Vol.2: Chapter 28: Together
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Fleure’s POV

As I watched Axelle laying lifeless on the floor, I could not help but feel that this was all my fault. I should have thought of this possibility. We could have known he would go after Lise’s sister… We knew he was after Lise after all. If he went through me to get to her, he would most certainly try it with Axelle too. The fact that we found out she was Lise’s sister should have set off several alarm bells, but we just continued on like everything was normal.

I really hoped Lise and Rosalinde would be in time to help her. When I thought about how those attacks of that wraith felt, and about Aleksei’s current state, shivers went through my spine.

“Please let’s not be too late.” I prayed to myself. I would never forgive myself if she would not be able to play the piano again or even worse...

Since it was after curfew, we had no choice but to split up. While I let Nastya and Sara carry Axelle to the infirmary, I sped toward Tine’s room to get her to come and help.

When I got there, I knocked, and to my surprise, it was not Tine but Annie who opened the door. “Ah, Fleure. To what do we owe the pleasure? Did you want to talk to Tine again?”

I knew those two were a couple, but it was the first time I got confronted with that fact so directly. If it wasn’t such an emergency, I would most likely have felt embarrassed.

“My friend… It’s urgent. She collapsed. They are taking her to the infirmary.”

“You heard her,” Annie said out loud before opening the door further and going back inside.

“Tell me what happened.” Tine, completely in her emergency mode, wearing some very cute pink bunny pajamas, replaced Annie in the doorway. I looked at her feet and noticed she was wearing some of those cute stuffed animal slippers. Also pink bunnies… She seemed to have a thing with bunnies. If the situation wasn’t so dire, I would probably have laughed. The seriousness on her face and the cuteness of her outfit were hard to combine into the same person.

“Axelle said she felt cold and then just collapsed.” I could hardly say she was being attacked by the wraith that put me into the infirmary and Aleksei into the hospital, now, could I?

The panicky sound of my voice alerted Tine and she moved into action right away. She picked up the white coat she wore as a nurse and put it on over her pajamas.

“Okay, that sounds like a real emergency. Let’s go.”

While we were rushing toward the infirmary, I noticed Tine was still wearing those slippers. Tine asked me a couple more questions, like if I knew if Axelle was eating right, but I did not really have an answer to them since it was Sara who was with Axelle when it happened.

 “If we are lucky, it was just low blood sugar,” Tine said in a voice that I could hear that was mostly meant to reassure me. I did not dare to ask what she was thinking it could be if weren’t lucky. I could read well enough between the lines to know that we really did not want to find out.

When we arrived at the infirmary, Nastya and Sara had put Axelle on top of one of the beds. Sara was crying, and Nastya was pacing around nervously. I could see that she was really relieved to see us.

Tine sped toward the hospital bed and started to check Axelle’s vital signs.

“Only her heartbeat seems to be on the quick side. What on earth is going on?”

She then turned toward us and asked, “Is she on any kind of medication or drugs?”

“No, she was just fine until it happened,” Sara answered.

Tine continued her examination. She took out a little flashlight to check Axelle’s pupils when suddenly Axelle woke up in a shock.

“Ah, you’re awake. You gave us quite a scare there.” Tine said to Axelle. I could see the relief on Tine’s face. She had clearly been very worried. I felt relieved too, I think we all did. I knew how scary that wraith was, and I knew that the damage could have been severe. Just look at Aleksei’s situation. But this time It seemed that Lise and Rosalinde got there in time.

Sara ran toward Axelle and hugged her. She started to cry again. “I thought I was going to lose you.”

Axelle gently caressed her head with a soft smile on her face and said, “Don’t worry. I came back from that place.” She got a wicked smile on her face and said “And otherwise I would come back to haunt you because I can’t leave my girlfriend alone. Apparently, that runs in the family.”

Sara looked a bit confused at that remark. I could see Axelle had intended it for me because she was looking into my eyes with eyes that said, “I know”.

Nastya did not fail to notice the underlying meaning either. But Sara grew angry. “Don’t you even joke about that kind of stuff! I would have died of sadness if something like that had really happened to you too.”

I could see that Axelle was surprised by the fierce reaction. But having been through the loss of Lise, I could not see the humor in it either. These weren’t things to joke about.

Tine sighed relieved. “If you are well enough to joke like that, it can’t be too bad. But I am having you stay the night here to be certain and I want to do a few more tests. Fainting like that is not something that happens without a reason.”

“Can I stay too?” Sara asked with large sheepish eyes.

“You sure got a close friend there.” Tine smiled at Axelle. “Would you like her here?”

Axelle immediately nodded a bit shyly.

“Girlfriend! Not friend.” Sara corrected Tine with a scowl on her face while blushing heavily.

“Oh my! Aren’t you the brave one?” Tine said with a smile on her face. “Let’s get both of you ready for bed then because it is already late. But no funny stuff in here, you hear me. I do not want to get into trouble.”

The two of them started blushing heavily at Tine’s remark.

Nastya and I got ready to leave and leave them to it when Axelle grabbed my sleeve.

“She asked me to accompany you. I intend to do this for her.”

This would be the first person to accompany me on the piano after Lise. Something in me protested and wanted to keep that place for Lise, but it was Lise herself who asked this now.

I nodded a bit reluctantly to show I understood. Axelle got a smile on her face before releasing me.

So, Lise got to meet her sister. I was glad for her. I knew she thought she would never get to meet her, so I was glad something good came out of this dreadful event.

Now that we were alone in the hallway, I noticed Nastya was really silent. It seems this turn of events had left a deep impression on her.

“Are you okay?” I asked a bit worried.

“It’s just… I really did not think papa would ever do something like that. He was such a kind man. He would not hurt a fly and now, he has attacked my grandfather and several of my friends.”

I could see she was on the verge of tears. I would be too if I heard my dad had done stuff like that. This was just terrible, so I gave her a hug and said, “You heard what Rosalinde said. He most likely has very little control over what he is doing. We are working hard to fix that. I am sure that together we will be able to make a difference.”

Nastya looked into my eyes and said, “You won’t hate me for what my father is doing?”

She looked very vulnerable right now. I should be there as her support, so I replied, “I could never hate you. Didn’t I tell you I would stay with you? We are in this together.”

Nastya released the hug and looked at me resolved. She took my hand and gave it a little squeeze and repeated the word “Together,” in a whisper while we started walking back to our dorm.

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