Chương 68: Epilogue III

"I'm giving you the all clear," Doctor Felan said. Grim frowned, "But I still can't use my authority?" The Doctor laughed, but not in a malicious way as he raised his eyebrows, "For you? That might be a good thing." Grim glared.

"I'm not trying to be mean. The circumstances were understandable, and I know young Soryn appreciates what you did for him. I've just seen what leads down the path you walk on, and it's not pretty," he explained.

"You're very fortunate that the damage has healed even this well. Your soul healed tremendously from where it was before, and I believe within the next year or so you might be close to where you were before. Advancing will help, although I suspect it'll take you one or two more dice to advance than it otherwise should." She wanted to argue but stopped herself, she couldn't blame anyone but herself. It was a weird dichotomy of wanting to blame someone but also standing by your actions.

She knew it was stupid, but she'd figure it out. She wouldn't shoot the messenger.

"Well, thank you then. I appreciate you looking after me." The doctor gave her a small nod and smiled, "Of course. If that's everything, I'll wish you luck as I take my leave."

"Yeah," Grim said as the Doctor grabbed his coat and headed to the door, before he left fully, he turned around.

"I know you have a lot on your plate right now, but Soryn mentioned wanting to see you."

"I'll talk to him." The Doctor left, and Grim sat down on her hospital bed. The room was small but private, and in the six or so months she'd spent in there she'd decorated it with the modest amount of things she had. Well. Hazel decorated it, and Grim complained, but that wasn't anything new. The tugging on her soul eventually got too annoying to ignore anymore, and Grim answered.

"OHMYGODWHYWOULDYOUMAKEMEWAITSOLONG," Hazel pouted.

"You might just be the worst sister ever." Grim rolled her eyes as she ignored Hazel, "They're discharging me."

"WHAT? AND YOU'RE JUST TELLING ME THIS NOW?" Hazel spoke directly into her face, way too close for how loud she was talking. She pushed her away, "They literally just told me. Like barely a minute ago."

"WOOOOOO!" Hazel shouted, dancing as she did so. She grabbed Grim's hand and tried to salsa with her, but Grim resisted, barely suppressing a giggle.

"Stop, stop, please. I've got so many things to do today it's not even funny," Grim said.

"Well, what are you lying around here for? Let's go," Hazel said before reaching into her pocket and handing her a small blade.

"Oh, and that means you can have this back!"

"You had it the whole time? Ugh, I don't even want to know. Thank you, let's go, we're gonna stop by Soryn's room and then Amberlite's gonna want to talk to me now that I've got the all clear." Grim said as she placed her boot knife back into its home and walked down the hallway, Hazel skipping behind her.

"You know Phil's gonna want to talk to you too," Hazel said.

"Supposed to be pretty important."

"Well, fuck him, he can wait a little bit longer," Grim swore. The conversation got lighter after that as they walked, which she was thankful for. Hazel hadn't been bedridden like she'd been so she'd spent her time raiding and helping the Coven. Most of the shards or dice she'd gotten had almost entirely gone to paying for more soul stabilization concoctions, she'd pretty much needed a drip feed of the stuff, and it was not cheap.

Honestly, if not for that, she might have been fucked, Amberlite all but admitted that she'd underestimated how bad she actually was. The Coven had a good amount of funds put aside for situations like this, but they'd nearly gone broke just paying for Soryn's treatment, let alone if they'd had to pay for hers as well. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Fortunately for her, she had an immortal doppelganger that would stop at nothing to get her everything she could possibly need. Soryn's room smelled of a mix of chemicals and flowers, the latter adorning a small vase on a nightstand. Bandages covered most of his body, and the parts they didn't were covered in lightning scars, leaving a trail of fractal lines. His aura was still visibly flowing beneath those lines like a dam ready to overflow. It was…

uncomfortable to look at, like seeing a small glimpse into someone's soul.

"Hey," Grim said. His eyes jolted open as she spoke, and she felt a fluctuation in his aura as his eyes went wild and scanned the room. He saw her and took a deep breath as he reigned in his aura, "Hey."

