She dreamed of running. Endless running. And hiding. Dark corners and cramped places. Her heartbeat was always fast, all her senses always on high alert. Running and hiding were the only ways to stay safe, if she didn’t, then-

She bolted up with a loud gasp, her eyes spread wide open.

“Hyrin?!”

She raised her arms to protect her face. It took her a moment to calm down enough to look around and realize she wasn’t in danger.

“It’s okay, Hyrin,” Seren reassured her, looking even closer to tears than she was as he watched her act like that, “you’re safe.” He stood in front of a chair that still had a blanket hanging half over it, half on the ground. His white hair peaked in every direction but his eyes looked bloodshot. He had clearly tried very hard but failed to sleep.

He carefully approached her, as if she were some wild animal, his hands raised half in the air in a disarming gesture.

“You’re in the infirmary wing of the training base of the Drake Annihilation Force,” he over-informed her.

She glanced around the white, sterile room and relaxed her body with a deep sigh.

“So, back to start, huh?” She joked in a dry voice to let him know she was now fully awake and aware of her current situation.

He chuckled and took a water bottle from her nightstand, handing it to her before he sat on the foot of her bed.

“I’ll get you something to eat in a bit, too,” he told her, a little uncomfortable, as if he tried too hard to focus on something mundane.

“How long was I out this time?” She asked, although she did listen to him and take a sip from the bottle. She did it more so to humor him, but the moment that cold water hit her tongue, she realized just how thirsty she was, as if she had actually been running all that time she had been asleep.

Seren waited for her to finish almost the entire bottle before he answered.

“Two days.” He took the bottle from her and disappeared into the tiny bathroom attached to her hospital room to refill it for her.

“Pff… only two this time.” She gave him a crooked grin. “Guess I’m getting better at it.”

He narrowed his eyes, unable to laugh at that, although he also didn’t lecture her the way she had kind of expected him to do. He just handed her the bottle back and sat down again.

“You saved me, right?” She asked him with a warm smile. “Thank you, Seren. I really didn’t think I was going to survive.”

“Save you?” He repeated hoarsely, clenching her blanket in his fist. “All I did was show up too late again.” He averted his face and his voice got softer. “The only one who saved someone again was you, wasn’t it?”

She pressed her lips into a thin line. She had tried to cheer him up, but it seemed like she stepped onto a mine instead. She lowered her gaze at the black water bottle in her hand, absentmindedly turning it so the D.A.F. logo faced up to her. An abstract depiction of an old-timey helmet, the ones with the plumes, with those three letters prominently plastered over it.

“Saving someone isn’t just risking your life to protect them,” she said softly. “What you did for me wasn’t anything less than what I did for that girl.” She looked up at him with a stern look. “The least you can do is let me tell you how grateful I am for it.”

Seren flinched as if she had literally thrown those words at his head, but then he suddenly covered his mouth to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

“Wha…” She leaned back, not sure how to react, although she was happy he seemed to be over it already.

“Sorry, sorry,” he waved his hand in the air as he stopped his laughter. “It’s just, who gets mad over not being allowed to say thank you?” He gave her an adoring grin. “You’re welcome.”

She chuckled and leaned back against the bed’s headboard. “So, that little girl is okay?” She asked and he nodded.

“She bumped into Lily and me while we were looking for you, so Lily helped her evacuate to the others and I came to help you.”

So, Lily was okay, too. “And Row?”

“He’s fine.” Seren answered curtly and his smile suddenly disappeared. “He didn’t get the message that we had to help with the evacuation and so he ended up actually fighting that house class with everyone.” He crossed his arms. “Apparently, he did so well that no one will shut up about it.”

“And that makes you a little jealous?” She asked teasingly.

He scoffed. “Not even. It’s just…” he hesitated, any signs of his earlier frustration gone.

“It’s okay,” she told him with a weak smile. “I get it.” 

She understood painfully well how frustrating it felt to be left behind, to feel like you couldn’t keep up with everyone to get where you wanted to be.

“Yeah, well…” he jumped off the bed. “The captain asked me to tell you to report to his office the moment you felt better, by the way.”

She shrank, wondering what he wanted from her now. He had been weirdly focused on her before, but the last performance she had shown him had been worse than disappointing. She had kind of expected him to have reevaluated his opinion of her and lost interest.

She pushed her blankets back and swung her legs over the edge.

“Woah, hey!” Seren jumped off the bed in an attempt to stop her. “Emphasis on when you feel better,” he said as he awkwardly tried to guide her back into bed without actually touching her. “You don’t have to go running the moment that guy calls for you. It’s fine to let him wait. He’ll just laugh it off like an idiot anyw-”

He turned bright pink realizing he had so openly insulted their superior, but he also really didn’t seem to want to take it back.

“It’s okay.” She jumped out of bed despite his protest and spun in a circle for him, as if to show him she was okay on all sides. “I feel, like, strangely energetic, so I’m just going to say hi real quick before that goes away again.”

He raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t believe even a little bit of it, but didn't argue.

“I’ll walk you there then,” he said and handed her a pile of freshly washed training clothes.

She took the clothes but then suddenly put her hand on the top of his head. He completely froze under it, although his face got so red that she could almost feel the heat coming from it.

