? I can't very well eat clouds or entertain myself."
"You have me," he pleaded, grabbing my face with both hands. "You could have me. Here. Just us."
I backed away from him towards the aft of the boat, into my usual place. I stared at him, sitting pitifully on the other end, and I swallowed hard. As much as I had wanted this to be real, as much as I could convince myself that I'd just indulge a minute longer, there were places I had to be. Of course, I had no idea what that place was, or why I was headed there, but I knew that staying here was doing more harm than good.
And besides, Lavi had one good eye, and that was all he needed.
"Goodbye," I stated firmly, and I turned back to the rope. The moment I pulled forward, I felt the boat lighten by a single person's weight, and I hung my head for a moment before continuing on. Places to be, people to see, family to be getting back to...
Kanda hastily grabbed things from Magnolia's room. He'd gotten a key from Lily - along with heartfelt thanks, something he wasn't used to - and he rifled through the woman's things. If she woke up, no doubt she'd gripe about the hospital gown she'd be forced to wear, along with the fact she had no toiletries, nothing to read, and nothing to do but stare at the ceiling. He had managed to find a couple sets of clothes, some racy novels in Swedish, and a few of her puzzles, and of course, he had to take her pocket watch along with, lest she ask the time every five minutes. In the process of looking for her toilet kit on her vanity, he found her "expensive apology" - the necklace Savon had given to her what seemed like ages ago.
It sparkled at him with a wink, and he sighed, before snatching it and sticking it into her toilet kit. She couldn't complain about looking shabby in a hospital.
With that, he exited her room and locked it behind him. Lavi was supposed to meet him at the atrium so they could take an Arc opening to the facility. His stomach clenched as he considered the fact it was more than likely a lab several hundreds of feet underground, somewhere that she couldn't break out of in the event she became a Fallen. In other words, it would probably be a place that hit a little close to home for him to be comfortable.
As he trotted down the stairs, he heard someone calling his name, and he groaned with a great huff. Of course, he couldn't leave unscathed. He looked up the stairs, Violet trying to match his pace.
"Hey! Wait a minute, hold up!"
"I don't have time for another quiz."
"No! Hey, seriously, stop a second, I won't even take up half a minute."
Kanda finally slowed and allowed the girl to catch up. The diminutive Valdis sibling looked up at him with a stolid expression, though there was a bent to her eyebrows that perhaps spoke to some chagrin.
"I... wanted to tell you that I'm sorry about all that in the cafeteria. I think... I think you know my sister a lot better than I gave you credit for."
"Tch," he scoffed, shifting the luggage in his hand.
Violet gave him an indignant look, pursing her lips, before adding, "Look, whatever happens in there, I trust your judgment. She... she trusts you, so I trust you. Oh! And, uh... can you give her this? When she wakes up."
Violet handed over a crudely wrapped box, and Kanda took it gingerly. Scrawled on the butcher paper wrapping were the words "About time you woke up, sleepy head- the Valdis family."
"I will," Kanda said.
Violet awkwardly patted Kanda's hand and fled up the stairs, for once lacking her usual font of words. Kanda took another look at the gift before stowing it beneath his elbow and looking back up the stairs in perplexity. At the same time, there was a small bead of warmth that had settled, hearing the words "she trusts you", but he did his best not to foster it for long.
There was the chance he'd have to end her, if things got out of hand. Trust would not mean much then.
Kanda hurried down to the gate that was opened, Lavi waiting at the entrance. Without a glance backwards, the two men stepped into the white light.
On the other side was, to their surprise, a single white room nearly the size of an entire hospital floor. At the very end of it, looking entirely too tiny for the massive space she occupied, Magnolia lay in her bed hooked up to a myriad of machines. The two crossed the floor towards the woman, who was being attended by an array of nurses in white uniforms. A dedicated phone line sat near the bed, ominously pristine.
