"How was the ride?" Rin asked with a smile when he saw his cousin jumping off Kiryuu after a long flight.
"It was fun!" Aether jumped off and ran to his cousin. Not everybody could see Aether running up to his cousin, so many of them were surprised to find him jumping up and down after disappearing from their sight.
"Yeah, I'm still not used to that." Bia mumbled. "Did you get to talk?" She then asked the dragon. The dragon nodded. "If you don't mind, would you mind
shifting back to Alek?"
[I have a feeling I will meet you once again soon.] Kiryuu spoke in a serious tone. After exchanging a glance with Aether, she shifted just like before: with a gash of wind. When they looked back, they didn't see the glowing yellow dragon anymore. Alek was looking confused on the spot where Kiryuu had been.
Alek fell to the ground as the light was no longer entering the fish-shifters land.
"Alek." Bia rushed to her sister. "What's wrong?"
"I'm hungry." Alek whispered and, before her sister could repeat again, she shouted the same thing. "I'm hungry!! When was the last time I ate?" She didn't have memories of eating in the past hours she had been awake.
"I don't know..." Bia looked back for an answer.
"About a day, maybe?" Panacea shrugged her shoulders with an apologetic smile.
"A DAY? How am I surviving here?" Alek touched her stomach. It felt like the acid in her stomach was melting the walls. She was always hungry and, not eating was like pure torture for someone like her. Her two best friends described her like a hyena in a girl's disguise. Well, she wasn't a hyena but a dragon.
"Well, can you stand up?" Bia put her hands below her armpit.
"Ugh... Why can't I stand up?" When Alek tried to put strength into her hands and legs, she couldn't. It felt like her body was jelly and the jelly was also a sore jelly. What the heck did Kiryuu do to make her body this way?
"Here, let me help you." Her cousin, who was not holding her brother, came to help her with Kai on his heels. The three of them helped Alek get on her feet, but still, Alek couldn't walk.
[I'll give you a piece of my mind later.] Alek told her beast and, she heard her laugh. This angered Alek more, but before she could talk back, Alek got a hit on her head.
"Ow."
"Sorry." Rin apologised immediately. They had put Alek sideways so that it would be easier to carry. This caused her to hit on the wall for some reason.
"It's okay. Thank you for carrying me." Alek couldn't even move her hand to touch where it had been hit.
"Your welcome." Rin smiled before putting Alek on the hospital bed they had in the house. It was the same one Alek was previously in.
"I will tell people to bring food here." Minaki told them and left with his family and Novah.
"I need to go." Aether spoke. "The sun is down."
"You can't stay during the night? You need sunlight to appear?" Astraea asked. He nodded.
"I hope to see you soon." Aether smiled and looked at everyone. "Love you." He spoke at last before he disappeared like a shooting star.
"Love you too." Everyone replied after his disappearance. That was fast. But they knew that he was still there. He has said that before. Even if they can't see him, he will always be with them.
"Now... Are we going to meet Fumizuki?" Alek asked after several minutes of staying silent.
"We've already met." Kai told his sister. "When you were locked, they came to visit us but, I guess you were not aware."
"We met them? Why didn't you tell her to shift back to me? I could've met them..." Alek was now more than eager to have a 'chat' with her beast.
"Technically, you did meet them." He told his Alek.
"Oh, please." Alek rolled her eyes internally. "Anyway, how did they look like?"
"Human." Bia spoke.
"I've expected that." Alek mumbled.
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After the talk of Fumizuki, Alek told her family everything. Including seeing the memories through Aether's eyes.
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"Am I sleeping here alone?" Alek asked after they had finished eating. She, her siblings and the twins were in the hospital room. Iris was already asleep. In the room, there was only a bed and, Alek was in it. It was smaller than her bed at home so, someone can't just sleep with her.
"Yes." Bia answered nonchalantly.
