11/2/x301

11th day of the Harvest Moon, year x301

Mapulon 

Theodore didn’t know why, but when he woke up, he expected to see the sky. He thought that he would see a bright blue color, stretching endlessly as he fell down. That was another thing he thought he would feel, too. As if something was dragging him down to an endless unknown. 

Of course, he was aware that it wasn’t possible. But he didn’t know how waking up in the infirmary instead of his bedroom was any better. 

He blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head. Few rays of sunlight--or perhaps the remains of it--peeked through the window, making the dark room slightly brighter. It was hard to tell what the time was, but it looked like it was late in the afternoon. 

With a shake of his head, he slowly pushed himself up. Unfortunately, didn’t even get the chance to sit up properly when his left arm stung in pain, forcing him to lie down once again. Now that his senses were slowly coming back together, he could feel a bandage on his arm and on his forehead. 

Questions slowly sprung up in his head. What in Orienna happened and why was he in the infirmary? But a quick turn to his right seemed to have shut down those questions. 

Sitting down and leaning on one of the chairs was Rui, one of the orphanage’s caretakers. Parts of his dark hair covered his face, though Theo could still tell that he was asleep. How he could sleep while sitting down was another question for him. 

“K- Kuya--agh.” He hissed as his throat stung from just talking. With a quick cough, he stretched his uninjured arm and grabbed Rui’s white shirt. “H- Hey. Hey, Kuya Rui.”

“Five more minutes Mei, gods.” Rui waved his hand on the air before shifting in his seat. “I’ll feed the kids later.”

“Kuya Rui!”

Rui’s eyes opened as he jumped up and yelled. At the same time, he kicked his feet down the bed, making him fall on the floor with a loud bang. Theo flinched back, but he hid his chuckles when Rui slowly stood up and dusted his clothes. However, he managed to release all of his laughter when Rui shot him a glare. 

“Oh, haha. Very funny.” He grabbed the chair back up and sat down. “Because falling down chairs is the best way to wake up from a nap.”

Theo poked his tongue out. “Sorry, didn’t--agh.” He placed a hand on his throat, though the only thing he managed to do was cough more. 

Rui muttered something under his breath before leaning down on the desks. After a while of rummaging, he grabbed a jug of water and poured him a glass. “Drink up. Then we’ll talk.”

Theo slowly sat up again, this time with help from Rui, and finished the glass. After placing the glass on the table, he took a deep breath and sighed. Now that he was refreshed, he felt his head becoming a little better. Though it was annoying that it felt like all of his energy was spent on sleeping. 

“Sorry,” he repeated. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Of course you didn’t mean to scare me.” Rui crossed his arms and scoffed. “You just meant to cut the only sleep I had for the past two days.”

Rui placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. Theo would have laughed, but his head throbbed in pain when Rui held his head. With a hiss, he pushed Rui’s hand away and placed a finger where his bandages were.

“What- ow- what happened?” he asked, slightly wincing from the pain. “What am I--why am I here?”

A sigh left Rui’s lips. “You… can’t remember?”

“I probably hit my head too hard to remember.”

“Yeah, you probably did.” He clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. As he furrowed his brows, Rui turned to the window. Some beams of the sunlight made Rui’s already bright eyes even brighter than usual, like a shimmering gold scale. 

“I’m just…” He muttered something under his breath, though it didn’t sound like something Theo understood. “I’m just glad that you’re still alive. I mean, you broke your arm and hit your head real hard, but you’re alive nonetheless.”

Theo raised a brow. “That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“You fell down from the roof.”

It was like a storm poured inside Theo’s body. Chills traveled down his spine as he felt every hair on his arms stand up. His right arm stung in pain once again, and he held his breath. 

A click resonated in his mind. Just like that, he remembered what happened once again. It was dusk, just when the skies were almost dark and the sun was barely visible anymore. He was reading on the roof, and his foot slipped down the tiles. Then, there was pain. And then…

“I fell down from the roof…” He brushed his hair back and lied down on the bed again. “I- I fell down from the roof, I--how am I still alive? How- how did I break just an arm?”

“It’s not just one arm, though. I think you sprained a foot, but yeah. With a fragile glass stick like you, I’m surprised that you didn’t shatter every bone in your body.” Rui chuckled again. “Better than having all of your bones broken on your birthday.”

“Birthday?” Theo blinked and forced himself up again. “Wait, what day is today? How- how long was I out?”

“A day and a half. And by the way, Theo.”

Theo raised a brow. 

Then, he felt a pang of pain on his nape. 

“You really don’t listen to me, huh?” Rui inched forward and placed his hand on his cheeks, squeezing them tightly. “I told you to stop. Climbing. The. House!”

He tugged Rui’s hands away from his face, though he had to immediately lower his hands lest he might hurt it more. “Ru- Kuya Rui, ow, ow, ow, ow!”

