Lon3ly

I added character descriptions in the glossary btw, just in case you were curious about birthdays and stuff.

Yue finished Opening up the last washhouse and decided to drop by the hospital before going to the camp. The hospital was much more empty than it was the last time he visited so he felt relieved. 

“Hello, Miss.” The head doctor said and greeted Yue. He and the nurses looked like they had actually slept recently which was a clear contrast to their haggard appearances on the first day of the expedition.

“Is everything going well?”

“Yes, of course. The people who have been sick have stopped getting worse and fewer patients are coming in every day. I’m starting to believe this city will be able to make it to complete evacuation soon.” The head doctor said and looked relieved as he walked with Yue through the hospital.

“Can you bring me to where the patients who are in the worst condition are?  I want to use a healing spell to try and help.” Yue asked as he noticed that the patients he saw in most rooms seemed like they were recovering very well.

The head doctor nodded and brought him over to a large room where the patients were. Yue looked at the large room of people and readied himself to use magic in the center of the room. He took a deep breath as he started using healing magic. He knew he would probably feel some of the effects of mana exhaustion after casting the spell but he was ready for it. 

He stumbled a bit after casting the spell and the doctor immediately panicked and wanted to check his Vitals but Yue assured him that he was fine. He used a mana crystal and avoided all the nurses and doctors asking him if he felt any sort of symptoms as he left the hospital.

He took his time as he went back to the camp, not wanting to spend what little energy he had. As he walked to the edge of the city he saw Alice attempting to sneak away while her guardian wasn’t looking. He caught her pretty easily without using too much energy since she wasn’t running at full speed because she had to be quiet.

“You can’t keep running away, young lady.” Yue giggled and startled her guardian who thought that Alice had run all the way to the camp again in the seconds she turned away.

“I’m so sorry!” 

“Oh no, she didn’t run away yet, almost but I caught her.” Yue laughed. Alice was calm in his arms again but she was looking around a bit.

“Shortie.” 

Yue didn’t even know what to think when he heard Alice say that. He thought Alice was Mute but suddenly she was calling him short. If Alice wasn’t a child he would’ve argued that he was still growing or if he thought farther ahead he would’ve argued that he’s actually quite tall ‘for a woman’. It had honestly become quite the complex of his after being teased relentlessly by Guiren. “Shortie” in particular brought back a lot of memories of Guiren mischievously holding things up above his head with a smirk.

“I-I’m sorry she’s so rude!” Alice’s Guardian profusely apologized as she looked at Yue’s puzzled expression. She took Alice from Yue’s arms ad quietly scolded her.

“I-It’s probably because that tall young man carried her earlier…” 

“Huh?”

“A young man with the same color uniform as you came to bring her back when she ran away earlier today...He was very tall.” The woman murmured.

“...Viktor…” Yue murmured, he understood why he was being called short now, Viktor was a whole head taller than most people in the class, including him.

“Most people aren’t as tall as him...That doesn’t mean we’re short…” Yue murmured to Alice and pinched her cheek softly.

Yue waved goodbye, he had spent a long time in the city and had left the other students unsupervised so he decided to just go on his way. Alice actually waved back to him and he faltered a little and almost stopped in his tracks but continued on his way.

-

Yue took a quick nap as Viktor got everything ready for night time. Mai was shadowing him, she wanted to see everything that happened at this time just in case she ended up having to coordinate/oversee it.

“That’s pretty much everything… You probably won’t have to do it but It’s good to know.” Viktor said and just watched as the other students got ready.

“...This seems easy so far but please don’t get here late…” Mai murmured.

“We’ll try our best.” 

“Captain… Miss Elizabeth is making a scene…” Marianne came over and reported, pointing to where Elizabeth seemed to be yelling at Ava.

“I’ll deal with it,” Mai said, knowing Viktor was probably too annoyed to deal with it.

Viktor walked closer to the situation to observe but didn’t say anything.

“What’s this all about?” Mai asked, stepping between the two since Elizabeth looked ready to pull some hair. She had honestly forgotten all about Elizabeth for a couple of days, she had been relatively quiet, probably because everyone seemed to be working at all hours of the day without a break.

Elizabeth was going to say something but she saw Viktor was there and didn’t want to lose face. Mai could just tell it was about Viktor as she saw her face turn into the usual bitter and jealous face it turned when she saw Viktor and Yue.

“Move to the long-range group and stop causing problems,” Mai said and glared.

