When My Heart Became Ice - Chapter 12

[[ D E J A • vu ]]

I've lost the one I care about most . . .

Nyun was there when she woke. He sat in a chair, head dipped down, sleeping. Light snores came from his chest.

“Nyun…” Kyth said quietly. “Nyun…”

His head jerked up, looking around. His electric blond hair was a mess; he must have not left in days. How long had she been out?

“Kyth,” He stood, coming to her bedside, looking drowsy. “Are you all right…? I mean, do you feel any better?”

“Mm hm,” Kyth looked around the room. It was the same old plain hospital room; a dresser, bathroom, cabinets with essential medical items, a window… “How long was I…?”

“Three days…” Nyun ran his fingers through his hair. “Your back’s fine now, by the way… I just got… Ah…” He stopped, covering his face as he sat. “I thought you had gotten poisoned like that other guy…”

Kyth tilted her head slightly at him. “I’m sorry,” She whispered. “I shouldn’t have made you worry.”

“No,” Nyun told her, looking up at her with his white eyes. “I’m perfectly fine…”

“Emily,” Kyth said suddenly.

“She was told you were on a mission, so she didn’t panic…” Nyun waved a hand dismissively. “She’s been well taken care of, Kyth, I promise you.”

“Okay…” Kyth slowly relaxed.

“They might keep you one or two more days,” Nyun told her. “So… Can I stay in here with you?”

Kyth looked up at him. Concern was on his face. She nodded. “Mm hm.”

Nyun slowly ran his fingers through his hair once more. She noticed he did that when he was anxious.

“Hey,” She murmured. “Calm down.”

“Huh?” He looked up at her. “I am calm…”

“No,” She scolded gently. “You aren’t. Go take a shower and eat something, all right?”

“Uh… Kay…” He sighed, giving in, and slipped from the room.

Kyth closed her eyes.

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“Kyth…?”

Syn’s voice made her open her eyes. He stood at the end of her bed, tilting his head. He had a smear of blood on his cheek, but surprisingly, that was all.

“Hey Syn,” Kyth said quietly. She wasn’t in the mood to be violent.

“Hi…” Syn watched her with big blue eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Cause Hykuma told me to be quiet and gentle…”

“Syn, if this is you being quiet and gentle, you need some lessons.”

“Oh…”

Kyth smiled a bit. Syn was always perfect for making her feel better. She didn’t know why, but when he was around, she felt calm, as though she didn’t have to put up her guard when he was there. He would be her guard.

Why couldn’t she feel that way around Nyun?

No… She’d known for a long time that only two people in the world could make her put down her guard and that was Syn and Rynu.

“I’m feeling better,” She told him when he started shuffling his feet.

His head came up, white hair falling like soft feathers around his pale face. He seemed relaxed by her words, but he kept tugging at the hem of his shirt, as though he was nervous.

“What’s wrong?” She asked him.

“Nothin…” He answered, looking away.

“You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met.”

“Nuh uh.”

“Then tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing…” His voice trailed off.

Kyth looked at him pointedly.

“I’m fine!” He bristled.

“I never said you weren’t,” Kyth tilted her head. “Is there a reason you shouldn’t be?”

Syn looked down again.

“Um…” He said quietly. He then turned his head from left to right, hair flying like soft puffs of snow. Kyth often wondered why Syn had white hair. White meant innocence, and that was something that Syn certainly wasn’t.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” She demanded.

Syn looked up at her, and then held out his hand. It was bandaged and in a bright red cast from his fingers to the middle of his forearm.

“What the hell did you do?!” Kyth shrieked.

“I accidently broke my wrist…” Syn glanced off innocently.

“You broke… Your wrist?” Kyth asked, staring. “How in the world…?”

“Well you see,” Syn gave a nervous laugh. “I kind of… Um… Punched… Director Yukito in the face…”

“You did what?!” Kyth screeched, sitting up.

“I punched him so hard my wrist broke,” Syn smiled and held up his injured hand.

“Why?” Kyth asked, trying to calm herself. “Why would you punch the director, Syn?”

“To protect the baby…”

Kyth froze.

“What baby?” She hissed.

“Allie,” Syn said, giving her a hopeful grin.

“Alabaster…?” She asked. “Why would he…?”

“He wanted to put him into pre-training.”

“Oh hell no.”

Syn nodded as Kyth tossed the covers off of her and began to walk off. Syn followed her quickly.

“He is not putting that child in pre-training, I don’t care what anyone else says.”

“At least you don’t have to walk far,” Syn said brightly. “He’s in the infirmary.”

Kyth followed Syn to Yukito’s room. She saw his nose was crooked, he was missing a couple teeth, and his jaw was broken.

“Hey,” She growled, putting her hands on her hips. “Why would you try to take Alabaster into pre-training? He’s not even a year yet.”

Yukito mumbled something.

“What?” Kyth snapped.

Yukito motioned to a nurse, who brought him a notebook and pen. He scrawled something along it, and then showed it to her.

