The Haunting: Destiny (FF)

Chapter 63

Grayson's POV:

My head hurts. It's like my whole world is spinning as my eyes open in a pale room. I don't recall coming here... in fact, the last thing I remember is the Empire and being stuck in that cell...  I know time has passed since then, I'm sure of it, but it feels like I'm missing half the picture.

The room is furnished with dark wooden... things, I'm unsure as to what any of them are. I look to my side to see a half-blurred elf sat down staring at my wound, "Is it that bad?" I jokingly ask, god my voice is dry.

This knocks them back into reality, "No. It's healed, the wound won't open unless re-impaled. However, your muscles and tendons are worn and it won't ever feel the same again."

Slowly moving it from side to side is more effort than I expected, "Fun." I mutter, eyes staring at the ceiling, "How did I get here?"

"Your friends dragged you in here, you made a bit of a ruckus then promptly passed out once in this room. Though, it was less fuss then the ones awake." They get up from their chair and give a stretch, it looks like they're about to say something before the door slams wide open and a little elf girl, who I swear I've seen before, looking worried.

"Sorry to barge in Xavier, but the kid's having some choking dance-"

"Freya, it's called a spasm." Xavier calmly comment as they rush into the next room.

The door closes behind them and Freya looks between me and the door, shrugs then exits the room. Just as the door closes, I can see through the cracks the kid they're talking about...

"Markus?!" I yell, leaning forwards a sudden coughing fit overtakes me, of course! How could I forget? He was gravely injured, he was on the verge of dying.

I need to go see him.

I try to get up, though I only manage to slant against the wall as my numb leg gives way. Dragging myself to the door I pull it open, the two elves give me a quick glance. Xavier doesn't take too long as they go back to whatever they're doing with Markus. I get closer.

"Hey hey! No need to be walking around, I would just leave the doc to what they're doing, they know a bit or two about healing." Freya speaks, hushing me back into the room.

"He's fine, right? He won't die?"

"It was just a sudden spasm, he's been breathing normally for the past week. He won't die." A wave of calm washes over me, "If you're feeling well enough, you can get changed and see your friends, I'm sure they're worried about you."

I look down at my bloody clothes, worn and ripped, yeah, a change of clothes would be a good idea. Though, I don't think I can walk that well. I try, standing on both legs I take one step and fall flat on my face. The girl holds a snicker before coming to help me to the chair. She gets called by the doctor whist I pick up the clothes. There's a dark blue open hoodie folded neatly underneath a dark green turtle neck long sleeved top. They're both weirdly soft. The trousers are slightly darker than my current ones, but definitely look nicer along with a belt that holds it up. With all of it on, I feel a lot better, the fabrics are no-longer clinging to my skin.

Then there's the shoes, they look nice but I cannot for the life of me see the details or the laces. Bringing my hand to my face I realise my glasses are gone and there's a new scar on the bridge of my nose, it feels weird, not the same weirdness as my leg but still weird. Removing my hand I see my gloves are stained, "Guess these are done for..." I mutter to myself.

Taking them off feels wrong, the difference in air touching my skin makes everything crawl, the urge to put them back on is strong but I stay strong and place them on the chair. At least I have pockets to hide my hands in for now, hopefully I can wash them later. Wait a second-

Lifting an object out of my pocket I find a semi-circle shaped pair of glasses. Putting them on lets me see the little details of the room. There's a desk underneath the windowsill with flowers and books neatly ordered for someone to sit down besides it.  A wardrobe has a glass opening and potted flowers lay beside it. The floor has a wooden pattern and clear markings where blood or furniture scratch marks remain. There's a couple chairs dotted around the room, stacked and scattered alongside boxes and crates with what I presume are medical equipment. The curtains are a saturated with blue embroidery laced on the bottom. Just like the ones we had...

The door flies open again, the loud bang making me flinch. It's Freya again, "Forgot to give you this!" She hands me a long stick, it's polished and smooth, the grain of the wood creates a streaked pattern that starts from the curved handle, "Don't worry about breaking it, it's from a sturdy oak." She looks up at my face. 

"We've never seen your broken spectacles before, so it was tricky to find something similar, but our work smith managed to scrap something together." She comments, heading towards the door, "Oh! Last thing before I leave, Xavier got a friend of theirs to make you a brace for your leg, it's still being worked on but it should replace the walking stick."

She salutes goodbye and loudly shuts the main door, leaving the connecting door wide open. A walking stick... I can't be that old.

Taking it one step at a time, I stumble and lean heavily on the stick, I have to stop from time to time to regain my balance, eventually I make it into the main room. Xavier is next to Markus, watching him carefully whilst his breathing shallowly goes up and down. He's fine, I know he's fine, but if I didn't get captured, if he didn't see me maybe...

The past is the past, I can't change that. Slowly, I make my way over to them and struggle to get besides Markus. Xavier looks at me, "He's fine, a slight spasm but now he's calm again."

I nod, "I know, I'm just worried..."

"Mia explained the situation to me, I assure you that I'll do all I can to keep him alive." That does bring me some comfort, "From the way things are going, he'll probably wake up within the week."

A sigh of relief escapes me, "Thank god." I almost whisper.

I sat there for a bit, I thought I'd be thinking something, but my mind feels absent as the door creaks open. In the door frame stands Armen fiddling with something in his hand before placing it in his pocket, seems like he's also got a new get-up.

He gives an awkward smile, "Hi."

"Hello."

...

Probably realising he was still in the door, he enters, closing it behind before sitting down between Xavier and I, "I'm glad you're awake, Freya's gone to tell Mia so I'm sure she'll be here soon."

I nod, he looks me up and down before landing his gaze on the walking stick. "Fancy stick, should I start calling you Gramps?" He jokes, that tension seeming to drop.

I laugh, though it turns into a raspy cough, "Don't you dare." He gives a small chuckle which leads into silence.

Xavier is the first to speak up, "Sitting down for a lot time won't help your leg. You've never been here before, maybe you should go on a walk, clear your head." They suggested to both of us.

We look at each other, Armen looks away, "You go on ahead, I need to ask them something first." He clutches the necklace that's still underneath his top.

Taking a hint I get up with some help from Armen. He gives me a gentle smile as I head to the door, with each step my numb leg gets a bit more feeling to it. Opening the door, I take a deep breath in and head out into the next chapter, a fresh restart.

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Author's note: I'm probably not going to do art covers for all of the remaining chapters, unless I have something clear in mind- I've had this chapter ready for a week but just got no ideas for the cover so now I'm going to do it not constantly.