Pain was something that Ferain had grown accustomed to, more specifically this year more than any other. But, as was the way of things during every prior experience, this one was unmatched. Her eyes did not open, but at some point, her consciousness seemed to return, and with it came the most horrible agony she’d ever been through. From head to toe, it felt like she’d been set into lava, or some sort of unquenchable flame. She felt alive, but just barely, and for a few seconds, she had hopes that she wouldn't be for much longer. The amount of fire that was running through her nervous system was enough to make death a long sought companion. In time, be it minutes, hours, maybe even days, this faded. Her wounds seemed to be healing, her pain seemed to be subsiding, though slowly.
Throughout all of this, the one place she felt no pain from, in fact, it was the place she felt absolutely nothing from, was her right arm. From the shoulder to the tips of each finger, there was no sensation to be found. No touch, no hint of it even still existing. Had it not been for the rest of her body making up for the lack of feeling in that one spot, she might’ve been worried, but when the pain was close to being gone, her concern began to rise. Her mind was coming back to its senses, and questions arose. Did she still have an arm there? That was the first to come. The second was almost as bad an outcome. If she still had an arm, could she ever use it again? When Ferain finally woke up, she found her answers. They were neither good nor bad. They left her with no hope, but also no doubt or anger.
Lying in a hospital bed, dressed in a simple blue gown, she had spotted her arm when she first regained her vision. It was there, where it had always been, though she did not see skin. Instead, she saw thick white bandages wrapped from shoulder to fingertips, covering up every bit of possible skin that might have been there. She felt small tingles from it, but moving it was asking for too much. Even twitching a single finger was impossible. The doctor that rushed in upon her waking up gave her the answer to her question. They believed that with how much power she funneled into her last attack, the nerves were completely fried. As for what remained under the bandages, they said most of her skin was covered in scars. Pink, raw splotches of burned flesh that had already healed as much as they ever would. Mixed in with the burns were lightning patterns, as if a single strike of lightning had started at her shoulder and wound around her arm until it reached her hand, where it proceeded to spider out to every finger and tangle around them as well.
When it came to the nerve damage, which in Fera’s opinion seemed like a complete understatement, the doctor mentioned that somehow, her powers were slowly healing them. He was hopeful that given enough time, she would be able to use the arm again. In his words, ‘It’s a miracle that you even still have it, let alone be able to use it in the future.’ Not really inspiring words for Ferain, but there was always worse news to be heard, and that was only proven when Anita had come to visit her. Her silver haired partner slowly and gingerly, sat beside her bed. She wore a pained expression, which Fera assumed was from the nasty wound Kiko had delivered to her side before Fera unleashed more power than her current body could handle.
They looked at one another, both sharing a grim expression. Anita looked happy though, happy that Ferain was at least alive and recovering. Of course, Fera was happy too to see that her partner was well, but there was something that overpowered that small hint of light. It was the dark, terrible truth that drowned her for a short time when it all came rushing back. Yarin was murdered, another girl was dead, and Lilipa was in critical condition, still being monitored every day, all day, for any changes to her health.
“They are hopeful, though.” Anita told her.
“Good.” Fera muttered, turning her head away and staring out of the window.
Anita saw a pained expression on Ferain’s face, a look of guilt and sorrow, a look that she’d rarely seen there, at least to that extent. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about Yarin.” she softly said, unsure if these were the right words for the moment and mood.
“How could I not?” Fera asked grimly. She stared down at her bandaged right arm and glowered. “If I’d been smarter… I should have known it was Kiko all along. There were so many signs, just from that night. He told me he slipped up, told me that he was worried I’d piece it together, but I never did. I was so taken aback by everything else that Kiko didn’t even cross my mind.”
“There was no way–”
“There was a way!” Fera yelled suddenly, her eyes glowing randomly as she glared into Anita’s face. “I messed up, and because of that, Yarin is dead! Dead, Anita! He’s never coming back, and it’s my fault!”
“Fera, you–”
“Shut up!” Fera screamed, gripping a fistful of her hair painfully in her left hand. “You can’t make excuses for me.”
