Chapter Text
It did not make sense.
In a narrative sense, yes, but also… just in general.
Romeo was alive.
Delilah felt it the moment it happened. She was reclined on the couch in Baiken’s home, lazily reading a novel, when a piercing bolt of energy shot through her head. She immediately stood up, dropping her novel. Pure disbelief was on her face. Utter shock. Could it be true? It had to be. What else would this feeling be?
Baiken (who was also in the room, off to the side, reading a newspaper) whipped around to look at Delilah, mostly because her standing up was accompanied by a large crash and the sound of sparks of electricity and hissing hydraulics. The bedframe, which was typically in a dormant state in Delilah’s room, had also sensed Romeo’s presence and nearly destroyed the walls of the house to get to Delilah. She stared at it, and it stared back at her understandingly. This only confirmed her feeling: that her brother was alive.
”Delilah. What’s going on.” Baiken spoke quicker than usual. It wasn’t like her to allow her surprise to infiltrate her voice, but in the months of living with Delilah, nothing like this had ever happened. Not ever since the bedframe attempted self-destruction, at least. So naturally, Baiken was concerned.
Delilah barely looked at her. “Big sis… I… I need to go.” The bedframe offered Delilah its hand. She grabbed one of its fingers, her palm barely fitting around it.
“Huh? Wait! Delilah!” Baiken leapt from where she sat, but she was too late. A dim light flashed where the girl and the bedframe had stood, leaving nothing behind.
“Damnit… what now?”
Delilah was startled by the sudden teleportation. She knew the bedframe would do it, but she still wasn’t over the time when her own teleportation nearly annihilated a town. She hadn’t attempted to use her powers ever since, partially out of fear of losing control, and partially because she had no reason to. Using them again would bring her back to when she was seeking revenge. She swore it off, of course, but the temptation still gnawed at the back of her mind. So she avoided anything reminiscent of her anger. But now… If what she and the bedframe sensed was true… if it wasn’t a fluke… it would change everything. She couldn’t process how to feel about it. So she opened her eyes, which she had closed without realizing.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the brightness outdoors, but when they had, she realized the bedframe had teleported to a sort of mountainous, craggy area. How far were they from home? How would they get back? Would the bed know to teleport back? Did it have the energy… no, no, that’s not important! Where is he?! The bed clearly wasn’t sure- it was standing still, not really looking anywhere in particular… actually it was standing a bit too still. Like a statue. None of its characteristic rotations and hydraulics.
Delilah scanned her surroundings, still too nervous to actually move around and investigate the area. It didn’t feel real. It felt like one of her dreams, where she could make anything happen and experience anything but none of it was solid. It was all vapid, meaningless sensations that paled in comparison to truly living in the real world. And she was experiencing those now- the bite of the wind, the smell of dust in the air, the piercing sharpness of the intense sunlight in her eyes- this was real, and apparently, her brother was here. (Again, she had no idea where to even start processing her emotions, so she simply didn’t).
Delilah took a few nervous steps away from the bed. The sound of the gravelly terrain underfoot once again reminded her that this was indeed real. She glanced back at the bed and flinched when it suddenly moved. It began to walk past her, far more robotically than normal, as if it were being pulled by something, or was possessed. Not that it was.
Delilah stood still, watching the bed as it moved one huge uncoordinated step at a time, its broken hand still dragging behind it. It rounded a corner past a pile of boulders and seemed to stop. Delilah followed, sheepishly peering around it, and her heart dropped.
Romeo. There he was. Unconscious and splayed on the ground, wearing a tattered nightgown and broken glasses, but it was him. Oh God, it was him, he was alive and breathing and real and that’s when Delilah realized she was crying, sobbing actually, her face contorting into unknown shapes expressing her raw unfiltered emotions which at this point were an ugly sludge of grief and relief. Those weren’t the right words. But nothing else came close.
