Shintaro paced nervously in circles around the chair he'd previously been sitting in, one arm looped around his torso and the other lifted so he could hold his fist in front of his mouth in anxiousness. His white hair was loose behind him, swaying as he walked around the chair for a fifth time. He wasn't in the mood to try to fling it out of his face - at the moment, he didn't care for anything. 

He just wanted Linda to walk out of the hallway to his right with both eyes open and merely a scar along her left eye. 

But he wasn't sure if that would happen, as much as he wanted himself to believe it. Earlier that day, Shintaro had ordered Linda to sit down so he could finally do what he could to help her eye. Thankfully, she'd obliged and Shintaro had gone right to work. 

However, the damage was much deeper than Shintaro had thought, and his magic would only allow him to do so much. He'd used his magic to heal it until Linda had seen how exhausted he was becoming and snatched his hand away. 

"That's enough," she'd said in a commanding tone, narrowing her open eye at him. The other had still been closed, but the flesh wound had been reduced to a simple scratch, but that hadn't been relieving to Shintaro. 

Shintaro had ordered her to try to open her eye, but she'd shaken her head hesitantly, saying she hadn't been able to this whole time. Unfortunately, Shintaro had gotten a little ticked (only because he was worried for her) and demanded she tried again. 

When she did, he'd seen how much trouble it had caused her. She'd scrunched up her face in the effort, either showing annoyance or pain - Shintaro couldn't tell which one. After a few long tries, she'd sighed and shaken her head again.

And Shintaro had insisted that doctors check it over, because he hadn't been in a doctor in five years, and things were a bit foggy for him. Plus, he didn't have the proper equipment to check it over, and he wasn't sure he wanted to anyway - if her eye was severely damaged, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get through the check-over before freaking out because of how worried he was. 

So here he was, pacing in the waiting room of a hospital in the town nearest to the old building he'd promised the previous Darks, impatiently longing for Linda to step out into the room with a restored eye. He knew that could never happen without magic, and even his magic didn't work all the way; but he really wanted the pain in her eye to leave. 

The entrance doors to the lobby suddenly swung open, and Shintaro turned toward them with a start, even though he knew that it wasn't Linda. He was abruptly very aware of how awful he must have looked - shaky and anxious, probably annoyed and ready to snap at anyone who spoke to him. 

Falte, Rachel, and Gabriel walked in, glancing around them only briefly before spotting Shintaro and giving him reassuring smiles - ones that he didn't find in the least bit encouraging. Huffing through his nose, Shintaro turned away from them and began pacing in a line this time. 

Falte was the first to reach him. "Shintaro, calm down," he said immediately, without so much as a "hello" or "have the doctors said anything" or "she's going to be okay". If anyone knew when Shintaro was stressed or anxious, it was Falte. 

And thankfully he knew how to deal with it most of the time. 

But Shintaro wasn't really in the mood to hear Falte's "father" voice. He groaned in exasperated anxiousness, slamming to a halt in front of the chair and running one hand through his long hair. "I can't calm down," he snapped harshly at his friend, but Falte didn't flinch. "Linda is in the hospital right now because I couldn't do enough." 

Rachel's face twisted in pity for Shintaro's guilt, but he could tell she was probably just as worried if not more for her sister as he was. "She'll be okay, Shintaro," Rachel said kindly, clasping her hands in front of her. "My sister is tough. She always has been." 

"I know she's tough," Shintaro said roughly to her, turning away with another huff. "Sometimes that's what worries me. She's so tough that it's hard to tell when she's really hurting, whether that be physically or emotionally." 

Gabriel blew a sigh through his nose with a shrug. "Linda's never really been good at expressing her emotions to others. I agree with you - I think she should be more open when she's in pain, but she just doesn't really know how. She's never had to because she convinces herself that she can deal with her problems on her own." 

Shintaro couldn't even come up with a reply. He'd figured that this was the case - that she thought she could handle everything herself - but he wasn't ready to hear the words of confirmation from her childhood friend. 

Sighing shortly, Shintaro lowered himself into the chair behind him, propped his elbows on his knees, leaned forward, and covered his face with his hands. 

"Hands off your face," Falte's voice commanded from beside him. 

When Shintaro didn't immediately obey, Falte grabbed his wrists and forcibly pulled Shintaro's hands away from his face. "I said hands off your face," Falte said flatly, narrowing his eyes at Shintaro as a warning. "That's not going to get you anywhere. Try to calm down. I'm one hundred percent sure Linda is going to be fine." 

The door to the hallway suddenly opened, and Shintaro abruptly shot to his feet without a second thought. For a moment, he feared that it would be a random person or even a nurse - but when Linda slowly walked out with her head tilted downward, he hurried over to her. 

She must have heard him coming, because she looked up before he even came to a stop in front of her. Her left eye was still closed, but it looked slightly red along the cut as if someone had gently probed at it. This made a flash of irritation surge through Shintaro, but he knew that doctors had done what they'd had to. 

"Are you alright?" Shintaro asked immediately, not caring whether or not the others stared as he reached forward and took both of her hands in his. Not a few days earlier, Linda had established that they were now officially together - which had made Shintaro probably the most flustered he'd been in years. 

Linda gave him a small smile that looked too strained to be genuine. "I'm fine," she said quietly. "You don't look alright, though. Don't worry so much, Shintaro." 

Shintaro pressed his lips together in a frown, his mind protesting about how he couldn't not worry about her when she was injured to a point where he couldn't heal it all the way. 

"What did the doctors tell you?" Gabriel asked in a low, worried tone as he stopped by Shintaro's side. 

This made Linda look away, her mouth forming into a grim line. Her hands, normally carelessly limp at her sides, were hovering in front of her, fidgeting with the fingers in a twitchy way that made Shintaro even more concerned. 

She didn't usually fidget. 

"After they looked at it," she started in a quiet tone, "they... they told me that I won't be able to see out of it ever again." 

"WHAT?!" Shintaro roared, disbelief and shock and horror and anger running through him all at once like lightning darting through his veins. For a split second, the shock and anger and devastation was enough to make the word spin momentarily, but Shintaro planted his feet and grabbed Linda's shoulders. 

"What?" he repeated in a softer tone, his brain refusing to believe it. 

She blinked her one open eye up at him, her face solemn. "I'm going to have a blind spot," she said in a lighter tone, obviously trying to cheer herself and the others up. 

Shintaro sagged backward, realizing that part of this was most likely his fault - he'd waited to heal her because he'd thought he needed to reserve his magic to defeat his father. He could have healed her, he should have healed her - that was more important. Linda was more important, and yet he hadn't done anything. 

If he had healed it before now, she probably would simply have a scar over her eye. 

He didn't do enough. 

He couldn't do enough. 

Linda grabbed his hand again tightly, drawing his attention back to her. "I don't have to be a telepath to able to see you going to that 'my fault' place in your head," she said harshly. "It's not your fault. You did what you had to. I'm okay, Shintaro, I promise. I just have to get used to it. It's not that bad." 

"But I couldn't do enough," Shintaro murmured. 

"Don't even get started on that," Linda snapped roughly, shaking his arm forcibly. "It's not your fault. IT'S OKAY." 

After a pause, she lifted herself onto her toes and planted a kiss directly on his lips. 

"It isn't your fault, but I still love you." 

~