"You don't care if I have a nightmare in this place?" Alek asked in disbelief at her own sister's heartlessness. "No, you are sleeping with me." They were lazy to turn on the light so, the room was dark. And the white stuff in this room looked like a ghost in this dark room.
"No." Bia spoke and tried to leave but, her sister grabbed her sleeve. When she turned around, she saw Alek's pretty eyes were shining from the faint light from the outside. She couldn't say no to this face, but also, she didn't want to sleep here. She was sure she wouldn't get any sleep here. So Bia looked around for help but, she saw the boys heading to the door.
"Good night."
"Good night."
"Night, Alek." They all smiled before closing the door behind them.
[B*tch.] Bia mind linked them. Her sibling and cousins betrayed her just like that.
"Thank you." Alek then dragged her sister into her bed. She had regained some of her original strength but, she still needed the help of a stick to walk around. "You are mine now." She hugged her sister.
Bia struggled but, she didn't let go. If she used her animal strength, she could easily shake off her sister but, she didn't do that. A part of her was happy that her sister was back to normal and hugging her like this. She had been worried for the past two weeks and couldn't get a good night's sleep.
"Good night." Alek told Bia.
"Good... night." Bia replied with a whisper. She couldn't face her sister when she said that. Her face was red with the closeness and, she couldn't let her see this. But she didn't have to worry for long. After five minutes, she felt soft, steadily breathing from her on her neck. Her sister must be exhausted from all the things that have happened in these two weeks.
Bia slowly got out of her sister's arms and placed them gently next to her. Then she began to walk to the doo, but she stopped soon because Alek sleep talked. She heard 'Ryuu', which was probably the nickname for her dragon. But she still went back to her sister to hear it again. Usually, Alek repeated what she said in her sleep at least twice.
Alek mumbled an unintelligible word and turned her head sideways. Bia got close to hearing it clearly.
"...Food..." Alek spoke clearly this time and made Bia put her hand on her mouth and suppress her laughter. She was dreaming about food. This habit of hers was fun to listen to if this wasn't done in the public. One time when they were boarding a plane, Alek called out her sister loudly in her sleep and got everyone's attention. Despite Bia not sitting next to her, she called out her sister's name several times and, people smiled and laughed at how the girl was sleeping peacefully. Even the CA was laughing. Of course, Alek doesn't remember the incident and why people were staring at her when she woke up.
Bia didn't want to leave her side now. She told herself it's not because she wanted to stay beside her sister but because it would be like breaking a promise. Her sister would find in the morning that she wasn't there and may get angry although, that was very unlikely. She reminded herself this wasn't because her sister needed her but because she just wanted to stay.
She walked to the sofa a bit far from the bed and prepared to sleep there. It was the sofa for one person, and she couldn't lie there. She wasn't her sister who could sleep anywhere anytime. So she shifted herself wholly to fit herself on the seat. But it was cold so, she shifted back, brought a blanket from the other sofas. She remembered that snakes were cold-blooded and, it would affect her body temperature. She instead didn't shift anymore and slept on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around herself.
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In the morning...
"Wake up." Alek woke up with a jump. She didn't recognise the place she was in. Didn't she sleep in her own bed? Where is she? "Alek!"
"Ye?" Alek replied. She saw her sister next to the bed she was in. Then she remembered what had happened and wasn't confused anymore. "Morning."
"Morning." Bia replied with a pillow in her hand. She was about to hit her sister awake with it. "How are you feeling?"
"Not bad. I think I'm normal now." Alek talked in a husky voice and stretched her body. Her muscles were still in pain. "No, I'm not."
"Mmm. Well breakfast is ready but I think you will take them here"
"I know." Alek spoke. Her back was starting to hurt with pain.
"Also, Jin and Rin wanted to come and talk to you."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Let me call them." Bia said come into the door and, the two of them entered. "I'll bring food."
After Bia left the three of them in the room and had a little chat, they went into the topic.
"I think you know why we came here." Rin spoke.