----Airi----
"I'm not a healer!" Airi looked at the woman writhing in pain in the guiding room then back to the tech who'd brought her in.
"That's fine because she's not injured!"
Airi looked down at the woman again. Her cedar skin was painted with gnarled dark patches. Burning rot that oozed puss and stung at Airi's nose. Airi reached a hand out to cover the woman's fingers. She felt the thrum of corruption in the other woman's skin.
"She's a regen Esper?" Airi asked, anxiously. The tech nodded before disappearing behind the curtain. Likely off to tend to one of the other emergency admits of the night.
Airi laced her fingers through the other woman's and brought the other woman's hand up to her lips. What Airi intended to be a small exchange of energy cascaded between them as Airi's lips came into contact with the Esper's damaged skin.
It was a rookie mistake. One Nox could have stopped if he'd been there. If Nox had been there he would have taken this woman in Airi's place. But he wasn't. He'd been called out for some side job, forcing Airi to lead a night shift by herself for the first time in her life.
Metallic blood and bitter, rotting flesh connected with Airi's saliva and pulled Airi's energy deeper into the Esper than she'd intended. It was like drowning. Airi felt herself pulled into the Esper's vessel.
Bells rang in Airi's ears. A cacophony of metal chiming out into an empty night. It made Airi's head ache so badly she wanted to shout. Scream at the Esper for silence. Take the Esper's throat in her hands and squeeze until-
She didn't want to finish that thought.
This woman was suffering.
It was Airi's job to help her.
"It's going to be ok."
Airi spoke softly and evenly, tried to mimic the tone she'd heard Nox use on volatile patients. The woman's eyes fluttered, then opened. They were abyssal black. If Airi hand's been spending all her time with Nox she might have found it unsettling. But it just looked…beautiful.
"Who?" The Esper's voice was hoarse and strained. Airi reached out to cup a hand against her face. Rot started to spread out from where Airi's hand made contact. This time it didn't disgust her. Instead, she felt her heart drop in her chest as the pain and fear the Esper felt was broadcast through her body.
"My name's Airi. I'm an A-class guide. I'll be stabilizing you until we find your best match," Airi looked at her watch. The Esper, Lily as her ID stated, was starting to stabilize.
"Please…please," Lily pleaded. She rolled her body towards Airi and brought an arm up around her. Airi embraced her fully and pressed kisses atop her dark blue hair.
"I'll take care of you, Lily."
Was this how Nox would do it? Could Airi reverse an Esper this far gone? What would happen if there was no match for Lily at the center?
Airi tried her best to ignore these questions as they swam through her head. All she could do was focus on now. She needed to be there for Lily, Nothing else mattered. Airi took a deep breath and reached into Lily's vessel again.
This time it was more orderly. As orderly as corruption could be. On either side of Airi there were lines of poles, all holding bells that rang out erratically. Airi faced a row and reached out. Her fingers stilled the bronze shell. One less vibration polluted the air. She went down the row, gently grasping the bells until their clapper stilled inside them. Eventually the scene was silent. Airi could feel a gentle breeze against her skin and hear the distant chirping of crickets. Unlike the sound from the bells, the crickets sounded gentle and natural. They were of Lily, something there before corruption tried to take hold of her.
Airi's eyes opened and she saw grey and black leeching out of Lily's skin. It radiated out from their conjoined hands and where Airi cupped Lily's face. Tissue built upon itself until finally a thin layer of skin formed. Lily started to look like a person instead of a corpse.
At that moment a tech ducked through the curtains. They looked at Lily with wide eyes before turning to Airi, "We ran your match rates. As I'm sure you can tell, you two are made for each other."
Made for each other
Airi turned the words over in her head. She knit them into her heart as she gazed down at this gorgeous woman starting to regain consciousness.
"Airi?" Lily's thin lips opened and closed but all she managed was Airi's name.
Airi leaned in close to her and nodded. Lily smelled like cherry blossoms. It didn't make sense given that her body had been rotting moments before.
"Thank you."
Airi slipped a hand under Lily's neck and tilted Lily's head up towards her, "It's ok," She whispered against the other woman's lips before moving in for a kiss. Lily hummed happily and reached up to pull Airi in closer. The exchange of energy was slower now, more steady and gentle, but just as intoxicating.
Something changed in Airi that night. A fact Nox acknowledged upon seeing her the next day. Not that Airi would expect anything less from her most experienced coworker.
"Rough night?" Nox's tone was light. But something in the way he said 'rough' dripped tacit understanding that the opposite was true.
"You could say that…" Airi sipped her drink. Salted caramel sprinkles were back in season. The salt bloomed on Airi's tongue. It should have brought her joy. The flavor she'd been craving for the past month. But today Airi couldn't help but desire the tart bite of cherries.
"Had an overload. Stage- uh was it two or three you called it? The one before gone."
Nox choked on his drink. He stared at Airi with wide eyes and pinpoint pupils alight with fear, "Why didn't they call me?"
"Some note on file saying not to call you unless it was an emergency. I was on duty. She was A-class. It didn't constitute an emergency."
Nox ran his free hand over his face then peered up at Airi above his fingers and shook his head. He was always like this. At first, it seemed like self preservation. A desire to keep Airi, the only other A-class, around as long as possible. That was before Airi saw Nox cover their first emergency. His gentle but firm attentive care of the Esper revealed his true nature. When Airi learned he'd had a younger sister it made even more sense.
"What abilities? What inversion?"
Airi pursed her lips and hummed, unwilling to reveal the horror's she'd bore witness to the night before. Luckily, a familiar face dropped into the seat next to Nox, effectively derailing the conversation.
"Justa?" Nox and Airi both stared at Justa in shock. Justa's presence would be a happy surprise if not for the nature of her absence for the past three weeks.
