You've Done Enough - Idia Shroud

The noise in the main hallway was loud enough to give anyone a migraine, but for you, it felt like static drilling directly into your skull.

Between the property damage, the lingering dark magic in the air, the endless cleanup details, and the sheer mental toll of dragging yet another student back from the brink of an Overblot, you were completely out of stamina. Your body standardly ached—every muscle pulled tight, dark circles heavy beneath your eyes, your throat dry, and your head throbbing with a persistent, dull pain. You hadn't had a full night’s sleep or a quiet moment to breathe in weeks. Everyone kept asking for your help, relying on you to be the grounded mediator, completely forgetting that you were human, too.

You were leaning against a stone pillar near the courtyard, eyes closed, just trying to keep your balance when a shadow fell over you.

"U-Um... hey. Earth to {{user}}."

You opened your eyes to see Idia Shroud standing a few feet away, practically vibrating with awkward energy. His vibrant blue flame-hair was dimmer than usual, flickering down to a soft, low violet glow. He was clutching a tablet to his chest like a shield, looking left and right to make sure no loud, high-energy dormheads were around to ambush him.

"You look... seriously awful," Idia mumbled, his voice dropping an octave as he actually took in your appearance. "Like, straight-up red-health-bar, zero-MP, single-digit-HP status. If this were an MMO, the game would be flashing red warning borders across your entire field of vision right now."

You tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it faltered immediately, turning into a exhausted wince as a sharp pain radiated through your shoulders.

Idia’s eyes widened slightly behind his yellow-tinted glass. He fidgeted with the edge of his hoodie, his usual rant about 'normies' and 'cringe social obligations' completely absent.

"Okay, stop. Don't do the whole 'I'm fine' NPC script," he grumbled, taking a hesitant step closer. "You're not fine. You've been running tank duties for every boss fight on this cursed campus without a single long rest. Those Overblot incidents... the residual dark ink alone leaves terrible curses and fatigue debuffs on non-magical systems, and nobody even bothered to cast a dispelling charm on you, did they? Idiots. The lot of them. Absolute brain-empty casuals."

He pulled his hood lower over his face, looking around nervously one more time before pointing toward the direction of the Ignihyde dorm portal.

"Come on. Before someone else comes by asking you to help organize a festival or resolve dorm drama."

"Idia, I should probably—"

"I didn't offer a quest choice, {{user}}," Idia interrupted, his voice surprisingly firm despite his slouch. "I'm executing an emergency evacuation protocol. If you stay out here, you're going to faint, and then I'll have to deal with Ortho worrying about you, which will lead to a whole scene. So... just come to my room. It's quiet. No sunlight. No people."

Ten minutes later, you were sitting on the plush carpet of Idia’s room in Ignihyde. The room was cool, illuminated only by the soft glow of his multi-monitor setup and the gentle ambient light of his blue hair. The heavy noise of NRC felt a million miles away, completely blocked out by the soundproofing of his door.

Idia was scurrying around his room like a stressed guild leader before a raid.

"Here," he said, tossing a ridiculously oversized, weighted Ignihyde hoodie into your lap, followed by a heavy fleece blanket. "Change into that if your uniform feels gross. Or just wrap the blanket around you. I disabled the door chime, put Ortho on silent patrol outside so no one disturbs us, and set my status to Do Not Disturb on every campus server."

He crouched down a safe distance away and slid a warm mug across the floor toward you, along with a pair of noise-canceling headphones and a cooling gel pad for your forehead.

"It's high-grade herbal tea," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away, his cheeks flushing a faint purple. "Ortho researched recipes for physical trauma recovery and neural exhaustion. It... it tastes fine. It's not poison."

As you wrapped the warm mug in your hands, the sheer relief of being in a quiet, safe space finally cracked your composure. Your shoulders dropped, and a soft, trembling sigh escaped your lips. The physical pain didn't vanish instantly, but the crushing weight on your chest finally began to ease.

Idia noticed the shift. He stopped hovering, his awkward posture relaxing just a fraction. He sat down on the floor a few feet away, leaning his back against the side of his bed and pulling his knees up to his chest.

"You don't have to talk," Idia said softly, his tone unusually gentle. "You don't have to explain anything, or be the mature hero, or fix anyone's problems. Everyone on this campus treats you like some invincible protagonist who can just absorb everyone else's trauma and keep moving, but... it's stupid. It pisses me off."

He tapped quietly on his handheld console, turning the sound off completely.

"You've been carrying the whole school on your back through every single Overblot. It's okay to just collapse for a while. Ignihyde is a sanctuary for introverts and burnouts anyway... consider this your official safe zone."

You placed the cooling pad on your forehead and pulled the weighted blanket over your shoulders, leaning back against the comfortable floor cushion he’d set up for you.

"Thank you, Idia," you whispered, your voice raspy with genuine gratitude.

Idia glanced at you through his long, translucent blue bangs. A faint, soft smile touched his lips before he quickly looked back down at his screen.

"Yeah, yeah... don't make it weird," he muttered softly, though his hair flickered a warm, cozy pink at the tips. "Just close your eyes and go to sleep. I'll stay right here. If anyone tries to barge in and give you another sidequest, I'll unleash a horde of security bots on them."

For the first time in months, as the low hum of his computer cooling fans filled the quiet room, you finally closed your eyes and let yourself rest.