A World Beyond the Waterfalls

Prodding Dylan with Probes

"He'll be okay after this, right?" I ask the doctor, clutching Dylan's hand as hard as possible.

"I think you're gonna break my hand," is all I get in response.

The doctor laughs. "He'll be absolutely fine," she reassures me, ushering me out of the room. "The best thing you can do for him right now, is let him rest. He's going to be experimented on in an hour and he needs to be fully energized for the operation."

I nod nervously, turning and walking slowly down the hallway. I catch sight of Liam and make my way to him, choosing my steps carefully.

"Hey, Li."

I sit down in the seat next to him and he puts his phone in his pocket, turning to look at me. "He's gonna be okay, right, I was just starting to like him."

I laugh nervously. "Yea, if everything goes right, he'll be perfectly fine. He just needs some time to be operated on and some time to rest. After that, he'll be as good as new and he'll be available to check out this new world."

Liam smiles. "Yea, new world alright. Have you tasted the Foam?!"

I grin at his enthusiasm. I swear, he's a five year old stuck in a sixteen year olds body. "Yea, I have. It's delicious, right?"

He nods repeatedly, smiling broadly. "And what about those Swaddles? They were interesting little buggers, eh?"

I smile at his British sounding language. "This things were nasty," I respond.

Liam laughs. "Nah, they're just misunderstood," he looks out the hospital window at one, and smiles sadly. "They just need to be treated like everyone else. They just need to get along with the humans. Then everything would work out for 'em."

I shrug. "Yea, I guess you're right."

We're silent for a while, until Liam sighs and says, "Well, we can't sit here all day and all night. Do you want to go back to the village? Maybe find Ryder and his sister?"

I shrug again. "Sure."

*****

"No, you can't do that."

Ryder frowns. "Why not?"

"Because that's cheating," I answer laughing.

He smiles and moves his knight back to where it was. I had created a make shift chess board and I was trying desperately to teach Ryder how to play.

He was catching on pretty quickly, but was mixing up the amount of spaces each piece could move.

"Can I do that?" Ryder asks, moving his pawn up one space.

I nod, smiling at the confused expression on concentration that is plastered to his face. I take one of his bishops and he curses under his breath.

He smiles malevolently and moves one of his pawns forward, and before I realize what I'm doing, I walk my king right into a trap.

"Ha!" Ryder says, knocking my king off the board. "Check market!"

I burst out laughing, falling off my chair and rolling on the floor. "Check mate." I gasp through laughter. "You say check mate not check market."

He frowns. "Whatever," then it turns to a smirk, "I still win."

*****

When Dylan emerges from the room, walking gingerly through the doorway, I run at him. Not stopping to think about it, I hurtle myself on him and through my arms around his neck.

He squeezes me, his arms gentle yet firm. "Oh my God, Dylan you look horrible!"

He raises his eyebrows. "Love you too."

"I can't believe they'd do this to you! What if you died? What if it didn't work? What if it was totally unsafe? What if it made you-"

And then Dylan's kissing me. His lips are soft, but they kiss me forcefully, almost insistently. It's the most amazing feeling in the world; like
I'm flying through the the clouds soaring into the air.

"Sorry," he mumbles against my lips, "I had to stop your rampage somehow."

I smile shyly at him. "Thanks." But I'm still worried, frightened for Dylan's sake.

"It's all over now, Kota," Dylan reassures me, "I'm all yours now."

I grin at him. "Let's do something fun. Something we've never done in our world. Something cultural to this place."

Dylan purses his lips, thinking.

And then a voice booms from behind us, echoing loudly. "You mean like Board Soaring?"

*A/N-I know it's been forever and I'm sorry babes! How dare you ShawnStilinski248! lol I luh ya guys and I hope to update again soon💚❤️💜💙💛