When I woke up, I was in a clean, white room. I couldn't feel any pain, but, then again, I still hadn't moved. I closed my eyes, not realizing that I had opened them. There was total silence, and judging from the slight echoes off the walls that my breathing made, the room was larger than just the place where I was.
I heard a door open, and something in me began to panic. There were footsteps, and the panic grew. I heard the curtain around my bed being pulled back, and then I felt the soul of two people standing next to me. They're scientists and—
"You're awake, (y/n)." A male's familiar voice said, and I opened my eyes, seeing the one that had told me things were going to be okay. He seemed to be checking something, and switched out a full bag of blood for an empty one that had been hanging on a hook next to the bed I was in.
My entire body was numb, and I thought that maybe I couldn't move, even if I had tried. The man was back, and he gestured to the other person, a woman with long, golden hair. "This is Marie. She has a healing wavelength, and she'll make your ribs heal as much as she can." He said.
The woman came forward, and sat on a chair next to me, I managed to turn my head a little, an odd feeling considering I couldn't feel any of my body, and I looked at her. She smiled at me, and it felt like one of the first Beautiful things that I had seen in—when had I been taken by the scientists? Four—five, Years ago?
The woman seemed to sense some of what I was thinking, or at least my emotions, and she reached a hand out, brushing my cheeks with her fingertips. I felt a strange tingle run down my face to disappear through the drug that must've been running through my body to make it so numb.
"Hey." The woman said. "I'm Marie."
I opened my mouth, trying to form words, but all that escaped my mouth was a dry rasp. When was the last time I had done anything other than scream? I couldn't remember.
Marie just smiled sweetly again. "I'm going to heal you now." She said, her hand resting on my face. "Don't be scared." She said. She pulled the covers of the bed down a little and rested her hands on the lower part of my rib cage, nothing but a thin piece of fabric and skin separating her form my shattered thorax.
I felt an odd sensation begin to move through my body, and I shivered a little as it grew more and more hot, stopping just before the point of pain. I looked at Marie, seeing the slight glow in her eyes, telling me that the warm feeling must have been her soul's wavelength. It was rare for a weapon to have a wavelength like this, but, if she was one of the legendary Death Scythes, that might be the reason.
There was a final moment of heat, and then it was gone. I looked up at the two adults, questioning them. Marie nodded, and the man, Stein, said, "Try breathing."
I wasn't sure at first, but then I took in a breath, and then another, and another until I was gasping in great gulps of air. I smiled and huffed a little, the feeling of almost all the pain gone a blessing.
Stein came forward and offered to help me sit up. He did so, and I swung my legs out of the bed a moment later, trying to stand. For a split second, I felt amazing, as if I was on top of the world itself, and then my legs gave out and I fell to the floor.
Stein caught me before I hit the cold linoleum, and set me back onto the bed. "Don't try to stand for another few hours. The different pain killers and such are still warring off." He said, and I nodded. I wasn't sure even after all the drugs wore off that id be able to stand. I hadn't done anything proper with or to take care of my body for the past...
I couldn't remember now. It was as if a piece of my memories had been ripped away. Wasn't I thinking about it just yesterday? I felt a moment of uneasiness, looking up at the tall man and golden-haired woman. The woman smiled, and it felt as if something warm washed over me. It can wait.
Stein was talking, or he had been, and I guess he had thought that I was listening, even though I had spaced out into my own thoughts. "...Lord Death would like to enroll you into the academy." He said. I looked up at him.
The Academy? They wanted to...?
Stein lit a cigarette, blowing a smoke ring from his lips, Marie making a face at the man, making me think that it was a bad habit that she didn't agree with. The man glanced at her, and then crumpled the cigarette in his hand. Marie looked a little happier.
"Well. We'll have to watch you to make sure that you're stable." Stein said, and I looked at him with a questioning face. His glasses reflected the light in a way that made me not able to see his eyes. It was a little unnerving. "After what those keshins put you through, you could have a bad case of PTSD." He said, and Marie hit his arm.
