Emmia fidgeted in her seat, anxiety eating up her head.
'When will class end...'
'I need to see Ms Sophia...'
'Please, please be the person I need to see....'
Emmia dreaded the thought of Ms. Sophia being a dead lead. She truly did not know how she would manage without Seril.
'Not only that...Luna isn't here either...'
Emmia's eyes continuously flitted towards her right side where Luna usually sits, attentively listening to classes.
Now, her seat remained vacant, which was somehow more distracting than if Luna was sitting there.
"And that concludes our syllabus for the mid-semester," Melvin Homes announced as he gathered together his books. A small wave of cheers ran through the classroom as everyone cheered. They were finally freed after today....well at least for a few days.
"I hope all of you are aware of whatever is coming in your written exams for this mid-semester," Mr Melvin gave a small smile. "Other than that I hope you are prepared for the practical exams right afterwards."
A wave of exasperation swept through the class, it was one thing to say that classes were over for the rest of the week, but another to keep repeating that there were exams just next week. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
With that remark, Mr. Melvin left the class, this time without any students running after him to question him about the syllabus, exam pattern, or anything. In fact, Mr. Melvin had made things very clear that he wouldn't tolerate such questions when he had already relayed all such information to the class. So instead, the room broke out in a flurry of activity with students turning to their friends and asking what topics were included, what to expect, and all such questions.
As the room imploded with conversation, Emmia stood up hurriedly and rushed out of the room. Exiting the building, she beelined towards the infirmary.
Knocking on Ms. Sohpia's door, Emmia rocked back and forth as she stood in one place.
"Come in," Ms Sophia's muffled voice came out from behind the door. Entering, Emmia greeted Ms Sophia hurriedly.
"Good Morning Ms. Sophia," Emmia's voice cracked in between from anxiety.
Ms. Sophia nodded pleasantly as she motioned for Emmia to take a seat.
"I'm here because..." Emmia trailed off, unsure of what to say.
Ms. Sophia patiently waited, putting down her papers, for Emmia to continue.
"I wanted to ask if you knew where... my sister went..." Emmia squeezed out.
Pausing for a moment, Ms. Sophia asked Emmia without batting an eye, "Emmia, how would I know-"
"And don't say that you don't know. I'm not dumb. I've already figured out that Seril is doing some dangerous stuff. I thought I'd wait until she told me herself, but now she's gone without a word and I don't know what to do or what to think. And the only person I've seen her interacting with is you, so I thought I'd come here and..." Emmia started to ramble on, her pent-up feelings gushing out.
Ms. Sophia gave a small sigh, 'Sorry, Seril I can't keep quiet in this situation.'
"Emmia," Ms. Sophia called out.
"...but I didn't wake up to any note. I already searched the entire house, and Seril always leaves a note if she's gone for a long time. I don't know what to think. I...." Emmia, continued to ramble on like she hadn't heard anything.
"Emmia," Ms. Sophia narrowed her eyes slightly as she activated her gift.
'She's close to having an anxiety attack,' she noted as she felt Emmia's heart rate.
"Emmia," Ms Sophia called out again, applying her gift to force Emmia to calm down.
Emmia jolted, finally stopping.
"Your sister is fine," Sophia informed the girl.
Emmia felt the breath gush out of her, all the pent-up feelings and anxiety just rushing out of her.
"I-, Is she safe?" Emmia asked softly.
"Yes," Ms. Sophia answered gently.
"Can I see her?" Emmia requested with big eyes.
"Yes," Ms. Sophia nodded, accepting Emmia's request.
The walk towards the ward the Seril was in felt longer than it should have. At least to Emmia, that's what it felt like. Along the way, small details of the other rooms, caught Emmia's attention, trying to distract her mind which was filled with thoughts of her sister.
Finally, at the end, in front of the room holding her sister, Emmia's mind was blank.
"Go ahead," Ms. Sohpia motioned at the door.
"Don't disturb her too much," She warned as Emmia pushed open the door.
Inside, Seril was lying on a bed, dressed in a patient's gown, her animal ears poking out of her short blond hair.
Emmia stood there silently, her gaze drawn towards Seril's chest slowly rising and falling, indicating that she was alive. Shifting her eyes back to Seril's face, Emmia noticed that it was paler than usual.
'And thinner...or was it like this for a while?' Emmia thought to herself.
Emmia didn't make a sound, afraid to wake Seril from her slumber. The young girl just decided to stand there, drawn deep into her thoughts, ruby-red eyes glistening softly with small tears.
After a few minutes of silence, Emmia wiped her eyes and headed back out of the door, where Ms. Sophia was standing waiting for her.
"You okay?" Ms. Sophia asked gently.
"Yes," Emmia nodded her head trying to keep her voice steady.
"Let's head back," Ms. Sophia directed them back into her office.
"I'm sure you would like to ask a lot of questions, but unfortunately, I can't tell you anything," Ms. Sophia started, once the two were seated in her office.
"I see," Emmia said slightly crestfallen. It wasn't that she expected to be told things, but getting told that explicitly felt disappointing.
"But,...does it have something to do with people leaving the city?" Emmia asked hesitantly, unsure if she could ask this question.
Ms. Sohpia paused, fiddling with her thumbs, thinking whether to say anything or not.
