*Sunshine's pov*
Fire showed no sign of movement. You felt like you were moving a big doll around. It was a strange feeling to see Fire like that. It also made your heart ache a little to see how deeply engrossed Fire was, that he simply wasn't taking in anything from the world around him. You wanted to know what he was thinking at all that he can't notice anything.
"Where are we even taking him now?" you asked Aether as you stood just inside the main entrance. "I have no idea. I'm definitely not carrying him up the big stairs to his room. Even though he looks so small and light. We have to get him out of his mind somehow..." Aether shrugged his shoulders as he was just as haphazard as you.
Silence fell between you as you both pondered. You thought of something, which you immediately put into practice. It was worth a try. "Fire... you're such a bad guitar player." You grabbed Fire's upper arms and shook them a little, but nothing happened.
"Your aggression problems are just annoying. I hope you get kicked out of the church soon." You tried again, but still nothing. You looked briefly at Aether, who just furrowed his eyebrows, confused as to what you wanted to do. You wanted to make one last attempt. A word came into your head that might work. So you turned your gaze back to him.
"Aice and you don't belong together!" You felt a muscle twitch in your fingertips. The word seemed to work. "Aice." Now Aether saw that it was working too. "Go on Sunshine! It's working!" he encouraged you.
"Aice doesn't like you." Fire showed more emotion and you could feel him about to surface. "Aice kissed someone else." startled, Fire suddenly unfroze and fell forward a little. Your grip, from his upper arm, moved to his shoulders to hold him a little.
Aether and you sat him down on the stairs a few meters away from you. You knelt in front of him while Aether went to get a glass of water. Fire gratefully accepted it, as you could tell he had a lot of question marks in his head.
"How are you?" you asked him when he seemed clearer again. His eyes were fixed on the glass of water in his hand as he looked up at you. "Why am I here? And why do I look like this?" he asked you. Helplessly, you looked to Aether as you quickly needed a good lie.
"We wanted to paint the kitchen red. You fell off the ladder, spilled the paint all over yourself and fell on your head," you lied. "Wow... have I really become as clumsy as Air? Where is Air anyway?"
"She's just cleaning up the paint where it wasn't supposed to go." Aether filled in for you, since you didn't know how to answer that question.
"Shall we go up to your room first so you can clean up?" you asked him, quickly getting out of the situation of him asking about Aice. He was quiet and looked thoughtfully at the floor. Your heart rate went up a little as the silence dragged on.
"Wait a minute..." Fire suddenly looked up and you already had an idea of what was about to happen. Fire will have remembered. The hunch was quickly confirmed. "We didn't want to paint the kitchen at all and this isn't red paint. That's Air's blood. She... she was attacked last night. Why are you telling me this? Where's Air?" Fire's voice got a little sour towards the end when he looked you in the eye angrily and your eyes started to glaze over.
"Fire... please listen to me for a moment. We got the order from Terzo. You were so lost in thought that you didn't even realize how you got here. We should get you out of Terzo's office and distract you." "Why should you distract me? That I'm not allowed to see my injured wife?" Fire looked hurt and pissed off as he also got tears in his eyes after processing what he said.
Aether was at a loss for words as Fire stood still again, so fixated that you couldn't even see that he was breathing. You had to react quickly before he became lost in thought again, but you were also at a loss for words.
"Fire... I understand that you would be hurt. I wouldn't be any different. But even Terzo didn't want us to stay there. He assured me she'd make it." Fire bit his lips as he looked deep into your eyes listen to you while tears running down his cheeks. "I want to go to Aice." his voice shook.
You took a step towards him and opened your arms, offering him a hug. You didn't expect him to accept it, but he immediately embraced you. You stood there for a moment while you carefully stroked your hand over his back. He clung to you as his tears landed on your shoulder. You had to admit that you were a little surprised. You actually assumed that Fire would immediately tear himself away and storm straight into Terzo's office.
Some time passed as you were still standing there. Fire loosened his grip and took a step back from you as he wiped away his tears. "Terzo might be right and it was a good thing I didn't see it..." he fiddled with his hand and looked down.
Your heart kept breaking to see him like this. "Do you want to wash up first? Then you'll feel better again. Terzo and Copia are taking very good care of Aice. We'll probably be able to see Aice again soon." Fire just nodded as you went up to his room together. You helped Fire a little as you sat down on the sofa in his room and waited for him to finish.
He seemed pretty weak physically and mentally. He's definitely missing sleep, but mostly, Aice.