Capítulo 30: Chapter 30 : Hunting stray devils
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Yet, it was still a marked improvement from the last time any of them had seen him.
"Vinny! You're okay!" Irina was the first to run towards Vin, enveloping him in a considerately gentle bear hug, still the ache in his muscles left Vin subtly exhaling to deal with the throb coursing dully through his body.
"We were worried about you, man!" Ethan said.
"You gave us quite the scare," Jafar elaborated with a nod.
"C'mon guys!" Vanessa came up beside Vin, giving him a proud slap on the back that felt like fire across his pain-filled skin, "It'll take more than that to take ol' Vin down!"
"Vanessa, please cease your efforts to make our recently healed comrade more uncomfortable," Ezekiel chastised. Well, at least Vanessa looked the smallest bit guilty, "Still, he has appeared to make a splendid recovery from his prior conditions."
"Thanks guys, but I'm not out of the woods yet," Vin wormed his way out of Irina's grasp, "I'm going to be taking a while off, I still need to make sure everythings healed up before I jump back into fighting… whatever the hell those things were."
"You can forget about hunting stray devils for much longer than just your mandated three weeks rest, Vin," Griselda said coming out from behind where he stood, "It's become obvious that not only do we need to be more considerate of mission choices, but that you also need to accumulate more skills, so that if a situation similar to what happened ever occurs again, you can properly fend for yourself."
Vin bowed his head, "Of course, Griselda."
"Chin up, Vin," Griselda smiled as she made eye contact with the boy, "What happened was a terrible accident, but we shall work past it together, alright? I'm not trying to punish you, I just want you to be safe and capable. But now's not the time or place, it's almost lunch time, so how about we make some food while you go have a shower and get a change of clothes, Vin. Do you need anyone to help you out?"
"I'm fine, Griselda, really. Just a little bit of aches and pains in my muscles, doctors told me I probably shouldn't bend down too much for anything, but otherwise, I'm all good."
"Alright, well then at least let someone go and grab a set of clothes for you. Ethan?"
"Already on it," Ethan said as he jogged down out of the common room.
If Vin had to say, that might have been the best shower he'd ever had yet. The hot water soothed his aching muscles, allowing him to wash all the grease, grime, and filth from his body and hair without too much worry. It was genuinely an incredibly refreshing experience, and one he didn't think he'd end up missing as much as he did.
Eventually, after giving himself a generous amount of extra time to soak under the showerhead, Vin turned off the hot water, and grabbed the towel that he draped over the stall door, drying himself off carefully, before wrapping the white cloth around his waist and pushing open the door.
"Ah, you're finally finished."
Only to find Xenovia standing there.
Making a very feminine shriek, Vin quickly backed right back into the shower stall, and slammed the door shut. Why the fuck was Xenovia in the men's bathhouse! Heat creeped up into Vin's face as he leaned against the door. What was he going to do? He couldn't just step out there in nothing but a towel! But his clothes were outside of the stall.
As if to betray him even more, Vin's mind involuntarily recalled the image of Xenovia kneeling over his face, her expression wild, emotional, vibrant with worry and relief; such a far departure from her usual stoic demeanor. His blush deepened, as his heart flipped in his chest. God damn it! Now he really couldn't face Xenovia, at least not like this! God, he should have had a cold shower instead of a hot one.
"Hey," The sound of knocking on the stall door caused Vin to shoot up in panic. C'mon you idiot, you have to respond!
"Y-Yeah?"
With his back leaning against the stall door, Vin could acutely feel Xenovia doing the same. Vin fell silent, as Xenovia sighed a more withering breath than he had expected.
"I'm...I'm sorry."
Huh? "For what?"
"I don't know, for not saving you quick enough. I was too focused on the mission ahead of me, and I just assumed you were safe until I heard your screams. I'm just… I'm supposed to be better than that, and I made the wrong call and-"
"Stop," Vin interrupted.
"Huh?"
Vin closed his eyes, thinking back to the events back in the market. Recalling the hopelessness that had pervaded his mind, before the sight of Xenovia had filled him with so much hope and relief.
"What mattered is that you came to save me at all, Xenovia. You're not a failure if your first instinct was to trust your own teammates. Sure, I may be new to all of this, and my Sacred Gear's really weak, so I can't exactly fend for myself, but truly, I really do appreciate that you assumed that I could hold my own. It's…" Vin scratched his flushed cheeks, "Well, it's really flattering."
"...I see."
"Look, don't beat yourself up over this Xenovia. What happened, happened; and the truth is, I'm just glad you found me. So… thank you. Thank you for saving my life, Xenovia."
Vin could hear Xenovia pause for a moment, before sighing quietly, "...You're welcome, Vin. I should get going now."
Vin chuckled lightly, looking down at his state of undress, "Yeah, you probably should."
Xenovia got up from leaning on the stall door, before turning to walk away, before halting for a brief moment.
"Oh, and Vin?"
"Yes?"
"My favorite color's green."
A bit of a shorter chapter there for you guys; mainly because I'm kind of swamped from all sides by more and more university work. Still, I really enjoy how this chapter came out, and I think it serves as a really good chapter to close out the first major action set piece of this story arc.
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