Extra's Descent

At the end of it, Brandon had managed to convince Rachel not to get involved anymore.

By the morning, Rachel had gone home to prepare for her lectures.

Belle on the other hand, had visited him as soon as she got the call that Brandon would soon be discharged.

At first, she couldn't believe it.

However, as soon as she heard Brandon's voice on the call...

"Hey, Sis."

--....

"Can you come pick me up?"

--Wait there.

And that was it.

Judging by her tone, she seemed angry.

Brandon put his phone back in his pocket and glanced at the Doctors who seemed to be flabbergasted.

Obviously, the Doctors were all shocked by his sudden recovery.

"Broken bones all healed."

"His teeth had all grown back too..."

"How is this possible?"

But for a Doctor's code of conduct, confidentiality mattered.

It was a world with magic.

Anything was possible.

In other words, they bought his bullshit that it was somehow a miracle.

"...."

They decided not to press on the matter.

A few more tests occurred until he was officially discharged.

"...."

Walking outside the hospital, the light from the sun shone down his face. Shading his face with his hand, he retrieved his phone with his other hand.

And so he called once again.

Ring... Ring... Ring...

But there was still no response.

"The hell is going...?"

It was 8:00 AM.

The army should have been awake by now.

Was there something wrong?

"Damn it."

He clicked his tongue.

This was getting home nowhere.

"....?"

From a distance, he could make out a taxi halted and a familiar figure wearing shades emerged.

Adorning casual clothing, her long flowing pale-white hair fluttered by the breeze.

Removing her shades to unveil her ice-blue eyes, his gaze instantly met with hers.

"Sis, I'm here!"

He waved his hand.

Belle stood for a few seconds as she waited for the pedestrian lights. It took a few seconds.

But those few seconds seemed kind of awkward for Brandon.

He wasn't sure what Belle would say.

"Haha."

Seeing his sister anxiously walk the pedestrian lane made him chuckle.

Despite the pedestrian lights giving a clear go signal, Belle still carefully looked at all sides.

The cars had all stopped too.

Belle might be older than him. She may have been the student council president, someone the students' looked up to.

But seeing her like this....

She has her moments.

Oh, right.

"There's also her cooking..."

"What about my cooking?"

"Ah."

Before he realized it, Belle had already appeared before him.

He composed himself.

"Nothing."

"Hmm..."

Belle frowned.

"Good to see y--"

He was stopped mid sentence as Belle abruptly embraced him.

His eyes widened. Then, he returned her embrace.

"If you weren't going to wake up, I wouldn't know what to do."

Her voice cracked.

Brandon gently brushed her hair to ease her.

This was his fault, and he knew that.

Belle might have not been his real sister. But for her, he was her real brother.

Her reaction was understandable.

However, her next words.

"...Brandon, please stop whatever you're doing."

...Took him aback.

Even Belle...

In the first place, how did she kn-

Ah.

Rachel told her.

It wasn't as if he hadn't seen it coming. Just that, he would've hoped it wasn't the case.

This...

It was troublesome.

He couldn't blame Rachel though.

She must've panicked, and there was no other way to explain his previous predicament.

Though,

"Haa..."

Troublesome.

"Brandon, pleas-"

"Okay."

He reassured her.

It was a bold-face lie.

But there was nothing he could do.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I don't want to experience anything like this ever again."

Definitely.

Now, he had to walk eggshells around Belle.

Too troublesome.

At least, he had managed to ease Belle's worries.

"Now,"

Belle pulled away and wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

"...How did you even recover this fast?"

"Uh...."

***

Laying on her bed, her pitch-black hair sprawled around the pillow under her head.

Due to the entire incident, she didn't feel like attending her lectures.

And so she decided on skipping for the entire day.

Scrolling on her phone, her face contorted to a conflicted look.

She had sent several messages to her father about wanting to meet him. But in the end, he hadn't responded to any messages.

She tried calling him too, but that didn't work.

This had never happened before.

Usually, her father would instantly respond to her messages.

He was a doting father.

Something must've happened, and Rachel had a bad feeling.

But as she was lost in her thoughts, her phone started ringing.

Brtt... Brtt... Click.

"Dad."

--Rachel, sorry for the late response. Daddy's kind of busy at the moment.

--Why do you sound down? Did something happen?

"Yes, please come here quickly."

--What?! Okay, I'm coming.

"Hurry, Dad."

Click.

And that was it.

If she didn't make the matter seem urgent, then it was highly likely that her father wouldn't come since he had said that he was busy.

She had a lot of questions for him.

In fact, she could say she had planned on interrogating him.

It wasn't for Brandon.

"Not at all."

It was for her and Amy.

But for now, she had to wait.

Wait for him to arrive.

***

It took all of his resources to convince Belle on how he recovered so fast.

Much to the point that he had to ask Raven to help him out.

"You see, Raven has this friend named Alexandra. She's a capable healer from the Special Force."

A bullshit excuse.

But one that left Belle to ponder.

Troublesome.

Is all he could describe the entire situation.

At the moment, they were at their apartment.

Since Belle had skipped out on her early lectures just for him, she decided to stay for a while.

She had told him to rest and skip out on today's lectures.

And it was well appreciated.

However, being alone with Belle in the apartment meant...

"All done."

...She had time to cook for him.

Truth be told, Belle's cooking skills had improved recently.

But there was a heavy emphasis on 'improved' since Brandon could say that her cooking skills were just...

"Shi-"

Not up to standards.

Belle placed the pot and slowly unveiled the lid.

As always, the enticing aroma wafted in the air and instantly registered in his nose.

She had talent.

'Maybe she could start her own perfume company in the future.'

"....!"

He was instantly snapped out of his thoughts as Belle looked at him with a frown.

"You're thinking of something rude again."

Again?

Since when has he ever done that?

"I don't know what you mean."

Slowly, Belle picked up the ladle and poured down the soup--along--with the contents in his bowl.

But as Brandon scanned the bowl, his eyes shot wide open.

The vegetables...

"They're cleanly cut."

"Hehe."

She smirked.

As she continued pouring down the contents, Brandon was taken aback even more.

The meat looked fresh. And now that he noticed it, the soup looked edible.

No, the entire thing looked edible.

Was this really Belle Locke?

"Try it."

At her instructions, Brandon swallowed his saliva first and braced for whatever was about to happen.

He shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Sure it looked enticing. But this was Belle.

However, he couldn't resist.

The food definitely looked good.

Swallowing, Brandon picked up the spoon.

Slowly, he tasted the food.

Closing his eyes to let the flavors sink in, his conclusion was....

"It's good...!"

Surprisingly.