Gio backed away several steps and put his hands up.
"I never believed in ghosts. This must be a dream."
He pinched himself several tis as Raymond burst out into laughter.
"I’m not a ghost, bastard. Are you really praying on my downfall that badly?"
"What downfall? Ghosts can’t fall. They float."
Raymond made a dumbfounded expression.
"Kid, did sothing change? Have I been asleep for 5 years? How did you learn what a joke is and how are you starting at Jax levels of terrible?"
Gio shook his head, smiling wryly.
"It’s not a joke, though? Even if it hasn’t been five years, it’s been two weeks. It was starting to look like you really would stay asleep forever."
The worry in Gio’s heart was clouded by a veil, but that didn’t an he couldn’t feel it. Why else would he visit the dical ward so often?
The other team mbers were the sa. Every ti they ca back from a mission, they’d always stop by this place before anything else.
Gio was just the one who happened to co this ti.
Raymond received that wry smile with a kind one.
"It’s true. I’m awake, so stop treating like a dead guy."
Gio almost couldn’t understand the grin on his face.
How was he able to present himself so calmly as if he wasn’t suffering from a traumatic injury? How was he acting like his entire life wouldn’t change from this day forth?
In truth, Raymond didn’t just open his eyes. He had several hours of silence to understand his current state before Gio walked into the room.
It was odd.
No, he could only say it was odd now because he was a strong person. The feeling when he woke up...
That feeling couldn’t be described. It was a hollowness that went beyond hollowness. It felt like there was a thousand-mile hole in his chest sucking him into the ground. Frustration, dread, hopelessness, anger, sadness, disappointnt...
The combination of emotions was exacerbated every ti he tried to move his legs. Every ti he tried to rest his hand on his thigh. Every ti he tried to feel the rest of his body, he realized there wasn’t a "rest" to feel.
The rush of thoughts and emotions swirled together and created a dark cloud of depression that kept him glued to the bed, running his hand over his torso as it all sunk in.
’Maybe it would be better to end it.’
That thought broke the cycle.
Because, disregarding the thoughts of ending his life, Raymond wasn’t one to consider even retirent.
’This kind of injury doesn’t have to be the end of .’
He was shocked into reality by thoughts of leaving the world. His mind slowly cooled down, and that was the final conclusion he reached.
His life didn’t have to end because of this injury.
’It’s unfortunate. There are so things that’ll never co back...’
The sour feeling in his heart didn’t leave. His mind was still telling him to be pessimistic, but he forced it into silence and thought positively.
He would never be able to regain certain things. Unless he found a Healer that was at least a Lunar or even Stellar Class Sequencer, he would never be able to dream of having children again.
The fact that healing serum had to be used to imdiately save his life ant that restoring his legs was now far more difficult. In essence, his body recognized his current form as its only form. It no longer rembered its lower half. His torso did not end as if there were supposed to be legs connected to it anymore.
’But I can still fight.’
He could still stand for his cause and stand on the battlefield. He could still stand even if it was no longer physically possible.
’There are others who sustained wounds like this and kept fighting even without their lower limbs. It’s difficult, sure, but it’s possible.’
And he wasn’t soone who had to worry about money. With enough ti, he could have prosthetics made specifically for him to mimic the functionality of real legs. Robotics had co a long way in the past several centuries. It wasn’t wrong to say that the right prosthetic could even be considered an improvent.
In the end, he was alive and he was okay. He lived in a world of infinite possibilities.
Just seeing the usually cold and serious kid who rarely expressed himself showing so much emotion was enough for him. There were people who would support him along the way, so what did he have to worry for?
"Wait, what am I doing?"
He smiled as Gio’s sudden exclamation broke his train of thought.
"The others will be pissed if they find out I didn’t tell them imdiately when I found out you were awake. Hold on, let sound the alarm."
It didn’t exist before. In fact, it was a crude and newly installed system made for this purpose and this purpose only.
Gio went to the dical ward’s door and found a small box attached to the wall nearby. He grabbed the handle and pulled open its glass face, revealing the big red button inside.
He pushed it without hesitation.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Three consecutive beeps confird that the signal had been sent.
And the people bursting through the door less than a minute later proved that it reached its targets.
Amaya, Jason, Natalia, and Ulver –the four ground team mbers currently on the zephyr– shot into the room one by one. They all looked at Gio, who stood near the red button, before turning their eyes to the reason for the button’s existence.
There he was. With his eyes wide open and an infinitely helpless smile on his face was their Captain.
Right, he had finally opened his eyes.
***
The team mbers clearly weren’t comfortable enough to display their emotions in front of him. It was more so Natalia and Ulver than Amaya and Jason, but that was beside the point. Regardless of how many of them had to contain themselves, it was still best for him to leave the room.
’I can talk to him later. Plus, just seeing that he’s in good spirits is enough.’
Gio’s mind was put at peace by the glint in Raymond’s eyes. It wasn’t the look of soone who had been defeated by his injuries. He was clearly of the mind to fight fate and follow his ambitions in spite of them.
That was more than enough. The Raymond Gio ca to respect would return as if he never left.
’Then, the most important thing is the world again.’
For him personally, training would always be the most important thing, but even that was for the sake of the world.
’The beast control array has already been completed. They didn’t use any beasts against us while we were fleeing, probably on purpose, but that ans I don’t know how complete the machine is.’
He knew one thing for certain.
’The first ti it’s used against others is about a year from now. The 2nd Stratum’s First Institute of Sequencing Studies was the location, and the students who would have beco so of the next generation’s best and brightest Sequencers were the targets and victims.’
Among them were several students who had imnse potential. There was a reason the First Institute was picked out from its peers.
’I need to be ready.’
His rate of progress had to increase soon.
But, for now, it was best to focus on what was going on in the zephyr.
After all, there were still two mbers of the team who were still rushing back to the ship at this very mont.
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