Chapter Text
It ended with a bang and a loud crash. Then Athy felt the world turn and there were loud blaring noises surrounding her, the kind she hasn't heard since her old life. She could see the sky, suddenly dark despite it having been morning when Anastusius tried to attack Claude. There were so many lights now, pointed at her eyes, flashing around the scene.
'Is this the end?' she wondered through the haze of it all. Maybe her spell failed, maybe instead of saving Claude from his brother she had accidentally ruined everything. She should have waited for Lucas, she promised she would, but there wasn't any time. Claude was going to die if she didn't do something.
People were talking, talking to her. They asked her questions but the noise was so loud, she just wanted to sleep now. If this was the end then she'll pray that at least she saved everyone before it all went to hell. Her eyes felt heavy. Maybe she bought time for Lucas, maybe Claude and Jennette will live. Athanasia was never meant to live long it seems, what a pity.
The last thing Athy heard before everything went blank is the screams of someone next to her.
When Athy opens her eyes next she sees white. White walls, white beds, white curtains covering the windows, and white bandages wrapped across the lean figure of one Anastasius de Alger Obelia sitting on the bed across from her and staring at the curtained windows as if he could see past them.
Athy screams at the top of her lungs. She tries to get out of the bed and run but doesn't make it very far because her legs get tangled and she trips over the IV drip stand. A doctor runs in right then and a nurse pulls her back on to the bed. It takes a moment for everything to sink in and the doctor comes to the conclusion that the concussion is causing her some sort of temporary memory loss. Athy nods along and just agrees to whatever is being said, she has more important things to think about right now.
"We'll contact your family and let them know you're awake miss Obelia but you have to take things easy and you probably won't be released for another day okay?" And with that the doctor and nurse leave.
Athy picks up a near by glass of water and stares at her reflection. Blonde hair and blue eyes, though they're no longer the jeweled eyes of the Obelia royal family. Her name is still Athanasia Obelia it seems but this is not the world of The Lovely Princess anymore. She's returned back home, to her original world, but as Athanasia.
She scans the room quickly before settling her eyes back on Anastasius. He doesn't look much different from what she last remembered of him. His hair is still black and his eyes still dark with that strange glint of blue under the light. He's still staring out the window and if Athy didn't know better she'd think he was avoiding her entirely. Now she supposes it's just a matter of assessing how much he remembers of the other world but how could she possibly ask that?
"You know Princess, I think it's considered rude to stare." Athy's eyes narrow but he continues to stare at the closed windows.
"So you remember the other world then?" She pauses for a bit and then pushes forward when she gets no answer, "You better tell me what you know, do not think that I'll hesitate to use my magic just because you're already hurt."
He laughs then, short and cynical in that way he does, and then he flinches from the pain and stops abruptly.
"You won't be able to do it," he finally turns to look at her as he continues, "I've tried to kill you countless times in the past week here and it didn't work. Magic doesn't exist in this world."
And suddenly the world feels like it's spinning again. She doesn't know why she didn't remember that, of course her world never had magic and it wouldn't suddenly have it now that she's back. This was a miscalculation, she'll need to find another way home then. Maybe Lucas can still do something?
"If I were in your shoes I'd stop your scheming because it won't get you very far."
Athy narrows her eyes, "What does that mean?"
Anastasius flops back on the bed, and instantly regrets it based on how his face screws up. He stays silent for moment while trying to adjust into a position that is less painful.
Finally he speaks up in a slow drawl, "No one else remembers anything."
And it's like the whole world freezes and starts cracking around the edges.
"What?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like. We're the only people who remember what the world used to be like. Your friends have come by to visit a few times now, heck even Alpheus has visited. And nothing. No reaction to anything other than the accident. They certainly don't know who I am and I tried to murder the Emperor in front of everyone."
Athy feels nauseous thinking about it all. Claude has forgotten her again, he might kill her. All her plans, all the hard work to escape death and yet here she is again, a single step from her doom and this time it might be her fault.
This isn't good, this isn't good, this isn't good. She needs an escape, that's right, she's in her own world now and she can go back. But go back where? She had nothing even when she did live here and now she's bound to have nothing left. Who knows what the dynamics are like in this world, what if everyone hates her? No, no, they visited right? She still has a chance to live through all this.
