Sweetheart

97

"How's he doing, A?"

"Fine," the salutatorian softly answered, not looking up from her textbook and open notebook.

Lucy sighed, told Levy to let her be, and continued with her own work. Levy pursed her lips, sat down next to Aina, glanced at the notes that she had in front of her, and decided that she, too, should start on her work. It was quiet.

Lucy suddenly cut the silence, "Listen, A. I told you this with your dad, and I told you this with Tyler, so I'm going to tell you once more - it's not your fault."

"Yes it is," the brunette forced out. "He wouldn't have left campus if I hadn't been so stupid and--"

Lucy snapped her fingers, successfully silencing her friend's excuses, and challenged, "And how would doing something in school at lunchtime translate to the events that happened late at night, many hours later, huh?"

"I just..."

"It's okay to feel sad, A. But you can't feel guilty. It'll eat you up, and I'm not letting that happen again."

"Lucy's right. We're here for you, no matter what you need, but you need to stop blaming yourself for something that you couldn't control."

Aina turned back to her notes, a pair of tears dripping on her notebook.

"Promise me, Aina. Promise me that you'll forgive yourself."

At her nod of agreement, Lucy left her seat across from her and stood behind her before giving her a small hug.

"I'm holding you to it, Aina Maja Labelle. And you better not break it."

-------

"Aina," Kelia called from the bottom of the stairs. "Dinner is ready."

Small footsteps could be heard, and a minute later Aina appeared in the dining room. Upon seeing the ensemble that her mother had created, her mind buzzed.

"I figured that we could have our own version of popcorn chicken bowl," Kelia joked.

Aina looked over at the clock and back to her mother. Noticing her anxiety, Kelia had promised her daughter that they would leave for the hospital once they finished eating, which prompted her motherly scoldings when Aina started to stuff food as fast as she could eat.

"Slow down," came her stern voice. "Your anxiety paired with an upset stomach will land you in the hospital yourself."

"Sorry."

-------

About an hour and a half later, Kelia and Aina had arrived at the hospital. As they rounded the corner into Natsu's room, they spotted Sting speaking with one of the nurses. His eyes caught the new presence and gave another nod to the nurse before they went their separate ways.

"Miss Labelle," Sting started. "It's nice to see you again. Well, not this way."

"You've gotten very tall," Kelia commented. "How are you doing in school?"

He gave a small groan and a nervous laugh, signaling to the therapist that he was, though genuinely trying his best, still struggling to keep up, which was the case when he was little as well.

"Don't worry, dear. You'll get it."

"How is he?" Aina interrupted.

Sting looked back over to where Natsu was and then back to Aina.

"What did the nurse say?" She pushed.

"He's responding to the meds that he's on. They took his vitals again and everything looked normal. The doctor came in earlier and said that a detective was going to show up later for questioning."