Land of the Blades

41. Sleepless

—Phos! Wake up, Phos!! —Caster shook me awake just before I was entirely engulfed by the darkness—, are you... are you alright?

—I-I was having a nightmare —I managed to say. I was shivering and crying.

—I think I noticed —she said, pulling me towards her and hugging me.

Her embrace helped me feel a bit less scared about it, but I still had a weird feeling in my chest, something I could only describe as absolute despair and helplessness. To my surprise, four hours have already passed, so I told Caster to take her turn to sleep. I wasn't too interested in closing my eyes anytime soon, and I was hoping she could get better dreams that I had. She slept like a log and snored all night long. That actually helped me stay awake. After a few hours I got pretty bored, as there was not much to do there, so I went out for a walk. Of course, I left a string of gold tied to Caster's little finger. That way, I will know if she woke up or something would have happened to her while I was gone. In any case, I didn't went too far, just to some sort of public plaza right outside of the "building" we were staying.

The ceiling was made of glass, and according to retracing in my mind the way we had walked to that place, we should be in the middle of the crater we had seen before. I could see another moon right above me. In the middle of the plaza there was a fountain, and around the place there were some "statues" that resembled trees. They all look too artificial, both in shape and consistency, but I think that was the point. Post modern art was something I had a notion from Shirou's inherited memories. Weirdly enough, there were still a few Lunarians walking around or in the shops surrounding the plaza, despite the late hour. One of them was walking with a bunch of small sized Admirabilis, each held by a leash. She had her ears covered by something resembling earphones, with the music so loud I could hear it from several meters away. As she and her "pets" got closer, they started to get wild and ran towards me. Specifically, they ran towards my legs. Their "owner" got dragged through the ground.

—King!! —One of them said, and the others started echoing it when it reached me.

—King!! King!! King!!

—That hurt, what got into you so suddenly? —the Lunarian said as she started to get up—, I'm very sorry, they are usually good kids and...

She froze when she look up and saw me. It might had been something in my expression, but she gave a few steps back and bowed.

—M-miss Lustrous! I-I'm sorry! I heard that we will have to return them to the ocean, and I wanted to walk a last time with them! P-please don't tell the Prince!

I picked one of the Admirabilis and looked at him on what I thought were his eyes.

—I'm not Ruler, but I'll take you with her soon enough.

—Not King! Kind Person! —He said, raising his appendages.

—Kind Person! Kind Person! —the rest repeated.

I put him back on the ground and told him and the rest to go back with the Lunarian, who was still standing very still and nervous. I sighed.

—Don't worry, I won't tell him. I will suppose you have taken good care of them, but this is not their place. Maybe when they go back to their normal selves, you can be friends with each other...

—I-I'll try! Thank you, Miss Lustrous! —she said, before practically running away.

I stayed there a bit more, walked around, and watched the shops through its windows. Some Lunarians offered me a free service in a massage or a free meal, but I politely declined and keep just loitering around. When morning finally arrived I gave up and return to the room. I was a bit more than grumpy though. Not only I had not rested at all, I also hadn't eaten in almost 48 hours. I also think something about the moon's low gravity was messing up how my shards interacted with the gold alloy, and it felt weird. However, I tried to not show it when a huge and bulky Sundry came to pick us up.