I was going to do somethig different for this prompt. Then there was this absolutely horrible customer who stayed past close and then said I was rude af to her so I got really pissed. Here's the result. I'm sorry, dear readers. Please accept the fluff in the beginning as a peace offering.
Day Thirty: Breaking Voice / Stoicism
“They are truly adorable, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. Anakin felt so full of pride, he thought he might actually burst.
“Aren’t they?” he preened. Padme handed Luke to Anakin. Obi-Wan gave Leia a light kiss and passed her to Padme.
They were so small. Luke squirmed and kicked his little feet. Anakin bowed his head and held him closer, pressing a feather-light kiss to his forehead. Then Luke yawned and Anakin could hardly stand it. His son was so adorable. “Oh,” he crooned, “you’re so precious, aren’t you? You’re my little sunshine.”
Nova just sat on the bed, legs crossed, staring out at nothing. His eyes flicked around, the darkness covering his eyes. He hadn’t said a word to anyone since getting home.
Those black eyes just kept on moving, following things that wasn’t in the room. If no one said anything, he barely knew they were in the room with him.
Nova shut his eyes tightly,
He did not know what to do. For some reason he couldn’t reach his power anymore. So he was basically useless at the moment. That and the fact that he couldn’t see anything but the darkness and strange images.
Gale couldn’t get a hold of their father, so there was no help coming from there. Not that he wanted his father’s help.
All he wanted was to be able to what was round him again, have his power back.
With all that, he also felt sick. His head felt like it was going to explode. It was cold, everything around him was so incredibly cold. The cold was seeping into his bones.
He felt sick.
Couldn’t taste anything when Gale brought him food, smell it, nothing. He did not know what to do anymore. The longer he stayed like this, the worse he felt, the weaker he felt.
A door creaked and Nova turned his head towards it. All he could see was darkness and glimpses of some kind of meadow.
Footsteps moved towards him.
They were soft and light and most likely Amilia.
“Hallo Nova” the soft voice said, coming closer to him. It was gentle, more than he deserved.
He did not say anything, just turned his head away.
“How are you feeling today?”
***
Amilia bit her lip as she closed the door behind her. Nova sat on the bed, just like he did every single time before. He looked at her for a moment, those black eyes still gave her shivers. Those weren’t Nova’s eyes.
He’d become paler as time went by.
Today he looked worse than the previous day. Pale skin, dark circles under his eyes and sweat running down the side of his face.
Slowly she walked over to the bed. “Hallo Nova” she said and watched as Nova just turned his head away from her. Again no answer. He hadn’t said a word ever since they brought him back here.
Amilia stopped next to the bed. Hesitantly she reached towards his hand, but stopped short of touching him.
The last time someone tried touching him, he almost threw them through the wall. Thank goodness that it was Gale, other wise he might have just killed someone.
“How are you feeling today?”
Nova did not move. He just stared out at nothing with those dark, strange eyes.
No answer.
A shiver ran through him and Amilia bit her lip. “Are you cold?” she asked gently.
Another shiver ran through his body and Amilia sighed. “I’m going to pull the blanket over your shoulders” she said gently, a slight edge to her voice “Please don’t attack me”
Nova closed his eyes for a moment.
Amilia sighed, picked up the blanket that lay at the foot of the bed and gently threw it over Nova’s shoulder. He flinched slightly, but did not say anything.
“I’m sorry about this, Nova” she said, sitting down next to the bed, her fingers brushed the back of his hand “It never should have ended like this. I’m don’t know what else to say”
Her voice broke slightly at the end.
“You shouldn’t... You didn’t need to...” Amilia whispered, her lip trembling, voice breaking as the tears filled her eyes “You never should have... This wasn’t your responsibility... So why? Why did you do it? Couldn’t you just have... just once...”
Something brushed her hand before warm fingers curled around hers. Amilia startled, looking down at her hand. Her eyes followed the hand, up to the arm, shoulder and then his face.
Nova’s unnatural eyes were focused on their entwined fingers. No, he was trying to see their hands.
“I can feel your hand” Nova said, voice blank, stoic “But I cannot see it”
Amilia bit her lip, but did not say anything as she listened.
“I know” he said, still sitting there trying to see through the darkness and strange images “I know it is there, but cannot see it. Just like the fact that I know you are here and I cannot see you”
“What do you see?” Amilia asked gently, hating the tremble in her voice.
Nova sat quietly, just holding her hand, expression going blank and stoic again. “I don’t know” he said after a while “There’s darkness. Like when we were attack. Colours. Images. Shit like that”
Amilia closed her eyes, feel the tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t understand...” she whispered, her voice breaking again “Why? Why do you keep on doing things like this...? Just once... Ask for help, just once... We’re here to help”
Silence fell over the room. “I’m causing you trouble again” Nova said, letting go of her hand “And I’m making you cry”
Amilia startled as she quickly wiped the tears from her face. “How do you know that?” she asked.
Nova’s stoic expression broke as the corner of his mouth lifted into a slight smile. “I’m not stupid, Princess” he said “My eyes might not work like they should, but my ears are fine. I can hear the tears in your voice”
“You are a damn asshole, Nova” Amilia said, biting her lip again “We’re all worried about you and you just... you just...”
