Retrouvaille

Chapter 1

Retrouvaille: Chapter 1

Haise let out short bursts of air, wishing the burning sensation inside of his lungs would relax. Wishing was futile, for wishes never came true. Not for him, at least. He found wishes rarely came true for him these days. He licked his cracked lips with the tip of his dry tongue, and beads of cold sweat rolled down the side of his neck.

The sound of yelling and rapid taps of feet were approaching closer and closer with every second. He couldn't afford to rest-the people who had once been his friends, or at least some sort of pleasant acquaintance, considered him an enemy. But his legs burned, and if he didn't rest, they would fall off altogether.

Five more seconds. No, maybe a minute, they can't catch us this quickly. Right? But they've caught others quicker, he thought turbulently. We might be-they might-!

"Haise, dude, get it together! We've got this far, we're going to be fine."

A steady hand shook his stiff shoulder and stopped him from drowning in his own hyper worries. Haise lifted his weary head to look at the man standing next to him, looking just as worn as he was. A certain warmth cradled his pounding heart.

He-the man-was the reason. For his sore legs, for the people running after him, for his life he could no longer return to. Haise was still weighing the pros and cons of the situation, and it was beginning to look like there were more negative things to say.

Looking at him reminded him that maybe it was worth it. Maybe he didn't have to regret it. The man smiled reassuringly, and Haise felt himself smile, despite everything. The man's smile was infectious.

Haise called his name.

.

.

.

"Rank 1 Sasaki!"

The Quinx had come to work early to review their current investigation, pertaining to a ghoul and the death of a human. Isn't that always the case? Haise thought in disdain. He didn't have much time to spare for his lingering thoughts as one of the Rank 3 workers came walking briskly towards him.

"Oh, good morning," Haise greeted. Even if it wasn't necessary, Haise felt it was practically protocol to greet every person with a "good morning" if the time spanned from six to eleven in the morning. The fellow employee flashed a brief smile and returned his "good morning"'s. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Arima wishes to speak with you immediately. Privately," the man added lowly, blandly eyeing the other all-too-eager Quinxes. "He says the other are to wait calmly in the lobby."

"Can't we at least go work on our current case, as we're here?" Tooru asked. The messenger paused, and then shrugged.

"Arima specifically requested that you stay here, but I don't see why you can't work on your case," the man agreed wonderingly. He scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry," he sighed. "I'm only relaying what he told me."

"How about we listen to Arima for now?" Haise suggested and turned to give the Quinx a wary smile. "Stay here. I'll try and be quick."

Shirazu huffed impatiently, but plopped down on one of the lobby couches, arms folded tightly. As ambient as ever, Tooru complied smoothly and scooched into the space next to his impatient friend. Urie gave a curt, silent nod, but something in the back of Haise's mind whispered that Urie was going to go work anyway.

"Now, if we can get going?" The man suggested. Haise tore his gaze away from the ones he considered as family, even if their view of him wasn't a mirror image, and followed the man to Arima.