The bedframe was the first to move. It scooped up Romeo in its hand and held him close to its body. Delilah almost wanted to scream; no, no, that’s not yours, you don’t understand how I feel! But she couldn’t produce any noise other than a pained wail which was already (and had been) escaping her mouth through her nearly hysteric breaths, hiccups, and sniffs. She inched closer to the bed, to Romeo, slowly, as if he would evaporate with the slightest air movement (though this clearly wasn’t the case, what with the aforementioned breeze and all).
The bed turned to look at Delilah. It extended a finger, and she grabbed hold of it. This finger held far more meaning than any the bed had offered before. It was far more real this time. Oh, this close she could see her brother clearly. He was pale like she was, and rather thin. His tattoos weren’t the same as hers, but they were visible and oh, oh God, it was him.
Delilah…
The bed moved its hand a bit closer, flexing the finger Delilah was holding to carefully and delicately wipe away her tears. Only then she realized what she had heard. A voice. Not out loud, but in her head. She looked around, panicked.
Delilah, I’m here. I’m right here.
She looked back to his sleeping body. His breaths were even and consistent.
I’m so sorry for leaving you alone. I had no choice.
“Brother…” Delilah managed to utter through her crying gasps.
Unfortunately my situation is the same as it was prior to your awakening. For that I am once again sorry. I cannot participate in the waking world with you. But I don’t care what I can do as long as you’re happy. That’s all I need.
”N..no, it’s not that…” Her breathing had steadied and speaking was easier, though still weak and interrupted by the occasional hiccup. “I… you’re… you’re really here… don’t… don’t say sorry…!”
Okay. Then… I’m happy to see you, too, Delilah.
And the two of them stood there for what felt like an eternity, accepting that this was indeed real.
And after that, Romeo had a question.
Where to now?
Delilah sniffed and wiped her face all over her sleeve. “H-home… we can go home…”
Unfortunately I don’t know where that is. If you would permit me to investigate your memories, I can take us there, but I won’t pry without you allowing me.
And this terrified her, because he would see, he would see that she had found someone other than him, and he would feel betrayed. But these were her thoughts, and Romeo was communicating with telepathy, so these thoughts were practically spoken out loud.
Delilah…
Realizing her brother had heard, she scrambled to explain, but the words wouldn’t exit her mouth.
You found a family. I couldn’t be happier, Delilah. A life living peacefully and lazily, surrounded by those who care about you. That’s exactly what I desired for you. Please. Don’t be ashamed.
It was almost too nice, too much, that he was so forgiving. But she couldn’t dwell on those feelings because oh God, her brother was here and he was happy for her.
Shall we go?
Delilah nodded before remembering Romeo couldn’t actually see her, and quickly made a noise of approval.
”This is concerning…”
“Of course it fucking is, Anji! I have no clue where she is! I’m so out of it I even called you for help- what was I thinking? What use would you even be?”
Baiken was anxiously pacing around their living room while Anji stood, hand on his face pensively. She had grabbed him immediately after Delilah left, as if he could do anything.
Both of them nearly jumped when the massive bedframe seemingly materialized out of thin air.
“Delilah! Where the fuck did you go?! I was-“ she then noticed what the bed was holding, along with Delilah’s bright red crying face. She took a deep breath and continued. “Delilah… is that…”
Delilah nodded. “Big sis… this is my big brother, Romeo… he… I don’t know how but he… I…”
Baiken nearly jumped again when the bedframe shifted toward her and a voice spoke from inside her head.
Miss Baiken.
She was too startled to contest that name. “What…”
The bedframe then performed a motion akin to bowing down. It wasn’t very obvious considering its shape and the fact it was holding Romeo’s body, but it was a large shift in movement.
Thank you for taking care of Delilah. Under different circumstances, I would have been able to thank you out loud, but for the foreseeable future this is the best I can do.
“Delilah… is that him talking?” Baiken stared at Romeo in disbelief. Delilah nodded. Anji moved closer, staring at Romeo’s body in curiosity.