It was at this point that Kanda finally got a glimpse of the woman on the bed. It had been a week or so since his last visit, and the prognosis was not good. Her cheeks were sunken, her body worryingly lean from so many days of a liquid diet. The white surroundings washed her out and made her seem like she was made of plaster. A machine had been fed into her mouth, strapped into place, and her chest rose with artificially heavy strokes. Lavi took up residence quietly at her side, and a doctor approached Kanda.
"I was told that you are her medical proxy? I'm afraid I have bad news," the doctor said bluntly. Good, this was a man who got to the point.
"Well?" he asked.
The doctor, a young-looking man who seemed to be running purely on caffeine alone, relayed, "I'm afraid that it is unlikely she will wake without intervention. She began to lose the ability to breathe on her own about three hours ago... The likelihood of recovery is falling. We can allow her to slip away naturally, or we can prolong her life. As far as we are concerned here, however, she is a corpse with a heartbeat. I'm... terribly sorry."
Kanda glanced over at his redheaded partner, expression unchanged as he looked over the scene. The Bookman was rubbing his mouth while bouncing his leg up and down, staring into their student's face with a stricken expression. Now that the decision was in front of him, it was hard to choose while the woman he'd trained lay there not two feet away. For all their bickering and backbiting, he had come to tolerate Magnolia's company. She had cared, actually cared, for his welfare more than once, and he'd found himself underestimating how much he'd appreciated that small kindness. She had grown in ways he hadn't considered possible, developing a sudden spine and discipline. It was more than cruel that they would lose her when she just seemed to begin coming into her own.
More than that, he hated to realize that his last words to her-
"Give me some time. I'll tell you in an hour," Kanda sighed.
The doctor nodded his head and left him to his thoughts. Kanda stood beside Lavi, and the two instructors remained in semi-silence, surrounded by the beep and thrum of machines.
There are few points in my life that I could say I had been more bored. Life had become a simple set of motions - pull, reach over, pull again, reach over again. At this point, I was certain my body would continue doing it whether or not I was awake, though I had yet to ever fall asleep. I was growing suspicious of how long the day was, especially given the fact I was pretty sure I'd traversed no less than fifty nautical miles. It was like fiddling with a stubborn puzzle - there was a piece I was missing, and it was probably right underneath my left butt cheek, where I'd sat on it.
"Can this be over yet?" I groaned to the sky.
"Sure it can," someone answered me.
I stiffened, hearing my own voice behind me. I had figured out the routine by now. I request a change of pace, change of pace shows up behind me, and I immediately regret the decision I made and wish I could have the boredom back. This was no exception.
I turned around and sat with my back to the gunwale. At the other end sat a clone of me, looking... not so good. She looked older, grayer. Her hands trembled as she lifted a bottle to her lips, dry and broken hair framing her face. Her house dress was a wreck, and she looked like she hadn't eaten in about a week - or bathed, for that matter. I swallowed hard.
"Hello, there. Might I ask who you are?" I said. "These tortures seem to run on a theme."
My doppelganger smiled, lips cracking as she chuckled.
"You know who I am, Maggie. This is what you've got to look forward to," she said, gesturing to herself.
My stomach cramped. Glad to know it still worked just like it was supposed to, even after days of starvation.
"What do you mean?" I mumbled, narrowing my eyes.
She leaned forward and stared at me through lank hair.
"Don't play dumb. What are you going to do when the war is over? What future have you got out there? You think you'll make it that far? I mean, if the Akuma don't get you, the syphilis definitely will," she taunted, leaning back in her seat and lifting a trembling hand. "But this is what you want, isn't it? To suffer for the cause."
I shivered in my seat, staring at her drooling, slumped, broken form. It was as if someone had packaged every nightmare I'd had over the past few weeks and set it down in front of me for a nightcap. My mouth ran dry as I realized that what she said wasn't a lie. This was what I had to look forward to.
This was all that was out there for me when this was all over.
