Remembering The Light [Liltotto, Klein]

It took several days for her form to stir into waking. Her consciousness waxed and waned at varying levels throughout her brief comatose-like state, but she hadn't managed to break the surface into full awareness until the tenth morning since she'd been laid to rest.

Only two sensations met her when her eyes opened; a terrible soreness throughout her entire body, concentrated in specific points both high and low... And the slow return of her unbearable hunger. There was no speculation on what happened to her, no thought of where she was... Only her immediate wants and needs were front and center. Her sense of smell was the only immediately reliable tool to fix one of her problems.

"Morning. Don't push yourself too hard."

Klein had simply been keeping an eye on the woman's vitals, staying relatively distant as he watched the monitors. He understood that she was something of an animal when she'd been deprived of food, based on intel from Lucia and his own observation. He snapped his fingers, a signal for Flosshilde to prepare the food and bring it in quickly.

"Breakfast will be here in a minute or so."

Her eyes rolled toward the source of the sound, the sensation almost uncomfortable and unfamiliar in her skull - everything hurt, but didn't. A compelling scent that'd drive any starving being to feast away, that was where the sound came from. Or was it a voice... No, someone was speaking to her... Was that right..? It felt like she had opened her eyes into a dream, her aching body felt heavy and immovable, as if she was a presence trapped within a husk, then her body was reminded of how to move again with a slight willing...

She sat up slowly, hair hanging messily over her face as her body would hunch over in an exhausted hang. The unfocused expression suddenly cast Klein's way gave an impression she wasn't totally awake, yet they still held the spark of a ravenous spirit. Every second that hunger encroached her senses, the biological alarms to eat only overpowered by lethargy and dissonance with the flesh. Her vision swayed, trying to make sense of who was in front of her, though the overpowering scent made her drool without a second thought.

"...Breakfast..?" Slurred speech slowly repeated the word as if to discern the meaning, slowly coming to understand her surroundings, that dreamlike haze throwing uncertainty into how real this exchange was.

"Yep, breakfast."

Ech, she looked dismal. Though, really, should Klein have expected anything less? He really put her through it, but hey, it was all worth it in the end. The research notes he'd compiled were nothing short of extraordinary, and he wasn't going to just decide he was actually keeping her. Sure, it might have led to all kinds of discoveries, probably had all kinds of potential...

But, no, no. He'd already promised, and he wasn't in the business of trying to get himself killed by keeping an MIA operative around any longer than necessary. As he thought to himself about all this, Flosshilde entered the room, each arm having split into two to create four total arms, all carrying a tray which seemed so full of food as to be precarious.

"Ah, thank you, dear. You're a treasure as always."

The woman offered a short curtsy to Klein, before disappearing just as quickly, while Klein simply drank from the coffee cup in his hand as he studied Liltotto.

"Well, eat up, I know you're probably starving."

The only reasons she hadn't sunk her teeth into the small Arrancar were in that conscious manipulation of her own body felt limited, a significant feeling of detachment between mind and flesh had occurred, as well as that small persistent niggling in her head, past the radiating headache, that told her not to blindly bite, that the being in front of her was not to be treated like food, even if her instincts hounded at her.

The hunger, it hurt so terribly - it was the only thing that felt real, that persistent digging sensation that radiated in her abdomen, that ever present need to feast lest she'd forget herself. Drool had wetted the sheets on her lap by time another one came into the room, another familiar scent yet still triggered this ugly feedback loop in her brain of Food, Not Food, Food, Not Food, only distracted when what she couldn't deny was before her.

Hardly a breath would leave Klein when she began messily devouring the food, the only thing in the way of flavor being temperature to her as chunks were grabbed and vanished down her throat in a single instant. She'd only stop when wasn't anything but partially bitten trays left, looking visibly fierce as her dirty fingers were curled into tight fists, before it'd soften into a look most dour, aching pain causing her to squeeze her balled fists onto her face, a sudden unconscious reclamation of motor control as she'd let out a small sob,

"..E-everything hurts..." She'd stutter; this was a brand new sensation, something that put her in deep distress, "What is this..? What is going on..?"

Her hands would slowly drop away from her face, her eyes wide and staring at them as they'd slowly open up, "..Is this real..? Are these mine..? I don't understand..."

She'd seethe in the emotion for just a few moments, before her face would settle into that neutral darkness, that sense of resignation being the only familiar thing that's floated through her... "..It's not like I can do anything about it..."

Hmm, well this wasn't the outcome Klein had expected. She'd seemed like she was made of sterner stuff. Honestly, he'd pretty much just expected her to wake up and, at worst, be annoyed with him about how he handled the exam. But this was the kind of thing he was a little less qualified to handle...well, at least to handle in a way most people would call "supportive." He could certainly make this a non-issue if he wanted to.

"As far as pain, that makes sense. I could offer more of those painkillers at a smaller dose, if you'd like. They should be able to suppress the aches until that recovers, but it shouldn't last much longer than a few days."

The rest of that, though, wasn't something he exactly knew how to handle, and so he simply kept his eye on his subject as he tried to piece together in his mind the severity of this issue. If it was bad, he could work with that. No, he might even say he'd love to work with that.