“I understand how you feel, but you–”
“You don’t understand anything! How could you?! You don’t know anything about what it was like! I was alone, treated like a monster for my entire life! Even by my own family! And these damn powers, the things that made my life a living hell, the things that took everything from me… couldn’t even be used to save a single friend.”
“You saved Lilipa.” Anita quietly interjected, trying to use her sad, soft glare to bring her friend, her partner, back to her senses.
She was angry, which was completely in her right, but because of her state of mind, she didn’t know what she was saying. She was speaking from emotion, not thought. Once Ferain calmed down, once it all sank in, she’d be fine again. Anita had to tell herself that, but as she began to reach a hand out to her partner, she noticed it was shaking. She made a promise to Fera once, she said that she would never be afraid of her, no matter what happened. She was currently breaking that promise, and she couldn’t fight against it. Fera’s powers were particularly unstable right now. The doctor hypothesized that this was due to the healing of her arm. As her powers were occupied with that, which seemed to be an automatic, subconscious action from her own body, she had little control over them. This made an emotional Ferain a very dangerous thing to be around, and while Anita was tough, Fera had grown more powerful throughout the year.
The random blast she received on the ship during their first day of knowing each other would not be the same random blast she’d receive now. Anita shook her head, committed to reaching out to her partner, and chastised herself for hesitating at all. Fera was hers, and she was Fera’s, they were a pair, and it was Anita’s job to be there for her other half.
“You saved me.” Anita added quietly. “I would have died if not for–”
“You would not have been there if not for me!” Fera said, raising her voice again.
Her messy and charred brown hair fell around her face as her glowing eyes gleamed behind the curtains that were her bangs. Most of her hair had been burned and singed from whatever she’d done at the end of the battle. If she were to cut it off, which she would no doubt have to do soon, it would leave her enough to reach her ears, perhaps not even cover them, and even then, some of her fringe might still be blackened. Fera looked away sadly, angrily, remorsefully. To Anita, she looked like a person whose family had just been taken away from them, like a person who had just watched their family dog die in front of their eyes… She looked like a lost, scared little girl that had nowhere else to go in the world but down.
“If I had just died that night… If I had just let my dad kill me… none of this would have happened. My mom would still be alive, you would never have gotten hurt this year, maybe Yarin would still be alive. If I could go back, I would change it. I would let him do it.”
Anita felt something in her throat constrict and her lungs seemed to stop working. Her lips parted to say something, but nothing came out, not even air. Her eyes were burning as something was clawing its way out of her, something she tried her hardest to never show anybody else, and as she watched the most important person in her life give such a defeated, surrendering look at her damaged right limb, she felt her heart fracture.
“I… I’m going to get something to drink. I’ll uhh, I’ll get you some water. You’re probably thirsty.” said Anita, working harder than she ever had before to force a smile on her face.
Fera didn’t respond, and didn’t even turn her head as Anita rose and made for the door. As the door was closing shut behind her, she gave a final look back to see Fera crying and gripping her hair furiously. Anita was not alone in the hallway when the door finally shut completely. There were nurses in their uniforms running around and sitting behind their service counter in the center of the corridor, and there were doctors in their white coats talking with patients and visitors and nurses alike. Still, this was alone enough for Anita to let out what was about to explode from her if not voluntarily released soon. She couldn’t hold it in any longer. The grief, the pain, all of it was just too much for even her to handle.
Anita had shown weakness only a couple of times in front of people, that wasn’t who she was now. She was supposed to be strong, supposed to be the supporter. That was who she wanted to become, a person that would always be there, standing tall when those around her needed a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen to. She wanted to be able to give positivity to everyone, but mostly to Ferain. Now, however, there was no more strength to be found. She let her back hit the wall beside the door, her hands covering her eyes, and she let herself slide down into a fetal position. In that moment, her resolve shattered, her facade completely vanished, her idealized version of herself completely crumbled away.