“How many times do I have to tell you to tie your damned laces”--he pointed his fingers downwards--“and to stop trying to climb the rooftop just to read? Firstly, we have a library for a reason. Second, I told you this could happen.”

Theo puffed his cheeks and patted them both, soothing the lingering pain. “I told you that I’ll be fine. Besides, this is the first time it happened to me. I’m sure it’ll also be the last.”

“I--wait.” Rui blinked at him. “Are you telling me that you’d wait for every bone in your body to shatter like the fragile glass they are for you to realize that reading on the rooftop and not tying one of your laces is dangerous?”

With his tongue poked out, Theo replied, “Maybe?”

For a moment, it was silent between the two of them. Then, Rui took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. “You know, forget it. I’m not wasting my breath explaining this to you. Now come on. The sun’s already low, and dinner’s going to start soon.”

As Rui offered his hand, Theo stared at it for a moment before accepting the offer. With a grunt, he got up from the bed, holding on to Rui when he nearly fell. His legs burned, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he would trip down the hallway multiple times. Rui did say he sprained his foot.

He lost count of the times he was fumbling down and Rui catching him. Though fortunately, he managed to walk on his own by the time they reached the door. 

“Thanks, Kuya Rui.” Theo chuckled and beamed at him. “I don’t know what you did to make me feel better, but thanks for that.”

Rui returned the smile and ruffled his hair. “I’m not as uncareful--or whatever the word is--as you, so don’t think I’ll be letting you fall down.”

The door creaked, and Theo flinched when the light got into his eyes. As soon as Rui closed the door behind them, the next thing he heard were feet pattering on the wooden floors and multiple voices speaking on top of one another. 

“He’s awake!”

“Kuya Theodore’s up!”

“Are you okay? Are you feeling better or did Kuya Rui forget to give you water again?”

Theo’s eyes widened a bit as nearly every young kid in the house rushed in front of him. Fortunately, some of the older ones were telling them to back off and give him space. With a deep breath, he held on Rui’s back and tried to hide behind him, even if his back was pressed against the door. 

The number of people around him were slightly making him uncomfortable, and he wanted nothing but to hide away from all of them. 

As if Rui read his mind, he took a few steps with his hands in front of him. “Alright, arlight. Give the kid some air, there’s no need to pester him with every question you got. Ask him those when he can finally breathe.”

One of the younger kids, Iris, groaned as she toppled herself on her brothers. “But I wanna know if Kuya Theo really did jump down!”

“J- Jump down, I”--he patted Iris’s head--“no, no, no. I didn’t- I didn’t jump down. I slipped.”

Now that he said that out loud, he nearly wanted to palm his face. Slipping down from the tiles sounded a lot dumber than jumping down the roof. 

“Told you.” One of the boys below, Ignis, poked out his tongue and laughed. “I win! Ow!”

Iris pushed her brother down and dusted herself. “No, I said that he didn’t jump down!” 

“No.” Ignis butted his forehead against his sister’s. “I did!”

“I did!”

“I did!”

“Come on, kid.” Rui tugged his collar, making him look away from two of the triplets before they could start clawing each other’s faces again. “Korri’s waiting for you outside, I’m sure she’d be glad to see you.” 

Theo nodded. With one last look at the two, now three as their third sibling pushed them away from fighting, he followed Rui down the orphanage. They passed the stairs, greeting a few more kids and tried his best to answer the older ones who were asking him questions, all the while making sure that the younger ones won’t pester him with what they wanted to ask. 

After what felt like forever, Rui finally managed to lead him out of the house. 

He placed his hands over his eyes, shielding himself from the sunlight. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bright for him to be completely blinded by the light. It was just like what Rui said, it seemed like it wasn’t long until dinner. 

“Sneaked this out of the kitchens for you.”

Theo looked up, and he almost staggered back when Rui threw something in the air. He managed to catch it before it landed on the ground, though it did slip from his hands twice. 

“An apple.” He sighed as he held the fruit in one hand. “Of course, more fruit. You couldn’t have snuck out a chicken pie, or maybe a piece of steak. I’d be willing to eat a whole steak on my own.”

Rui lightly smacked his head again, making him chuckle. “Fruits are healthy. An apple a day doesn’t stop your bones from breaking, but at least it keeps you healthy.”

Theo huffed and took angry bites out of the apple, stopping when he almost choked. “I’d rather eat meat. At least it tastes good, even if you’re the one cooking.”

“You might be an animal, but I’m not permitting you to act like one.” With another pat, Rui walked to another direction and waved his hand. “Anyway, I gotta go now. I still got a few things I need to take care of. Make sure I won’t see your face in the infirmary again.”

Theo grinned as he waved his uninjured arm. “No promises!”

“Ingrate!”

With one last chuckle, Theo turned around and continued eating his snack.