Brutal Journey Of An Unfortunate Female Heroine 42 The Children In The Dorm

"Nice to meet you Lydis!" He handed her another wet towel. "For your head…" Lydis reached up to touch her head and found that it was covered in sweat. Looking down the sheets under here were soaked as well. Even her clothes were wet.

"Thanks." Lydis took the towel from Bennox and wiped at her head, the cool water felt refres.h.i.+ng.

"Ah, no problem." Bennox went silent, his eyes lingering on the floor.

"What? Got something to say?" Bennox flinched and sheepishly hung his head lower.

"I've never really talked to a girl before…" Fumbling with his fingers, Bennox s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably in his chair. When she was sleeping he had been okay after a while. She couldn't talk to him or see his awkward movements. What he felt most nervous about were her eyes. Since her eyes used to be closed Bennox didn't know what color they were but, now their crystal-clear blue seemed to pierce into his mind, like an all-knowing deity. Even as Lydis gazed elsewhere it seemed powerful enough to make him crumble.

Lydis saw as Bennox was fumbling with his words and decided that it was time for her to leave. Who knew how long she had been out. Well, one person knew at least. Lydis lowered the warm cloth from her face and turned to look at Bennox.

"How long have I been asleep?" Bennox snapped out of his thoughts.

"F-four hours… Owen found you collapsed in the girl's hall when he went to… pee…" Bennox's ears flushed at having said the word 'pee' to a girl. He avoided Lydis's gaze again. Lydis sighed in relief. If she had pa.s.sed out while the opening ceremony was happening that would've been a disaster.

"It seems that I'm feeling better now. I'll excuse myself so there is no need to take me to my room." Lydis swung her legs of the edge of the bed and tried to stand but her legs faltered. Bennox sprang up and caught her arm. Realizing what he did, Bennox quickly let go.

"I-I'm sorry! I, uh, I was just, trying to help…" Bennox retreated back into his chair. Lydis could see the tips of his ears burn red. Having been caught by Bennox she had enough time to use her other arm to catch the frame of the upper bunk bed. Leaning against it she raised her other arm.

"Don't mind, I'm grateful for the help." Lydis waved weakly at Bennox. He nodded in return and continued to sit down. Valfafer whined a little. Lydis had almost fallen over. Clearly, she wasn't well enough to walk on her own and yet he couldn't do anything to help his master!

Lydis walked a few steps and reached the room walls. Moving along them she made her way to the door. Bennox saw that and flew to the door, reaching it before Lydis. He grabbed the handle and pushed the door open for Lydis. As she pa.s.sed Lydis gave him a weak smile.

"Thank you…" She slid out of the door and made her way towards the girl's hall to the left. Bennox watched with worry as Lydis slowly shuffled down the hall. When she reached the gap in the wall separating the two sides Bennox held in the thought of calling out to help her. He saw Lydis pause at the edge and after a few moments pushed herself off from the wall, moving towards the other side. Bennox held his breath as Lydis landed solidly against the other wall. A few more moments of waiting. Lydis began to move again. About five minutes of wall shuffling and Lydis disappeared into a room. Bennox sighed and retreated back into his own room.

"What's the point in helping her?" Owen was awake now. His head was propped up on one arm while his other arm played with the string to his necklace.

"You were the one who found her. She seemed to be in a lot of pain so I did what anyone else would've." Owen s.h.i.+fted from his side to his back, both hands behind his head.

"Not me. I wouldn't have helped. What if she ends up clinging onto us? You know how girls are. Be nice once and they suddenly think you're always obligated to help."

"You said to do something, if you didn't tell me that there was someone suffering on the floor we never would've found her. Just admit it, you did want to help." Owen scoffed at Bennox.

"I didn't tell you to help her, I just didn't want to be smelling a dead body in the halls." Owen closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. "School starts tomorrow, make sure all your things are ready. I'm not waking you up if you sleep in." Bennox laughed a little and went to one of the desks.

"Say what you will but I know." Owen's face twitched as he sprang up.

"I'm not lying! I swear I'm not going to wake you up at all! What about you, you were blus.h.i.+ng like crazy talking to Lydis!" Owen mimicked Bennox's awkward sitting position and finger fumbling. Bennox raised one hand to cover his flushed cheeks.

"T-that has nothing to do with this!" Owen smirked at Bennox, victory in his eyes.

"Oh really now? You were drooling over her, look, there's some on your chin." Owen pointed at Bennox and instinctively Bennox wiped his chin. Realizing what he did Bennox's face flushed even more.

"S-shut up!" Bennox hid his face with both hands. Owen was laughing loudly now.

"Ha ha ha! I guess you're at that age now."

"You're the same age as me! Stop acting so high and mighty!" Bennox flew at Owen, diving at him in his bed.

"Wh?!" Owen tussled with Bennox, laughing with each other as they roughhoused.

Down the hall Lydis was panting against her door. She had managed to get into her room and close the door behind her but that was as far as she got. She slid down and sat on the floor, her arms and legs useless in front of her. The throbbing in her head didn't stop, a fire burned in her chest. Valfafer nudged Lydis's burning hand.

"Master… Are you okay?" Lydis tilted her head slightly to look at Valfafer. This one small motion caused a new wave of pain to flare up in her.

*huff* "… d… umb…" *huff* "… do… g…" Lydis tried to make a scornful face but her facial muscles didn't listen. Her eyebrows remained scrunched up in pain, her lips pressed tightly together. She squeezed her eyes shut as the pain hit a spike. Valfafer watched as Lydis struggled to endure the pain.

From her pocket Ui flew out. It's red eyes scanned Lydis and instantly turned blue.

"Due to unstable conditions Ui will now switch over to medic mode." Ui hovered over Lydis's chest and a small monitoring pad ejected from his tail. It landed on her neck. From the patch Ui got Lydis's heartbeat, temperature and blood pressure. "Injecting emergency painkillers." The tip of Ui's tail turned into a syringe, clear liquid quickly filled it. Without hesitating Ui stabbed the syringe into Lydis's neck, the liquid disappearing into Lydis.

The pain in her neck caused Lydis to flinch but, she could feel the pain lessening in other parts of her body. Seems like the painkillers were the kind to act quickly.

"… thanks, Ui…" Her voice came out in a whispers, her throat coa.r.s.e and dry.

"No need for thanks Master Lydis." Ui reformed it's tail and landed on the floor next to Valfafer. "Are there any other pains Master Lydis?" She rested for a moment before replying.

"No, it seems that I can move for now…" Lydis used the door handle to pull herself up. On hand traced against the wall while the other reached for ther bed. With slow, dragging steps, Lydis finally managed to reach her bed. Flopping into it she ignored the pain from falling suddenly. With tremendous effort she managed to flip herself over with rolling off and stared at the bottom of the top bunk. The pain ebbing away.

"Ui, what time is it?"

"Master Lydis, it is currently twenty-three thirty-eight in military time."

"It's pretty late." Lydis covered her eyes with one arm. "Ui, set a timer for zero four hundred." Ui beeped in confirmation. Valfafer already made his way onto the bed. He curled up in the corner closest to Lydis's head and fell asleep. Lydis took this chance to try and stabilize herself before tomorrow. With the occasional help of Ui's painkillers Lydis entered a peaceful sleep.