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The girl quickly flashes her eyes open. She finds herself squished into a small crawlspace. Upon closer inspection, she realizes that she's hiding under someone's bed, but she doesn't know whose.
From what she can make out, she can see many pairs of feet—some hiding behind what is possibly a scarlet window curtain. Those five pairs of feet barely poke out from the curtain, suggesting that there's a considerable amount of space between it and the wall it covers. Looking around as best as she can with her limited field of vision, the girl can make out a smallish figure poking out from the side of a faraway desk. The figure squirms to keep itself hidden, as its protruding hand waves back and forth until it gets flung into a puddle of red liquid. The hand furiously shakes after a second, as if trying desperately to get the liquid off of itself. The girl lets out a small gasp, as she notices small drips of the same red liquid on parts of the hardwood floor. She shoves herself back, now shaking at the sight of what she can now recognize as blood everywhere. She grabs at her shoulders, trying to calm herself down, but she knows that she cannot stand the sight of blood. Her body started to shake more vigorously as she notices more and more spatters on the walls and door across from the bed she's currently under. The girl can feel her eyes starting to tear up, but her oncoming panic attack is soon stopped by the sound of footsteps.
They are very loud and sound like there is more than one person causing them. As the footsteps grow louder, the door suddenly flies open and a moderately large burlap sack is thrown into the room. The sack forcefully lands at the foot of the bed, and the girl begins to pray that whoever just entered the room doesn't find her. She swiftly glances over to the desk in the far corner, where she can no longer see the small figure's hand poking out. Steel-toed boots stomp over to the burlap, kicking it over and pulling a small figure out of it. The small figure had light green wings on its back, which were now thrashing about.
"Let me go!" a tiny voice cries, "I told you, I don't know anything! Let me go!"
The girl scooches towards the sack in order to try and get a glimpse of what is going on in front of her, but makes sure to keep hidden. She can see two pairs of legs guarding the door, and watches as a well-kept pair of black dress shoes walk into the room, shutting the door behind it.
"Well, what about this little lady?" a man's well-mannered voice asks.
"She insists that she knows nothing," a threatening female voice replies.
"I don't! I really don't!" the tiny voice adds, "I don't know about this 'Xenith' person!"
There's a short moment of silence before the more masculine voice lets out a sigh. The pair of black dress shoes tap loudly on the hardwood, as the well-mannered voice says, "Well, certain things are deemed as 'useless' for a reason, and I have no need for such things." The dress shoes take a step over to the steel-toed boots and a short whisper is let out:
"…rid of…now," is all the girl can make out.
Immediately, the cocking of a gun is heard as the more threatening feminine voice lets out a chuckle. The tiny voice pleads for its life, desperately gasping until a loud gunshot is let out. The girl shuts her eyes and covers her ears as a soft thud follows shortly. The burlap sack begins to squirm violently, as whatever else is left inside is now panicking. The steel-toed boots kick the sack across the room, where they smack into the faraway desk. A few seconds of silence pass, as the girl slowly opens her eyes to see if anything worse has happened, and to her dismay, she finds the bloodied corpse of a tiny woman dressed in green lying directly at the foot of the bed. The gun must have been fairly larger than the tiny woman because her head has been blown off completely as blood spurts out from the body, staining the delicate, bright green wings on the back.
The girl can't stand it. She feels a scream welling up from her throat, but she knows that she'll reveal herself to the ruthless killers in the room.
'…O-oh, God! Where am I?!' is all the girl can mentally ask herself as she begins to panic. As she is about to let out a whimper, quiet retching can be heard throughout the room, causing everyone to stare directly at the far desk.
"Well, what's this?" the man's well-mannered voice asks as he shoves the desk off to the side, "Another—wait. What is this?" He drags the figure out of its hiding place, revealing that it is another girl of small-stature with dirty blonde hair and green eyes. The girl immediately recognizes the dirty blonde as one of her classmates and a close friend to her.
