A Blessed Curse [Rewrite]

Chapter 15 - Bridging the Gap

Soleil is tired.

She has spent most of the past few days watching over Lune, who was allowed to go home after patching up the physical wounds, getting very little sleep herself. Besides, when she had the chance to sleep, the stress would keep her up anyways.

So to say she's not particularly thrilled to hear the doorbell ring would be an understatement.

With a heavy sigh, she pushes the chair she had been sitting on back, barely registering the scraping across the floor. As soon as she gets up, black dots quickly cloud her vision, so she grabs the back of the chair to steady herself and waits a moment for it to pass.

Before she leaves the room, she casts a quick glance at Lune, who's still sleeping peacefully in her bed, before making her way down the stairs.

"Whoever this is, it better be important." Soleil mutters under her breath before opening the door "Kid?"

Before her stands her a, somewhat awkward, reaper holding what looks like a fruit basket "Our friends wanted to bring Lune something." He gestures at the fruit basket "And for some reason Maka and Liz insisted I go."

Soleil heaves a mental sigh, before she tries to force a smile "I appreciate it..."

She doesn't know what to say anymore. Normally she would have known the proper etiquette or at least managed to wing it, but what are you supposed to do when your closest friends just figured out that you aren't as normal as you have pretended to be? There's no rulebook telling you how to navigate those situations.

Kid doesn't really add anything either, leaving them in an awkward silence until a noise comes from upstairs.

Inhaling sharply, Soleil quickly says "I have to check on Lune. Come in and close the door behind you."

She has no time to contemplate whether or not it was the right decision to make before she rushes up the stairs. Opening the door to her sister's bedroom, she is relieved to find Lune still in bed, not tossing and turning, though one arm is resting on her nightstand now. Soleil quickly finds the source of the noise, the alarm clock that was on the nightstand is now on the floor.

Soleil picks up the object, inspecting it to see if it had been damaged "Even when unconscious you're still hating on alarm clocks."

She tries to smile in Lune's direction but it quickly falters. Soleil gets up and puts the alarm clock on a shelf so it won't be knocked over again. Then she sighs and sits back in her chair, putting her head in her hands.

It's just too much sometimes.

There's pressure on her shoulders "You seem to be exhausted."

Taking a deep breath, Soleil moves her hands to put her chin on them "I haven't slept much the past few days."

"Because of Lune?" Kid asks, giving her left shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Soleil nods "We have to be sure it doesn't come back... the madness. So maman and I take turns looking after her."

"So the fire was madness...?" Kid mutters, Soleil is unsure if it was even directed at her.

"Yeah..."

The confirmation might not have been necessary, but she owes it to him to not try to hide behind the lies again. He deserves answers, they all do.

But it's terrifying. Soleil has known all her life that this is a risk she could never afford to take. As soon as someone figures out what she is, they would turn their back on her. That's always been true so far, and there has never been a reason to think otherwise.