A loss. He woke up and all he could feel was a loss he hadn’t had a chance to comprehend yet. Hojo sat up and reached over to his wife, looking for a warm, reassuring constant.
She wasn’t there.
At first, he just blinked stupidly at the flat sheets next to him. They were cold to his touch and a shiver ran through Hojo. Where had Lucrecia gone? Was something wrong? Hojo stood up quickly, wavering dizzily with the hangover of his migraine. Throwing his lab coat on over his boxers, he looked out into the hall for his wife.
Only a faintly bluish starlight filtered through the windows into the hall, draping the walls in shadows. Hojo stepped onto the plush carpeting that ran down the center of the hall, grateful for the warmth. He began to wonder if something awful had happened while he lay upstairs asleep. Wasn’t that why there was a Turk stationed with them, out here in the middle of nowhere? Because of some awful danger?
Hojo told himself to stop sensationalizing and calm down. If there was a disturbance, he’d have been awakened. Besides, Nibelheim really was the middle of nowhere, and no one knew what they were doing. Not even us, he added sarcastically. He stood quietly in the hall, letting a draft tickle his bare legs, and listened. Presently he heard a sort of gasping snore – Professor Gast was asleep in his room. Hojo felt slightly reassured. But then where was Lu? The bathroom door was slightly ajar, enough for him to tell that the light was not on. He turned to go down the stars, sticking to the railing even as he told himself that there was no reason to be afraid.
As he reached the bottom of the double staircase, Hojo noticed light slicing out of the kitchen. He sighed in relief and hurried toward it, eager to laugh with Lucrecia about his nightmare. He saw her through the doorway, wearing her favorite white satin and lace nightgown and the sheer black and silver robe he’d bought her for their first anniversary. Moments before he greeted her, however, he saw what she was looking at.
The Turk.
The Turk who was whispering something to her.
The Turk she was smiling at.
The Turk who was leaning in to kiss her.
Hojo dashed back upstairs before he could see the Turk’s lips meet Lucrecia’s. He was grateful for the plush hall carpet that softened his footfalls, and the sheets that were still warm when he slid into them. The bedroom was the same temperature it had been when he woke, but Hojo couldn’t seem to stop shivering as he waited to fall asleep.
