Infernal Academia

Chapter 35 - Suyas' Big Day: Part 10 (After the Storm)

There was nothing pleasant about hospital waiting rooms.  They were cold and unpleasant to look at, filled with white walls and uncomfortable blue benches.  The air stank of antiseptic that stung the nostrils, and the constant murmuring of doctors and patients was enough to make one's head hurt.

And yet Izzbelle had dutifully sat on one of those uncomfortable benches for hours, until the night transitioned to day, and transitioned straight back to night again.  Still dressed in a rent and scorched wedding dress, she got plenty of strange looks, but she didn't care.

There was something about the look in Cobalt's eye that had made an impact on her, though what exactly that impact was, she couldn't tell.  Despite his mounting injuries, he powered on through the snow, not stopping once lest Elya bleed out in his arms.

When he finally got her into the hands of the doctors, the first thing he did was go to check on Izzbelle, only to collapse onto the waiting room floor.  The last the Oni heard of them, they were both being treated in the ICU.

But if there was one thing that she couldn't get out of her head, it was the sight of Cobalt standing up to her father, teeth red and eyes glinting in the firelight.  In that moment, he looked so far removed from the stammering, shuffling, nervous Incubus that could barely raise his voice above the din of a classroom.

She almost found herself falling for him.

But she didn't.  

Couldn't have.

The very notion was ridiculous.

What happened at the wedding...

It was just nerves.

Or shock.

Or something like that.

"Agh... no fuckin' way..." Izzbelle sighed, holding her head.

She heard someone gasp.

"I- Izzbelle?  Is that you, sweetie?"

Raising an eyebrow, the Oni turned to face whomever was speaking to her, only to have the wind knocked from her lungs as a Succubus woman suddenly tackled her with an overbearing hug.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" cried Jezebel Trayer, squeezing her tight.

She frowned as other people in the waiting room began to stare, but rather than pry the Succubus off, Izzbelle just returned the hug, unsure of what else to do.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Trayer?" she asked, gently easing her off.

Sniffling, Jezebel nodded.

"Oh it was horrible, sweetie.  Seeing my snookums get shot like that... It was more than I could bear!"

"But what about you?  Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me; the girls and I are more than capable of looking after each other.  What about you?"

Izzbelle swallowed hard and took a moment to think before nodding.

"Yeah... I'm fine..."

Jezebel took a seat on the bench next to the Oni, figiting with her bracelets as she watched doctors and nurses rush about.

"I've never seen my boy fight like that.  He'd have the odd scuffle back in school, but..."

Izzbelle raised an eyebrow.  Cobalt didn't seem like the type to get into fights.

"He did?"

"He wouldn't recall if you asked him, so maybe don't.  I wouldn't want him to get stressed out trying to remember."