" YUANFEN " genji shimada.

ix | insomnia

yuanfen.
act one, chapter one.
"insomnia"

—

TO SAY THAT DAHLIA was exhausted the following day was an understatement. Her alarm went off at the same time as every other morning, and despite her groans of protest, Athena insisted that she got up. No matter how exhausted she was from her late night training with Genji, Winston was still expecting her to join him in the lab bright and early.

    Despite her reluctance to get up, Dahlia was eager to begin the day. The day before, she sought out a trainee that was interning in the forensics division who, after a lot of convincing, finally agreed to run some tests on the bullet that Dahlia retrieved from her father's case files. It was a huge risk, one that could get not only her fired, but the trainee as well, but Dahlia promised to take all the blame if they were to get caught. She was well aware that this was her problem, and she wasn't going to allow someone else to take the fall for her.

    Dahlia was both restless and lethargic as she entered the lab. Winston was already there, his face buried in an experiment that he had been working on for the past few weeks. He greeted her without looking up, and she was thankful that he hadn't noticed the current state she was in. Winston was undoubtedly very nosy, and she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it if he noticed her distraction.

    She plopped down in front of a lab table, immediately busying herself with the stack of files that had been waiting for her. It didn't last long, however, for within just a few minutes she felt her eyelids growing heavy and her head began to hang. Her body ached with fatigue, and suddenly part of her regretted even asking Genji to train her. Surely someone was going to notice her sudden weariness, and she couldn't imagine the consequences that would come from the discovery of her and Genji's disobedience again.

    "Late night?" Dahlia jumped as her mentor's voice met her ear. She hadn't noticed that he abandoned his own test, crossing the room to come sit near her, and she turned to look at him nervously.

    "W-what? No!"

    The ape chuckled at her reaction, though he seemed slightly confused. "I've never seen you so tired," he pointed out.

    "I couldn't sleep," Dahlia lied, shrugging. She hated lying to her mentor; Winston was never anything but nice to her, so she felt awful keeping the truth from him. Still, he was adamant on following the rules, so there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he would report her to Commander Morrison for ignoring her punishment.

    "First sleepwalking and now insomnia?" Winston said, his words laced with a mixture of surprise and concern. "You should see Dr. Ziegler, Dahlia."

    Dahlia nodded, looking away. "Y-yeah, I will. Don't worry, Winston."

    Her mentor hummed a response before mumbling something about attending a meeting with the Captains. He left Dahlia shortly after, though not before warning her- in a very dramatic fashion- to stay in the lab "or else." For once, Dahlia didn't necessarily mind; the results from the ballistic test were supposed to come in, and she wanted to be there when they did.

    She continued working on the paperwork for the next hour or so, and by the time she was finished the soreness of her muscles felt like nothing compared to the aching of her hand. She set down her pen with a groan, leaning back in her seat and taking a moment to relax. Her eyes fluttered shut, and before long she found herself thinking back to her training session the night before. Despite her exhaustion, she was excited for the next session. Although annoying and difficult to be around, Genji was a good teacher, and there was no way in hell she was going to pass up the opportunity to be trained by him.