*Cough!!*
In a small,dimly lit hospital room,Lucas coughed occasionally as his throat itch irritatingly from time to time.
His vision was further deprived by his failing eyesight,so all he could really make out was some blurred line of object that he couldn't identify if they are not close enough.
His limbs have no strength left in them and he felt rather droopy from taking his daily doses of medication.
Being a diease that cast a heavy burden on a low wage family class like Lucas's,it's conditions were equally hard to bear for lucas.
The illness mainly cause his immune system to weaken significantly,leaving him with a body extremely sensitive to invading pathogen.
He have tried most experimental treatment available but none of them worked well enough for any visible improvement.
He would almost certainly get affected by a diease whenever there was any contamination in the environment even as he lived in a secure air tight casing all day.
Infectious dieases that caused conditions ranging from low fever to dangerous ones like spasms and strokes were all experienced at least once by him before he were moved here.
Somehow,for better or worse he manage to survive until today through sheer wills and costly therapy.
"Today is not the day it seems,just a itchy throat and low fever."Lucas thought as he sort through information of the holographic screen implemented in his casing with his frail fingers.
After years of resisting various dangerous condition from dieases,his body were much worse than what it should be for his age.
Now all he could do was do some reading on the holographic screen to divert his attention from this painful and dull reality of his.
"mother's day,huh…?"He scroll until he saw a page written about promotion sales for gifts for mother's day and stares at it.
When was the last time I saw them? He thought with a wry smile,by no mean did he forgave them for not coming back to their own son anymore.
But to him, the looks of disappointment and pain they showed more and more each time they did showed up was far more uncomfortable for him.
Truth is he hatef himself far more than he does any of them,that all he did when he was given birth to was cause more trouble,pain and misery for them.
"..."At that,he look around the empty room and finally made up his mind and move to enact his secret plan
Everything in his world processed much faster than it did before,especially automated procedures like these so he quickly manage to get his hand on the things he want in his account.
"Hey!!L~ucas~,what are you watching?"Suddenly a familiar happy go lucky voice reach his ear causing him tensed up like a plank.
"please…don't scare me like that miss leah…"Lucas sighed and turn his screen off swiftly,then start talking with her via a speaker placed outside.
"Sorry~got a tad bit too excited to see your cute face, have you taken your medications yet?"A lady with light green hair with very soft facial feature can be seen through the crystal clear casing.
She is supposedly at least a dozen years older than Lucas but there seems to be no sighs of wear of age on her.If people looked them side by side,other than his frail and thinning body,he would look much older than her.
This is Leah,a nurse that had nothing to do with his situation but keep coming to visiting him at least once everyday.
"Yes,don't worry I am doing well today and as joyful as I am please don't let your husband know about that."Lucas smiles as he saw her putting on a cleaned medical glove and pinning that hand against his casing
"Shush!Kyle doesn't need to know about these small details."She smiles brightly when he bump his fist on the inside of his unit,right infront of her own.
Much like a caring family,she is always there to remind him that she is out there for him like a big sister would for her younger brother in his time of need.
"Oh,By the way!you might have a guest later tonight!So try staying up a bit late than usual okay?"Leah took a seat besides his unit and grinned as she saw Lucas confused face.
Guest…?He is a bit curious about this so called guest but shrugged when he think it might be his councilor coming to visit.
They chatted about various things going on in their life.(mostly in her life)Laughing and relaxing in each other's company.
It is times like these that he looked forward to most in his mundane life everyday,despite everything else.
He faintly smiles as he remembered when he suspected this was a arrangement the hospital made until that one time he heard another stuff member warning her about staying in his unit without permission.
It was fine either way for him but somehow he felt oddly warm inside when he thought about someone that still cared for him despite the inconvenience it caused.
"Oh right,Have you finished your books yet?If you need more,just let me know and I will send some more to you right now."Leah inquired when she remembered that he might have read through those she lend him a few weeks ago.
"yes,please, if you can…Those were great read."During his mundane daily life in occupation,these books and her company were what kept him sane or so he believed.
After gratefully receiving his supply of books and thanking her,holding some excitement,he skim through the introduction of the books.
The books were a series of story about the world known as Ewiotia told from the perspective of nationals heros of that world.
Each books contains the tales of each of them to great details,Lucas enjoy reading them not just because he was bored but it is also that these were generally fairly exciting and well written.
It made him felt almost as if he lived through their experiences of that vast world and felt their myriad of emotions,their pains and struggle and moments of joy and glory.
"Alright~I better get going now before they have to rein me in.Let me know if you need something else."Leah smiles when she found Lucas becoming more and more focused on the story and excused herself for the day.
"Oh!sorry about that leah…"Lucas was struck by guilt when he realized he had been ignoring her presence some minutes now.
Leah simply smiled and assured him that she is not upset before leaving the unit.
Lucas rubbed his forehead,he knows that it is odd everytime he start reading the series,he felt almost no sense of his current self and reality but instead fully commit to the experience of the main character.