“Why don’t you go eat something and sleep?” She gently ruffled his hair before taking her hand away. It was the kindest gesture she could come up with to show her gratitude without it being too intimate that it would lead him on, although it didn’t seem to have worked out exactly the way she had hoped.

“You’ve been here the whole time, right? I’ll be fine, so go ahead.”

He glanced from the door to her, so flustered that he clearly couldn’t bring himself to actually face her, but then he nodded quickly and left the room in a hurry after quietly wishing her good luck.

She got changed with a sigh and then left the room as well. She liked Seren. He was kinder than anyone she knew, not to mention strong and just the right amount of confident without being arrogant. But they had only known each other for a few weeks and he was about five or six years younger than her. When she looked at him she saw a much younger friend or maybe like a younger brother or something, not someone she wanted to touch in a way that warranted his face getting that red. 

But although he hadn’t shown any signs of pursuing his feelings yet, she was pretty sure he wasn’t the type to be able to keep pushing them down for long. And she really didn’t want to have to turn him down and not only hurt him, but probably lose his friendship in the process. So, was there something she could do to stop that? She wondered, losing her way two times before she finally found the heavy steel door that belonged to captain Harumi’s office. 

She sighed and knocked on it, the cold steel clanging much less than she had thought it would.

“Captain Harumi, this is Hyrin, I’m here to report.”

She wasn’t sure what else to say. It’s not like she actually had any idea of the protocol for stuff like this in this world.

“Oh, Hyrin!” The captain’s dampened, yet excited voice reached her from the other side of the door and it slid to the side a second later.

“Welcome,” he told her from behind his desk, “come in.”

She had to reset for a moment before she could bring herself to step inside. Never in her life, and she was pretty sure that included her previous one, had she seen a room as cute as this one. Every last inch of it was filled with adorable animals, ones she recognized and ones she didn’t, small figurines of cute characters from cartoons she didn’t know, posters, cards, pictures, literally anything pastel and fluffy she could imagine was represented here in his office. His work office.

“I’m so happy you woke up!” He carefully studied the row of girl figurines in adorable dresses on the edge of his desk and picked up one of a black haired girl in an angelic looking, flowy white dress with black feathered wings.

“Here, to celebrate you surviving and being okay again,” he told her with his trademark bright smile as he handed it to her.

“Her name is Lisanna and she has the power to change people’s mind with her kind words,” he explained deadly serious. “Take good care of her, she’s one of my favorites.”

She took it, more so because she was too surprised to do anything else. It weighed heavier in her hand than she had expected, making her think the quality was too good for him to just give it to her on a whim. But it was also very him to do so at the same time for some reason.

“Okay, now,” his look suddenly darkened as he sat back behind his desk, “let’s talk.”

“Y-yessir.” She straightened her back and raised her right arm, but then awkwardly lowered it again, no idea how soldiers saluted in this world.

“Like this,” he explained, swinging his right fist down to the side, as if he were swinging imaginary blood off an imaginary sword.

“Yessir,” she repeated, imitating the gesture.

He nodded and put his hands together, leaning back.

“It seems you missed the order for all recruits not to engage during evacuation under any circumstances.” He narrowed his dark eyes. “Unless you choose to willingly disobey it?”

She tightened her grip around Lisanna. “I… really didn’t know,” she admitted, not remembering any other instructions than ‘help evacuate’. “But…” she added hesitantly, “if I hadn’t missed it, I would have willingly chosen to disobey it anyway.”

She held her breath, not sure why on earth she had felt the need to admit that out loud.

He stared at her with that dark look for a moment, but then suddenly burst out laughing.

“I hoped you’d say something like that!” He pressed his hand against his stomach. “You’re such a riot!”

Hyrin wasn’t sure how to react, but she knew better than to join him in his laughter, so she just stood there awkwardly quiet and motionless.

The captain wiped his finger under his eye and leaned back.

“You had three holes in your side when we found you, but there was no drake anywhere in that area that fit those holes,” he suddenly told her and she felt an eerie feeling creeping up her spine. 

So far, she had been able to cope by pretending that whatever had happened in that alley had been a dream, or a hallucination brought on by excessive blood loss. Not only was she not ready to face it, but she also had no idea what it had exactly been and what it would mean for her here.

The captain tilted his head slightly, watching her have an inner freakout.

“I assure you we’re combing the city for it and I’m sure we’ll have annihilated it in the next few days anyway, but if you have any clues or ideas as to where it may have run off to, I would love to hear them.”

She exhaled, quickly closing her mouth after realizing how obvious she had been. So, he didn’t know after all. This was just about him wanting to reassure her personally.

“S-sorry,” she muttered. “I have no idea. It all happened so fast and I lost a lot of blood so I wasn’t exactly clear minded.”

“Hm…” he rested his chin on his hand. “Nothing comes to mind? About the way it looked or how it acted? Nothing happened that you feel like sharing with me?”

She swallowed. “N-nothing comes to mind, sir.”

He sighed and leaned back. “All right then. That was all for now, so feel free to go back to your hospital room and rest for a few more days.” He gave her a crooked grin. “The moment they release you, it's back to training, after all.”