My Last Chance [Made in Abyss Fanfiction]

07| To Transcend the Curse

"Mr. Len?"

I jolt awake, eyes snapping open and instantly catching sight of someone leaning over me. Messy purple hair and blue eyes, a brow arched in confusion.

"I-Iann!" I scramble away, only to realize I'm still in the water. He's been kneeling and looking over me? For how long? If my face weren't already warm from the heat, it would've flushed hot as I thank the Abyss the mineral count of the water's high, making it cloudy. "What are you doing here? Actually, no, don't explain right now. Just leave, p-please!"

Iann looks more confused, which confuses me as well. "Okay?" He stands and leaves the room in no real hurry. It's like he doesn't see how strange that was! I'd waste my energy on throwing more of a fit, but I'm distracted by the dull ache of a headache pulsing behind my eyes. I stifle a groan and rub my eyes with my thumb and forefinger before beginning the task of getting out of the bath. After I get my prosthetic back on and both of the towels I brought are wrapped securely around my waist, I cautiously return to the changing room, wringing my hair out as I go.

To my slight dismay, Iann's in the changing room, and he grins a little when he sees me again. "Hey! Uh, sorry if I scared you before? That cool lady with the red hair you're with said you were in here, and she's been waiting for almost an hour. Even if ya didn't leave her, sitting in the springs for that long isn't good for you."

My heart jolts, and guilt floods me. That might explain my headache, though. "Th-then thank you for coming to get me, Iann. But you spoke with Melva?" Iann nods as he starts to lean to the side, as if he's looking around me, wait, no, that's... exactly what he's doing?

"Yeah, I was walking around and ran into her in the hall. Is she your girlfriend?" Before I can give the obvious reply, his eyes light up a little in awe as it becomes clear he's looking over me again. "How are your muscles so big? It's so cool... Was it milk? Aunt Enri said milk helps with things like that."

"Ah, i-it's bones, since milk has calcium. Not muscles." Iann nods enthusiastically, gaze fixed on my arms. "But did Bondrewd ever tell you it was rude to stare at people like this? Especially when they aren't dressed completely?"

Iann's face then falls before he looks panicked, and he looks away. "Is it wrong? I-I'm sorry! Uncle Bon taught me a body's a body since we all have 'em, we all have the same parts more or less. But I guess that's not right?" I'm taken aback with surprise, though he isn't exactly wrong. Really, in purely scientific terms, he's right.

"You're technically not wrong, but my parents taught me it was rude to do that," I say. "And it's also utterly wrong to do that around women unless they said otherwise."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry again. A-are you mad?"

I shake my head. "I'm not, don't worry. But can you leave me be while I get dressed, please? We can talk more when I'm done, if you want to."