HER DREAMS WERE A SHATTERED GLIMPSE OF DAYLIGHT PAST. What pierced through the veil were unspoken wishes, desires she could never voice, even if she wanted to. Of sun-kissed afternoons of saccharine delights, where the world felt like a wonderful place to live.
Oh how that felt like so long ago, to Zinnia.
But for a short while, Zinnia felt that little piece of happiness almost come to fruition that eventful evening.
The impromptu visitor was a deceptively young looking woman of blonde locks and piercing crimson eyes, with a personality just as vibrantly blessed as her appearances. The woman who Zinnia knew only as a friend of her mothers she had never been truly introduced to was in a bright and outspoken mood in spite of the gaping gashes up her arm and the sheer volume of lost blood. What looked like a set of glass cuts sustained from an accident was confirmed by the woman, who explained that her son had startled her mid-prep through dinner when he slammed the kitchen door open in the throws of a viciously sour mood.
Needless to say, Zinnia was certain that she never wanted to meet the woman and her son while they were mid-argument, and in fact, what little she heard of the boy had her convinced that meeting him was something she should avoid at all costs.
So, once Zinnia had carefully sewn all the gashes cut with remarkable ease and supplemented the woman's blood loss with a lone unit of cloned blood, she was on her way home. Of course, this was not without the woman introducing herself properly with a bright smile and a demand that Zinnia drop by with her mother during one of her visits from time to time. Bakugou Mitsuki, the woman was called, though anything beyond that was lost on Zinnia.
The events that followed were rather mundane, but a much more pleasant change from her usual solitary lifestyle to date. Dinner was had, a chilled sesame chow mein with vegetarian gyoza, and while that alone would have made for a particularly pleasant birthday, what completely topped it was the present she received from Kali as soon as dinner was finished.
A large box was brought out, and in spite of Zinnia's immediate attempt to scramble to her feet to help free her mother's arms, she was immediately told to sit back down at the table. She did as she was told, and before long, Zinnia found herself staring at what she immediately knew was her mother's precious laptop sitting atop the unmarked box. At first, Zinnia was confused, at least until Kali pulled a chair over and sat herself down at her daughter's side, with a hand gently swiping across the sensor pad to wake the laptop up.
'I didn't get an opportunity to wrap it, I'm sorry, but I'll at least show you what's inside before you go trying to open the box.' Kali spoke as she brought up the minimized icon on the toolbar. 'It's had some customizations, but what you'll be reading is essentially what it is.'
Zinnia blinked in confusion before she shuffled forward to look at the screen.
Across the top of a web-page was the banner of an online electronics store, one which Zinnia vaguely recognized from prior times Kali had gone perusing online. However, the further down she read, the more the colour in her face began to drain when she realized what it was she was staring at.
It was a top of the line gaming computer... one of the higher models to the one Zinnia was reading from right now.
'M-Mother, this isn't that computer you and Father have been saving up for, is it!?' She practically squeaked out as she turned to face Kali properly. 'Please tell me it's not!'
'It is.' Kali didn't hesitate to agree.
'But this is the one you've wanted for months! You're not giving this to me are you?!'
And yet, in spite of the utter bewilderment engulfing Zinnia's form, Kali merely continued to smile kindly at her.
'You know my hospital stays are getting longer and longer, and I can't take a larger laptop in with me, no matter how much I really would like to.' Kali explained as she lifted her own laptop from atop the box and leaned back in her seat. 'This one here still works fine, and it's got all my work load on it. And besides, all your siblings got a laptop for their fifteenth birthday to help for school, anyway. Yours is just a bit more flamboyant than theirs are. You have more uses for one with your volunteer work with Seiya-sensei, after all.'
'But this is a gaming laptop, mother!'
'That's because you're just like me and enjoy playing games, of course.' Kali agreed with a small laugh. 'You don't need to borrow mine to play those games on that program of yours anymore. You can play on this one whenever you'd like, instead.'
With all possible avenues of argument effectively cut short, all Zinnia could do was look back down at the box in disbelief.
'Stop staring at it in terror and just open the box.' Kali chimed, though she sounded more than just a little amused at that moment.
And open it, Zinnia did.
