"You really expect me to believe that she's just an average kin soul? You don't seem to understand the ramifications of underestimating someone solely on energy observation," a voice said sternly, like an old woman lecturing her children. Nova tried to open her eyes and realized she couldn't move, not even enough to flick her tongue out and sense the air. It was like her body was still asleep while her mind was awake. She decided to do the only thing she could, and listened.
"But Doctor, she came in on the brink of death in the claw of a busted up Itsumade. What were we supposed to believe? Her body is extremely young, and her soul is more than likely only on its third or fourth rotation, how powerful could she possibly be?"
"More than you think to give her credit for, obviously. If that little Yokai's soul was reborn from a royal lineage, or if her body was the baby of something far more dangerous than a snake that just happened to die as a newborn, then we are in serious trouble for hosting her, even as a legitimate hospital. If this facility becomes the target of the Seven, or Yomi forbid one of the Fae lords, there's no stopping devine intervention and we will be shut down for preventing her vessel's natural death."
"But why did she need to die just because she chose not to regulate? She doesn't seem like a bad person, just a little agitated that we were keeping her from the Itsumade."
It was quiet for a moment before the older woman sighed in what was close to defeat, but not quite. "You are the dumbest Nuribotoke I have ever had the misfortune of meeting."
"Hey, rude," the lighter masculine voice said in a saddened tone.
"Regulation isn't just essential for all Yokai, if she is what I think she is and she doesn't regulate, she could--"
"That's what school is for, and her Itsumade made it clear to us that he has fully planned on leading her into the acadamy before she becomes too powerful," he said with quick words and Nova heard him shuffle around until he was in front of her bed, effectively putting himself between her and the older woman.
"What the hell do you think you are doing," she asked in incredulous irritation, and a very gentle hand scooped Nova up into a firm hold.
"If we can't host her, then I am bringing her to her companion and they are going to leave. She won't need to die to protect the hospital if they don't know that she was even here."
More silence. It was very intense, like they were shooting daggers at each other, but for reasons Nova couldn't place the woman backed down. "Very well, but if anyone comes around asking questions, you will need to not be here, one way or another."
"I think I can live with that, if she lives too."
A grunt, a laugh through her nose, and strangly rapid footfalls sounded as the woman moved closer and placed a... oh that's not a hand. Tallon? No... a claw, like a crab. She placed it ever so softly on Nova's head and hummed.
"She is rather breathtaking, this little Ayakashi, and I agree that it would be a shame for something this rare to lose her chance at life, but time will tell if she becomes a threat or a blessing to those around her." A few quiet seconds passed, with Nova starting to grow uncomfortable with being pet like a cat, until it was like a switch had been thrown.
"Go, now, before anyone takes notice. Get to the Itsumade swiftly and silently, and make sure that they leave. Have him take the second story window, even without many feathers, what he has left should let him glide at least. Such bad luck to be such a blindingly white color. Hurry and get moving!"
A few shaky moments later, with a lot of shuffling and dodging, ducking and even a small collision that was probably the butting of shoulders and him having to catch himself as to not crush her under his weight, eventually the sounds of the hospital grew faided that she could only hear his footsteps and panting as he ran, holding her a little too tight. She wasn't small anymore, and compared to how thin his whole body felt she must have been getting heavy, but he kept going.
Just when his arms felt like they were starting to shake from exertion, a door was thrown open and the smell of Beil wafted over her.
"What are you-"
"No time, take your friend, head down the stairs until you see the second floor and then jump out of the third window, that's the only one pointing into the enclosed overhang. You two need to get as far away as you can."
Though Nova was overwhelmed with questions, Beil jumped into action.
"Thank you," he said and picked Nova up without further question or hesitation, wrapping her around his neck like a living scarf. Either from the familiar touch or as her body's natural instinct, it tightened and secured itself to prevent her from falling, and for that she was initially already grateful, but what she was also pleasantly surprised about was the fact that because her body was moving on its own it actually triggered it back into a semi-responsive state. She could now open her eyes a little to try and see the one who helped them.
