The week had started normally enough, she went to the outside and worked as [Healer] for some other boring corpo that had more money than sense. Ripped out some extras from pretending to grow their new organs, grinded some new [Skills] to try and get a nice bonus before trying to [Heal] Elizabeth...
Then she started to show signs of waking up, "So?" She burned some money to get a [Doctor] to come in and check her up at the first sign she started to wake up.
"Her brain waves seem to begin to stimulate, but if she does not accept the induction to the [System]...Half my skills can't work." Said the quack.
Barely half a year with the stupid thing and most had forgotten how to work without [System] assisted skills, "Use the monitors and laboratory results I got you." She gritted her teeth trying to not use one of the multiple spells she had at the ready.
"I accepted this job as a favor for your help Rossaline." The quack said, "But you might need to accept the obvious, your friend might not wake up."
The quack started his speech, again. They all did this, "The mana density is rising more than ever, you are doing a fine work isolating the mana and regulating it here, I can't even begin to imagine how many layers of [Spells] you casted to do this...No way you have the right [Skills] to do it manually..."
Hah!
Of course, she did, if not Elizabeth would have died way earlier...Or she would have gotten [Mana Shock] and ended up with a half-assed [Induction] like many that didn't accept the prompt from the [System].
"We can induce an [Induction] safely...We have good results..." He started saying only to be stopped by a magic circle that materialized in front of him.
"No. Elizabeth will wake up, and she will decide if she wants to accept the [Induction]. I will not take that from her too." This had been a mistake.
Everyone wanted the same, to induct her, to read her status before she could set up privacy settings.
They had been in ground zero and the closer they got the better their starting point, hell. She got a nice title from it too...
[First Wave], part of the reason she had such an easy time doing her things, she had abused it to power level herself to her former peak, and a little extra.
"Thank you for your help Doctor." She said while opening the door and summoning an extra magical circle behind the man. "We will call you when Elizabeth wakes up if only to prove our point."
The man just sighed and left the room, giving one extra breath as soon as he left Elizabeth's room, she saw the mana rush to him and then try to breach into the room. Her wards flared to life and kept the mana away.
"Call me when you need it, no extra costs. And think about it, [Mana] might be what she needs to wake up, we are still researching the effects of mana on [Manaless] like her." Said the man before leaving.
"Hah!" She laughed when he left, "Did you hear that Eli-Eli? He called you [Manaless]."
Her? Manaless? Elizabeth was anything but that, even unconscious her control of mana was leagues above her, any whisp of mana she sent to her was used to try and patch up her cracked [Soulscape].
If anything she suspected that letting the mana in could overwhelm her, the first time she found her she was suffering from mana fever and so she started placing the wards to trickle down the mana that got to her.
The mana wanted to awaken her, but she was unconscious and couldn't accept, so instead she offered her mana to her, purged of any influence...And with a little bit of her [Soul] in it to nurture the cracked [Soulscape] in Elizabeth.
She still couldn't see it, not really. She could feel a black abyss in the blonde girl, and the remains of what looked like a ruined library like she had described so long ago.
But the thing no matter what she tried to do...It crumbled away, it sank into the darkness below where she could barely feel the presence of shadows.
Even after all of this...Even after finding Elizabeth unconscious hidden away in some room within a clinic...She was still followed by [Shadows].
*zap*
"What?" She heard something inside the room, did that quack leave a listening device that got zapped by her wards?
"[Search]+[Unkown Object]+[Destroy] = [Purge listening devices]" She weaved her spell and sent it. This would destroy any listening devices in the room.
While the spell worked she sat on the side of the bed, feeling her spell search for something while nursing Elizabeth's hands, they were so fragile...So weak...
"Ouch!" And then she felt it, a small zap of electricity ran into her hand.
"That....what? NO!" She jumped and quickly canceled her previous spell.
"[Maintenance]+[Repair]+[High]+[Fast]= [Quick maintenance checkup]!" Her first spell consumed almost 30% of her mana pool, and it went after the medical equipment designed to keep Elizabeth alive and stable.
Her vitals looked good, but if the girl was getting electrocuted and the monitor wasn't detecting it, it couldn't be good. "[Holy] + [ Divine] = [Divine Decree]" Then she burned 50% of her mana for this "[Divine Decree] + [Holy Heal] = [Wish]" Her second spell then burned what mana she had left.
