Infernal Academia

Chapter 20 - Redtile's New Flame: Part 6 (Burning Desires)

"... that would be a lie as well.  Wouldn't you agree?"

~~~~~

"Mr. Trayer?  Can you hear me?"

Cobalt's eyes flickered open for a brief moment.

"Unngh..." he grumbled, wincing as the light hit his eyes.

"I'll take that as a yes, then!"

"Wh- What...?"

He was lying in a bed, he could tell as much from the cloth beneath his hands.  The atmosphere around him smelled clean and sterile while the steady beep of a heart monitor sounded from somewhere to his right.  As his vision cleared, the Incubus found himself lying in a bed in one of the private rooms in the Brimstone General Hospital.  He remembered coming here a lot when he was younger, but for what reasons, he couldn't remember.

Sitting on a chair by the bed, a cheery Glutton man with a goatee and a white coat was jotting something down on a clipboard.

"Doc Elliott...?" Cobalt breathed.

"Good to see my number one patient still remembers me!  How've things been, Mr. Trayer?" the doctor asked, planting his hands on his hips.

The Incubus glanced around the hospital room.  Sunlight was streaming from in between the blinds.

"What day is it...?"

"November 3rd.  You've been drifting in and out for a couple of days since we found you."

"Wh- What...?"

Getting up off his chair, Doctor Elliott clamped his clipboard beneath his arms and slowly circled the bed.

"You had taken quite the fall, Mr. Trayer.  Fifteen stories, straight onto somebody's station wagon.  It's a miracle you managed to survive."

Squinting his eyes, Cobalt reached back and scratched his head, trying to remember the events that preceded his hospitalisation.  

"Where's Elya...?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

The Glutton raised an eyebrow.

"You mean Elya Yalfre?  I don't think I've seen her since you two were still in uniforms."

"But she..."

"Don't worry about her, Mr. Trayer.  Right now, I'm going to need you to listen."

He sighed and set the clipboard aside on a small white table.  Stepping over to the window, Doctor Elliot took a deep breath and leaned on the sill.

"When you were brought in, you were in a bad way.  Your body was covered in a layer of torn, dead skin, for one thing.  For another, every blood sample we took was oversaturated with some kind of foreign contaminant that we weren't able to identify.  As for the results of the fall itself, well..."

The Glutton trailed off, his jubilant smile fading from his face.  He gestured to the blanket covering Cobalt's legs, prompting the Incubus to lean forward and pull it aside.  Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, save for a few bandages wrapped around injuries he sustained that night on the roof.  As he tried to bring his knees up to inspect them closer, however, his lower back twinged painfully.

"Agh!  Wh- What the-?!"

Something was wrong.  As he lightly pressed his fingers against his right leg, the sensation he felt was... faint.  Like his nerves were deadened.