A Space In-Between (Shidge/Klance AU)

20- To Get Back

"I see," Mrs. Holt said quietly after hearing what all had happened, "That's very unfortunate. I hope everything is alright on that side... Now I regret having that pod removed for examination." Katie groaned in frustration.

"What!? You've got to be kidding me. How am I supposed to bring them back now!?" she howled in sadness as she held her face in her hands. This was not supposed to happen at all. She had many things she thought would happen and this wasn't it.

 Her mother touched her forearm in sympathy. "It's going to be okay. By chance... do you mean your new friends when you say 'bring them back'? It sounds like they have quite the responsibility on their hands. I doubt bringing them here will do any good," her mother said in a soothing tone. Katie pushed herself into the couch they were sitting on. Currently she and Shiro sat across from her mother.

"No, mother. I meant Matt and dad! I met them over there. It was them. I wanted to bring them back so we could be a family again, but now, that's even out of the image," she said, tears welling up.

She had wished to be normal her entire life. Then she met Allura and Shiro in a world where her ability was accepted. For once she felt useful. She even was reunited with her brother, who knew where her father was. Now, that all was a distant memory of a time worth everything. 

"Samuel and Matt were there?" her mother asked, seemingly out of breath. "Let's go to that pod, take me to this magical universe right now!" Mrs. Holt flew out of her seat and dragged Katie out the door with Shiro on their trail. 

Her mother seemed full of life for the first time since Mr. Holt and Matt disappeared. She was always putting on a smile for Katie, wanting her to not know the pain that she held underneath. Now that was all gone and a pure, gold smile was on her face as they raced through the halls to the front door.

Once arriving there, Mrs. Holt wasted no time opening the door. They practically crashed through it. She ushered them into her car, which was hard because Shiro was completely scared of the contraption. After Katie managed to sweet talk him to enter, they were off in a hurry. At first he clang to the seats with small squeals which erupted to pure screams when they sharply turned.

It didn't help that her mother was driving like a maniac. Katie slowly noticed that the city was able to be seen from over the edge of the trees. And as soon as the forest gave way, the city's view was before them. 

"What kind of civilization is this!?" Shiro shouted from the back seat. He leaned into the window like a kid and watched as they approached the city. His eyes sparkled at the sight. They passed the first building and his eyes lingered on it for a few seconds longer.

"This, Mr. Prince, is a city of our era. It's like yours but improved by a lot," Mrs. Holt said. She began pointing to different buildings. "That's a place where you can buy anything useless you need and there's a place you can hang while playing games and there's..." Katie stopped paying attention to her mother's long sentence of explanation. 

Katie's vision was set on a square building in the distance, sitting on Mount Caroline's edge. The institution that she suffered in for so long. She felt her heart drop at the sight of it. Maybe bringing her brother and father back isn't a good a idea. To many bad memories.

Her mother pointed at the very building Katie was staring at. "And that's... an institution. We don't like it. People like us wouldn't," Mrs. Holt said, muttering the last part. Shiro's eyes flew to Katie but she ignored them. She wasn't going to accept any pity. Not now. Not after what they've been through.

"Isn't that the science lab you work at?" Katie said, pointing at a large brick building with a glass entrance. She heard her mom hum in response. They turned into the parking lot and Mrs. Holt parked the car rather sloppily.

"Come on out!" she called as she climbed out of the car in a flash. Katie glanced around, half expecting a police car to show up and arrest her mother. It didn't happen and she was left to wonder how they escaped the eyesight of nearby police officers. They scurried inside, leaving the city behind.

Inside scientists bustled about with electric energy. They shouted at each other and hurried something up. Upon Mrs. Holt's arrival the head scientist, Nora, stopped and approached her. Katie remembered seeing the woman visit often.

"Great! I was just about to send a worker to get you. That pod is a reality jumper! Zach accidentally get sucked in then he came back. He told us he was in a entirely different realm. To verify this, I went myself and it's true!" she said, shaking Mrs. Holt's shoulders. 

Katie's mother got the woman to back up and take a breather. "I know. My daughter came back, having come to a interesting experience. We need to place that pod back where it was and send us back through it. My husband and Matt are on the other side," she explained and Nora froze. 

"What? You can't do that! This is a huge discovery! I won't let--," before the woman could finish, Mrs. Holt zapped her with a taser gun. They stepped over the sleeping scientist and clambered into the experiment room with the pod.

"We are moving this pod back. It's dangerous. We need to abandon this project immediately and return it before something catastrophic happens," her mother announced, taking into account how Nora reacted. The scientists stopped working at her words and began panicking.

"What!? How!? Nora and Zach went through it earlier! Are they going to be okay?" one asked, frantically shoving her notes into a bag. Mrs. Holt took a moment to respond.

"Nora has fainted due to foreign electric waves in her body and Zack may suffer the same unless we return this thing," she retorted, making the scientists more worried. Some of the scientists and workers got to work. 

That was easy. Her mother sure knew how to play people.

I am trying to catch up T^T I'm slowly getting there. I will NOT update Christmas week unless it is catch up chapters (won't be one for this one or Celestial Witch) Imma enjoy my time with meh fam. Though I will publish two new original books on Christmas day like I promised :) I just have to get one of the stories in order -_-;;;

-ThatOneServant, the girl who just received forty dollars, out!