"What? You've got a problem pissing and soiling yourself? Having your sisters and brothers put you in a sanitarium to scream at a wall for the rest of your life? Oh, and the financial drain - they'll bleed them suckers dry for every dime it takes to take care of your dawdling, filthy, living corpse. Let me tell you Maggie, it's going to get ugly," the nightmare stated. "Everything you'll have worked for - gone. You won't even know your own name."
Tears welled up into my eyes as the future stared me down. I shook in my seat, holding myself as I tried to curl into a ball.
"So you know what?" the doppelganger sneered. "Give up. Jump in, darling. The water is fine."
Kanda didn't have much time to deliberate on the choice set before him. The phone rang a mere twenty minutes later, and a doctor snatched it up, glancing over at the CROW stationed nearest the Gate. The two Exorcists locked eyes as they guessed the subject of the call.
"What's going on?" Kanda asked as the doctor slammed the phone down with a white face.
"Her synchro rate is dropping like a stone. It's almost hit thirty percent," the doctor stated, beginning to walk towards the CROW.
Kanda caught the man by the lapel, and he hissed, "What's the protocol? How low before they kill her?"
The doctor stared at Kanda with wide eyes before stammering, "T-T-Twenty percent. Any lower, and we were told to evacuate."
"You move a hair before then, and I'll slice you at the knees," Kanda stated, letting the doctor go before walking towards the hospital bed.
What was going on here? Why would her synchro rate fall so fast? What could possibly start such an unpredictable decline?
"Her synchro rate's hit thirty percent," Kanda told Lavi in hushed tones, and the archiver took in a deep breath, rubbing his forehead.
"Kanda, she's rejecting the Order somehow. She's decided she doesn't want to do this anymore, and it's causing the rate to fall. I don't know how, I don't know what's causing it... I think we need to try and convince her to stay," Lavi sighed. "Last ditch effort. It's that, or let her suffocate."
"She's unconscious. How are we going to convince her of anything?" Kanda hissed.
Lavi shrugged his shoulders frantically and admitted, "Well, look, there are stories of people able to hear others in a coma. It's the last sense that goes. Maybe she can hear us."
God, Kanda hoped not. He'd said some pretty scathing things to her sisters that she probably wouldn't let him live down.
"You always were a massive coward."
I stood on the edge of the boat, staring into the water. I couldn't see my reflection in the inky surface, the water seeming to grow darker with each passing moment. I held myself as I rocked uncertainly on the edge of the gunwale. I had no future. All I had was my past, filling up the days ahead. There was nothing for me there. I should have stayed with Lavi's doppelganger in limbo to talk about train smoke and wishes. Here, all I could do was despair.
"Jump already. You're burning daylight!" my double singsonged, swishing a bottle.
I sobbed. I wasn't sure what would happen if I let myself disappear into the water. Could I do it? Betray God? Betray my purpose? Was it worth it to have a purpose, if I was going to end up thrown away, a wreck of a woman without a shred of dignity? It was all well and good for the others. They would be able to reap the rewards of their sacrifices, maybe even live to see the end of the war. I wouldn't even have that.
I was eighteen and already middle-aged. Half my life was over. I would just drag my sisters and brothers down. I would rather just-
"Mag," came a whisper in my right ear.
I looked up, but there was nothing but ocean around me. Who-?
"Magnolia, I don't have a clue if you can hear me, but if you can, you had better not be thinking about bailing out on me now. You're going to wake up bald otherwise."
"Kanda?" I sniffled, looking around me in perplexity.
"Whatever is going on in there... Forget about the Order. Forget about fighting to save the world. It's not worth it."
Well, thanks. That was really convincing me to stick around.
"But you can fight to have your own life. Fight to do what you want. Maggie, go to Paris in spring. Go see your brothers and sisters grow up. Learn the names of your nieces and nephews. Find a chocolate shop in Berlin. Take dance lessons. Swim in the Ganges."
