Chapter 20: Chapter 19

Two days later...

Hiro woke up in the middle of the night.

Though he felt almost entirely better at that point, he was still in the infirmary. The girl laid on the bed with him, Suzie beside him and Kelsi at his feet, while Alphonse slept in the guest chair next to the bed, his glasses askew on his face.

Hiro was sweating profusely under the sheets and his bladder was crying out for release. So he kicked the sheets off and rolled over to get off the bed. A strong hand grabbed his arm and he couldn’t move an inch. He looked down and locked eyes with Suzie. Her pink eyes were wide open, alert, and almost seemed to be glowing in the dark. “Where are you going?”

“To piss.” Hiro responded, his voice thick and hoarse from grogginess.

Her eyes flicked to his gear by the bedside and said, “leave your staff here.”

Hiro put his hand over Suzie’s on his arm, “I solemnly swear I’m just going to take a piss.”

...

Without his cloak, Hiro shivered in the brisk autumn night air. He walked with quick steps, wishing to be back under warm blankets with his friends.

“Hiro!” someone called out to him. Their voice wasn’t too loud but even a normal speaking volume shattered the dead silence of night and made Hiro nearly jump out of his shoes. 

He turned to the voice and saw Luce melting out of the shadows. How they, in their gold and pure white outfit, managed to blend in with the darkness, Hiro couldn’t begin to figure out.

“Luce? What’s up?” Alphonse had apparently talked with Luce and Blaze before leaving the dungeon and divided the treasure into 5 parts but since then Hiro hadn’t seen them once.

“Just taking a midnight piss and saw you... wanted to say hi.” Luce slung an arm around his shoulders, “haven’t seen you since Alphonse teleported you out of the dungeon, how are you?”

Hiro started walking alongside Luce back to the infirmary, a little bit grateful for their warm arm around his shoulders. “I’m pretty much recovered. I have a check-up tomorrow and if I get the all-clear then we will head out.”

“That’s great! Sorry I didn’t come visit you, Blaze got a bit fucked up too and I’m still trying to win her and Alyss over.”

“Why do you want to join their team so bad?”

“They’re the great-great grandchildren of the original adventurers, who wouldn’t want to fight alongside the children of legends?” Luce stopped suddenly and so did Hiro, turning to face them. Luce smiled, “speaking of... you’re the son of the Rex and Gaius, aren’t you?” Hiro nodded, feeling his ears burn a little, “you should be careful when trying to carry on their legacy. Legends don’t die peacefully, even after retiring, for a reason and not everything in this world is as it appears.” Luce took their arm away and Hiro felt a sudden chill when their body heat no longer enveloped him.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Hiro asked, too quiet and too late, as Luce had already walked away, even the sound of their retreating footsteps quickly fading away.