Chapter 26: Nobody is Me
Both Joy and Geeta could only watch as Luciel slammed the door behind him.
They just stood there before Joy looked furiously at Geeta. "Was that really necessary?! Couldn't you just at least have waited a day so he could rest more?!"
Geeta didn't react to her accusations and calmly looked at Joy. "How are you doing Nurse Joy, he hit us with an extremely strong impression of death, of course it wasn't enough to affect me, but it doesn't look the same for you."
"I would like that you offer the same worry for my health for my patient." She rebuked coldly, which forced Geeta to sigh.
"I would prefer to not create a conflict with you, I wouldn't want to fire you and your sister after all."
At the mention of her sister, Joy stiffened before lowering her head. "…My apologies for my rudeness…it just…it wasn't fair for Luciel."
Geeta's eyes soften a little. "I understand, however I needed to correct this situation before the other nation's government heard about him. They spent a lot of money in this academy after all in order to build a new peace where every nation is equal. So if they learned that a third party is able to take possession of the whole academy, then they would certainly ask us to correct this problem immediately."
"Well I still think it would be better for you to give more time for Luciel to think about it." Joy rebuked.
"I would also agree if it wasn't for what happened to the Emperor of the Barren. We still don't know which country ordered the murder of him and all of his lineage, but I don't think the fact that Luciel is one of our students will stop them from doing the same."
Joy's eyes widened at the realization that it was more than just Luciel's heritage at play. "…but still…"
"And I still made sure he would have a lot of benefice, benefice that some nation wouldn't accept to allow him. But this isn't the most important point, you've heard him yourself, he doesn't care about his authority over Danu, he would have given it out for free if we didn't come up with the payment first."
Joy grew pensive for a moment before being forced to admit that the dean was right, Luciel didn't hold any value on the island and in fact hated it. "…you're right…Luciel made the decision by himself…and I know that you don't hold any malice toward him…"
Geeta simply nodded before rising from her chair. "Tell yourself that it was either that, or we put in peril the combined effort of multiple nations that worked together for world peace, just one child getting scammed a little is still better than a million more dying." Geeta closed her eyes for a short instant before reopening them with guilt inside them. "Even if I would have loved that it would be any other child than Luciel who have to suffer once more."
Joy threw a last sigh before moving toward a cabinet and bringing out some pile.
"What is it?" Geeta asked out of curiosity.
Joy didn't even look behind her to respond to Geeta. "Luciel left before I could give him his medicine, so I will have to bring it to him."
Geeta frowned before shaking her head in disapproval. "You can leave this job for someone else, you're currently too tired."
Joy stopped for a moment before turning her head to face Geeta. "Rich coming from you, when was the last time you got any sleep?"
Geeta raised her eyebrow before clearly thinking about her answer. "I think it was three days ago, but don't worry, I was able to sleep for 5 hours, so I have more than enough energy to go on."
Joy scoffed before continuing to search into her cabinet. "You better also take care of your health, or else you will be the one on my patient bed."
Geeta reached for her pokeball with distrust. "Is that a threat!?"
Joy turned around in shock before hurriedly stopping Geeta from having the wrong idea. "That's not what I meant at all! I was just saying that if you continue with these bad habits, you could get sick!"
"Oh." Geeta lowered her guard and stopped grabbing her pokeball and acted as before. "Then Miss Joy, put the medicine on a tray and let one of the workers here deliver it to Luciel's dorm, you just had to perform an extremely stressful operation after all, it would be better for you to rest before you collapse completely. As for me, I need to go back to my duty, I need to implement Luciel on the council after all." Geeta turned around from Joy and walked up to the door before leaving.
Joy just waved her off casually, but she immediately turned back when she heard the door closing. "…tch, I understand why she did it, but could she at least be frank instead of using a child's innocence against their own interest?
…well at least Volo wasn't involved in this decision." Joy said out loud in a certain sense of relief.
***
"So today's meal, a bowl of water with salt in it!" A woman said with a smile plastered on her face.
She had dark purple hair that reached barely inches away from the ground, proof that she hadn't been able to cut it for a long time. She was wearing a white blouse with a dry coffee stain and a pink shirt under it that was allowed to be spared from any dirty spot. She was wearing half rectangle glasses that covered her blue eyes, and her deep eyebags betrayed her lack of sleep.
"Salt?! Did you finally receive a good new sister!?" A younger girl in front of her responded with shock, but mostly joy.
