BASTIAN'S POV
Silence.
That was all I could remember feeling. Perhaps it was more than I had bargained for, but every part of my body embraced this silence with open arms. I was a numb consciousness floating in an empty bubble.
And then, I heard a voice from somewhere, a quiet whisper which was almost inaudible. And yet this whisper filled my entire body with a powerful light, and it seeped into every fibre of my being. I could feel it warming me up from the inside out. The voice made everything seem better, and it pushed away the darkness which had been threatening to consume me. It was like a hand stretching out to welcome me, and when I opened my eyes slowly, Layla's face swam in my vision. She was looking down at me with a sympathetic look on her face, and the sight of it made me want to smile.
But I couldn't. Even though I couldn't give a clear reason why, something just told me that it wasn't a situation to smile in. Layla seemed to be battling with some inner demons, and I wondered what could have her so troubled. I could feel it.
I couldn't feel much. There was just a slight numbing sensation in my shoulder and arms, and I couldn't move either of them without feeling a sharp pain shoot through my entire body and a wave of nausea descending on me.
"Slow down, Sebastian," she said, placing a warm hand on my chest and forcing me back down on the bed which I somehow found uncomfortable. "Let Regan finish what he's doing."
"What happened?" I groaned, not really sure how I ended up here. The last thing I remembered was standing in the middle of the king's study, and him talking about something serious. Then came a blinding explosion of light, and everything went blank then.
"You've been in an accident," Regan muttered while he continued to stitch an open wound on the side of my head. "It's nothing serious, but I wouldn't advice you to go anywhere until you've healed completely. You took a nasty blow to the head, and since I'm not sure how long it takes humans to heal, I don't know how long it's going to take you to recover fully."
"He'll stay here as long as he needs to," Layla said. "And if he tries to escape, you can tie him down with every form of restraint you can find."
I chuckled at her humour, but even that caused a stab of pain right from my feet all the way up to my chest, which I managed to hide carefully. I didn't want either of them to know just how much I was hurting.
My head was still buzzing, and I thought I would faint at any moment. The only reason I was able to keep myself conscious was because Layla was standing in front of me. Her eyes were so mesmerising that I couldn't look away, and when I felt her hand squeeze mine, the pain seemed to disappear instantly.
This didn't make any sense. How could I feel this way about a complete stranger? I knew precious little about her, and yet this connection I felt to her was more powerful than anything I had ever felt before. It consumed me whole, and it was a feeling so powerful that I felt like I would crumble from how powerful it felt. I lost my sense around her, and the only thing that mattered when I was around her was how she looked at me, in that quirky and endearing way when her eyebrows would be slightly raised and she would be unaware of how absolutely beautiful she was.
“You do believe me, don’t you?” I asked, recalling the events that had led to this. “I don’t own that bag, Your Highness. I have no idea where it came from but I certainly do not own it and have no intention of hurting you or anything…”
“Shush…” she stopped me by placing a finger across my lips. “Do not talk about that now. Let me handle that myself.
“How…”
"How are you feeling?" she asked, cutting me off.
"Like I'm in heaven," I replied with a smile, trying to ignore the thoughts like she had advised. She was still holding onto my hand, and I imagined that she didn't realise this, otherwise she would have pulled away.
"Trust me," Regan suddenly said, "if you make it to heaven, then it will feel like the exact opposite of this."
He laughed at his own little joke, and that seemed to bring Layla out of her reverie. She pulled away from my touch, and the emptiness which I felt was so mad that I nearly reached out for her hand once again.
It couldn't be real, I thought to myself. This madness which I felt taking control of me, there was no way on earth it could be natural. I knew the law she had invoked had bound us together, but this was something more than that. It was almost as if we had been destined to end up together, and now that I was near her, I just couldn't think straight anymore. I wanted her, with such an intensity that it surprised even me. I wanted to be with her, and I was terrified by how badly I needed to be with her.
"I need to go," she suddenly said. "There are a few things I need to find out in the library. I'll be back to check on him in a few hours. Will that be fine?"
"Absolutely," Regan said. "I'm almost done with the stitches. Once I'm done, he will be as good as new."
"Do you have to go?" I asked, feeling like a needy and clingy person for even asking. I wished I could know what she was thinking about, with the way her eyes moved constantly as though she was thinking about a million different things at every single minute. There was so much going on behind her eyes that I wished I could figure it all out; I wished I could figure her out.