'M-Mandy! But why is s—'
"NOOOOO!" screams the dirty blonde, "Please! Don't hurt me!"
The Mandy-girl shoves what looks like a well-dressed man away as she scrambles for the door. A woman with bright red hair in a black overcoat immediately grabs Mandy's wrist and throws her down onto the floor.
"Well, that was just rude," the well-dressed man says as he dusts himself off, "And here I was just going to ask you a few questions—your kind doesn't seem to be from here." The man kneels down to closely inspect Mandy's face; running his gloved hands through her dirty blonde hair and gently pressing on her cheeks. He gets closer and stares Mandy in the eyes, quietly adding, "…but you don't even look like her." Mandy refuses to say anything back, being more concerned with the man's ruthless-looking accomplice that towers over her from her left. The well-dressed man stands back up and pushes his long red hair back.
"I'm guessing you know nothing either," he sighs. Mandy bites at her lip and looks up at the man's accomplice, who squats down and points her gun at her forehead. A click can be heard, but the well-dressed man gently presses the ruthless woman's trigger-happy hand away.
"Not now, Cornelia," the man interjects, "She may be feigning ignorance."
The woman now identified as Cornelia pulls her hand back and lets out a sigh. She quickly spits off at the floor, almost having her wad of spit land on Mandy's face.
"Boss, you're too naïve," she says, hinting that the man's actions annoy her.
"Maybe a little naïveté can do you some good," he curtly adds.
"B… But what if that fairy you killed was faking it?!" Mandy shouts, "You killed her regardless!"
An awkward silence fills the room, as the clicking of a gun can be heard again—this time, the man has the gun in his hands. The girl under the bed clasps her hands over her mouth as tears stream down her face. All she can do is hope and pray that her friend's life doesn't end like this. Not over something they know nothing about.
The man lets out a small chuckle and says, "You're right. I guess I have no need for you then."
A loud gunshot echoes as multiple gunshots follow.
Red is all that can be seen running on the hardwood floor. The girl desperately gasps as quietly as she can, grieving at her friend's pointless death, however, her quiet gasps don't go unnoticed. The well-dressed man walks over towards the foot of the bed and peers under it; his bright yellow eyes meeting the girl's teary ones. He reaches his arm out, trying to grab at the girl as she frantically scooches as far away as she can. The girl shuts her eyes as the tears refuse to stop. Gasping for air, the girl curls up into a ball, praying that her life can and will be spared.
"Help me out here," the man orders. Before she can register everything, the girl forces her eyes open, only to see that this Cornelia woman lifts the bed up from one side.
"N-no, please…!" is all the frightened girl can let out. The man creeps under his accomplice's arms and grabs at the frantic girl's beige sweater-sleeve, tugging her out of the corner.
"Please!" the girl begs, "I-I can be useful! I promise!"
"I doubt it," the man replies, adjusting the black fedora sitting on his head. He reaches for the silver hand-gun as he drags the sobbing girl closer towards the middle of the room—closer towards her friend's bloodied lifeless body. Cornelia drops the bed back onto the floor and tightly grips at the sobbing girl's hair. The girl keeps begging and sobbing as if the man who's about to end her life will have a sudden change of heart and let her live. However, there is no chance of that happening, but her tears refuse to stop as she keeps pleading, "P-Please! Please…!"
The blood that lies all over the floor stains the girl's clothes as she tries to break free of this cold woman's grip, but all of the girl's thrashing gives no results.
The well-dressed man grabs the silver handgun and forcefully smashes it against the sobbing girl's face. Blood runs out of the girl's nose, replacing almost all traces of snot that was once there. She's no longer pleading at the top of her lungs, but still lets out a few whimpers. The man takes a moment to take in the girl's pitiful state as he clicks the hand-gun, but before shooting, he notices faint bulges sticking out from behind the scarlet curtain. Motioning towards the curtain helps to notify his rough accomplice, who rips them off; understanding the silent message given.
Ripping the curtain off reveals five other children that were also in hiding. Two of these children seem to be the girl's age, while the other three look like their ages range from as young as seven to as old as ten.