She was way smaller than her sister, barely measuring 4 feet tall, but despite her small stature, she was still considered an adult. She had brow hair that was tied in a ponytail badly cut, showing that someone shouldn't be allowed to touch some scissors for a very long time, but she still liked her hairstyle anyway. She was wearing a simple blue dress that covered her body to her knee. Finally, she had round glass that made a contrast with the one of her sisters.
"Oh oh oh, of course not Aminata, I'm only serving this expensive meal because today is the day where we lost absolutely everything we ever held dear in our hearts, so I want us to at least have one good thing happening today." She said such depressive words with still a calm smile on her face while giving her sister a cardboard glass that wasn't even filled halfway.
"Hahaha, sorry sister, I forgot there was no hope for us and how utterly doomed we are." She still said with a smile before reaching for the cup in front of her and drinking it in one gulp.
"So sister, did you like your meal?"
"I adore it, but weirdly the taste reminds me of tears."
"Well of course they taste like tears, that's what they are after all."
"Wow, we're you the one who made it?"
"Of course, don't you remember? You helped me fill the cup after all."
"Ah silly me, I must have forgotten while my life was crumbling before my eye."
"Do not worry, we all make mistakes, mine was to think I could get any sponsor with a project as ambitious as mine."
"Hahaha."
"Hahaha."
"Hahahahahaha!"
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
The two girls started to laugh maniacally at each other without restraining their tears from dropping out of their eyes.
Even when they were left out of breath, even when they fell off their chair from exhaustion, they didn't stop laughing out of desperation and regret.
The only thing that could stop them from their delirium would be an angel falling from the sky…or a devil. Or else, they would probably die from asphyxiating.
*SPLASH*
And sadly for them, the worst-case scenario happened.
"Did…*cough*…did you hear that big sister?" Amanita exclaimed in surprise while standing up, still clearly exhausted from nearly killing herself by accident.
" *Cough* Yes…it sounded like the sound of someone splashing themselves on the ground." Her sister responded with less difficulty and looked with fear at where the sound came from, even more when she realized it happened right in front of her door.
Amanita's eyes suddenly widened out of fear when she also realized where the impact came from. "Wait! Do you think the Goldwin usurer is already here!" She exclaimed in panic before looking toward her sister for any hope, but despair also occupied her face.
And she soon shared her expression once she heard knocking on the door.
*Tok* *Tok* *Tok*
"IT'S HIM!!!" The tallest sister said in despair, but when she noticed the hopelessness on her sister's face, she understood that she must say something now, or else they would really lose everything. "Amanita, try to take the most thing on you that you're able to! I will try to distract him the longest I can!"
Her sister's face was full of tears, but she still nodded before running toward their room to grab their rare possession.
*Tok* *Tok* *Tok*
She heard the door knock once more and grinded her teeth with fear, before walking the slowest she could to the door.
The more time she takes, the more time Amanita have to collect their item before they get confiscated as collateral.
*Tok* *Tok* *Tok*
'At least he seem to be in a good mood, usually, he would have knocked even harder by now.' She tried to reassure herself while she looked down at herself before biting her lip and removing her blouse and putting it to the side, revealing the pink shorts she was wearing, and making her chest more prominent. 'Maybe…maybe he would accept to postpone the deadline if…' She didn't even dare to finish that thought, she just hoped that everything would work out in the end, even if she had a hard time believing it.
She didn't have more time to consider that she was already in front of her door. With one last sigh she opened it with the most pitiful expression she could manage in the hope of stirring even the faintest trace of benevolence her creditor could still have deep in their heart.
Sadly for her, her interlocuter had no pity left inside his rotten flesh.
"Ah! You finally responded, I was scarred I knocked at the wrong door."
Contrary to her expectations, it was a jovial voice that received her when she opened the door.
"Eh?" Was the only sound she could emit while being forced to look up to see the face of her interlocutor.
He was a tall man with blond hair that covered half of his face, an extremely pretty one at that. But the logo on his chest was enough to tell her he was still a member of the Goldwin clan.
The reason why she was surprised in the first place was that it was a completely different man than the one who usually came to threaten them with their debts.
"Well just to be sure, am I indeed at the laboratory of Lady Fennel? Ah sorry, you probably know her by her title, doctor Makomo, the probably illustrious researcher of dream." The Goldwin member said without hiding his admiration for the researcher.
The poor woman blushed at such enthusiasm from the man in front of her, but she was able to regain control of her emotions to respond in a coherent sentence. "I'm sorry to disappoint you…but I'm Fennel Makomo." She said in shame before her eyes widened in the possible trap she had just fallen into.
'Snubble! Why did I say that!? He probably only asked my name in such a redundant way so he could confirm my identity so I can't deny it when they reclaim all of my good to repay my debt!'