Allow me a selfish request. If possible I would like to impose on you a bit longer and ask that you take care of Delilah until I can procure a stable living situation for her.
Baiken nearly laughed at this, even through all her confusion. “Kid,” she began, “she ain’t imposing. But what she does is up to her.”
“Is he speaking with you?” Anji spoke up.
”Huh? Can’t you hear him?”
Ah, my apologies. I was transmitting exclusively to miss Baiken, but I have now connected all four of us, so everyone here can hear me at the moment. You must be Anji, I presume? Allow me to thank you as well for taking care of my little sister.
”Oh? Now that’s a new feeling,” Anji said, never before having experienced telepathy. “And it’s nothing. I’m more curious about how you returned.”
Yes, I’ll get to that. But for now…
The two of them turned their gazes to Delilah who had been standing silently, save for the occasional hiccup or sniff. She couldn’t even begin to process this. What did this mean? All of her hatred, her despair, her loneliness… she was overjoyed, yes, but something about forgetting her previous hardships so quickly felt wrong. Once more, she forgot that these thoughts were essentially spoken out loud to her brother.
Delilah… you don’t have to abandon those feelings. They are real and you felt them for a time and it would be wasteful to act as if you never experienced them. But for now… right now, I may suggest putting them aside for the sake of the current moment.
She sniffed. “Okay…” The girl wiped her face on her sleeve once more, still damp with earlier tears, and turned to look at Baiken, putting on a brave expression. “Please,” she pleaded, “please let him stay with us.”
Baiken’s expression softened. She was nearly offended that Delilah would think she’d separate the two of them. Baiken knew, perhaps more than anyone here, how terrible it was to lose your family. Though her personality prevented her from expressing this in full. “Y’really think I can say no to that face? He can stay.”
Delilah took a deep breath to prevent another outburst of tears, and nearly tackled Baiken with a hug. “Thank you, big sis… thank you.”
Yes, thank you. Now I don’t mean to interrupt such a nice moment, but my body will suffer if I do not lay down within the next ten minutes. I would love to answer your question, with this the bed’s head turned to look at Anji, but if you could excuse us, I need to speak to Delilah alone.
Baiken and Anji weren’t too keen on stopping the conversation here, but neither of them felt it appropriate to stop the siblings, so they stayed in the living room while the siblings went to Delilah’s room. Though considering the size of the house (it was a single floor home with two bedrooms), this would most likely be Delilah and Romeo’s room.
As they entered, the bed moved to its side of the room (half of the room was kept clear for it to be stored in its dormant state) and folded in on itself, turning into a normal bed with Romeo laying on top. Delilah sat on her bed, facing him. (She had her own bed since the robot bed was filthy). The two of them stayed there silently, perhaps expecting the other to speak first, or simply enjoying each other’s presence. Delilah fidgeted with her sleeves.
Romeo broke the silence. So this is where you live. You’re in good company. That Anji and Baiken are incredibly strong, at least from what I had heard about them (I never ended up encountering them to judge for myself). And I’m surprised you kept the bedframe. I believe I had programmed it to self-destruct once it confirmed your safety; the fact that it is still here implies it may be too damaged to follow through with the action, or perhaps it deemed slowly withering away to be equivalent to self-destruction? Either way, I reprogrammed it earlier so it should no longer try to damage itself. A good thing I did; it’s in dire need of repair, my poor eighth-generation reinforced high-density bedframe.
“Romeo.”
Yes?
”How…” Delilah gripped the edge of her bed. “How are you alive…?”
Ah. I was avoiding the topic because, to be frank, I am unsure of the method of resurrection myself. Quite embarrassing if you ask me, but it’s the truth: I have little idea how I came back to life. Suspicions, yes, but nothing worth mentioning yet. I find it to be a low priority issue anyway; currently I’d simply like to be with you.
”How come you have to be asleep? Or rather, how am I awake?”