Tears relentlessly came unbidden and her entire body went absolutely numb. As she pulled her legs tighter to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, she fell into a total, complete mess. There was nothing left of the strong, positive Anita. There were no traces left of the person that Ferain thought she was. All of the weight of what had happened, all of the pressure of being who she was trying to be, and the sight of her crushed and defeated friend had left her in an almost unrecognizable state. Streams of tears fell down the curves of her face as snot ran from her running nose. Her mouth was helplessly letting out trails of saliva as she broke under the pressure, and shattered under the image and standards that she now held herself too.
Anita clawed at any clothing she could find on her person, trying to do… something. She didn’t know what, but at the present time, her brain had left her and her senses had fallen away.
“Ms. Caswell.” came a gloomy, but sturdy voice.
As Anita choked and tried to take in any sort of oxygen, she looked up and saw in her blurry vision a tall man with loose black hair that was stained with a single white streak. In place of his usual suit, he was wearing jeans and a tight fitting t-shirt that was gray in color. Hastily, Anita began rubbing at her eyes and mouth and nose with her hands and sleeves, trying to pull herself together in front of such a prestigious figure. While attempting to clean herself up, she let out a laugh that was as fake as fake could possibly be, as it was an impulse at this point to not lay her burdens on other people.
“Headmaster,” she said hoarsely. “I’m sorry. I-I’m not in a p-proper state to be greeting you.” she said, sniffling and struggling against the tears that still wanted to come. “F-Ferain is…” she sucked in a breath during her pause. “She’s, ummm… She’s…” Anita found that she couldn’t speak anymore. Only more tears came, and with them came more choking breaths as she struggled to take in air between her stuttering mannerisms.
To her surprise, the headmaster crouched down in front of her and smiled warmly. “Ferain can wait, Ms. Caswell,” he said kindly. “I reckon that she will need some time on her own to come to terms with what has happened. Come, would you have some tea with me?” he asked, holding out his hand for her to take.
All she could manage after wiping her face on her sleeve repeatedly was a brief nod. He helped her up and before long, they found themselves in the hospital cafeteria. It was a dark plastic table that was stuffed in the corner of the massive interior, and they actually had some privacy for a change, despite the busy nature of the place. She had a cup of steaming tea clasped in both trembling hands as she sipped unsteadily from the mug. Across from her sat Guji Hakamura, who had one hand on the table, its index finger tapping incessantly against the surface, and the other hand gripping the handle of the mug he had been given. After several minutes of surprisingly calming silence, she decided it was only right of her to thank him for this generosity. Anita set her glass down and gave a genuine smile, albeit a weak one, but he didn’t seem to mind in the least.
“Thank you, Headmaster.”
“You’re very welcome, Ms. Caswell. I must admit, I didn’t expect you to be the one needing support at the moment. I took you to be the most capable of the pair to handle such a situation.”
Anita looked away at these words and sighed. “Usually, I am.” she admitted. “It’s just… with everything that’s happened…”
“I understand completely. Everybody has a breaking point, Ms. Caswell, it was certainly reaching the time when yours was discovered. You have been put through a lot this past year, both you and Ms. Hirigaya has. I don’t think anybody would have any right to criticize your actions moments ago. You know, I knew Ferain’s parents back during our days here at the academy. We were very close friends, actually. Ferain’s mother was a lot like you.” Guji said warmly, wearing a similarly matching expression that hinted at an extremely powerful longing. “She was always smiling, no matter what. In fact, she was well known to be a pillar of support among the students, both old and young. Whenever anyone had a problem, they knew Harriet could be counted on to help solve it. Just get over a breakup and she would be the first person to hug you and tell you that you’d be okay. She was a… a remarkable woman.”
Anita gave him a curious expression and he laughed.
“Sorry. As Ms. Hirigaya could tell you, I have the unfortunate tendency of rambling as I reminisce about the past. Anyway, my point is that she too reached her limit eventually. One day, she didn’t show up for lunch, which was odd for her. You see, she’d always bring enough to share between the four of us, but she was nowhere to be found. Me, Ferain’s father, and Autumn all spread out to look for her, but I was the one that found her. I was passing by the gym’s storage shed when I heard what sounded like crying. Curious, I investigated, and what I found was something I never thought I’d ever see. Harriet was curled up against a pile of stacked gym mats, and she was crying hysterically. When I finally got her attention, her eyes were swollen and red from all of the crying and rubbing. She eventually told me what happened, but you probably don't care to know. Either way, even the strongest of us are not infallible or impervious to fits of emotions… yourself included.”