“You can’t boss me around! Y-You’re not a cap—“ 

“She’s in charge whenever Yue and I are busy, she can boss you around all she wants,” Viktor said and rolled his eyes.

Elizabeth turned red with shame and quickly left as Viktor signaled for everyone observing to get back to work.

“It’s honestly hard to believe you’re so nice to Yue,” Mai whispered and laughed, as she looked at Viktor’s stone-cold demeanor.

Viktor just rolled his eyes, “You act like I’m not nice to you.” 

Mai just giggled and turned to Ava.

“Are you going to tell us what that argument was about?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ava blushed and shook her head vigorously.

“Thought so.” Mai giggled, “She tends to start problems...so just stay away from her.”

“S-Sorry for bothering you,” Ava said and Mai could just tell that it was aimed more at Viktor than at her. She watched her leave and sighed a bit. She doubted that Yue had noticed at all but she wasn’t sure about Viktor.

“You know she —”

Viktor just nodded, “I know.”

“You’re not even going to properly reject her? She’s a nice girl, I think.” Mai said and glanced at Viktor. She didn’t know Ava that well but other than the clear favoritism she seemed like a nice person. She was going to add that of course Yue was the best person for him but Viktor cut her off.

“I don’t like women,” Viktor responded.

“Huh?”

“...That makes a lot of sense…” Mai murmured after thinking about it a bit, “But didn’t you like him before finding out?!”

“Yeah, and I was going through an existential crisis because of it,” Viktor said, completely serious, and Mai just burst out laughing.

Earlier in the year right when he and Yue had just started becoming close, Viktor was actually questioning himself because of his feelings. He couldn’t even focus on his work for a while. He was just thinking about how he had definitely lost control of his situation. 

At first, he had definitely been meaning to just have a platonic friendship with Yue but he had definitely fallen into flirting with “her” and he was confused. He was certain that he had no interest in women but Yue made him confused. Finding out that Yue was a man helped his confusion a bit.

“Y-You must be happy,” Mai said whilst laughing.

“...I’m just glad my father won’t get the full satisfaction of having me marry a woman. I was honestly starting to warm up to the thought of just being with Yue regardless of if he was a girl.” Viktor murmured.

Mai would’ve teased Viktor about how much he liked Yue but she knew exactly what his comeback would be and she did not want to be called out like that.

—

When Yue woke up and went out to go to the position he would be in that night he saw Mai smiling at him and raised an eyebrow.

“What?” 

Mai giggled and motioned for him to come closer.

“Viktor really likes you,” Mai whispered and grinned as she watched Yue’s cheeks redden.

“Oh shush!” Yue exclaimed, starting to walk away.

“I’m serious. I don’t know what secrets you’re hiding,” Mai said through telepathy, sneakily trying to give Yue some confidence, “but I think he’d love you even if you were a frog.”

Yue turned around and looked at her, he knew it was impossible for Mai to know that he was a boy but her words made him suspicious and a bit scared.

“Would you still be my friend if I was a frog?” Yue said through telepathy, facing forward as he went to his place.

“Definitely. Me and Viktor might be labeled as crazy for talking to a frog though.” Mai laughed. 

Yue hoped no one was looking at him because he knew he was probably making an embarrassing face. He was very touched and it showed in a silly little smile. Mai gave him a lot of credit for being able to lift her spirits but she was very much capable of doing the same for him.

He tried to look serious as the monsters started to appear. He had decided to be in mid-range so he didn’t have much to do. Viktor on the other hand was stuck dealing with one of the mutant monsters that Yue had dealt with earlier.

Yue wanted to help out but Viktor seemed to have it all under control. He walked past the barrier and the monster noticed him and began to run to him, planning to throw its spear at him but when it shifted the spear so only the arms on it’s right side were holding it, Viktor quickly cut the monster clean in half and had his mana boil It’s skin until all but the bones and core evaporated.

Yue felt a bit defeated by how quickly Viktor dealt with the monster but stayed silent as Viktor walked up to him with the monster’s core. Yue observed it for a second and realized the core wasn’t exactly like the one from the monster he fought. Most of it was from a human core and it only had a sliver of a skeleton core. 

“Rather than a regular skeleton that appears because of a mix of negative energy and magic, that one was definitely made from a human corpse,” Viktor said and sighed.

“How long ago do you think the corpse died..?” Yue asked, looking at the core carefully.

“I used insight, it looks to be around 5 days old.” 