The oldest-looking one has a faint, but noticeable scar on his right cheek, stretching out from his right earlobe. His hair is a blonde mess with leaves and bits of twigs tangled within it, and he appears to be clutching at the black scarf that looks as if it were sloppily thrown on. The one next to him was another person the girl could recognize: a girl with silky black hair and brown eyes wearing the same uniform. Her hair is sloppily tied into a small ponytail that rests on her left shoulder, with a few notable freckles that dot sides of her face and neck. The three younger ones all appear to be identical: messy red hair with blue eyes. The two youngest ones have a small beauty mark on their left cheeks while the older one does not. All children don't appear to be frightened by the threatening people in the room, but the girl with the silky black hair immediately flinches at the sight of the sobbing girl.
The well-dressed man quickly points the handgun at the children, but the boy with the blonde mess of hair tackles him down, as if on instinct. He grips at the man's wrist, causing the silver handgun to be flung into the air and land on Mandy's body. The rough-looking Cornelia rushes for the boy, yanking her captive along, but gets knocked over by the two younger redheads lunging onto her ankle and the right side of her waist. Cornelia rolls onto bloodied floor, regains her footing and throws the girl she kept held down at the young redheads. She immediately lunges at the blonde boy, grabbing hold of his arms and hoists him up in a way that makes him incapable of breaking free. The well-dressed man picks up the handgun, flicking the blood off it, and points it at the girl with silky black hair.
"I know it's you," he snarls, now unable to contain a rage that wasn't originally there. The girl is now panicking—she has no idea what this man is talking about and has a gun pointed directly pointed at her. She looks directly at the blonde boy—who's trying to break free of the woman's grip—as if he can get her out of this situation.
"DON'T LOOK AWAY FROM ME!" barks the well-dressed man, whose face now contains an unbridled rage for the frantic girl in front of him.
"I…I—!"
BANG!
A loud gunshot echoes throughout the room, but just as the bullet is less than a few inches away from her face, the black-haired girl vanishes—her figure is replaced with bright-violet petals, bursting upwards and flowing around the room with a gust of wind that was not present earlier.
The well-dressed man and his accomplice are wide-eyed at the sudden presence of the mysterious flower petals. The man quickly faces the door where his bulkier bodyguards are supposed to be standing, only to see that they're suddenly missing. He grits his teeth and screams with all of his frustration, "WHERE DID THEY GO?!"
In the confusion, the blonde boy elbows the Cornelia-woman in her stomach and bites her arm. Cornelia slightly flinches at the blow to her stomach and flings the boy off of her arm, causing part of the sleeve of her overcoat to rip off. The boy lands on his back and spits out the bunch of black cloth in his mouth. The well-dressed man furiously shoots at the children, but the petals swirling around the room become more densely-packed, blocking his view. The bullets fly around the room, shooting holes in the walls, desk and bloodied floor. The children scramble for the window behind them and leap from it. Cornelia rushes at the escaping children, accidentally kicking at something—the girl whose face is still covered in dried blood from the blow to her nose from earlier. She coughs and gasps at the pain inflicted from Cornelia's kick. Cornelia reaches for the girl, hoping to kill her or take her along once she and her boss get out of this situation, and as she grips at the girl's brown locks, a voice echoes through the room:
"Don't…"
The well-dressed man recognizes the voice and starts to angrily swing at the swirling violet petals. Impatient and in a rage, the man shoots wildly at around the room.
"You coward!" the man shouts, "Show your damned self already!"
A chuckle is heard, as the same voice continues:
"Seems like you've never learned patience…"
The swirling petals gain speed as they begin to amass themselves in front of the desk in the far corner where Mandy hid. They collect together until they seem to form a moderately tall and statuesque figure. The well-dressed man repeatedly shoots at the amassing figure but the excess petals fly out at him. He instinctively covers his face with his hands to shield them from the flying petals which now feel like multiple knives flying at him. Cornelia pulls her boss out of the way, and the well-dressed man moves his hands away from his face once he feels that the petals have stopped cutting at him.
