“I’m home!” Noah called as he flew through the door and closed it behind him.
He had been away since Friday attending a special training with Charlottea and Zippy. It had been a waste of time in his opinion. He tried his best to learn to use fire magic, but none of it could be any use to Ray, which was why he started training in the first place. With a sigh he entered the tiny living room. When he did his mouth dropped in shock and his mind froze as saw an unconscious Ray lying on the ground.
“Ray!” Noah yelled, landing on his feet and running up to him. “Ray wake up. Are you okay?”
Noah gently shook him, waiting for a response and hoping that nothing was wrong. Ray made a murmuring noise before he opened his eyes, looked at Noah and sat up. He still half asleep as he looked extremely drowsy but didn’t seem to be feeling unwell, leading Noah to sigh with relief.
“Good morning Noah,” Ray yawned after a couple of minutes as he rubbed his eyes.
“Ray, it’s early in the afternoon,” Noah stated. “Why were you sleeping on the floor?”
“The carpet is soft,” Ray yawned again.
“That doesn’t exactly answer the question,” Noah sighed.
Ray stretched out his arms and got to his feet. Once he did, he wobbled and nearly lost his balance leading him to grab onto the arm of the couch with one hand and grabbed onto his head with the other.
“Why am so light headed? My body feels heavy too…” Ray asked. Becoming more aware of his surroundings, he looked towards Noah and blinked. “Noah, why was I sleeping on the floor?”
“Ray, I just asked you the same question,” Noah stated. He frowned as he watched stumble to sit on the couch and place his face into his hands. “Are you alright?”
“Sorry, just give me until the room stops spinning,” Ray said with a quiet groan.
Noah nodded and waited patiently. It took a few minutes before Ray looked up at him with a confused look on his face.
“Hey, I thought you weren’t coming back until Wednesday,” Ray said. “Why are you back so early?”
“Ray, it is Wednesday,” Noah claimed.
Ray looked at Noah in shock and turned pale. Surprised by his expression, he flew into the air to get closer to him.
“Is something wrong?” Noah asked.
“I slept for four whole days,” Ray muttered. “No, no, no, not good.”
Ray went to grab his keys, which sat on the small table in front of the couch. He stopped and became distracted by his hand, staring at the black scars on his skin.
“Wait… when did I…? Why did I…?” he muttered to himself.
“Ray? What’s…” Noah began to ask but Ray grabbed his keys and walked into his room before he could.
He came back about two minutes later in a different set of clothes, quickly wrapping his left hand in a bandage and held a safety pin in him mouth as he walked towards the door.
“Honestly. What is wrong with me today?” Ray said in a mumbled growl as he took the pin out of his mouth and pining the bandages together.
“Wait Ray! Can you tell me what’s going on?” Noah asked flying up to him as he opened the door.
“I had a mission on Saturday with Pennie, Dimetrios and the others,” Ray claimed quickly, wanting to leave as soon as possible. “But I must have drifted off to sleep on the couch while waiting for the meet time and I must have fallen off at some point. I really hope they’re okay.”
“I’m pretty sure they’re at the base,” Noah claimed, remembering that he at least saw Pennie heading towards there as he made his way home.
“Well, then I guess they’ll be mad at me and I’m never going to hear the end of it from Lynx,” Ray sighed as he walked out the door. “Are you coming with?”
“No, I’ll stay here,” Noah shook his head. “I’m tired.”
“Okay, have to go. Be back later,” Ray said closing the door behind him.
When Pennie arrived at the Twilight Heart base that afternoon, she immediately walked through the whole building looking for Ray. She didn’t even say hello to anyone, searching every single room hoping he was there. However, he was nowhere to be seen.
“Ray still hasn’t come back?” Pennie asked, after greeting Dimetrios, Lynx and Kaela.
“No,” Dimetrios shook his head. “No one has seen him.”
“That means he’s been missing for nearly four days!” Pennie exclaimed. “What if something really bad has happened to him?”
“Perhaps he’s at home?” Lynx suggested. “He’s probably still in a bad mood and is avoiding us.”
“I went to check, but there was no answer,” Pennie claimed.
“It is very odd behaviour coming from him,” Kaela stated. “Perhaps it isn’t too much of a stretch to say that something went wrong.”
“You could be right,” Dimetrios agreed. “I don’t know about you guys, but he was talkin’ in a similar way to the Dark Oviri.”
“I noticed that too. He really wasn’t himself that day,” Pennie frowned. A sudden thought came to her that scared her so much that her stomach began to turn. “You don’t think Darkyn kidnapped Ray and then pretended to be him, attacking us and leaving us mad at him so we wouldn’t go looking for him.”
