Holding Everything

Chapter 38: Meeting Her; Seeing Him

I lower my shirt after Quidna had checked my, now healed, wound and run my fingers through my messy, greasy hair. I start for the door to leave when Rika tugs at my shirt sleeve; I turn and see the worry in her eyes.

"We need to get you home first, you may have gotten the healing from this place but you're still a Natural Handler, there may be effects on your body you haven't noticed yet. You need to go home and rest and then afterwards we can-"

"I said we have work to do and that's what we're going to do." I cut off her nonsense and start to leave again, grabbing the dingy bag which held White Limbo inside, safe and sound.

"H-hey!" I hear Lillya's voice behind me and the hallway soon fills with our footsteps as I lead us to the exit, "Kou stop! Don't be such a jerk she was just trying to help you!"

"Quidna said I was healed so there's no reason for extra rest, besides as long as I stay out of everyone's way I should be fine."

"What the hell?" Lillya's disbelief is apparent in her voice but she's cut off by Eren who pulls her back and comes to my side.

"Okay, we'll do as you say, but right after, we seek shelter and you rest. Deal?" I nod, relieved we finally came to an agreement and can get to the mission already. After making our way through the Lab we finally exit and stand in the middle of the old western style road. I hold up the bag and slip the book out of it, opening it up to a random page and placing my right hand on the right page and the others follow my lead with the opposite page; their right hands on the page on their right. The rushing winds take over on cue and I await the end of the journey from here to there. I keep my eyes closed and feel my hair being blown in disarray, the brightness beneath my eyelids grow dimmer, indicating we've arrived home. I open my eyes and take in my surroundings,

"Eren, Rika, Lillya; where are you?" I say aloud.

"Right here," Eren says while they all approach from behind a tree, the girls patting their hair back into place and Eren fixing his clothes.

"You will get accustomed to the journey between the Crate of Core and here, don't worry." They all nod softly; we then look around to assess our whereabouts.

"Okay, where are we?" Lillya asks while turning in a circle, it's apparent we're in a cozy, peaceful park; a good distance away a playground with a few laughing children can be seen swinging on the swings and sliding down the slide; and all around us is a mixture of trees. Some are tall, some short, some with thick trunks and some with thin; and a curving, winding sidewalk weaves all around the larger trees making a small trail that stretches along the perimeter as soon as it leaves the small makeshift forest of the park. On opposite ends of the parks are two bridges that are beautifully designed to form a picturesque view, though the one closest to the park and us also as a small creek bed that leads to pond on the other side of the bridge.

"A park, though I'm unfamiliar with it; we must be farther from home than we thought." I say while scanning the playground for the girl I saw when I sensed the new target, but all I see are children running and playing about. My eyes meet with Rika's who stares at me for a moment, shrugs then looks away. "We need to widen our search, look around the pond, the creek, and around all the trees as well as inside them." They all nod and decide that Lillya will accompany me in the search around the pond while Rika and Eren are to search around the trees. Though they keep looking back as us occasionally, they break off into conversation whenever we lose eye contact.

"H-hey, I'll be right back, need to tell Rika something." Lillya says while already heading toward them; but I stop her before she runs off.

"Too risky, if I'm alone and encounter Mo or some other Runner, there's no way I can defend myself." I say, though she hesitates for a second, she nods and agrees to stay though looking quite reluctant. She waves them over and thy come running,