‘Your Emily friend wanted him to become a Reacher.’

“Oh, Emily,” Kyth groaned. “I didn’t explain that much to you! All right, Syn, I’m going to talk to Emily. You… Go… Do something.”

“Okay,” Syn’s head tilted as Kyth stormed off.

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“Emily,” Kyth’s voice was firm but gentle. “Why did you tell the Order you wanted Alabaster to become a Reacher?”

“I wanted him to follow in his father’s footsteps…” Emily looked bewildered.

“Emily,” Kyth sighed. “He can’t. He’s half human half Reacher; he wouldn’t survive even the first year of training. He’d be too weak.”

“But…” Emily began.

“No,” Kyth insisted. “There’s no argument. Unless you want him dead before he turns two, he can’t become a Reacher.”

Emily nodded quietly, looking over at Alabaster, who played on the floor. Kyth glanced at him and then sighed.

“You may think he’s smart and strong and agile… But if you see what pure blood Reachers are like…” Kyth shook her head. “Don’t let anyone tell you to do anything that you don’t know about without asking me first, all right?”

Emily nodded once more. She sat there like a scolded child.

Kyth stood erect, hands on her hips. She didn’t like chastising her friend like that, but there was no other way to get the point across. Alabaster could not become a Reacher.

Sighing, Kyth said, “I have another mission to go to soon.”

“Really…?” Emily looked up at her.

“Yeah,” Kyth’s purple and green eyes settled on Emily. “I have to do one every week if I want to go up a level. I only need two more double digit ranking missions before I can go on to the next level.”

Emily slowly asked, “What Level was Rynu on…?”

“The highest…” Kyth sighed in admiration for her older brother. “Level 30…”

“What does that mean…?”

“He was the leader of the Order.”

“I thought that was Director Yukito…”

“No, Yukito’s just the Director. He organizes all the missions and low-level stuff the leader shouldn’t have to mess with.”

Emily looked startled. “So… Rynu was… Really powerful… How did… He get killed, then…?”

Kyth’s face darkened and she looked out the window. “I’m going to figure that out.”

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The next morning was not a good one. Kyth couldn’t sleep that night and she felt just awful, so she stumbled into the Order’s cafeteria, ordered her breakfast and slumped into a chair across from Hykuma and Syn.

Syn had his head ducked down as he lifted up a piece of sausage and dipped it in a broken sunny-side-up egg. He then dropped it back on the plate and took a bite out of the yolky side. Hykuma was eating her pancakes with a fork and a knife, a fruit cup beside her plate.

The difference between the two could have made anyone laugh.

Kyth watched with mild, bored amusement as Syn stuck his tongue in his glass of pomegranate juice—Syn’s favorite—and curled his pink tongue so it acted like a straw, and he started slurping it up.

Hykuma glanced at him, sipping her apple juice through a straw.

Kyth laughed.

Both looked up at her, curious.

“Nothing,” She waved a dismissive hand. “It’s nothing.”

Nyun suddenly sat beside Kyth, only a bacon egg and cheese bagel and a bottle of water in his hands.

“Hey,” He greeted.

“Morning,” Kyth yawned.

“Sleepy?”

“None,” Kyth rubbed her eyes. “No sleep at all.”

“That’s too bad,” Nyun chimed.

Kyth nodded and laid her head on the table.

Syn eyed the bacon on her plate.

“There’s a party tonight,” Nyun said. “In Gym 7. Wanna go?”

“I’ll have to go back to sleep after lunch…” Kyth told him.

“It’s all right,” He told her. “There’s a mattress in the attic if you want to use that to sleep on, I can pull it down to your office.”

“How does he know there’s a mattress up there…?” Syn muttered, and Kyth gave him a hard kick under the table.

As Syn whined, holding his leg, Kyth answered, “All right, that’d be cool. I’d love to.”

“All right,” Nyun grinned, and then glanced at Syn and Hykuma. “You two can come also, if you want.”

“Um…” Hykuma nodded slightly, looking distracted. Syn saw her nod and nodded rapidly himself.

“All right,” Nyun smiled. “It’s at 9.”

“Okay,” Hykuma looked back down at the pancakes, as though she was startled at how half of it got eaten. She then glanced over at Syn’s plate. “Syn, finish your breakfast.”

“Yes ma’am,” He murmured, and got right back to the careful process of dipping his sausage in egg.

Nyun gave him a stare before continuing to speak with Kyth.

Maybe breakfast wasn’t so bad after all.

Once Hykuma and Syn had finished, they bid their farewells to Nyun and Kyth. Syn accompanied Hykuma to the Infirmary, where he would be staying because he didn’t have a mission and she didn’t want him getting in trouble.

Kyth looked at Nyun as they both stood.

“I’ll see you at the party,” She said, waving a hand.

“Yeah,” He grinned. “See you.”

The two disappeared in opposite directions.

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Can you feel this pain?