“I don’t think so,” Dimetrios claimed. “He sounded like him, but he still behaved like Brayden.”
“It’s not like Ray to disappear like this,” Pennie claimed. “I’m really worried something happened to him.”
“Brayden does go off on his own from time to time,” Kaela stated. “While it is unusual for him not to say anything, but him disappearing isn’t something new.”
“Still, I think we should contact the police or the MLC,” Pennie suggested. “I mean, what if he can’t get back? What if he’s hurt?”
“What if who’s hurt?” Ray’s voice filled the room.
Pennie turned around and found Ray standing behind them. Seeing him brought a great sense of relief but also a mountain of questions.
“Ray where have you been?” Pennie exclaimed. “You just vanished without a word.”
“About that…” Ray mumbled, constantly shifting his gaze while fiddling with his fingers before giving an apologetic bow. “I am so, so sorry.”
“Yeah. You should be,” Dimetrios said with a frown. “You made my job much more difficult than it should’ve been.”
“I know, I really didn’t mean to miss the mission. I accidently fell asleep,” Ray claimed, looking up at them. “Though it may have been an accident, it was entirely my own fault. I really am sorry.”
“Missed the mission?!” Lynx yelled with a slight shake in his voice, seeming a little anxious about speaking against him. “What absolute nonsense! And do you really think we’ll forgive you if…”
Pennie stormed up to Lynx and clasped her hands over his mouth to stop him from saying anything else. There were two reasons for her actions. One was that if Lynx continued to relentlessly bark at Ray, there was no telling how Ray would react. The last thing they needed was for him to snap again. Secondly, there was what Ray had said and was almost as if Ray’s recollection of what happened differed from theirs. However, until she was certain about the second option, she couldn’t have Lynx telling Ray anything. While Lynx continued to murmur insults, she turned her gaze to Ray who looked a little surprised.
“Did something happen?” Ray asked. “Did the mission go wrong or… are you all alright? I feel awful, I can’t believe I completely forgot to go.”
“Wait… you really don’t remember?” Pennie asked.
“Remember…? What do you…?” Ray said, seeming very confused. “Oh… yeah. I honestly don’t recall going to sleep, or even thinking to do so. Actually, now that I think of it I can’t even remember what I did when I got home. All I know is when Noah returned and woke me up that I was sleeping on the floor.”
Pennie just watched Ray in shock, knowing that he actually had no idea what they were talking about. She wasn’t the only one, Dimetrios, Lynx and Kaela all looked at Ray in the same way. It made her wonder what actually happened to Ray when he snapped that way.
“Why is everyone looking at me like that?” Ray asked with a frown. “Why isn’t anyone saying anything?”
“Listen… Brayden…” Kaela began.
“It’s nothing!” Pennie spoke over her. “It was a lot harder than we thought but the mission went well. We were worried that you hadn’t shown up is all but now that you’re back everything is fine.”
“You sure?” Ray asked.
“Definitely,” Pennie smiled.
She was concerned that Ray would know that she was lying. However, he didn’t say anything about it so she assumed he didn’t figure in out. A few seconds later, Cianna entered the room.
“Oh good, you’re here Mr Ray,” she said. “Master Isaac are looking for you.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Ray claimed, immediately walking towards Master Isaac’s office. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”
“Why did you lie to him?” Dimetrios asked as soon as Ray was out of the room.
“I think it was best not to tell him,” Pennie claimed.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Kaela agreed. “Since none of us really know what caused him to behave that way, it’s safer if he doesn’t know about it. He already looked worried that we had gotten into trouble.”
“Well, Ray is always concerned about what people think of him,” Pennie frowned. “I think his lack of memories really concerns him. I worry how he’d react if he found out that he did something to us that he couldn’t remember.”
“His memory loss affects him that much? I didn’t know,” Lynx muttered. “Then what I said… it really did hurt him and he wasn’t just overreacting. Do I do that often?”
“To a lot of people, yes,” Kaela said. “You’ve upset a few employers and victims with the abrupt and offensive comments you make from time to time. However, the way you treat Brayden is far worse. I’m actually surprised he has put up with you for this long.”
“Wow… I really haven’t been a great person huh?” Lynx frowned. “I’m hurting my comrades and I haven’t even realised how bad things in this country are. When Visola and Blaze were talking about going to war I thought it was their imagination, but I’m wrong about that too aren’t I?”
“Things have been very bad for years,” Dimetrios claimed. “But ever since Dark Soul and Sabra made their move, it has been gettin’ worse.”