Oh, yes, that. You see, when I was, uhm, dying, I had managed to create an absolute world. A fraction of it, yes, but an absolute world nonetheless. In there, my word is law, and my word was for you to awaken. Of course, you wouldn’t be living in my absolute world, so I had to tweak some things to allow you to awaken in the normal world. Specifically, your powers. They are under intense limits to prevent your hardware from overheating. I allowed access to a small portion of them, which to any normal human is an overwhelming amount of power, but it pales in comparison to your true potential. Forgive me, as I cannot undo the limits as I am now, and even if I could, you would have to be put in a coma once more. I hope the powers you retained were adequate. And as you may have observed, I also have retained my abilities, but as a result, I must be asleep as I was before. A small price to pay to be together, though.
Ah, he was just as wordy as usual. Some things never changed.
Is it too much? I can cut down on the word count if it is.
”Brother… I know you can read my mind, but I’d appreciate it if you only responded to the things I said out loud…”
Oh. Apologies.
Another minute of silence.
It was strange to talk to a sleeping body. He looked like a corpse, especially with how his clothes were tattered and his glasses were broken. It didn’t help the awkwardness. She was overwhelmed.
Despite the short time they spent together in dreams in their childhood, the siblings were horribly socially unaware, and despite there being a plethora of topics to discuss, neither one could really start.
Delilah’s silence worried Romeo. Was she upset? He couldn’t tell, and he didn’t want to pry into her mind. All he wanted was for them to be regular siblings, to understand each other and live happily. That was his entire reason for trying to create the absolute world, after all. His whole motivation, and it amounted to nothing. Was that what was bothering her? That her brother was a criminal?
His thoughts were interrupted when Delilah spoke up. “Brother?”
Yes?
”I’m happy you’re here… I don’t care about anything else. I just want to stay like this… but I don’t think I can. I don’t know what to do or how to feel.”
Oh, Delilah… Let’s… let’s take this one step at a time, okay? I’ll take care of everything, as your big brother. I can shoulder the responsibilities.
No, that wasn’t it. “I don’t… I don’t want you to shoulder any more…”
So that was it.
Delilah, please come here.
”Nn?” She stood up and slowly approached Romeo’s sleeping body. It was somewhat difficult to look at.
Look at me. Am I breathing?
Delilah watched as his chest slowly rose and fell. “Mhm..”
I’m alive. You’re alive. That’s all that I ever wanted, Delilah. Everything I did, everything that happened, was of my own volition. I chose to do what I did, and it is no one’s fault or responsibility but mine. You were my reason, yes, but my actions have nothing to do with you; you need not feel as if you should shoulder any of my burden. If my past catches up with me then I will respond appropriately, but in the meantime… This is a poor way of putting it, but, in the meantime, I’d like to relax. Please. Don’t worry.
Delilah sniffed, once again holding back the tears that she had only just managed to force away. This was close enough to what was causing her stress, and with these words out in the open, she felt incredibly refreshed. She was sure that they’d have this conversation again, but like Romeo said, she’d like to relax until then.
”Okay. Can we talk with big sis? I don’t want her to worry, either.”
Of course. I’m sure that hearing such a one-sided conversation her only left her more confused. Romeo connected his telepathy to Baiken and Anji who were outside Delilah’s room, ears pressed to the door. You two can enter now. For the record, I have the ability to sense all biological life forms within a fifty meter radius from my person; your eavesdropping was quite obvious. I take no offense, though, as I would do the same if I were in your situations.
The door slowly opened. “Bah. I’ll never get used to having that voice in my head,” Baiken complained. Anji was silent and walked up to the bed and looked at Romeo.
“That’s… incredible. I had heard you were turned to dust,” Anji said with his typical curiosity.
Yes, and I would love to explain to you my method of resurrection, but I fear that it escapes even me. If I determine the cause (which I eventually will) I will get back to you with the information, but for the moment, I believe discussing this topic further to be quite pointless.
“Yeesh, kid. Your brother always this chatty?” Baiken resisted glaring (it was instinctual at this point) at the sleeping body.