Fennel thought in horror as she tried to immediately rectify what she just said, but she was stopped by the man in front of her.
"Oh my sl…Arceus, so you are Doctor Makomo, it is such an honour to meet you. My name is Volo Heaven, but you can know me as nothing more than a little fool who wishes to be among the ones who will have the limited opportunity to sponsor you!" Volo forced a handshake with her, which made her silent for a moment to understand just what was happening.
But the moment she did, she looked in shock at Volo. "So…you aren't here to make us pay our debt? Nor are you let us borrow more money…you're here to…sponsor us?" She asked in very little hope.
"Debt? Why would you have any debt? And why would you be concerned about me claiming them?" Volo questioned while being extremely confused by the simple notion, but he shook his head before answering the second question. "Well yes, I did come here to sponsor your activity, your research looks extremely important in my eyes, and I would be glad to have the opportunity to have an impact on the totality of humanity and pokemon, no matter how small it is."
But this was enough for Fennel to blossom into a smile and intensively shook Volo's hand. "Yes! Yes, I pleasure to meet you mister Heaven!" Without even asking for his opinion, the scientist dragged Volo into her living room.
On the way there, she grabbed her blouse and wore it again, but with much more vigour this time.
But her excitation died down immediately when she constated the appearance of her living room before looking in despair as Amanita was currently trying to push a giant bag out of the window.
"What's happening here?" Volo asked in concern when he noticed that there was absolutely nothing in the room, not even a chair.
Amanita raised her head in dread, before trying to push even more on the bag so it could fit in the window and fall on the ground where they would be able to collect it later when they ended up on the street.
"Wait sister! Everything fine! It isn't the usurer! He's actually a potential sponsor!" She screamed in panic, scared that this demonstration would make Volo abandon them in disgust.
But instead of being disappointed, Volo was more concerned. "You said it earlier, but now I have to ask, what do you mean you have to pay a debt?"
Femmel nervously chuckled before answering him. "I don't know what image you made out of me lord Heaven…but my research isn't as popular as you think, so I had no other choice but to make a loan to the Goldwin clan so we could buy the equipment necessary to make our first test. Then we just hoped someone would sponsor us…but it was like everyone was avoiding us like we were a bunch of garbador."
"Couldn't you have asked for the crown's financial help? I've heard that since Colress was nominated as the royal scientist, a lot more scientific projects were directly financed by them."
"Haha…no…they are only sponsoring those who do research on the Green Blessing." Amanita said in a self-mocking tone.
"And we will never experiment on the Green Blessing! I swear there is something extremely wrong with it! I don't know what it is, but it's wrong!"
"Wasn't the Green Blessing able to save millions of people and pokemon during the war? Why do you think it evil?" Volo questioned.
Femmel's face stiffened at Volo's comment, as even she had to agree that her doubts were founded on nothing but her own judgment. "It just everyone is using it without hesitation, yet no one knows from where it originated. And even stranger is that no one even tried to find out where it came from."
"How wise of you." Volo nodded in appreciation. "Despite that researching the Green Blessing could easily help you out economically, you've stood your ground and refused to let go of your true objective for some monetary compensation."
The praise made Femmel blush. "No…it nothing as grand as that…I was just too stubborn for our own good."
Volo didn't respond to this and instead changed the subject. "Well then, I know you are trying to research the dream world, but could you give me more information about what you were planning to do with the dream world?"
Femmel's eyes sparkle at this question, completely forgetting her previous regret. "Do not worry Mister Volo, despite not having received even a once of money, we still did a full course plan!" Said in a motivated tone and walked toward a corner of the room and reached for the air.
But it didn't look like it was among her plan, as she leaned as if she was actually going to grab something, but it only made her fall down.
Realizing that there was nothing where she was going, she looked at Amanita in confusion. "Sister, where did we put our board?"
Amanita looked as confused as her sister, before her brain put the answer in her head. "Oh right… it's in the bag." She said while gesturing toward the bag behind her.
Femmel looked at her with a deadpan look, wondering what they were even supposed to do with a billboard on the street, but she shook her head to resume on Volo. "Well…I can still explain it to you, but sadly we won't have any visual…please say it won't bother you." She pleaded deep into her heart.
"You don't have to worry, I'm not an emotionless fool." Volo reassured her with a lie. "Anyways, I think of myself smart enough to understand what you're saying."
She pushed a sigh of relief before explaining. "Their a saying here that each living being is assigned a dream the moment they are born, and this dream will follow them until their death. But the most important part is that this dream usually guides the action or the personality of its host, which would be that a dream can actually control someone's brain!"
Volo nodded to this information, as if he was already aware of it.
