Requiem [Sirius the Jaeger]

Chapter 18 - Through Heaven and Hell

"Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone's face? Did I say words of healing? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come."
~Henri Nouwen

I awoke with a start, my eyes snapping open to be greeted with darkness. At first, I feared I was back in the void where I talked with the Blood of the Beast, only to feel relieved when I realized that wasn't the case. Instead of the complete darkness I expected, this was merely a room, darkened by the night outside. A few stray rays of moonlight shone through the closed curtains, giving the room an ominous glow.

As I slowly calmed down and took in my surroundings, I quickly understood where I was. I was lying in a big, comfortable bed in the middle of the room, buried under a big blanket, distorted by my tossing and turning. I lay on my back, my tired eyes facing the grey ceiling above me while my head sunk deep into the fluffy pillows beneath it.

Shifting my head to my left side, I could see a table buried under a mess of papers. Pencils, rulers and various sketches were spread over the wooden surface, making it impossible to see what's beneath them. On top of the chaos lay a lonely, metal spear, the blades reflecting the moonlight and making them glow. The weapon seemed to have been cleaned carefully, erasing any speck of blood from its black surface.

When I saw all of this, all my doubts on where I was at the moment vanished immediately. As I recognized my room in the mansion slowly but surely, the panic from before ebbed away, letting me relax at last. However, there was still a question nagging me: How did I end up here?

I clearly remember what had happened on the rooftop, at least for quite a while. I remember fighting with Kerschner, nearly resulting in my death. I also remember the Professor joining the battle, having strange conversations with the Vampire before fighting him, only to lose too. Soon after, Yuliy appeared too, the cue for the things to go downhill.

I can still know what kind of information was revealed and how I reacted to that. The guilt still sat deep in my stomach as I saw the images before my eyes, seeing how I was about to kill my family before Yuliy luckily stopped me.

But what happened after that?

Fortunately, I didn't have to wonder about that for too long. As I shifted my head tiredly, now facing my right side, I realized what must have happened right away. Seriously, what did I expect?

The moment I had turned around, I was met by the familiar messy black and white hair, the owners head lying on the mattress resting atop a pair of arms. The ravenette's cobalt eyes were shut tightly and his soft breathing were more than enough to prove me he was asleep. Even though I didn't know why he was sleeping in my room, I could only assume he had been overly worried, yet again.

Honestly, I won't judge him. Considering what state I was in when Yuliy came onto the roof, he must have been more than concerned, especially after I refused his help in favor of saving the Professor. Speaking of the Professor, I wondered how the others were doing. Was Philip save? Did something happen to the residents? How were my teammates doing?

I sighed deeply as I felt way too tried to think about something like this. It felt as if all my strength had left my body, leaving me with nothing more than fatigue. How long did I sleep anyway? It couldn't have been that long, thinking about the dark sky and the fact that Yuliy was sleeping soundly.

Although I knew I was supposed to be resting, I couldn't help but wanting to get up. I felt as if I could sleep for years and yet I had that urge to just walk around a little. I wouldn't be doing much, just taking a little walk; how much harm could be done? I just needed to make sure I wouldn't wake anybody up while I did so and nobody would even hear about this. What the eye doesn't see the heart cannot grieve over, isn't that right?