"Yes, unfortunately, yes," Ms. Sophia finally answered with a sigh.
Emmia paused, as an uncomfortable feeling crept up around her.
Seeing Emmia's shift in mood, Ms. Sophia reassured her, "Don't worry, we are working on fixing the problem. Soon, everything should be back to normal."
Emmia nodded and said in a small voice, "Thank you."
'But, how am I not supposed to worry? When Seril was injured like this...' Emmia kept her thoughts to herself. When in Seril's ward, Emmia had noticed faint burn scars all over her sister's body. If there was something that could scar Seril, then Emmia shuddered to think what it was.
Emmia's mind swirled with uncomfortable thoughts about her safety, her sister's safety, Icarth's, Shui's, and even Luna's.
'Speaking of Luna, where was she today?' Emmia thought back.
'Icarth was also absent, but that's kind of expected.'
'So where could-' Emmia's thoughts halted as she passed by an open ward. From inside, a black-haired girl stared back at her.
Emmia stopped and stared back.
Both girls locked eyes as Emmia slowly started to get concerned.
"Luna!" Emmia exclaimed. "How are you? What happened? Why are you here? How are you feeling now? Did anything serious happen?"
Emmia started to fire out rapidly.
Luna stared at her blankly, before the ends of her mouth curled up into a small smile.
"I'm fine...." Luna responded softly.
"I just collapsed from exhaustion..." Luna continued after seeing Emmia wait for the other answers.
"Exhaustion?" Emmia narrowed her eyes but didn't comment any further. "Well, it's good that you're okay."
"Can I sit here?" Emmia asked Luna.
Luna nodded her head, after all, it was extremely boring to sit in this room all alone.
"How is your body feeling?" Emmia asked, her ruby red eyes staring into Luna's obsidian black ones.
"Fine...just sore," Luna decided to omit the part that she was feeling weak all over her body, not to worry her friend too much.
"I see..." Emmia trailed off. Fidgeting slightly, Emmia started to talk again, "My sister is also here. I mean she ended up getting hurt and is admitted here."
Luna twisted her head to face Emmia, listening attentively to what her friend was saying.
"I...she didn't come back the whole day yesterday," Emmia's voice wavered.
"I mean she usually tells me-I mean she always tells me in case she'll be out...but this time? I was so worried..."
"I didn't know what to do- I- Seril is doing some pretty dangerous job...but she won't tell me...I decided to respect her decision..."
"But, when I see her like this...I just feel so helpless..."
"Something is going on Luna....I- I can just feel it...People moving out of the city- Seril getting injured like this- The professors have also been having some unnatural activity...."
"Something big is going to happen, and I don't know what to do..."
"I-I thought that Seril would protect me" Emmia's voice cracked.
"But, i-if she can't protect herself...then how would she protect me?"
Emmia thought of a way, 'She would sacrifice herself to protect me.....'.
"I feel so helpless...I'm not strong enough to make a difference, my gift is useless....my body is also weak and sensitive..."
"Luna, I just-just don't know what to do...." Emmia's eyes started to well up with tears again as she stared into the eyes of her friend.
Luna listening calmly through all of this, thought about what to say to her first friend.
"...get stronger..." Luna said simply. In the end, this world was ruled by one thing. Power.
"If you get stronger...you can be the one who protects...instead of the one who gets protected."
"But..I just- I mean my gift- It doesn't help me...I mean I want to get stronger...but..." Emmia stammered and trailed off. She truly did want to get stronger. But she had no idea where to start. Her main skills were drawing designs and engineering solutions for different problems.
"..Think for one..." Luna said bluntly.
"W-what?" Emmia asked.
"..Think of a way to use your gift...something that plays to your strengths like your sketches.." Luna explained.
Emmia paused as her mind started to process Luna's words. 'A different way to use my gift? Play to my strengths...Use my sketches?'
All this time, Emmia abhorred her gift. Every time she activated it, it just caused unnecessary pain, with a small boost to her defense. Due to this, she had never gone out of her way to seek help on how to use her gift.
"..I think you can do it," Luna added softly, her voice clearly heard by Emmia in the silent room.
"I-Thank you," Emmia nodded, her tears drying up. Looking into Luna's eyes, Emmia could feel the confidence emanating from them. Confidence in *her*.
Slowly but surely, Emmia felt her mind clearing up, as a trickle of ideas which soon turned into a deluge flooded her head, just as it would whenever she drew a sketch.
After a short time of indulging in her thoughts, Emmia snapped back and gave a bright smile.
"Yeah, thank you, Luna!" Emmia grinned.
"Of course," Luna answered with a soft smile. She too felt happy. Happy that she could express herself properly when talking with Emmia. The previous day's freak accident was long buried in her mind.
Suddenly, seeing Luna's smile, Emmia broke out into a bigger grin, "So you *can* smile like that?"
"...What do you mean?" Luna asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"You're smiling silly," Emmia laughed at Luna's confusion.
Luna felt shocked on the inside.
'I'm smiling?'
'I thought my facial muscles couldn't move like that-'
Luna's thoughts froze as she turned her head to look into a mirror. And reflected there, was Luna wearing a small smile, with Emmia grinning in the background next to her.
Sure enough, she was smiling.