"But that is where a problem arises, as admitting that these dreams are real would mean that our personality, destiny, goal and fortune are all predetermined by an unknown entity. People aren't usually glad about their lack of free will, so they deny this reality."
Volo silently scoffed but made sure none of the sisters could see it.
"And yes, I say reality, as I and my sister were able that these dreams were indeed real from the start with the help of the pokemon munna!"
This information caused Volo to raise an eyebrow. "Munna? The dream eater pokemon? Weren't these little floating pink balls proved to only be eating the chemicals that form our emotions, not our actual dream?" Volo questioned.
"That's what they make us believe, but if we're actually looking into it, we would realize that their no source nor any experiment done to prove this point." Amanita added while raising her glass up her nose.
"Indeed, while we were actually able to prove that munna had an actual link with our dream, and could even be the entry point to the dream world!"
"How so?"
"Well it's really simple, munna are secreting a substance called…
*TOK* *TOK* *CRASH*
The conversation was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking violently at their door. Contrary to the gentle knocking of Volo, these were clearly made by a furious individual.
"YOU BETTER HAVE MY MONEY RIGHT NOW, OR ELSE I WILL MAKE SURE EVERY SINGLE POKECOINT YOU GAIN FROM CHARITY WILL GO DIRECTLY INTO MY POCKET!!!" Despite being muffled by a wooden door and 8 meters, the sound of the usurer was loud and clear for everyone in the room.
The two scientists even backed down instinctively from fear, but they were able to calm down when they saw that Volo showed no panic toward the situation.
"…we're sorry…but…but could you help us…we promise you that you will receive every information we manage to make…you don't even have to finance our operation…just please pay him enough so he will leave us alone for the day." Femmel pleaded with Volo, who lazily looked over her.
"How much debt did you contract?" Volo asked in a cold voice.
She stayed silent momentarily, scared that the amount she would stipulate would be too much and Volo would abandon them. He was still a Goldwin member after all, exactly like the man at the door, who is it to say that they are worth the hassle. But as she kept hesitating, the door only received more assault.
*CRASH* *CRASH* *CRASH*
"YOU BETTER RESPOND RIGHT NOW OR ELSE I'M CALLING THE COP! AND YOU BETTER NOT THINK THAT AT LEAST IN JAIL YOU WILL HAVE A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD BECAUSE I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT THE DISTORSION WORLD WILL LOOK LIKE A HEAVEN COMPARED TO WHAT I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SUFFER!!!"
Toward the realization that Heaven was their only salvation, she could only make the worst mistake in her life. "…it one hundredth thousand pokedollard…we needed it to capture more Muna near the town, and also the equipment like radiotelivision, or sensorial connection…but we already sold it because we still didn't receive any sponsor…and we had a debt to pay."
Volo's eye widened, but not in shock at the sheer amount, but of how little it was. But he suddenly frowned at the realization of what was really happening. "I will take care of this small issue."
The girls pushed a sigh of relief, before actually crying that their nightmare was finally over, not realizing that they simply sank into an even deeper one.
Volo simply walked over the door with an expressionless face, but the truth was that he was extremely bothered.
He opened the door just to be met with a much more smaller man than him, but he bore the same emblem as him on his chest.
"AH! Finally! I don't only have this to d…" Before he could even finish his sentence, Volo grabbed his face and lifted him to his eye level. "What?! WHAT ARE YOU DOI…" But his words were cut short when he saw the eye of his aggressor.
Eyes that he was warned to never attract attention.
"Vo…leader…leader Heaven…master of the Goldwin clan…how can this miserable follower of you be of any help?" He tried to sound as calm as possible, but the dread in his face was obvious to any bystander.
But there was no bystander…he made sure there would be none.
"I have a question for you, worm."
"Anything! I will answer anything!!!"
"Why didn't you respect our golden rule?"
"…what…but I did…"
"Every deal we make shall be fair for both parties." Volo coldly said while approaching his face toward his. "That is the golden rule, the only rule that makes this miserable clan of mine any worth."
The worm tries to defend himself. "But…but I followed it…it was these women who didn't pay me back!"
But Volo had none of that. "Lie? Do you really think any sort of lie will be useful toward me? I know what you did, you made sure to bride every sponsor possible so not a single penny would go toward this project."
The man grew silent, but only out of fear. "I…I…"
"You're among these scaled worms, aren't you? Are they trying to bring down the reputation of my clan with their puny brain? By making sure that everyone who takes a loan from us would certainly bring down the only worth we have as an organization." Volo considered, and by the shaking in the eye of the worm he was holding, it knew he was right. "Well, how arrogant did they grow…maybe genocide is in order to make you humble once again." Volo casually considered, but these words calmed down the loan sharpedo.
