Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 39

-- Part 1 --

Avery kicked her feet up on a black coffee table while lounging on a large blue sofa, with Vivian and Arica sat next to her. The room they were in was quite large and rectangular in shape. On one end of the room was a large mechanical sliding door, and on the opposite end was a small kitchen sectioned off by an extended counter that stopped at about half the width of the room. The cough the girls were on was closer to the door, where there were several other couches and chairs, a few end tables, the coffee table, and a large TV. Between their seating area and the kitchen were ten doors, five on each side of the room, with a name plastered on all of them except for one.

Arica stared quietly at the television, which was showing an early morning news channel, while Vivian quietly scrolled through her phone. The trio sat in a relatively comfortable silence, until Vivian decided to break it. "I heard you two were attacked. Are you ok?"

Avery rolled her eyes and leaned back to look at the ceiling. "If we weren't we probably wouldn't be here, now would we?"

"Sorry, I was under the impression people tried to kill you. Usually that is met with some form of emotional response."

"Been there, done that."

"You know, usually when one is hurting it is healthier to talk about their problems than blow them off." Vivian turned off her phone and crossed her arms. "So what is stopping you from opening up?"

"Oh I don't know-" Avery rolled her head to the side and glared at Vivian, "-maybe because you weren't fucking there."

Arica looked over at her sister and cleared her throat. "Be nice."

"What, are you going to get onto me too because of your emotional distress over your boyfriend?"

"He is not my boyfriend." The girl stood up and brushed herself off. "But since you asked, yes." She turned to leave, causing Avery to widen her eyes in surprise and shake away her glare.

"Wait! I'm... Sorry. Sorry, ok? It's just been a rough few weeks."

Arica stopped and sighed before turning back and sitting down in a nearby chair. "It's fine. I was waiting to tell everyone so I didn't have to repeat myself."

Vivian cocked her head to the side as a door opened up and Coral stepped out, his tentacles holding a thick blanket around himself as he moved to sit down in a chair. After getting comfortable, a girl fell out of nowhere and landed on him. Coral shrieked in surprise, throwing Lillith off of him as the girl apologized profusely.

"My bad!"

"Watch where you teleport, please!"

The yelling was followed by heavy footsteps, and a door being nearly thrown open as Micheal, dressed in a tank top and sweatpants, stepped into the room. "Who's here?!"

Lillith shrinked back and warped onto the couch next to Vivian. "I said my bad ok- jeez..."

Micheal scanned the scene before sighing and sitting down on the second cough. A few minutes later Catherine and Evan exited their respective rooms and took their seats next to Micheal.

Arica looked around the room at her friends, before taking a deep breath in and exhaling. "I talked to Faron early this morning... Samuel didn't wake up from surgery. The hospital is currently monitoring him, but they believe he has slipped into a coma."

Evan clenched his fists and began to grit his teeth, only to calm himself as Catherine wrapped one of her wings around him and pulled him into a hug. The boy let out a deep sigh as he stared up at Arica. "So, that's it then? He's... Gone?"