"You have an awfully twisted look on your face there."
"Shut up," Athy snaps back. "I don't care what you plan to do but I won't sit back and let these new circumstances ruin everything I worked for."
He hums lightly, "Everything you worked for you say? You know you were born a royal princess, right? Most people would hardly consider that as requiring you to work towards anything other than your mandatory studies."
"I said shut up."
"So you won't deny it then?"
"What are trying to get at?"
He tries to shrug and then winces in pain and instead curls up on himself. Now that she looks more closely whatever happened to him looks really bad. Bandages seem to wrap across all visible body parts, up his neck and down both arms and legs. There's even some wrapped around his head and covering his left ear. His nose looks like it's healing from surgery if she had to guess and he has been very careful to not move left arm the entire time she's been awake. His breathing has been loud and uneven.
"What happened to you and actually why are we both in the hospital?"
"Weren't you listening when the Doc talked to you?"
She stares him down as a reply and prays she looks intimidating. He doesn't give much of a reaction to show that it worked but he decides to explain things anyway.
"In our world you shot some sort of spell at me. Next thing I remember was waking up in this world and bleeding out on the road. Things are blank for a bit afterwards but the official story is that you were out driving at night and accidentally ran me over."
Athy doubles over and bursts out laughing. There's a strange pressure in her ribs but she just can't stop laughing. The Tyrant Empire, who mysteriously came back to life, was defeated by a teenage girl driving a car. The sheer ridiculousness was sending her. She laughs harder, until she's struggling to take a steady breath. Then she finally sits up again and wipes the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. When she turns her attention back to Anastasius she can see that he's not nearly as amused about the situation.
"Glad to see that the Princess of the Obelia Empire finds committing near murder amusing."
"Maybe it just runs in the family dearest Uncle."
Something in his faces changes when she says that but Athy doesn't have time to figure out what it means before he pulls a hospital provided blanket over himself and fakes sleep. She feels like laughing again. The world might be falling apart around her but it feels good to know that one of the greatest villains she's ever known is out to hide from her.
Suddenly the door swings open and before Athy can even assess the new arrival she finds herself falling back into the bed as someone tosses themselves right at her. There are tears and a bit of wailing and Athy can't really get a good look at the face but something about the bow in her long brown hair and the modest floral pattern on the dress has her certain that this is Jennette. There's a relief that comes with the realization that everyone else will probably also have some similarities to their counterparts back in the Obelian Empire but she can't really contemplate it much because her head is spinning and the weight on her chest is making it hard to breathe.
A nurse runs in and has to pull Jennette off Athy which helps her breathing considerably but doesn't stop Jennette's crying. She keeps trying to talk to Athy but all Athy can hear is jumbled sounds and everything comes out slurred and painful honestly.
A few minutes later Ijekiel walks in, looking the most run down and messy Athy has ever seen him. He hands Athy a bag of snacks and some extra clothes before dragging Jennette out of the room on a mission to get Athy some real food. Athy is mostly just grateful to have a moment to think again and turns back to look Anastasius, still hidden in his blanket cocoon and now with a pillow over his head in a valiant but failed attempt to block out sounds.
"So are you trying to hide from Jennette and Ijekiel?"
"She comes here everyday at this time. She hasn't cried this much since the first day but I thought it would be better to be prepared."
"I think you should know that hiding from your own daughter makes you look much less villainous and honestly just kind of lame."
He simply snorted before pulling himself out of the cocoon and staring Athy down.
"We'll see how lame I look once your father is dead at my feet."
Athy opens her mouth, mentally preparing the most scathing reply she can think of, only to end up cut off by the door swinging open and Jennette walking in with an arm full of flowers. Her eyes are still red and puffy but she has a smile so bright it could replace the sun. She gently puts the bundles of flowers on the table by Athy's side and pulls a chair over to sit by her.
Athy watches as she fiddles with her dress a bit and takes her time to work up words. It's odd, given her immense joy earlier, but Jennette seems rather nervous now. She opens her mouth to say something, then hesitates and closes it again, staring down at her shoes. It's another three minutes of total silence before she finally speaks up.