"Eh, you really think you will be free to do as you wish? This era is different! We have an Archon among our ranks once again! Your tyranny will finally come to an end! You shall perish as you should have years ago!!!"
But instead of the frustration that the traitor expected on Volo's face, there was only a smirk. "That's a happy thought you have, let me ruin it if you don't mind."
The moment he said that Volo released the traitor from his hand, and the man immediately started to fall. "You will tell me if you would really be able to create something worst than that by the way." Volo mocked, knowing very well he wasn't able to hear him anymore.
As despite having only been one foot above the ground, the man never stopped falling.
As when he opened his eyes again, the only thing that met him were two giant red suns hovering over a golden disk.
He tried to scream out of fear, but there was nothing that left his mouth.
And soon, he became nothing too.
…
Volo looked expressionlessly at the spot where the man once was, before turning around with a smile on his face. "You can come out dear partner, I've dealt with the problem, and I also had an idea! What about we continue our discussion with a good hot meal!" Volo proposed to the two scientists who arrived on the scene without seeing any trace of the heresy that just happened.
"Ah…sure mister Volo…but what are you doing at our front door?"
"Oh, I just responded to someone at the front door." Volo casually waved his hand to signal there was nothing to worry about, so the scientist just dropped the subject, not like they even remember the subject in the first place. "No one worth remembering," Volo murmured so low that no one could hear him before looking at the sky with a smirk…no, he wasn't looking at the sky of course.
He was looking at me…like usual.
"But you will remember such a nobody anyway, right? Arceus? Because if you grave everybody…you grace nobody."
***
Mmmh…the sun is hiding, it must be night then.
Of course, there was no way for me to tell what time it was as there was no window inside the academy, well not from where I was. But I could still tell that it was night as the orange light on the ceiling was now only emitting a greyish hue comparable to moonlight.
I was also able to find back my tower pretty easily as the melt around my wrist showed me a plan and the direction to take to arrive at my dorm.
So I was already in front of my dorm door after some minutes of walking barefoot on the ground.
I did meet Morty on my way there, but he simply raised an eyebrow at me before congratulating me for not being dead, but I simply ignored him.
I posed my wrist against the pads, and the door opened for me, allowing me to enter.
I looked around the room to see if anyone was awake, but it seemed that everyone was already sleeping, so I walked toward my room instead.
I simply climbed the bed and put myself under the sheet and raised my arm with difficulty to remove Pandora from my head.
Despite my arm already healing quickly, I still had difficulty making it move, even if I forced myself into pain.
I then looked down at the sheet I st…I mean borrowed from the medical bays…I couldn't have stolen it because the contract stipulates they will finance me with a lot of resources, I just have to include this sheet inside these resources.
I justify myself before looking toward Pandora with my soulless eye. From his vision, I could see the void in my eye.
I pushed a sigh as I tried to cover them with my hand, their simple view covering me with disgust.
Even more now, as before I justified myself that I only hid them under a blindfold to cover their wound from the air, so it would hurt me less.
But now that Joy healed them, I didn't feel any pain exposing them…yet I wish nothing more than to cover them again.
…I suppose that even I am not immune to my hideousness.
I looked toward the sheet and gave a request to Pandora to cut it in a straight line.
With a single wave of his claw, the white sheet was cut into two pieces, one big and one small. I took hold of the smallest and put it around my head to replace my old blindfold. At least I didn't have any attachment to my old one, so I could switch it easily.
*Tok* … *Tok*
The moment I finished to put it around my empty socket, someone knocked at my door.
I looked at the door in confusion before one of Pandora's tendrils reached for the handle and opened it just to reveal Allister who looked extremely scared. I could see that as he was holding dearly to the plushie I made him.
Weirdly, that made me feel joy.
"…Luciel…can…can I sleep with you?" He asked hesitantly, probably scared to be rejected.
"Yes."
"It just…it just I'm scared to sleep al…eh?" Allister stopped justifying himself when he realized my answer. His shock was completely covering his body, but it soon was replaced by a smile as he ran toward the stairs to climb onto my bed. "Thank you Luciel…the others were mean, but you…you don't expect me to be brave… thank you."
"Mmh? What do you mean they were…" I stopped talking when I realized Allister was already asleep.
…he must have been tired then…he wasn't able to sleep at all earlier?
I looked back at the leftover sheet in my hand before looking back at the sleeping face of Allister.
…being alone is a scary thing?
…I see…that makes so much sense.
I can use that.
I will use that!