Marionette

Skies, Chapter Thirty Nine - Kotoba nashi ni [言葉なしに]

A sea of voices swam in her head, an echo of the events that were taking place around her.

Sometime a short while after she'd woken up, voices shouted and spoke quickly, dipped in rushed, sincere concern – Most she didn't hear the spoken words, only the sounds and emotions behind them.

Concern, panic, and when she guessed they'd seen she was alive, relief.

Waterlogged and with next to no energy, the whole situation slipped through her fingers and it was all she could do to let things continue at their own accord.

She vaguely heard a mention that they'd been searching for her for quite a while. Most of the class had actually been off the mountain, following the stream to find her and any nearby places, and Koro-sensei had been frantic by the point he was making of checking that she hadn't swallowed too much water.

But nothing else – they were all very careful to not overwhelm her with questions and concerned fussing.

Even Koro-sensei had kept a small distance once he was satisfied one of his students weren't in harms way, so he didn't overwhelm an already rattled Amaya.

Announcing that the injuries she did sustain were merely grazes and scratches, everything was apparently in good order – She was lucky to have sustained just that much from such a close-range explosion.

And then, in amongst the sloshing of her thoughts inside her head, she found herself traversing familiar routes back home in tow.

Her escort had been silent the whole time since the rest of their class had come running, a noticeable form of tension about him as he dragged her along by the wrist, though there was less insistence in the way he tugged her along to usual. He didn't once let go of her the whole way, though he didn't look at her, either.

She couldn't get a grasp of what was wrong, or even if there really was something wrong at all – She felt like there was, though.

She felt certain that he had something on his mind right now, and the serious look across his face as he stared out the window of the train was enough to keep her silent in spite of herself.

And then, once he'd made sure she had been ushered inside her apartment without further trouble, he was gone.

He'd shut the door behind her, his dispersing footsteps as clear as day to Amaya on the other side.

A note was stuck to the wall next to the door, handwritten by Reiko, informing her that she wouldn't be home that evening due to a sudden need to stay at Mako's place.

Leaving her all alone in a silent and dark apartment.

Time seemed to flow slowly in the darkness of what should feel like her own home, and yet it felt like she didn't belong there at all.

Whether or not she had truly accepted her decision to leave just two days ago, it didn't make a difference.

Because right now, it felt like she had nowhere to return home to.

A sleepless night was what Amaya found herself faced with.

She would try to sleep, but before long she would wake up tearfully in a cold sweat, heart racing so fast it hurt and her throat aching as she struggled to catch her breath.

She'd drag herself out of bed to pace the small confines of her room in the dark, to calm herself down just enough to attempt sleep once again, banishing the images that had scared her to consciousness from her mind - glimpses of white-lit steel and stone, and of walls of monitors and green limelight through the dark.