“I know that.” Anita said glumly, looking down at her covered left forearm, the place where more than a dozen reminders of how fallible she really was resided. “I know that… but I hate it still. I’m not supposed to be this way. I can’t be this way. If I get like this, who is supposed to help Ferain when she's falling apart?”
“Well, Ferain will help Ferain.” Guji said. “She’s strong, Ms. Caswell, has been all her life thanks to what reality has dealt her. She doesn’t need other people near as much as she thinks she does. Mark my words, by tomorrow morning she’ll realize what she did and come apologizing to you for everything. She might not be back to how she was a week ago, I don’t think that can be expected of any of the involved parties, but she’ll be better, you’ll see. But, Ms. Hirigaya is not my concern at the moment. I was going there to see her, but I found that your needs were more pressing.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“But–”
“No.” Guji said, interrupting her. “Ms. Caswell… Anita… it’s okay to allow yourself to be supported from time to time. Like with her arm, Ferain will heal on her own. She’ll be fine after she calms down and thinks over what happened. The burden you bear might be different, however. Such is the way of things with anyone that’s like you.”
“Like Ferain’s mom?”
“Exactly like her, yes. I’ve found in my time that those who support others do so because they feel like they’re the only ones that can, and their own health be damned. Even when they do finally break, just like Harriet’s case, they do so in private and then put on their mask of strength when in the public eye again. Had I not found her that afternoon, nobody would have ever known what happened in that storage shed. She would have turned up later, smiling and accepting everyone else’s burdens, just as she did every single day I knew her. People like you need a break. You need to take off that armor and remind yourselves that you are, well, not human, but close enough to one. I don’t have any encouraging words for you, or advice on how to get past this. The only thing I can offer is to let time do its thing. Let your armor fall for a while and let your mind and heart relax.”
“Are you essentially telling me to cry?” Anita asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Basically, in a simplified way of putting it. I do realize that my style of speech get’s, well, dragged on. I’ve always been this way, you see. It’s how I was raised to talk. Believe it or not, my own father talked like this as well.” he said with a smile.
To this, Anita laughed and nodded her head. “I already feel a bit better. Thank you, Headmaster.”
“I didn’t do anything special,” he said.
“You said the things I needed to hear, and that made all the difference.” said Anita, grinning now.
“Then I’m happy that I could help. It’s the least I could do after what happened to you both.”
To this, Anita tilted her head and flashed a curious, inquiring expression. He seemed to notice and nodded his head, apparently readying himself to reveal something he’d been hiding for some time.
“You see, a lot of this is my fault. Mr. Olira’s death, the two of you getting involved, all of it. For some time now, I had a suspicion of Kiko’s involvement. Mr. Olira, err… Yarin… came to me with his suspicions shortly after the second victim was discovered.”
“That was around the time he stopped training Fera.” Anita pointed out. “He said he had something to do, something that would be occupying his time for a while.”
“Yes. He, with my confidence, was going to start keeping an eye on his partner. Agent Key was also informed of this from the very start. It was, at Yarin’s request, to be kept secret from any and all of his acquaintances, no exceptions. He didn’t want anyone getting involved, or any possibility of his intentions getting to Kiko.”
“But… But Yarin confessed to everything. If he knew it was Kiko all along, why…”
“That too was part of the plan. It was a… recent development, but one born of Yarin’s astounding intellect. You see, his task was to find evidence of Kiko’s activities. Without evidence, we could not do anything to him, not when all of the actual, public evidence pointed to the various lightning-users within the academy’s registry. The courts, government, and even the public would all lean more towards Yarin or Ferain than Kiko, who since five years of age has been registered as an ice-wielder. We had no inclination to how he was committing the murders, and as much as I hate to admit it, Kiko was quite… skilled… at covering his tracks. There were no connections between the victims, all of them appeared random. The times and locations never lined up with any motive or pattern. The only traces of evidence at any of the crime scenes pointed to lightning based abilities, essentially keeping him from becoming a suspect. It was, in a way, perfectly planned. Not knowing the full extent of his powers, however, that was the primary flaw in all of our plans.”