”He means well. Please don’t be upset with him, big sis,” Delilah whimpered.
Baiken was somewhat taken aback by Delilah’s reply. She didn’t realize how much Delilah cared about how she felt, but it made sense. Romeo was all Delilah had (or so Baiken assumed, since the girl never discussed her past and Baiken never pried), so of course she was desperate to stay with him. She’d have to be careful with how she spoke, at least until Delilah was convinced she wouldn’t kick out Romeo or something. ”I didn’t say nothin’ about it being bad. Just ain’t used to it.”
“Mkay…”
Baiken sat down and sighed. She wasn’t good at serious discussions, but she needed to know about Romeo. “Delilah. I’ve avoided asking ‘cause it ain’t none of my business, but now I deserve to know.” She swallowed, finding it difficult to phrase her question. “Yer and your brother’s pasts…”
Delilah fidgeted some more and looked down at the floor. Truthfully, she knew very little of her own past, and the parts where her brother aided the enemy… she was somewhat ashamed that she didn’t mind them. She didn’t agree with or condone his actions, but she couldn’t bring herself to truly feel that way; Romeo was all she had for so long, she was automatically on his side no matter what.
I understand that you did not request this information from me, Baiken, but I believe myself to be far more equipped to answer your question, if that is acceptable.
”If she’d rather you explain, that’s fine, but I wanna hear it from her.”
“I’d rather he explain it…” Delilah was relieved that Romeo stepped up to answer for her.
”Alright. Then let’s hear it.”
For the sake of time I will phrase things rather bluntly. There’s quite a lot to discuss, but I assume you want to hear the abstract, so I will shorten the story.
I was born first. I have extremely early memories of my childhood (from when I was 3 years old), but past that point, my intelligence far surpassed the limits of my physical body and I had to be put into a sleeping state, much like I am currently. Delilah was… not as fortunate, and had to be placed in a coma at a much younger age. For this reason, she has no childhood memories. Our origins are not of a typical family. I cannot explain the bulk of how we came to be, but I will allow you the information that our tattoos were not placed on us of our own volition. Regardless, both of us were trapped in magic comas.
Both of us exhibited mastery over dreams, I believe you would call it lucid dreaming? It is not the exact same thing, but through this ability, we could interact. They were short, fuzzy blips, but Delilah and I spent quite a lot of time together in our dreams. I crafted scenes made of fragmented childhood memories, but they were not enough to provide her with any sort of upbringing, and her powers outweighed mine to the point that over time, our dreams overlapped less and less. That is not to say her powers were “out of control”. Rather, she was unaware of the method of mitigating them to allow me to infiltrate her dreams, and they swallowed her up as well; our times together became increasingly vague and fuzzy. I was desperate to help her.
That is, of course, when the Universal Will contacted me. I am unsure of her methods or how she managed to access my dreams, but she provided me with an opportunity to influence the outside world, and of course I accepted. I instructed her on how to construct my bedframe robot, and through it, I became relatively autonomous. Delilah, however, was too intensely trapped within her own dream world to pilot a bedframe like mine.
So, I joined the Universal Will in seeking to create the Absolute World. My goal was to create the Absolute World so that I could allow Delilah to awaken, and resurrect everyone who suffered from the actions I took to accomplish this. Of course, as you are already aware, the Universal Will’s true aim was to eradicate humanity, and… and I deeply regret not seeing through her facade. It was never my intention to hurt so many innocents. I felt it justified as I had memorized the names of everyone whose life was altered because of me, so I could right my countless wrongs. But… in the end, all I could do was awaken Delilah and command my bedframe to protect her. Then… I died.
I have many regrets, and I am not opposed to whatever form of punishment awaits me. That is what I deserve. But Delilah deserves none of it, and I will do everything in my power to provide her with the life she was never able to have. I am incredibly grateful to you two for taking care of her, and I would like to repay you. But if your terms of repayment involve my absence from her life, then I will have to respectfully and selfishly decline.
