Day 48: Sun Room [Second Shift]

[perfectrecord]

Hmph. While this Rude was the proverbial "man of few words," von Karma found more potential use from him than a number of the other patients he had met put together. He would still ask Franziska about the man... as well as the other people he had learned that she had been spending time around. Many of them were utter fools, especially that

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[himetsuru]

[from here]

Showering had been far more painful than a shower had any right to be. Falis wasn't even sure if she managed to get all the blood out from the depths of her hair. She'd refused to let the nurses help her, not cleaning herself far quicker than she usually did if only because of the pain.

Curling up on the couch, Falis rest her head against the backrest and closed her eyes. Owwww...

[Hokuto]

[akarusa]

[[From here.]]

Hokuto wondered dully if she should just go back to her room; only when she saw Falis did she remember why she hadn't asked for it. She wanted to cry for a moment, but once again this was a grief too deep for tears.

She did see that Falis was hurt, so she only sat down next to her and then curled up, head on her girl's shoulder. "Hi," she whispered. Even that one little word made it very clear that she was not okay.

[himetsuru]

Falis opened her eyes when she felt the couch shift, about ready to tell the person to fuck off and leave her alone when she saw it was Hokuto.

"Careful. Got chewed on by a demon last night," she said, shifting slowly with a grunt of pain to put an arm about he girlfriend. "Tell me what happened."

[akarusa]

She sighed, barely audibly, and just shook her head, pressing her face into Falis' shoulder a little more. I can't... She'd barely spoken today and didn't want to. She'll be mad that I got hurt, and Subaru... I just can't.

Maybe she would sleep again, now that she was with her lover. Maybe. Even if knowing that the other girl was hurt too didn't help her state of mind.

[himetsuru]

Giving Hokuto a gentle kiss on the cheek, Falis sighed and closed her eyes again.

"Alright, I won't press you, but you know you need to tell someone eventually."

[akarusa]

Hokuto didn't speak for a long time; finding she still couldn't sleep, she meditated for a while, trying to unwind. She was deadly calm, but so deep in despair that she couldn't feel much else. Still, her body was tense with the other emotions she knew were swirling inside her.

She didn't want to say anything, but it wasn't as if keeping quiet would make anything less real. "Subaru's gone," she whispered.

[himetsuru]

While Hokuto stayed silent, Falis drifted back into the haze of her mind coupled with the throbbing pain from her own breathing. It hurt to have Hokuto leaning against her, but Falis wasn't going to say anything. Clearly, the girl needed her and the pain... was tolerable. Kind of.

Rhythmically, Falis rubbed Hokuto's back, only opening her eyes once the silence was broken. Subaru... Oh. Falis gave a mental sigh. "He's back home," she said - a statement, not a suggestion for hope.

[akarusa]

She nodded, keeping her own eyes closed. "Maybe... he'll listen," she said quietly. She had tried, so hard, to lift him up enough to get by without her. But... she didn't think she had managed.

"Maybe Sei-chan will too." She clenched her fist over her chest, where at least some of the scars she should have had were forming.

[himetsuru]

Now Falis was confused and she wasn't sure she could blame it on the mind haze.

"Uh... They'll listen to what? Kind of got numbing poisons in me..."

[akarusa]

"I told Subaru to go on with his life; he'll see me again someday." Hokuto sighed, and was quiet again for a while before she continued. "I'd have given anything to give him a happy life, but... all I could do was make sure he had a life to go on with. There was nothing I could do to convince him of anything." Her voice broke.

After she managed to compose herself again, she continued nearly expressionlessly, "But as for Sei-chan... I gave him the ultimate choice." In her current state of mind, she didn't realize Falis was not going to catch an anime reference. "He'd better believe I had the strength to do it."

[himetsuru]

Okay, the first half made sense, kind of, but the second...

"People needs to make their own choices, pretty girl," she murmured, bringing a hand up to pass through Hokuto's bangs. "And that includes your brother."

Whether he was okay with living a life he was not content with or not was his business. Maybe it was just a twin thing Falis just didn't get. Maybe it was her own experience of having watched her family burn to death. She didn't have family to grow up with. But that last bit...

"Ugh, what d'you mean by ultimate choice?" She'd had to make an 'ultimate choice', but she didn't think saving the fucking world and banishing her partners her all eternity is what Hokuto was talking about.

[akarusa]

"If he ever tries to kill Subaru like he did me, he will die." She didn't even realize she was finally telling her lover about the death curse she had been able to cast. "Even if Subaru doesn't fight back."

[himetsuru]

Had Falis not been trying to navigate through a mental haze at the same time she tried to keep track of Hokuto's words and figure out their meaning, she never would have said what she did in response.

"How's that work? You're dead-dead. Can't cut stab someone in the chest unless you're there."

[akarusa]

"I don't have to..." Hokuto shook her head. "If he tries it, the power will reverse on him even though I'm gone." Her power was still around even if she wasn't; dormant, but waiting. And there was nothing he could do about it but heed her warning.

[himetsuru]

"..."

Power reverse on him? The fuck?

"Okay, repeat that in Stupid Bounty Hunter so I can understand."

[akarusa]

The fact that Hokuto was drugged was probably the only possible reason for her answer. "A curse. I cursed him." And she wished more than anything that it hadn't come to that.