It was the most powerful compound spell she could cast, and the one she casted once a week, she had casted it barely two days ago, it burned not only her mana but part of [Her]. Whatever metaphysical aspect her [Soulscape] had attuned itself after the [Induction] it got burned away just a little more.
It made casting spells without system assistance harder, but it mattered not. She would keep Elizabeth safe above all.
"Nothing?" But the spell returned nothing, it trickled into Elizabeth trying to find something to [Heal] to find nothing and then suffused into her [Soulscape].
Her check-up spell on the machinery keeping Elizabeth alive also returned nothing, was it a mere static shock? Impossible, nothing on Elizabeth would generate static electricity, and she was grounded all the time, both magically and otherwise.
Was Elizabeth's mana reacting to her?
She was thinking about going after the quack and asking him, but...He would insist on either moving her away to a care facility where they would limit her decision-making...Or directly bar her from entering. They hadn't since Elizabeth didn't have a living family, and their files said that they had come from the same orphanage.
That was a lie, but one that served her.
Instead, she decided to try and grab her hand again. "Eli-Eli?" And ask quietly. Nothing happened.
She didn't open her eyes, her mana didn't react, and she tried injecting some...But nothing happened either, her mana mixed with Elizabeth's mana and she felt it trickle down into the girl's [Soul].
But besides that, nothing at all, had she imagined it?
Was...was she finally losing it? Was it the mana deprivation finally getting to her?
"Hahahahahah." She couldn't help but laugh at it, she got her emotions back and now she was losing her reasoning?
She would need to cast a few extra spells to keep her mind straight, lest the [Good people] try to take Elizabeth from her.
"It's real..." Elizabeth's vitals had been becoming more stable with each passing day, her brain waves now seemed those of someone asleep instead of a flat line even!
She wasn't sure what had happened, but at some point, the vestiges of a library within the [Soul] of Elizabeth had crumbled away, and her brain waves stabilized. She got zapped from time to time, and ended up having to buy equipment graded for [Thunder] aligned [Skills]. But that was beside the point!
Elizabeth was waking up!
She felt joy beyond reason, "Elizabeth's waking up..." Only to be crushed by existential dread.
She...Feared it.
She should be happy of course, Elizabeth would wake up...She would wake up... "And she will be able to judge me." But she would be alive, she would be alive, and...And...she would be alone once more.
Elizabeth would be fine, she was bright and beautiful, and she didn't doubt that the blonde girl would understand quickly enough the [System], whatever her [Skill] was before the [Induction] it was close enough to this [System], so she probably wouldn't be behind those that inducted first.
This however didn't matter, she would keep doing what she was doing, and she would keep taking care of Elizabeth while she was in her moment of need... Since she hadn't done that before, she would do it now. Some may say it was too late, and they would be right. But that didn't mean she wouldn't atone for her sin.
The only problem was...That she couldn't look at the blonde's girl face, she feared that one day she would look only to find the angry eyes of Elizabeth boring into her, judging her. Asking her 'Where were you?' and...She couldn't answer that, not truly.
She was half her mind worried that the shadows would report to Elizabeth about what she had done, she hadn't smelled any of the dragons yet, but she was sure at least one should be around, perhaps not the little girl that claimed to be her daughter. But Nyx should be still around, she could smell some traces of him.
Not enough to find him though, but barely enough to remember his existence.
So she continued doing what she usually did, "I'm back Eli-Eli!" She talked to Elizabeth as if nothing had happened, gushed over her (Only with words), and prepared her meals.
She had scoured the whole place down finding new nutrient solutions and was making an art of blending some custom ones even, using her magic to check no problems would arise, she nursed the blonde like this. Making sure she was clean, bathing her once a day in the mornings so she would feel fresh.
She didn't take advantage of Elizabeth's weakness, she was a professional, she recognized the boundaries and even donned rubber gloves when bathing the blonde girl, using only a sponge to wet the girl with warm water and rinse her clean, she even killed the nerve endings of her hands so she wouldn't feel her when she was drying her!
Who could accuse her of overstepping her boundaries!?!?
