So, Akari Odine is the thirteenth Jellyfish girl.
And just like the Antonio Banderas starrer The Thirteenth Warrior –although she is in no way a flop like the said movie–, she will change Destiny in her own way…
"I thought you people wouldn't let me. I thought you didn't care. For a while, it seemed like I was right. But I just realized that you really did care. You, June," Akari added. "You and December and even John."
"It's Captain John," she corrected.
"It'll be a while," smirked the brunette, "Before he deserves this assassin calling him that."
"But you're no longer an assassin."
Akari was taken aback. "Eh?"
"You're a Jellyfish pirate now," June benignly noted. "Didn't you know that, Akari?"
"Welcome to the Jellyfish Pirates, Akari Odine." June was solemn, but her eyes sparkled in happiness for their new friend. "Welcome to our family and your new home, the Thirteenth Jellyfish."
The watcher grotesquely grinned.
"PREPARE YOURSELF, ASSASSIN. ALL YOUR BASES ARE BELONGS TO US."
Guilty Gear
The World Within And Without
Original Conception By: Sheo Darren
Overseen By: Sheo Darren and Yuuki Darren
Disclaimer: Sheo Darren does not own Guilty Gear or any of the games, anime, movies, books and the like that are the property of other people. All original characters in this story are his creations and property. All insert characters are copyright/owned by their respective represented real-life entities.
Chonological Note: This entire story happens a year after Sheo's The Wedding Night 2 and scarcely half a year after Revolution: It's Not What It Seems, and currently runsroughly in parallel with Guilty Gear: Heart of the Melting Blood, the last two stories written by Lone Wolf NEO. This current arc starts well before the previous Zappa-Megumi Arc, but ends just about the same time as the latter.
CHAPTER TEN
A Girl Named Akari
The better part of the bokken's padded length clattered onto the floor. While the girls gasped in shock, John merely gave his broken weapon a quick look of interest before he smiled at his opponent. "You've gotten a lot better."
"I should," was the confident reply. "I have a good enemy."
John's smile became a grin.
"Captain John!"
That was June passing him the katana that was his brother's inheritance come unto him. Without even casting a glance, John deftly caught the sword and got into his iajitsu pose, looking every bit the image of the late Johnny. Aside, the whole complement of the Mayship, the Jellyfish girls, were all cheering him and his foe on.
"Time to take things seriously now, shall we?" he asked.
Akari Odine smirked back. "Bring it."
A few days had passed since the events of the previous chapter. At last truly welcomed into the Jellyfish family, Akari took her place as the official thirteenth pirate girl who flew aboard the Mayship (One of Bridget's game endings had him an honorary Jellyfish member due Dizzy, but he doesn't count.) After several years of aimless wandering, after much soul-searching and wondering, she had finally found her new home and her new family.
This didn't stop her from going after John. Far from it; Akari speeded up her training and stepped up her attempts, averaging at least once and usually twice a day. But already the other Jellyfish had begun to notice something different in the pursuit. The former assassin took her self-proclaimed headhunting mission as seriously as before, but she smiled more often and took her bumps more lightly while at it. Thus, her attacks were becoming as much a normal quirk of hers as it was for September to lose herself into reading, or October keeping the ship together with Scotch tape, or June being the only normal girl aboard.
Now, she finally had the chance she had fought for in weeks. Akari could finally fight it out with John for real.
But their fight was destined not to take place– at least, not yet, not now. The past had caught up with them in the form of a menace they failed to expect.
Sinister laughter echoed from above, floating down to them in a mocking way. The combatants halted, heads looking up for the source of the intruding voice, the new threat.
It wore a black vest and white spandex pants. It had a weapon that suspiciously resembled a cigarette lighter. It had red eyes and mechanical skin, but could be mistaken at a distance for the 'Ultimate Bad Ass of Bad Asses'.
"Masaka!"
"PREPARE YOURSELVES, HUMANS."
Blackheart ZERO's Robo-Sol glowered.
"ALL YOUR BASES ARE BELONGS TO US."
John was dramatic in pose, throwing his billowing coat aside as he grasped the brim of his hat (which was not Johnny's pimping hat, but more like Kurodo Akabane's). "Leave, machine," the Pirate Lord calmly but coldly ordered. "You do not belong on my ship."
"IT WAS NOT BY MY WILL THAT I CAME HERE." Robo-Sol smirked. "I WAS SENT HERE BY PWAB, WHO WISHED TO HAVE ME CAPTURE HER FOR THEM!"
An armored finger stabbed out at a startled Akari Odine.
"PWAB?" John was somewhat surprised, but kept his cool. "You'd take her for those wretches who'd use her Japanese blood for themselves?"