“That does it, I need to change,” Lynx claimed. “I’m going to be a better and more attentive person. If I want my goal to happen, I need to be less hated.”
“I have been trying to tell you that for years and now you listen?” Kaela sighed. “So, when are you going to start?”
“Right now!” Lynx exclaimed. “Only… I don’t know how.”
“Maybe you should start with apologising to Ray,” Pennie suggested. “My parents told me that accepting when you are in the wrong is the key to being a good person. Besides, after how you treated Ray, things never improve until you make amends.”
Ray had had a very rough week. Ever since he woke up on the floor of his apartment and apparently missing the only mission he had been allowed to go on for months, he had felt off. He started having headaches more regularly, he was tired almost all the time and he even had more trouble controlling his emotions than usual. Sometimes he’s felt extremely down and lack any motivation to do anything and other times everything agitated so much that he just wanted to scream. The hardest part was his attention span was terrible, leading him to space out while people are talking and being so clumsy, he either bumped into things or tripped over almost nothing. He pinned all of his problems on the reoccurring fevers, regardless all of the issues combined had started to affect his work as well, leading to several mistakes that Ray never made before.
To make matters worse, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he went on the mission. Ever since then Pennie, Dimetrios and Kaela had been acting strange around him and snippets of memories of that day were coming back to him. Knowing that he would have to deal with their odd behaviour, getting questioned by his slipping grades and feeling a little feverish after making the trip to the base, he decided to skip classes for the whole day. It was the first time since Nanna Kaden had set up the home-school and he was sure to get in trouble for it, but he really didn’t care. So, he sat at one of the tables in the lounge fiddling with his phone. It was a quiet day with everyone out on missions, so he was all alone, not even Brittany was manning the kitchen that day. Ray was actually enjoying the peace and quiet before out the corner of his eye he saw Lynx enter the building.
“Great…” Ray growled to himself. “Please don’t come over here.”
Much to his annoyance, the minute Lynx saw him he began to walk towards him. He was the last person Ray wanted to see and was extremely agitated by the fact that the one day he decided to skip class to get away from everyone and everything that Lynx had decided to skip as well.
“Hey…” Lynx muttered once he stood in front of Ray. “Can I speak with you?”
“I’m not in the mood,” Ray growled. “I don’t need your condensing insults right now.”
“I wasn’t… I just want to ask you something,” Lynx stated.
“I don’t care, I’m not listening to a thing you say,” Ray claimed. “Don’t waste your breath and leave me alone.”
“Come on, just five minutes? I could really use your help with something,” Lynx begged.
“So, you only want something from me? Typical,” Ray snarled. “Forget it, I owe you nothing. I’m leaving, don’t you dare follow me or I’ll burn you to cinders.”
His head began to throb as he got to his feet, but Ray ignored it and started to walk away. However, after taking a few steps his vision blurred and darkened slightly. Seconds later his legs gave way and he fell, knocking over the chair behind him with a thud. As his knees hit the ground Ray grabbed onto the table with his right hand to stop his head from hitting the ground and placed his left hand on the ground to steady himself.
“Hey! Are you okay?” Lynx yelled as he ran up to Ray.
Before Lynx could get anywhere near him, Ray gestured him to stop with the hand he had on the ground. He looked up at Lynx with his eyes, watching him stop in place with a concerned look on his face.
“I’m…” Ray paused for a moment to catch his breath. “I’m fine. I don’t need your help.”
Ray placed his other hand on the table and used it to pull himself to his feet, but no matter how hard he tried he was unable to stand straight. Grimacing in pain, Ray’s legs were too shaken to support him, and he felt so light headed that he thought he was going to pass out. Without warning Lynx grabbed onto Ray’s arm and swung over his shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Ray growled.
“Stop being so stubborn,” Lynx growled back. “Just let me help you for once.”
Ray didn’t say anything, he really didn’t want to accept Lynx’s help. However, knew that with his splitting headache and climbing fever that he wouldn’t be able to move on his own. With a heavy sigh Ray nodded, reluctantly allowing Lynx to help him to his feet. Acting as support, Lynx helped Ray walk to the nearest seat. As soon as Ray sat down the pain eased slightly.
“Th-thanks…” Ray muttered, looking away from Lynx.
“Man, you sure know how to give a person a heart attack,” Lynx sighed, leaning against the table. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I’m fine…” Ray growled, moving to place his elbows on the table and his face in his hands. “I just got a little dizzy and lost my balance.”
“Come on Brayden, how long have we known each other now? I know something’s not right,” Lynx sighed.
“Yeah? And what make you think that?” Ray muttered with an annoyed tone in his voice.
