Happy Ending ((TENYA IIDA X OC))

Chapter 32

I felt my breathing hitch.

The woman who I perceived as a nurse previously wasn't even a nurse at all. Her hair was straight and long and black. Her skin was tan and she had a birthmark under the left side of her bottom lip. Her eyes were a chocolate brown and looked back at me hopefully. It took me a while to notice, but when I looked down, I had realized that she had been tightly holding onto my hand.

I looked back up to her eyes and suddenly felt emotional. A tsunami of different feelings crashed into me at that moment; the fact that I could see out of both of my eyes, the throbbing sensation I felt through my whole body, the fact that Francis and I were one again, how he tried so hard to save my life after we fused... how he so obviously gave my mother back to me.

"Can you give us a moment, Doctor?" I heard her say. It was soft spoken; something I didn't remember her ever sounding like.

The doctor complied without a word and left the room, giving my mother and I the privacy she requested.

I still couldn't find the words to say and only stared. My mother was smiling knowingly at me, and as soon as the door shut, she was quick to gently wrap me up in a hug.

I took in a shaky breath and returned the gesture tightly, using all the strength from my weak limbs that I could muster.

She was so warm. She was so real.

"I knew you'd wake up," I heard her whisper. "You're just too stubborn not to."

I had managed to laugh weakly at that and nuzzled into the crook of her neck. Warm tears squeezed their way out of my closed eyes.

"I saw everything," she continued softly. "I'm so proud of you. You saved a lot of lives that night."

All I could manage was a nod and a weak, thankful sob. I was thankful toward Francis for the first time ever.

When we finally pulled away, Mom held me at arms length with a weak, teary-eyed smile.

"You should have seen your sister," she laughed. "She was shocked to see me and enraged to see your condition. It was almost funny."

I smiled in return. "Where is everyone?"

"I sent Aizawa and Iida to the cafeteria an hour ago," Mom confessed, sounding guilty. "Shizuka is at the dorms because I made her go, and Karafuru went to check on your aunt about fifteen minutes before you woke up. They're all going to be so mad at me."

She laughed again and the sound made my chest lighten.

"And Sato?"

Mother looked on at me knowingly. "He's been here everyday since we brought you in. Last time I recall, he went to go check on Karafuru."

I breathed out evenly and leaned back against the pillow behind me.

"I can see again." I confessed, bringing my fingers up to my left cheek.

"Your face is no longer scarred, either," Mom revealed, taking up my free hand in hers. "There isn't a doubt in my mind that Dream Walker's power healed it."

I nodded in agreement and smiled absently to myself. Everything I felt then was so foreign — so strange.

Having Mom here and not wanting to rip her face off was strange, not to mention having her sitting next to me. It felt like everything that's happened was a dream; I had to pinch myself to convince myself otherwise.

"How are you here?" I asked after a moment.

"Dream Walker released me after you two fused again," Mom explained. "He didn't say anything, it didn't seem necessary."