"PERHAPS THE SAME CAN BE SAID FOR ALL PROFESSIONS."
His face turned grim as steel. "Your words are as empty as Filipino politicians' promises. PWAB ill needs a robot clone like you!" declared John.
"WHAT IS PWAB?" Robo-Sol laughed. "NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF EVIL PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD USING MASS-PRODUCED MECHA RIP-OFFS OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS THAT ARE POWERED BY CHI-RICH JAPANESE BLOOD!"
Dark Chii appeared, said "Chii!" and then vanished instantly.
"BUT ENOUGH TALK!" Robo-Sol got into his battle pose. "CENSORED YOU!"
heaven or hell, final duel, let's rock!
Robo-Sol attacked.
John grinned.
An impermeable Bacchus Sigh was what Robo-Sol first met. Blinded by the gray mist, the robot staggered around, failing to notice the tinkle of coins hitting him. Then:
"Mist Finer Level 3!"
Robo-Sol fairly flew into the air. John followed him closely, moving faster than Johnny ever did, relentlessly hammering the robot with successive blows from the ultra-thin katana. Robo-Sol fell back. John was in no doubt at all who was winning.
"Not so tough as the original, now, are you?"
Robo-Sol glared. "NO, BUT HOW ABOUT THIS?"
Around the battered unit –already repairing itself– appeared an army of Robo-Sols. Far more than John could take all at once.
He didn't hesitate. "Run," John told the Jellyfish girls.
They all ran.
Save for one.
"Akari. Get out of here."
The ex-assassin girl gave the pirate lord a really condescending look. "Do you really think I'm up to following your orders? You're not Zato-sama, John. Besides, you'd need all the help you could get.
"Finally," added Akari in a most devious tone, "I'm not going to let one of these buffoons kill you. I'm the one supposed to kill you, not them. Got that?"
John had to grin. "Well, then. Shall we?"
"Hell, yeah." Akari grinned back. "I never wanted to live forever," she said, tossing back his own words to him.
"So do I."
The Robo-Sols attacked.
John's orders were always perfunctorily followed by the girls, not only because he was the captain and should be obeyed, but because his commands always made sense and were for the best. But there was one Jellyfish who didn't flee, mainly because she was too busy.
As the mass-produced Robo-Sols advanced, September was still at her seat, absorbed into the better half of War and Peace at four days running – an amazing accomplishment of concentration and speed reading, considering Tolstoy's masterpiece's infamous reputation in book circles. Several Robo-Sols locked onto her as their target.
Their coming actually disturbed September's peaceful reading, which elicited her raising her eyes from the book to look at the approaching Robo-Sols with a very placid expression on her face, as if she was on Prozac and meeting old acquaintances instead of bloodthirsty war machines. "Please keep quiet as I am reading," she requested. "I do not like to be disturbed while reading."
"DIE, HUMAN!" the nearest screeched at her. "DIE!"
September sighed. She flipped a bookmark onto the page she was reading before she closed the book and stood up, holding War and Peace as if it was a one-handed short sword. In just the slightest of evil tones, she murmured: "You asked for it."
The Robo-Sol brought its fake Fuenken down.
September calmly blocked the blow with War and Peace.
To the Robo-Sol's shock, its fake Fuenken was stopped cold by War and Peace. The sword didn't even dent the book's paperback cover. Instead, the fake Furaiken shattered.
September smiled grimly. "Nothing can cut through War and Peace."
Then she tapped the Robo-Sol on the head very lightly with the book.
Such was the thickness of War and Peace that the robot was crushed like a Pepsi can run over by an eighteen-wheeler truck. The other Robo-Sols fell back.
September's eyes glinted. Her smile was pure malevolence.
"No one disturbs my reading… and lives…"
In an ancient tomb from a misbegotten era in an equally forgotten country, Leo Tolstoy shuddered and turned over in his grave. Apparently, he had never intended his books to be the cause of such evil deeds.
The trio of Robo-Sols that burst into one room found a surprise awaiting them.
Jan smiled foxily at the intruders. "Hello, my pretty little Robo-Boys," she purred. "I've been waiting for you handsome Machine-Boys all my life."
The Robo-Sols gagged, nearly overheating their thought matrixes. Jan wore the slinkiest of dresses with the highest of leg cuts and the lowest of neck lines. She had on high heels, her hair was tied and fixed in a Chinese bun style, rose madder lipstick was on her lips, and she had the perfumed scent of an exotic flower garden. She looked like the most luscious lovely sexy actress idol to ever attend the Oscar Awards– which she could have been, if she chose to.
Right now she gave the Robo-Sols a most gorgeous look of interest that nearly short-circuited their processing chips. "You wouldn't hurt a defenseless gal like me, would you, little Mecha-Boys? I'd love to be of any service to you, especially fan service," she whispered seductively, her meaning sublime and sexual.