The Nuribotoke blinked his dangling eyes, not believes them when they met hers. When he saw the crystal blue color he was already mesmerized, but when she regained her focus and looked directly at him, his breath caught in his throat.
And then, though he thought he was prepared for it, when she broadcasted her words personally in his mind, they rang like church bells and he fought to keep his knees from buckling.
"Thank you for helping us."
And with that, Beil ran, and as the Nuribotoke got one last glance at her she waved the tip of her tail weakly in goodbye. He raised a hand as they rounded the corner and stood there for a while in shock, hand still in the air.
Not giving her much time to recover after he realized she was conscious, Beil spoke.
"Nova," he said and she shifted a little to let him know that she heard him, "I shall explain everything that has happened as we travel seeing as I am not sure how long it will take to find a secure location and I believe that you need more rest, but sleeping on the run is too much to ask. Does this sound okay with you?"
"Yes, please tell me what happened, starting with why you were so injured."
"I can not start there, we would be off track," he said as they decended three flights of stairs by jumping through the center of the stairwell and slowly drifting on his wings that now looked like they were in considerably better condition than the last time she had seen them. How long had she been sleeping for?
"Fine, start at the beginning then."
"Logic wins this time? Interesting."
"What does that mean," Nova asked, a tad bit offended that he sounded so put out with her. He looked her in the eyes. Whatever that emotion was it made Nova feel that she was unable to look away, that this was more than just a scuffle. As he approached the second floor it was like some of his strength left him and before he crashed into it he reached out last second, grating his claws on the railing to land. It was the painful sound of grinding metal that made her gaze falter and he looked back forward to watch where he was going.
"When you found me with your Spirit Energy, I thought, 'there she goes, acting on an impulse, and it just happens to be working in her favor, as per usual'. That is, until I saw how you had reverted into a snake once more due to the total depletion of energy. Not only were you lacking the mindfulness needed for self regulation, you put both of us in immediate danger, do you know that," he asked rhetorically and Nova watched, shocked.
This was the first time Beil had ever lectured her to such a degree, and with such a potent disappointment dripping from his voice, Nova couldn't deny that she had made a mistake.
"But what does me using up my energy too much have to do with you being so injured like that?"
As he burst through the door and beelined for the third window, his next words felt like ice.
"You almost died, and not just your body, but your soul as well. You put so much strain on the connection between your body and soul that you left a noticeable scratch on your core. You made yourself utterly vulnerable."
"But you were there, you could have just flown away with me," Nova said with a half-hearted laugh, trying to take the edge off of his lecture. When he stared silently ahead, wings beating with great effort to carry her now, and gripped his talons so tightly that it looked like he was holding back from saying something, she felt a hard knot of shame in her throat and looked away.
"I am not strong."
"Yes you are, you shouldn't put yourself down like this," she said, once again finding that she was defending him, even from himself.
"NO, Nova, no."
She flinched. He had never raised his voice at her. Not once. Her body tensed around his neck and when she heard the air get caught in his throat from her strength she quickly eased off. "Sorry."
She didn't know what she apologized for, either nearly strangling him or for making him so upset.
Clearing the overhang into an open street, Beil pushed painfully to ascend until they reached an altitude high enough for him to drift. With the city far below he cleared his throat.
"We are being actively pursued by Yokai who are attempting to harness your power and potential for both personal and political means, and that energy draining stunt you pulled in order to locate me practically broadcasted your vulnerability."
"It wasn't a stunt, it's just that my body keeps using up my energy without giving me any warning, and otherwise I had no idea how I was going to find you without my newest trick."
"Did you ever think of simply doubling back? Or were you so lost in your mind that you made twists and turns without noticing? Nova, I had not been next to you for almost an hour and you were completely unawares, and even if I was there was not going to be much I could do for you if you were conscious enough to attempt something on your own. It was a hidden blessing that you were passed out, to be honest."