Standing in front of the far desk was a man. A moderately tall man with hair as white as snow and seems to be as soft as cotton. He wears a purple vest with gold trimmings over a shirt the same color as his hair, with a blue sash over it. His eyes look as purple as the twilight, and he stands in a way which emits a certain amount of natural grace. The mysterious man takes notice of the mangled-up girl lying on the floor below the window and reaches out to her, but stops once the well-dressed man shoots at his extended arm. The mysterious white-haired man quickly draws his arm back as the bullet whizzes by.
"Don't move," the well-dressed man orders in a threatening tone of voice, "I'm taking you with me."
"What makes you so sure?" the white-haired man asks with a small chuckle.
The man's gentle smirk irritates Cornelia, which can be seen by her slightly gritting her teeth and tightening grip on holding her boss back. He tilts his head over to the left, looking innocent and unaware of how much irritation he's causing to the people in front of him. In an instant, he lunges for the battered up girl. The well-dressed man shoots at him and Cornelia rushes at their mutual target, but this man is too nimble for the both of them, as he darts directly in behind Cornelia, causing her to be shot twice in the back by her boss. The well-dressed man quickly utters, "Shit!" at the instance his handgun can no longer fire bullets.
The white-haired man swiftly picks up the girl from the floor and leaps out the window with his only conscious opponent chasing after him.
The well-dressed man stops to look out of the window, only to see a large fall as high as three-stories and nothing but tall trees stretching out as far as the horizon. He slams his fist against the outer wall of the building and furiously screams, "DAMN YOU!"
His scream echoes through the forest. As his echo seemingly fades away, the well-dressed man angrily stomps over towards his accomplice, hoisting her over his left shoulder, grabbing the burlap sack and storms out the bloodied room.
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…p…
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…W…ke…
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H…!
W…up…!
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A sudden sharp pain courses through the girl's beat-up body; the pain being more prominent at her right side.
Coughing and gasping for breath, the girl curls up into a ball, gripping at her side like she can make it stop somehow. She forces her eyes open to try and see what could possibly be happening to her now, but she only becomes more and more confused.
The girl is laying in a field of grass, but the grass is thick, curly and purple like somebody had just laid a strange carpet on every part of the ground. She props herself onto her knees and sees a large body of water a few inches in front of her. The body of water looks large enough to be a lake, but the liquid has a color that resembles the night sky that the girl is so familiar with—speckled with bright but faraway dots. Somehow this strange lake is still able to reflect things off of its surface, showing a giant willow tree that stands on the opposite side.
The willow tree seemingly reaches into the sky above, with its branches stretching out as far as the girl can see. The branches that lay on the ground have beautiful flowers blooming off of it, with some even floating some few inches above, and the branches that make no contact with the ground droop towards it, with long and silky leaves fanning out. The leaves' color ranges from a blue as deep as the ocean's to a dark, Russian violet color, as they seemingly try to hide the ivory trunk of the willow tree. Much smaller versions of the towering willow tree surround the field from afar, with leaves that are only a dark orchid shade.
The girl stands up and pats at her uniform and notices that sparkling-colored glitter is being patted off. She looks at her hands but none of the sparkling glitter sticks to her skin. Quickly twirling around, the girl notices these tiny, shimmering lights flying about like a bug would. Upon closer inspection, that is what these little lights are: bugs! Strange-looking beetles as small as the fingernail on her little finger that aimlessly fly around the curly purple field. One of these shimmering beetles land on her little finger and quickly hop off, continuing to aimlessly fly about in a clumsy-looking fashion.
The girl lets out a giggle as the strange little beetle flies away. As confused as she is, the strange purple field she's filled with a sense of amazement and wonder—the kind of wonder that a child may feel if they could suddenly fly away with fairies to Neverland. She brushes her short brown hair behind her shoulders and stretches her arms out, taking in the air and the scenery. As she's just about to bring her arms down, she feels something grips at her sides.
