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The fight hadn’t been an easy one, and they’d all tried their best to act, and spare, the king as much as they could, not wanting to hurt Lancer’s father despite everything.
Kris had let out a breath of relief upon seeing the king of space falling to his knees. They were already exhausted from the battle, and they just wanted this battle to end.
They watched as Ralsei, as kind as always, approached the king, as this once was looking weak from the fight, complaining about their old age. Then, suddenly, as Ralsei healed him, they were all attacked from all sides by the king’s spades.
Kris and Susie quickly tried to get back up despite the pain, while Ralsei seemed to have been knocked out, on the side.
Susie was as pissed as one could be from such a coward move, but, the king was already preparing his attack on her, to get her down as well.
Without even thinking, Kris’ body moved on its own, getting up in front of Susie and taking out his shield, blocking the attack, although the pain from moving was worsened by it.
“Kris… ?!” Susie exclaimed, surprised, just before another, larger attack fell upon them both.
She appeared to have been knocked down, but, Kris didn’t really have the time to get a good look at her, as another attack immediately followed onto them, knocking them farther away from their friends.
It was so painful.
They could feel the blood running down the side of their face, the air brushing against the cuts on their body, leaving them shivering.
They could hear the king walking up to them slowly, could hear as he started rambling to them, asking them if they were the leader, what was their plans, and getting pissed off by how silent they were being.
“Let me tell you a secret.” He said, taking them up by the neck, making them wince at the pain, and the way the air couldn’t get in them anymore. “Quiet people PISS ME OFF.” He said darkly, as another attack prepared itself above Kris’ head.
It seemed familiar.
Kris wasn’t sure what had happened after that. They heard a commotion, felt themselves being dropped to the ground painfully. Then, people were talking around them.
“Get away. From my. Friend.” That was Susie’s voice.
The king laughed, defying her. “OR WHAT? You’ll KILL me?”
Kris wasn’t sure what was happening anymore, everything was blurry. They were pretty sure that Susie had replied by a “Nah.” But, after that, and after hearing the king talking, as if from underwater, they could see white shapes above both their and Susie’s head again.
That’s it. They thought as they closed their eyes, ready for the attack.
But, then, instead of the pain of the attack piercing through their skin, Kris felt a deep rumble, the ground starting to shake before they felt themselves being pushed away back to their friends, the king being scooped up by a massive army of darkners.
Kris opened their eyes again, glancing up at the scene. Lance had saved them, getting all the other darkners on his side to stop his father. After some fight against them, trying to break free, the king was eventually led away to ‘his room’ as Lancer called it, leaving only Susie, Kris and Ralsei behind.
“Y’alright, Kris?” Susie asked, a worried smile on her face as she helped them back up.
Kris tried their best to nod, getting on their feet again, despite everything feeling so gray and distant. They had to be strong. They were the leader, they couldn’t fall like that.
“Kris! Susie...! Oh! You’re all alright!” Ralsei hurried back to them, finally back on his own feet as well.
“Yeah, it’ll take more than that to take us down.” Susie bragged for them.
Then, as Ralsei started to apologize for his carelessness, for having healed the king and put them all in great danger, Kris’ vision started to swim.
“I was foolish to think tha- Kris? Kris!” Ralsei stopped during his speech, crying out Kris’ name.
Kris wasn’t sure what was happening as they felt their legs give away from under them, barely caught by Susie as they fell to their knees.
“Kris! Hey!” Susie called after them, but their vision was already getting dark, everything getting more and more distant. “Ralsei! What are you doing! Heal them!” He heard her order.
“I- It doesn’t appear to work on them!” Ralsei’s panicked voice, and Susie’s ordering voice, were the last things Kris heard, as they faded away into their friend’s arms.
“Kris!”
When they opened their eyes again, Kris was met with a dark ceiling, soft voices coming from behind a half-opened door. They were in a bed, one that they didn’t recognize.
Everything hurt.
“-Sure that they’ll be fine?” Susie asked with a worry that was quite unusual for her.
“They should be. I healed their HPs, and bandaged their injuries. They shouldn’t be in danger anymore.” Ralsei explained quietly.
“That still doesn’t explain why you couldn’t heal their injuries, though.” Susie pointed out with frustration. “What ever the hell is going on here?”
“I’m not sure myself.” Ralsei tried to shake his head. “It’s like, only part of them is able to heal from my magic, while the other can get really hurt and won’t be healed that way…”
“How is that supposed to make any sense!?” Susie exclaimed again.
Kris wanted to get up, wanted to reassure them that they were alright, that they could continue on, but, as they tried to get up, their legs wouldn’t support their weight, letting them fall to the ground with a loud thud.
“Kris!” Their friends called out, hurrying inside and helping them back onto the bed.