Try and find any other nurse who would do this!
Not that she was a nurse... She got the qualifications even if only because her [Skillset] had allowed her to take care of Elizabeth, and they didn't test her knowledge on the subject and only took a glance at her level in the stupid [General Skill].
[Nursing Level 6]
That was all it took her to get the certification, and for her to be granted permission to rent out equipment to monitor Elizabeth. So like always she continued speaking to her "I managed to get everything on the list you gave me !" as if normal.
Something in the air felt different though, but she couldn't get a read on what, she was too busy with all the bags she had carried over, she could probably afford one of those nice [Inventory Bracelets] that they had tried to repurpose.
But it wasn't something she needed, "I even managed to get that new flavor you liked! And here is your dinner how you like it ! " The mix looked fine enough, and it didn't emit any odor, so it should have worked fine enough.
It should increase the amount of vitamins and minerals in Elizabeth, her last blood sample showed the girl was starting to go beyond normal levels of anemia for someone of her age and weight.
Granted this was pre-system induction levels, if she could get some points in her... Either way, it was time to face Elizabeth today, she hadn't said anything to her nor made any noise, so she shouldn't be awake yet. Yes, she still had time to prepare.
*crash*
Huh?
And yet, Elizabeth was looking at her, something had fallen and broken too, "Eli-Eli?" someone said, was it her? Was Elizabeth speaking in the third person now? That would be cute too.
But no, the girl in front of her held the same look she remembered from the before, before everything went to hell. Before she allowed Elizabeth to be hurt beyond what any sane person would allow in another, there wasn't any hate or grudge in her eyes "Am I dreaming?" She asked.
It must be a dream, Elizabeth...Elizabeth wouldn't be looking at her like that if this was real, perhaps she had fallen asleep after returning from shopping?
But then, Elizabeth opened her mouth and nothing came from it, yeah...So long since she heard her speaking that she had started to forget how it was, it was a dream after all.
"[Shadows...Heed my call...]" Or not?
It was a nightmare, Elizabeth had [Spoken], she shouldn't have nearly enough mana to use [Idea] not without [Induction]. Nightmare it is.
At least she could atone some of her guilt this way, maybe she would kill her in this dream? That would be fine, "I'm so sorry Eli-Eli... No... Elizabeth... I'm sorry..." Her mouth started saying.
Why? Why was she asking to be forgiven, she didn't deserve it.
She could feel the tears on her face too, for her control over her emotions to falter this badly even in a dream, she would need to check herself again, she couldn't afford this to happen in the real world.
The Elizabeth within her dream frowned her cute little face and the windows and doors closed, so this was the point of the dream where she would be punished, she wished Elizabeth had spoken more to her, "[I'm back Rossie]" And as if answering her plea the girl spoke once more.
Wasting more [Idea] to do it, this proved it, it was a dream after all, she felt shadow tendrils climbing into her body and how her mana wanted to flare back to destroy them, she ignored that reflex and allowed the tendrils to move her body.
This Elizabeth moved her body and sat her in the bed with her, she could see the tendrils moving into the girl's hands too. Weird.
Why was she doing that? In the real world Elizabeth would need to do that, yes, but this was a dream, this Elizabeth shouldn't need to. Then something more happened.
The girl's hands rose to her face and caressed her, her hands felt cold and weak, and no strength could be felt on them, and then Elizabeth pulled her towards her. She didn't know what was happening, she thought this Elizabeth would berate her, would scream at her, would maybe hurt her even.
SHE WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD THAT!
What happened was something she didn't understand.
Elizabeth pulled her into a kiss, a sloppy, awkward, and perhaps amateurish kiss, but a kiss nonetheless, she could taste Elizabeth's lips, they tasted of medicine.
She could feel Elizabeth's lips, they felt parched, dry, cracked...
And yet she couldn't understand, as the time seemed to stop her eyes widened as realization struck, the girl in front of her had her eyes closed for the duration of the kiss, unlike hers that remained wide open from the surprise.
And as the kiss ended and the girl's hand fell to the bed she separated herself from Elizabeth, they stood looking at each other for what felt like an eternity. She quickly sent a ping into her [Soulscape] to look for mental influences, for signs of something altering her mind. Nothing, the presence of her [Soulscape] signified another thing though.
