"I'm sorry about this." Licht appologised.
Leila shook her head.
"Dont be. I'm the one who should apologize." She told him. "Sit right there and rest. I'll be right back."
Licht dropped slowly onto the sofa, and Leila dashed to open the cabinets. She opened a drawer and found the first aid kit, before hurrying back to the room where Licht was, only to find him with his eyes closed.
"Licht, stay with me. Please, don't leave me!" Leila lightly panicked.
Licht's eyes opened.
"It's not that bad of an injury. I'm just a little tired, that's all." He assured her.
Putting a hand to her chest, Leila breathed a sigh of relief and started treating his wound. He struggled a little to take his shirt off and she gasped when she saw his wound.
"I'm sorry, Licht..." Leila apologised. "You got hurt because of me..."
"It's not your fault. You were in trouble, and I didn't think- I just acted. I needed to keep you away from harm." Licht told her. "Even though I don't have any memories of you, I wanted to protect you. Maybe it was fate?"
Leila bit her lip, dabbing a disinfected cotton swab on his wound as she wondered how much longer she would be imposing on his kindness. Licht hissed through his teeth at the contact, clearly trying to endure the sting.
'I'm relieved it's not deep, but I know it still hurts.' Leila thought as she felt the corners of her eyes burn, and soon the tears spilled out.
"Leila, look at me." Licht told her.
'Why did this even happen?'
Leila lowered her head and started wiping her eyes, until, out of the blue, she felt Licht's cold hands cup her face.
"Look at me." He repeated, his gaze catching her tear-filled eyes as his hands gently held her in place. "I'm alright."
"I was so scared..." Leila said as he wiped away a tear from under her eye with his thumb.
Licht's touch left her face and found its way to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. He's still as white as a sheet of paper, but he kept the gentle smile on his face.
"Have you calmed down?" He asked her gently.
His eyes cast a bolt into Leila's heart, as if stopping it for a minute.
"Yes..." She sniffled as she secured the bandage over his skin.
Licht sat up next to her. Before she could react, Leila was trapped in his arms.
"Please don't blame yourself." Licht told her.
It was like he could see right through her.
"It was scary and nerve-racking..." He said. "But you came into this house to help me. What would I have done without you? Thank you, Leila."
Leila put her arms around Licht and hugged him back. The scent emanating from him calmed her down, and the gentle touch of his strong hands made her feel safe.
"I'm sorry I didn't get to say it sooner." Leila said and Licht hummed curiously in response. "Thank you for saving me, Licht."
She took comfort in his embrace, and before long, she started to feel sleepy as the faint sound of bells rang through her ears. Before she could even begin to feel scared, she blacked out.
****
Leila woke up with a headache and a view of an unfamiliar ceiling and she took a moment to process her surroundings.
'Oh, that's right. I got my memories back. Am I back in Ray's house?'
Leila tried to get up, but strong, yet gentle, hands push her back softly onto the bed.
"M-Mina...?" Leila spoke softly.
Mina shook her head as if to say, 'You need to rest' and Leila looked over her shoulder to find Ray giving her a look that read the same thing.
'They're acting like parents worrying over their ill child.'
"Leila, are you hurt anywhere?!" Thoma said as he rushed to her side and started asking questions.
"N-No, I'm fine. Just a little headache, that's all." Leila replied.
"We were so worried." Thoma said. "We tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't open your eyes!"
"Really?" Leila spoke in surprise as she looked around at the five of them and Subaru nodded.
"We thought you were a goner!"
Ray gave Thoma a swift smack upside the head.
"Your pulse was a bit erratic after the rest of us woke up, but it calmed down a few minutes before you regained consciousness." He informed her.
Leila placed a hand over her forehead.
"Oh. I, umm..." So much had happened she didn't where to start.
"We should leave her alone." Subaru suggested.
"Yeah. At least we know she's safe now." Nalalie agreed.
Thoma lifted himself off the bed.
"We'll just be outside if you need anything, alright?" He told her.
Leila smiled at the offer.
"Thanks." Leila spoke appreciatively.
They all head towards the door, but Ray shot her another glance.
"Don't get out of bed if you're unwell, got that?" Ray told her. "Doctor's orders."
Leila pouted.
"You're not even a doctor yet." She reminded him.
"I'm as good as one." Ray replied with a smirk and it made her chuckle.
'I was wondering where they were. I'm glad they woke up okay.'
Leila settled herself back on the bed.
'I disappeared so suddenly from the Nightmare World... I wonder if Licht is okay...'
****
Once Leila felt rested, they all gathered in the living room.
"I guess it's a good thing you got your memories back." Subaru said. "We can try to figure out more about the Nightmare World."
"So let me get this straight." Thoma said as he held his hand up to count on his fingers. "First, we were all in the orphanage. That meant we had no parents."
"We were left there." Ray said.
He spoke so casually, but Leila had to agree with him.
"Okay, fine. Next, you're saying the monster backed off?" Thoma continued.
"After I remembered the past, yes." Leila confirmed.
"Do you know why?" Mina asked.
"I'm not sure, but it was pretty restless. Then it deflated a bit." Leila replied. "And also, I felt like as it was growing weaker, I was getting stronger. Like the monster's energy was flowing into me."
"The monster lost its strength, and at the same time, you grew stronger." Ray said.
"So we can defeat the monster by getting our memories back?" Nalalie theorised.
"That sounds plausible." Thoma said. "But why did Monica get eaten?"
