Wayward Travellers

chap. iii

CW: Nothing of note.

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You only realized that you fell asleep after you woke up sometime later.

Hong Lu wasn't awake yet and you were no longer sitting on his lap. Instead, you were lying down on the seats with him as he held you tightly in his arms; pressing your body against his as he slept peacefully.

This was new, but you didn't dislike your new position. If anything, it made you feel bad for Hong Lu and what he had to go through in this place since it caused him to cuddle you like this for the first time ever. Aside from him, you didn't encounter anyone else here and you wondered if you would've even found someone here if Hong Lu didn't decide to force his way in. Because of your experience so far, you wondered if the same was true for Hong Lu and if that was the reason why he was being so touchy right now.

You sighed, deciding to snuggle up to him as you saw no harm in doing so and it wouldn't hurt to show a little affection to someone who clearly needed it. He's been stuck here for who knows how long, only the Head would know how much it comforted him to finally interact with another person and one that he knew at that.

Speaking of being stuck, with how tight he was holding you, you doubted that you'd be able to leave Hong Lu's hold any time soon so you had to find something to entertain yourself with. Sure, you could wake him up so that you'd have someone to talk with, but you didn't have the heart to do so with how peacefully he was sleeping.

You looked around, trying to see if there was anything of worth that you hadn't already seen during your trip here only to realize that you weren't in the special train that you used to come here, but in a different one entirely. It was still a train but one that was completely wrecked. You'd be tempted to believe that this sorry excuse of a vehicle was the train you came with had it not been for the structural difference. Not that there was a lot of structure to go off of in the first place...

You looked up at the ceiling and, thanks to the fact that it was collapsed, quickly noticed that you weren't travelling in the middle of nowhere anymore since the sight above you wasn't pure darkness with a few white stars here and there, but instead what appeared to be the ceiling of a W Corp. station.

Wait, a station? Were you back already? But what about Yi Sang? And if you were already back then why did you arrive back in a different train and one that was wrecked at that?

You pushed the thoughts aside for a moment since none of those questions — save for one — were important. Had you really gone back without Yi Sang? Sure, you didn't want to bother with any of this and you were glad that this was all over, but if the way that Hong Lu's unusual behaviour was anything to go by, then your guilt would haunt you forever for leaving Yi Sang behind to fend for himself.

You sighed before sitting up— or, tried to sit up, only to fail as Hong Lu brought you even closer to himself in response to you trying to leave.

Right, Hong Lu, you forgot that you were cuddling him in your panic for Yi Sang's well-being. You didn't want to disturb him for any reason but you'd have to since whatever happened to Yi Sang was far more important than resting. If he'd allow you to do so then you didn't mind cuddling him again when — if, rather — you returned.

"Hong Lu," you mumbled his name as you placed a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. Fortunately, you didn't have to do much to get him to wake up as he grumbled not long after, his heterochromatic eyes slowly opening as he looked at you curiously.

"[Name]..." he drowsily muttered back before nuzzling his face into your neck, his breath tickling your skin. "...Hello~"

"Yes, hi," you greeted him back. Curse him for looking so cute when he was tired, you needed to make sure that Yi Sang wasn't left behind but Hong Lu wasn't helping in the slightest! "Get up, please? We need to go."

"Go... where, exactly?"

"Outside," you answered simply before realizing that Hong Lu deserved a proper answer instead of the short one you gave him. "I mean, I have a suspicion that we're back but I have to make if that's really the case."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Hong Lu asked, giving you a drowsy smile. "Why do you sound upset?"

"Because I'll be very mad if it turns out that we came back without Yi Sang."

At your words, a frown appeared on Hong Lu's face but it was gone before you could even blink; replaced by that same drowsy smile. "How are you so sure that he's here?"

"Because he disappeared when you did and, if what Faust said is true, in the exact same way that you did," you answered.

"Is that so..." he murmured before sighing. "Well, if Miss Faust said that Yi Sang is here too, then who am I to disagree~?"

How did he reach the conclusion that Faust said that Yi Sang was here when you said nothing of the sort? Or were you overthinking this because of your panic?

"Right, well, we still need to go," you reminded him.

"Of course, we wouldn't want to keep Yi Sang waiting~" he replied before loosening his grip on you and eventually letting go; allowing you to get up as he did the same, looking at you curiously. "But where would we even find him?"

"Hopefully, he'll do the same thing you did and spare me the effort," you grumbled under your breath.

"Hm?"

"We'll find him when we find him," you replied before grabbing his hand. "Now let's go, we can't afford to waste much time."

"Right right~"

Hong Lu allowed you to drag him around as you hastily left that wreckage of a train that you were in. You still had no clue how you and Hong Lu ended up there when both of you were sleeping, but you weren't going to ask about it for the time being.

That said, Hong Lu seemed to like the fact that you were dragging him around judging by the smile on his face whenever you looked back at him.

As soon as you got out, you sighed when you saw that you weren't back at W Corp; both to your relief as that meant that you hadn't left Yi Sang behind and dismay as you were ready to be done with all of this. Nevertheless, that meant that you had more time to search for Yi Sang, though you doubted that time was something that you had to worry about. Still, the sooner you found him, the better.

"What's with that sigh?" Hong Lu asked curiously yet playfully. He didn't seem surprised that neither of you were back, though you shouldn't have been either since W Corp didn't have a reason to care for you enough to bring you back early. "Upset that you're still stuck with me~?"

"No," you answered almost immediately. "I'm just..." you paused, unsure of how to continue that sentence before deciding that being a little truthful never hurt anyone. "...I'm just worried about Yi Sang, that's all. And I'm actually happy that you're here with me, not upset."

"[Name]..." he murmured your name so softly that it almost brought heat to your cheeks. "You like me~?" his soft tone was replaced by a playful one as soon as he spoke.

"No I don't," you replied as what little warmth your face left at his teasing. "Don't get ahead of yourself, I don't like anyone."

"It's okay, I like you too!"

"Be quiet, you're distracting me," you sighed before choosing a random direction and dragging Hong Lu in that direction with you. "Come on, we shouldn't make Yi Sang wait."

"Why the rush? You like him, too~?"

"I said be quiet."