The Place where Dreams Fade (Book Two of the Forgotten Truths Series)

Chapter Nineteen: "Another Slightly More Important Meeting?"

(Continuing right off from Chapter Eighteen...)

~Myeong-Jun~

Farther off, Rustic wrestled to get a book off of its place on the shelf. The tall, lean ladder he was on gently swayed back and forth with every motion he made. He was very high up, and although he had a crinkled lump of a sleeping bag waiting at the bottom for him, it wouldn't do much.

Wisp looked up and away from Hidden. Her face lit up once she saw the two.

"You're here!" She exclaimed brightly. The sound echoed off of the never-ending sea of literature they were in.

"Who's this 'Here'-guy?" Rustic blurted out. He spun around on the wildly-swaying ladder to see who was 'Here'.

Hidden pushed her face out from Wisp's damp shoulder. Her face, swollen from crying, was pried open with a small grin. — Poor thing, what was causing her to cry so much?

"Ken'ichi and Myeong-Jun!" She replied; her tone took on a higher-pitched state with made her sound like a young kid.

"Ohh," He squinted at them. "They look like ants from where I am. All of you look like ants,"

Rustic gave up on whatever task he was trying, and descended down the ladder, one rung at a time. A few times he paused, as the wooden-thing he was on shook so greatly. Eventually, he got down, and was right up in front of the newcomers.

"So... what are we here for?" Myeong-Jun asked. Today, for some reason, she felt... different in a way. It was probably because of her time with Ken'ichi.

"Is this about Her Majesty?" A Kawasumi-like voice asked--before the real Kawasumi suddenly appeared.

Rustic jumped slightly when he saw Kawasumi suddenly spawn in. He relaxed slightly within a few seconds. Then, he nodded and motioned for them to come over to where Wisp had Hidden sat on her lap. She braided her hair back while watching them.

"My brother found this place a few years back. He told me about it tonight, and it seemed like a nice place to hide and talk in peace."

"Her M— Edge built it years back or something, but forgot where it was."

"She was furious,"

Hidden explained in her soft tone; she hiccuped slightly at the end of her words. She didn't bother to say who her brother was.

She sniffled again. A wave of fresh new tears freely roamed down the girl's face. Wisp wrapped her arms around her smaller figure. Poor her; also her brother. Who was her brother?

A few moments passed of Wisp just comforting Hidden again. Soft sobs omitted from the girl. She looked so scared and worried; she shook from her crying every now and then.

Rustic came to kneel beside them. He joined in on the hug, and kept his eyes glued on the both of them. They really did look like a family.

Wisp gave Rustic a look — Not a harsh look, but rather just a look — He sat up straight, but still kept one hand on Hidden's back and Wisp's hand. His thumb trailed small circles.

He cleared his throat. It was at times like these that people looked just so much older. He could be someone's dad right now, and not someone fresh out of their teens.

"About the meeting earlier," He began, "we need to find a way to stop Edge."

Rustic hinted back to that scroll-thing about if someone took over all the tribes, and the horrible things it would cause.

"I would happily put an end to the oh-so amazing queen." Myeong-Jun said, in a more excited tone, "so, how do you want to do it? Should we kill her?"

Then, following her words, Myeong-Jun thought, 'Would killing her even be good enough for her?'

She then bit her tongue, realizing how blood-thirsty she had sounded.

Ken'ichi, on the other hand, seemed heavily opposed to killing the 'queen.'

"Do we really have to kill her..?" Ken'ichi murmured out loud, in an uneasy tone.

"Kill?" Wisp began to nod, but then shook her head. "No, she deserves worse."

Rustic perked up. "What if we went to Leaf Tribe first! To get allies and stuff."

He added the last part while looking at Myeong-Jun and Wisp, "It would be smarter to do that before the whole killing-thing,"

"Can't Kawasumi just through a dagger at Edge?" Myeong-Jun asked, glancing at Kawasumi who was quite far away.

The little family-trio-lookalike turned to Kawasumi. Hidden's entire expression was wide, and full or curiosity. In some sort of sense, together they all made a unique person with all of their combined personalities.

Kawasumi looked at each of them, confused and puzzled. She probably didn't even pay attention to their conversation that they had just had a few moments ago.

"What?" Kawasumi asked, looking at each of them individually. "Why are you all looking at me?"

The girl who Wisp was braiding her hair — Whatever her name was; hiding or something strange like that — merely blinked at Kawasumi.

"Did you not just hear what was said?" What's-her-face tilted her head, and her eyebrows were furrowed together.

"Yeah, I wasn't." Kawasumi admitted.

"Hm," She hummed.

"Well, Myeong-Jun asked if you could just throw a dagger at Edge and end her," She restated what Myeong-Jun had said.

"Huh?" Kawasumi said; pbewildered. "I can't just do that. Who else will rule Droplet Tribe then?"

"The king..." She trailed off. A sad wave hit the girl.

"I genuinely don't care if Droplet Tribe is leaderless." Myeong-Jun retorted, "Isn't it kind of deserved?"

"You're only saying that because your Flame Tribe." Kawasumi hissed in return, clearly annoyed.

"Whatever." Myeong-Jun replied.

"Maybe we go to Leaf Tribe," Rustic murmured absentmindedly. He was staring off into space while drawing small circles on Wisp's hand.

"Why? Why should we go to Leaf Tribe?" Myeong-Jun asked.

Rustic practically jumped. A wide, startled expression flashed over his face. He always got scared so... easily.

"Hm— uh," He mumbled out quickly.

Wisp smiled up at him. She nudged him encouragingly, although she looked confused as well. When he stayed quiet, she spoke up.

Wisp said, "Maybe to get help from Queen Petal." She gulped, "I'm sure she'll be willing to help,"

She trailed off the last bit a few seconds later. "... Especially after what happened."

Myeong-Jun nodded. "Alright then."

She smiled and nodded. Wisp looked relieved that Myeong-Jun didn't say anything about her last statement.

She fixed her smile up to Rustic, who was still in a daze. She lightly yanked on his arm.

"Is he dead?" Hidden whispered loudly to Wisp, who laughed.

He flinched; coming back to the world. "Nope!"

Now shouldn't be the time for games.