"I'm glad you're awake," she speaks so softly Athy has to strain a bit to hear her. "You've been unconscious for the past week now. I suppose the doctor told you about that though. But anyway, it's good to see that you're doing well."
Jennette looks like she has something more to say, like she's avoiding a topic and Athy is too tired to try and coax whatever it is out of her so she just silently nods along. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Anastasius trying discretely to tuck himself into bed and fake sleep again.
"You know, everyone has been very worried about you. Lily most of all. Oh! Kiel is still out grabbing you some food, in case you were wondering about that. I decided to get you some fresh flowers to brighten up the room."
Athy nods again, "Thank you."
Jennette finally stands up and decides to start arranging the flowers in the vase on the table. She plucks out the old ones to throw and then starts putting the fresh ones in one at a time, arranging them in a way that clashes actually but Athy can't bring herself to say so. And then there's more silence as she works. Athy can hear the clock ticking in somewhere in the room and she counts the seconds and minutes to pass time while waiting for whatever Jennette wants to say.
Another 10 minutes go by and Jennette is finally finished with Athy's vase. She picks up the remaining flowers and takes them over to the vase on the other side of the room, the one on the table by Anastasius's bed. Athy is surprised and confused, maybe even a little bit panicked as she finally speaks up.
"Do you know him?" Jennette's hands freeze right in the middle of removing the old flowers and Athy can see Anastasius is still faking to sleep.
Jennette throws the flowers before shaking her head. "His name is Mr. Patterson. I only really met him after you ended up in the hospital with him. He seems a bit lonely so I try to bring by flowers for him whenever I visit you. I don't think he has any family in the area and no one has come around to see him. It's really sad to think about."
Athy feels much more relieved to know that this Jennette is just as kind as her Jennette was. Only she would go out of her way to make a stranger feel less lonely for nothing in return. Jennette fiddles around with arranging the flowers in silence again and when she finishes Ijekiel returns with some plastic boxes of food.
"Sorry that took so long Athy," he unpacks the food and shows her the many options he bought, a few different shawarmas and kebabs, two types of soup and several water bottles sit in the bag. One of the shawarmas is handed to Jennette and it occurs to Athy then that she and Ijekiel probably ran over right from school to see her. She picks up one of the soups to start with and nods in thanks before just digging in.
Ijekiel it seems is not nearly as nervous as Jennette and swiftly dives into things.
"So the doctor said you might have some memory loss. Do you still remember who we are?"
Athy watches Jennette half choke as she tries to drink some water as she thinks through her answer. She takes a spoonful of some more soup before replying. "You're Ijekiel and Jennette. You're my friends, right?"
Jennette looks so relieved that Athy thought she might cry, but she pulls it together and replies, "Yes, yes that's right! So you haven't lost your memories then?"
Athy shakes her head, "It's a bit fuzzy but it's not exactly memory loss. Just like, there are some blank spots I guess?"
Ijekiel hums a bit, "Right, I think the doctor said that's pretty normal with concussions. You hit your real hard in the accident. Do you remember much of that?" Athy shakes her head and he continues to explain things.
"You were driving Jennette back from a party you both went to and apparently someone tried to make a left turn on a red light while you were going straight. You swerved to avoid getting hit by the other car but ran into the sidewalk and hit a man before finally ramming into a tree. Jennette says your head banged against the wheel and the window in the process, hence the concussion. The doctor also said you'll probably have some chest pains from the whiplash and there's some awful bruising on your legs but that's been healing pretty well. You might find other aches and pains as you get used to moving around again but the doctor says that the concussion was probably the worst of it. They'll need a day to run some check ups and then you'll be free to go home. But you will probably need some physiotherapy for a while."
Athy let's all this information sink in for a minute before realizing something doesn't add up. "You were with me in the car?" she asks Jennette.
Jennette avoids Athy's eyes while replying, "Yeah. It's my fault we were out at the party so late actually." Athy eyes the girl in front of her, trying to work through what she wasn't saying.
"You weren't hurt were you?" Jennette's eyes widen before she tosses herself at Athy in some attempt of a hug. She holds back from plopping on top of Athy fully but it's still painful.