I hope that answered your question. If you would like for me to expand on any point, simply ask and-
“Alright, alright, that’s all I needed to know,” Baiken interrupted, clearly fatigued. “I can’t tell ya how I feel about it yet, but I ain’t so heartless that I’d tell you to kick it. ‘Sides, I already said you could stay.”
Delilah looked back up at Baiken and managed a smile. Hearing everything rehashed was tough, and she couldn’t really accept how smoothly everything was going, but she had to, and so she tried. She didn’t feel that she was worthy of such a fortunate turn of events- her brother resurrecting, her new family accepting him so easily- but perhaps this was what she would work on from this point onwards: Accepting her own happiness.
Anji was still standing, seemingly lost in thought. It wasn’t like him to appear so serious, but perhaps something about Romeo’s situation resonated with him, or reminded him of someone else. Probably the latter. Whatever he was thinking about was short lived, as his expression softened and he spoke. “I can’t say that everything will be easy from now on, but you’re young and there’s much to see in this world. I couldn’t oppose your decision even if I wanted to. And hey, the more the merrier, right?”
Delilah nodded.
Everything had been said and no one really knew what to bring up next, so the room was immersed in a painfully awkward silence for about a minute before Baiken noticed the clock.
“Ah, shit, it’ll be dinnertime soon.”
”O-oh, it’s my turn to cook…” Delilah stood up unenthusiastically. "Um, I’ll start preparing it right now-“
Baiken stopped her. “Nah, I’ll do it. Been wanting to try a new recipe anyway. And you, uhm…” Baiken glanced at Romeo. “Are you joining us..?”
I wish, but as I am now, I cannot ingest food. I would love to join, but I believe you’ll find it difficult to prop my body up in such a way that it won’t slump over and fall into your carefully prepared meal. Go ahead and leave me here, though I do have a… request.
Baiken felt somewhat relieved. Having dinner with Romeo would have been incredibly strange; she still wasn’t fully comfortable with speaking to an unconscious body. “And that is..?”
Perhaps Anji may be more suited to this, but… I fear that my body is quite dirty. If you could wash it I would greatly appreciate it; I believe your olfactory systems would appreciate it as well. And if possible, a change of clothing would be desirable, but I do not expect you to have suitable garments on hand.
Anji laughed. “Never have I been asked to help bathe someone in such a long-winded way! Baiken, you go ahead and prepare dinner.” Anji scooped up Romeo with incredible ease, cradling his fail body in his arms. “I can take care of this.”
”Alright. See you in forty.”
And so the three of them left Delilah’s room. Upon their exit, she immediately slumped over and fell back onto her bed, exhausted. Somehow this whole discussion was the most draining thing she had ever done. Likely due to her emotions still not being sorted out, but she had already decided to hold off on doing that, so this was no time to think about them again. No, no; now was the time to be glad. Glad that she was so fortunate.
—
“Ah, this reminds me of the bathhouses back in the Colony. We’d scrub each other’s backs before climbing in the water together, to keep it clean. Although, this is far more difficult.”
Anji had prepared everything to bathe Romeo, but the boy’s unconscious body wouldn’t stay upright, forcing Anji to awkwardly balance Romeo against the wall while he scrubbed his body one area at a time. Romeo was silent, probably out of being ashamed.
“You’re not thinking of running off, are you?”
Excuse me?
Anji continued to bathe him. “I’m a bit of a free spirit, and for a long time I travelled wherever, refusing to be confined to one place. But with you,” Anji paused. “Your bed robot, you told it to self-destruct, right? It caused Delilah quite a lot of anguish.”
That? That was for her sake. I thought that once she acclimated to a normal life, she would have no need for such a weapon. Especially not one so intensely damaged. I was quite surprised to see it still active. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will apologize to her.
”Not exactly what I meant. You hurt her without realizing, because you assumed how she would feel, right?”
