Red-Stained Lilies

~Chapter Four~

        Attempting to push away the shock that I was feeling, I decided to push through and read the book. To be quite honest, the book didn't have much information that I didn't already know; however, I was glad it had at least a bit. I discovered that they have another name, which describes them as the 'Cancer of All Worlds', given to them by the Interastral Peace Corporation. This is due to the fact that the Stellarons spread through worlds like a disease,  causing disastrous changes to the ecosystems and the civilizations on that planet. As I lived in the underground, I had heard rumors about what a Stellaron was, and that our planet was being affected by one. I never got to see it with my own eyes though, since the citizens of the underground were never granted access to the overworld by Supreme Guardian Cocolia.

        The countless diagrams and pictures in the book of my home brought me to tears. The overworld that was always called beautiful, that I had always yearned to see was in complete disarray. It was truly heartbreaking; the fact that I would be seeing it in person soon enough was a problem in itself. As I wiped my tears, I heard the faint sound of footsteps behind me. As I was turning my head, I felt my body being wrapped in a warm, yet familiar embrace. "Kafka..." I whispered. "Shhhhh... It's okay, darling. You'll be visiting home soon", she responded. "That's the problem", I retorted. "I don't want to go home; I don't want to see it. It'll be like crushing all of my childhood dreams of imagining the Overworld like a heaven. Truly, sometimes I wish I was still ignorant about these problems." She sighed. "I understand, I'll go tell Bladie that you won't be able to make it this time." Oh no, absolutely NOT! I am not about to give that man another reason to dislike me already. I quickly shook my head. "No- that's okay; I still want to go. I promise I won't drag you down!" Kafka let me go. "Trust me, that's not what I was worried about in the slightest. I just wanted to make sure you were okay" I felt my smile widen. "You're far too kind, Kafka." I was only met with a chuckle; a low, quiet one, which painted my cheeks a soft pink; not enough to make anyone notice. "I'm going to go get fixed for dinner, and I think you should too. After all y/n, you've been in here quite a while." "Okay", I responded with a grin, "thank you again for looking out for me." Kafka began to walk out of the room, and waved to me while exiting through the beautiful French doors. As I looked at the time on my watch, I agreed with her. Yeah, it is starting to get a bit late, I thought. As I thought of what could be for dinner, my stomach started to growl. Yup, definitely time to get going.

        It was always nice to look through the hallways as I walked to the dining area. The beautiful, hardwood floors donned with soft, maroon rugs were unlike anything I could have seen where I was from. And the paintings on the walls? Absolutely gorgeous. I felt like a tourist when walking around the station as I was so new, but at the moment I didn't want to take too long to look around, as I was starving. When I got to the dining area, I gently pushed open the doors, and I was met with a pleasant surprise. "Ah f/f (favorite food), my favorite!" However, my surprise quickly spoiled when I saw who I had to sit next to while I ate. Of course, it just HAD to be him...

Apologies for the very late update! As you know a couple of weeks ago was finals, but after that life got REALLY hectic. My A/C broke, and both my brother and dog had to go into the hospital. I'm not asking for sympathy, I just wanted to let you all know why I was gone for so long. I love you all! <3