Guji sipped from his tea in order to wet his throat before he continued. Anita, on the other hand, was too raptured and intrigued and confused to even remember she even had a drink to help ease her currently drying throat.
“The murder before the night Yarin confessed, he came to me and Cross with the idea of turning himself in. He said that he was going to confront Kiko but if that failed and another murder came to pass, he would turn himself in and confess to the crimes. The intention of this was that if he, who was the most likely suspect at the time, wound up caught and behind bars, it would restrict Kiko’s ability to continue his murders. His goal seemed to be to cause confusion by shifting blame from one suspect to the other, making sure nobody really knew who was behind it. If the killer was actually discovered and arrested, Yarin thought Kiko would at least wait some time before deciding to kill again, all the while, we’d be working behind the scenes on gathering evidence of his crimes. Yarin was never actually taken into custody. He was still going out at night in the hopes of catching Kiko in the act, and hopefully before another person wound up dead. As I said, it was this underestimation of Kiko, and the lack of knowledge of his true abilities that put a wrench in any plan we could have come up with.”
“True abilities?” asked Anita. “Like how he somehow copies powers?”
“Exactly that. As you know, abilities aren’t traceable within a person. We can’t look at any given wielder and discern how many abilities they have or what they might be. This is why we don’t actually know if Ferain has a second power for her accelerated healing or if it’s a branching stem from her lightning-based gifts. During the interrogation, Kiko revealed that his power is not actually just creating and manipulating ice. He also has the ability to copy other wielders’ powers. Think of his body as a storage unit for a PC. Whenever he touches a person, he can copy their abilities and store them away for later use. In his own words, however, he is only capable of utilizing around half of the original owner’s strength with said ability. You see now the flaw in our planning? This one unknown factor was enough to cost us everything, including young Yarin’s life.”
“Interrogation? Kiko is alive, then?”
“Very much so. Ferain… missed. I am assuming she, in her blind rage, tried to kill him. Whatever she did failed to do so. She severed his right arm and sent enough power though his body to temporarily stop his heart, but the pulsing currents that almost killed him managed to start his heart back up again, or so I’m told. She moved so fast, so recklessly, she couldn’t aim properly. I don’t even know if she even physically made contact. The damage that was done might have just been the reach of the aura that was emitted around her arm. Had it actually hit, I imagine much less of his body would have remained behind. Getting back to my explanation, after Yarin was detained, there were no killings, as you very well know. However, knowing Kiko as well as he did, Yarin didn’t think Kiko would let the end of the year go by without ‘ending it with a bang’, as he put it. He expected his partner to finally make a move again during the festivities at some point. I had full faith in Yarin, as did Cross, so we let him go. He wanted to be present, to keep an eye on Kiko and to prevent him from doing anything nefarious. Because of our lack of knowledge, I suspect Yarin was taken by surprise, which resulted in his death, which then brought about the failure in our mission, and the night was concluded with the involvement of you and Ferain. This is why I must apologize for putting the pair of you in danger, and for the sacrifice of your friend. It was not my intention, but it was partly my decision and I cannot absolve myself of blame completely.”
“You couldn’t have known,” said Anita. “Fera went through the registry too, even after she gave it back, she replayed it in her mind over and over. She didn’t find anybody to fit what she was looking for, and like you said, people can lie about their powers, there’s no real way to tell at the moment.”
“It’s nice of you to say that. Already back to your usual self, I guess.” Guji then smiled as he leaned forward on the table, resting his chin on the back of his clasped together hands. “I will talk to Ferain later, after she has had time to calm down. If you wish to relay any of what I told you to her before I pay her a visit, you are within your right to do so. However, if you would allow it, I would like to be the one to explain everything.”
“Of course. It’s probably better that it comes from you anyway.” said Anita.
