Vibrant Eyes

Chapter 6 - I'm A What?

I woke up screaming, sweat rolling down my face as I sat up in a bed, Aether's bed to be exact. Suddenly, the door opened. My eyes widened as I saw Aether walk into the room. He looked shocked for a moment. We stared at each other for a while before I finally spoke. "...Hi?" I said softly.

Tears streamed from his face as he ran and hugged me. For some reason, I was crying when he hugged me. I wasn't sad at all, I was very happy. Then why was I crying?

"I'm so glad you're ok! I thought I lost you." Aether's voice was cracked and broken. His body was heavy like he hadn't slept in days. I wrapped my arms around him as I cried into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for not listening to you... I'm so stupid I should've-" I was cut off by him.

"No, it's not your fault ok? I should've given you more information when we first met instead of recruiting you right off the bat," He said. We hugged for what felt like hours before finally letting go.

He helped me get up and we walked to the couch and sat down. He got me a glass of water and sat next to me. "So, Aether." Aether looked at me with a smile.

"Yeah? What's up?" I fiddled with my hands.

"What... happened after I blacked out?" He froze.

"What do you mean blacked out?" I didn't like that response. My stomach churned as my heartbeat quickened. "I... blacked out, didn't I? After that weird attack?" I asked, but his eyes said it all. "Aether, what happened to me?" He sighed.

"When you uh... rushed to protect that girl- at least that's what it looked like!" He freaked out. "Aether, get to the point," I said with a slight laugh.

"Right, sorry. When you went to protect that girl, something happened. It was like you weren't you anymore. You turned into this huge beast and..." I went wide-eyed. I listened to everything he said, but my mind wandered. 'What beast is he talking about? What happened?' I looked down at my hands, the same hands that were stained with the blood of my enemies.

"...You killed them, the beasts I mean..." He said, holding my hand as it shook with fear. "Alana, I need you to tell me the truth." I looked at him with fear in my eyes, but his eyes were so soft and sincere. It was like there was no fear at all.

"Are you a Therianthrope?" I froze. "Wh- huh?!" I was so confused.

"What the heck is a There whatever?" He tried to hold in his laughter. "Therianthrope," He corrected. "Whatever, what's that anyway?" He was slightly confused as well. "You're... not sure what you are?" I sighed.

"Aether that's a stupid question, I'm human!" I said with a laugh, but he wasn't laughing. "Alana... what you did wasn't human." I sat there in confusion.

"But... I'm human... aren't I?" I looked at Aether, searching for an answer, but he just sighed. "I don't have the answer to that." I looked down at my feet, a tear rolling down my cheek. "I'm human... right?" Aether squeezed my hand.

"We'll figure out what's going on, ok? I promise." Aether looked at me with determination in his eyes. I smiled. "Yeah, thanks." We ate some food and talked which cheered me up a lot. "Oh, forgot to mention, Takashi's looking for you." I glared. "I don't want to go anywhere near that jerk," I said quite clearly. He smiled. "What about Saturn...?" My eyes widened. "How is she?!" I stood up. "Woah, calm down there tiger!" Aether said, gesturing for me to sit back down.

I did so, taking a deep breath. Aether looked at me with a smile.

"She's alright. I can take you to her if you'd like?" I nodded. "Please...?" He nodded, asking me to follow. We walked down a hallway before entering the infirmary. It was full of bodies. I backed up, bumping into Aether. He grabbed my shoulders gently. "You're ok," He said looking at me. I smiled up at him slightly before walking forward to Saturn's bed. She slowly opened her eyes as I held her hand.

"Hey... what're you doing here champ?" Her voice was cracked and broken. A tear rolled down my cheek as I smiled at her. "Nothing much, how're you feeling?" we talked for a bit before I felt Aether's presence leave the room. It was now just me and her. We talked and laughed, enjoying each other's company. Then, she addressed the elephant in the room.

"Hey, Alana?" She said. I looked down at her. "Yeah? What's up?" She looked straight into my eyes. "I need you to tell me the truth... ok?" I knew what she was going to ask, and I was scared. I didn't want her to see me any differently, especially because of what happened. "Are you and Aether dating?" I froze for a minute, then went bright red. "HUH?!" She laughed, so much so that she started to cough. "I thought you were gonna ask a different question- BUT NO, EW," I said, covering my face which made her laugh even more. We argued about this for a while. I glanced at the clock on the wall. "Crap! I have to get going to school!" Saturn looked at me with confused eyes. "You still go to school?" I sighed.

"Unfortunately, yes." I thought for a minute. 'What was the point of going to school?' All the information I've learned so far is completely useless compared to what I've learnt in this group. I left Saturn to rest and walked towards Aether, who was sitting in the hangout room on a couch. "Hey! Done with your visit?" I smiled. "Yeah. Hey, can you... maybe drive me to school?" Aether stood up and looked down at me with such kind eyes.

"Alana, I don't think you should be in school anymore," He said. "What? Why?" To be honest, I didn't care whether or not I was at school, but I felt compelled to at least go today. "Think about it. You've just gone through hell doing that initiation, which you got in by the way but that's not the point. We've also just discovered that you're some sort of Therianthrope that apparently doesn't remember being one," He explained. I sighed.

We walked down the dirty hallway towards mine and Aether's room and walked inside. "You hungry?" He said with a smile. "Not really... I'm going to bed." He smiled warmly. "Ah, alright. Have a good sleep." I walked into his room and shut the door. I froze, leaning against the wall. All of a sudden, all my emotions hit me like a wrecking ball. I fell to the ground, tears welling up in my eyes as countless of them fell onto the soft carpet. I punched the ground as hard as I could, yelling and crying. "STUPID! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!" I repeated, over and over again as I punched the ground with my fist. My fist was stained with blood, but it wasn't mine. I looked up, seeing mangled bodies of fallen soldiers in battle. I cried and yelled, holding my ears and keeping my face low to the ground. "SHUT UP!" I yelled as the voices flooded in. The back of my head burned and stung.

Suddenly, I felt a warm sensation around my body. I felt myself get hoisted up onto my feet and turned around. I snapped back into reality as I was held close to Aether, feeling his arms wrapped around my shaking body. "It's ok..." He said softly to me. I cried on his shoulder as he held me. I didn't know what else to do. I'd never felt emotions quite like this before. I was scared, truly I was. I shut my eyes and felt the warmth of his embrace around my body. He kept repeating the words 'It's ok, you're not alone. I'm here.' It made me feel safe and secure, something I'd never felt before. We let go of each other and sat down on the bed.

"You alright now?" He asked, but I didn't respond. I just stared at the ground. He put his arm around me and smiled warmly at me.

"Why don't we talk about something else? Just to get your mind off things." I nodded. We talked for hours. His stupid jokes made me want to hit him, but I refrained and laughed slightly anyway.

I don't know what happened after that, I most likely passed out from mental exhaustion. It felt nice to finally laugh, even if it was only a little. I felt genuine joy being with him. I don't know why, but I felt so much better being with Aether. I just hoped that tomorrow wouldn't be as hard as today.

It won'tbe... right?