I don’t see where you’re going with this, but if it will satisfy you, then yes, I hurt her, and I regret it immensely.
Anji frowned. “You’re jumping to conclusions… I’ve seen how easy it can be for others to do things they regret because they assumed how their friends felt. I don’t want you to have any more regrets, so my advice is, don’t do anything rash without checking in with everyone.”
Romeo was silent for a moment. Oh, is this what you meant by running away? As I previously established, I have no intention of leaving Delilah behind, at least not at this stage. For her sake, and... for my own selfishness.
“See, that’s what I mean, you say ‘not yet’, and what I mean is that, that ‘yet’ will come someday. When it does, you should trust those around you to be truthful with how they feel, and not make any rash decisions without confiding in them.”
I believe I understand the point you’re trying to make, but why bring this up now? Do you always initiate in these deep discussions when bathing someone else?
Anji chuckled. “Not normally. Just needed to mention this to you one-on-one. Think of it like fatherly advice.”
You are not my father.
“Aha, lighten up a bit! Don’t take everything so literally!” Anji patted Romeo on the back without thinking, causing his body to slump and fall over. “Oops. Well! I think we’re done here. Sit tight, I’ll go find you some clothes.” Anji draped a towel over Romeo’s unconscious body and exited.
The only clothing they owned that would have a chance of fitting was Delilah’s, so Anji knocked on her door and entered. He found the girl laying on her bed blankly staring at the ceiling, and made his way to the shallow sliding door closet. “What’s up?” he asked as he sorted through her clothes to find something Romeo could wear.
”The ceiling,” she replied dryly.
”Okay smarty. Hey, you alright with your brother wearing this?” He pulled a t-shirt and flannel pants from the closet. It was the least feminine thing she owned.
”Mhm. Take whatever.”
”Okay~.” He took the clothes out and turned to leave but paused. He was going to ask if she was alright, but decided against it. They had enough emotional discussion for one day.
Anji made his way back to the bathroom, Romeo still in the position he left him in. Anji half expected Romeo to have somehow moved, but there he was, still slumped against the wall with a towel draped over him. It would take some getting used to, to stop being surprised at seeing what was effectively a corpse in their house. Anji awkwardly got the clothes on Romeo and picked him up again. “Want me to take you back to your room?”
Yes, that would be good. And thank you for taking care of me. I’m sure it was a less than desirable task.
Anji smiled. “We all take care of each other. It's nothing unusual,” he reassured before picking Romeo up again and taking him to Delilah’s room. He laid Romeo on the bedframe which was still quite filthy, but it helped that the boy was now clean. Anji glanced at the clock. It had only been about fifteen minutes. “I’m gonna go help Baiken with dinner. I’ll come knock when it’s ready.”
”Mkay…” Delilah mumbled. Anji exited, closing the door behind him.
How do I look?
Delilah turned her head to glance at Romeo and giggled. “Like me. Except I never wear those pants.”
If you can picture my appearance in your head, I will be able to see it, too.
"Hold on.” With a kick and a grunt of effort, Delilah got off of her bed and stood over Romeo, doing her best to picture his appearance in her mind. “Can you see?”
Romeo was silent for a bit. It really is me… Not that I expected anyone else, of course. It would be absurd to resurrect in someone else’s body. But considering I have yet to discover the method of my resurrection, it is in my best interest to investigate my body. I believe I crumbled to stone, and… N-never mind. I need to stop focusing on such things. What matters is that I am here with you.
Delilah smiled. “You don’t need to justify wanting to see yourself, brother.” She then grabbed his hand. It was limp and cold, and he had scarring around his wrist, likely due to the restraints that held him to the bedframe in the past. She focused on the feeling of her hand in his, the sensation of the touch, so that he could feel it too. She sat on the bed, her hand still in his, and closed her eyes. And they sat there for what felt like several minutes, taking it all in, that after all the discussion and confrontation, they could finally relax and revel in their reconnection. A loud knocking on the door jolted her back to reality.