“Indeed. Now, before I dismiss you, I have one more favor to ask. Would you continue to look out for her? Ferain… She means a lot to me. She has lived a rough life, and I couldn’t be happier to see that she has such promising, loyal friends as you and her other peers. Could you still stand by her?”
“Of course.” Anita said quickly. “I could never abandon her.”
“Thank you for saying that. It reassures me that I made at least one right decision when it came to her life and future. I will bid you a good evening, Ms. Caswell. Try to get some rest, it’s been a stressful few days and we have the trip home to prepare for.”
“Bye, Headmaster. Thank you for everything you said.”
Guji gave a subtle nod and Anita left to return to Fera’s room, bringing with her a bottle of water she picked up in a vending machine on the way back. Fera was staring longingly out of the window when Anita finally walked through the door. She closed it quietly behind her, not wanting to be a bother in any way, but not much ever got past Fera.
“You’re back?” Fera asked, sounding surprised to see her.
“Y-yeah, I am. I brought you a water too, just like I said.” Anita waved the bottle as she neared the bed, and Fera turned so she could see her face. She saw tears running down Fera’s cheeks, but her expression seemed different somehow. There was less pain, and the regret seemed off to Anita. “What’s up?”
“I didn’t know if you would come back.” Fera replied. “I said some mean things to you. I wasn’t thinking and everything got to me and–”
Her words were cut off by Anita, who giggled enough to surprise her into silence. “Sorry, Fera, it’s just, I wasn’t expecting the apology until tomorrow. I’ll have to tell him that he was wrong.”
“Tell who?” asked Fera.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” she answered, passing her the bottle. “You don’t have to say anything about it, Ferain, I get it. We were both emotional and… Anyway, apology accepted. You look like you’ve been crying a lot so you better drink that up quick. You don’t want to dry up, do you?”
Fera let out a sniffling laugh as she wiped her eyes on her left arm. “No. No, I don’t.” she replied, sticking the bottle between her legs and opening it with her left hand.
Another day passed and Fera was cleared to leave with the rest of the students. She found out that she was in the hospital for two days, and that they pushed back the ship’s departure because of what had happened. The morning of, Anita helped Fera dress from her hospital gown into some clean, warmer clothing, followed by a sling for her healing arm to rest in. Unfortunately, seeing as she had no use of the limb, this would be her life for the foreseeable future, as long as Anita was willing to help her. Anita also had Maple help pack her clothes and belongings the day before, so it was all waiting for her on the ship already. All she had to do now was head there and make for home, or, her home away from home now. She felt that in the one year of being here, even with its ups and downs, despite all that happened, Olirian Academy was her real home.
Guji also paid her a visit the day before, during which he explained everything that had happened with Yarin and Kiko and everything else. Apparently, she said the same thing Anita told him after hearing it, or close enough to it anyway. There wasn’t much else shared between them. He wished her a happy and relaxing break, and told her that he was excited to see her back the next year. His final parting was well wishes for her arm to recover quickly, but she’d accepted that it would take as much time as it needed to. There wasn’t anything to be done about it now so crying over the loss just made too little sense anymore.
While getting ready to leave the hospital and make for the bus that would take them to the docks in District-E, she heard a knock on the door that stopped both Anita and Fera in their tracks.
“Probably the doctor. I’ll get it.” Anita said, setting down her jacket and heading for the door. “Mana?” she gasped, when she saw the black haired girl that was standing on the other side.
“Hiya, Anita. Is Fera here? Mana wants to talk to her for a second.”
Anita looked back with a concerned expression, but Fera only laughed as she nodded her head. Her partner stepped aside, letting Mana in, and she then stepped out to give them some privacy.
“What can I help you with?” asked Fera.
“Mana wanted to say sorry for all that you’ve been through. It’s partially her fault, after all.”
“No, Mana, why would you say that?”
