Venom { Bitten Sequel }

Hallucinating

Alaria's POV

I blinked a few times, waking up. When had I fallen asleep?

Turning my head, I noticed Mori sleeping beside me. I gently brushed my finger over his cheek, and he reacted immediately, grabbing my hand and sitting up. He pinned both arms beside my head, leaning over me. A small, surprised gasp escaped my lips. We kept quiet the entire time, each of us slowly beginning to blush.

"I'm sorry, Lari." He mumbled. I shook my head as he sat up, sitting up myself. He hugged me, brushing the back of my head. I sighed and hugged him back, tears already forming in my eyes.

Mori stood and helped me up. I couldn't help but stare, for a moment, at his chiseled chest, his defined muscles. Fortunately, I looked away before Mori caught me staring. "Go on downstairs, the others are awake. I'll be down in a moment." He walked out of the room before I could question his knowledge of the others' being awake.

I walked down the steps into the den. Low and behold, the rest of the hosts were awake.

I've got to stop referring to them as hosts...

Tamaki was the first one to acknowledge my entrance. Tears were obvious in his eyes, but he managed a small smile. I gave him one in return. Beside Tamaki was Kyoya, hunched over on the couch in thought. He sat upright when he saw me, and smiled. Across from Kyoya was Hikaru, with Kaoru glued to his side.

I froze.

Hikaru looked up at me, first shock and relief obvious in his eyes. But it was then replaced by anger as reality but him. He stood, his hands clenched into fists. "You! You're the reason she's dead!" He screamed. Was it true? Although I didn't point the gun at her, maybe it was my fault. "I-I... She-I couldn't...!" Tears streamed down my cheeks. Hikaru took a step forward, no sympathy for me at all. Which I expected. "You should've died instead of her!" He hissed. I looked up at him, gaping.

"Y-You're right..." I whispered. My saying this brought pain, disbelief, and shock to Hikaru's face. "I-You're right!" I said, louder this time. "Why didn't I ever listen to her? She was right, even before this happened!" I was referring to what my mother had said just a while ago, but they didn't know that.

By now, Mori was already downstairs, fuming. The rest of the boys were standing, gaping at me. "Haruhi told you you should... Die?" Tamaki stuttered. I shook my head. "Of course not! She'd have died before she even let me think that!" Even though I sounded so strong, my tears broke it all.

Mori grabbed my hand, spinning me around. "You do not need to die. Hikaru is only upset, Alaria." This was one of the few times Mori had ever said my name. And, for whatever reason, it broke me.

I grabbed the arm of the couch for support as my body struggled to stay up. My breaths came fast and short, my head was beginning to get fuzzy. Suddenly, my depressed self was gone. Normal Alaria was coming back, but I was hyperventilating.

Leaning against the couch, I sat down, hugging my knees to my chest. My breaths wouldn't slow, wouldn't get longer, no matter how hard I tried. Mori began shouting commands, pushing my legs to the floor. "Breathe, Lari." He told me softly. In my state, his voice sounded like the wind, a mere whisper. But it was there, and I fought.

Mori lay me down in his lap, trying to get me to calm down. Something wet and cold was put against my forehead, I imagined it was a rag. After the rag was held to my forehead for a few minutes, my breathing slowed. My head was still a bit fuzzy, but I was back to normal none the less.

Hikaru was crouched beside me, shaking his head, murmuring apologies. I squeezed his hand as I let out a large breath and took another in. He looked down at me with a relieved smile. "I'm so sorry, Alaria... I was just so upset!" He cried. I nodded and pet his hair. "It's okay... I'm okay..." I managed.