—
Evonie woke up dazedly, her entire back sore for some reason.
Hold on, when had she fallen asleep?
She was originally watching over Reya, with her chair pulled close to the edge of the infirmary bed.
…
If her assumptions weren't wrong, it appeared that she had fallen asleep sometime when she… spaced out, perhaps. Either way, she apparently had dozed off with her body slumped against the bed, with no idea what hour it was.
Evonie straightened her back, groaning slightly as she felt an ache intensify around her back.
She sighed, thinking, "Why did I have to fall asleep in such a position?"
She glanced back at Reya, noticing that she was still pretty knocked out. After a small pause, she decided to leave Reya alone to let her catch up on the rest that she clearly needs.
When she left the room, she noticed a member sitting at the same white countertop that they used for meetings. There sat Thalia, sound asleep and lying on top of the various papers that she had probably been writing on. She even had a pen hanging from her hand, a testament to her diligence while she was doing her task.
Evonie walked over to the counter, peeking over and reading the slightly messy draft that Thalia had constructed.
**
MONTHLY MEMBER ROLES AND ASSIGNMENTS (May 1st–June 1st, 2035)
Jun-liang: Continue training; appointed main fighter for any upcoming missions.
Evonie: Push research on Ferals; the research topics will depend on whatever is more urgent.
Thalia: Keep up-to-date with news and national statements; remain prepared if anything should arise.
Reya: Condition unknown; injury healing or potential symptoms may arise and…
**
Evonie sighed. That was all for the contents on the paper. As for the remaining information about Reya, it seemed Thalia had fallen asleep while brainstorming, since the words were cut off.
Evonie lifted her head to glance around once more. She heard the faint sounds of machinery whirring, and she noticed Fiora silently maneuvering a toy robot around.
Heh, it seems Arnie's getting along with Fiora quite well.
Lifting her eyes from the clumsy operations of the toy robot, she could hear faint thuds and a rhythmic bang of something being hit now and then.
… Aaaaaand, Jun-liang's definitely working out right now.
She realized another thing as well. Warner was nowhere in sight. That meant he was probably working down in the basement again. Ehh, whatever, she'll let the boys do their own thing. Her body was too sore to work out with Jun-liang anyway, and she really had no interest in whatever components made up so-and-so weapons. The last time she had checked in with Warner, she felt like her ears were going to fall off from all his rambling.
Seriously… if it's sharp, handy, or explosive, it's a weapon. No need for the details.
After another short while, she turned around to look at the clock on the wall beside her. It currently read 6pm, so it meant she had fallen asleep for a few hours since their mission in the morning.
Speaking of which—she'd been such a mess earlier that she had forgotten to clean up…
Following that thought, she went off to her bedroom and took a short shower.
When she emerged a while later, the other members were still doing their own thing. It was after she refreshed herself, however, that she remembered Reya probably would've wanted to clean up as well. She should probably check up on her…
Once Evonie re-entered the infirmary, she felt a slight twinge of disappointment as she saw that Reya hadn't woken up yet. She walked over to Reya, dejectedly sitting on the chair near the edge of the bed.
Reya looked completely serene in her rest, but it was the opposite for Evonie's twisting emotions. She felt her heart grow a little heavier, probably because her mind was wandering off about what symptoms may arise, considering Reya had been bitten.
You better not have any symptoms…
To distract herself, she grabbed Reya's limp wrist, absentmindedly fidgeting with Reya's fingers.
—
Where the hell am I? Didn't I just pass out? So why am I…
Reya glanced around her surroundings. She was still in the apartment, but something felt off. Her body felt… light, as if she didn't sustain any injuries. Standing up straight, she looked around and paused. Where was Evonie? In fact, neither Jun-liang nor Thalia was anywhere in sight.
They couldn't have left me, right? Seriously—
Just as she felt anger bubble up within her, it abruptly dissipated like a wisp of smoke.
She noticed that the surroundings were much more clean, and there was no trace of a feral in the bedroom that she was in.
What's going on?
She walked out of the room, and even the messy living room was… spotless? She forced herself to think clearly, piecing things together.
