Alma showed him all the places, even the training rooms as well. For the first time, Drake is now living luxury in his dreams, of course, he was lucky, considering he had a unique physique.
"kid, how did you end up getting injured by a transcendent?" She asked, curious about the boy.
"This..." Drake explained how he ended up in such a situation, Alma was in deep thought after listening to him, a transcended psionic mage is too rare to find, even in this era.
"I need to meet this girl, there's a high chance that she could destroy the world if she wanted to, she's like a ticking time bomb" Alma's statements worried him even more, and now he can't let her be.
"Is there any way to save her?" he asked.
"Of course, we'll meet her tomorrow so don't worry, I'll beat some sense into her," Alma said.
In the morning, after Claire got ready to get lunch from the canteen, she tried visiting the place where Drake used to be, just so that he would tell her the truth the next day, or that's what she thought.
"You must be Claire, that kid mentioned about you" a feminine voice was heard.
"Are you the one who took my Drake?" asked Claire, as she fiercely scowled at her.
"little girl, you aren't someone of my caliber, stop mocking me with that cute scowl" she replied to her, confidently.
Claire threw chunks of huge rocks with her powers, but all of it got vaporized to non-existence.
"I told you already," Alma said, as she reached her with ease, standing right in front of her, Claire felt a mysterious pressure, as if it was pulling her down forcefully until she fell on her knees.
"..." the force grew stronger and stronger until she couldn't bear it anymore.
"Why would you almost kill a guy for mere underwear? that's funny tho" Alma said while crossing her arms.
"Fucking bitch, I'll kill you" Claire cussed at her with rage.
"you're useless, not only did you make him suffer for something so stupid, he died fighting for his life, that poor kid never lied to you, and yet you didn't believe him"
"if things go like this, you'll never have anyone to put their faith in you, I tried to heal to heal him but sadly..." Alma said, of course, she lied about his death, but she didn't like the fact that Claire put him under this much torture.
"What..no way.." Claire was shocked, she was confident in her mage arts that he'd stay alive, even if he was contorted.
"Drake died this morning, his physique is kinda unique, since his body rapidly healed to fix his contorted shape, keeping him under a sealing spell, made things easier for him to reincarnate," Alma said.
Claire felt guilty, now it's etched in her mind. The only person whom she could trust will never see her again, she killed him now, and her whole world broke apart.
"Consider meeting him in the afterlife, I will give you a quick death" Alma grinned, Claire's chest felt heavy, memories about him flashed right through her, as the weight of her guilt became heavier.
"It's..all my fault..." She uttered repeatedly, being crushed by her own emotions, as she sunk into despair, her only friend died in such exhaustion, because her punishment was cruel.
Alma raises her arms against her, Claire shakes in fear but at the same time, she readily embraces her death. she gets blinded by a strange light as she faints.
In her dream she saw Drake, who stood with light radiating around him, all inside eternal darkness, he looked at her with a melancholic expression.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me, Claire," he said, Claire waves her arms to reach him, no matter how near he was, he phased through. He suddenly disappeared as a disembodied voice uttered "You should be disgusted by yourself".
Waking up in shock, Claire was found inside a strange room, beside the door, she saw him, Drake was alive and well, talking to that woman she met in that park. However she was merely witnessing another dimension, her room was in a different realm, it was as if she was a ghost.
Then suddenly, she saw herself, who stood in a corner of that room.
"It's not real, you killed him, it's all your fault," the entity said, with a wide grin, sending chills down her spine, she couldn't move her legs. Claire's heart started beating even faster, all she could think about was surviving, and yet a part of her didn't want to survive.
Weirdly, Drake and Alma disappeared from her sight, and got replaced by strange purple shapes that moved constantly, she then saw her hands getting stained with blood, the entity also had it similar.
Suddenly the whole room changed itself, smeared with blood as if someone or something had massacred people, and lying next to her was the rotting corpse of her beloved friend, Drake.
