The Week After

Note: Written by Moesings for MonsooonSeasonn for the 2019 EAH FanSa. Merry Christmas to you and to all who stumble across this page.

When Hadrian Smith-Chin woke up, he was in an infirmary ward.

A blinding ray of light aggressively entered his eyes, causing him to groan and frantically close the blinds. Once the light had decided to illuminate the room instead, the first thing Hadrian noticed was that his left hand was in a cast, hanging tentatively in the air.

Hadrian's eyes widened. He had zero memory of what had happened to get him to this place. Had his clumsiness gotten too far? No, that couldn't be it. He was in the water, after all. He could clearly see the symbol of his father's kingdom on the wall, and he was pretty sure the Ever After High infirmary didn't have that many drawings of sea life adorning its walls.

Scanning the room, the prince noticed that the place seemed much duller and less... busy than usual. There were no characteristically bustling merfolk dashing down the halls; there were no muffled(in Hadrian's ears) conversation between gossips who rarely had the actual story down; there weren't even any large items furniture being replaced. Hadrian shivered despite himself. This was a kind of new that he didn't exactly welcome.

A faint sound of footsteps suddenly entered his ears; it was progressively getting louder every second. Hadrian visibly calmed down, appreciating the break of silence. It could be anyone really: a thug, an assassin, even Red Sea guy.

Okay, maybe not Red Sea guy. Hadrian would have probably been sent from the hospital to the graveyard due to heart failure.

A familiar figure suddenly stepped into the light. She had auburn, short and wavy hair and pretty green eyes. Her tan skin was adorned with freckles. Her tail was seagreen. Currently, her face was contorted into a concerned expression: furrowed brows and all.

"I thought you were only clumsy on land, Haddy," he said.

"Nice to see you too, Remedios," Hadrian said, greeting his elder sister with a smile. "How have your studies been?"

"Stop-" Remedios emphasised the word with an agitated fingersnap. "messing around. You were seriously hurt this time. Do you even see the sling your hand is in right now?"

Once again, Hadrian focused his gaze on his immobile left arm. Quite luckily, he was right handed, so he would still be able to hold a few essential things in his arms. Some of which may or may not include wineglasses. "I see the sling."

"Do you remeber how you might have gotten it?" Remedios arched a brow. Hadrian shook his head.

"Do you wanna know why it's there?"

"You would tell me whether I want to know or I don't, Remy."

The redhead laughed bitterly. "You were at one of Dad's parties, acting absolutely crazy. You dared one of your little 'friends'-" she punctuated the last part with her fingers. "to send you flying straight into a wall, for some odd reason. And the absolute idiot did it. This was around a week ago."

Hadrian's eyes seemed to like widening. So maybe holding wineglasses wasn't such a good idea, if they weren't filled with liquidified common sense.

Remedios flopped onto the bed. Now that her face was closer into the light, Hadrian could notice that she looked sullen and sulky. Her face seemed much more somber than one's face should; her eyes seemed more heavy than necessary.

"Have you been sleeping properly, Remy?" Hadrian decided to ask. Remedios decided to not answer.

"Remy..." Hadrian let his accusation hang in the air. Why haven't you kept yourself healthy?

For years, Hadrian and his siblings have been trying to tell Remedios to calm down. Hadrian's mother was not in the picture, so Remedios took it upon herself to dote on her younger siblings and worry about them more than she worried about herself. Sometimes, the eldest Smith-Chin would spend tireless hours coaxing Aadinath, one of Hadrian's brothers, to eat, which made it impossible for her to eat. Remedios often fell asleep in awkward places because she was trying to pull the third all nighter in a row so that she could find ways to help her younger sister, Mikale, to pass Crownculus.

"I was worried about you, you know?" Remedios finally answered, her back turned from Hadrian. "You're constantly partying and every time you go out, I warn you to be careful. The one time you decide to dismiss me and the rules I try to make for you is when you get seriously injured. Look, you forgot everything that happened last night. What if your brain had forgotten how to function?"

Hadrian looked down, his heart a swirl of emotions. Usually, if someone said that he would respond with something along the lines of: ''Get me a guy pretty enough, and my brain might think about forgetting how to function." This time, however, Hadrian figured that his elder sister meant forgetting permanently.

"I understand that your only looking out for me, Remy-" Hadrian started. "In fact you're looking out for the entire family, which is great. But, you're missing someone: yourself. I don't want you to compromise your health for the sake of mine. Stay careful."

Remedios managed a smile. "Wise words for a baby. Get well soon, kid." She got up and headed for the door.

As she was about to leave, she turned. "Thank you, Haddy."

Hadrian only nodded as the room turned as dull as it was when he woke up.