She was awake and in control of her senses. And so was Elizabeth, the blonde girl was wide awake, smiling at her with a cheeky smile.
Then she started to notice how the girl's eyes seemed to drop, it was a minute difference, like someone remembering they were about to sleep, her eyes however seemed to refocus, and opening her mouth she vocalized one letter at a time, the effort seemed to be too much for her.
She wanted to stop her, to tell her to rest, but her eyes full of determination of Elizabeth made her stop, what right had she to stop her?
"L.....o......v.......e........y........o.........u......" Elizabeth said one letter at a time.
Had she misunderstood her? Had she missed a letter? Did they change the meaning of the words when she wasn't paying attention?
And before she could ask her anything, the blonde girl's eyes closed and her breathing evened itself. She was asleep, but unlike before she could see a smile on the blonde girl's face.
Unlike before, her face seemed to betray her and showcase the happy grin on her, and then she couldn't help it anymore, she cried.
She ugly cried on the bed of Elizabeth, she ignored the mess that was the nutrient solution she had made before on the floor, and she ignored the fact that she was still wearing surgical gloves.
She just cried, "Love you too Eli-Eli...Love you too..." She cried because, for the first time in half a year, she had a smidgen of hope, hope that Elizabeth didn't hate her.
Hope that perhaps...Perhaps she could still be fine...
But there was dread...Dread because she would need to confirm, she would tell Elizabeth what had happened that night, how she didn't go to help her and why...
But for now... "[Heal]" She would..."Huh?" Her mana bounced back when she tried to inject it in Elizabeth.
That...That hadn't happened before...Or ever. "[Identify]" She used the [Skill] Elizabeth had given her so long ago, the only one that survived the [Induction].
| Notice: |
| Elizabeth Starbright, a new inductee into [The System]. The target is currently asleep and her mana is locked down since she is in the middle of her [Induction]. Until she finalizes her [Induction] any alteration to her by the use of mana is denied. Her [Status] is being constructed and will not be shown till she ends the [Induction]. |
Yes...Everything would be fine soon enough.
The week had started normally enough, she went to the outside and worked as [Healer] for some other boring corpo that had more money than sense. Ripped out some extras from pretending to grow their new organs, grinded some new [Skills] to try and get a nice bonus before trying to [Heal] Elizabeth...
Then she started to show signs of waking up, "So?" She burned some money to get a [Doctor] to come in and check her up at the first sign she started to wake up.
"Her brain waves seem to begin to stimulate, but if she does not accept the induction to the [System]...Half my skills can't work." Said the quack.
Barely half a year with the stupid thing and most had forgotten how to work without [System] assisted skills, "Use the monitors and laboratory results I got you." She gritted her teeth trying to not use one of the multiple spells she had at the ready.
"I accepted this job as a favor for your help Rossaline." The quack said, "But you might need to accept the obvious, your friend might not wake up."
The quack started his speech, again. They all did this, "The mana density is rising more than ever, you are doing a fine work isolating the mana and regulating it here, I can't even begin to imagine how many layers of [Spells] you casted to do this...No way you have the right [Skills] to do it manually..."
Hah!
Of course, she did, if not Elizabeth would have died way earlier...Or she would have gotten [Mana Shock] and ended up with a half-assed [Induction] like many that didn't accept the prompt from the [System].
"We can induce an [Induction] safely...We have good results..." He started saying only to be stopped by a magic circle that materialized in front of him.
"No. Elizabeth will wake up, and she will decide if she wants to accept the [Induction]. I will not take that from her too." This had been a mistake.
Everyone wanted the same, to induct her, to read her status before she could set up privacy settings.
They had been in ground zero and the closer they got the better their starting point, hell. She got a nice title from it too...
[First Wave], part of the reason she had such an easy time doing her things, she had abused it to power level herself to her former peak, and a little extra.
"Thank you for your help Doctor." She said while opening the door and summoning an extra magical circle behind the man. "We will call you when Elizabeth wakes up if only to prove our point."
The man just sighed and left the room, giving one extra breath as soon as he left Elizabeth's room, she saw the mana rush to him and then try to breach into the room. Her wards flared to life and kept the mana away.
