Three Days Later
"Just a moment, it seems like he's waking up now." I slowly open my eyes and wait a moment to adjust to the light. Once the blinding effect is over I lift myself, leaning my torso against the bed frame. "How do you feel kid?" I look over at Azazel.
"It's strange, I feel better, but I also feel worse."
"Probably your body adjusting to everything now that you're awake." Azazel shows me a picture that appears to be my insides. "Some of your organs had to be replaced because of how quickly your disease was spreading, but thankfully we were able to get healthy replacements. Your bones and muscles have stayed relatively intact, but now it's time for the bad news." Another image comes up showing my brain.
"This is where the problems arise."
"Indeed. Your brain stayed intact, which is nothing short of a miracle, but in trying to extract your disease your motor functions have been restricted. Walking and other basic activities should only take a day or two for you to get back, but I wouldn't recommend any intense fighting for at least half a year." I sigh at the end of his statement.
"Six months of no fighting, I'm surely going to be weaker once it's over."
"You will, but that's to be expected. Sirzechs has arranged to allow you to stay here in the Underworld during your rehabilitation, and whatever you need will be supplied to you. The kids go back to school tomorrow, and they left the day you went under the knife, but Rias and Akeno should be back to check on you. I will say that your lifespan was increased after the operation, but I'll explain that another time." I adjust my posture and take a breath.
"What does Rias's peerage think?"
"Their opinions haven't changed, aside from the Red Dragon Emperor's, that is. He still doesn't care for you, but at the least, he is gracious for your sacrifice." The door opens and Grayfia enters.
"Rias and Akeno are here to see you Y/N."
"I'm glad." I manage to get my legs to the edge of the bed, but as I try to stand I feel the full effects of what Azazel was talking about.
"I'll bring them in." I shake my head.
"Just help me and I'll meet them at the door." Grayfia comes to my bedside and puts an arm under my shoulder.
"One step at a time. Don't get frustrated if it takes a minute."
"I'm not a child, I'll be fine." Grayfia assists me in getting to the door, the fifteen-step journey taking almost two minutes to complete. Once there I take my free hand and open the door, revealing Rias and Akeno who appear overjoyed to see me.
"How do you feel?" The duo asks me simultaneously.
"Aside from standing being a chore, I feel great." Akeno takes my arm from Grayfia and keeps me upright.
"You look great," Rias compliments. "I expected you to be worse for wear, but compared to how you looked before you went under you look fantastic."
"I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to be flattered or not." Rias takes my other arm and kisses my cheek. "Everyone else still at home?"
"Most of them don't want to see you, but it'll take time for them to come around."
"I know." I look down the hallway. "Let's head outside, I need some fresh air after spending three days comatose. Just know that it'll take some time for me to get there."
"We go back to school tomorrow, but as early as it is, I think we'll be fine." The three of us begin our trip toward the door at the end of the hallway, each step feeling like it's taking longer than the last one. Not only that, but the time feels like it's dragging on the longer I try to walk the hallway, and about halfway there I find myself needing to stop.
"Let's stop for a second." Rias lets me go as Akeno helps me to the wall.
"Too much walking already?"
"I'm further than I expected," I respond to Akeno's question. "Who would have thought this could be so difficult? It's as if my legs have never moved before."
"In your mind, they haven't." Azazel meets us and brings a chair for me. "Take a seat." I do as he says and he leans against the wall near me. "Sure, your legs have moved thousands, if not millions of times, but your mind hasn't retained how that works. Walking is the first step, but it's a vital one that will lead to the rest of your revitalization. First, it's walking, then running, then punching and kicking. As you slowly regain the knowledge of how those actions work you'll get better at them."
"It still feels like 22 years of work down the drain."
"22 now, but thousands later on. There was some specific DNA we were able to find that worked with yours. Consider it an ancient relative, one thousands of years before your time. In fact, your Sharingan was due to this individual. It wasn't easy to obtain, but after enough scouting and looking around we were able to scrounge up enough to make it work." Azazel strokes his beard. "The fact that you're even awake right now is a miracle, not to mention walking."
"This ancient ancestor, were they an Uchiha as well?" Azazel shakes his head.
"Not at all, but he could be considered the first of the Uchiha."
"It all sounds interesting. Once I'm more mobile I'll have to look into some family history." I push myself out of the chair and Rias comes back to my side. "Thanks for everything Azazel. I'm not sure how I'll repay you, but I'll think of something."
"That can wait until you're mobile as well. With the looming war against the Khaos Brigade coming we'll all be busy doing what we must, but once you're able to join the fight, you'll be most welcome to start paying that debt back." Azazel walks away from the three of us. "A word of advice Y/N, don't spend time thinking about what you've lost with this operation. Spend more time knowing that you've gained your life back in a way that nobody could have believed."
