Ajax hears a shattering of glass and everything changes once again. He darts his eyes around.
What is… Where is… What was I just…
He's lying down right now on his back. He can feel the soft mattress under him. He's warm. He's…
Wait. No, how can I be warm? Where the fuck am–
Ajax sits up quickly while in a state of uncertainty. The bed is familiar. The ceiling above him is familiar. This room is his bedroom, one he's slept in every night for most of his young life. He can see the desk to his side with a textbook open there. He also has some writing implements and a notebook still open.
Last night, he had done a lot of studying and went to sleep when he realized he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He was asking Shaula for some help with some practice problems in trig and…
Suddenly, Ajax hears a noise past the bed he's sitting up on. "Hey! Why are you only waking up now!? You're going to be late, you know?"
A voice he recognizes. A voice he hasn't heard in a long time. No, wait, he heard this voice just yesterday. She was sitting with him and Shaula in the evening while they all watched an episode of an anime together. Maybe he should have just skipped the anime so he could study and sleep at the proper times…
He rubs the dirt and tiredness out of his eyes. He yawns exaggeratedly.
"Fine, fine, ugh… I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night."
The little girl walks up to him from his open bedroom door with a curious look. She gets closer until she scrunches her face up with a scowl and takes a couple steps back.
"Oh, you smell. Ew."
"I-It's just the pillow! Or maybe the blanket or bed sheets. Or maybe it's you. It's certainly not me. It couldn't be me."
"It's not me! I don't smell, I just took a bath! It's you, Ajax! You stink!"
"No, it's you. It's you, Rita, take another bath."
"No, it's you!" Rita looks at him with a glare and he freezes in regret. She's getting good at the kinds of glares that'll make him stop joking around. Did she learn that from Shaula?
She's growing up fast…
"Fine, fine, it's probably me… I might need a shower before I–"
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"Hmph. Make me breakfast first! Mom's busy right now and she needs you to do it before we can leave." Rita crosses her arms while pouting. She doesn’t take too kindly to being called smelly right after she did something nice for Ajax and woke him up so he wouldn’t be late to school.
"Ok, ok, I'll make something."
Ajax pauses for a moment as Rita walks out of the room in a huff. He can tell that something isn't… Wasn't he thinking about something earlier? Wasn't he doing something serious earlier? There was a… a place that he had been at and–
"Come on!" Rita calls from the hallway past his bedroom door.
"Alright, alright!"
Ajax hops out of bed. He has another day of school today, a quiz in his 12th grade AP math too, no need to overthink things. Whatever's wrong, he'll figure it out eventually. Future problems for the future him.
—
Shaula holds Ajax's head. His lower jaw is partially missing. His neck is cleanly sliced off and still dripping blood. His eyes are unfocused, his eyelids are half closed and both unresponsive. He's unconscious. Shaula wants to say that he’s only unconscious but she finds herself lost for words.
"Ajax… Ajax, please…"
Tears cascade down her cheeks while also dripping from her nose. She doesn’t know what to do. The thought briefly dawns on her: Is this some sort of sick joke that he’s playing? She laughs a couple times and slaps Ajax’s cheeks repeatedly as if telling him she knows what kind of game he’s playing. Her slaps become harder and more desperate.
Shaula holds back intense nausea at the sight of his bloodied and disfigured head, but that’s not what is important here. He should be regenerating. If he’s not, then maybe he’s figured out how to delay his regeneration solely through his own mind. A slim hope springs within her. She wouldn’t like that he’s playing around with her, but it would be better than the…
If he is still alive, he should be regenerating just as the both of them have always been able to do before. He must be playing around or trying to trick him into… embarrassing herself crying over his dead body? What would his game actually be? Is he purposely preventing himself from regenerating just so that he can scare her when she drops her guard?
Shaula starts to get angrier and more agitated.
“S-Stop joking around, Ajax! I-It’s not fucking funny anymore. Tell me you're alive, Ajax! Heal yourself right fucking now before I lose my motherfucking patience! Wake up! Wake the fuck up!! Come on!! Come on!!!"
She smacks him across the face hard this time, regretting it immediately after. He still refuses to respond to her prodding him. He isn’t like this. He isn’t going to pull shit like this just to get a rise out of her. He’s not that kind of… He would never do something like that, to anyone, let alone her.
In a moment of desperation, she approaches his body.
She tries to affix Ajax’s head back onto it. His body isn’t healing at all. It’s in terrible shape as well, completely mangled. But, if he’s able to reattach himself back to it, the injuries will disappear without her having to do anything.
“Come on, Ajax, come on. I have your body here, just connect yourself to it. Reattach yourself, I’m waiting, don’t piss me off more than you already have! Come on!”
Shaula holds Ajax’s head against the part of his neck connected to his body. She holds the two of them still, pushing his head against his neck stump.
Come on… Come on… Reattach, dammit! Reattach!!
She grits her teeth. She doesn’t see any sign that his head is reattaching itself back. His flesh isn’t melting or knitting itself back together. She applies too much force and fumbles his head. It flies out of her hand and lands a few feet away. The thud it makes on the ground makes Shaula freeze. The truth comes crashing down on her once again as she watches his unmoving, unresponsive head.