Fading Sight
Through my closing eyes, the sight of the monster lumbering toward me seeped in dimly.
"Bad kids get punish—"
-Crunch!
Just before the monster could crush my skull, a red-blazing blade stabbed into its shoulder from somewhere.
A sword edge burning with a chilling crimson glow, and two red glints of eyes.
"Ah... Uncle."
It was Vergilius.
-Whoosh-crack!
Uncle's black coat sliced through the falling snow. Tomeri's remaining arm lashed out in rage toward him, but it only cleaved empty air. Faster still, a burning red line rent the monster's body apart.
Blood erupted.
-Splatter!
Tomeri let out a guttural screech as it collapsed to the ground. The moment Uncle raised his foot to smash its head, a purple light bloomed from empty air, shoving him back.
-Clang!
With the sound of metal clashing, Uncle staggered back a step.
"Get out of the way."
It was a low, icy voice—chillingly different from the tone he usually used with us.
But the woman standing before him held her umbrella-like weapon at a slant, her face somewhere between a smile and not.
"Can't do that, junior."
Her tone was light, almost playful.
The moment their brief exchange ended, the two shadows tangled in a blur.
The red line struck first, only for the purple to deflect it aside. The clash of metal and the tear of flesh wove together, filling the Christmas Eve night sky.
I couldn't watch the scene to its end.
Purple light, red glow, pristine white snow. The instant all the colors blended and crumbled, my consciousness snapped away completely.
*
I opened my eyes to a stark white ceiling, unfamiliarly painted.
As my eyes adjusted, the sharp tang of disinfectant hit my nose first.
Then the pain came crashing in, belatedly.
"Nngh..."
A groan leaked from my throat. It felt like everything inside, centered around my ribs, was one massive bruise. My head throbbed too. Even twitching a fingertip felt awkward.
I dragged my creaking body to turn my head slightly to the side.
There, on the two chairs beside my bed, were familiar faces.
Ganet and Rapis.
Both slumped over asleep, their postures wrecked from who knows how long they'd held out.
Dried tear tracks stained Ganet's eyes, while Rapis dozed in a half-lean against the chair back, nodding off.
I stared blankly at them until another stab of pain from my ribs drew a small whimper from my lips.
"Ngh..."
My groan woke Ganet first.
"...Beril?"
His sleep-fogged face sharpened in an instant.
"Rapis, wake up! Beril's awake!"
"Wh-what?"
Rapis jolted upright from her chair like she'd been shocked. She blinked at me with bleary eyes, then widened them in shock.
"For real...! Hey, doctor! Doctor!"
They flung open the hospital room door and bolted out almost in sync.
Moments later, a middle-aged doctor with glasses entered. He adjusted his specs, checked my eyelids, took my pulse, inspected the bandage on my head, then gingerly pressed around my ribs.
-Squeeze.
"Does it hurt?"
"...Yes."
"If it hurts, you're alive and well."
Dry humor. The situation wasn't exactly laughable, but his hands moved with evident expertise regardless.
Finishing the exam, the doctor nodded once.
"You're recovering faster than expected. The meds must've kicked in good. No straining yourself, and you can check out right away."
"Right away?"
Ganet echoed in surprise.
The doctor replied curtly.
"Yes. Lying around longer won't heal it any better. We used a K Corp special ampule, so the life-threatening wounds are mostly mended. Better to be with familiar faces anyway."
With that, he closed the chart and left the room.
-Click.
The door shut, leaving the room eerily quiet for a beat.
Ganet fidgeted with his fingers; Rapis stared out the window pointlessly.
I gazed down at my hand resting on the bedsheet. The bandage wrapped tight around it felt strangely alien.
In the end, I spoke first.
"...What about the others?"
Ganet and Rapis froze at my question.
I asked again.
"The teachers... and the nun?"
Neither could answer.
That silence hit faster than any words.
"..."
A chill seeped into my chest.
I couldn't speak for a while. Trying to just clogged my throat like thorns sprouting inside.
Finally, I forced my lips to part.
"If I'd..."
My voice cracked like parched earth.
"If I'd just been a little faster."
Ganet's head snapped up.
"Beril."
"A little stronger."
I clenched my fist. My bandaged fingertips trembled.
"I could've saved more for sure."
Ganet stood and approached my bedside.
"No."
I could hear the tremor in his voice.
"Beril. If not for you, more would've died. For real. You held that monster back—that's how the others could escape."
Rapis quickly chimed in, hurrying over too.
"Yeah, Beril. You... you did something totally insane, but that's why we survived. Me, Ganet, the other kids who made it."
I bowed my head.
They weren't wrong. But somehow, the words wouldn't sink in.
My head got it, but my heart refused.
"...I keep seeing yesterday."
Every blink replayed those scenes in vivid clarity.
The teacher being torn apart. The nun flying into the wall. The kids sprawled mangled on the snow.
How could anyone act like that was okay?
"..."
Lost in gloom, head down, the hospital room door suddenly swung open.
I looked up. A familiar black coat entered first.
Vergilius. Uncle.
He stepped in, scanned the three of us, then stopped wordlessly by the door.
Ganet and Rapis stood awkwardly from their seats, torn between tending me or greeting him.
-Shh.
I struggled to prop myself up in bed and met his eyes.
The first words from my trembling lips were:
"...What about that monster?"
Uncle paused briefly.
"Couldn't kill it."
Flat tone.
"Purple Tear got in the way."
Short and to the point. Yet it landed with unnatural weight.
I bit my lip.
The monster was alive—that fact alone twisted my guts.
I barely managed the next question.
"Who... survived?"
Uncle answered right away this time.
"You."
His red gaze shifted to Ganet and Rapis.
"Ganet and Rapis. Four other kids."
Seven in total.
The number rolled slowly in my mind.
"And the teachers?"
Uncle didn't reply immediately. Instead, he paused in mourning, then said curtly:
"All deceased."
That was it.
The orphanage. The teachers and the nun.
All of them.
I stared blankly at him.
My vision blurred suddenly.
Ah, I'm crying.
It didn't take long to realize.
"...If I'd."
My lips quivered.
"If I'd been a little stronger."
A tear dropped with a plink.
"A little faster..."
The room fell silent.
Ganet covered his mouth, holding back sobs; Rapis bowed her head, rubbing her eyes.
Tears streamed from me too as words poured out.
"I'll... become a strong Fixer like you, Uncle."
My voice shook raggedly.
"So nothing like that ever happens again. Someday, I'll track down that monster myself—"
My words cut off unfinished.
Uncle had approached silently and pulled me into a quiet embrace.
"...It's okay."
His voice stayed even.
I melted into his arms without resistance.
His black coat carried a familiar scent. Faint blood, wind, the cold bite of snow in water.
The smell I'd caught countless Christmas Eves before.
I finally burst into sobs.
Ganet approached first, eyes red-rimmed.
Then Rapis sidled up quietly.
They hugged me wordlessly too.
In the end, all three of us were a mess.
I sobbed there in the middle for a long while.
Some died, some survived—and only now were we truly facing it.
And in that moment, I finally understood.
Surviving is a pretty bitter thing.
And that there'd be so much more ahead from here.