Aroused by the sweet licks of sun and wind, Brax found himself in an unfamiliar white bed. He had little recollection as to what occurred prior– just a splitting pain in his head. A pain in his entire body, rather. All he could remember was witnessing terrible black wings flapping overhead, a bloodied field of corpses, and the Merchant of Joy standing in a ray of blinding light.
He glanced around the cleanly kept room and realized he was in one of several beds. Next to him, he was reassured to see a sleeping Xinyu, who was breathing through her mouth, annoyingly loud. Another bed had ruffled sheets. Bits and pieces of the frightening encounter came in fragmented visions, but a majority of his memories lay repressed. Every time he tried to delve too deep into them, the headaches would intensify. His bleating brain jumbled his thoughts while his body melted into the bed, becoming a puddle of weakness and sore flesh.
In the end, all he could do was sink back in the cushiony sheets and let the gentle breeze from the open window ease his aching muscles and crumbling bones. The chatter of Wundum's crowds two stories down and the frequent chirping of birds sang him back to sleep, where dreams of Nora and Christa populated his mind. It was the first time he dreamed of anyone other than Aziel, and they were, perhaps, the first pleasant dreams he'd ever had. It hadn't been all that many weeks since he left, but he felt a longing to see them. He hoped Nora was okay. He would have to return soon to give her medicine, which he could buy with the leftover gold.
…
A few hours later, Brax was awoken yet again, this time by the door creaking open. He looked over and saw someone whose eyes strongly resembled those of someone familiar. Blue, icy, and fierce. They couldn't be the same, however, for those eyes had already returned to the shadows. That was one fragmented vision he remembered clearly. The noise made Xinyu slump over to face the woman, but she didn't actually awaken and continued to snore with a gaping mouth.
Brax noticed that despite the piercing gaze of her eyes, the woman before him was dressed quite casually and had a significantly more pleasant aura around her—one which Leila's coldness surely could never convey.
"So one of you is finally awake. Or two, rather," the woman said, looking at the empty bed. "That damned Cygnus. I take my eyes off him for a few hours, and he's gone."
"Hey, what happened?" Brax asked with a puzzled look on his face. "My head's pumpin' and bleatin' every time I try to think, and I can't remember a damn thing."
"You've forgotten you guys did?" she asked, putting down a basket of apples on a table between their beds. She threw a striking glance his way and looked at Xinyu, who couldn't be bothered. "You guys became quite the heroes."
"What do you mean by that?" Brax asked.
"You really don't remember?" the woman asked.
"No, I can't recall anything from the other day," Brax admitted. "Except for… ah. Never mind. Can you tell me?"
"I'm not allowed to say much," the woman started. "But I can tell you that you people prevented something terrible from reaching the city. You, Cygnus, that Eastland girl, and those who gave their lives that day."
"If that's the case, it was them, not me," Brax said. "I'm just a useless old fool gettin' in the way. I can at least be sure of that."
"You might not remember what happened, Brax, but I do," the woman said. "I, and I alone, witnessed it all. Perhaps your life was nothing until this point, but I saw something incredible in each of you. The incident will be covered up, so no one will know of your valor, but at the very least, you are a hero to me. And that's gotta count for something, right?"
The woman promptly turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Brax in his solitary confusion. Unbeknownst to him as to the reason why, the word "hero" rang in his head repeatedly, bouncing around the dome in his skull and tingling his senses even past the pain. He really didn't know what she meant, but it made him feel good.
He fell once again to the confines of sleep, but this time with a subtle grin on his face.
A hero? Me? That'll be the day.
In his new dreams, Brax saw himself standing at the center of thousands of cheering faces, celebrating him, a hero.