"Call me when you need it, no extra costs. And think about it, [Mana] might be what she needs to wake up, we are still researching the effects of mana on [Manaless] like her." Said the man before leaving.
"Hah!" She laughed when he left, "Did you hear that Eli-Eli? He called you [Manaless]."
Her? Manaless? Elizabeth was anything but that, even unconscious her control of mana was leagues above her, any whisp of mana she sent to her was used to try and patch up her cracked [Soulscape].
If anything she suspected that letting the mana in could overwhelm her, the first time she found her she was suffering from mana fever and so she started placing the wards to trickle down the mana that got to her.
The mana wanted to awaken her, but she was unconscious and couldn't accept, so instead she offered her mana to her, purged of any influence...And with a little bit of her [Soul] in it to nurture the cracked [Soulscape] in Elizabeth.
She still couldn't see it, not really. She could feel a black abyss in the blonde girl, and the remains of what looked like a ruined library like she had described so long ago.
But the thing no matter what she tried to do...It crumbled away, it sank into the darkness below where she could barely feel the presence of shadows.
Even after all of this...Even after finding Elizabeth unconscious hidden away in some room within a clinic...She was still followed by [Shadows].
*zap*
"What?" She heard something inside the room, did that quack leave a listening device that got zapped by her wards?
"[Search]+[Unkown Object]+[Destroy] = [Purge listening devices]" She weaved her spell and sent it. This would destroy any listening devices in the room.
While the spell worked she sat on the side of the bed, feeling her spell search for something while nursing Elizabeth's hands, they were so fragile...So weak...
"Ouch!" And then she felt it, a small zap of electricity ran into her hand.
"That....what? NO!" She jumped and quickly canceled her previous spell.
"[Maintenance]+[Repair]+[High]+[Fast]= [Quick maintenance checkup]!" Her first spell consumed almost 30% of her mana pool, and it went after the medical equipment designed to keep Elizabeth alive and stable.
Her vitals looked good, but if the girl was getting electrocuted and the monitor wasn't detecting it, it couldn't be good. "[Holy] + [ Divine] = [Divine Decree]" Then she burned 50% of her mana for this "[Divine Decree] + [Holy Heal] = [Wish]" Her second spell then burned what mana she had left.
It was the most powerful compound spell she could cast, and the one she casted once a week, she had casted it barely two days ago, it burned not only her mana but part of [Her]. Whatever metaphysical aspect her [Soulscape] had attuned itself after the [Induction] it got burned away just a little more.
It made casting spells without system assistance harder, but it mattered not. She would keep Elizabeth safe above all.
"Nothing?" But the spell returned nothing, it trickled into Elizabeth trying to find something to [Heal] to find nothing and then suffused into her [Soulscape].
Her check-up spell on the machinery keeping Elizabeth alive also returned nothing, was it a mere static shock? Impossible, nothing on Elizabeth would generate static electricity, and she was grounded all the time, both magically and otherwise.
Was Elizabeth's mana reacting to her?
She was thinking about going after the quack and asking him, but...He would insist on either moving her away to a care facility where they would limit her decision-making...Or directly bar her from entering. They hadn't since Elizabeth didn't have a living family, and their files said that they had come from the same orphanage.
That was a lie, but one that served her.
Instead, she decided to try and grab her hand again. "Eli-Eli?" And ask quietly. Nothing happened.
She didn't open her eyes, her mana didn't react, and she tried injecting some...But nothing happened either, her mana mixed with Elizabeth's mana and she felt it trickle down into the girl's [Soul].
But besides that, nothing at all, had she imagined it?
Was...was she finally losing it? Was it the mana deprivation finally getting to her?
"Hahahahahah." She couldn't help but laugh at it, she got her emotions back and now she was losing her reasoning?
She would need to cast a few extra spells to keep her mind straight, lest the [Good people] try to take Elizabeth from her.
"It's real..." Elizabeth's vitals had been becoming more stable with each passing day, her brain waves now seemed those of someone asleep instead of a flat line even!
She wasn't sure what had happened, but at some point, the vestiges of a library within the [Soul] of Elizabeth had crumbled away, and her brain waves stabilized. She got zapped from time to time, and ended up having to buy equipment graded for [Thunder] aligned [Skills]. But that was beside the point!
