The Eleventh Eternal

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I woke up again, still feeling a bit heavy and in my body.  I was no longer wearing my oxygen mask over my nose and mouth, but my breathing was still light and raspy. My eyes were adjusting to the light, which was now dark and a bit dim. There was a singular light in the room to give a small glow along the walls and furniture.  The first thing that I saw was a body that was hunched over in the chair Kris was sitting at when I was awake before. This person was fast asleep, her head resting on her arms that were crossed on the bed to make a makeshift pillow. There was a blanket hunched over her shoulders, and I saw the slow rise and fall of her shoulders to show she was in a deep sleep.  My heart swelled and I beamed.

Thena.

She was sound asleep, facing me on the bed but there was still a good amount of space between the both of us there. I said nothing, not wanting to break the small moment of peace that was floating over the both of us at that moment.

"She pretty right?" I heard Gilgamesh said in my mind, making me smile.

"Yes... She was." I said.

"You did a great job, Lyne. But I'm going to hit Ikaris if I saw him here." He taunted. I tried not to laugh on his sentence.

"Can you punch his face for me? Just in case you saw him." I requested.

"Will do." Then he fades in my mind.

Slowly and without disturbing him, I moved one of my hands that were closest to her to touch her arm and caresse the skin with the tips of my fingers. Her skin was still the same. Soft and soothing to the touch, almost a calming balm that I needed to fully know that this was no dream. As sappy as it sounded, I could watch her sleep forever and feel content.  She was never one to have real rest, not for as long as I knew her.  It was the peace that we all finally needed, that he needed, and I was glad that she was getting it.

Suddenly she shot up, snapping awake within a millisecond and moving away from me. My hand dropped to the top of the bed as she blinked rapidly, sitting up straight and shaking off the sleep that was on her face. I watched her rub her eyes with her fingers, grumbling a bit and having me see her bedhead.  It was almost adorable, and my heart was swelling from seeing her right there in front of me, safe and fine. Once she finally lowered her hands from hiding her eyes, I noticed how steel grey they were. But they were bloodshot.  I then realized something that did break my heart a bit.

She was crying.  Did she cry herself to sleep?

"Hey." I said to her, finally finding my voice.  She stopped moving, her hands shutting down to look down at me almost in shock.  She looked at me, almost not believing herself in what she was seeing. We were quiet, just staring at each other. I felt like I needed to do something, anything, to have her know that she was real. 

I finally, put my hands underneath me, pushing myself up to sit on the bed.  As soon as I moved, rising slowly on the bed, I felt a small spasm of pain all along my back where I knew I was wounded. I squinted, but still pushed through the prickling stabs along the spine. Thena finally moved, shifting a bit in her chair to grab my arms.

"Lyne." She said my nickname in worry as I finally got myself to sit fully on the bed.  There was a brief moment of me not moving, but I shifted again to face her on the edge of the bed and try to face her head-on. Thena was still holding my arms protectively It took another moment or two of moving, but as soon as I was facing her, I cradled her face within my fingers. I took in a long breath, searching her bloodshot but beautiful grey eyes as I was seeing her look right at me. Relief was there all over her face as I gave her a soft and gentle smile.

"I'm right here, Mom." I whispered to her, seeing her almost melt from hearing me say her title as my mother. She was melting again, her shoulder sagging in the relief that I was speaking to her and I was alive. Then, she slowly hug me, gentle trying not to hurt me.