The Robo-Sols all nodded their heads while oil drooled from their mouths.
"Lock the doors, please, if you will?" The Robo-Sol nearest hastened to comply, piling up a ton of objects to block the entrance so no one could enter– or leave. "Thank you, dearies, I appreciate it."
"CAN WE GET IT NOW?" asked one of them.
Jan smiled. "Sure, you'll get it now, my darling little Robo-Boys." She slowly undid the spaghetti straps of her gown–
One of the Robo-Sols suddenly remembered something. Jan's way of addressing them wasn't one of adoration. It was exactly the same way The Misadventures of Ky Kiske villainess Wendy Weber Misterjerk condescendingly referred to her arch nemesis Ky Kiske, as if he was her sex plaything.
–and suddenly yanked her dress off.
And the readers all have an idea of what will happen now.
"Too late, little muffin-eating, hairy-armed, beret-wearing, artwork-loving, Napoleon-worshipping, mustache-wearing, bad-teethed, Kodachi-like-laughing, petite, miniature, small, tiny, short, munchkin, small-framed, jailbait, yaoi-a-riffic, Sol-pair-able, Barbara Steisand-ticket holding, Oscar Wilde-reading, leather pant-wearing, pretty American Robo-Boys!"
In The Misadventures of Ky Kiske, Invader-Zam4 momentarily recovers long enough from his comment to violently protest "Sheo, you plagiarizing swine! How dare you!" before he again fell into his debilitating coma/sickness/degeneration.
The gown gone, Jan was revealed to be wearing a tight black leather outfit beneath it. In her hands were an array of whips and sticks and even a copy of Ivy Valentine's sword beneath, tools whose variety of uses in domination hentai only ADV can even begin to comprehend and more moral people would blench to even begin to think of.
One of Jan's quirks that weren't mentioned in the previous chapter was that she happened to be a closet dominatrix.
Jan laughed evilly. The Robo-Sols shrieked in horror.
Screams of pain, pleads, the sounds of whip-cracking and maniacal feminine laughter echoed from that room, warning everyone to stay clear.
The main contingent of Robo-Sols had it especially rough. They'd gone after March, only to blunder into their worst nightmare. Every step they took triggered booby traps of all kinds: Pits with stakes, spiked battering rams triggered by trip wires, automated machine gun nests, land mines, laser beam fences, and a showerhead that rusted the joints of any Robo-Sol foolish enough to allow itself to be sprayed. Casualties were heavy, but the surviving Robo-Sols pressed onwards.
Then, they were accosted by a new peril.
"WHAT THE insert Sol Badguy-esque expletive here?"
It looked like a cross between a golden hamster and a teddy bear. It was more than six feet tall, was colored light brown with dark spots all around its plump body, had big brown eyes, wore a green bowler hat, and was very cutely silly. It also babbled in a language that could never be understood by anyone in the universe.
The Robo-Sols halted. "EH?"
"Fumoffu!"
Meet Bonta-kun, new star of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, a mascot suit that March and October totally revamped into a bullet-proof-armored, sensor-riddled, rapid-moving miniature walking battle outfit with the firepower of a battleship and the cuteness of an furry anime critter– and which proceeded to give the Robo-Sols the biggest ass-kicking of the universe, a serving of pain and a helping of destruction that can only be exceeded by the guy the fakes had in vain tried to copy.
Somewhere far away, Sol Badguy grumbled to himself. "I thought my story arc was over? Sheo Darren might be gone, but the Effect named after him is alive and well…"
Kagura glomped him.
July was the unluckiest of the Jellyfish pirates. She had the confidence of a wilted daffodil in a garden of roses, was easily panicked, had a horrible sense of direction and seemed like the most helpless of the girls. Right now, she was backed into a corner of the dead-end alley she had taken while fleeing the Robo-Sols who now had her cornered and approached her menacingly.
Could there be anyone else with worse luck than her?
Yes: The Robo-Sols chasing her.
"Please…" July was very frightened. "Don't come near me…"
Leering, the Robo-Sols reached for her.
July shut her eyes and screamed.
The incredible happened.
A fist shot out in an uppercut, sending the nearest Robo-Sol into orbit. The fighter unleashed a Dragonball-esque martials arts barrage of punches, karate chops and kicks on the remaining and badly shocked Robo-Sols. When the pulverizing hammer-blows stopped, there was five seconds of silence. Then there were explosions.
When July opened her eyes after the long silence that followed the explosions, she saw all the Robo-Sols were destroyed. She blinked and, puzzled, asked aloud, "Who did this?"
If she looked at her hands, July would have seen the streaks of oil on them– and realized the person responsible for saving her… was her.
