Into Another World (The Lost Souls Trilogy)

-Reassurance-

"Oliver."

"Zao," they stared at each other, "what are you doing here?"

"Same reason I'm always here-" he stopped, looking back at the girls sitting on the couch. "Who are they?"

"Canada's kids, Kuro and Luciano kidnapped them yesterday."

Zao frowned. "Yea that sounds like them." He narrowed his eyes. "The blue haired one, she's familiar." He thought to himself for a second. "Ningyo." Aoi's head snapped up, looking at him with wide, fearful eyes. "That's what Kuro always called you... how are you still alive?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." She looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"That damned Kuro," he mumbled, "always was a bastard." Zao sighed and went upstairs.

There was another knock on the door after he left. When Oliver opened it up Elizabeth was standing there, somehow happy without the presence of Romeo.

"Oliver, it's nice to..." She trailed off, looking behind him at the girls. "What are they doing here?"

Oliver sighed. "We need to have a talk about your behavior at school." Elizabeth gulped, frowning. Oliver silently led her into the kitchen where they talked, whispering quiet enough for them not to hear.

Elizabeth came back out and walked over to the two of them, fiddling with the edge of her skirt. "So..." she looked over at Oliver who only motioned to the girls. "I'm sorry."

They both looked shocked.

She sighed. "I'm sorry I've been rude, and framed you for writing on my locker, and insulted you at the orphanage." Oliver cleared his throat. "And a few other things which I have planned for the future which haven't taken effect yet, and I will be stopping those."

Alyona snorted. "Wow, how sincere of you." She crossed her arms, glaring at Elizabeth. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and walked upstairs, passing by the guy with auburn hair.

He walked over to them, staring back at Elizabeth. "What's her problem?" He held out Alyona's guns, and Aoi's daggers. "Anyway, I figured you'd want these back." They grabbed them, tucking them away. "My name's Allen." He awkwardly stuck out his hand.

"Nice to meet you." They both said, neither shaking his hand.

"Yea..." He awkwardly put his hand aside. "I'm gonna go."

There was a tense silence when he walked off. Alyona sat there rubbing her thumb over the gun. "I'm going to kill them."

"W-what?" Aoi looked surprised.

"I'm going to kill them."

"Don't you think that's a bit... brash?"

"You know what they did, Aoi, fitting punishment for crime."

"You wouldn't be able to kill them," she sighed, "we might as well let karma play the course."

"Easier to do damage now." She pocketed the gun, going silent again.

Just as Oliver came back into the living room, Canada and America burst inside, running over to the girls. They jumped at the sudden entrance.

"Are you two okay?!" They cried, bringing them into a hug. They both tensed up. Canada glanced at his doppleganger who gave him a small, hidden smile.

Alyona hesitantly hugged back, burying her face in his chest. Aoi sat there awkwardly, not moving.

"Well it's nice to see you two are finally here." Oliver spoke up. "I was worried you ran into trouble."

"England had some trouble getting us here," America explains. "Anyway, we'll get going now, thank you for saving them."

Oliver nodded at them, and the four stood up. They walked outside and into the car where Canada drove off, heading back home.

On the way home, Alyona fell asleep, leaning against Aoi who was staring out the window. She watched the lights pass, silently getting lost in her thoughts. She shuddered, remembering Kuro and the events of her past. Alyona shifted beside her, holding her arm tighter. Eventually she closed her eyes, dozing off.

When they woke up they were back in their room at home. Aoi remained laying down, shifting towards Alyona. They silently stared at each other for a while until Alyona spoke up.

"Did you know him?" She asked. Aoi raised an eyebrow, confused. "The man who was with you, did you know him?" Aoi nodded, silent. Alyona thought to herself for a second. "Did he do anything to you?"

"Hai... before all of this, back when I was in Japan." There was a calm silence again.

"Was this our fault; did we make this happen?"

Aoi looked surprised and shook her head. "No, no they chose to do this, we didn't make them." Alyona turned onto her back. She absentmindedly scratched at her arms.

"My arms healed..." she quietly said, just loud enough for Aoi to hear. "Every time he made cut, it would just...heal. That didn't stop him though, it just made it worse." She wiped away a tear. "It

felt like hours." She went silent, listening to the birds chirp outside as the sun brightened up the room.

"Alyo-" Aoi began.

"I should've done something!" She sobbed out. "But I didn't; I couldn't!" Aoi frowned, tears pricking the edges of her eyes. "Slabyy, slabyy, slabyy, slabyy-" Aoi stood up, and walked over to her bed, laying down next to her. She wrapped her arms around Alyona in a hug. Alyona turned, crying into her shoulder.

"Ī nda yo," she mumbled, "watashi wa koko ni imasu."