Once upon a time, there lived a man with his beloved wife happily. Not long after their marriage, they were gifted with a son. As their family grew in number, so did their happiness. So the man, in order to uphold his duty as the head of his family and as a father, worked very hard. He took over the position as the director of his corporation and diligently did his duty.

Then one day, all his effort paid off. His business grew into something even bigger and powerful. But by then, he was no longer satisfied. He yearned for an even greater power. Something more powerful than everything in this world. He yearned to become God.

So he conducted many researches with his money. He hired the best scientists, bought a huge area for the sake of building a laboratory, and dedicated many years of his life for this research. He constructed a man-made island in order to cover everything about his research. He believed that if he kept trying hard enough, he would find a way to accomplish his dream.

His believe came true. After many years of hard work, he found a way to make himself more powerful. And he found them in the form of other beings. Something malicious. Something inhumane. He should've known to give up by then. Yet the hunger for power pushed him forward; he still strove to conquer this power. He had to because he can. The research became more intense and finally they almost succeeded.

They were so close to their goal. But in the final step of the experiment, something went awry. Those beings became unstable and the power they had collected all those years exploded. In one night, everything he had built up fell apart.

The research took away many lives, both of those who were involved and those who weren't. Not a single life were saved that day. Including the man himself.

His greed caused suffering not only for himself and his family, but for other innocent people as well, even until now.

"That's such a sad story." The girl commented when the boy finished his story. Despite her words, her eyes were blank as she looked up to the ceiling from her sleeping position.

"Really? I think it was quite interesting." The boy smiled. He didn't move from his place on the edge of the girl's bed nor did he averted his gaze from the door he kept staring at since he told his story.

"Did your parents tell it - read it - to you?"

"No."

A response to fast and to short for her liking. Nevertheless, the girl made no other comment and let the room went back to its original silent. The hospital was quiet, even the whole town was as quiet as a dead town. There was no sound coming from the nurses who were supposed to be doing their night patrol outside. It was too quiet, yet the two child didn't mind it.

After some moment of silent, the boy finally tore his gaze from the door to look at the girl's face. "As I promised, I told you a story. Now go to sleep."

The girl turned her head slightly to look at him and let out a sigh. "One more question and then I'll go to sleep. Who's the man?"

The boy weighed the pros and cons. He licked his lower lip and glanced around the room, avoiding the girl's gaze. In the end, he shrugged. "I'll tell you some other time. Now sleep."

The girl let out a dissatisfied groan. She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds before opening it again. "I'll sleep if you sleep too."

The boy looked toward her and she only smiled in response and scooted over to make room. He wanted to say that he didn't want to sleep, that he wasn't tired, that he wasn't going to sleep. But looking upon the girl tired face, he didn't pushed it further. He sighed and slowly moved under the cover to lie next to her.

"This is so exciting, isn't it?" the girl giggled. "Almost like a sleepover."

"…go to sleep."

Another tired giggle and then, "Okay."

Some minutes passed and a soft snore could be heard coming from the girl.

The boy stayed there even after the other had fallen asleep. His thought was clouded with the accident that befell this town, of the poor girl who lost her parents, of what he was doing. He gazed out the window. The moon was really bright tonight. The light it produced was more than enough to lit the room, but the coloration painted it eerie for some reason.

Lost in thought, he hadn't realised that his time there was almost up. He sat up and looked down to the sleeping child beside him. Her chest was raising and falling at a rhythmic interval, reassuring him that she was indeed asleep. He carefully got down from the bed and walked to the door, minding his movement as not to make any disturbances. He opened the door as slowly as he could - wincing at even the slightest sound- and threw another glance back to the other kid before he stepped out of the room. He slid the door close and made his way down the corridor and disappeared in the darkness, leaving only the sound of his footsteps behind.

A pitiful night for a pitiful child.

When she woke up, the boy wasn't there. Of course, she figured he wouldn't, but there was no denying the disappointment. Because there was hope that he would. At the very least to say goodbye. After all, she'd go far away after this and she didn't know when she'd come back, if she ever will, or if they'd meet again. But there was so many goodbye. And she was starting to get sick of it.

"Only one last examination and you are free to go, my dear."

The girl looked up to the kind, smiling face of the doctor who had been taking care of her since she was admitted. She gave a nod without changing her expression and glanced out of the window where her grandpa was waiting.

The old man gave her a smile and a reassuring nod. The gesture made her smile a little before she faced the doctor to do her examination.

Throughout the process, the little girl thought about her encounter last night. She was crying because of a horrible nightmare. She expected a nurse would come, but instead, the boy did, asking her if she was alright. She remembered telling the boy about the nightmare and refusing the boy's order to go back to sleep. Then the boy promised to tell her a story if she promised to go to sleep. She even remembered the story even though it was her first time hearing it.

The girl couldn't hold her curiosity of the other boy. She turned to the nurse who was conducting the examination. "Um, do you know the boy from last night?"

The doctor paused her activity and frowned. "I'm sorry dear, but who are you talking about?"

"There was a boy last night. He's around my age and he visited me in my room."

The middle-aged woman looked to her assistant, a young nurse who was in the same room and asked the same question the little girl had asked her. The younger woman looked at the little girl with concern. "Nobody came last night, dear. Are you sure you weren't just dreaming?"

No, he wasn't a dream. He was as real as them, who were standing there in the same room as her. She wanted to say it but the adults looked as though they didn't believe her. The little girl pursed her lips and averted her eyes to the floor, she didn't pursue the subject further nor did she talk beside to answer the nurses' questions.

"All done." Both doctor and nurse smiled kindly at her as they put their equipments away. "Congratulation for your recovery, Minako-chan!"

Rewritten version of Lacrimosa. Previously posted under account xXKuroUsagiXx.

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