Immediately filled with fear, the girl begins to panic and squirms around. Her feet are now off the ground and her squirming turns into thrashing about. She's lightly thrown into the air a bit, and finds her dark brown eyes being met with deep purple ones. Long, snowy hair practically blankets the person's face as his mouth forms a toothy grin.
"So are you wide awake now?" the man innocently asks, holding the girl up off of the ground.
"W…what?" the girl peeps, even more confused than she was before. Who is this man and why is he holding her like a small child? What is this place? It doesn't look normal and there are no existing documents of the mystical place—not even in myths or fairytales. The man's purple eyes blink twice and he childishly asks again, "So are you wide awake now?"
Not knowing how to react, the girl sheepishly nods as she can feel herself getting flustered. She's being held like a child! Held by some tall and handsome man she's not familiar with in the slightest! What is he going to do and why does he appear so innocent of the marvels around him? The man lets out a small chuckle as his toothy grin becomes a warm smile. It's such a welcoming smile, almost as if he's just inviting a new friend into his home.
'Maybe this strange world is his home…' the girl thinks to herself.
The man lightly throws the girl into the air again and says, "Oh good! Y'see, I thought I came too late and that you might've been dead!"
"D…dead?" the girl immediately asks with a tinge of fear in her small voice, "W-what do you mean?"
"Well I rescued you!" he answers proudly, "From earlier! Remember?"
The girl can remember all of the events that happened up until the she was thrown across the room by a remorseless woman. After slamming into the three small redheads, everything else becomes hazy and dark.
"I-I can't remember such a thing…" the brunette says disappointingly, her eyes now downcast, afraid of damaging this man's pride.
There is a short moment of silence until the girl is lightly thrown into the air and caught by the strange man again.
"Hey!" he barks energetically, "You shouldn't feel sad if you can't remember. I know that I saved you because you're still alive!" He let out another chuckle as his toothy grin comes back. The brunette feels her face getting hot, refusing to make eye-contact. Turning her face away from the snowy-haired man, she sheepishly nods in order to confirm his statement. She looks around at the magical scenery for a moment, turns back to the man still holding her up and quietly asks, "Do you know…where we are?"
"Where do you think we are?" he happily asks back.
"W-what?"
"Where do you think we are?" he repeats.
"I-I don't know!" the brunette shouts softly, "That's why I asked! I…is there a name for this place?"
"A name?" the man asks, now confused by the small brunette's question.
"Y-yes. A name. Does it have one?"
"…What do you think it's called?" he childishly asks.
"Excuse me?"
"What do you think it's called?" he repeats.
The girl scratches at her head, thinking that this conversation is going nowhere, fast. She lets out a frustrated sigh and looks the man directly in his purple eyes. The scenery isn't the only thing that's strange. Can people have naturally purple eyes? He could be wearing contacts, but what about his hair then? He doesn't look elderly, and he doesn't look like someone whose hair would go white from stress or lack of nutrition. His attire looks like it's from a completely different time period and he's walking around barefoot! Is he too poor to be able to afford shoes?
As the small brunette becomes both confused and intrigued by this man's appearance, she quickly asks, "Who are you?"
"Who am I? Well, who are you?" the man parrots.
"Answer me first, please," the brunette sternly replies.
"Why don't you answer me instead?"
"Because I asked you first."
"Answer me and I'll tell."
"Now you're just being difficult."
"We both are."
The girl vigorously scratches at her hair with both hands. She's starting to get fed up with this man's childish act. Before she gets too upset, she takes a deep breath and calmly breathes out.
"Okay, okay," she calmly repeats, "Okay, okay."
The man blinks twice as he awaits her answer. Silly little beetles clumsily fly around the two as their silence continues.
"Morie," the brunette says blankly, "Morie Eri. That's who I am."
