(July 31, 2017)

Chapter 20. The Light of Life

Rouge, Nicandra, and Zelony were all together in their dorm when the man has answered his scroll. After a brief conversation he has suddenly started to pack a few things to his bag and just when he was about to leave, Nicandra spoke.

"What is the matter, Zelony?"

"Bruin!" he replied with a strange smile, well, strange for Nicandra at least.

"What about him?" she continued.

"Serah called and said he had woken up!"

"What!?" Rouge exclaimed.

"Well, it was very brief. But the doctors have checked on him and said he'll be up soon."

"Isn't it a bit late for a visit?" the impish girl asked. "It's seven in the evening. Can't you go like tomorrow?"

"Rouge, you are going too," Nicandra announced. "I am going with Zelony. I would like to keep an eye on him."

"Hey, I'm not a kid, you know."

"I think I have chosen a wrong set of words," Nicandra sighed. "I just want to keep you company. And Rouge has been acting out of line lately."

"So now it's about keeping an eye on me, huh? You sure have some guts, Nic," Rouge hissed.

"In case you have not noticed since we woke up after the attack I am trying to somewhat keep this team together."

"If you're gonna keep just arguing I'm leaving," Zelony announced and went for the airship port.

"Rouge."

"Fine, I'm going, don't expect me to be nice to Mister Hyster."

The two quickly catched up with Zelony and forty minutes later they were in the hospital. They were slowly approaching Bruin's room and the green-haired boy was slowly growing more and more excited. Just hearing that the has woke up, even briefly, was good enough for him. It meant that Bruin would wake up one day and he couldn't care less when it would happen.

When they entered the room, Serah was asleep, her head resting gently on Bruin's arm. Nicandra sighed, while Rouge chuckled at the sight. Zelony approached the sleeping duo and gently tapped Serah on her shoulder. At first there was no reaction, but she started to slowly wake up. When she realized who has woken her up she suddenly shot out of the chair in which she was sleeping.

"Thanks for waiting," he started.

"Of course, although my academy professor wasn't very happy hearing I'd come late today," Serah noted.

"So what else have the doctors said about Bruin's condition?" Nicandra said, startling Serah.

"Oh, you two are also here?" she noticed the blue-haired girl and her partner. "Well, they noticed a sudden surge of Aura in him, which the found very strange. They don't know what caused it, but say that with it he will wake up very soon."

"A sudden surge of Aura? That sounds interesting," Nicandra noted. "Considering that Aura is the manifestation of soul perhaps some powerful feeling or emotion has triggered it."

"Whoah, Nic, now you're getting all metaphysical," Rouge said.

"Who cares? As long as Bruin will wake up I don't care how it happens," Zelony said.

"Well, I must be going now," Serah announced. "I need to get back to my quarters at once. See you soon."

Serah then left with smile on her face, waving at Team BRNZ. Zelony took the seat that was previously taken by his partner's friend. He took Bruin's hand into his and was simply looking at him. While Nicandra was simply observant, Rouge quickly grew bored and annoyed and she left her team. Noticing her disappearance, the blue-haired girl contemplated on what to do and decided to go after her, but not before briefly putting a hand on Zelony's shoulder and gently squeezing it.

And so only Bruin and Zelony remained in the room. The green-haired boy was silent, listening to shallows breaths of his companion. He now started to wonder about the sudden surge of Aura as well. Maybe Nicandra was right, maybe something has happened, something meaningful that it triggered the emotion. But even now Aura remains a mystery despite constant research.

At some point of his thought process the hand that Zelony was holding has suddenly started to move. The green-haired boy's eyes lit up with joy and excitement. His hands has ever so slightly squeezed Bruin's hand and unexpectedly it replied the same.

Then a sound came from Bruin's mouth and nearly instantly Zelony looked up at him.

"It's me, Zelony," he silently whispered. "I'm here."

"Z-Zel..." Bruin has whispered.

The weakened boy has opened his eyes and his gaze met with Zelony's. They both smiled.

"You're alright," Zelony whispered, a tear forming in his eye.

"Y-You… too..."

"Please, don't strain yourself," the green-haired boy asked. "You're still bedridden."

"So… glad..."

"Me too," and Zelony smile widened. "It's prolly not the best time, but I got something for you."

