Gold's Rule ✔️

Chapter 8 - Flatline

I headed to breakfast with a bounce in my steps, having formed a somewhat convincing plan with Kyran.

Rainbow was already sitting in her spot at the grand dining table. I took my place at the head of the table and sighed. Usually, I sat in the middle with Rainbow, then Funneh, then Lunar, then Draco on my left and my advisors on my right, but since most of my advisors had journeyed to Crystialia to speak to Alexandria about forming an alliance against Draco and his minions, my right side was pretty empty. And my left side was missing 2 people. 3, if you count Lunar, who was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Lunar?" I asked Rainbow, who shrugged and looked around as well.

"I haven't seen her in a few days..." Rainbow said, trailing off.

My eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Is she at least eating?"

"I don't know..."

I called a nearby maid over and ordered her to send breakfast up to Lunar's room. The maid nodded and scurried off to the kitchen.

I ate my breakfast as fast as I could and left, eager to start on my plan.

First stop is the library. I went in and grabbed all the books I could find about memory bubbles and comas, then hurried to Funneh's patient room and waited outside until visiting hours started.

Once they start, I went inside and made myself comfortable beside Funneh, laying down all my books and notebooks down on the window seat the room had. Since the nurses really could do nothing, they moved my sister onto the second floor nursing rooms, where it's less "SHE MIGHT DIE" to "It's gonna be okay."

I walked over and pulled open the curtains that hid my sister from view, in case a wandering nurse or maid came in.

"Hey Funneh," I said to my pale sister, even though she probably couldn't hear me. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to wake you up, trust me. And, I haven't told anyone about this, but I received a memory bubble attack last night. I'm positive it was Draco, hoping to unhinge me. The memory was the day I became queen... I don't think I realized how much responsibility I'd have, or how hard being queen is. My siblings have always made it so much easier for me; you and Draco always took care of the royal army, Lunar took care of all the animals and helped with the medical unit, and Rainbow was always so friendly and patient with the maids, even the new ones, and I... well, I did all the queen duties."

I waited, hoping against hope that Funneh will wake up and comfort me, but no such thing happened. She stayed as still and lifeless as she had the day before.

I sighed and closed the curtains, returning to my spot on the window seat, grabbing the nearest coma book I could find and started reading it.

。。。

I blinked and rubbed my tired eyes. I've been sitting here for hours, and the sun was starting to go down. I looked out the window and watched as the sun started to lower, its last rays giving a desperate last shine before it disappeared. The door to Funneh's room opened, and a maid came in carrying food.

"Your majesty," She said with a deep bow, "Princess Rainbow had told me to bring you dinner."

"Put it on the table, thank you." I said, pointing towards Funneh's bedside table, where the lunch Rainbow had brought sat, forgotten.

"Yes, your majesty." The maid said and put the dinner tray down, taking the cold lunch tray away with her as she left.

Shortly after, Nurse Lilac came in and told me visiting hours were over. I grabbed all my books and left, after making sure Funneh's curtains were still closed.

。。。

The next day, I repeated the process. And the day after that. And after that. And, you guessed it, the day after that.

On the 5th day, I'd gone through the majority of coma books and was starting to get annoyed at them. They all had pretty much the same information, about how patient should wake up after a few weeks, but some stay in a coma for years. As much as I want to stay optimistic, Funneh doesn't look like she'd wake up anytime soon.

I flipped open the first book about memory bubbles and got down to reading. Rainbow's been sending me food for the past few days, but I mostly ignored them. I appreciate her concern, but I just didn't feel like eating.

。。。

I was walking along a shore near our kingdom by myself, looking down at the ground. I was enjoying this rare feeling of peacefulness, of everything being alright. All my family members were alive and well.

Just then, a gust of wind picked up and I could hear someone screaming in agony. My head whipped around as I tried to locate who it was, but no luck.

The voice... it sounded so familiar.

Funneh!

The agonizing screaming continued as I called out desperately for Funneh, but I got no replies. Just more screaming.

"Funneh! Funneh, where are you? I can help! Answer me! Funneh!" I screamed into the wind, tears flowing freely down my face.

No replies.

。。。

*Beep beep beep*

Huh? I opened my eyes groggily and, for a second, thought I was a student again and my alarm was going off. Wait, that isn't right.

*Beep beep beep*

I shot up from where I was laying on the window seat with a pillow under me. Dang, I must've fallen asleep while reading.

*Beep beep beep*

The windows had a dark glow to them, and stars were finally waking up in the night sky. The clock read, 12:32 am.

*Beep beep beep*

I looked around; what was beeping?

Then I spotted it- the screen beside Funneh's bed, showing her heartbeat, was beeping. And the statics were going chaotic.

*Beep beep beep*

And then the line went still.