"NOOO" She screamed, the entity got closer, and closer, and each time she blinked, the entity or the other Claire proceeds to strangle her. As the door disappeared, the room had an eerie vibe that bend itself in space-time itself, but unbeknownst to her, it was all a nightmare.
"It's all your fault, it's all your fault, it's all fault," she said with a wide scowl, repeating the same words over and over.
It's been a week, the other Claire didn't stop antagonizing her, saying the same phrases over and over, chanting them nonstop, while strangling her nonstop. she couldn't lose consciousness either, it was never-ending insanity. Claire wanted to die at this moment, all she hoped was to be with him whenever the other Claire said "it's your fault", her guilt which exponentially grew as time passed became the worst of her.
it's been a year now, everything went hazy, and the same words became demonic as time progressed. It became annoying but she couldn't stop it herself, she thought about how things would have been different if she had believed him.
The other Claire or the entity, quickly shapeshifts into the old man from her memories, as it starts undressing her.
"Claire... my little bunny" uttered the entity, although she didn't bother anymore, her guilt consumed her.
"wherever you are, please forgive me, I beg of you, I'm sorry, Drake, I'll give my life for you.." she said, but suddenly the entity disappeared, Claire could finally move again, but her eyes shut on its own, everything went null.
Then, she gently opened her eyes, only to be seen in the same room again, but this time the boy was holding her hand. She couldn't care less, still thinking that it was all a dream now.
"Claire" Drake looked at her pitifully, he still wants to talk to her about the issue and yet, she was not in a good state. he touches her face, hoping she was okay.
"I must be dreaming again? is this all real?" she asked, Claire was in disbelief, all she could think about was dying.
"eh..yes, it's all real" Drake said, puzzled by her strange behavior.
"what the hell happened, what did the master do to her?" he thought to himself.
"well, my master brought u home in the morning, and you slept for like 4 hours, it's afternoon now," he said.
"...." Claire kept staring at him, Drake felt uncomfortable.
"Ah, how should I put it..." Drake was trying his best to explain things. Claire puts her forehead on his face, which freaked him out.
"Woah" Drake blushed as he fell, Claire followed him, as he was still holding her hand, and yet strangely enough she didn't let go.
"This scent.." she was familiar with it, reminded her of hugging Drake for the first time, behind the tree they used to visit after school hours.
"Uhm so..there was something you asked for," Drake said, who sat beneath the tree shade. (flashback)
"Yes" Claire smiled "now close your eyes, or else I won't talk to you" she uttered.
"okay" Drake agreed, as he nervously pondered about her statement.
Claire hugs him, and he felt her embrace.
"silly, what's so embarrassing about a hug," he said, with a befuddled expression.
"If you look, you'll die" Claire threatened him.
"...fine" Drake nervously accepted it, as he kept his eyes closed, time passed for a while, and then she kissed him on his forehead. (end flashback)
Fortunately or unfortunately, Drake had dozed off to sleep, so he wasn't aware of such a thing.
Fast forward to the present day, Claire's face was attached to his chest.
"Is that you, Drake?" she asked.
"Yes, Claire it's me, and I've something to tell you, I didn't steal those undies okay, I'm sorry that I didn't pay attention to..." but before he could finish it.
"Stop it, don't say that again" Claire fumed, now she was completely sure that it was him, it was all real.
"Claire?..but.." Drake said as he felt guilty about himself.
"I'm still too weak..." he thought, but to his surprise, tears went down Claire's face, a blushed look on her face.
"Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened, it's not your fault, or else I'll kill myself right here, right now" she fumed with embarrassment. Claire proceeds to bawl that her nose kept leaking heavily, Drake couldn't help but sob looking at her pitiful face.
After 2 hours, Drake became a lot concerned about her, as she didn't stop crying. He puts her in the bed again, resting with her.
"It's okay...it's alright, I'm here, everything's fine" Drake whispered to her, gently rubbing her head, as she gripped him on his garment, Claire felt comfortable when he said those words, and she eventually stopped sobbing after a while, an hour later, both of them drowsed off on the same couch.