Zelony then started going through his bag searching for the gift. After a few moments he took out a large green headkerchief and folded it into triangle.

"A present from me."

And he very gently and loosely tied it around his neck. He was pretty sure that a nurse or a doctor would probably consider it an obstacle if they wanted to check something around his neck, so he didn't want them to ruin it.

"This should cover that awful burn..." he said.

"T-Thank you..." Bruin said.

"Hello, Bruin."

Nicandra suddenly spoke, but in a very soft way. There was also a soft smile on her face. Beside her was Rouge, surprised to see her leader awake. Bruin has slightly tilted his head towards the girls and smiled.

"H-Hi there..."

"You need your rest. Your team needs you," Nicandra said. "S do not force it if tires you too much." Another smile from Bruin.

"Oh!" Rouge exclaimed. "That headkerchief—"

"Shush!" Zelony hissed.

"Rouge, I think I forgot something at the cafeteria," Nicandra said and started to drag her partner away.

"B-But we—"

Nicandra quickly covered her mouth and the two left Bruin and Zelony alone. Rouge was looking confused at her teammate.

"Well, we have greeted him. He has seen us that we are all good," she said. "But I think that Zelony needs to be alone with Bruin for a while. It might sound a bit selfish about him, but he needs to spend some time with him in private."

"Jeez, girl," scoffed Rouge. "You have changed so much since I first met you. At first you would kick him out of leadership, but now you're like a caring older sis. You're turning into a bore."

"Maybe so, but you also changed, you're more irritating than ever."

"Thank Zelony, he's the cause of this."

Meanwhile in Bruin's room, he and Zelony were just enjoying each other's company. The green-haired boy then suddenly hugged his partner, startling him.

"I… I thought I lost you!" tears started to flood his face. "I thought I'd never see you again! You have no idea how I missed you, dammit!"

"I'm… sorry..." Bruin muttered.

Zelony has stopped his hug. He put his hands on his partner's shoulders and looked him straight into his face, although Bruin avoided the eye contact.

"Don't be. It was my fault you got hurt so badly."

Bruin then noticed a stream of tears on Zelony's face in the corner of his eye. He was hurting on the inside very much, in ways that he couldn't understand. He didn't know what to say, anything would feel just inappropriate at the moment. So he did the only thing that was alright in his opinion: he returned Zelony's embrace. His partner was surprised by this, but complied nonetheless, happy that future was starting to look up again.

Bruin had to stay Yuletide and New Year's in the hospital, but his condition was greatly improving since his meeting with Zelony and the rest of his team. His partner has frequently visited him during that time and provided a lot of activities to occupy the recuperation time. Still, Bruin had a lot of school to make up, but with a brightened up Zelony it somehow was going very smooth and surprisingly easy.

"Your reckless attack on the Four Maidens' Plaza in Vale has cost us quite a lot, Claret," a deep male voice spoke from the shadows.

Carmin was sitting in a room, tied with Semblance-blocking chains to a chair. It was horribly uncomfortable, he couldn't even scratch his itchy nose. It's been weeks since they have brought him here, feeding when needed, but never really talking, except exchanging a few snarky comments.

"You're so out of touch with reality, Finlay," Carmin purred. "Letting those freaks walking on the streets so freely is a crime."

"For you it's "General Frost", Claret," Finlay scolded him. "We're lucky that Gwenn was nearby or you'd probably destroy whole Vale if it came to that and we simply can't be having that."

"And let the world be overrun by those animals? Over my dead body," and he spat.

"You'll need to try harder than that to be on my bad side."

Then a woman in a silver-blue outfit entered the room.

"Sir, the meeting will start in five minutes," she announced.

"Thank you, Gull," Finlay replied.

"And you're on the first name basis with her," Carmin growled.

Finlay hasn't replied to that comment and left the room.

"I have no idea what General Frost sees in you that he still keeps you with us," she sighed. "You have strength, I'll give you that, but aside of that who are you really?"

And she also left the room, leaving Carmin alone.

"I am much more than the two of you could ever imagine..." and started to laugh hysterically.

Author's Notes

FINALLY DONE WITH VOLUME 1!

I hope the hospital scene is okay. I planned some other things for it as well, but I'll be moving them to a different point in the series.

I already have some ideas for Volume 2, so stay tuned!

Is there anything you want to see, be addressed in the future chapters?