“You were right, Mana has been lying. I’m not really allowed to tell you, but… Mana knows you because Mana knows your dad. Cross believes that your dad was involved in something he picked up on, and that led him to believe that you might be in some danger. Mana’s real mission… was to keep an eye on you. The murders became the priority, but Mana was to always watch you, to make sure you were safe. Mana doesn’t know all of the details, but Cross thinks that this group that your dad knew might be causing trouble again, so Mana thought she’d warn you… since I won’t be here anymore. He doesn’t seem to think Kiko was involved with all of that though, and decided that whatever tipped him off must’ve been nothing but noise. He thinks you should be safe now.”
“You’re going home, then?” asked Fera.
“Yes. Mana is… I… am getting homesick. I don’t belong here, Ferain. I want to go to school back home, and I want to study under Cross more before I try taking on another important assignment. I still want to do this, but I need to get better before I can. I’ll still call you though, and I will come back for one of the school events maybe, but I think going to school back home would be better for me next year. Besides, I was sort of… fired. They also said I need some more time before doing another job, so that helped with my decision too. Cross said I’ll be able to apply again after I graduate though, but for now, I’m back to being a normal student.”
“Then I wish you the best of luck, Mana.” said Fera. “And as for your warning, thank you for telling me. I don’t know what my dad might’ve been into, but… If I am ever in danger because of it, I’ll deal with it then. I have Anita and Maple and Victor, plus other friends too that can help to keep me safe.” Fera then stepped forward and put her good arm around Mana before squeezing her as tightly as she could. “Thank you for looking out for me. We didn’t hang out as much as I would've liked, but I’ll make up for that next time, I promise.”
“Mana looks forward to it.” Mana said, reciprocating the embrace.
They said their farewells, and Fera joined Anita out in the hallway. Together, they started their long journey back to the ship, and from there, back to the mainland. It was a long trip, but after the year they had, it was a relaxing change of pace. Of course it was sad to be leaving, but a month with Anita at her home was something of a shining star, even in her current condition. Everything was pleasant, all the way to docking back in the Sakura Nation. But, as she was preparing to leave her cabin, a message appeared on her phone, one that she never thought she’d see in her lifetime.
“What’s wrong?” asked Anita, noticing the blank, lost expression on Fera’s face.
“My grandmother messaged me.” Fera said, her voice sounding dry and raspy. Silently, she read the message in her mind. After thinking it over for a second, she muttered. “Impossible.”
“What was that?” asked Anita.
“N-nothing.” Fera responded, clicking the button on the side of her phone to darken the screen. “Nothing at all. She was asking if I was… err, going to be home. I told her that I’d be staying with you for the break.”
“Okay.” Anita said. “Well, come on, then. Regi won’t wait forever. Or, I guess he would, but he’d be pretty upset if we made him wait too long.”
“Better to go, then.” said Fera, putting her phone in her pocket, thinking grimly on the real words of the text.
“I want to see you, Ferain. Your dad is awake, and we should go pay him a visit. Call me when you can so we can arrange something.”
“As if.” Fera growled silently, shrugging her bag up on her shoulder and following her partner out of the room.
Confused and conflicted, she followed Anita to the top deck, down the ramp, and to a black sedan that was waiting for them. A caramel skinned man that was wearing a black suit and some dark sunglasses sat in the driver seat. He had to be in his mid to late twenties, no older than that, and had a bit of facial hair growing along his jawline only. He was pretty handsome, and seemed to be extremely friendly with Anita.
“Fera, this is Regi, who is like my older brother. Regi, this is my girlfriend, Ferain Hirigaya.” she said, making introductions as they climbed in the car.
“Girlfriend, huh? Your parents won’t like that one, Ann.”
“I know, right? I can’t wait to see their reactions. So, keeping that in mind, onward and forward to home, Reg.”
“Will do, Miss. Is she coming with?”
“Yep. She will be staying with us for the time being. No arguments, I presume.”
“None whatsoever. It’s your house.” said Regi, putting the car in gear and leaving the cruise liner behind them at the edge of the shipyard.
Fera watched as it grew smaller and smaller behind them, hoping that when the time came to return to it, they would be heading into a better year than this one. Pushing her father and the events of the school year to the back of her mind, she decided to focus on the here and now, and to worry about tomorrow’s problems when tomorrow came. This was a break she was inclined to enjoy.