"If you want to stay here until you're feeling a little more put together, I don't mind. I don't have any more tests to run, but I'll make sure you're fed and taken care of until you're ready to go. It'll pass in time, I'm sure of it. You're a pretty willful lady, far as I can tell."

The spell of panic within her subsided as quickly as she had accepted this reality - even so, such acceptance didn't stop the sensation of feeling out of step with her own flesh. Her curled hands lied in her lap, gaze lying hard on them as the digits would gently twitch in and out. It didn't feel like she herself was willing for her fingers to move, nor that she could conduct such an action. The edges of her world felt fuzzy, unreal, unfocused - even the rising and ebbing of pain littered throughout her entire body both was and was not. It was such a familiar sensation of detachment, yet uncomfortably new, the pounding of her heart in her chest only a dull thud on her senses, a headache posing as only a further dull grind on her experiences.

The only thing that'd penetrate this fog in her mind was the Arrancar's voice, offering something to relieve the pain, tired eyes looked in his direction, "...Okay. That sounds good."

She couldn't even come close to explaining what she was experiencing, if anything she was barely convinced what she was experiencing was real - she had been in this place for weeks already, right..? Or was that not right... Her last clear memory was of standing within that city, her sword piercing her stomach, and everything going black... Everything after that, she was no longer certain of if it was a result of being one with that ocean within herself, or if it had truly happened, at least not right now... Not in this disorientated state.

...Tests? Oh, that's right.. They were doing tests... She supposed if he said they were done, then it was all done...

She wanted to know. That desire to ask suddenly emerged within her, what results he had picked out..

"I need more rest.. I can't go home like this, but.." Her voice paused for a moment, as if she needed a moment to pinch the thoughts out from the murk of her mind, "...What were your findings, from the tests you've conducted on me..? Was it worth it..?"

The fact that she willingly accepted further doses of his sedative presented no small degree of potential in Klein's mind. He naturally understood the body, of course. He knew how easy it was to build something like an addiction to that kind of medicine, but he also knew how easily such a thing could be recognized. No, just hooking her on the drug itself wouldn't do, he'd have to think smarter than that.

"Oki doke, my assistant will bring it in just a second."

Taking another long sip of the coffee in his hand, Klein had to think on how to respond to that question. What were his findings? Well, they were like nothing he'd ever seen. She was baffling, but that just meant she was going to contribute to his medical research like no tomorrow. Every last sample he'd taken could be groundbreaking.

"Some of them were small. A lot of them were pretty major. It's still really early to say for sure, since I haven't had the time to fully map everything out and analyze all the minutiae, but I think, if nothing else, that my findings are going to lead to a lot of advances in medicine. They might be groundbreaking for hollows as a whole, but I don't want to get my hopes up just yet."

He took another drink, then offered his guest a gentle smile, one much more earnestly upbeat-looking than his typical reserved expressions. It was calculated, of course. Klein never did anything without thought behind it.

"Thank you. I know it wasn't pleasant, but I really appreciate you being so understanding. This could be a big deal for a lot of people."

Some small relief caused her body to lie back down, a low sigh coming from her as the assurance of medicine capable of quieting this sensation throughout her mortal flesh lightened the feeling of hopelessness - it would be alright, she just had to wait... She hadn't ever felt this weak, this brittle, this aching before, not even the catastrophe within Africa had her in such a state... But if he was telling her the truth, then maybe all this would be worth it...

Maybe she would have made a difference in something, after all... For once, what she felt could be a dream was at least a wash of pleasant. She'd be fine if it turned out this interaction wasn't real... At least she felt so. Of course she'd made a difference as a soldier - the Sternritter could be regarded as heroes, champions... But this burning inside of her... To be individually recognized... Was this just an urging of the flesh, or something she had yearned for, even in her years of seeking normality?

Didn't everyone want to feel, even a little seen..? Even a monster like her..? Was that what she felt, all those times in her youth?

...Should she tell him?

Would he even believe her? She didn't give off the kind of air one would ascribe to a god, not like he did, not that she wanted to be seen that way, but... Her eyes closed. She didn't know if this was a product of delirium or what, but...

She should probably tell him. It would probably help further his understanding of her, and in turn her own understanding would develop.

"I'm probably going to sound insane..." She'd breathe - what was she thinking? Forget it, just say it, "...But i'm a piece of whatever the Soul King may be. Or at least a vessel for one..." A feverish chuckle left the blonde, "I sound insane, don't I..? What does that even mean?"

If he'd been a little less aware of the situation, Klein might have dropped his coffee cup right on the floor. That made sense, he knew that, but it was such a jarring thing to hear that he almost wondered if it was a lie. But, no, it made sense. It explained why he hadn't been able to recognize her nature, it explained whatever was going on when he'd analyzed her interior.

It explained a lot. But it raised a lot more questions that he needed answered.

"Nah, that's not insane. I think that makes sense, with what I've found. I admit that's all a little outside my previous research, but, well, I think I'd be able to learn a lot about it."

This was the kind of in Klein needed. He just had to word things carefully, but hey, he was good at that. One of the best, he'd say.

"Knowing that helps with my research a lot, but it sounds like you don't know much about it yourself. I don't want to push you, or anything like that, but if you want, I can try and help find answers for you."