A cold air occupied the room.
It didn't help Claude sleep any better either. He struggled to make himself comfortable on the wooden creaking chair.
"Goddammit. This is pissing me off. Now I gotta watch over this stranger." He whispered under his breath, frowning as he brought his leg up to the seat of his chair.
The sounds of heavy breathing irritated and distracted him from his sleep.
More angered than before, Claude's eyes slowly opened as it focused on the source of all the sounds.
The person sat at the bed, sitting up straight with an impassive face that didn't match his wet eyes.
"You had a bad dream, or what?" Claude asked, leaning forward and slipping out a piece of tissue off the cabinet before passing it to Kai. But he never took it.
Kai looked at Claude and froze. His body didn't budge and he didn't blink once. He seemed as if he was in a trance or a state of shock.
"Didn't you just complete a great feat? Why are you crying now? So..irritating." Claude groaned, stuffing the tissues right onto Kai's face. But the person flinched away.
Kai looked around the room and opened his mouth to release a soft long sigh. He buried his head in his hands and pressed onto his temples in circular motions.
Cautiously, Claude bent down. Didn't Mr Walton say it'd take this person at least a few days to wake up? The injuries were too major for someone to recover this much. Is he suffering from brain damage now or something?
Kai looked up slowly and his lips transformed into a gentle smile. "Please pass me the tissue. And where is Mr Walton?" He asked in a chirpy tone.
Claude furrowed his eyebrows and scratched at his scalp in confusion. "Mr Walton is out for some business. Not sure what it is." He stood back up properly, fixing his curly brown hair. "You should..continue resting. Your injuries from earlier look a bit.."
"I'll be fine. I heal quite fast." Kai responded, remembering a fragment of his dream. He looked around again. The person really was gone.
"What?" Claude said in a loud tone, after realizing something on Kai's face. He pulled off the blanket a bit to see the placement of the wound he had bandaged earlier.
Claude was shocked to see a pure white bandage that he hadn't replaced in a while. He had expected it to be stained or soaked in red as when he had bandaged it, the wound was still bleeding.
He looked at the scar that was supposed to be on Kai's face and blinked a couple of times. It was gone. The scratch that was on his right chin was gone.
"How did you do that? What did you do?!" Claude yelled, standing up and being snapped out of his sleepy state.
"I told you, I heal fast." Kai started with a smile, covering his body up with the blanket. Feeling his face as he felt uncomfortable with all the staring.
Just as when Claude was going to ask another question, he heard a distinct knock at the door. It was one of those again. Weren't they coming too often?
"Wait a minute. I'll open the door for the checkers. Stay here." Claude said, fixing his clothes. He paused before he reached the door. He turned to his own drawer of clothes and pulled out a set.
A white shirt and some long pants were thrown on the bed.
"Wear that. They'll come into every room and check for someone. They usually take 10 minutes if Mr Walton is here but if he isn't they'll probably take a longer time.." Claude started getting quieter as if he was talking to himself.
But Kai catched on to whatever he was saying. But what worried him more was that familiar rhythm.
Claude was about to leave and again he stopped and frowned. He walked backwards and struggled to remember what he forgot while the persistent knocking carried on.
His eyes followed the outline of the room before eyeing a fancy bottle that looked as if it had contained alcohol in it. Right, grandma liked reusing her bottles.
Mr Walton also mentioned something about needing to hide Kai's identity before with grandma. Wasn't that why the bottle was in his room in the first place? She spent too much time making that..and he took it. For a while.
With no hesitation, Claude ran towards the shelf and jumped and grabbed the bottle. He lost grip over it as he juggled with it. Finally, he managed to get a hold of it.
"Here, drink this. It'll.." Claude lifted the bottle and read the newly placed label. "change your eye color temporarily."
Kai raised one eyebrow and took the bottle cautiously. He popped open the wood cap and could immediately smell something that pricked at his nose. He looked at it one more time before drinking the concoction.
"How was it..?" Claude nervously asked, he wasn't sure whether the potion would even work. He took it from his grandma before she could finish the concoction.
Kai's eyes began to burn. He slapped his hand on his face as he stopped himself from scratching the surface of his skin. He opened it and felt as if he could feel the air touching against his eyeballs.
He closed his eyes and blinked multiple times. Placing the bottle down on the nearest flat surface near him.
Claude rushed over and attempted to remove Kai's hand away so he could see what was the extent of the damage.
However, Kai lifted his head and with one hand covering his other eye, he glared straight down at Claude with the sea of red stripes that was apparent in the whites of his eyes.
Feeling threatened, Claude stepped away. "Your eyes are a bit red but.. I can see them turning to a shade of light brown so it's working. I'll open the door and distract them for a while before they check this room. So..get yourself up by then." He turned away and left. He regretted not thinking straight back when he took the bottle.
Claude stomped towards the door and wondered why were the knights even checking this late into the night. Weren't they too strict on these measures?
Or did they know.. that Kai was here? He halted right before his hands slipped the key into the keyhole.
"Please open up before I break the door down." The person outside the door said.
Claude clicked his tongue and opened the door as slowly as he could manage. Fumbling with the keys and taking his time to turn it.
Once the door opened, the knight wasted no time stepping in. He wasn't even looking around like usual. His body and head turned to one direction only.
The knight's blue eyes twitch while his mouth twisted into a smile. He raised his arm and pointed to Claude's bedroom. "I want to check that room." He said, sounding fascinated.
"What about the others?" Claude asked casually, hiding his shock. How could that knight.. pinpoint so accurately? He was..terrifying. Everytime this particular knight looked at him, he felt an insect crawling up his face.
"You don't mind. Right?" The knight asked politely. His eyes focused.
"Go ahead." Claude replied, forcing a smile. He had to act as if everything was okay. If he got nervous now, the whole thing would be blown. But what made him more nervous was the sense of urgency the knight possessed. As if he has been waiting for this exact moment.