"Stein!" she said, looking a little angry.
Stein shrugged, walking to the door. "What? Should I not explain why she suddenly freaks out in the middle of class because some idiot touches her?" he said.
"Fine." Marie said, looking at me with soft eyes.
"You get some real clothing on, (Y/n), and then Marie and I will take you to see Lord Death." He said, putting his hand on the door knob.
I flinched a little. Why did the name "Lord Death" frighten me so much? It felt like a thousand spiders crawling over my skin at the two syllables. It was like there was more behind that name; a kind of darkness that my subconscious wanted to remember, but my mind didn't.
Just as Stein was opening the door, someone crashed through it. I saw a girl with bright blue hair crash into Stein, so hard that I thought she was going to fall, but she caught herself before she could hit the ground. She straightened herself, dusting off her clothing, and then smiled brightly.
"Mari..." Stein said, sighing.
She grinned. "Hey." she said, and then I noticed the large gash on her arm. But there wasn't normal blood coming out of it; it was thick and black.
"What happened?" Stein asked her.
She looked down at the gash, seeming to just notice it. "Oh!" she said. She paused, as if trying to remember what had happened. "I tripped...?" she said. As I watched the large gash started to heal.
What am I seeing? I thought, amazed.
"Then why are you here?" Stein asked the girl.
She scratched her head. "I got hurt on my mission." She said, laughing a little.
"You can heal though. You don't need any bandages." Stein said, slipping his hand into his lab coats white pocket, perhaps going for another cigarette, but stopping when Marie gave him a look.
Mari laughed. "Well," she said, lifting the hem of her black t-shirt, and revealing a large wound on her stomach, also covered in the black stuff. "This one if taking a while to heal, and it's hurting a bit." She said, and that's when I saw that the smile must have been an act, and the furrows in her brow that meant she was in pain began to show.
"Marie will get you some pain killers." Stein said, and closed the door after himself as he left to let me change.
Mari came and sat on the bed across from where I sat, looking out the window behind me. I watched her arm with wide eyes as it seemed to heal faster now that she was sitting.
She caught my gaze and grinned. "Yeah. Kind of cool, huh?" she asked, and I jumped a little, meeting her eyes. I was a little unnerved by them for a moment, the light blue of them not feeling quite right. They looked as if a film was covering them, another, darker color showing from beneath. I lifted a hand, not really thinking about how this might not be polite, and pointed at her face.
She seemed a little surprised. "Oh. My eyes?" she asked, gesturing to them. She laughed a little, and rested her hand back down on her lap. "You're the only other one other than Stein to notice." She said. She looked around, as if she was about to say some big secret. "I have a spell on them so they're not my original color."
A spell? I thought, and then looked at her with my meister eyes. I was startled, to say the least, at what her soul looked like. It was actually a little frightening; it appeared as if it was a hybrid of three different kinds of souls. Keshin egg, human, and witch.
She laughed a little at my expression. "Yeah. I get that a lot." She said, scratching the back of her head. I looked down, feeling a little guilty. She saw my face. "Hey. It's fine. I'm used to it by now." She said. I was quiet. "Not much of a talker, are you."
I looked up at her, seeing her eyes, and it seemed as if she knew what was the problem. I wonder if something like what happened to me, happened to her? I thought.
I pointed to my throat, trying to tell her that I couldn't talk. "I see." She said. I was glad that she seemed to get it. Marie came back with a little bottle of pills, and a change of clothing for me. "Thank you!" Mari said to Marie, smiling brightly.
The woman smiled back at the girl. "It's good to see you so happy—Mari!" Marie said as Mari put the entire bottle of pain killers in her mouth, maybe ten or eleven of them. Marie held her hand out. "Mari. Spit them out."
Mari grinned at me and swallowed all the pain killers, sighing afterwards and taking a sip of water. "That was refreshing." She said, grinning up at Marie's horrified expression.
