The Unified Soul

Snow Storm

Airis slowly walked up to her Uncle Zane, who had just been returned to the group, but he was very different than the last time they saw him. His soul, only visible to Airis herself, was strange. It was the same, and yet it was so trapped within a kind of darkness that scared her. 

However, until she could figure this out, find out why he was missing, who took him, and what this darkness was, she wouldn't say a thing and pretend like everything was normal. Who knows who could be watching her from the shadows.

"Uncle Zane!" Airis said happily as she hugged Zane around his waist. Zane released Aphmau just a little bit and picked up Airis in his arms, squeezing her tightly, something that he didn't do too often.

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Uncle Zane."

Zane hummed and continued to hold Airis close to him.

"Where on Earth were you, Zane?!" Garroth asked, "We were worried sick about you."

"Looking around." Zane answered.

"Looking around?! Zane, there were signs of a struggle! I heard you scream and..." Garroth turned to see Zane still hugging Aphmau and Airis.

"Aphmau! Could you stop hugging Zane for one minute and start asking questions?!"

"But he's back safe and that's all that matters!" Aphmau answered.

Lucinda and Kim walked over, worried and confused expressions on their faces.

"Aphmau... I understand that you're happy that Zane is back, but I think you need to take step back and look into what Garroth is saying. He does bring up a good point." Lucinda said.

"I agree with Auntie Lucinda, Mama. what if Uncle Zane was kidnapped by someone really bad and they're still out there." Airis said, clutching Zane's sweater tightly.

"Airis is right. Can't you see that Zane is a little different. You have been hugging him for a long time. Longer than usual." Lucinda said.

Aphmau giggled, but then she realized that Lucinda and Airis were right. She pulled away from Zane, seeing him still holding Airis close to his side.

"N-n-now that you mention it... you're right..." She said, "Zane... what exactly happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Zane asked, clearly clueless about everything happening.

"I mean... You were missing, for longer than you would without contacting me. Not to mention that you're holding Airis, something that you don't do very often, especially for this long."

"I was taking a stroll outside, that's all. And Airis is the one clutching onto me. Who am I to push away a kid?"

"Uhh... But you.... Claw marks... secret door!!" Garroth said, his sentence breaking with his nerves and panic.

"What G-Garroth is trying to say is... we saw there was a struggle in the room you went missing from. Then we found a secret door that led us through some mines~~"

"With really weird rooms." Lucinda added.

"And creepy stones!" Airis said.

"Right!" Aphmau said, "We spent a lot of time looking for you! We thought you were kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?!?" Zane laughed, "Oh, Aphmau! Good one! I wasn't kidnapped. I'm perfectly fine! I just went out for a stroll before the storm got worse."

His statement proved it. Zane was definitely off in more ways than one.

"Zane, you don't go out for strolls." Garroth pointed out.

"How would you know?"

"Zane... You CRINGE at the idea of going out to do anything. You've always been like that since we were kids!"