"Must be a best seller's writer tricks." He shrugged and brushed it off at that explanation
－－－－－－－－
Night comes before he realized it as Lucas kept reading the newly acquired continuation of the series.
*clicked*
Lucas vaguely heard another person came in and changed his packs that kept providing him with food and water supplies.He assumed it is another nurse so he just kept reading into the story.
As he kept reading,he slowly grown confused when he slowly find it a little harder to breath.
"ugh…"After a few moment of increasing discomfort,Lucas reach out to press the emergency call button on the side of his bed.
"hmm…?"He frown when he saw the panel didn't react to his touch to activate it,suddenly the light in the room were turned off along with the various units responsible for the disinfecting the room.
The dreadful realization of his circumstances slowly creep up to him along with the feeling of suffocation,the fact that none of the devices turned on again meant that the back up battery and generator isn't working either.
The walls of this room were rather thick not to mention he is contained in a thick casing unit,the speaker of course can't work without power either.
*Thud!*
Meaning he can't called for help whatsoever,Lucas panicked as he felt harder and harder to breath enough air to his lungs and started banging the wall of the casing as hard as he could.
Of course,all that came out was a weak thud that couldn't alert anyone outside the room.Lucas withheld the urge to scream for help despite the circumstances as it will just be a waste of oxygen and efforts on his part.
Slowly his breath become ragged and his weakened shoulder become unable to lift his fist anymore.
Fear,confusion,dread and discomfort mersh together and hammered his fading consciousness.
"This is it…?"In his last moments,he felt confused by the purpose of his life when he realized there is no way out of this situation.
"What was the point…and …leah?feeling bitter and quickly becoming much more aware of the surges of negative emotion he held at bay for so long.
His jealousy when he saw people flashing by in their flying vehicles outside his widow when he was younger.
His shame and sadness when he realized his parents werent coming back for him anymore.
The hatred towards life itself he held when he boils over the circumstances of his seemlingly pointless journey of life over and over again.
Lastly"She said someone was coming to…"His heart ached intensely when he realized what Leah said during his stay.
It shouldn't make sense,she had no reason to do this,why did she said that?There were his thoughts as he grown more and more wary.
He widen his eyes when a image flashed through his mind,a certain women with light green hair he met once during one of the visit from his family she was introduce as his father's sister in law when he was a child.
"It couldn't be…"A deep shade of violet colored symbol blinked and fade into existence on his chest,runic writing slowly stretches out with the ominous symbol as it's center.
*buzzed*
The casing around his bed vibrate with increasing intensity when the runic formation on his chest started glowing brighter and brighter.
the ominous violets light flash in rhythm as his emotion spiral out of control,the thought that someone he thought as the only person left on earth who cared for him deeply was going to murder him for …Monterey compensation made his head thump with rage.
"..."Never in his wildest dream did he imagine himself in this situation.Dying wasn't his fear but this act she commited did much more damage than anyone else made him felt.
*cracked*
The circle of runic writing glowed vigorously along with the increasing pressure it emit ,the casing containing the bed and him gave way and cracks start forming on its surface despite its toughness.
He didn't know why but he felt the need to give in to his spiraling waves of viles thoughts and emotion,he would usually dismiss as childish and
ridulous.
*Crashed!*
"If there is a second life,I want to make people feel the sa－"such a fleeting thought crash into his mind,when he was pulled out of his spiral by the sound of the door being slammed opened
"Luc…!Com…...hur…!!"His eyes widened when he recongized the owner of the voice and with the last of his fleeting strength and consciousness,he turned his head towards the door.
There it was,Leah rushed in along with some of the medical staff member.He can vaguely see their outline and Leah's signature hair colour as they moved to charged the devices around the room in full containment suit.
"Hi…heart… rat…is dro….…!"
He could feel Leah's desperate feelings as she shouts words that he can't make out of in his drowsy state.His casing unit was swiftly unlocked as the staffs dashed in with devices on hand.
He was utterly confused for a moment as he stared at her,but slowly he felt like his body doesn't hurt as badly anymore.A faint smile forms on his face as he watch Leah and the others performed emergency treatment.
"Luca…!!"He turned his head towards the source of this strangely familiar voice and what he saw next made his heart tremble.
"I see …so that's the guest she was talking about."Lucas couldn't help but smiles in relieve when he recongized the lady being held back at the entrance by other staff.
And thus,Lucas slowly let himself succumb to his eternal slumber,feeling oddly satisfied at such a abrupt ending to his life on this world.
－－－－－－－－－
"Finally…he is ready…"A lady with light blonde hair sighed in delight as she sit idly on top of her throne as if she had been waiting for his demise eagerly for years.
"Now…Let's see how this new piece perform at his job in this batch…"crossing her leg,she rubbed her hand together and stared at the floating image of a world vastly different than Lucas's own.
"heh,this would surely do it,I am too much of a genius sometimes…"She nodded with approval at her latest ploy despite the servant around her sighing in worries.