VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

17. Sherry Blendy

But when he got there, it was quiet.

Way too quiet.

Eir stopped before the hospital room-- and he paused, looking toward the nurse for an explanation.

The nurse flustered. "I- I'm not sure. We were told not to use anymore sleep-inducers because it might cause adverse effects-- so she must have calmed down some other way."

Eir's eyes narrowed.

He knocked on the door twice before opening it.

There was another female nurse in the room. The male doctor was in a corner, covered in bruises and pillows and toys and anything else that used to be within reach of the hospital bed.

And on the bed-- the girl was clutching the package of her father's research papers.

Bandages around her arms, wet trails on her cheek-- she stares intently at the words on the paper, understanding them much better than Eir had any hope to.

She read them, sobbing quietly, skimming through the words and holding the papers close to her-- like she knew the value of those papers were greater than her life.

She didn't even turn up to look at Eir as he entered.

"Oh, Eir-kun," the doctor greeted, getting up from the cluster of toy debris, "she... seems to have calmed down after finding those papers that were by your things."

She recognized them, definitely. The girl was engrossed.

Eir came forward, carefully.

The nurses and the doctor excused themselves, but the door was left open.

The girl flinched away when Eir came to sit beside him. She curled away, squeezing further into the other edge, trying to get as far away from Eir as she could without jostling the IV or falling off the bed.

Eir smiled, but not too much.

"Do those belong to your dad?" he asked.

The girl jumps at the question-- then she brought the papers to the side as if to hide it, staring skeptically, a little alarmed, at the older man.

Eir leans on the bedside table, carefully, keeping his eyes away from the papers and the girl. "I didn't read them. But they're amazing research."

Just a little, the girl eased.

"Your father's an amazing mage," Eir says, "all that wreckage, and you were the only thing completely unhurt. It's honestly the most impressive thing I've ever seen."

"I know," the girl snaps at him, her face crumpled with anger and anguish at the same time, tears prickling at the edge of her eyes. She clawed at the covers over her, knuckles white with the force. "You don't-- understand-- papa was the... the best, and..."

The girl's face scrunched up, and in a second, she was back in tears, sobbing loudly into her hands.

She wasn't throwing things anymore. She wasn't even resisting. She was just crying her eyes out, mourning while she had the liberty to.

And that-- that meant she was a strong girl.

Eir smiled.