No feral, no members, everything's spotless…
Her thought process was cut off when she heard a mellow voice call out from behind her.
"Fiora, make sure you stay inside. Mama will have to leave for supplies."
Reya jumped and looked behind, but she was frozen in place for a while. Hold on, that familiar face… that was the feral that they had encountered earlier! And the small figure playing with various toys on the floor—that was Fiora.
Before she could think of anything else, however, the mother sped off to go outside. Reya tried to call Fiora, but the child seemed as if she never heard anything. It seemed Reya wasn't visible to them.
Weirdly enough, however, she couldn't control anything as her body was drawn to follow after the woman.
She saw the mother venture around various locations for what felt like hours—until she saw her wandering through another unfamiliar area. Reya watched the woman's routine that she had now also memorized due to watching for so long. Look for materials, pick them out, then leave while avoiding all ferals.
She watched mildly as the woman went through this routine again.
A while ago, she already realized she wasn't in a proper "reality." She had—after a while of racking her brains—forced herself to think of some ideas, despite how ridiculous they seemed. She connected some patterns, trying to remain logical.
Number one, she was in a "dreamlike" sort of state. She noticed that no matter what she did, she couldn't interact with anything from this space and only followed the consciousness of the woman.
And number two, it seemed these were memories of the Feral that she had run into. Her current biggest issue, however… was trying to "wake up," if she could call it that.
She felt like she was losing her mind. She could feel a sting when she pinched herself, and she'd tried multiple ways to inflict a little more pain, each time to jolt herself awake. The result, however, was that her body remained completely unscathed.
Why is this even happening to me? This has to be a hallucination from being bitten by a feral, right? Ugh.
Reya abruptly jumped when she saw something attack the woman a few steps away from her. She was barely able to react…
The woman that she was slowly growing familiar with was now on the ground, being attacked by a feral that she had failed to notice.
What!?
A vibrant crimson covered the scene, and she caught the smell of freshly shed blood.
Reya, out of instinct, charged towards the unsightly being to subdue it. However, what greeted her was the feral's pair of eyes, dark as the void, peering into hers.
Reya stumbled backward, a chill running down her back.
And what the hell are you!?
She felt her limbs go cold, and everything around them had started fading. An endless dark mist enshrouded her until everything turned black.
Reya cursed under her breath. Where was she now?
She had a gut feeling to turn around, and so she did—without thinking. She was greeted by…
One of her old memories?
Realization dawned upon her, and she immediately felt a lump in her throat. No… no—not this one…
The illusion grew more suffocating until she was in the memory itself as well.
A younger Reya, struggling the very best she could against another younger Evonie. A scene from 3 years ago, one that haunted her for a long time.
"Ev, let me go! Damn it, can't you hear me!?"
"Enough, Reya, get back to your senses—we can't!"
Reya's breath hitched at the scene playing out in front of her. Everything felt foggy from that night, and she couldn't even remember much of it. Not that she wanted to, of course.
However, she could remember how her heart tore apart when this had happened. The rain completely soaked through both of their clothes, and the cold water droplets mixed with the warm tears dripping down her chin. Her voice didn't sound like hers, either. The sound was overcome by grief and anger. And the weak sobs between her words—she couldn't get any more pathetic, that was for sure.
Reya had buried this memory down to the deepest parts of her heart, but the old scabbed wounds had been ripped open again, leaving her emotions rampant and unbridled.
The screams and cries seemed to keep getting louder. She collapsed onto her knees, covering her ears in a desperate attempt for relief.
Shut up. Stop it… that's enough. Please.
Suddenly, she felt the screams fade away, and her body was secured against a stiff mattress. She opened her red-rimmed eyes, feeling slightly lost now.
Suddenly, she felt a warm hand stiffen around hers. A hand?...
Then—she felt it hesitantly squeeze her palm.
Reya lowered her gaze, peering at the person whom she correctly suspected.
"Ev…onie," she spoke in a broken voice, her throat a bit dry.
Evonie stared at her, blinking a few times before lowering her head.
"... Just stick to Ev, you're more used to it," Evonie replied—in a rather casual tone, one that Reya was ridiculously familiar with.
—