The man warmly smiles at Eri as he brings her closer to his face. As the space between their faces shrinks and shrinks, Eri gets more and more flustered. She shuts her eyes and bites at her lips until she's suddenly stopped. A small pause. Eri carefully opens her eyes and finds herself directly in front of this man's face with their foreheads touching. She's glad that it isn't some sudden and random kiss, but she still finds herself too close. Every small exhale that left the man's nose hit her face, but thankfully, his eyes are closed. Another pause.
"W…W-what are y—?"
His purple eyes flutter open. Eri flings herself out of his grip and lands onto the curly purple grass. The fall didn't hurt as the odd grass was as soft as a plush quilt. Many shimmering tiny beetles frantically fly away from where Eri landed. The man looks down at her and kneels over in order to make proper eye contact.
Staring at her directly, he quietly repeats her name. Embarrassed by this, Eri turns away from his face while also trying to hide how red hers has become. He lets out a chuckle and boldly says, "That's such a bland name!"
Slightly insulted by his remark, Eri looks back to see what kind of face he's making. Being greeted with his toothy grin, Eri grits her teeth and lightly shoves the man away.
"No need to be rude!" she shouts, "It's a pretty and simple name—not 'bland' in the slightest!" Eri shoots upwards onto her feet and stomps towards the man, who easily towers over her. She pokes at his chest and places both hands firmly on her hips.
"What's your name anyway?" she rudely demands, "I answered you first, so now you have to tell me! I bet it isn't any better than my 'bland' name."
The man gently pats at Eri's head.
'I want to be angry at you, quit it!' she thinks to herself as she desperately tries to keep up her pouting face.
"Zed," he replies.
"What?" Eri asks, caught off-guard by his sudden answer.
"Zed," he repeats, "I said I'd tell you my name if you answered me first, and you did."
"So 'Zed'…right?"
"Zed Nu."
"Zed…Nu."
"Yes!"
Eri is left completely perplexed by what the man claims to be his name. As far as she knows, nobody on Earth has that sort of name, but if that's what he'd like to be referred to as, then who was she to simply deny that?
"Okay…Zed," she says again, wanting confirmation on his name.
"Yes Eri?" he asks, obviously referring to her by her first name.
"Please…d-don't do that…" she quietly tells him, "J-just refer to me by my last name."
"But if I do that, then you'll have to call me by mine," he says, kneeling down to her eye-level, "It'll sound weird and I prefer 'Zed'. You should prefer 'Eri', too."
She can't understand how he can just drop formalities as if they don't matter anymore. People would think things, right? Are there even any other people around? Other than her, Zed and the people who harmed her earlier. Eri firmly slaps both of her cheeks and quietly asks, "Where are we?"
Zed doesn't respond immediately. Instead, he stares up into the sky, which looks like an air-brushed rainbow, starting from a fiery, sunset red and ending at a cottony, midday blue.
"You see, the sky isn't supposed to be like that," Eri says as she points up at it, "The grass and trees aren't supposed to be like this either."
Zed looks back down at Eri and blankly asks, "They aren't? But they always have been."
Even more confused by his answer, Eri crosses her arms and tells him that the sky is only blue where she's from, and that the trees aren't such a pretty orchid color, but are mostly green. She points at the willow tree that seemingly reaches into the sky and adds, "Trees don't get that tall either. They can get pretty big, but nowhere near as tall as that one."
Zed scratches at his head, even more confused by her description of such a foreign land. He's never heard anything like a world like that and just thinking about how it could possibly be true seems to physically hurt him.
"I don't know what you're trying to talk about," he blurts out, "It's always looked like this. Trees only get green leaves when they're dying, the sky has always been like that and that tree's been that tall since the beginning. Wherever you say you're from sounds made up."
"Something like all of this wouldn't be around where I'm from," Eri barks back, "In fact, I don't even know how I got here."
"Maybe you fell in."
"What?!"
"Maybe you fell in," he repeats.
"How would I fall into a place like this?" she sarcastically asks.
"By not paying attention and falling in," Zed continues, "It's not that hard to explain."
