REDSNOW: Timescape (Book 1.5)

Chapter 1

AFTER THE SEAL

Bloom

"When will she wake up?" I hear a familiar voice asking.

This raspy yet soft voice is supposed to irritate me. It annoyed me my whole life. Yet somehow, I'm relieved, having it as the first sound I hear after being in a deep sleep. After the seal.

So, he's okay.

The spasm I feel in my neck makes me groan. As the pain registers, I regain utmost consciousness on my surroundings.

"Bloom?" Hagane calls. "Hey, Beanstalk. Do you hear me? Can you see me? Are you awake now?" he asks, three questions without a pause in between, as he abruptly stands up from getting seated on the chair beside my infirmary bed.

"Yes, because you're too loud," I say, rolling my eyes heavenward. Ugh, I shouldn't have done that. Now, I'm getting dizzy.

I reach for my head, hoping to steady my vision.

"Does your head hurt?"

"Yeah, it hurts from your loud, annoying voice." I grimace.

He crosses his arms. "I guess you're doing fine," he says sourly. "You're back to being prickly."

"Welcome back, Bloom," Medina, who happens to be inside the room, greets me.

I try to rise from the infirmary bed. "Where's Arastus? Did we seal him?"

"You think we'd all be alive now if we didn't?"

If I just have enough strength, I would've punched Hagane on his face right now for talking sarcastically to me.

"What time is it?" I ask instead. I have no enough power to fight with him at the moment. My body feels so depreciated.

"You mean, what day is it? You were gone for a week," Hagane answers.

"A week?!" My eyes bulge out. "Wait...How about Pain and Season?" I remember.

"Pain just woke up yesterday. As for Season, she..."

"What?" I nervously ask. Hagane's hesitation to answer increases the worry within me. I lost consciousness before Season completed the seal. So I have no idea what happened after I passed out.

"She's in a critical condition," Medina answers for Hagane.

Critical condition isn't the worst case scenario that I have in my head. Even then, it still doesn't guarantee relief.

"Where is she?"

"Next room."

I readily head towards the infirmary room where Season is in, not minding the mild sting on my arm after I pulled it away from whatever is attached to it. But when I open the door, I find Pain looking at Leo with a clenched jaw.

"You said she will be fine, Leo. You said she has the highest chance of surviving."

Leo couldn't answer. I meddle with them to ease the igniting tension. "Hey," I try to calm Pain down.

Pain hisses frustratingly as he finally averts his gaze away, trying to control himself. My eyes find Season lying unconscious and pale. A tube is connected to her mouth to keep her breathing. But even with that, her breaths are unstable and slow. A machine keeps her heartbeat in check. The sound from the machine is also slow-paced, like her breaths.

"S-She's gonna be fine, right?" I look at Pain.

"Why don't you ask him?" He eyes Leo bitterly.

"Pain, this isn't Leo's fault. He was just trying to find a solution," I argue. My head still hurts, but I know it is nothing compared to how Pain is hurting now.