Kris tried to get up again, but, they both held him down, forcing him to stay sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Easy, there.” Susie warned with a serious expression.
“Please, don’t move yet, Kris.” Ralsei asked with concern. “You’re going to hurt yourself again.”
“M’fine.” Kris mumbled painfully.
“Don’t be stupid.” Susie scolded. “Look at yourself. You’re not in any condition to go anywhere. You can’t even stand up by yourself. You need to lie back in bed. And. Rest.” She said firmly.
“She’s right.” Ralsei nodded, as they both pushed them to lie down again. “You’re still hurt. You need to rest, or you’ll hurt yourself more.”
“B- But-” Kris tried to argue, feeling very weak, yet, not wanting to let that stop them all.
“No. Buts.” Susie stopped him. “There’s no way we’re letting you get up, anyway.” She warned, as Ralsei tucked them back under the blanket. “Now. You better rest.” She said, taking a seat next to the bed, armed crossed as if she was guarding him.
“Don’t worry.” Ralsei tried to reassure. “We’ll stay right there.” He said as he sat on the other side of the bed.
Kris didn’t really have it in them to argue anymore, nor to even speak. They closed their eyes again, accepting that they couldn’t get back to their little adventure until they were better.
“What happened?” Kris eventually asked, after a few more hours of resting, now too awake to go back to sleep. “With the king and all.”
“Oh, right. You weren’t exactly in condition to see it all.” Susie remembered. “Well…”
They both explained everything that happened after Kris had protected Susie, explaining how they’d brought them to Ralsei’s castle immediately, to take care of them.
“That’s why we had to bandage you up.” Susie pointed out to all the bandages on their body. “It’s weird, though… I could have sworn that your eyes were red…” She noted after a moment.
Suddenly feeling very exposed, realizing that their hair had been pulled up, so they could bandage their head, making their eyes visible, Kris tried to hide their eyes, starting to panic.
“Wow! Easy, there. It’s okay. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It was probably the light and all.” Susie tried to reassure them. “Besides, they’re just eyes, whatever their color. You don’t need to worry about them.” She pointed out, a little confused as to why they were reacting that way to that.
“They’re really pretty.” Ralsei added with his prettiest smile.
Kris could feel their face becoming red, their blush deepening as they realized they couldn’t hide under their bangs.
Susie made fun of them for blushing like that, while Ralsei seemed happy, glad that they were getting better.
“You know, you really scared us back there.” Susie mentioned after a while. “Did you know that you could get hurt like that all along? There’s no way, you’d only been hurt where Ralsei could heal you.” She pointed out before they could find excuses.
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Ralsei asked, as they watched Kris nodding, a guilty look settling onto their face.
They’d never seen them expressing their expression so naturally.
“Didn’t want you to worry about nothing.” They mumbled quietly, trying to get deeper under the cover to hide.
“Well, good job. You did the opposite of that. We were worried sick!” Susie scolded, looking away with red cheeks as Ralsei called her out.
“Well, the past is the past.” Ralsei noted. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better now. Just… Don’t hesitate to ask me when you’re hurt like that. I’ll make sure to have the necessary items to fix you up.” He smiled a little shyly.
There was silence again for a long while, Kris trying to get back to resting, yet being unable to do so, not with a situation like this.
“I’m sorry.” He eventually murmured.
“It’s okay.” Susie huffed. “You better just get well, now.”
Kris looked at her quietly, then back at Ralsei, who was looking back at them, with a warm smile on his face.
“C- Can you…” Kris tried to asked something, but they stopped themselves, feeling suddenly too embarrassed as they realized how stupid what they wanted to ask would sound like.
“What was that?” Susie pushed. “Come on, talk.”
“It’s alright. You can ask anything.” Ralsei reassured quickly.
“Can you… Sing me to sleep?” Kris blushed as they asked the silly request.
“Why? Of course.” Ralsei beamed.
Kris glanced at Susie with embarrassment, waiting to see her starting to mock him, but, instead, she just sighed and smiled softly.
When the light is running low,
And the shadow start to grow,
And the places that you know,
Seem like fantasy…
Ralsei sang beautifully. The lullaby sounding very familiar, yet, Kris couldn’t remember why.
There’s a light inside your soul,
That’s still shining in the cold,
With the truth,
The promise in our hearts...
Kris closed their eyes, lulled by Ralsei’s singing.
As they did, they could remember their youth, the way they used to be so close to their brother. They could remember how he’d always been there when they’d gotten hurt, when their parents were fighting, how he’d always protect them.
Don’t forget…
It felt like they’d forgotten all about those moments with him up until now, too focused on the fact that he’d left them for university.
I’m with you in the dark.
But, the truth was that he was always there, somewhere. They weren’t alone, not anymore. They never really were.
If Ralsei and Susie noticed small tears falling from their eyes as they fell asleep, they never mentioned it.