Day 44: Sun Room (4th Shift)
As soon as she had the chance, Sheena ninja'd herself out of the cafeteria and away from the conversation she'd been semi-forced to have. She probably could have just clammed up and told the boys to go away, but she'd kind of owed at least Endrance some kind of explanation. It wasn't everyday the embodiment of darkness pops up and delivers a
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A brief glance at the bulletin board on the way in told him that yet another person was joining the investigative bandwagon. His eyes narrowed. Privacy...apparently a foreign concept in the face of data collection, even if all the posters encouraged anonymity.
The swordsman walked away from the board and sat down on an empty couch, fingers ghosting over the exact spot where he'd been supposedly run through the night before. Gone, it was gone - and maybe in a thousand years or so the memory would be gone too, he thought morbidly.
[closed to Raine]
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Finding a chair near him--neither of them was much for being too close--she said, "If you're not sick of being asked, how are you doing?" He could guess what she was referring to.
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She was going to nag and poke him for a more suitable answer, he had no doubt about this. Raine would gladly pin him down with her words and watch him squirm as he tried to do everything in his power to avoid telling her what she wanted to hear. And in the end maybe he would tell her, and she still wouldn't be satisfied.
...she had an incredible presence as a teacher, to be able to reduce those nearby to mere students.
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More gently, "I'm not here to drag every little detail out of you--I know enough about what happened. But it can't have been easy to even be reminded of, let alone experience that." He wouldn't really want to talk to her, but again, who would he talk to if left alone?
For all she knew, Anna's death wasn't even the only one he'd experienced, but she had no doubt that was what he would have the hardest time putting out of his mind.
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He didn't want to talk about this, not when he was just starting to feel as if his mind was settling. (It had taken far less time than usual, but admittedly he was forcing himself.) For once he was willing to move on and not dwell for eternity over the trauma, and yet of course Raine had to act on her damnable motherly instincts.
"Why bother if you already have an idea of what happened?" Kratos asked bitterly. Why was it that every time he wanted to be left alone she had to ask after his health? Logic would tell her how he was feeling.
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If only the psychiatrists here were actually helpful... Raine supposed it might help that she knew the basics of what had happened, so they could skip over that much.
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Kratos groaned and ran a hand through his hair. He remembered what had happened last time: she'd slapped him in trying to get him to come to his senses. That didn't need to be repeated. "Honestly, Miss Sage, how would you feel if you were killed in the exact same manner as someone you loved, only to awaken in the morning as if nothing had happened?"
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...she'd had her share of those, which might be why she was using it as an example. But treating burns, even magically, hurt due to the dead and damaged skin being removed--but healing couldn't begin until that had been done.
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So there was no one left that he could possibly ever talk to, except for Raine, but at least she wasn't inclined to go telling the whole world about it. At least she had maturity. It can't be that bad, his mind reasoned. You managed to tell Lloyd. And think: after you're done, she'll stop bothering you. It was a valid argument.
"...so where should I start?" Raine could consider it somewhat of a victory, but he wasn't about to tell her everything. Some details of this story he'd kept even from Lloyd.
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She actually didn't know all the details of how Anna had died, just that she'd been transformed into a monster and Kratos had had to kill her for the safety of everyone around them. It had been the right thing to do for all involved, but that didn't make it any less tragic. Or painful.
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She had spoken - and that most of all had drawn his attention because those words had haunted him for days; they were rooted deeply in his mind. This time, they had also seemingly triggered the vision or illusion he'd ended up in.
"I heard her voice, and I turned my attention away from our opponent for a split second - but that was all that was needed."
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She was getting a little sidetracked, since she hadn't gotten the chance to ask anyone else about this...
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"In any case..." He suddenly seemed very reluctant to continue; they were getting close to the more sensitive details.
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The information he gave her might be useful, eventually, and even if it wasn't he did need to talk about it.
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Kratos exhaled slowly, letting the breath escape in one hiss. "There was one instant where the scene set itself up, and then in the next...the Flamberge was planted in my chest. And that was when I realized what was going on."
He gritted his teeth. "There were four seconds in between entry and exit - don't ask why I remember this. This Flamberge lasted that exact duration. And that, that was only one part. I...I could hear myself breathing; I could hear my own footsteps as my past self backed up - as he blasted the nearest Desian. My voice, echoing back to me."
In shock, he had also tried to use his magic - and in the same motion, fallen to the ground as Anna did.
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She didn't think that was all, but for now she waited for him to keep going on his own.
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