Mirage - Shall We Date Wizardess Heart' Fic

Chapter 67: Sometimes a home has a heartbeat

The unexpected commotion made Aurora open her eyes just as slightly. She'd watched him run in the distance from a near-comatose state. Relief brought a smile to her lips."H-He came... He really came..." The words escaped her pale lips, her voice barely a whisper.

The injured girl drew a slow breath and glanced self-consciously at Gedonelune's Headmaster running like a maniac in the Tower's direction and Professor Schuyler parcelling out the Gedonelune Royal Knights into two parties, giving out specific orders to each and one of them; a small group went into the tower and a larger one probed deeper into the forest. Vincent and Klaus were also with him too, she couldn't have mistaken them even if she tried. They were so well synchronized with one another that she was sure it was just a matter of hours before Shadow was apprehended, they were more than capable to deal with a crisis such as that one.

She snickered, remembering the first time she was in a situation similar to this one, and gagged on more blood. Coughing, she struggled to take a breath again.

Then, she heard quiet footsteps in the opposite direction where she saw Randolph coming from and a black figure appeared. Her heart involuntary skipped a beat. She struggled to recognize the man standing over her body, her eyesight was pretty roughed up.

"Hey, kid." His voice was warm and gentle."I would ask how you're doing but, I think the blood already answered that question for you."

She waited for her eyes to adjust and squinted up at him against the sun."Hugo...?"

He tugged his hands inside his front pockets and crouched down, "Last time I checked, yes."

"What..." For a moment she looked confused, "What are you doing here? Are you some kind of mirage or something now?"

Hugo laughed, looking at her to see how she'd take it. "Yes. Something like that."

She took one good look at the smirk on his face, and couldn't help but crack a laugh. "You're funny, for a dead man."

"Look who's talking." he scoffed at her poor choice of words.

Aurora smiled at him in response, which faded from her lips as soon as she realized death was closer than ever before. Her lower body grew number by the second, her bloody hands were losing their strength and her injured head hurt more and more. And, she was beginning to lose track of simpler things. "H-Hey... Hugo?" She called, hoping she wasn't stammering.

"Yes, kiddo?" His gaze sought Aurora and the sides of his mouth turned up in a warm smile.

"I... I don't..." Her voice trailed off as if there were no more words left to articulate. Her grip on the world gradually weakened, her mind felt lighter and her eyelids grew heavier, for the ending was near. It was needless to say there was still so much for her to do, so many places she wanted to visit and several different subjects she wanted to learn about; she wanted to love and be loved, she wanted to get married one day and have a family of her own, she wanted to have a country house and die of old age in her bed next to the person she had sworn to love and cherish 'till the end of her days but, she simply didn't have the strength to fight anymore. She was tired, vexed, that she hardly knew what she wanted anymore. Death never seemed so appealing, all she had to do was let go.

The dragon-man leaned in closer, he held a hand to her cheek, his voice redirecting her back to the living world."Hey-hey. Stay with me, kid."  His gaze wandered over her face, coming back to her eyes. "Don't you dare die on me! Help is on the way."