I got a little lazy...anyways, happy new year!

Hold on a sec. Gotta put this up:

Warning: (insert word here)...I actually don't know how to describe it. It's not technically fluff, because I tried my best to avoid that...oh well.

By the way, I think the format got messed up...um...I'll add spaces...

And if you have music nearby from TT, I recommend Sweet Moment, Sweet Taste (it's one of Tomoe's themes, but obviously not intended for her here...XD)


07_The_Exploration_


"What?" Maria Torres, about to fly off into the garage and ride herself home to crash, paused at the very news. "You're saying...he let that happen?"

The woman next to her didn't raise her eyes as she admitted, "That I do not know, but at least Gary is in stable condition. I'm not close enough to Erhard to ask what happened exactly, so..." Dr. Tachibana's frown reflected the stress from the turn of events. It didn't revolve around her, but it was calming to know someone you just met wasn't crippled in the next few days. "How was today for you?" She returned the friend's question in an attempt to dose the fire in her.

That went the opposite direction with the paramedic, who was already distraught. First the mute left without permission, then he broke another kid's leg-the same boy he brought out of the inferno that engulfed their orphanage. Obviously, she didn't want Tomoe in on what was in going through her mind. "Today was...great! Um...The new guys seem to work well with the team. They got the back room cleaned in a snap, so now people can actually walk through it."

"Maria?" The endoscopic surgeon, overwhelmed by the outpour, centered her purple eyes to her friend's face filled with satisfaction. From the conspicuous cover up. she asked, "Is...something wrong?" Their syncopated footsteps that resonated in the halls came to a halt.

"Wh-what do you mean, I'm...perfectly fine!" Maria coughed out to defend her exploited intentions. Prone to overreacting, she let out a breath to look casual when that barking volume became a whimper, "It's...just the exhaustion from a long day's shift, no big deal. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow." Because of the immediate cut-off, her friend didn't have the chance to offer encouragement.

The Japanese doctor's overlapping hands separated at the stampede of footfalls that left her. "Uh...Good afternoon, then." In the confusion of how to interpret this rather abrupt leave, a insecure smile dawned on her. Maria has a point worth giving, and to tangle oneself with the personal affairs of others...that she would avoid.

That ideal kinda got omitted from the tigress' book. If a problem came up, she would put on a fist and get right down to business. She gladly dived into this kid's ordeal, 'cause one day he was the hero and before she knew it he's the villain...something's gotta be wrong. And she won't allow it.

"Hrm..." She rumbled in her long walk. Maybe the fleeting orphan had a screwed up life like how she was a cigarette addict, somewhere around those lines. Now his disability of speech stood as her only roadblock. He could maybe write an explanation, yeah...

The door her hands smashed to the wall seemed to be recovering since; it beckoned her not to bang it as it left a gap open in advance. The woman, in her suspicion, chose to stay quiet about her drop in. "Kid...you in here?" Her head poked inside as she echoed. A red light gleamed on her little underground operation. "Ugh...dammit." The swear meant 'crap he's not here now what do I do.'

Bed, floor, stuffy suitcase, even the windows. Shipshape. TOO tidy. No sign of life, almost. Hard to not consider if the boy was a perfectionist.
He must have hid something. She could bet anything on it.

For a professional accustomed to picking up injuries on the spot, finding the one misfit in the place could've been easier. "What's this? A piece of cardboard...?" Trash...like something a recycling bin would leave behind.

With a closer look, the careful paramedic recognized what the material- no, where material originated from. "Isn't this from..." The kid had an empty roll of dressing from either the hospital or the equipment of the first response crew. Most likely the scrap rolled in, though Dr. Torres fully acknowledged that Resurgam, as much as she may have wanted it, will never have a nice gale flowing in it.

No use digging deeper. She eliminated the roll she bent up with the nearest trash bin. But one more surprise waited for her. "Hey...you came to see a doctor?" That mechanic's eccentric buddy...blind as a bat in the infirmary as he backtracked here and there, a pinball speeding in irregular shapes. "Your name is...Jet, right? What are you doing on this side of the hospital?"

