Nox was now fully clothed, much to his satisfaction.
He and Astra were currently walking through the dbay’s corridor and instead of heading towards the exit, they were headed towards the elevator.
Which confused Nox.
"I thought you said the headmistress wanted to speak with ?" He asked as they continued forward.
"And that’s where we’re headed," Astra answered.
Nox looked back and then towards her before deciding to stay silent, maybe the head mistress was also in the dbay?
"Wait," Soone suddenly called out from behind causing him to turn around.
The one who called out to them was a girl with black hair and eyes, she was being pushed forward by one of the nurses, since she sat on a wheelchair.
Nox stopped, and waited for her to catch up, which she soon did, for so reason, her features seed familiar.
"Y-you’re Nox, right?" The girl asked, but before he could respond, she cut him off, "ah, where’re my manners, I’m Lena, you recently went into a rift with my brother."
Nox finally understood why she looked so familiar, she looked like an exact copy of Levi....just that she was female.
The mont he recognized her, he knew exactly what she was about to ask, and honestly, he wasn’t sure if he was the right person to give her the answer she needed to hear.
Still, he bowed towards her, his guilt hitting him at full force.
"I’m sorry." Was the only thing he could say and she imdiately understood what he ant.
He knew that sorry wouldn’t bring back Levi, not would it erase the fact that their deaths was on him, but he was selfish enough to want her forgiveness...
Maybe that would reduce the guilt he felt.
Lena remained frozen in her wheelchair for a couple of seconds, her fingers were trembling as she tightly held on to the wheelchair’s armrest.
Nox could see that she was to keep herself from breaking down.
"I see," Lena finally said softly.
He tapped his watch and withdrew sothing from the inventory, it was a neatly wrapped box and on the top was Lena’s na pasted.
"I didn’t know him for long," he started, passing the box to her and she took it with trembling fingers, "but, he’s the reason why I’m standing here right now, alive."
"That sounds like him," she replied, letting out a weak laugh that didn’t quite reach her eyes. "He might seem quiet, but he’s always trying to act cool."
The nurse behind her hesitated, clearly unsure whether to intervene, but Lena lifted a hand to stop her.
"Thank you," she said after a mont. "For telling and bringing this to ."
With that, she signaled for the nurse to take her back, and Nox watched them turn around before stopping.
"I don’t know what happened in that rift," she said with her back to him, "but whatever did, know that my brother’s death wasn’t your fault."
It was, it really was, he wanted to tell her, but she was already being pushed away by the nurse.
"Here," Astra, who was calmly waiting close to the elevator door, extended her hand, and in it was a white cloth.
Nox was a bit confused until he felt the hot liquid run down his cheeks.
"Huh?" This was the second ti he was crying without even realizing it.
Astra observed that his mood had taken a dip and he had turned gloomy. She wanted to say sothing, but neither her, nor the voices in her head were well versed in the art of comforting.
The two walked into the elevator and the door closed behind them with a ding.
Astra pressed the button for the top most floor which Nox didn’t realize since he still seed lost in thought.
There was silence between the two for a long while, before Astra broke it.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "You know," she said in a neutral tone, "you could’ve just avoided her if her brother’s death weighed this much on you."
That was the best she could co up with, and even the voices in her head were disappointed.
He let out a weak chuckle before replying, "yeah, I’m bad at being smart like that."
The silence returned again, only interrupted by the humming of the elevator as it continued upwards.
"What happened in that rift?" Astra asked suddenly.
Nox turned to her before looking at the digital floor counter just above the elevator door.
"I voted for a stupid decision and all my teammates ended up dying," he said, "mostly because they were trying to save ."
Again, the silence returned as Astra thought on his words, it wasn’t that she felt pity, after all, students dying during an academy test was nothing new.
Especially since this one was unexpected.
But she didn’t like her lab rat being down like that. She didn’t want him traumatized just yet.
"Maybe the blind bat can help?"
Nox was a bit confused at her words, until he realized that she was just talking to herself, so he also disappeared into his thoughts.
While scanning through the watch’s inventory, he realized that there was sothing he hadn’t put there.
He could take it out and find out what it did, but he wasn’t assured that it was safe just yet.
And he didn’t an that in the physical sense, he ant it in the sense that it might be a last ditch survival effort from the Eclipsed.
If it was, he’d be screwed if he took it out here.
Though, with Astra here, she could probably handle an Eclipsed of that level pretty easily.
Nox had long realized that he needed to get stronger, a whole lot stronger than he was right now.
It was not because he wanted to be a hero or sothing, but he had realized that in a rift, the weak always ended up dying....and he didn’t want to die.
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