• Chapter 25: Arc and Amy

    Bravo laughed and Arc stirred in his sleep. Arc seemed to be having a bad dream, and Amy went over to hold his hand.

    “Now, who said I was dead?” Bravo teased with a grin on his face. “I mean really, me? Dead?” He laughed once more.

    Amy took Arc’s hand and he almost instantly clamed down and stopped rolling in his sleep. Amy felt his head, still warm, but better than he was.

    “I was there when you blew yourself and Beta up. How’d you survive, I didn’t even see a body.” Steven still was surprised at seeing him here.

    “Ah, that.” Beta walked over to the kitchen area of the room, which was still completely visible from where they all were, and got a glass of water. “The blast projected me backwards and I hit a few branches and trees which knocked me out for a bit. When I came to you guys were fighting that beast. I was still too weak to fight so I figured I’d grab Arc Wolf and get him to safety just incase the worst happened. I’d have gone back, but I’m lucky to have had enough energy to take that shower… let me tell you, blowing yourself up isn’t the easiest thing to do.”

    “Yeah, I’d say… Bravo, what is your Twilight? What animal can blow itself up?” Steven just realized he didn’t know Bravo’s Twilight, nor could he take any educated guess.

    “Ah, but that’s the beauty of being a human with a Twilight.” Bravo drank the water and set the cup down. “Humans can take an animals traits, in my case an electric eel, and build upon them with a little thought. Normally the eel only releases the electric build up upon being threatened right? Well, I can release it when I want and more importantly, how I want. I can build it up to be an explosive charge or dim it down to a harmless static shock.”

    Arc’s breathing became very settled as Amy sat beside him. His hand clutched hers lightly as if instinct for him. Amy was surprised, but she smiled to herself and kept his hand in hers. His hand felt so warm to her, probably because of him having a fever, she thought. No this was something different. The warmth spread from their hands throughout her whole body. Suddenly, Arc’s breathing started to quicken and he steadily started to sweat more and more.

    “Bravo,” Amy said looking away towards Bravo, but not letting go of his hand, “Do you have medicine for a fever?”

    “He’s sweating again already?” Bravo opened a cabinet near him and pulled down a small medicine bottle. “This should do the trick.” Bravo handed a pill to Amy. “Just put that in his mouth and tilt his head up.”

    Amy put the pill in Arc’s already open mouth and tilted his head up. He mostly swallowed the pill himself then Amy laid his head back down. “He’s sleeping isn’t he, how’d he do that?” She asked Bravo.

    “Well yes, he’s asleep, but his inner Twilight’s survival instincts have kicked in. It can make him do basic functions while he’s asleep such as swallowing food or water. It’s completely reliant on a friend’s help, but it is useful if you’re lucky enough to have it. We don’t know how long he’ll be asleep so I can blend food so it’s a liquid and feed him that way while he is asleep.” Bravo gestured to the blender.

    “Oh, ok... that’s good” She sounded sad, but knew it was a good thing. She was upset because then it meant that Arc merely held her hand because of the Twilight, but not him.

    Order and Shonic gestured for Steven to follow them into their bedroom after feeling the uneasiness in the room. Steven looked at Arc and Amy, and decided to follow them into the other room.

    Bravo sensed the sadness in her voice and looked at they’re hands. Arc was grasping hers as well, and this surprised Bravo. “Amy, that only makes him do things necessary to survive.” Bravo gestured to their hands, “that’s Arc’s subconscious mind reaching out to you.”

    As if on cue Arc’s gripped tightened a little more for a moment as the medicine started to take effect and his breathing started to slow back to a normal rate. That’s weird, Amy thought to herself, I could’ve sworn he just smiled. She soon fell asleep beside Arc, still holding his hand.

    Bravo walked back into the bathroom to get his clothes back on, then went to sleep as the others did.