The Oracle

Chapter 33: Drowning in You

SORA

Nearly a half hour later, nearly everyone attending Aria is finally gathered into the dining hall, the room packed full of people and chatter that swirls in the air.

"This is just going to piss me off," Sander scowls with crossed arms as he sits across from me at our table, Shae sitting on his left and Kit sitting on his right.

"Yeah, well that makes two of us," Kaito says from his place on the other side of Kit.

"As much as we want to, we can't do anything about it," Akari shakes her head and crosses her arms on the left of me. "We'll just have to try and deal with it, but that doesn't make it fair."

"Akari is right," Evory sighs softly from the other side of Akari and Darius nods in agreement, him sitting on Evory's other side.

"Finally, some sense," Kit sighs.

"I'm just worried about Gambit and Sekai," Isabella chews on her bottom lip nervously and I look over to my right to where she's sitting a seat away from me, Merrick in between us.

"Me too," Merrick frowns and trails off in thought.

As I glance around the room, I lock eyes with Clea at her table from where she sits beside Raciel and she smiles tiredly.

'It'll be okay,' she mouths from across the room.

'I know,' I mouth back and she sends me another tired smile before she turns to face the front of the dining hall where Carmin taps on a microphone to gain everyone's attention.

"Thank you all for gathering here today," Carmin starts. "I'd like to start by addressing one of the many questions all of you have been wondering. As of yesterday, Gambit Lychn and Sekai Ward have left Aria Academy. And, as of today, they have been exiled from returning."

The dining hall erupts in loud whispers as people frantically try to talk about the situation, but Carmin clears his throat and the hall goes silent again.

"Of course, this means that the classes Ms. Lychn were in charge of have been left without a charge," Carmin continues. "With that being said, the replacement professor for Ms. Lychn has been decided. I would like for you all to give a warm welcome to Miroslava Constance, one of our abroad members."

Miroslava smiles from her place beside Carmin at the front of the dining hall and a few of the male students let out whistles and shouts.

"Hello, students of Aria," Miroslava bows her head slightly before she stands back up straight and smiles widely, her hands clasped in front of her. "I humbly accept this opportunity to instruct each and every one of you that I can and I'm excited to be working with you all. Forgive me if things are a bit...hectic...at the start, but I promise we'll get there together."

The dining hall erupts into an echo of claps from those excited to work with Miroslava while others contain frowns and confused looks on their faces at Gambit no longer being around.

"With that being said, please warmly welcome Ms. Constance to the academy. As of now, you may return to your classes," Carmin says, the students afterward dispersing to either grab food, go to their classes, or introduce themselves to Miroslava.

Carmin makes his way through the dining hall while all this is happening and he makes our way over to our table before he asks to speak to Evory and Darius in his office. The two of them exchange a glance before they stand up from the table and head off after him, leaving the rest of us to wonder what he could possibly want.

"I should get back to the infirmary to check on Reverence," Isabella offers us a sad smile before she stands up and exits the dining hall.

"I have to go tend to some things," Merrick frowns and stands up.

I frown as I turn to watch Merrick leave the dining hall and Akari raises a brow quizzically.

"Maybe you should go after him," Akari offers.

"Yeah..." I trail off, "maybe..."

I decide to say my goodbyes to the other and head after Merrick, frowning as I quickly take long strides to try and catch up to him before I lose sight of him.

"Merrick!" I shout just as he reaches the stairs to the dorms and he glances over his shoulder, his lips parting in surprise.

"Hey," he rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat. "I'm just going to my room. You can come if you want."

"Okay," I swallow thickly. "Yeah, sure."

Merrick watches as I jog the rest of the way over to him and we walk up the stairs together.

"How do you know her?" I blurt out as we reach the top of the stairs and round the corner to his dorm, unable to keep to myself.

"What?" Merrick's steps falter and he looks over at me as we stand there in the open hall.

"Miroslava," I start, my eyes searching his. "How do you know her?"

"It's complicated," Merrick sighs and goes to continue walking to his dorm, but I stop him by grabbing his wrist, making him turn back to look at me with raised eyebrows.

"How complicated?" I breathe out, searching his brown eyes for answers.

"Sora," Merrick frowns. "Just...let it go. Please."

"But why?" I stress and Merrick wrenches his wrist out of my grip to run his hand through his hair. "What is so important about Miroslava that you can't talk about it?"

Merrick licks his lips nervously as his eyes scan my face before he grabs my hand and hurriedly unlocks his door, practically throwing me inside as he struggles to lock the door.

"Merr--" I start, absolutely confused, but Merrick whirls around and cups the sides of my face to pull me down into a heated kiss.

I let out a sound of surprise as Merrick releases my face and locks his arms around my neck as if hanging on to me for dear life as he presses his chest against mine, kissing me desperately as if he's dying. After kissing him back for a few minutes, I pull away, breathless, and lock eyes with him as his chest heaves from lack of oxygen, his eyes revealing.

"Merrick...what?" I manage to breathe out, my voice wrecked.

"I love you," Merrick says quietly, his voice sounding broken up as he hangs his head and his shoulders tense as he lowers his hands to clutch on to my shirt.

"Merrick?" I ask quietly, my eyebrows furrowing in concern as I lift his chin to watch tears stream down his face.

"I just...I love you so much," Merrick cries and I frown as I pull his head onto my chest, letting him sob as I hold him.

"I know," I whisper, my arms pulling him impossibly tighter. "I love you too, Merrick."

"Never," Merrick rasps out through his sobs, "never forget that, okay?"

"I won't," I continue to hug him, not knowing what's wrong but deciding that I can ask him about it later. "I promise I won't."

"Good," Merrick laughs dryly. "Because I think that would really break me."

"Me too," I breathe out, the only other sound in the room being our heartbeats beating in sync. "Me too."