Grey
Elena who was sleeping between my legs groaned as she woke up slowly. Whatever Xiao Li did, luckily it wasn't permanent. I quickly moved Elena from me to rid of a possible misunderstanding and quickly waited for her to come to.
"E-Ehh..? Grey why are you staring at me like that?" She asked, her face tired and her voice low and raspy.
'Nevermind, there was definitely a side effect.' I concluded, that she lost her memories meeting Xiao Li. There was no way that she would've forgotten such a weird and scary experience in such a short amount of time, even if she was in a deep slumber.
But truth be told, I was also happy that it was like this. I was conflicted on what to tell her of with my meeting with Xiao Li but now it seems that I won't be obligated to anymore.
Clearing my throat and composing myself, I looked at her with a teasing face. "It seems little Elena her fell asleep after I read you a fairytale. It seems like you're.. still a child, heh."
Immediately afterwards I flew off of my bed and my ribs hit the table causing me immense pain.
Rubbing her fist as if it was the one that was injured from her own punch, she immediately started mocking me, "It seems like Grey can't even handle a punch from a lady like me, hmph!"
Rubbing my right rib that pained to even touch, the door creaked open and my attention as well as Elena's attention flew to the person's appearance.
Ms. Clare who was standing at the doorway looked at me with a.. weird look to say the least but composed herself as she began talking.
"You two I have something to discuss with you in my office, I'll see you there."
On that note, she immediately closed the door while Elena who was still on top on the bunk bed, crawled down the ladder before leaving to follow Ms. Clare.
"Damn demon.." I cursed under my breath as I also stood up and limped towards the office.
As I got there, both Elena and Ms. Clare were seated so I also quickly got seated as well. Ms. Clare looked at me sternly before saying, "You probably shouldn't be late anymore, considering where you're going now."
Both mine and Elena's eyes widened in shock as we came to a revelation. We were being adopted.
Elena who probably has the closest relationship with Ms. Clare the most was the first to speak up. "Ms. Clare I know you mean for the best of us but I refuse to be adopted! Both me and Grey have already decided to help you run this orphanage and later on, maybe take it over."
Just as she finished, I who already had my mouth opened from the sudden surprise began speaking, well not before I was interrupted by Ms. Clare's hand going up, signaling to be quiet.
"No that it not what I'm here to talk about, but it's nice to know that you two are so affectionate towards me. I'm here to talk about you two being enrolled into school. A magic academy to be exact."
"..Huh?" Both me and Elena were very confused as we never had any need of school. We always did fine on our own and Ms. Clare was also there to teach us when neccessary. And that's not even including the fact that we never even applied to a magic academy.
Seeing the confusion on our faces Ms. Clare was quick to explain. "It's mandatory, the goverment demanded it. There has recently been an influx of teenage orphans and most of these teens never get adopted as parents want children where they can bond with. Due to that, the goverment decided to enroll all orphaned teenagers from ages 13 to 17, into magic academies. They plan to expand your knowledge about the world as well as using magic."
"Why a magic academy though? Wouldn't it be better for us to go to a normal school?" I asked her.
"I'm not sure.. But, this is purely from my own speculation, I believe that they want more magic soldiers to use." She answered with a worried face.
"When do we go to school?" Elena asked, her face directed downwards and it was very obvious that she was not a fan of this.
Ms. Clare, who was now staring at Elena, sighed at her expression but could only answer in a sulking mood as well. "Next month, which is in twelve days.."
After this bomb was dropped, all three of us stayed silent and Elena was the first to excuse herself. But I couldn't blame her, she probably saw Ms. Clare like I did, like a mom, and any child would be sad to be away from their mother for a extended period of time, especially when you don't know when you'll see them again.
Shortly after Elena left, I followed as well, as it was pretty awkward just sitting there. Walking towards my room, I had a lot to think about. After all, I've only ever known the orphanage and the neighborhood. I literally grew up here and I knew Ms. Clare before I could even crawl. It was unbelievably difficult for me to think about leaving her. But I knew that I'd eventually had to go, after all the goverment demanded it. If we didn't go, Ms. Clare which is the orphanage caretaker may get in trouble, she could even be replaced by a new caretaker.