“This is the second time you’ve collapsed in a few months, at least as far as I know. Even for a normal person that is a bad sign,” Lynx explained. “Not to mention you’ve been very absent minded this week, or perhaps even longer if I had been paying attention. Are you… you’re sick, aren’t you? It’s really the only explanation.”
Ray said nothing. Lynx was right, there was no way to talk himself out of it, there were no other explanations other than being ill. With a sigh, he moved one hand to sit flat on the table and leant his head against his other hand by placing his cheek in his palm.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4gVJQi6et
“You know, you’re not as stupid as you look,” Ray said, looking up at Lynx.
“I know you don’t mean it as one but I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Lynx smiled, grabbing the chair that had fallen over. He placed it back on the ground and sat on it backwards, placing his arms on the head of the chair.
“You are right though, I guess I’ve been a bit unwell lately,” Ray claimed, dropping his gaze as he scratched his nails on the table. “Which is why I would kind of like to be alone right now…”
Lynx didn’t say anything after that, he had gone so quite that it was almost like he had left the room.
“Listen, I really need to apologize,” Lynx stated with a sigh.
“Apologize…?” Ray muttered.
“Yeah, I really shouldn’t have said what I did back in May. Picking on you because of your memory loss was a terrible thing to do,” Lynx explained with a frown. “It was uncalled for and I went way too far, so I’m sorry.”
Ray was speechless. He didn’t know if it was because he was feeling unwell or being completely shocked about Lynx’s apology, but he had no idea what he was supposed to say next. Ray ended up staring blankly at him for several seconds before Lynx gave him an uncomfortable glance.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Lynx asked.
“Sorry I was spacing out,” Ray claimed, shaking his head. “I guess I could forgive you, it’s not really in my nature to hold onto grudges. Besides, it was a stupid fight that just got out of hand. So…yeah…”
Ray felt as if all his strength had vanished as a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him. Due to his pounding head, Ray could no longer sit up straight. He lay his body on the table and lay his head on his arms.
“You really aren’t well, are you?” Lynx asked. “If you are feeling that sick you should just go home. You look absolutely dreadful.”
“Thanks, that makes me feel so much better,” Ray said sarcastically. “I can’t go home… there was a gas leak in the apartment below mine so now the building has to undergo maintenance. Besides if I get up now, I’ll probably pass out.”
“What’s wrong with you anyway? All these years I have never known you to be sick,” Lynx stated. “Has this got something to do with what happened in Enlil?”
“Perhaps, but it’s nothing…” Ray lied, his body feeling so hot that breathing became slightly difficult. “I’ve just been getting a few painful headaches and fevers. They usually pass after a few minutes though, so it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“It sure doesn’t sound like nothing,” Lynx commented. “If this has been going on since June, which was basically four months ago you should really see Mrs Kaden about it. I could go get her now if you like.”
“No… I don’t want to bother her. I’ll be fine…” Ray muttered, looking up with a weak smile. “But could you maybe turn on a fan or something. It’s so hot and stuffy in here it’s a little difficult to breathe.”
“Brayden, it’s barely ten degrees outside and it’s not that much warmer in here,” Lynx claimed. “The heating system isn’t working today.”
“Really? Never mind then,” Ray said, his head beginning to feel heavier.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Your face has gone all red and you’re breathing…” Lynx began, reaching out as if he was going to place his hand on his head. However, as the edge of Lynx’s fingertips touched Ray’s skin he frowned and immediately pulled away. “Oh my god, you are boiling hot. How can you even be awake with a fever like this?”
Ray’s vision stated to blur and darken again as his eyelids became unbelievably heavy. Unable to reply to Lynx, Ray placed his head back on the table, clenched his hands into fists and breathing heavier than before.
“That’s it, I’m going to get Mrs Kaden,” Lynx claimed, jumping out of his seat and started to storm away.
Before Lynx could leave, Ray grabbed onto his arm to stop him from moving.
“P-please don’t…” Ray muttered, too weak to lift his head. “I… don’t want anyone to know about this.”
“But Brayden…?!” Lynx yelled.
“I’m used to this. It used to happen all the time….” Ray stated. “I’ll be fine once… I have something to drink… and close my eyes for a bit.”
It was his problem and Ray didn’t need to get anyone involved in his issues. He had been enough of a burden to Aleron when he used to get ill, he didn’t want that to happen again. However, he couldn’t shake an odd feeling he had. He didn’t know who he was thinking of but there was someone he wanted by his side. Someone who used to help him when he was sick as a child. So busy thinking about the past he couldn’t remember, he didn’t realise he had let go of Lynx nor did he notice that his consciousness began to fade.
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