edelweiss - &team

13

After some time, Euijoo decided to let his sleepy owl rest, remarking that dawn was approaching and the usually nocturnal owl needed to take a break. After his pet settled down, he returned to the ground floor, where he found Fuma in the dining room, pouring over notes he had brought from the archives.

"Oh?" Euijoo grabbed a small stack to leaf through, noting that they were seemingly journal entries as well as rough drawings of prototype weapons.

"Old notes," Fuma said, rubbing his eyes tiredly, leaning back in his chair with a sigh, "Some are redundant now, but others...I recorded down our process for trapping it the last time. So we have some idea of what works and what doesn't."

Euijoo didn't respond, but a small smile sneaked out when he found a little doodle of what must be Maki and Yuma. "Maki played a huge part the last time, didn't he?" Euijoo fondly recalled. Fuma nodded, "He was our frontline. He was really reckless then. I guess that made him really brave. At the time. I'm surprised he didn't lose a limb, given how crazy he was."

Continuing to flip through the notes, Euijoo then added, "I remember wishing Yuma was more...involved."

Fuma, who had gotten up to make a cup of coffee, stopped to consider. "It wasn't good to Yuma, remember? The entire time, Yuma..." He swallowed his words, deciding not to comment on the trauma of his dear friend. Euijoo set down the papers to yawn lightly, then said, "Let's handle this tomorrow. We're all not thinking straight now."

And so the duo retreated to their rooms to catch some sleep.

-

Yuma couldn't sleep. He was sitting on one of Yudai's many guest beds, resting his chin on his knees as he rocked back and forth soothingly, hands clamped to his ears. All he could focus on was a little voice in his head. A voice he wished he didn't have to hear. It was the sweet voice of a woman, and her voice was full of urgency. Over and over, she called his name, begging and pleading.

"Shut it," He hissed, careful to be quiet, but it seemed his roommate, Yixiang, was quite the light sleeper. "Hm?" Yixiang was groggy and confused, stirring slowly, before he rose from his flat sleeping position like a zombie. The matter manipulator mumbled something sleepily, gibberish it seemed, taking a while to process what was happening.

Yuma watched his poor sleep-deprived friend, whispering his apologies and urging him to go back to sleep. But Yixiang, slightly more awake, removed his blankets to face Yuma, "You good? Want me to wake Jo up?"

Yuma shook his head, then realised Yixiang could hardly see him in the darkness. "It's okay, I want to let him rest."

Yixiang hunched there for a while, before succumbing to sleep, Yuma watching him silently the entire time.

Breathing a shaky sigh, Yuma closed his eyes and hugged his knees tightly to his chest.

-

"Yuma, come here, all of you-"

The usually composed and beautiful woman they called Life was dishevelled and panicked. Her typically glowing skin was dull and she looked exhausted.

"Do we have everyone? Where's Maki-" Her words died in her throat when she caught sight of the youngest.

"Alright, okay," Life pushed her hair away from her face, the tangled locks winding around her fingers.

"He's going out of control, you all know it, right?"

They all nodded their heads. Yuma swept his eyes across the room to look at his friends. Yudai was a mature young man at this point, his shoulders thrown back in an effort to seem confident and reliable. Fuma and Euijoo too, looked so much older and respectable. But Harua, Riki and Maki still looked so young, so helpless and fragile.

Life finally gathered her hair and a small vine appeared to tie it up. A little less frazzled, she sucked in a long breath, before saying, "I will go and fight him. But I fear I will lose."

Euijoo immediately started to protest, but she silenced him with a wave of her hand. "I know it's daunting and I wish I could stay longer to train you. I had so many things I needed to share with you." Her eyes were so liquid and sad, it broke Yuma's heart.

"Let us fight with you," Maki said, his child-like innocence unable to be concealed.

Life's eyes twinkled with tender love, "No, I need you all to do something else for me."

She sank into the nearest chair, fingers trembling slightly. She buried her head in her hands for a few seconds, before she raised her head to manage a small smile.

"I'm sorry, children. I'm just afraid."

They all stayed silent but the sympathy and understanding was shown in their expressions.

"I need you to promise me something," Life said in a hushed, hoarse voice, "I need you to promise that you'll protect humanity with all that you have in yourself. Till your dying breath. Alright? Can you do that for me?"

"Of course," Fuma said earnestly.

Life's face flooded with relief, and she first reached out for Yudai, who offered his hand with no resistance. She wrapped her slender hands around his right wrist, and she whispered, "I tie this oath to you."

Yudai flinched for a second then when Life withdrew her hand, on his wrist was a dark black circlet. "Is that a flower?" Yudai squinted at his wrist, bringing it close to his face for inspection. Life accepted Fuma's hand and replied, "An edelweiss flower."

"What does it symbolise?' Euijoo asked as his own wrist was released.

Life smiled wanly, "You'll know."

After everyone had given her their wrists, she breathed a sigh of relief and stood. "If you don't hear from me in three days, assume I have passed," She whispered.

Everyone was frozen in their spots, they couldn't even rush to the door to stop her.

Before she shut the door behind her, she turned and stared Harua dead in the eye. "Please do me that one favour," She said, and Harua nodded stiffly.

And then she was gone.

Three days later, Euijoo released dozens of birds to search for her, when a single small dove returned with a scrap of white fabric, Yuma fell to his knees as he heard Euijoo cry like never before.