"The Doctor told me you wanted to talk to me." He smirked, the skin behind his eyes crinkling, "Were you really gonna leave without saying goodbye?" Grim hesitated, "I'm not sure."

"It's not your fault, you know that, right? I did this to myself, Saints, out of everyone left? You were the only person to come back for me. You have no reason to feel guilty, I owe you my life," Soryn said, a hint of emotion creeping into his voice. She shook her head, "You don't owe me anything." He laughed, much to Grim's annoyance, she could see how much it hurt him to do it, "Keep telling yourself that and maybe it'll come true."

Grim turned around to leave, there were plenty of places someone could laugh at her much better than a hospital room.

"Grim! Wait, no, Emily!" Soryn said from behind her, not quite a yell. She froze, turning around slowly as her heart started pounding. She didn't hate that, but she wasn't ready for it. The edges of her vision darkened as a wave of tunnel vision hit her, "Who told you that name?" Hazel grabbed her hand, "Sorry, I might have, maybe let it slip." Grim exhaled, "It's okay. I'm okay, you just surprised me."

"I didn't mean to freak you out like that, sorry, I kinda tricked her into telling me anyway so please don't be mad at her."

"You didn't freak me out— just, what do you want?" Grim said. The sheets around his hands wrinkled as he squeezed them, "Why? Why'd you do it? You're the closest thing to a friend I've had in years, and yet you won't tell me anything. I don't understand."

"It doesn't matter why," Grim said, her mind elsewhere.

"You can have [THUNDER GOD] if you tell me," Soryn offered, desperate.

"What? No. You can't give me that." He shrugged, "It's not like I'm going to be using it again, I'm not well, Grim. Even before the Witching. I'm not a B-rank because I'm some prodigy, I'm a B-rank because my parents force-fed me as many dice as I could handle to keep me alive." She took a step closer without noticing, "What do you mean? Like sick?"

"From birth, yeah, my soul's too big for my body and my body isn't strong enough to keep it contained."

"But you're a B-rank? Shouldn't that have helped?" He nodded, "We thought so too, and it did, for a while. Only I felt it get worse again a couple of months before the Witching. My parents don't know, so please don't tell them, you know how my mom worries." She smiled, "Yeah. I do."

"They just wouldn't have understood if I'd told them, I would've just been fed more, trying to hold off the inevitable, just like they are now. I just wanted to do something with my life before I got too sick.

"That's why you tried to save everyone."

"Yeah. I knew when I walked in there that I wasn't walking out," a tear slid down his cheek.

"My sister died in the womb, yet, at the same time, she didn't." Grim glanced at Hazel, who was looking at her the same way. The grip on their handhold got a little tighter.

"I didn't do it for you," Grim said.

"Then why?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Bullshit, I wouldn't. Who are you trying to convince?"

"Because you reminded me of someone, okay?" Grim said, louder than she'd meant as she shrugged off Hazel's hand.

"And I thought for a split second that if I did this, they might be proud of me. Is that what you wanted to hear? I'm just a sad, pathetic little girl looking for approval from others? Do you think I want to broadcast that to the world? No. I saved you because if I didn't, who would?" She looked up as she scrunched her nose. The ceiling was pop corned and one side of it was slightly stained from water damage. She blinked back moisture a few times as she waited for him to say anything.

There was the sound of fabric rustling, and then before she could react, someone had their arms wrapped around her. It was weak and she could have moved away easily, but she didn't. Her cheek rested on a broad shoulder, slightly staining the fabric with moisture. They stayed like that for almost a minute before Soryn spoke, "I don't think you're sad, or pathetic. I think you're one of the strongest people I know. If…

if my sister had been born, I'd want her to be like you, and if she was, there would not be a day, an hour, I was not proud of her. So I hope whoever you're thinking of understands that. Because you deserve it, you do. Okay?"

"Okay," Grim swallowed before reaching up to his side, "You can let go of me now."

"I can't," Soryn said.

"You're the only thing holding me up right now."