"How would I have fallen in," Eri impatiently asks, emphasizing her words so that Zed could give her a proper answer that would make better sense than his previous ones.
"By falling into a hole," he blankly adds, "Or somebody dragged you here."
"Then who did?"
"How would I know when you fell in?"
"I don't know who did!" she shouts, "I don't know if anyone did!"
"Then maybe you fell in."
Another conversation that's making absolutely no progress. Eri lets out a frustrated cry and throws herself onto the curly purple grass. Zed sits himself next to her and rests his index finger on her small nose.
"I'm not being difficult," he tells her, "I'm just answering your question."
Eri sighs and swats his finger off of her nose. She grips at some of the grass, yanks it out of the ground and lazily tosses it at Zed.
"Answer me this then," she demands, "Have you seen anyone who's wearing the same clothes as me?"
There's a pause. Zed moves closer to Eri in order to get a good look at her uniform. After scanning her clothes for an embarrassingly long minute, he swivels his head back and forth and confirms that he has.
"How many?" Eri asks.
"Two," he answers, placing his hand on Eri's chest.
"Where are they?" she asks again, brushing his hand off.
"One is being taken care of," he says, placing the same hand back on Eri's chest. He pats her breasts for a few times and continues, "Her breasts aren't as nice as yours, but the other one is dead."
Eri lightly slaps Zed across his face as she sits herself upwards, covering her chest with her other arm. She quickly remembers her friend with the dirty blonde hair who was shot multiple times by that well-dressed looking man and his accomplice in dark clothes. She can feel tears welling up in her eyes, but before crying, she asks Zed where the other one is.
"Back home," he says blankly, rubbing at the cheek Eri had slapped moments before.
"And where is that?"
"I plan on taking you back anyway," he remarks, "So just follow me."
Eri sheepishly nods as she places a hand over her nose. On the verge of sobbing again, she feels small jolts of pain shoot up the bridge of her nose as a small stream of blood trickles down her left nostril. She remembers how the well-dressed man slammed his hand-gun against her face, and this memory cause her to wince in pain. She gradually starts to cry as she notices all of the bloodstains all over her uniform. How she wasn't able to notice them until now was beyond her. As images of her friend's bloodied, lifeless body suddenly swarm her, Eri falls to her knees and breaks down. Zed simply and gently pats her head to try and provide comfort. He keeps reassuring Eri that those people cannot find them in their present location as she continues to cry. These words help calm her down after a good two minutes, and she eventually stops.
Her eyes are red and puffy and her sweater-sleeve is stained with blood and snot from trying to wipe it off of her face. Still sniffling a bit, she looks up at Zed, who's calmly sitting next to her with his left hand still resting on top of her head. He looks down at her with that warm smile.
"All done?" he politely asks as he gently pats her head.
"…Y…yeah," she quietly answers, "…b-but I'm really tired…"
Zed stands up and carefully hoists Eri off of the ground. He lightly throws her into the air and catches her on his back.
"Well I'm still taking you home!" he barks.
A very quiet giggle escapes Eri's lips as she lays her head against Zed's back.
"Yeah…okay."
Zed marches onward to wherever he calls him. Away from the willow tree that pierces the sky, away from the strange nighttime lake, and away from the silly beetles that shimmer like tiny jewels. Eri still can't register everything that's happening around her—she still doesn't know what exactly is around her. Everything looks like something out of some ancient fairytale to her; it's all too odd to even seem real. However, she's just relieved that she's still alive, and that another one of her friends is too.
Beautiful and magical-looking trees, cute little bugs, strange lakes and a rainbow sky—how is any of this possible? How could she have even "fallen in" like Zed told her? Did someone pull her in and, if so, how? How would they know of her to be able to pull her in?
All of these questions racing around in her mind just made Eri even more tired. She is already so emotionally drained, and the warmth of Zed's back as he carries her seems to lull her to sleep. She gently closes her eyes.
This is such a strange world… It's so wondrous too…
It may be even more dangerous than mine, but…
…
I… I hope I can get back…