Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

The Audacity

She couldn't sing human songs but found that some of Kanan's poetry lent itself rather handily to a tune.

The song she chose was lighthearted, about a small Anin animal, similar to a fox that chased, another creature, similar to a butterfly, into the sky, its long flowing tail creating the bands around their planet they knew to be the glowing ribbons of a magnetic field.

It even rhymed.

Kay turned in his sleep, but did not wake up, clutching his fish tighter.

The poem kanan wrote had several verses, all of which she sang, softly, her voice nearly hidden under the sound of hospital generators and the distant sound of voices. While she sang, she held his hand, cold and limp in hers. In the glowing blue darkness of the hospital room, his hand was pale like a corpse worm. Behind her voice, the sound of the heart monitor paced out the beat for her, melding itself into her music as she went, until she was lost in the sound.

So lost she didn't even notice as it changed, sped up, and grew in strength until eventually her voice faded away and she lapsed into silence.

"I didn't know you could sing."

Sunny nearly jolted out of her spot, hand reached instinctually for her spear until she realized.

Adam's eyes were open.

And focused on her.

It was hard to tell in the dim light, but she could see the light reflecting off his good eye, and felt as his hand tightened around hers.

She struggled to keep her voice down, "Adam!"

He blinked once in the near dark, reaching up an unsteady hand to his face. His arm trembled as he attempted to move it, a painful process that was slow and lethargic with exhaustion that still hadn't abated. He managed to reach up and press a hand over his bad eye, which, at this point was missing tis prosthetic.

"You could at least have given me my eyepatch." he mumbled, "So I don't look all freaky."

His voice was partially slurred, but to her delight, he was speaking, and making some sense! And he knew who she was.

She rested her two upper hands on the sides of his face, one hand overlapping part of his.

"You're okay" She whispered.

He hummed by way of response before, "When did you learn how to sing?"

She waved away the question, "how are you feeling?"

"Annoyed that you keep ignoring my question." He said back, and she gave a deep sigh of annoyance, "I've been practicing for a few years now, since you left to fight behemoth, and I didn't want to show you until I knew I wouldn't make your ears bleed.

He gave a tired smile, "For you, I'd let my ears bleed, but I am happy to report that you're actually not that bad."

"How flattering." She said dryly though she couldn't help but feel a warm sort of glow blossoming up in her chest.

He licked his lips, and she quickly moved to grab him a waiting glass of water, pressing a straw to his lips. He drank long and greedily interrupted only by sunny who insisted he at least breath at some point, a fact which seemed to annoy him to no end, but which he suffered with dignity.

The exhaustion was still evident, despite sleeping almost continually for weeks on end.

He yawned.

"Sleep, I'll be here." She said softly.

"Where are we?" despite his exhaustion, he wasn't too tired to demand answers.

"The hospital back on arcadia."

"Kazna"

"Escaped through a rip in space and time." She grumbled.

He huffed, "Figures..... kay/"

Sunny reached out to place a hand behind his head and gently lit him to see across the room where kay was still asleep.

"He's gotten big." Adam mumbled his voice already beginning to fade as she rested his head back down on the pillow, "You can say hi when the both of you are better rested." he didn't respond to this but closed his eyes and fell asleep.

***

Kay had waited very patiently for his dad to wake up. Warm light from the sun orbs was spilling in through the window turning the atmosphere above them to a light blue. He had played quietly on the floor like his mom had told him, until eventually he heard a soft groan and lifted his head to find his dad was awake, and wasted no time in climbing onto the bed crawling up to the side with his mom

"Papá!"

Adam cracked an eye, and smiled, "Hey there bud." Then he frowned in confusion, "Papa?"

Sunny sighed, "Ramirez is teaching him spanish apparently,"

"Mmm figures."

Kay hugged Adam with Sunny's supervision and Adam patted him on the back. It was just then that Krill bustled in, "Now now, settle down everyone, I have an exam to-"

"Give me five minutes would you."

Krill bristled, "Five minutes! Now listen here you big stupid..... I didn't watch you get stabbed in the chest, stick your fingers in the holes and cauterize with Anima energy to be told to WAIT FIVE MINUTES!"

His rage sent kay into a fit of giggling.

"Can we come in now?"

Adam recognized Ramirez's voice.

"Yeah, you can come in."

"They most certainly MAY NOT!" Everyone ignored Krill's conniption as they filed into the room.

Soon the room was basically at capacity, with all his friends and several members of his family beaming and glad to see him awake. Krill was seething, working himself up into a nearly vibrating ball of rage, but the room mostly ignored him.

Adam smiled, "You know this is becoming a bit of a tradition."

Martha frowned at him, "And I will kindly ask you to stop it."

The room laughed.

Kay sat happily leaning against Adam's good shoulder, talking incoherently in all three of the languages he knew to the point where no one in the room could probably understand him. Whatever it was, he seemed very excited to let Adam know.

"So, what's the damage?" Adam wondered, "I.... suspect extraordinary measures?"

The room glanced around at each other.

Celex frowned, "Well, at this point I might say you are only about maybe..... 65% human or less."

"We gave you an artificial biomechanical heart and lung..... We thought it might be more durable." Sunny said, afraid that he might be mad.

She should have known better.

"Awesome!"

The room laughed again.

"Though there are a few things......" krill began

That is when Kay decided to interject, "NIPPLE!"

Adam sputtered, and the room laughed, "Where did he learn....' Adam paused, suspicion dawning on his face as he reached one hand under the bedsheets prodding around his chest with one hand. The room watched his eyes widen, "Sonnofabitch, who stole my-"

The laughter drowned out whatever he might have been ready to say next, and Adam pulled back the sheet to take a look at their handiwork. The drainage tubes had been left in, so the sight wasn't exactly pretty, and there was a distinct dividing line between where human skiing began and artificial skin ended.

"No way." He muttered. They waited in nervous silence as Adam contemplated his changed body and then looked up at them with an accusatory look on his face.

"Who in the hell has the audacity to pilfer a man's nipple!"