"I thought you contracted with a big guild? What was it?" Airi reached out to squeeze Justa's hand. She hoped the gesture would make her excitement for Justa's return shine through her confusion.
"Yeah, Titan." The moment Justa spoke the name of the guild Nox went stiff. He'd never told Airi why he was so insistent on avoiding anything to do with Titan's S-class. Airi could read between the lines of what little he shared.
"Ahh…" Nox looked down at his watch and Airi had to stop herself from rolling her eyes, "They're done restraining my next patient."
As he stood to leave he paused and put a hand on Justa's shoulder, "I'm happy to see you again. I really am."
Justa watched Nox's retreat with anxious confusion. Airi sighed and squeezed Justa's hand again. Justa turned her attention back to Airi and opened her mouth. No doubt to inquire what she'd done to upset their most resilient coworker. Airi shook her head and looked down at their joined hands.
"Ignore him. What happened?"
In an instant, Justa broke down. Her shoulders drew up and her face contorted into deep despair. Airi quickly stood and wrapped her arms around Justa. She held her tight and rocked her gently as Justa soaked Airi's blouse in tears and snot. After several beats of this Justa took a shaky breath.
"I'm not a guide anymore."
Airi grabbed Justa by the shoulders and forced her back, examining her face for signs of humor. All she saw was a woman, broken.
"I… how?" Airi wished Nox hadn't left. She ached for his experience and understanding. What could Airi do when she'd never even heard of someone losing their ability to guide.
"It's Titan's fault. Those basta-" Justa choked out another sob. Airi grabbed a napkin from the table and offered it up to her, "Thanks- It's their damn S-class."
Airi tilted her head and tried to stop herself from jumping to conclusions. Nox's sad eyes never quite meeting hers came to mind. She pushed it away, "Which one?"
"K-ah- Kane. Esper Kane," Airi was right to jump to conclusions. She bit her tongue and let Justa continue, "Well, no- I mean it's not. He didn't do anything- well I guess he… but it's not his fault!"
Airi would bet good money that was a lie. What she didn't want to bet on was whether or not it was a lie Justa was telling herself to feel better. Airi could taste the tang of blood in her mouth, she kept it shut.
"His levels, they're never managed right. No one guides him until it's bad- really bad."
Airi started to worry she'd bite her tongue off.
"And it's-it's just so sad. He's so quiet and passive. He cries and calls out to someone we can't see." Justa's eyes glazed over with hazy dissociation, "But when you touch him. When you try to guide him. It's like drowning and falling and dying."
Justa looked up at Airi. Her eyes were pleading and frantic. Seeking absolution Airi couldn't give her, "I gave everything. All of it. But it wasn't enough. My body gave out."
Justa buried her head in Airi's chest and wrapped her arms around Airi. Her grip was tighter than before. Airi swallowed the bitter blood that'd started to fill her mouth.
"I'm not like Nox. I can't do what he does. I just got scared. I gave up. I failed him. He saved my life so many times and I failed him."
Airi couldn't stay silent any longer, "His tech saved your life, not him."
Justa shook her head against Airi's chest, "It was a gate mission. My first. His third. I saw an Esper die. Some fungus consumed them. It was horrible. I fainted. Esper Kane carried me back to safety, all alone. No one else made it out."
It didn't fit. This new information didn't fit with what Airi knew about Kane. Sure, people changed. But how could an Esper like that change so fast. Justa's encounter would have been no more than six months after Nox's. Airi pressed it down, decided to focus on the things in her control. The things that really mattered. She rubbed a hand in circles on Justa's back and pressed a kiss into her this black hair.
"What did you mean when you said you're not a guide anymore?"
Justa hiccuped and Airi winced, fearful she'd send Justa spiraling again.
"They said it'll come back, slowly." She pulled away from Airi and wiped her eyes aggressively. Dark shadows tainted her gold-tinged terracotta skin. They clung to her eyes and hollowed her cheeks. She looked like a wreck. If the conversation was going where Airi thought it was, Airi was about to look like a wreck too.
"When I try to guide, I just collapse. It's something like PTSD I guess," Justa sighed and looked down at her lap. She'd balled up the napkin Airi gave her and had begun twisting and tearing at it. White snow-like flakes began to pile up in her lap.
Airi reached out and covered Justa's hand with her own. Justa looked up at her. Airi could see pain shining in her eyes.
"Esper Kane offered to pay my Titan salary until I can work again. But that doesn- I don't need money. I just need all this to be over. I want to serve my last four years and go back to college. There's no way I could go now, what if it comes back half way through the semester? I'd have to drop it all and come back."
"My life is over," Justa took a shaky breath. Airi worried she'd cry again but she breathed out a prolonged 'huuuuu' and began to speak again, "It's all stuck on hold until I get better. Airi, what if I don't get better?"
Airi opened her mouth to offer some words of comfort, but she came up short. What could she say? When she knew intimately how exhausting this work was. When she knew what it was like to put your life on hold for strangers. Most of whom wouldn't even bother to thank you.
The two women sat in silence. Justa took shaky breaths. When her watch lit up she sighed, "Reception is calling me, I guess my shift starts now."
Airi watched her go helplessly.
Nox passed Justa as he walked back towards Airi. He turned towards Justa's retreating figure and looked at Airi, raising an eyebrow with a silent question. Airi shook her head and Nox nodded.
"There's an Esper in the waiting room for you."
Airi's face contorted in disgust. The last thing she wanted after that conversation was talking to a clingy Esper, "Ugh! Tell them that I don't-"
"-A Lily Ross."
Airi snapped her mouth shut and her cheeks flushed dark red. Nox's mouth hung open for a beat before he smiled sadly.
"I'll send her back to you."