No one had an answer to that.
"There's still a lot of stuff we don't understand, but we won't get anywhere if we don't try to get our memories back first." Ray said. "Just watch, I'll get my memories back next."
"The sooner we do, the sooner we can defeat that monster." Subaru said.
"Will defeating the monster get us out of the Nightmare World?" Leila wondered.
"Can't say for sure." Subaru said.
"But it'll at least give us a clue to getting out." Nalalie said.
Thoma cupped his chin.
"But why did we lose our memories in the first place?" He thought outloud.
"My bet is it has something to do with that man we called 'Father'." Mina said.
"What? You're saying our memories might've been erased by that old guy? What a jerk!" Thoma said.
"Is it even possible to erase a person's memories in the first place?" Leila questioned.
"Oh, yeah, good point." Thoma said as he hummed in thought.
Ray scowled at Thoma.
"As far as I know, there's no way to intentionally erase someone's memories." He said. "I haven't heard of any successful modern attempts to do so, anyway."
"Let's search for more information about the orphanage." Subaru said.
As Leila watched them share ideas, she couldn't help but feel determined.
'I hope they get their memories back too.'
But there was an uneasy feeling in her heart that she couldn't seem to shake.
'They don't know, and can't tell them yet... But our past lives weren't as happy as they're hoping.'
****
The group watched the cursor on Ray's screen transform into an hourglass icon as they waited for the search results.
"There, there!" Thoma said as he pointed at the computer screen, and Ray clicked on the first link.
"Bluebells, huh?" Ray commented.
"Do you think it's still open?" Leila asked curiously.
The page refreshed and showed them the headline of an article.
'Bluebells Orphanage Closed Until Further Notice'.
"Well, there's your answer." Ray said.
" 'After some successful adoptions, Bluebells Orphanage will halt operations due to reasons withheld by the founder'..." Mina read out loud as she leaned over Ray's chair to peer at the monitor. "This is from thirteen years ago."
"That sounds fishy." Subaru said.
"I agree." Nalalie said. "It's around the time we lost our memories."
Mina returned her gaze to the screen, scrolling the mouse down the page.
"Their reputation seemed pretty good." She observed. "If they've helped a lot of families, I'm sure they have a number of patrons too."
"Eh, maybe the founder just wanted to cut costs." Thoma said. "Running an orphanage is expensive. Probably even more than managing a company."
"That could be true, but it's still suspicious." Ray said as he sat down, the chair swiveling gently. "That's about it. There's not much info here."
"Let's try the other links." Subaru suggested.
Ray got up from the chair and dug his phone out.
"I'll leave the research to you. I need to make a call." He told them.
Subaru nodded and took his place on the chair just as Thoma made his way out the door.
"Thoma, where are you going?" Leila asked.
"I need to go home for a bit." He replied. "Maybe my folks know something about this."
'That's right. Thoma and I found out about our adoptions just yesterday.'
Leila started thinking that maybe her recovered memories were so horrible that her parents had been keeping them a secret. Even though they weren't related by blood, they truly loved her, and that's all that mattered.
'Will Thoma be able accept the truth?'
She shot him a worried look.
"Are you gonna be okay?" She asked.
"No need to worry, Leila. I can handle it." Thoma said as he gave her a toothy grin and a thumbs-up. "Call me if something comes up, alright?"
Leila nodded and went to stand by Mina and Nalalie as Thoma disappeared and the three of them watched Subaru type. He typed so fast that Leila started thinking he was some sort of computer genius, or something.
"There are some pictures here that are very similar to the house in the Nightmare World." Subaru said.
"Whoa, you're right!" Leila said.
"The pictures are obviously quite old, but some features are distinguishable." Nalalie said.
She tried to take a closer look, peering over Subaru's shoulder. But at the same time, he turned his head, and she blushed as she felt his nose brush across her cheek. She froze, but Subaru was already looking back at the screen.
"Nala, look at this." He said, breaking her from her stupor.
She felt a warmth in her chest as he used her nickname rather than her full name, but chose to ignore it as she focused in what was on the computer screen
"I-is that..?" She trailed off as she stared.
At the end of the page, there's a picture of all the people from the orphanage, eight children in the center.
"Do you think so too?" Subaru asked as she squinted her eyes.
The photograph was obviously scanned from old material, making it hard to make out the details.
"We can't be too sure, but it's a possibility." Nalalie replied.
"What's up?" Ray asked as he reentered the room, immediately going straight to his desk where the four were crowded.
"This picture." Subaru began.
"It looks like a photo of us." Leila said as she peered over Nalalie's shoulder.
"Are you sure?" Ray asked.
"From what I remember from my vision, yeah." Leila replied.
"What else did you find?" Ray asked curiously.
"Nothing much, to be honest." Subaru admitted. "There's so little info about it. The founder is listed as anonymous, and there doesn't seem to be an address."
Subaru looked up at Ray as he swiveled the chair.
"Shouldn't orphanages have some sort of promotion to attract donors?" He said. "Fundraisers, charity work, volunteer opportunities?"
"You have a point. Most orphanages I've heard of would put themselves out there to gain help and donations." Mina said. "Even if it's shut down now, it's strange that there's so little information about it."
"You're right." Ray agreed. "Once info is put out on the internet, it's not easy to erase it. Unless..."
They all looked at each other as they came to a collective realisation.
'Unless they're trying to hide something.'
A/N: Another chapter for my lovely readers! I hope you all Enjoy!