Thoma POV

"What's that noise? Is it coming from outside?"

Waking up from a deep sleep, raging winds and hard rain startled the housekeeper of the Kamisato Clan, Thoma.

Sitting up in bed, I waited for a moment to fully wake up and rubbed my tired eyes as I listened to the storm outside.

"It was such a beautiful day earlier without a cloud in the sky, what happened?" I wondered as I moved to get up from my bed and walked out of my room. "Can't fall back asleep after something like that. I guess I'll go check on the rest of the estate. We don't have storms like this often, so there shouldn't be that much damage though... I hope." I said.

After a yawn escaped my mouth, I stretched my arms above my head a moment longer to get ready for any work that might need to be done.

Outside of my room, the noise from the weather outside was worse.

"Wow, I wonder how I was asleep for this long. I shouldn't stay up too late next time if I can help it." I said as I walked on over to the closest window to check for any cracks or scratches. "What a relief. So far, so good."

Continuing like this for a while, I inspected all of the windows for damage and the doors in case there was any water coming inside.

Once I was making my way over to the last window, there was a bright flash of lightning accompanied with a loud boom of thunder that seemed to shake the estate itself and it temporarily blinded me. Not long after, I hear the dreaded sound of water dripping.

"Oh, no!" I said when I realized what that sound meant, the roof had been struck by lightning and rain was making it's way inside one of the rooms.

Rushing over to fix whatever I could, it took me a while to cover up the hole. As I was finishing up, another lightning strike sounded as if it was nearby and made me jump at how loud it seemed to be. Along with it, there was an odd noise that made me try and peek out of the closest window to me. With the amount of rain that was pouring, I wasn't able to see too much but I noticed a strange figure on the floor.

"Is that... No!" I realized there was a person outside who had collapsed in the middle of the storm.

In my rush to go help them, I ran into someone and we both fell to the floor. It took me a second to realize that I was not home alone. Immediately I stood back up and offered my hand to help up the lady of the house.

"Lady Ayaka! Are you alright? S- Sorry, I was- Why are you soaked?" I said all at once but stopped when I realized she was dripping water from down the hallway.

"Thoma! I'm sorry for the mess. I was just on my way to get a change of clothes. That storm outside is nothing like we've had in a while." Ayaka tilted her head in confusion when she saw the expression on my face. "Is there something wrong?"

"There's no time to really explain but, there's someone hurt out there." I said in a rush and took a few steps towards the front door before she stopped me.

"Be careful out there! Get them into the guest room and we'll do what we can." She said before we both nodded to each other in agreement. "I'll help you as soon possible."

At this, I walked out the front door and the strong gusts of wind surprised me at first. The amount of water was making it hard to walk and I nearly slipped a few times as I made it to the area where I last saw the person. It took longer than it should've because of the wind and rain, but I was able to make my way over there and look for where they might be.

"I hope they didn't try to walk away in this kind of weather!" I said, shielding my eyes from the constant rain and flying debris in the air. "I have to calm myself down or I might not be able to find them."

Breathing slowly, in and out, I took one last turn to see if I can find them. Sure enough, I saw the same person lying on the ground. Rushing over there and getting on my knees, now that I was close enough, I could see that it was a young woman who seemed to be around Lady Ayaka's age.

"Hey! Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!" I called out to her.

There was no response no matter how loud I raised my voice over the sounds of the raging winds and rain. Deciding to move her to a safer place, I turned her over and in my surprise I froze for a moment. Moving her wet hair off of her face to confirm, I realized that I recognized her. My heart sank at the sight. She was pale and her usually lively smile was replaced with the expression of one as if she was asleep. My hand gently brushed over the side of her forehead and I saw some red, she was hurt.

A loud pang of thunder jolted me from my thoughts and back to the moment at hand.

'I need to get her somewhere safe!'

Getting one of her arms over my shoulder in order to move her, I was determined to get her out of this storm. I stood up, wrapped one of my arms over her waist, and began to shorten the distance between us and the Kamisato Estate.

"Aranea... I know that you can't hear me right now, but you'll be okay." I began to talk, a way to calm myself in the situation. "Your friend, Lady Ayaka is home right now. You'll be taken care of. You have nothing to worry about."

The more ground we covered, the more soaked in water we both became. I glanced over to her once more, and saw her head wound still bleeding.

'She must've gotten hurt when she collapsed... But why was she outside in this storm? How long was she out there for?' I wondered as I finally reached the the front door.

Opening the door wide, I adjusted her once more from slipping against my grip and was able to shut the door behind me with a loud enough slam that it caught Lady Ayaka's attention before I could call out for her.

"Thoma! You're back! Did you find-" Ayaka began to ask but stopped herself when she saw who I had by my side. "Is that...!" She gasped in shock and ran over to her friend and help me carry her.

With one quick movement, Lady Ayaka had moved Aranea's free arm over her own shoulder and assisted me in moving her. Her small figure has never ceased to amaze me when she shows her true strength like this, especially when she's helping someone she cares about. We walked in a careful pace as we talked.

"I found her outside, but she hasn't woken up or said anything. Lady Ayaka, she's hurt." I quickly explained as we both walked further into the estate and get her into the vacant guest room.

"She's freezing!" She commented. "I will help her into some dry clothes for her to wear after I bandage her up. When I take her in the room, you get out of those wet clothes, too. I wouldn't like you to catch a cold, Thoma."

"I'll do just that." I agreed.

After Lady Ayaka carried her friend into the spare guest room and shut the door behind her, I went back to my room and dried off the best that I could.

'It's the first time I've ever been that close to Aranea like that. She's always been at a distance before when she was meeting with my Lady and Lord...' I paused for a moment when I began to think back to the events from earlier. 'I do hope she can forgive me, holding onto her like that.'

Feeling my face get warm, I shook my head when I kept thinking about her.

"I just hope that I got to her on time. She'll be okay." I tried to assure myself.

*The name "Aranea" is from Final Fantasy 15. ("R-Uh-Ney-Uh")

Twitch: Enrita11

August 28th, 2023