Entering my room, I saw Elena siting against the wall on her bed. She was in a fetal position and it was obvious that she was crying. I wanted to comfort her but I felt like I'd make it worse. So I let her be while I climbed the ladder on the bunk bed, onto my own bed.
It was already nighttime and I was ready to get this day over with, too many things happened today afterall.
'Today was so chaotic.. definitely the most weird and crazy day in my entire life yet. Hell, my entire life wouldn't compare to just this one day.'
As I reminisced about my day, Elena who was sniffling, who suddenly got out of bed and climbed onto my bed. She sat on top of my legs, as I was currently laid down and her light blue eyes, now pink from crying, glared at me as I stared at her.
"Sniff.. You're a jerk! You didn't even comfort me!" She yelled at me.
I knew it was true as well. I left her alone to avoid being uncomfortable myself. I didn't think about how she would feel. But something still bothered me. It wasn't this whole ordeal about going to school, it was Elena herself. She.. didn't feel complete. That was when it clicked.
'The old tome..' I exclaimed inwardly.
Even though her memories of Xiao Li was erased, why didn't she bother asking me about the old book or about the watch? They were a subject to be talked about as it wasn't very long ago when we stole it, or even talked about reading it.
My fears and worries got to me as I couldn't help but ask her about it, despite knowing that now was probably the worst time to ask. "Hey Elena.. do you remember about the gravedigging thing we did?"
"Y-Yeah..? What about it.. don't tell me you feel guilty now, now that you've already stolen something." She said with a forced smile as she attempted to tease me.
"Do you remember what I stole?" I let out quickly, fear seeping in.
"Sniff.. why are you even asking me this now, you really are an asshole.. You stole a watch, a expensive looking watch right?"
My fear was true afterall, her memories weren't only deleted, but they were also changed around and manipulated. I looked around and realized that the old book was gone. I checked my wrist, the watch was there. How much was stolen from her? What if something like this happened again but.. she lost all of her memories?
I couldn't help but overthink over the possibilities and it was obvious that my face showed it as well.
Scooting up, Elena started caressing my face, obvious to the fact that she would only know the partial truth for maybe her entire life, while I for some reason had a grand path set out for me, becoming a Kairos or whatever. I never wanted that, I just wanted to lice peacefully, help the orphanage out, care for Ms. Clare like she cared for me. And maybe even start a family..
Unbeknownst to me, tears started rolling down my face as my eyes unfocused. Memories started rapidly playing through my head, my childhood, playing outside with my friends, meeting Elena, doing all of those things that made me get scalded. I missed those times.
Elena who now stopped sniffling, became worried and started panicking at my sudden crying. "H-Hey! Why are you crying? Aren't you a boy? Y-You should be embarrassed that a girl like me is comforting you know.."
I quickly wiped away my tears, realizing my blunder as I asked her, "Can you go in depth about yesterday, when we dug up all of those graves? Don't even miss a detail ok?"
***
Professor Ark
'Sooo much paperwork.. holy fuck.' I complained to myself, stacking a pile of papers that was at least 2 feet tall onto my desk.
These were all of the paperwork of orphans in this city. Ages 13 to 17 were required to apply to a magic academy due to a new law recently implemented. And it was my job to sort out the talented and nontalented. To be honest I have no idea why the goverment thinks some orphans would be useful in warfare anyways but it's not like I can refuse the order.
Reaching my hand out over the stack of papers, I quickly did my job. Hours past by as midnight was coming. Pulling the newest revealed paper from the stack, my eyes widened at the information on this orphanage.
Ms. Clare's Orphanage
Caretaker: Clare Pygon
# of Orphans: 14
Eligible Orphans: 2
Orphan's Names: Grey (No Last Name)
Elena (No Last Name)
At the bottom of the page were images of the two orphans, one was a boy who had black hair with green tips while the other one was a girl with white hair and black edgings. The photo was taken fairly close by and the two were in the midst of laughing.