The African American discarded his puerile search; he still appeared goofy as he turned around. "Jesus, you aren't the only doctor here, are you? Where can I...get a check-up?" Not too full of himself.

Every speck of the whimsical guy lacked finesse to the paramedic, not that she envisioned him with a strong motivation to visit in the first place. "Didn't you check in the front?" The first thing all patients should see when entering: the reception counter. But no, he-

"I got in through the garage. That ain't a bad thing...right?" Most educated citizens would know to take the elevator down to the ground floor. "Do I need to sign up there?" Incredible, this moron.

"You didn't even schedule a meeting?" Though the degree of her vexation went over her capacity for it, she stayed lenient as she elucidated, "Sorry but your going to have to pay another visit tomorrow- with making an appointment. The doctor I know just got off from work." She had Gabe in mind, guessing that the two would be a adequate match.

The flagging adult sighed; his dreadlocks stuck out like a sore thumb in the halls. "An...appointment? Can't people just show up when they need it?" Maria, quite amazed at the level of stupidity, bumbled over the need of walking the sore loser through what she deciphered as his first trip to the hospital.
"Just drop by tomorrow and I'll get someone to look at it." A bad knee shouldn't be too hard for her fellow diagnostician. "Be sure to go through reception first. If they need a name, say that you're looking for Dr. Cunningham. Easy enough?"

"Hm?" He, about to depart, wheeled back to her at the advice. "The doc's name is Dr. Cunningham? Uh...yeah, I'll do that. Thanks a bunch." That comply didn't seem heartfelt, probably a sign of a bad day at the job. Dr. Torres questioned it, although the encounter wasn't worth reflecting on.


To cage herself in that vacant room would be a shallow idea. An attempt to expiate would practically beg her removal from this building. So...

Dammit.

Erhard fell against a tangerine-painted wall, motionless at her dire situation. She hadn't the patience to stall herself in a confined space, not when the Chief neared the end of whatever contract to force her into the streets. Stopping by at Gary's was not going to happen, either. Go ahead, idiot doctors, prosecute her for finding a hobbling boy that didn't want to get your help. Discipline the one that lit a fire and broke a kid's leg because can't speak for herself.

How inhumane. Childhood lied so well to the young. Venting with her every pound to the solid surface, someone was bound to discover her whacking away at the dense material. No matter what, she must remain strong...

"It wasn't entirely your fault." In her consternation, the girl spun around while that strength fell flat.

CR-SO1, coincidentally managing at his desk, was simultaneously seated at the front row of the act. True, he created a hypocrisy of himself by pushing the heat elsewhere when he criticized it before. This was the fretful copycat he repudiated inside from the beginning- but right now he just saw a lonely kid putting up an odious rumble with an unbreakable structure. This brawl both killed the peace and transformed into something...unacceptable. "Hitting the wall won't do any good..." He had his fair share of that back in the freezer.

Before he could take his eyes off, she invented a new method to dislodge the misery: Running. "Hold on-" The reluctant reaction didn't hinder the fleeting orphan. Perplexed by what he just caused, he mumbled over the gist of the statements. Nothing he spoke originally was discernably offensive. Why take off?

The steps went inaudible within moments. Did she quit already? No, the flight would serve no purpose then...

When that drizzle noise was picked up once more, the surgeon propelled himself back in the office chair to a better view of outside. There, in the doorway, the orphan breathed hard, her hair streamed to a trivial distance in front of her. In mere minutes, she accomplished a brand-new record on the track of the edifice. Meanwhile a feeble stature substituted the intense one from the accidental milestone. Observing the drill taken out in a instance, the doctor conjectured that this was once a part of her life.

