Chapter 05

Chapter 05

Throughout the next morning, Rikku had been pacing back and forth. Chrono, however, was leaning against the wall next to a door.

"Rikku, could you stop walking back and forth? You're going to wear out the carpet," said Chrono. Rikku stopped walking for a second to look at Chrono, her expression was masked.

"Are you telling me you don't care about her?" asked Rikku. Chrono looked away from Rikku's eyes.

"I never said such a thing," answered Chrono.

"Well then why..." said Rikku before she was cut off with the sound of the door. The door next to Chrono had opened as a young lady walked out. She had beautiful brown eyes and upon her head was a nurse's cap. Her outfit was a shade of pink with brown shoes adorning her feet. Her class: High Priest, elites of the Priests.

"Dove, how is she?" asked Chrono - almost immediately.

"She took a great deal of injuries," started Dove.

"Well? Does that mean she's alright?" asked Rikku anxiously.

"She'll be just fine. She just needs a lot of rest. The whips that they used on her were infused with poison. However, an antidote courses through her veins, slowly wiping the poison away. If I didn't know better, I'd say that someone gave her the antidote, but I'm not certain. You'd probably have to ask Hota about that," said Dove.

"Alright, thanks a lot Dove. We really appreciate it," said Chrono.

"No need to thank me. It's my job, remember?" said Dove. Chrono smiled at her.

"Can we ... go in and see her?" asked Rikku.

"Well, you could but she's currently sleeping at this moment," answered Dove.

"Alright. Thank you," said Rikku as she went to open the door gently. Rikku walked in with Chrono right behind her. She sat down in a chair next to Hotaru's bed.

"She'll be alright," whispered Chrono.

"...I should have saved her. I shouldn't have let her do this," said Rikku.

"It's not your fault, Rikku. It was a risky mission," answered Chrono.

"Yeah but I can't help but to feel responsible," said Rikku. After saying that, she got up and walked out of the room with Chrono's eyes following her retreating form.

"Get well soon, Hota..." said Chrono as he, too, walked out of the room, softly closing the door behind him. Hotaru, on the other hand, was still sound asleep on her bed.

~*~*~

Betha was currently out in the gardens, sitting on a bench next to the fountain. She looked at the flowers, the fountain, and the sky. Thoughts going through her head until a crunch sound shook her out of her reverie. She looked up, only to see Chris.

"Hey," said Chris.

"Hey," responded Betha.

"You okay?"

"I'm okay."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"You don't need to blame yourself, you know."

"..."

"Betha..."

"Sorry Chris but I'd like to be alone for now," said Betha as she got up from her spot only to walk away to another secluded place. She found a nice spot surrounded by trees. She sat down on the ground, having her back lean against one of the tree trunks. A small and soft sigh left her lips.

~*~*~

Chris could only stare at the place Betha use to sit. A sigh left his lips as Devi-Chan looked at him with wide eyes.

"Devi?" said Devi-Chan.

"Don't worry about it, Devi-Chan. Everything's alright," said Chris with a smile and he patted Devi-Chan on the head before starting to walk towards the castle with Devi-Chan right behind him. The castle belonged to MewDewm and in it was where all the members were - sometimes anyways.

~*~*~

Rikku was currently lying on grass, looking up at the sky. Thoughts once again went through her mind but this time, it was centered on a certain Knight - Lord Knight. She wondered about his actions, his words, and well, his name.

"I wonder...if he's the one who gave Hota the antidote. Could he? Isn't he an enemy? Oh, this is so confusing."

~*~*~

As for Chrono, well, let's stay he's exercising. In a small field, he was busy practicing his accuracy with his arrows.

*Whoosh.*

"Bulls eye," whispered Chrono as he got out another arrow from his quiver, aiming for the same red dot.

*Whoosh.*

~*~*~

"Why isn't she awake?! It's been three days! She's been asleep for THREE DAYS! If that's not a coma, I don't know what is!" shouted Rikku, pacing back and forth in the meeting room.

"Rikku, calm down," said Chris.

"Calm down?! I would be if she hasn't been asleep for three days! She hasn't moved - not a single movement, sound, or gesture from her!" said Rikku.

"Maybe we should have Dove see her again," suggested Betha.

"I've looked at her everyday. Her condition seemed well off. In fact, the poison's all gone and her injuries are healing perfectly. I really have no clue why she's been asleep for this long," said Dove.

"Maybe she's really in a coma," whispered Chrono. All eyes went to him. A few stares and one glare.

"I'm going to find the guy that did this to her," said Rikku as she began to walk towards the door but ... got nowhere. "Let go of me ... now!"

"No, I don't think so," said Chris. And just at that moment, a loud crash was heard. All heads were turned towards the hallway. A huge hole was made at the ceiling as a body was lying down on the ground. This body was covered with debris and dust.

"...Random," said Betha. Random got up and smiled. He dusted himself off and started to walk down the hall.

*Sweatdrop.*

"Now that we had our random moment of the day, what are we going to do?" asked Chrono.

"What can we do?" asked Betha.

"We're going to wait," answered Chris.

"Devi!" shouted Devi-Chan.

~*~*~

After the meeting was over, Rikku went into Hotaru's room to check up on her. On the nightstand were a dozen of white roses.

"...Roses?" questioned Rikku. She immediately ran out of Hotaru's room but fortunately, she bumped into Chrono.

"Rikku, let's not run in the hallways next time," said Chrono.

"Chrono. Did you give Hotaru a dozen of white roses?" asked Rikku.

"Uh no. I don't tend to give her flowers," answered Chrono.

"Then do you know who gave her flowers?" asked Rikku.

"Someone gave her flowers?" questioned Chrono.

"..." said Rikku as she gave Chrono a blank stare.

"I'll assume that's a yes then," said Chrono.

"Yes, there's a dozen of white roses on her nightstand," said Rikku.

"Was there a card?" asked Chrono. Rikku thought for a while ...

"I don't know," said Rikku.

"It's good to check, yes?" asked Chrono. Rikku gave him a slap on the arm before making her way towards Hotaru's room with Chrono behind her. She looked at the vase of roses before noticing a card sticking out from the roses. The card was nicely decorated with a crescent moon and a shooting star. In the card, it says...

I hope you get well soon. I thought you might like these ... they are your favorites after all.

Signed,

Someone =)

Rikku stared at it for a minute longer before giving it to Chrono.

"Say, any idea who it can be? They obviously know her well enough to know that Hotaru likes white roses," asked Rikku.

"...no, not really," answered Chrono.

"Thanks for your help," said Rikku, sarcasm dripping from her words. She then took the card out of Chrono's hands and put it back to where it was.

"Uh...sorry?" said Chrono.

"Hmph," said Rikku before walking out of Hotaru's room.

"What did I do this time?" questioned Chrono. "They always seem to be mad at me for no reason! Jeeze."

~*~*~

Five hours later.

An announcement was broadcast through the castle.

"The War of Emperium will start in thirty minutes. Please report to the meeting room for instructions. NOW PLEASE!"

Eventually, every MewDewm member managed to make it to the meeting room. Everyone took his or her seats at the desks. Funny thing was, the meeting room looked oddly like a classroom. There was a white board with dry erase markers, a desk like structure at the front of the room, and several different student desks filling up the room.

Betha, Chris, and Rikku stood at the front of the room, ready to discuss the strategies.