“Dinner’s ready!”
”Mkay, I’ll be right there!” She turned to Romeo. “Are you okay staying in here?”
Of course. Honestly, I prefer it. I would love to participate in dinner with you but I fear my presence would make it far too awkward to enjoy. But if you would focus on the flavor of the food as you eat it, perhaps I will be able to experience it as well, and so you may think of me as if I were there, eating with you. You have no obligation to do so, I only make the suggestion in case it is something you’d like to do.
“I want to do that. I’ll see you after dinner, then.” She gave his hand a quick squeeze before getting up to join Baiken and Anji at the table.
Dinner went as usual. Anji did most of the talking while Baiken responded to his pokes. Delilah was mostly quiet, partially because she was focusing on the flavor of the food so Romeo could perceive it. She must have been making some sort of negative expression without realizing it.
”Not good?” Baiken asked between bites.
“Nn nn.” Delilah swallowed. “It’s really good. I was only focusing on the flavor.”
”I made it the same way I always do. Something different?”
”No. I was thinking hard about it so Romeo could have some.”
Baiken stopped chewing. “Huh?”
Anji spoke up. “Oh, because he can read minds, right? I wonder what that feels like.”
Delilah nodded, taking another bite.
”Tell ‘im to let me know what he thinks of my cooking. Nothin’ beats the real experience though.” Baiken flinched, realizing the implication of what she just said. She wasn’t really thinking that hard about it, but thankfully Delilah either didn’t notice or already understood she meant nothing bad by it.
And so dinner proceeded as normal, Anji occasionally pointing out Delilah’s amusing expressions. They were a combination of focus and disgust as she tried hard to convey the flavor in her mind. Afterwards they all got up and brought their dishes to the sink, Baiken offering to wash them so Delilah could sleep earlier. The girl usually stayed up late, but the day had been so exhausting that she wanted to get to bed immediately. She slipped into her pajamas and wished Baiken and Anji goodnight before entering her room and climbing into bed. Romeo’s soft breathing and occasional snore filled the typically quiet room.
“You didn’t say anything the whole time. Did it work? Was it good?”
No response.
“Brother?”
Again, no response.
This wasn’t something that could be explained away with “oh, he’s just asleep”, because he was always sleeping and therefore always mentally present.
“Are you okay? Are you…” no, he would never ignore her. “Please, say something.”
Quiet. Incredibly so…
His breathing.
Delilah nearly jumped out of bed and tripped over herself to get to his side and put an ear to his chest. There was a faint heartbeat and incredibly shallow breathing, and she sighed in relief, but it wasn’t his typical consistent breathing and he was also so warm. She put the back of her hand on his forehead and flinched. It was hot. Incredibly hot. She ran to turn on the ceiling light which revealed his face twisted into a rather pained expression.
”Brother! Brother, what’s going on? What- what do I do?!” She screamed.
Anji and Baiken came crashing into the room upon hearing the scream. Baiken ran up to hold Delilah while Anji rushed to look at Romeo.
“Delilah! Are you okay?” Baiken pulled her away from her brother, but Delilah struggled free.
”Something’s wrong! He won’t respond, he’s- he’s burning up, I don’t- I don’t know what to do, please help!”
Anji had already started assessing Romeo’s condition and ran to get a bag of ice. Baiken couldn’t think of anything to do apart from checking his pulse and breathing. “Damn, he really is burning up,” she once again said without thinking.
“Please… please…” Delilah whimpered, beginning to cry as she assumed the worst.
They couldn’t exactly call a doctor. Romeo’s existence was a secret, and his condition was so obscure they doubted any doctor could actually help. Perhaps that tall mysterious doctor could do something, but they had no way of contacting him and he had apparently been pretty inactive since Delilah’s incident. All the three of them could do was place an ice bag on his head and hope, Delilah holding his hand, hope that whatever was happening would come to pass.
She couldn’t lose him again.