「Dreaming For Stars」TPNxReader

38} Forest of Vows

Chapter 5} Chapter 38
Forest of Vows
誓いの森

I walked around the forest calmly, the birds chirped making me smile.
"It's so big..." I heard some of the kids mutter.

{ Wow... So this is what the outside is like... A primeval forest? It's a completely different forest from where we came from. It's huge... Where exactly are we? }

I turned around slightly, thinking I had seen movement.
Nothing.

I turned back to the kids and Emma. They were tired and exhausted. Our pace was slowing.
"Emma," Don then called out.

And soon, "Guys! Let's take a break. We should eat breakfast," Emma said.

I sighed and left the little place under the huge tree everyone was at.

I wasn't hungry.
Strangely, I never really was when we were supposed to eat.
Maybe, it's a strange symptom called dEpReSsIoN.
Many 12-year-olds have that.
Aha, jokes.

I climbed up the tree a small bit and sat down, looking around.
I held on tightly to Norman's note.
Even if he would be happy at this moment, I missed him. He wasn't here...

I took a deep breath. I need to move on from the fact that he's gone.
He's gone, and I need to get over that.

"Yoooooow," a sudden noise came from behind me,
""Yow"!" I exclaimed, looking around.
"Don't worry," Oh, Ray.

"This isn't the territory of a savage beast or anything. I don't see any footprints, claw marks, or droppings of that sort. Usually there are traces you can spot. Just like when we play tag," Ray continued.
I nodded, listening to his every word.

"I'll keep watch, you need to rest too," he then said.
"What? Why not you rest and I keep watch?" I argued.

"It's the least I can do. I know you're tired," he told me.

I narrowed my eyes at him.
"And how do you know that?" I asked, waving my pointer finger at him.
"When you're tired, you often sit like that," he told me, pointing right back at me.

"I do no-" I stared at how I was sitting. My legs were pressed up to my chest with my arms wrapped around them and my chin resting on my knees.
I then groaned making him chuckle.

"Fine, I'll go," I told him with a smile, sitting up and starting to walk around.
"Sorry," he then said, catching up to me.
"For what?" I asked, giving him a curious look.

"If I had been cooperative from the beginning... maybe you wouldn't have hurt your hand or lost an ear," he told me.
I smiled, "Don't stress about it. You're here, smiling, alive, that's all I need, Ray," I told him.

He handed me a bun that everyone was eating in the tree.
"I also apologized to Anna earlier," he added.
"Oh, really?" I asked, forcing myself to eat the small bun.
"You know what she said?" I shook my head. " "Forget that. Hey, it's your birthday. Happy Birthday!" Even though I was about to leave them behind. They still care about me. When I don't deserve it," he said. The whole mood turned melancholy.

"Y/n, I'll live. I'll live and protect this family," he said making me smile.
"Everyone in this family, just like you and Emma. This time, for sure, I vow. No matter what happens, I'll never abandon them again," he said with determination.
"Do you don't have to bear this burden all on your own. We'll create it together. We can live as a family. All of us," he told me, I smiled brightly.

"O-Okay!" I agreed.

Time Skip

"So what do we do from here?" Ray asked Emma and I.
"I want to get water," Emma stated, "You saw the river earlier, right? I want to see if it's drinkable."

I nodded in agreement.
"A reasonable plan. I've read before that humans will die in three day without water. So we need to get water first. And we may even be able to get food too," Ray agreed.

I stared forward, not really saying anything. Just listening to them.
"And? What about after that?" I then asked after a moment.
"Do you have a plan? Somewhere to go?" I continued, turning to Emma.

"Yup. We'll head South," Emma nodded with a smile.
"South?" Ray asked as she fished through her bag.
"We're going to point B06-32 to see Mr. Minerva," she said, sticking out a pen.

"What's that pen? And Point B06-32?" Ray asked.
"Look," Emma said. We huddled closer.
"Norman got it from Sister Krone," Emma said, handing it to Ray.
"Try opening it up. And when we took it apart..." Emma continued.

Ray tried opening it, "Pull it out a bit more," Emma urged. And he did.
A holographic screen appeared and I moved around to see it clearly.
"What?" I muttered as it flickered. It was the symbol we saw in the books. The owl with the morse code.

On top, it had
B
01 - 14

"Lanni?!" we then heard.
I rushed over to Thoma, "Thoma! What's wrong?" I asked.

"Lanni disappeared!"

{ What? Disappeared? }

I was the first to get into 'mom mode.'
"Were you attacked? What do you mean? Or did we lose him?" I asked.
"No, it's not like that! He suddenly disappeared! He was walking next to me. Then when I turned around, he was gone," Thoma explained. Beads of sweat ran down his face.

I nodded.
"Lanni!" I shouted in desperation as we looked for him.

Ray then held his finger to his mouth, to shush us.
I looked around and my eyes went wide.
{ Where was everyone?! There's no answer... Lanni... How did this happen? }

"Ray, I'm going to go look around," Emma said.
"Hold it!" Ray shouted.
"Something's weird. Something's not right. There's no answer. It's not just Lanni. It's weird. Why is no one else reacting?" he asked.

Then, Ray broke into a dash.
I held Thoma on my back, running after Ray.

It was deserted.

"This can't be real..." Emma muttered.
{ Where's Don? Gilda? Everyone else? They disappeared? }

"Where did everyone go?" I muttered, holding Thoma in fear.

彼らは突然姿を消し、私は壊れた

1/26/2020
Word Count: 946