Within the box was a large silver and black laptop with angular edges, an alien face in the centre of the back, and all the attachments for it, plus a mouse and headset. It was remarkably much larger than the model Kali had set aside on the table, and with a lot more weight to it. The very instance Zinnia lifted the lid of the laptop, the whole device lit up in gold lighting through the keyboard to the very rimming of the lid and the alien face on the back.
'I haven't done a lot to set it up for you, just the base operating system and the internet password.' Kali responded with a small smile as she watched Zinnia hesitantly peer at the screen much like it were a volatile creature. 'All the rest is for you to set up. I already asked Seiya-sensei, and he said there is internet for staff use at the hospital, and he doesn't mind you using it to play during breaks.'
Zinnia's face lit up as she came to a sudden thought.
'Then, can you play killing floor with me later?' She asked hopefully.
'Or Borderlands, or any of those other games you like, yes. Providing I don't have work to finish, that is.' Kali responded with a kindly smile.
And just like that, Zinnia was excitedly turned back to the laptop, quickly trying to set everything up so she could download the games off the server as soon as possible, all the while Kali just watched with a small smile firmly in place.
The days eventually passed by, slowly it seemed, leading up towards the entrance exams looming on the horizon. She navigated between avoiding her siblings as much as possible, through to her studies and training wherever possible. Until finally, the day for her first entrance exam came along.
Yuuei's entrance exam, no less.
Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu's entrance exams were set apart on following days in that same order, and while Zinnia had stressed with her panicked studying over the past few days, there was nothing more that she could really do. After all, while there were written practicals, Seiya had informed her that any and all practical assessments were undeniably more important when it came to Hero Schools.
Needless to say, that didn't mean Zinnia was particularly confident with how well she would perform in a practical assessment, either.
The house was silent as Zinnia descended the stairs at around 6am after carefully depositing her laptop beneath a pair of loosened floorboards beneath her bed out of harms way. The early morning chill had of course permeated the whole house, ripping shivers and the clattering of teeth from Zinnia as she began to organize herself some breakfast.
Claudia was out at a party overnight, and both Dimitri and Faye were at a study night for their first year finals at college, leaving just Zinnia awake and Kali upstairs, still in bed. It felt like a very long time since Zinnia had bothered to wear her school's uniform, and normally she would opt for any other form of outfit, but there were some things that she did purely to lessen the amount she stood out from the crowd.
It was nearly three hours until the entrance exam and Yuuei wasn't that far away, but her nerves had her hesitant to dawdle too much. So she opted with simple; A leaf of lettuce on bread and a single slice of cheese. It was possibly the most pitiful breakfast she had eaten in a while, but at the present moment, she doubted she could eat anything more substantial and keep it down, to begin with.
However, as Zinnia shouldered her bag and reached out for the front door, a peculiar sound from upstairs caught her attention. She froze in her tracks, eyes widening ever so slightly as she strained her ears.
She could identify the sound of coughing, and faint, gasping wheezes until finally, the sound of liquid splattering against the floor reached her ears, sending the girl into a staggering dash straight for the stairs.
The sight she was met with upon opening the door of her parent's room was one of grave familiarity.
Kali's form was visible on the floor at the foot of her bed, sprawled over with one arm barely holding her upright as she coughed and wheezed into one hand. She was ghostly pale, a stark contrast to the visceral fluids that dripped copiously from between her fingers with every cough that escaped her.
Zinnia's motions were prompt, instinctive, as she dashed forward to help ease Kali against the side of the bed, and her brow was furrowed greatly as she checked over her mother's feet and legs quickly.
A protruding lump along Kali's right ankle gave Zinnia all the information she needed, bringing her gaze straight back to Kali's blood-splattered form.
'Did you fall?' Zinnia questioned quickly, earning a struggling shake of the head.
'Z-Zoe... Jumped up...' Kali managed to cough out.
And as a faint, canine whimper echoed from the far corner of the room, Zinnia grit her teeth and forced all irritation from her thoughts.
The useless dog could wait.
Zinnia didn't hesitate to lift her mother's arm and proceed to work as fast as she could.
Blood was sculpted, crafted with a higher concentration of adrenaline, and as she carefully introduced the large dose of blood to Kali's system, she worked fast on locating where the damage was.
