Clouds against the starry sky - Sett x Soraka

Chapter 4

He started laughing loudly and grinned at me. "A better person? Is this some kind of joke?" I looked at him and my smile dropped immediately. How could a person that saved me from a weird pervert be like that? Did he really not want to have a happy, pure life? Aurelion Sol had told me that Sett had been a very nice boy once, but because of bullying and the wrong influences he became a criminal and worked himself up until he became the boss.

"It's not..." He just laughed harder and sat down on his desk. "Enough of that now. Leave." He got serious very  quickly and it gave me goose bumps. This guy was very intimidating and way taller than I was. Quietly I looked at the floor and went to the door, but then I turned around and looked at him with a sad look. "I know there's good in you. Otherwise you wouldn't have helped me down there. And I won't give up on you. I will keep trying, even though you don't want me to." He just nodded slowly looked at the door.

I understood.

I exited the room and walked down the stairs to the club. It was too loud compared to Sett's office and the lights gave me a huge headache. As soon as I reached the exit I saw Gragas drinking. His face was even more red than usual. He had to be very drunk.

"There you are! I searched everywhere for you! Where have you been?" He walked up to me and laid his arm around my shoulders. I took a deep breath and smiled. "Just talked to some people." He nodded and grinned. "Let's go little one, huh?" I smiled and we exited the club together. I was shaking a little and felt weak after hiding my wings and my horn for so long.

On the way to "Gragas' Inn" I started feeling dizzy and walked a little faster. He noticed it and stopped immediately. "Why do you hurry? We got all time in the world." He grinned and his hand wandered from my shoulder to my waist. I shoock my head a little and smiled. "I have to prepare some things for research in my room. I'm sorry." I tried to take his hand off my waist, but he didn't let go. We were at the end of the dark alley and I slowly started to panick. His grip became tighter and I started to cry. "Get off me, please..." I held me tight and I cried so hard that I couldn't really see what was happening.

The next thing I remember is that I woke up laying in a hospital. Confusedly I stood up from a white bed and looked around. Noone was there, except for a nurse that smiled politely. "So you finally woke up?" I nodded and tried to smile too, but I couldn't. I didn't even know there were hospitals in Ionia. Was I even in Ionia? "Do you remember your name?" I nodded. "Lucy." She smiled and gave me a glass of water. "Your friend brought you here. He said you suddenly fainted after a party." I looked at her surprisedly. Friend? I didn't have friends in Ionia. I didn't even know anyone. "He said he has to leave but told me to give this to you." She handed me a plastic bag with a bottle of water and and apple in it. "You should rest a little, you still look exhausting. The doctors said you can leave tomorrow."

"Thank you", I whispered and smiled as she left the room. Finally I could take my spell away for a few minutes and let my horn and wings show. It felt great and like a big burden was taken away from me. But after that feeling my thoughts ran circles. I was fainted? When? Had Gragas brought me there? No, he had surely done anything but that. Someone from the club? But why should they? I sighed and drank a bit of water, then decided to hide my horn and my wings again and lay down in bed.

I couldn't sleep and my thoughts got louder and louder. Who had brought me there? I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind. I meditated and slowly fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up and yawned. I felt very tired because of using all my mana to hide the parts of me that made me the real me. I was shaking because it was cold inside the room. The nurse must have opened the window in the night. Carefully I stood up and drank some water. I still wore the dress I had bought. Looking down on my body I started to cry. Maybe going to the club was a mistake. It might have been part of the mission, but in that moment I hated myself for accepting it. I felt Gragas' hands holding my waist and suddely I fell down, shaking and crying. I knew that nothing happened, but the fact that something could have happened was too hard to handle.

So I laid on the floor, shaking, crying, making myself smaller and smaller. I wanted to be home again. I wanted to play hide and seek with Zoe again or learn lessons from Aurelion Sol. Why were people on earth so terribly awful?

The nurse entered the room and stared at me. Then she ran to my side and helped me on top of the bed. "Take deep breaths. Three seconds in, three seconds out. 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, ..." My breath began to normalize itself and my body was shaking a little less. "All good, you're save, okay?" She pressed my hand softly and I nodded.

As soon as I was completely calm again I stood up and looked at the nurse with a smile. It wasn't an honest smile, but it would be fine soon. It had to be. "I would like to leave now. Thank you for taking care of me." She looked surprised and wanted to stop me, but I already left the room. "May the stars guide you!"

Walking out of the hospital I looked around and found myself in an alley with many broken houses. The people looked poor and I could hear a child crying. I searched for it and found it in front of a house, sitting in front of an animal on the floor. "Are you okay?" Carefully I tapped the kid's shoulder. It was a little girl and as she looked at me with her orange eyes I could feel the pain behind them. She was in tears. "Mr Bunny..." Her voice was breaking and she hid her face behind her hands. I kneeled down next to the little bunny and laid my hands on top of him. I could feel a weak heartbeat. "He's alive", I whispered and my eyes were glowing softly. She looked at me. "Ho-ow do y-you-" I just shook my head a little and took a deep breath. Slowly I healed the little bunny and as always a part of the energy I needed to live got given away.

I felt something burning inside my chest and my body hurt, but seeing the little girl smiling about her bunny running around was worth it. "How did you do that?" The little girl hugged me and smiled. "Thank you Miss!" I just smiled at her and looked at the bunny. "No need to thank me. Take care, okay?" She nodded and patted her bunny.

Walking through the streets I realized that this was the poorer part of Ionia, the part noone ever really went to. I wanted to help everyone, went from one house to another, but my energy was too low to heal everyone. I felt weak and hopeless and knew that I would have to come back as soon as I had gotten rest and sleep.

Finally I found the market and "Gragas' Inn". I was scared to walk in there because I never wanted to see this man again. But it was the only place I could stay at for now, so I had to.

Entering the Inn I went to the stairs immediately, not looking around.

My room was warm and after locking my door behind me I finally let my wings and my horn show, switched into comfortable clothes and let myself fall on the couch. I closed my eyes and slept instantly. I think I have never been that exhausted in my life.