She dared not to bend over to her knees, instead just one arm glued to the door supported her. Not yet has her ire been driven away, an instigation compelled her for one more round-

And he, no longer collected at this bizarre run, took hold of her pale arm. "That's enough, you're only torturing yourself." A deterrent blaze met his clouded one, thus he released her. "(Ugh.)" Never before has an adolescent dauntless enough been capable of displaying such a defiled expression. "Just...stop whatever you're doing." The fervor he witnessed before had contracted into a callousness.

A temper as self-destructive as that couldn't be from this afternoon. And hunger, too, was not a suitable explanation. He better leave her alone for now.
The distaste gradually turned into steam when she slid down and coiled up on the ground. Her lips pursed and her crimson gaze remained frozen. A relief; to see one guy in the midst of many sparing some pity.

...What? Pity?

No- she wasn't going to accept that. She won't have a piece of it. Taking back her rustic mindset, Erhard rose up. No more yearning for excuses, if no one planned to defend her from the blame, then she must place matters into her own hands. That meant catching the mystery arsonist.

"Why are you still here?" That convicted specialist, jumbled up by the reformation of confidence from her, said as he switched on more lights. Dusk had made the window less reliable. The last streak of red had sunk beneath the horizon by the time the resembling orphan could respond.

The glare from the panels planted in the ceiling focused her attention to the mechanism on the man's right wrist when he sat back down. Squinting in the slightest, she understood more of the picture. CR-SO1 hadn't much to explain about when he spotted her noticing it at last. "I should be free within a year, so don't worry about it." For the teen, the clauses contradicted each other.

Her stay here was already excruciating. One year, might as well be categorized next to permanent hell itself. Demanding a change from the officials she would love to do, but the chance was slim beyond imagination. The rules were written in stone, but she could give one thing a try.

The residing specialist speculated the insertion of her hands into the gray pockets of her sweater and inspection of the upper section of the room with a dark glint. An anticipating smirk that resulted rocked his composure. She gave a look at the tracker band again, targeting the keyhole in it. "You aren't thinking that..." She came over and knelt down, convincing him with a dead-serious face. "You can set it off." Childish her desire was, she had nothing to gain and everything to lose. About the same goes for him.

She pulled out a previously twisted paperclip before gesturing to give her his hand. "No- And where did you get that?" No answer spilled out, even if she had the ability to present one. She should utilize this on the lounge door again for another time. Stuffing the jagged metal into a pocket, she reached out for a smaller paperclip that held a patient document together. After detaching, she straightened it enough to hold it like a toothpick. A tiny dent in the forefinger appeared as she worked.

The protesting surgeon rarely cared about idle curiosity of others, but for his own and a relentless mute's, he unwillingly allotted one shot. He firmly understood that it was unlikely the bracelet would signal from a wire entering its keyhole, since it was waterproof...

His expectations were for her to ferociously jam the thing like what her volatile nature called for. That didn't happen. Out of the blue, she tugged his arm down from the desk. "Hey-!" Her left ear aligned to the backside of the tracker as her left hand dished out the fine-tuning. Remarkably, the procedure was handled with extra caution; for him, Maria's beliefs may be right after all.

Due to the...precision, he had to bide his time. He stammered about dinner as the girl increased the pressure in her unavailing work, "I...might have to get dinner..." To sound involuntary, he added on, "Because the other doctor isn't here." She didn't eat lunch, so the bill may be seeing an extension-

An hushed 'tick' resounded when he completed his announcement. The two were stuck in their positions in an imbecile stillness while the tracker, with the red beam never functioning, pried open a centimeter. The wrist it choked left, but the gadget itself had no endeavor to follow.

The prisoner was speechless. That wasn't a problem for the mute. He thought he was dreaming, She thought she was going to jail. The brace, improvident to it all, was locked closed, and reunited with the desk top.

The remover's audacity leaped back at the sight of the astounded surgeon rubbing his freed skin. But his comments left her cold, "Even if it's gone, that doesn't mean I can run away. You're...going to need to put it back on." The controversy didn't branch off from the words; Erhard lobbed the credit anyways.