Elizabeth was waking up!
She felt joy beyond reason, "Elizabeth's waking up..." Only to be crushed by existential dread.
She...Feared it.
She should be happy of course, Elizabeth would wake up...She would wake up... "And she will be able to judge me." But she would be alive, she would be alive, and...And...she would be alone once more.
Elizabeth would be fine, she was bright and beautiful, and she didn't doubt that the blonde girl would understand quickly enough the [System], whatever her [Skill] was before the [Induction] it was close enough to this [System], so she probably wouldn't be behind those that inducted first.
This however didn't matter, she would keep doing what she was doing, and she would keep taking care of Elizabeth while she was in her moment of need... Since she hadn't done that before, she would do it now. Some may say it was too late, and they would be right. But that didn't mean she wouldn't atone for her sin.
The only problem was...That she couldn't look at the blonde's girl face, she feared that one day she would look only to find the angry eyes of Elizabeth boring into her, judging her. Asking her 'Where were you?' and...She couldn't answer that, not truly.
She was half her mind worried that the shadows would report to Elizabeth about what she had done, she hadn't smelled any of the dragons yet, but she was sure at least one should be around, perhaps not the little girl that claimed to be her daughter. But Nyx should be still around, she could smell some traces of him.
Not enough to find him though, but barely enough to remember his existence.
So she continued doing what she usually did, "I'm back Eli-Eli!" She talked to Elizabeth as if nothing had happened, gushed over her (Only with words), and prepared her meals.
She had scoured the whole place down finding new nutrient solutions and was making an art of blending some custom ones even, using her magic to check no problems would arise, she nursed the blonde like this. Making sure she was clean, bathing her once a day in the mornings so she would feel fresh.
She didn't take advantage of Elizabeth's weakness, she was a professional, she recognized the boundaries and even donned rubber gloves when bathing the blonde girl, using only a sponge to wet the girl with warm water and rinse her clean, she even killed the nerve endings of her hands so she wouldn't feel her when she was drying her!
Who could accuse her of overstepping her boundaries!?!?
Try and find any other nurse who would do this!
Not that she was a nurse... She got the qualifications even if only because her [Skillset] had allowed her to take care of Elizabeth, and they didn't test her knowledge on the subject and only took a glance at her level in the stupid [General Skill].
[Nursing Level 6]
That was all it took her to get the certification, and for her to be granted permission to rent out equipment to monitor Elizabeth. So like always she continued speaking to her "I managed to get everything on the list you gave me !" as if normal.
Something in the air felt different though, but she couldn't get a read on what, she was too busy with all the bags she had carried over, she could probably afford one of those nice [Inventory Bracelets] that they had tried to repurpose.
But it wasn't something she needed, "I even managed to get that new flavor you liked! And here is your dinner how you like it ! " The mix looked fine enough, and it didn't emit any odor, so it should have worked fine enough.
It should increase the amount of vitamins and minerals in Elizabeth, her last blood sample showed the girl was starting to go beyond normal levels of anemia for someone of her age and weight.
Granted this was pre-system induction levels, if she could get some points in her... Either way, it was time to face Elizabeth today, she hadn't said anything to her nor made any noise, so she shouldn't be awake yet. Yes, she still had time to prepare.
*crash*
Huh?
And yet, Elizabeth was looking at her, something had fallen and broken too, "Eli-Eli?" someone said, was it her? Was Elizabeth speaking in the third person now? That would be cute too.
But no, the girl in front of her held the same look she remembered from the before, before everything went to hell. Before she allowed Elizabeth to be hurt beyond what any sane person would allow in another, there wasn't any hate or grudge in her eyes "Am I dreaming?" She asked.
It must be a dream, Elizabeth...Elizabeth wouldn't be looking at her like that if this was real, perhaps she had fallen asleep after returning from shopping?
But then, Elizabeth opened her mouth and nothing came from it, yeah...So long since she heard her speaking that she had started to forget how it was, it was a dream after all.
"[Shadows...Heed my call...]" Or not?
It was a nightmare, Elizabeth had [Spoken], she shouldn't have nearly enough mana to use [Idea] not without [Induction]. Nightmare it is.