"Whatever you say, old man." After a few more minutes of walking, we finally make it outside. "I was wondering if we'd ever make it."
"Do you have any idea when you'll be back on your feet alone?" Akeno asks me.
"Azazel said it would be a few days, but I won't be anything like how I was for a while."
"Rias, do you mind if we go by ourselves from this point?" Rias steps back.
"Of course not." She re-enters the Gremory mansion as Akeno and I continue walking.
"Are you ready to get back to school?"
"I've gotten caught up on everything in the last couple of days. Thankfully it kept me busy while I was waiting for you to wake up. I still hate that I won't be seeing you every day, but I guess it's something I have to deal with." Akeno sighs. "I'll come to visit you as often as I can, I promise."
"Don't worry about it. You have much more important things to do than take care of me."
"You can say that all you want Y/N, but you're not the same person you were a few days ago. I wouldn't trust anybody else to check on you." I can't help the smile that hits my lips.
"Okay, you can come to check on me, but if it causes you to fall behind in all your other tasks then I don't want you to come." Akeno rolls her eyes.
"I'll have you know that I'm responsible enough to balance my time. Besides, I can just do my homework when I come here." We find a bench along our path and take the chance to sit down again. Once we do Akeno sets her head on my shoulder. "I wish you could be in Kuoh with me while you recover."
"Me too. I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable here with what has happened, but I'm going to do my best to avoid thinking about it."
"I'm still pissed you were tortured the way you were. How were you able to stay there as long as you were and stay alive?" I look down at my lap.
"I don't have a good answer for that. In reality, I don't have a good answer for anything that has happened to us recently. Everything got much more complicated when we tried to leave, but it seems like I might have made the wrong choice."
"But you were only captured because you were weakened," Akeno points out. "You were up against one of the most powerful holy swords in the world and still survived, that counts for something."
"It counts because I'm not a devil like you, sis. If I was I would have been signing my death certificate." I lift my head and look at the sky. "I didn't want to kill her. A life of revenge isn't one you want to live, trust me. Revenge makes you cold and angry, and it doesn't get better once it's over. I told Kiba the same thing when the whole holy sword thing was going on, but unfortunately, Xenovia wouldn't understand my message." Akeno grabs one of my hands.
"That's not your fault. You'll never be able to convince everybody that they shouldn't take revenge on someone who wronged them."
"You may be right, but I have the rest of my life to spread that message to as many people as I can." I lay my head on top of Akeno's. "At the end of the day, I've still done a lot of wrong in my life. One lapse in judgment took the lives of two people who didn't deserve it, and my desire to get back at those who wronged me killed many more. However, if you're able to come to terms with it, then I have no choice but to do the same."
"Do you regret what you did?" I sigh and shake my head.
"If I didn't do it then I would have lost you, and then I would have ended up following the same path anyway. Your life has meant more to me since I saw you when we were very young, and anybody that would threaten it dies, no exceptions."
"Don't try to kill anybody while you're still recovering. I'm stronger than you right now, so just let me handle it." I push my free hand against the bench and start to stand.
"I can still make it back to my room before you." Akeno stands with me.
"I beat you all the time when we were kids, and now it's just unfair."
"Akeno, I let you win whenever we were younger. Even in my current state, I can still outrun you." I try to take a step and collapse, Akeno taking the time to laugh at me before helping me up. "I thought I was getting the hang of it, I guess not."
"We can call it a draw for now." Akeno opens a transport circle and takes me back to my bedside, her arms staying wrapped around me as I go to lie down. "I should get back home now."
"Probably a good idea, I wouldn't want anyone wondering about you."
"Y/N, can I tell you something?"
"Anything." She leans up and pecks my lips quickly.
"I love you."
"I love you too, Akeno." She teleports away and I lay back down, my eyes focusing on the ceiling above me. "Where did all the time go?"
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And with that, we're done with this story. I had many different directions I considered going with this one, and it ended up being a bit all over the place at times, but overall I feel like this one is better than most of my other works. I've got a few ideas on what I want to do next, but I'll probably give it a little bit of time before I jump into the next one.
As I tend to do at the end of stories I just want to thank you for reading through this one up to the end. For the most part, the comments and feedback I get are positive which is something I don't think I'll ever get used to. If you haven't I'd appreciate it if you checked out my other works. While I feel some of them are a drop in quality compared to this one, it still shows my growth as a writer in the just over two years I've been doing this. Currently, my Dragon Ball crossover Power is what I'm working on, but I'll have something new in the next few weeks. Thank you for your support and hopefully, I'll see you again sometime.
-Coop