Mari smiled at me, and I felt something that was like a laugh bubble up into my throat. It came out as a slight rasp, and Marie looked at me, worried, but I couldn't stop laughing. It hurt the part of my ribs that weren't all the way healed, and when I finally stopped, there was an ache that had started.
"Are you okay?" Mari said. I nodded.
"And by the way, (Y/n)," Marie said. She put a hand to her head, looking at Mari. "Never do something like what Mari did. She's crazy." She said, and Mari laughed. "Also her body is a little tougher than a normal person's." she said.
Mari held up a hand. "Well actually," she said. "My body can just recover very quickly from things like this." She said patting her stomach that must've been healed by now.
"Yeah, whatever." Mari said. "Just don't do it, (Y/n)." she said.
They pulled the curtain around my bed closed, and I stared at the pile of clothing Marie had given me. There was a pair of jeans, a blue t-shirt, and a pair of black shoes, plus undergarments.
I changed as best I could, my arms not used to pulling shirts over my head, or my body not used to leaning over so I could put the jeans on. The fabric felt strange and unfamiliar on my skin, and it made me shiver a little.
"Hey!" Mari said, and drew the curtain to see me sitting on the bed, changed, with the shoes on, but not tied. She came forward and sat on the floor, starting to tie the laces of the shoes into pretty bows. "I can do it." She said, as I tried to protest, but my throat wouldn't allow it.
She finished and stood up, helping me stand. My legs were shaking, and I concentrated on keeping my balance, and, to my surprise, it worked. I looked around, seeing the room at a different angle now. I noticed that the gash on Mari's arm was gone, not even leaving a scar or anything.
"Are you ready?" Marie asked, and Mari piped up.
"Yep!" she said, maybe speaking for me. We went to the door, Mari keeping me upright. Marie opened the door, and I saw Stein standing across the hall, maybe fifteen feet away. He was talking to a man with dark red hair, and it looked like the two were having a heated conversation.
Marie coughed a little and got both of their attention. "Are you ready to go to the Death Room?" Marie asked.
Stein nodded, adjusting his glasses, and the other man stuffed his hands into his pockets. Stein looked me up and down, nodding. "The clothing fits fine?" He asked. I nodded. He turned. "Okay. Let's go then." He said. He began walking, the red haired man joining him, Marie looking at me with a worried face.
"It's a kind of long walk to the Death Room. There's a few staircases too..." she said, looking me up and down.
"Mari. You can carry her." Stein said without looking back, the red haired man looking like he was trying to continue his conversation with the much taller Stein.
Mari grinned. "Okay, Professor." She said.
I opened my mouth to try and protest with my most likely destroyed voice, but she had already lifted me off of the ground, and started walking, and all I could do was hold onto her tightly, for fear of falling off.
We walked, and I looked at all of the doors and hallways, Mari giving me a mini tour as we walked. She explained where the higher class was, and the lower one, and where the bathrooms, showers, and other classrooms were. All the information was blurring through my head, and I was hoping I wouldn't have to remember all of it.
"And," Mari said. "Here's the death room." She said. I looked up at the tall doorway with a giant skull on it. I felt as if I was going to meet my end, and not to see Lord Death. Then again, Death could always decide to kill me... I think?
We walked inside, and Mari set me down. "You can walk from here." She said, and I mouthed thank you, and she smiled. We made our way, slowly because of me, down a pathway-type thing, and when I looked up, I could feel my throat close as I saw giant blades above me. I decided to try and ignore them, even though I wanted to turn around and go back.
We reached the middle of the room, and, to my relief, there were no more blades. I looked to the center of the wide open space, that looked like the walls of a room, but stretching out farther than I knew was possible, and saw a kind of stage thing where a tall, dark figure stood.
Was it Lord Death?
I apologize if there are any typos or if there's any incorrect grammar. I'll edit it as soon as I can~!
-Writer-Chan