"I'll be back shortly," she replied. "This cannot wait. And before I come back, you are not to go running around the palace for any reason. Regan will not hesitate to tie you to this bed if he has to."
"I would gladly do it," he chuckled. "If he is anything like you, then I know how to handle the situation."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, looking up at him and narrowing her eyes.
"It just means that you have always found a way to disregard specific orders," Regan said. "I have known this about you ever since we were growing up."
"I am nothing like that," Layla argued. "Aren't you the one who is always running around and breaking the law?"
"No way," Regan laughed. "That sounds like something you would do. I am not a rule breaker, Layla. I abide by the rules and regulations more dutifully than you, even though you are the Princess."
"Shut up," she chuckled before turning her gaze back towards me. I caught a glimpse of her smile, and it warmed my heart even more than I was willing to admit. I was immensely pleased that I had gotten to see this side of her, because she rarely smiled around me. I hated this; I hated the fact that she only saw me as a liability, or a problem which she needed to take care of. We were more than that. Why couldn't she see that?
"I'll be right back," she said. "Stay here and mend your wounds."
I smiled back at her, and as she turned around and walked away, I wished I could be right by her side. This was insanity, the way I was so obsessed with her that nothing seemed to make sense if she wasn't around me. The air didn't seem so sweet when she wasn't around, and as she walked out of the infirmary, I felt my happiness dissipating slowly.
"We're almost done," Regan said. "Just a few more stitches and we should be done."
Even though he hadn't done anything wrong, I felt a prickling sensation of jealousy towards him. The man was much closer to Layla than I could hope to be, and I wished I could somehow change that and make sure I was the only person she was closest to. I didn't like the idea of someone else having a connection to her, one which was stronger than the one we had.
Did this mean I was absolutely crazy about her without knowing why? Absolutely. But did it mean I would lash out at him and cause a scene? Of course not. He was kind enough to fix up my wounds, so why should I begrudge him for a relationship which had existed long before I ever came to Nibiru?
"How long have you and Layla been friends?" I asked.
Regan looked up with a smile, and then he said, "I've known her my whole life. We practically grew up together, and we've been friends ever since. She is the only person I'm closest to in the entire palace."
"So you know her very well?"
"Better than anyone," he said proudly. "We tell each other everything. I have never kept a secret from her, and she had never done that to me as well. Ever since we were kids, she had always been an open person. Sometimes, I envied her because of how easy it was for her to trust people and have them open up to her. Sometimes, she doesn't even have to try at all. People are just naturally drawn to her, and they will always be drawn to her like moths to a flame. I supposed that is needed if she is going to become a ruler one day. She will need the people to trust her, and that is something she will find easy enough."
There was a fondness in his voice as he spoke of Layla, and as I looked up at him, I was hoping to find any sign which would show me that he actually had feelings for her. There was no way he could be this invested in her without feeling some type of way about her. I found that highly unlikely. And yet, there was no sign of that on his face. There was love, but that was a platonic feeling from what I could tell. He wasn't harbouring any secret desire to swoop in and claim her for himself, and for that I was grateful.
"So you don't remember anything from your past?" he suddenly asked me. "Like absolutely nothing at all?"
"I'm afraid I can't ," I confessed truthfully. "Sometimes, it seems like the memories are coming back, and I can feel a tingle in the pit of my stomach like the way one gets when they know they're about to receive a present. But then you open it up and you realise it's just a pair of socks and old shorts. That's how I feel every time they start coming back, and then they disappear once again. It's the most frustrating thing I've ever had to deal with."
"I understand," Regan said. "It's hard to deal with things which you have no control over. I learned that a very long time ago. But at the same time, you need to realise that everything happens for a reason. I don't believe that there is anything called a coincidence in existence. If something happens, then there must be a reason to it or perhaps it was meant to serve a particular reason. That is just the way I feel."
"Perhaps," I agreed, nodding slowly. In a way, losing my memory had led me to finding this magical kingdom of faes, and my finding Layla was all because of it. Perhaps I should look at the loss of my memories not as a curse, but as a blessing. It meant that I could get to start on a clean slate, unbothered by the shackles of any mistakes I might have made in my past. I was like a child reborn, free for explore the world and observe new things; especially a world like this, where I had nothing in common with anyone.
I was about to ask him if he truly believed in this when I heard a distinct voice in my head, so unlike the one I had heard before. The fear gripped at my soul, and I nearly passed out from how intense it was. She only said one word, but it was enough to rip though my heart.
"Sarah."