Azdin slowly stirred awake.
Still groggy his eyes were slow to open so for a moment, he lay motionless, his mind struggling to piece together what had happened. Then, instinctively, he tried to sit up.
A sharp, searing pain tore through his chest.
"—Ghk!"
He immediately collapsed back down, his breath catching in his throat as he instinctively clutched at his torso. Every movement sent another wave of agony through his battered ribs, the memory of the battle returning in fragmented flashes. The marine. The shattered deck. That final blow. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to breathe slowly as he stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling.
'Hugo.. where.. where is everyone?'
It was then that he realized that he was in a bed.
Feeling an awful sense of deja vu, he quickly scanned his surroundings. To his dissatisfaction they were just as unfamiliar as he expected.
'I think I've done this bit before.. I'm not gonna have to get out on my own again am I?'
Still, he checked his runes just incase. They were still the same as before to his relief.
The room he was in was nearly empty, its bare walls stained with age and neglect while a single window allowed a narrow shaft of light to spill across the floor.
While he did joke to himself, he really was worried.
'I remember Hugo teleporting her away.. and nothing after that. I'm sure we won otherwise I'd be dead right now, so where is everyone?'
Seeing that the window and his bed were right next to eachother, he forced himself up a bit while enduring the pain to take a quick peak. He didn't get to see too much though, all he saw were endlessly expanding oceans, while the light of day brightened the sky.
'Strange.'
Apart from everything being empty, he noticed just how high up his view was.
Putting two and two together, he quickly realised where he was. And then, a light smile made itself known.
'We made it.. we made it!'
He'd finally made it to Nantames.
Followed by joy, a loud growl escaped his stomach.
"I'm hungry.."
**
He couldn't exactly get out of bed so he had to wait for a long while, but eventually someone did show up. After some short dialogue, he gradually understood his situation a bit more.
It had roughly only been a couple hours since that incident passed. Apparently he was in a hospital which he should've realized sooner, but he was more surprised to hear that he was under-quarantine. Ganging and beating up a navy officer didn't do him too many favours it seemed.
That, and being suspected of being affiliated with the war empire. It didn't look like any of those charges would stick though, all he had to do was give a testimony and he'd be cleared.
The block his room was in was under security, but they were understaffed so it was quite hard to monitor at the minute. Nevertheless, a specialized interrogation officer was already on their way to meet him. There were also other mundane folk he had saved being treated here, so he was glad to hear that atleast.
As for the others, while the nameless Awakened had also been injured she wasn't being treated here. Rather both she and Hugo were at the navy headquarters stationed on Nantames, so their situation was unknown.
Remembering how starved he was, he requested something to eat which was quickly granted. The smile dropped from his face when he saw what he was given though.
"Fish...and, what is this.. sludge?"
The fish looked as normal as one would expect, but it was accompanied with a bowl of.. something words he didn't know yet could only describe. Just looking at it upset his stomach in a way he didn't like.
"Its soup."
Suffice to say he wasn't a big fan. The fish already disappointed him, but this was.. Nevertheless he ate it anyway, when it came to hunger the details were irrelevant.
To his shock it tasted better then it looked.
After some small talk his nurse was about to leave. Before she did though, she made a strange request.
"Can you sign this for me? Please?"
Handing him a pen, she showed him an empty note book and prompted him to write down his name. Azdin wasn't too sure what it was for, but he didn't pry and did as asked, believing that there was no harm.
Afterwards, she quickly left him by his lonesome. As promised, someone else really did come by later.
The door creaked open, as a young man stepped into the room, dressed in the same uniform as the marine Azdin remembered fighting. Unlike her, however, he wore his coat properly, its fabric hanging neatly from his shoulders. A small silver badge was pinned to his collar, catching the light as he stepped inside. He had curly brown hair that looked a little unruly and a pair of hazel eyes that wandered toward the bed with cautious curiosity. Despite his age, there was something rather meek about him, from the hesitant way he stood in the doorway to the slight uncertainty in his expression.
He closed the door behind him, carrying himself with an awkwardness that seemed almost out of place for his position. His gaze settled on Azdin, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. The young man appeared to be weighing his words, perhaps unsure of how to approach him. Deciding it was better to give him space, Azdin didn't say anything.
Eventually, he cleared his throat and took a few tentative steps toward the bed, his eyes briefly flickering to Azdin's injured chest.
"I see you're doing well." he remarked, his voice quiet but polite.
Although he said that he was anything but. He couldn't even walk on his own two feet, and his injuries were still quite fresh.
Quickly noticing his mistake, the young man stumbled on his words before moving on.
"I'm going to admit, this situation is a little out of my league. Someone higher should've been accompanying me, but we're quite short staffed at the minute."
Azdin quietly nodded.
"Right, I should introduce myself first! I'm interrogation officer Patri. It's a pleasure to meet you, Azdin."
A hint of surprise flashed on him, he hadn't even given his name yet but somehow he already knew. Patri quickly explained,
"Your comrades have informed us of your identity already, so there's no need to worry. They're all fine too."
Hearing that put him at ease a bit more.
'So they've already been interrogated too.'
Thinking about it now, what kind of questions was he gonna ask? He wasn't sure if he had any secrets worth keeping, but was he gonna have to lie? Thinking on it some more, it was Hugo that would've handled this kind of thing.
'Yeah, Hugo would've told me what to do.'
He was alone now, so there was no point in worrying about it.
'I'll just act like myself and hope it works out.'
Preparing himself to be seriously questioned, he was surprised with what the young man did next.
Patri straightened his coat before bringing his feet together and bowing respectfully, bending forward with his hands neatly at his sides.
"On behalf of lieutenant Marianne, I'd like to apologize for the trouble she caused."
It took him only half a second to understand who he was talking about.
'So that was her name.'
Seeing that Azdin understood, Patri raised his head and straightened his back as he continued,
"War empire vessels being overthrown by powerful individuals isn't that uncommon. But it being taken down from the inside, by only a handful of awakened no less is very rare. It isn't the first time that they've tried to pretend to be that rare occurrence too, so she was right to be suspicious.. however she went completely off procedure and took matters into her own hands."
He paused, his expression growing a little more troubled as he glanced toward the window. There was no attempt to defend her actions, but neither did he seem particularly eager to condemn her outright.
"She has a bit of a history with the war empire, so some disobedience was expected. She should've been accompanied by someone but as you know we are short staffed. No one could predict that she'd go this far though."
Patri let out a quiet sigh before turning his attention back to Azdin. His fingers fidgeted briefly at the edge of his coat. Then, with a more solemn expression, he bowed his head once more.
"Once again, I apologize. You've saved a lot of people from a terrible fate, and yet you were treated like that."
"It's fine, it's fine. No one died, and I'm the only one who really got hurt I think."
He tried to laugh it off, though the resulting wince made the attempt considerably less convincing. After a brief pause, another thought crossed his mind, and his expression soured faintly.
'I suppose Hugo will be pissed though."