"I'm not lying, you have to-" Allaying her blithe mood he always...knew couldn't happen. Honestly, her rejoicing felt assuring to him- she didn't fall for the same bias most people and children lean to. And even with his refusal and the impending crime, she loosened the radar band.

She wouldn't listen to him, feeling like she had all the time in the world to do so. 'Maybe later' was written on on her face as she threw the device into a drawer along with the deformed paperclip. But before she could pull him elsewhere, he spoke, "I appreciate what you've done, but if they find me like this..." Badly oriented words only fed her interest of going somewhere. "I can't outlive my sentence." As much as he would like to view the outside, rotting in prison was still what he least wanted to do.

The orphan didn't sense that. Checking for specific things to ensure that they, no, HE won't get captured, surrendering the lab coat became mandatory for CR-SO1. He was positive she wouldn't try running with him, in fact, she was probably... "You're planning to go to that mall...aren't you?" He reprehended the entire plot, "I can't. Ask Maria instead."

'Get a clue' could be read in her eyes. She postponed her tug-of-war to motion a beheading gesture. "What?"

He remembered the paramedic impinging him to a wall; for a cause not concerning the girl. Unless she too went on a massacre, then she shouldn't make a fuss about it. "I'm sure she'll take you there if you..." Well, her disability would make it problematic. The headlong woman wouldn't give a green light to get dragged to the other side of the hospital. "Then ask Tomoe..."

His imitator went on with her ineffective haul, apparently settling for him only. "People will recognize me."

Wearied out by his languid means of a standoff, her only option was to leave. He needed her to fix the tracker back on...that'll mean...


"This isn't funny, dammit!"

Oh it sure was. Luckily none of the staff were around to see them play cat and mouse. Where they were headed and with the guy's hair rumpled, the 'people' won't miss him. She ended the game at the edge of the cafeteria, hoping he brought his wallet after the scent of food went into her system.

He'd better hurry.


She waited on the outside of the cafeteria gate, almost taunting him as she was sitting tight on a bench, with her legs swinging lightheartedly. He, reserved but by a thread, stood from the inside. "I really...can't, sorry." No matter what threats or tactics she decided to use, it was impossible for him to...

Staff would soon spot him if he didn't move quick. And with his snail's pace and lack of proper communication, she knew there was zero chance of winning this. The chain that Erhard wore on her neck swayed when she propped herself up. Game's over.
Her disappointment from all the work going down the drain was suffocating. But the anger didn't appear on her face, rather it showed as she was walking to the gate without any eye contact with the doctor. She would enter and then enclose herself in the room, and...shut up.

About to.

The group of high-school ruffians on skateboards and bikes coming by weren't on her watch. In her anguish, she didn't react until someone yelled, "Hey kid! Get out of the way!" Her red eyes widened in panic as she tilted her head to her left. "Move, dumbass!" She, with her hands already curled up in her pockets, stood paralyzed.

CR-SO1 only reached out in that moment, however his legs didn't cooperate.

Those on bikes diverged and steered to the sides, heads and helmets alike rammed into either railings or a wall. The skateboarders tried swerving, but ultimately fell after passing. One out of the five total people stayed unharmed. The rest were up in a few seconds, tending to their bruises by rubbing, and all ticked off.

The infuriated skater still standing went straight to mild profanity, "What the hell is your problem, dipstick?" After getting off of the board, he shoved the bystander that was spared from the danger. His friends went with his example- to the second bystander's surprise, the ardent mute didn't requite in any way. It was one versus five...her temper had cloistered itself under an impassive face.

The female member dressed atrociously mocked, "When a car comes at you on the streets, you're supposed to move your ass, you know!"
Another member spat, "Freak."

