Resilience Run

Chapter 14

Once again, I found myself wrapped in Rhys' arms when I woke up that morning, only this time I was exactly where I wanted to be, and I snuggled in instead of pull my way out.

"Good morning to you too." Rhys said, as she had apparently woken up at the same time as I did, and snuggled into me as well, kissing my forehead as she did so, "How do you feel?"

"Better than I thought I would." I said, "Maybe that witch had an idea after all."

"You were paralyzed for almost an entire day!" said Rhys as we broke apart and got out of bed so we could get dressed, "Not to mention we had to deal with all those mercenaries afterwards!"

"Yeah, but she did still have an idea," I said, "I mean, we are trying to get to that witch so she can send us home, but that doesn't mean we can just ignore what's going on between all of us."

The two of us got out of bed and started getting dressed.

"You... you're okay with what happened, right?" Rhys asked as she got her pants on.

"I mean, of course," I said, "I thought it was obvious, why?"

"I mean, you know, even though I have a..." Rhys trailed off and went bright purple.

"Rhys, where I come from, you'd be known as transgender," I said, "And as far as I've ever been concerned, you're a woman as long as you identify as one. Whatever's between your legs doesn't change that. How many times do I have to say it until it sticks?"

Rhys smiled and her shoulder relaxed, extremely relieved by my words.

"Maybe three more times?" she said. The goofy smile she gave me afterwards highly reminded me of Katie. Somewhere up in heaven, she was probably cheering that the ship had finally landed, or something like that.

"Let's go get the boys, get something to eat, and hit the road." I said. Rhys nodded and the two of us stepped out of the room.

We didn't expect the kids to already be there eating something. We also didn't expect who would be there with them. It was impossible to mistake his natural red hair, or the scar over his right eye, but it was the crossbow on his back that really convinced me who it was.

"Daniel!"

Daniel stood up when Rhys and I called his name, giving that small half-smile that was his trademark, and came over, hand extended for us to shake, which Rhys and I did with enthusiasm.

"Good to see you again ladies." said Daniel, "It's been too long."

"God, how long has it been?" I asked, "I lost track of time a while ago."

"Believe it or not, it's been almost half a year since the Requiem Run." said Daniel, "You've been on the run for a long time now."

That hit me like a sack of bricks. Six months. I'd been missing in my world for six months. Processing that was awful. Daniel must have seen the look on my face, since he immediately followed that up with "Feels like it's been flying by, huh? Soon enough, you'll get back home."

I shot him an appreciative smile, but that's all he got.

"So how'd you catch up to us so fast, Daniel?" Rhys asked, "We've been trying to keep on the move, out of sight, you know how it is."

"Tracking people is one of my specialties," said Daniel, "I've been doing it for a long time. Finding the two of you was rather an easy task for me."

"Well that's disheartening." I said.

"For me, I mean." said Daniel, catching on to what I was implying, "Trust me, I'm that good, but you wouldn't find anyone else in that castle like me."

"Thank god." I whispered.