I wiped my face as I listened to Kanda's small voice in my ear relay the things I had dreamed of doing. With each command, I remembered another fifteen I had given myself. Learn a new language. Find your father. See a live ballet. Go shopping with Lily and Violet and Ava. Visit Rome and New York and Lisbon. Hear a live band play in New Orleans.
"The Order doesn't care about you. They'll use you up and throw you away. But don't let them take your life. Do not give up."
"Is it really worth it, if you end up like this, though?" my twin asked from the boat.
I looked back at her and eyed the disgusting wretch, taking a deep breath.
"I'd say even more so, with how little time I have. I've got a lot of living to do. A lot of fighting for a life I want to see," I retorted.
And, with a single blink, the world changed. No boat, no ocean, no sun - instead, a sunset with a rope across a sandbar ending at a door. I slogged my way up the waterfront towards the door, finding two bracelets on the handle. With resolution, I snapped them around my wrists and wiped my eyes, looking up at the entrance standing on its own on the sandbar. Before I could think too long and too hard, I grabbed the door and swung it open.
Kanda stared into his student's still face, feeling equal parts ridiculous and apprehensive. Behind him, Lavi was doing his best to keep the CROW from advancing, though it didn't sound like things had broken out into a fight yet. An intrepid nurse had chosen to attend to the woman rather than flee with the rest of the medical team. Her synchro rate had dipped to a dangerous seven percent, and Kanda's grip on the bed rail was slowly bending it.
Her eyes flickered.
Kanda bowed his head with relief, the nurse quickly walking over as Magnolia began to stir. The young woman weakly waved a hand around, touching her face softly while muttering something around the respirator in her throat. She scrunched her eyes shut and pointed to the respirator, and the nurse removed it gently. The woman coughed, making a face.
"My mouth... tastes... like squirrel..." she mumbled as she panted, and Kanda resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
The phone rang, and all eyes flew towards it. Kanda snatched it off the cradle.
"Yes?"
"Kanda, is that you? What are you- never mind. Tell the team to hold off! Her synchronization rate is rising again. She's just hit twenty-five percent, and the rate is still climbing," Komui ordered.
"With pleasure," Kanda muttered, holding up the phone and making a cutting motion across his neck.
Lavi looked back and nodded, relaying the information to the CROW who were still chomping at the bit to traverse the room and carry out their duty. Kanda, in the meantime, felt a hand brush his back lightly, and he turned around to face the girl in the bed.
"Did... you say something... to me? While I was..." she asked, blearily looking up at him.
"Why?"
"...Heh... never took... you as sentimental..."
Kanda grumbled under his breath, but he didn't refute the claim. Magnolia's hand brushed his arm, searching for his hand, and he allowed her a moment to hang on to it with a fearsome grip. She licked her dry lips and croaked out, "Thank you. Needed it."
"The words, or my hand?"
"Both."
Magnolia raised her eyebrows at him before resting against the pillows, wheezing happily as she stared at the ceiling, finally awake.
A/N: Hello, my fellow readers! Yet another chapter in the saga of the Valdis family, hot and ready for reading. Hopefully, you've enjoyed this installment, and will continue to enjoy the chapters to come! I do really enjoy writing this story - it's probably one of my favorites - and hopefully that shows!
Thank you so much to DGMFan for leaving me a review. Sorry that there's not another chapter already out after this one, haha! If only I wrote that fast! If you have enjoyed this, then I have succeeded in what I set out to do - given someone a good diversion for a minute or two.
While I won't post discussion questions, I would appreciate feedback! If there's anything that you can say about the story - it's good, it's bad, it's too long, it's too short, you want more, you wish it had this that or the other - I would love to hear it! That's honestly my favorite part of being a writer, hearing that the writing was enjoyable and that you'd gladly come back for more, and if there's anything I can do to make it better - by all means, let me know!
Thank you all so much! God bless you, and happy reading!