The head of the band shouted, "You could at least say sorry, squirt!" A slap went along with that because she couldn't. "Let's go, I'm sick of this moron."
The gang hit the road after the rally of abusive insults. The hard-boiled expression dispelled with a genuine, for once, smile on the girl. Good news was that the punks were gone and they didn't even graze her enough to leave a memorable scratch. Bad news, the doctor that wouldn't budge-

Well you look at that. He moved.

"Are you alright...?" The discomposed man exhaled when he approached. He foresaw an explosive fight, if not from her, then from them. It was only when she was encompassed by those giving put-downs did he actually make a step forward. They had went before he could make a sound, though. Now he was too stunned to return.

Anyways, she didn't seem to overreact at first, patting her reddened cheek to reply, 'yeah.' The mishap she deemed to be a mess-up on her part. Also it was a stroke of luck, because...

She eyed him as his unfazed expression tried to bury his despair, her lips cracking that invulnerable grin from when they first met.

He was utterly...

Screwed.

With that, she latched on and never let go. "Wait..." She went, whisking him off into the mall without putting any of his whining into account. The iridescent display of merging lights almost mirrored her felicity, but the man she towed believed otherwise.

He was once an isolated wrongdoer. He spent about third of his life in an icebox. The next portion of it he was required to spend in the Operation Room. In the same time frame, he was NOT supposed to:

Find a girl with his identity,

Tend to her grueling entertainment and nutritional needs,

And absolutely never should he be sailing across a public shopping center with this loose animal. This certainly was...'goofing around.'

That lustrous play of colors from the stores only gave him the softened version of the warning that he'll regret this at the end. Same with the couples and families that snickered at them when they rushed by. Because of these, the image of the detective in charge of him never ceased to vanish from his mind. "Dammit."

Stuck with only ambivalence, the doctor, with his numbed face, could only remember to breathe in the dash. Their speed fell to a slower pace, as his 'guide' acknowledged the burden she was hauling. Net distance conquered was still unthinkable, despite how the orphan seemed to be full of energy during lunch that day.

Erhard Muller, incapable of understanding that lame stare the drained specialist sent her, had no mercy in her unstoppable path to the food court. He could tell her of the serious offense she committed, but the madness already alluded to one reason: He somehow was the only person that could take her here.

Again, backwards.

At least he had two factors that could limit this adventure. First was the chronological one. The mall closes or the mute gives out. In an urban location with an extraordinarily stubborn companion, the plan for stalling was out the window. It didn't matter, he couldn't hold her back even if he tried.

Now the second one...

Well, it was how their (his) monetary savings will fare. She didn't plan a budget, so...

As if she could forfeit the expedition because of the cash. In truth, besides getting dinner, she had other plans. But her goal was not to hurl the guy into a clothing store and get him a makeover. She didn't want to change her outfit either. What the heck; those clothes, jewelry, household appliances, and all that stuff she could see in a dumpster right now and shrug it off. Fashion and modern lifestyle 'necessities' bored her.

Don't dare mention the toys and dolls that parents use to delight their children. Those trinkets were both trifling and, in her view, tacky. Furthermore, she already found herself a plaything for her pastime.

What she was aiming for remained a secret. CR-SO1 had discarded the plot to gain friendship awhile ago, because if someone was willing to be just friends, they wouldn't have to design an over-extravagant escape-

Unless the desired 'friend' was a guy with an insane prison term. That would be him.

The cashier at the pizza parlor couldn't tell. With seeing a pointer finger to the requested item from the younger kid, he plugged in the numbers into the register and gave a grand total. "Uh...The medium pepperoni and I'm guessing two drinks...that'd be nine dollars and seventy cents with tax. Is that it for you two?" The ordering mute glanced up to her follower; she had included him already.

He, late to pull out the money, answered the employee, "Uh...Yeah, that's it." The kid next to him spun around after that, not minding the ten dollar bill being sacrificed. She did peek back in her hunger, watching a quarter and a nickel flung into his pale hands. He seemed unsure what to do with the change, letting the opportunistic girl nab the coins.

"And what drinks do you guys want?"