'To think that the Clare Pygon would become a mere caretaker for a random orphanage now. The forgotten prodigy of the Pygon family, what a pity. Hmm, oh? What's this? A sticky note on the back of the page, how strange.'
On the note there were three lines of writing.
Pay attention to the girl, she's talented. Don't separate her from the boy, they have a special relationship.
Noted By: [REDACTED]
"Ohh! Oh, oh oh! To think a man of your stature can be impressed! I've always thought you never paid attention to other humans, but if it's like.. yes! These two, they must not go to anything less than the best!"
***
Grey
Waking up groggily, I realized what happened last night. Elena recalled what happened to the best of her ability, luckily she didn't really ask why I wanted to know. But after recalling the details, it was already past midnight and Elena who was constantly talking at the time fell asleep within five minutes of resting. I also shortly fell asleep too, leading to this fairly uncomfortable position I'm in.
From what Elena told me last night, all of the contents about the book were just replaced by the watch. She said she found and picked up the watch, ran away from those guards, held the watch within her hands the entire time, stared at the watch in her hands the next day, and then me and her tinkerer with the watch. That was when according to her, we both found out that the watch was an artifical that chose it's owner, which was true in its own right. She also said that the watch talked to me according to, well, me. I became like a sort of messenger, telling her and I heard from the watch, this even included the titled paragraph, Yggdrasil. And that was when she "fell asleep from tiredness".
It shamed me to admit that through her own recollection, it comforted me a lot knowing that the story only missed the old tome, even though it shouldn't have comforted me at all. Parts of her memory are gone and manipulated afterall.
As I recollection myself from last night, I couldn't help but stare as Elena, who was right next to me. She was still asleep, her mouth wide open and she was snoring slightly. Her body was somehow in my blankets while her face was directed towards me. Her arms was wrapped around my neck and her legs were curled up around my left thigh, like a koala hugging a tree, eerily similarly so..
Although I've always known Elena was a.. unique sleeper to say the least, she never really went as far as this. Bunk beds had two beds for a reason and Elena who was sleeping with me, completely made the purpose of this bunk bed, useless!
Elena who started to shift around slightly in the bed; probably waking up due to a sudden movement I probably made subconsciously, started gripping my neck and legs tighter. Realizing my eminent demise if she knew I was awake, I quickly shut my eyes and pretended to sleep.
She finally released me from her embrace as she sat up with a groan. Her legs were constantly moving about, probably uncomfortable due to the cramped space. Suddenly though, she got on top of me and sat on my chest, causing the bed to sink in a bit. She moved her face closer to mine, and i knew this as I could feel and hear her breathing onto my face.
"Is this guy seriously still sleeping? Why does he sleep like a stiff rock though.." She muttered, but because her face was so close to mine, it sounded like a whisper directly into my ear.
I felt my face getting hotter and I began getting more uncomfortable. As if noticing my discomfort Elena moved her face and body back, but this time, she started poking at my cheeks.
"Does he have a fever? Why is his face so red.. we have been staying past midnight more often though, maybe that's why." Elena spoke to herself, all while squishing and poking my cheeks.
Her finger ran from my cheeks to my nose and started squishing my nose as well. She then started caressing my lips. At this point I was trying my hardest to not give a reaction and to remain still as possible. But I couldn't help it, when she touched my bottom lip, my face came to a slight smirk before quickly going stoic.
Luckily I don't think she caught it, as her index finger moved away from my body completely and she sat upward, from what I could tell.
"Grey, I'll give you til the count of five." Her words sounded listless but upon hearing it, I knew I had to escape.
My eyes snapped open and Elena who was sitting on top of my torso held me down with her legs and hands like a python with it's prey.
"You said five seconds!" I yelled, fearing for my life at this moment.
"I know. I lied." Her words as well as her face all had a hint of demon-like attributes, probably happy to have a victim after so long, even though its only been a few hours since my last suffering.
Realizing I was trapped, I accepted my fate. At least it'll be in the comfort of my bed.
______