OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

046

After Skylar leaves, I wait, and then Melia comes back. We talk for a little while, then she releases me to my room, reminding me to drink lots of water and to hail her if I feel dizzy.

Sophie reaches out to me, but I tell her I'm tired, and I go to sleep without our biweekly talk.

I wake up surprisingly early.

At 6:42 a.m., if you'd like numbers.

I take a shower (morning ones always hit different), brush my teeth, change, and leave my room, closing the door behind me.

"Dex!"

I turn, to see Ruy running down the stairs; I laugh, and he stops a foot away from me. "Hi, Ruy," I say, with a smile.

"Hey—what happened yesterday?"

I tilt my head. "Melia didn't tell you?"

"I mean, she said you faded, and that there's some human, but—" He runs a hand through his hair. "I was tired yesterday, it was late, and me and Alv were talking about..." Ruy shakes his head. "I'm sorry; you're alright, though?"

I smile."Yeah, I'm okay," I say. "Skylar ta—"

"Skylar?"

"The human," I say. I hesitate; I don't want him to get mad at Skylar, but it seems inevitable. "She tagged along, but she didn't know I'd—you know. Fade."

He exhales. "Okay. I guess that's fair." His smile's tired. "Alvar might be a little mad at her, though. He doesn't like seeing his friends get hurt."

Being called their friend still takes me by surprise sometimes. "Is everything okay, by the way? You mentioned something with Alvar yesterday."

"Oh." Ruy laughs again. "Everything's..." He shakes his head. "Some things are rough. We're... We're trying to get Trix help."

Oh.

He laughs a little, again, but I'm starting to understand that it's not a happy laugh. "I don't know what to do anymore. It sucks, you know, feeling so helpless. And—I miss Umber, too. We all do."

"Do you... wanna talk about it?"

Ruy hesitates.

"I know—I know some stuff, I guess," I say, then hate how stupid and "pick me" it sounds. "I'm not saying I'm—I know my life is kinda privileged. But there were times where I thought Sophie would—I mean... the Moonlark—"

"You still care about her, don't you?" he interrupts, not unkindly.

I don't know what the right answer is.

"It's okay if you do," Ruy says quickly. "But—you are against her now, so, like... if you don't want to fight her directly, you can ask us to change your position in missions. You don't have to do anything you don't want to, you know."

Oh. I clear my throat. "Um... okay. I'll keep that in mind," I say.

He smiles. "I'm glad." A pause. "But yeah, I get what you mean. It must've been scary to have someone you love almost die so many times."

"I... yeah."

Ruy lets out a breath. "But don't worry about me, okay? Grief is a weird thing, and missing her is just part of accepting that she's gone."

He doesn't say anything more, but I can tell that Trix isn't there yet, that he's still struggling.

"Anyway," Ruy says, "where were you heading to?"

"Oh—I was actually gonna go to your place," I say, with a laugh. "But you beat me to it."

Ruy laughs. "That's ironic," he says. "Well... I was also going to Alv's place after this, since Gisela wants us to watch after the human—Skylar, was it?—for now."