The convict looked to his left for a preference, but of course she had taken off with the silver. Preventing himself from becoming a roadblock, he replied,

"Water...will be fine." The customers further down the line appeared lost within the menu above, whether they were simply ignoring the lack of responsibility or showing compassion through patience he couldn't determine.

A hot pizza box topped with two soda cups and straws were the props of the surgeon's balancing act, sadly the intended spectator was exhibiting disappointment.

To a collection of candy dispensers. Keychains, gum balls, peanuts. Bummer.

She had the quarter at the ready, though lacked intrigue towards the displayed items. Personally, she would've donated the coins via the water fountain- the sweets just got to her first. Watching her blinking at the series of mechanical devices, the 'deliverer' settled down at a table not too far off from where she was. There he began deliberating to himself about what to do next other than eating first.

He chose to dive in.

Taking his time, naturally. The teen's aptitude for making trouble and her coarse etiquette he'll never catch onto. "Hey, aren't you hungry..?" But he was stuck with this magnet of misfortune nevertheless. All he needed to do to survive was to stay on her good side.

The twenty-five cents were abandoned in a slot for someone else, though the time-of-her-life vibe still reigned Erhard's mood. Bluntly, it was just something from that downbeat surgeon that drove her to do the irksome lock-picking and towing. He was kinda pushing her tolerance by seeming to be ungrateful and all...

Trying to put that aside, she devoured three slices while the surgeon was still nibbling his second. He overestimated her appetite, as she quit to continue her expedition after the third round, leaving him with three other slices. "You can't expect me to eat all of these!" She came to a stopping point and rotated with aggravation, with 'what do you want me to do' inscribed on her face. They reached an impasse, exchanging stares at each other.

The man's eyes swayed to the side, not too keen on directly fighting the girl's fixed resolve to move on. "I paid for this." She didn't waver with the clarification.

In fact, she just put on a naughty, negligent face. Who said she had to listen to him? "You brought me here." THAT may be true, but...he still would've bought her food at the hospital cafeteria. What was so different here?

Everything.

So...argument lost, she stormed back to gobble up one more piece as the surgeon attempted his third. All in all, they reached a compromise to trash the last slice, without a word spoken.

And he was bound again for another treacherous walk. At least she pulled his hand rather than his wrist, a slight relief to the sore there. "It's getting late..." His weakest persuasion skills didn't come with much results, especially since it was only seven.

It just made things worse. She went faster. Road rage, almost. Thank god they were alone for most of the journey, everyone else along the way could've been...collateral damage.

Other than his own pain of being lugged like insignificant cargo, he was getting impatient himself to know what the girl's up to. Right now she was backtracking, as if they accidentally skipped something.

When they came to a stop, he couldn't believe it.

"H-here?"

Either he was in the wrong direction, or... "But that's-" Before he could name the Build-A-Bear Factory in front of him, Erhard, realizing her mistake, forcibly redirected him to the opposite side, abashed that the doctor would even consider stuffed animals.

He never took her for a person who liked reading. Maybe she didn't. But all this way for a bookstore wouldn't make much sense if not. "I'm supposing that you..." When he was about to mention literature, she shrugged and backed off.

Oh. He got it now. She thought he was the...intellectualist, being the prominent surgeon of the hospital. "I really don't like to read that much..!" He wasn't sure if that was a lie; it has been awhile from when he last helped himself to a good shelf. "Back then, maybe, but now-" Did he really seem to stand out among the other doctors to this orphan? "Wouldn't you rather go someplace else?" What she had interest in took his curiosity more than anything- she skipped past most of the places children would frequently stop by.

Erhard, taking a breather on a bench with an insouciant expression, played around with the chain necklace of hers as a response. It was a no-brainer for this guy to be a bookworm, he had all the symptoms of it: dependence on reasoning, anti-social behaviors, and a strange tendency to reread operation procedures. She should make an encyclopedia out of this. For now, she would have to be a bit patient, and take his surprise as her success.