At least she could atone some of her guilt this way, maybe she would kill her in this dream? That would be fine, "I'm so sorry Eli-Eli... No... Elizabeth... I'm sorry..." Her mouth started saying.
Why? Why was she asking to be forgiven, she didn't deserve it.
She could feel the tears on her face too, for her control over her emotions to falter this badly even in a dream, she would need to check herself again, she couldn't afford this to happen in the real world.
The Elizabeth within her dream frowned her cute little face and the windows and doors closed, so this was the point of the dream where she would be punished, she wished Elizabeth had spoken more to her, "[I'm back Rossie]" And as if answering her plea the girl spoke once more.
Wasting more [Idea] to do it, this proved it, it was a dream after all, she felt shadow tendrils climbing into her body and how her mana wanted to flare back to destroy them, she ignored that reflex and allowed the tendrils to move her body.
This Elizabeth moved her body and sat her in the bed with her, she could see the tendrils moving into the girl's hands too. Weird.
Why was she doing that? In the real world Elizabeth would need to do that, yes, but this was a dream, this Elizabeth shouldn't need to. Then something more happened.
The girl's hands rose to her face and caressed her, her hands felt cold and weak, and no strength could be felt on them, and then Elizabeth pulled her towards her. She didn't know what was happening, she thought this Elizabeth would berate her, would scream at her, would maybe hurt her even.
SHE WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD THAT!
What happened was something she didn't understand.
Elizabeth pulled her into a kiss, a sloppy, awkward, and perhaps amateurish kiss, but a kiss nonetheless, she could taste Elizabeth's lips, they tasted of medicine.
She could feel Elizabeth's lips, they felt parched, dry, cracked...
And yet she couldn't understand, as the time seemed to stop her eyes widened as realization struck, the girl in front of her had her eyes closed for the duration of the kiss, unlike hers that remained wide open from the surprise.
And as the kiss ended and the girl's hand fell to the bed she separated herself from Elizabeth, they stood looking at each other for what felt like an eternity. She quickly sent a ping into her [Soulscape] to look for mental influences, for signs of something altering her mind. Nothing, the presence of her [Soulscape] signified another thing though.
She was awake and in control of her senses. And so was Elizabeth, the blonde girl was wide awake, smiling at her with a cheeky smile.
Then she started to notice how the girl's eyes seemed to drop, it was a minute difference, like someone remembering they were about to sleep, her eyes however seemed to refocus, and opening her mouth she vocalized one letter at a time, the effort seemed to be too much for her.
She wanted to stop her, to tell her to rest, but her eyes full of determination of Elizabeth made her stop, what right had she to stop her?
"L.....o......v.......e........y........o.........u......" Elizabeth said one letter at a time.
Had she misunderstood her? Had she missed a letter? Did they change the meaning of the words when she wasn't paying attention?
And before she could ask her anything, the blonde girl's eyes closed and her breathing evened itself. She was asleep, but unlike before she could see a smile on the blonde girl's face.
Unlike before, her face seemed to betray her and showcase the happy grin on her, and then she couldn't help it anymore, she cried.
She ugly cried on the bed of Elizabeth, she ignored the mess that was the nutrient solution she had made before on the floor, and she ignored the fact that she was still wearing surgical gloves.
She just cried, "Love you too Eli-Eli...Love you too..." She cried because, for the first time in half a year, she had a smidgen of hope, hope that Elizabeth didn't hate her.
Hope that perhaps...Perhaps she could still be fine...
But there was dread...Dread because she would need to confirm, she would tell Elizabeth what had happened that night, how she didn't go to help her and why...
But for now... "[Heal]" She would..."Huh?" Her mana bounced back when she tried to inject it in Elizabeth.
That...That hadn't happened before...Or ever. "[Identify]" She used the [Skill] Elizabeth had given her so long ago, the only one that survived the [Induction].
| Notice: |
| Elizabeth Starbright, a new inductee into [The System]. The target is currently asleep and her mana is locked down since she is in the middle of her [Induction]. Until she finalizes her [Induction] any alteration to her by the use of mana is denied. Her [Status] is being constructed and will not be shown till she ends the [Induction]. |
Yes...Everything would be fine soon enough.
