I dropped to the floor along with the bag which my grandparents gave me.

My body had given away. Every part of me hurt.

I can’t move. I couldn’t think straight with this nausea and it was hard to breathe.

I wanted to vomit, but I held it in.

“Fuck! Avner?!”

Someone shook my shoulders.

“Do you remember me?!”

It was Radingo. I nodded with a strained expression.

“H-He’s alive,” I think it was Lucia who said this.

“You’re.. Ain, help me carry him.”

“Are there mines anywhere?”

“Two mines, one over to the left side of the gate, the other nearer to the edge of the path near that white flower. Don’t get close. Lucia, what happened.”

Their voices fell distant.

I began to cough.

I couldn’t breathe.

This suffocating sensation feels familiar.

An asthma attack.

“Hang on, we’ll get you another frigate.”

“Pocket..”

“Did you say something?”

“My inhaler.. in my pocket..”

I didn’t know where I was carried to. The next thing I knew, I passed out.

===

Lucia followed as Radingo and Ain carried Avner to the nearby park.

“Hey, what do we do?”

“I don’t know. Did he say he’s asthmatic?”

Avner’s breathing was growing fainter.

“Avner, wake up! Do you hear me?”

No response.

“We might not need the frigate. Liaskram says to bring him to the hospital.”

“Then call the ambulance.”

“Done. We just need to hold our ground.”

“Is he going to be alright?”

The only thing Lucia knew was that Avner was in a critical state. Asthma, ambulance: words like these that xe didn’t understand didn’t matter so much.

“Lucia, what happened back..”

“Radingo, isn’t there a need to do CPR in situations like this?”

“I don’t know how to do CPR. You do it if you do.”

“I don’t know either.”

“Hold on. Says here that there’s no need for CPR if he’s still breathing.. put him upright.”

As instructed by the Liaskram AI, they leaned Avner against one of the pillars. Randingo checked for his pulse.

“Lucia, so what happened?”

Being the nth time Radingo asked the question because everytime Ain would interrupt him, Lucia looked towards the school gates. Hirs eyes traced the building walls upwards. There up top on the roof, xe could barely make out the figures of those angels.

“Avner.. was told to fight against 5 angels.”

Radingo and Ain followed Lucia’s line of sight.

“Why didn’t he call us then?”

“It was a test to see if they could trust him. And they also used an interdictor.”

“Wow. So these bastard angel cahoots had the guts to do something so shameless.”

“Hey. They’re looking at us.”

“How did you escape?”

“He.. he killed one of them and we were released?”

“Smart move. Shit, will he be alright?”

“There’s nothing else we can do except to ensure his safety. How long does it take for the ambulance to come?”

“Stand back to give him some space to breathe.”

“How strong were the five angels?”

“They couldn’t be that weak considering how Avner was forced into this state.”

“I don’t know how to define strong.. What I know is he used everything he had. The angels forced him to wear something like a gold chain.”

“You mean the coronet?”

“I think so.”

“Damn those fucking angels who they think they are? Trying to take away our fledgling.”

“Bro, he’s not even in your fleet.”

“Just you wait. I swear to Allah that I’ll join 7SEAS!”

“Bro, you aren’t even.. you know. Nevermind. I don’t want to be racist.”

Fledgling?

Avner is a fledgling?

As much as xe wanted to save hirs father– what did hirs concise say about putting another vessel in danger?

Guilt began to weigh hirs mind.

The reason why he agreed. It was not because he believed nor was it that his ideology matched hirs. It was because he was inexperienced.

He didn’t know the world.

To push hirs selfishness onto a passing demon. What kind of situation did xe even get this young ship into?

Hirs father entrusted hir to know what to do.

“Ambulance. Ain, help me move him.”

“Roger.”

This was the result of ignorance on hirs part but..

Why would the guardian spirit say that he would be alright?

===

Eugine took in a deep breath.

“There goes my insurance.”

“It happened so fast I didn’t even catch it. What happened?”

“A black whip, I think.”

“Are you convinced now?! Why would you make someone like that hostile!”

“Corus, you’re responsible.”

Eugine turned to the guy with the large build– the angel who used the enchanted gauntlet and greaves. He was the one who wanted Avner dead.

“Like I said. He’s going to be a threat in the future. There’s no way we can trust someone like that.”

“Really? He was really doing his best to protect that pureborn though?”

“Corus. If you’re not buying it then it’s your problem. I think he’s a good demon.”

“Ai.. we shouldn’t have pushed him so far.”

“We’ve lost his trust. Now he’ll side with the demons. Corus, what will you do?”

“Kill him.”

“Oh no. You’ll have to get through my fleet if you want to do that.”

“Regrettable as I may be to say this. I have to agree with Trisha. I shouldn’t have fought him.”

“You’ve gone too far, Corus. Tsk. Tsk.”

“Cain,” Eugine called out.

“What?” Cain replied with a cold irk.

“Do your best to reestablish connections with him. We'll apologize if we have too. Don’t let him fall to the other side just yet.”

“Eugine. How many times do you expect him to forgive us? We’ve violated his trust so many times now..”

“If he can’t handle this much. There’s no way we can call him an ally. He decided for himself that he wouldn’t wear the coronet.”

“...”

“Besides. I’m not the only person he has to convince. Without the proof, he’s only seen as a threat.”

“Sorry for the trouble Cain. I’ll treat him properly next time.”

“I’ll bring a gift as an apology. Pass it to him the next time you meet him.”

“Then me too!”

“There’s a chance he’s already in a demon fleet. What are your chances of bringing him over anyways?”

“You never know?”

They looked over the edge. Over there at the park.

The demon fleet that came to aid him after the fight.

===

dotturndot: (＃°Д°)