And with that the specialist went in the store, not for his own self-interest, but just to not upset her. Besides, they already made it this far...he should make the most of it.


As for the mute, once she was through reveling the accomplishment, it got harder to stay put. A walk wouldn't hurt.

She didn't need to travel far to meet trouble, though. Conveniently enough, it was right around the corner. That same gang, with their bikes and skates far behind them, were at their cursing again: this time at two siblings about Gary's age...they looked familiar, too.
One bully took his shot at yelling, "Damn, what's with kids these days? How come all of you are so freaking stupid?" Not unless he was charging down the road, like what happened with her.

With the brother and sister surrounded by five at the end of a hall for restrooms, she couldn't come up with much to do. Against the gear the high-schoolers had, her speed wouldn't make it far. And she was certainly not up for close combat.

"Hey, we better get going, my curfew's-" The female full of facial piercings said before she was smacked by one of the other males, who later says, "Who cares, I wanna give these dimwits a piece of my mind." The cracking of knuckles terrified the young pair, and only motivated the observer to...

"Guys..?" The ugly woman raised her voice shakily along with her painted fingernails to point. "That twerp, he got our-" By the time the others reacted, it was a bit too late.

The grinding and tumbling clatter of metal made from the descending bicycles and scooters going down the empty escalators overpowered the sounds Erhard created when she dusted her hands. After savoring the beautiful wreck that formed in the floor below, her eyes glinted at the mortified ones of the gang.

She didn't see this as vandalism, more like a nice vengeance. And better yet, nobody was really around- at least the store managers cared enough to not call the police. Frankly, the only one that truly cared, was the one who recently began tailing her.

The last member whose equipment she couldn't send off: the skateboarder. "You son of a- get back here!" He held his board back there, so she expected a one-on-one race.

And damn was he a nuisance. At least the kids back there made it out with the ruckus, she presumed.


"What happened while I was...gone?" CR-SO1 asked, at first dazed to see the girl still sitting at the same wooden bench. But with the strong breathing, he figured that she had...competition. "I couldn't find anything interesting in there..." His little adventure in the store came to a quick end when he heard about a miniature earthquake outside. But he knew the scientific evidence behind that was poor.

"I think we should head back now." His 'guide,' with her enthusiasm depleted, chose to stroll their return at that request.
While she was leading the way, the surgeon spoke to his copycat, "Hey, I just want to say thanks for..." He couldn't find a better description for what exactly went on that afternoon. "Today." This wasn't what he actually felt like saying, but at least the mute seemed happy to hear it.

She was overjoyed.

Until he said, "And- uh...don't forget about putting...that back on." He regretted his timing, after the whole time wandering the place, having to tell her to fix the tracker back on, what shackled him to the hospital grounds...

The offended tried not to bring up her temper. The adverse effects of restraining it showed up in her footsteps, which became slightly heavier with each moment.

"Sorry."

That did not help her any.

...

Watching the two set foot into the cafeteria, the pair of children that fled from the earlier bullies talked to each other. The boy crouched down with his sister, whispering happily, "I can't believe it...she didn't leave us after all!"

"Are you positive? It's been a long time; and she was never like that..." The skirt-wearing girl put a frown on while the brother, whose reasoning was crumbling apart, made a grimace along with 'hm' sounds.

"But...I was pretty sure..." He jumped up with a new confidence, "Maybe if we ask one of them...yeah, let's hurry!" He ran off first, the younger child in tow.

"Wait up!"


Well, if you survived that, than I bet the next chapters won't be a problem...because we're reaching the good stuff soon...

Anyways, the next chapter...I believe focuses on the other characters...Gabe will be in it, I think...

I'm seriously getting murdered by HS, I mean, I planned 22 chappies, and I only got 7 done...*sighs* This will be ongoing, I suppose. And, I will not be using up my break this year to write...*goes plays around with X-mas presents* I need to enjoy something before my classes being piling homework again...

Well, please review! :3