Ruptured abdominal lining and the bruising of the internal muscle and flesh was treated as well as she could manage, where she carefully manipulated the blood to clot along the edges of the smaller tears first to lessen blood loss, and she searched for more damage within while she had the opportunity.
'Zi... Zinnia...' Kali struggled to call as the seconds ticked towards minutes, however Zinnia didn't respond.
She was too focused on the task at hand, though she had noticed that Kali was having an easier time drawing in air between coughs, now.
However, the unsteady, albeit insistent tapping of a hand against Zinnia's shoulder brought her to open her eyes and look back at Kali's form.
'No more... I'm alright.' Kali mumbled weakly as her arm dropped to her lap. 'You're covered in enough...'
Zinnia didn't necessarily give a verbal response, though as the familiar nausea worsened with resounding force, she picked herself up and dashed straight for the bathroom down the hall. Her thoughts were a mess, even moreso after her hacking spell while she foraged through her pocket for her phone to call for an ambulance. After arguing for what felt like a thousand times with the call centre assistant, it took all of a Zinnia's patience to harshly inform the assistant that Kali was "stable following quirk intervention, but requires immediate transfer" before promptly hanging up on the woman.
The sight Zinnia was greeted with promptly after returning to the room was Kali smiling weakly up at her, with her gaze hovering just above Zinnia's head.
'The colour's coming back...' She mumbled softly, as if to explain to her daughter what was so pleasant about the rather dire situation.
It didn't fail to draw a scowl across Zinnia's face as she promptly redirected her attention to the cowering dog in the corner of the room.
Small, and with an oddly shy personality for a white Pomeranian stood Zoe, motionless with her eyes affixed upon Kali's form slumped against the side of the bed.
'It's not her fault...' Kali spoke up, redirecting Zinnia's attention within an instance. 'She just wanted up onto the bed.'
'I know that.' Zinnia dismissed.
'I'm sorry... you were leaving early for work, weren't you?'
'No.' Zinnia was quick to deny, though she cast her mother a soft smile. 'Seiya-sensei wanted me to take the day off, so I only have school to worry about.'
There was no response from her mother, though she could see that the woman looked relieved to hear that.
It wasn't long before the ambulance arrived and two familiar faces were carefully loading Kali up to head to Hosu General Hospital. The stern-faced older man and his brighter, more jovial junior known as Shinji and Hatori arrived with no questions or confusion, nor did they argue as Zinnia gave as brief an explanation to Kali's condition.
Zinnia watched as Kali was secured in place, her hands wringing painfully in front of her as the gravity of the situation began to sink in on her once again.
'Zinnia-chan, your mother's probably going to be admitted for a while.' The blond man, Hatori, spoke as he came to a brief stop at her side, with his volume quite low as he seemed to forage through his pockets briefly. 'Did you want to get some of her things together so she doesn't try to mess with the Nurses Station again?'
Mess with the Nurses Station, as in annoy them excessively just to pass the time?
Zinnia let out a breath as she inclined her head forward in a nod.
'I probably should...' She mumbled as she tugged the cloth wrap around her wrist a bit more securely over the broken skin beneath.
'We'll get her straight to Seiya-sensei, don't you worry.' And then, Zinnia flinched as she saw the man pass her a handful of notes from his wallet. 'Call a taxi to come get you this time instead of running across the city. Alright? You've got one of those exams in a couple hours, anyway.'
And with that, Hatori and Shinji climbed into the ambulance and left before Zinnia could bring herself to speak.
'She'll be okay...' Zinnia told herself as she turned to head back inside. 'This wasn't as bad as usual...'
And yet in spite of that, she couldn't shake the trembling of her breath and the cold chill that had sunk deep into her bones.
Zinnia set about gathering her mother's belongings needed for extended hospital stays, through to the woman's laptop, her phone and a large enough stack of snacks to smuggle in, lest the hospital deal with an agitated woman without her supply of chocolate. Zoe was then set outside in the back yard with her outdoor bed, the bowl of water refilled and one of her chew toys set out for her.
And without so much as giving herself a glance over, Zinnia left to Hosu General Hospital, just as Hatori had instructed her.
--=[2637 words total, submitted 20th June 2018]=--