Lukan's eyes snapped open and he sat up with a start, breathing harshly. His eyes locked onto his older sister Vera who stood in front of him, an empty glass in her hands. She gave him a wicked smile and passed the glass off to the youngest of the family Ays, who snatched it away from Vera and slammed it down onto the nightstand with such force that Lukan was surprised it didn't break.

"It worked, didn't it?" Vera said, shrugging her shoulders and sweeping her dark hair out of her face. "I don't see what the problem is."

Lukan rubbed at his eyes, feeling disoriented and completely unsure about what was going on at the moment. "What worked?" he asked.

Vera opened her mouth to say something, but Ays kicked her shin, hard enough that even Lukan winced in pain.

"Ignore Vera," Ays said. "She has no idea what she's talking about, and we won't know if her foolhardy actions were devastating until we give you a little time."

Vera rubbed her injured shin. "He's awake, isn't he?"

Ays ignored her and focused her attention on her brother. "Say, Lukan, can you tell me what today is?"

He stared at her in confusion. "What?"

"Today's date? What is it?"

"It's..." He glanced to the side as he tried to remember. "Um...April 3rd?"

Vera laughed. "There, you see? Perfect as a peach."

"And what are you doing here, Lukan?" Ays continued as if her sister hadn't spoken.

"I...um..." He stared at Ays in growing horror as he realized he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. The last thing he remembered was being in a meeting with his brother Maric and their parents. Had he passed out? He was in his room, not the hospital, though. So then what?

Ays shot Vera a scowl. "There, you see?" she said, mimicking the older woman's voice before turning back to Lukan. She patted his hand. "I put you into a prophetic sleep," she said. "Dad said he wanted to know what the outcome of a war against the Cano would be." She paused, pressed her lips together, and looked away. "You volunteered to check it out."

"I did, huh?"

"Yep." Ays turned back toward him, her pink hair falling into her eyes before she roughly, almost viciously pushed it out of her face. "You'd been out for almost four hours, and it was starting to get dangerous, so I said we should pull you out, but...you weren't responding to my calls."

"So I threw water in your face," Vera said, grinning, green eyes alight with laughter.

"Yes," Ays replied through gritted teeth. "She threw water in your face and might have made those four hours a complete waste of time, not to mention she might have possibly damaged you."

Lukan blinked and stared at Ays uncertainly. "Damaged me?"

"Yes. She pulled you out without any safeguards and against your will. That can cause psychological damage or even physical damage. I've heard stories of someone's head--" She stopped and gave a shaky laugh. "I mean, don't worry about it; you'll be totally fine, but if you do happen to blow up or something, blame Vera for her stupidity."

Lukan glanced at Vera and she shrugged. "Ays said if you stayed in there much longer, you might never come back."

He rubbed at his eyes again. Despite hearing about how he could possibly blow up he couldn't really bring himself to care; he didn't really feel connected at the moment, like a part of himself was missing--maybe still left behind in the prophetic dream Ays had induced on him. At the moment, all he felt was confusion and a severe lack of everything else that made the emptiness seem almost more potent than his emotions.

"So what did you dream about?" Ays asked as she took a seat next to him on the bed. "What will happen in the battle? Will we win?"

He stared blankly forward, as he tried to remember what he'd seen, but it was like a fog had descended over his memories and all he could see was a shroud of white. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus. The fog parted a little, and in the gap, he could just make out a girl lying crumpled on the ground, but the only details he could discern were only enough to tell that she was a Cano.

"I'm sorry," he said, opening his eyes and looking up at Ays and Vera. "I can't really think at the moment."

Ays glared at Vera and then flashed a reassuring smile at Lukan. "That's okay," she said. "Why don't you just rest for a few hours, and we'll come back later. Just don't try too hard, okay? We don't want you to hurt yourself. Your memories will most likely come back on their own, despite Vera's blunder."

Vera made an exaggerated sigh of frustration. "You know, I really don't have to take this from you, Ays. I'm older than you, remember?"

Ays stood up from the bed. "You take care, Lukan."

She grabbed Vera's wrist and dragged her from the room, ignoring the elder's indignant complaints. When the door closed behind them, Lukan couldn't help but smile. As much trouble as Vera and Ays always seemed to put him through, he knew that they cared deeply about him. And despite their bickering and their near polar personalities and looks, they always looked out for one another.

It was nice to see this side of his family once in a while. Something...anything other than the power struggles that ensued most of the time.

Lukan settled back down onto the bed and closed his eyes.