A shiver ran through Nova and he started coughing, pressing his hand against other hand against his mouth.
Amilia shot to her feet, placing her free hand on his shoulder. She could feel his entire body trembling as the coughs ripped painfully through his chest. When the coughing finally stopped, Nova’s eyes flickered closed and he slumped to the side, forcing Amilia to catch him.
His breathing sounded off, his entire body trembling.
Gently, Amilia let him lay back on the bed. His skin was ice cold where she touched him, so she pulled another blanket over him.
“Will you mind if I try something?” she asked softly.
“Do what you want...” Nova muttered.
Amilia reluctantly let go of Nova’s hand, placing both of hers on the sides of his face. She took a deep breathe and closed her eyes.
It was there.
She could feel the darkness inside him. It felt like the darkness was eating him from the inside.
“You have to let Lera look at you” she said “I’m not strong enough to help you”
Nova groaned softly and shivered again, his eyes flickering open for a moment. He flinched at something he saw through the darkness in his eyes, but did not say anything.
Amilia pulled away from him. For a moment it looked like he might stop her, but then he just let his head roll to the side, closing his eyes again.
With a sigh, Amilia stepped back.
“I’m going to find Lera, so she can help you. Please... don’t...” She shook her head, she pulled another blanket over him “You’re freezing. Take care of yourself”
***
“What the hell is going on?” Max asked, yelling to be heard over the screams that echoed through the house.
“That would be Nov” Gale growled, one hand pressing against his ear.
“AND?”
“I don’t bloody know. Lera’s with him” Gale snapped “And Amilia. Don’t know what’s going in there”
Max sighed. “They trying to fix him?”
Gale nodded.
“Mum would have been able to help” Max grumbled, barely audible over the screams.
“Well she’s not here” Gale said, anger dripping from his tone “And Lucas’ an asshole, so there’s no point in trying to get him to say anything”
An explosion sounded from up stairs, from Nova’s room.
The brothers flinched before rushing up the stairs and bursting through the door. Both froze in their tracks.
There was darkness hanging in the air, above Nova’s bed.
Amilia stood protectively next to Nova’s bad one the one side, while Lera stood on the other. Nova just lay limply on the bed, eyes closed, grasping for breathe.
Magic filled the room, as Amilia lifted her hands.
Within seconds the darkness disappeared and she dropped her hands, breathing hard. With a glance at Gale and Max, Amilia turned her attention back to Nova, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Nova?” she asked softly, shaking his shoulder “Hey... Come on, open your eyes”
For a few seconds nothing happened.
A shiver ran through Nova’s body and his eyes flickered open. For a tense second, Amilia stared at Nova’s black eyes, fearing that they failed. Then slowly the black faded back.
Nova’s eyes slowly closed, but not before Amilia saw the familiar red and gold bichrome colours.
Amilia sank to her knees and took his hand, pressing his fingers against her forehead. “You’re alright...” she whispered “You’re going to be alright, Nova. It’s all over now. You can sleep”
Gale walked over to his brother.
Nova looked like a shadow of himself.
“You should really stop doing shit like this” Gale said “Your stubbornness caused a lot of trouble for us”
Amilia looked up at Gale, the corner of her mouth pulling up into a slight smile. “He’s going to be alright” she said “I can feel his lifeforce. It’s stabilizing. So he will be alright”
Gale glanced at Lera and the woman nodded.
“His power is returning” Lera said “But he’s going to be extremely weak for quite a while”
“Thanks, Lera” Max said before looking over at Amilia.
Lera nodded and walked to the door. “Keep him out of trouble” she said “Because he need to recover before he does anything stupid again”
The two nodded. “We’ll try” Gale said and turned away from Nova “I’ll walk you out”
“There’s no need...”
“I’ll walk you out, Lera” Gale said “Thank you for coming”
Gale left the room with Lera, not once looking back at Nova.
Max walked over to the bed. “Amilia” he said softly, looking down at his brother “Thank you for this”
“I didn’t do anything” Amilia said gently “I just tried to help, because I also care about him”
“I know” Max said, folding his arms “Will you stay here for a while longer?”
Amilia nodded and then Max left. He couldn’t take seeing his brother like this. That wasn’t Nova, his brother was strong, rude, forward and an asshole, but this shadowed version that lay on the bed. And he did not want to see it at the moment.
When Nova finally opened his eyes, he just lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. His head felt like it was going to explode, the cold still seeped in his bones.
“Nova?”
Slowly he turned his head towards the voice. Max sat next to the bed, his eyes wide as he stared at his brother.
“Richard?”
Max grinned and nodded. “You can see me?” he said.
Nova just blinked a few times. He did not have the strength to nod. “Sorry...” he muttered, voice blank, stoic and cold.
Max breathed out. “Do you want to sit up? Want some water?”
“Water...” he muttered and tried sit up, but his body just gave in, all of his strength gone.
“You’re a mess” Max said as he helped Nova to sit up “Next time, don’t do anything as stupid as this. You had all of us worried sick”
You know you’re best friends with someone when you don’t feel awkward at all singing with a breaking voice and dancing wildly in the car that their mom’s driving.