“There still might be people out there, people with naturally high magic  and negative energy resistance...unless they’ve already been killed.” Yue murmured.

“We can check tomorrow…” Viktor said and put the core in his storage ring.

Yue didn’t end up wasting much energy but the monsters continued to attack up until midday which left Yue and Viktor with no time to rest. He and Viktor went to their tent and got any last-minute items ready.

“Are we just going to go?” Yue asked, looking up at Viktor, “Are you not tired?” 

“I’m fine, we’re not going to be climbing a mountain or anything, hopefully,” Viktor said and changed his gloves and earrings.

“Are your magic items still okay?” Viktor asked and Yue nodded. He didn’t even check, he was certain that he had forgotten to even use most of the anti-negative energy items.

He and Viktor walked out of the tent and to Mai who was very clearly anxious.

“You’ll do fine, don’t worry,” Yue said and smiled, patting Mai’s shoulder.

“...S-Stay safe out there.” Mai murmured and hugged Yue for a long moment before letting him go off with Viktor.

Yue felt a bit worried as he walked out of the barrier with Viktor but he tried to think positively. The negative energy outside the barrier became much thicker and stronger as they walked farther out and Yue actually activated the negative energy blocking bracelet Viktor gave him. 

The area outside the barrier was dark and barren. It looked like a volcano had erupted,  the ground was dark with corrupted soil, and buildings were partially destroyed and those that were still up were hanging on by threads. It was also freezing cold. The farther they walked the lower the temperature got.

Yue and Viktor walked through the ruins of the outskirts of London, carefully avoiding stepping on ground that was man-made out of fear of having anything collapse beneath them. Yue glanced up at the sky and gulped at the ominous and dark sky. Back within the barrier, it was permanently cloudy, but the sky was usually just a light Gray. The sky right now was dark, as if it was midnight, with only a few slivers of light showing through.

“Yue,”  Viktor called when he noticed Yue had stopped for a second. They weren’t very far away from each other but Viktor still called out to him to move closer.

Yue walked over, quietly apologizing for getting sidetracked. Viktor silently slid his hand into Yue’s, intertwining their fingers and walking along with him. Yue’s cheeks reddened as he squeezed Viktor’s hand a little.

“Are you not protecting yourself from the negative energy?” Yue asked, noticing that he couldn’t feel or see any sort of protective layer on him.

“This much negative energy is fine for me.” Viktor murmured.

Yue looked confused but Viktor didn’t elaborate and just continued walking. They left the outskirts of London without seeing any monsters or corpses. They thought it was a bit weird but continued on their way.

They were walking on an empty road, watching out for anything in the distance as they continued on their way to the location they had planned to reach.

“Vik—Return—Shall we fight—?” 

Viktor whipped his head around, a chill going down his spine as he heard a broken voice speaking in his head. Yue tilted his head, wondering why Viktor stopped walking.

“Do you sense something?” Yue asked and looked behind him, trying to see what Viktor was looking at.

“Your mana has changed—Have you gotten stronger? Should I up the stakes?” 

Viktor let go of Yue’s hand and winced holding his hand to his head. The voice got louder and louder but only around half of the things it said were coherent. Yue panicked and didn’t know what to do or Why Viktor was suddenly in pain. He reached up to try and use healing magic on him but he suddenly felt a pulse of magic go through him. The mana in the air got progressively thicker and the negative energy did as well. The mana didn’t faze Yue too much but the cold winds that picked up because of it and the heavy feeling of the negative energy.

“As expec—not fazed—come to the dungeon—can’t fight you out there.”

The voice left Viktor’s head and he felt much better when it did. He let out a breath of relief until he saw that Yue was there and trembling from the cold.

“T-The Barrier back in t-the city m-might break..” Yue murmured, his teeth clattering from the cold, he only mentioned it in reaction to the burst of magic he felt but it helped Viktor become aware of the situation.

“A-Are you okay?” Yue asked, noticing Viktor was suddenly fine.

Viktor nodded and placed his hands on Yue’s face using his mana to heat him up a bit. He didn’t think it was very cold but Yue’s temperature was definitely freezing cold.

“Let’s go back. If the temperature has dropped here it might be an issue in the city.” Viktor murmured and created an orb of magic in his hand. He made it sink into the ground.

“We’ll find our way back here after we figure things out.” Viktor murmured and took Yue’s hand, rushing back to the city. If Yue was struggling with the temperature then the others would be in a worse state. And the civilians might’ve gotten frostbite already.