Was she really that much of a bother? "But even if you're not the strongest Yokai," she tried but he growled harshly, causing her to swallow her words. He was still a man, and that deep sound was not something she was used to beyond maybe when her father disciplined her as a child. This was a vastly different feeling. For the first time, she felt the touch of fear about him.
"You can not continue to think this way, child, it will get both of us killed".
Nova gaped at him. "Thinking like what?"
"Thinking that you are in control of this world. The grim reality is that you are not, and I for sure am not. You have seen how the Yokai treat me, and any other Itsumade, despite my age and strength."
"Well, shouldn't your strength get you respect? I can't stand how little respect you receive from literally everyone we talk to."
"It is not personal," he said and tipped his wings to the right to change their flight path, "only a stigma for the very nature of my kind. They have a hard time seeing past what my race takes part in on a regular basis, and though I am relieved that you were not born and raised with the knowledge of what each of us contribute to the Hidden Realm, especially when both of us are kinsoul, it is your almost willing ignorance that is getting us into these dangerous predicaments in the first place."
When he stopped for air, Nova shook off the blame for a moment and refocused on him. "What is it your race does?"
Beil was quiet for a few more seconds before he sighed deeply, a sound that meant she had disappointed him again. Nova pressed her lips in a little tighter in annoyance with herself while she waited for him to talk. He was keeping his eyes forward on the clouds sitting on the horizon and fighting the wind, and she was about to give up, when he suddenly spoke. "Itsumade are known for provoking war and feeding off of the fear and carcasses of both soldiers and citizens produced by the fighting."
Stunned, Nova stammered, "b...but when we first met you told me that you only wanted to prevent wars, because w...when you were human, you... died because of one. Did you... d..did you ever... start a war, to fe...feed on..."
"No, I never did. What you need to understand is that I am an incredible oddity among my kind, an outlier in the statistics of our nature. In all honesty, I should not exist. Those fleeting moments at the end of my life were I felt resentment and a hunger for revenge? It was just enough of an emotion to trigger the future altercation of my form once my soul latched into the bird corpse and gained enough power to evolve."
"So at one point," she said, regaining her demeanor as he spoke, "you felt those things and it turned you into a creature meant to carry out the emotions? Why didn't you?"
When he spoke again the edge wasn't as sharp in his voice, and it even had a little bit of professionalism in it.
"Near death experiences can be very strange. They are never as straightforward as people think they should be, and there is never only one answer. Especially for humans, you do not always die and come back with a positive or even mildly different outlook on life. I just so happened to be able to recognize my feelings quickly and fight them back into the normalcy a human should feel instead of following my new instincts, and I am a much better Yokai for it."
Nova nodded. What he said made sense, but did that mean that... "Wait, so you're saying I've been just following my new instincts around like a little lost puppy?"
"That is correct, I am happy you are able to recognize it. You have been developing as a Hidden Realm born Yokai with only a hint of your old self every now and again. Have you finally realized that you need to change your actions and way of thinking?"
A small part of her instantly wanted to be rebellious like the time when she ignored an entitled teacher that was trying to make her feel lesser when she wasn't the one at fault for the fights. She was never the one to instigate them back then, finish them maybe unless she was ganged up on, but she felt so wronged at the time that anything they said went in one ear and out the other...
A greater part of her realized that ever since she had become this snake version of herself, especially after the Rat Yokai had feared her for reasons she still could not place, she had been steadily growing more impetuous, had been feeling more pride and raising her expectations of everyone's reactions, had been treating people rudely and testing her limits, and had even become possessive over Beil.
She wasn't Emilia anymore. She felt like she needed to be, at least a little more than she was now.
How long had it been since she had really and truly thought of her father? Sure she missed him, but it was starting to feel like he was an after thought. Where did practically any of her polite mannerisms and timid behavior go from her past life? It was like her personality was trying to develop into the exact opposite of her old self.
Shame built up into her chest and Nova pressed her head into Beil's torso. He glanced back and his eyes finally softened a bit.
"What do you want to do?"
Well first...
"Find a safe place to hide until we have both recovered."
"I think that is a good idea."