"Oh Athy you're always so kind, I mean I lead us into a terrible accident and you're asking how I'm feeling instead!" Athy is pretty certain Jennette's tears are soaking her hospital gown and it's frankly uncomfortable. She pushes her friend off her as slowly and kindly as she can.
"I'm sorry but hugs still hurt a little bit." Jennette looks horrified before she pulls back and nods vigorously while apologizing.
Athy tries to chat a bit longer with her friends but soon enough a nurse comes in to shoo them off. It's unfortunate really, Athy had hoped to try to sneak some answers about this new world and where everyone was now. She has at least found out that Jennette was still with the Alpheus family, but it seems she wasn't adopted in any official manner. Lily is still around and somehow connected to Athy, there was also a good chance that Felix is somewhere around as well. But that isn't a lot of information to go on for Athy to plan things. She needs to know what Claude was like in this world and which people will be on her side if things turn south for her. She doesn't even have a cellphone on her or anyway of contacting anyone to get answers. If she is going to be released soon then she needed that information fast. And unfortunately that means she only has one source to turn to.
Anastasius remained in fake sleep all the way until Jennette and Ijekiel left, at which point he finally pulled himself out of his blanket and just went back to staring at the wall. He's got to be reasonably hungry at this point and Athy is sure that hospital food isn't very appealing to someone who was used to living with royal chefs who worked at your every whim. It was a long shot but she might be able to bribe some of that information out of him.
When the next nurse comes in to check on them Athy asks her to warm up all the left over food. Anastasius catches on and raises an eyebrow. All that food was clearly too much for one girl.
'Good', she thinks, 'this plan looks like it'll be easy enough.'
She waits patiently until the nurse comes back with all the warmed food and some disposable utensils. She opens a box of kebabs slowly, letting the smell waft through the room. She needs to take this slowly, just act nonchalantly about everything until he gives in and asks her to share. Then, and only then, can she spring her trap and force him to hand over information. She remembers an old friend had once said food was the way to the heart and she prays it'll worm into the mind as well.
Anastasius sighs and Athy is certain she has him then but his words prove her wrong.
"You want something don't you?" Athy almost freezes, before plastering her most innocent smile on. This was the smile that won over Claude and she knows it is foolproof.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He snorts, "You're not as subtle as you think and your acting sucks. I have never in my life seen anyone make such a spectacle out of eating food." Athy takes a bite into a kebab and shrugs.
"I've been in a coma for a week and I just want to savor the taste is all. Maybe your own hunger is getting to your head?"
He simply shakes his head, "Is this really the best you have? I fear the day you have to make diplomatic deals."
"You aren't denying it though." she points her kebab at him before pulling it back to take another bite.
They sit in silence for a while as she continues to slowly eat into her kebabs and he watches. Athy is pretty certain that he's weighing the odds now. He's trying to figure out what it is that she wants and if it'll cost him anything to tell her. She finishes the first box of kebabs and is pulling out a shawarma when he finally cracks.
"Alright fine then, we'll play it your way for now."
Athy raises an eyebrow, "Oh? I'm not sure I understand."
"Honestly you have got to learn to lie better. But whatever, I propose we work together until we get out of here." If Athy were drinking water she would have spit it out.
"What now?"
"Isn't that what you wanted? You and I are both stranded with no help and no chance of getting out of this world on our own. So I'll agree to work with you and not plot behind your back if you do the same."
"And how do you think this benefits me?"
"Please, don't bother trying to act like you weren't hoping to use me for something. I'm giving you the chance to get whatever you want out of me and really the only cost to you is to not plot anything until we get back home. So, do we have a deal?"
Athy sits still for a moment, thinking on things slowly. He's not wrong in a way, this would make it much easier to get information out of him and he's been awake longer than she has so he must have some idea of how things are set up in this world. And given his state of being it's not like he could betray her when he won't even be able to leave the hospital. Really, this was a good deal and she would only need it to last until she finds Lucas anyways.
She gets out of the bed and grabs a box of kebabs and another box of soup, walking over to Anastasius' bed side table and putting both boxes down with some spare utensils. He holds his hand out to her and she takes it, shaking firmly just once.
"Consider this a deal then."