The Fourth of July? Yeah!
In a far away place, a muscular man in black pants with seven scars on his chest and a mask that defied belief stood framed against the desert's sandstorm.
(Lone Wolf NEO, you know who this guy is. Our secret… )
"Sukebe Shinken has no equal."
The Robo-Sols crossed the line of no return when they entered the kitchen. Just like with any intruder who dared violate a home's sanctity, the whole household turned a united front against them. In this case, even the battleground was hostile to the attackers.
The kitchen had been the domain of November and the cook for a very long time now. It was their own private space where they reigned supreme. Even the captain didn't countermand their decisions on hearth and stove. Certainly John knew how to cook, and sometimes he tried out his own skill at the culinary arts. But November and the cook were his masters in the kitchen. Here, their word was law. They fought a somewhat losing battle to keep people who shouldn't be within five feet of a stove in the kitchen. The memories of Dizzy and May still stung them badly. The kitchen was still not fully repaired from the time Dizzy accidentally blew it up. But, if they didn't fight for it at all, then they fought not at all.
They fought for it. A man's house is his castle. A chef's kitchen is her fortress. Damned if November and the cook would let a bunch of Sol Badguy rip-offs playing the role of Viking pillagers into their bastion of sovereignty.
They planned an ambush that would, if all went well, turn into a full-fledged counterattack that would drive the enemy into the sea (air, actually, since this was an airship and not a naval one, but the figure of speech applies). February, June, August, October, December and the cat backed them up. They also had the support of a totally expected –for them, that is; for readers, this force should be totally unexpected– group of volunteers who felt the sane way they did and were willing to fight for the home they shared.
The Robo-Sols cautiously advanced into the kitchen, only to find it seemingly empty. But the place was packed to the brim with enemies keeping themselves hidden until the time was right to launch their holy war.
The first inkling a Robo-Sol had that something was wrong was also his last.
"EH? WHY IS THE STOVE LEFT OPEN?"
November rose from her hiding spot. "Attack!"
When he finally set down the printed draft he had just proofread, the look of intense disbelief on Loki's face told Yuuki that the entire concept worked. Loki was a hard sell on gut-punch humor. To get a rise out of him like this meant the suggestions was tops. That Girl herself could just barely stop herself from laughing her head off at the very audacity of it– that is, for only about a minute, more or less. Then Yuuki had to escape to the soundproofed bathroom in order to indeed howl her head off without frightening other people into thinking she was out of her mind.
Others had fared little better. Reiya was instantly smitten by the sight. The poor little girl was affected so much that it was all aside from Loki she could talk about. Understandably, Yuumura Kirika, Hoshino Ruri and Ayanami Rei sort of missed the humor of the situation, though the former did understand why Chloe cringed, seeing some of the players in the field were quite familiar and had bad imports for Shin Noir: The fork. But Elde Talonn had immediately burst out into chuckles. The Wanderer had a good appreciation for humor, and so did Tessa Testarossa and the other Ultrasaurus occupants. Even Lumiere found it funny. Worst case was Earl Osborne, who was nearly hospitalized but bounced back, even after watching the scene playing on loop a hundred times.
Nevertheless, Yuuki couldn't help but sweetly and teasingly inquire, "Well, what do you think, Loki-kun?"
Loki gave her the most level gaze a disapproving parent could use on a most precociously adventurous truant child. Then he grimaced very faintly –his highest expression of disapproving amusement– and said:
"Walt Disney is not going to be very happy about this."
"I knew you liked it." Yuuki's grin was quite impertinent. "Sheo loves it. I do, too, and even Four-chandoes. Don't you," she suddenly whispered mysteriously, "Don't you agree, too, Four-chan?"
From that deep dark space of her own creation she was secluded within, Four was of the same opinion. "Quite good, Yuuki-chan, it's all quite a good riot."
Just what was it that got Yuuki, Loki, Four and the whole gang so worked up?
Well, for one thing, it massacred all of the Robo-Sols. The mechanical 'Badguy-copy' bad guys failed to put up even a shadow of a fight, so overwhelmed by the element of surprise and the shock value of the trap that the defenders had been all over the outnumbered robots before they could do anything.
For another thing, people who have watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast will remember the scene where the townsfolk warily entered the Beast's castle– and were promptly mobbed by all the talking furniture and utensils who lived there.
Translated to the kitchen, which was full of sharp instruments and raw food, the knives and forks and pots and plates ensured that the battle was a one-sided massacre.
Here is some running commentary from the battle.
A Robo-Sol: "YEARGH! I'VE BEEN SLICED, DICED AND JULIENNED!"
Another Robo-Sol: "RUN! IT'S THE ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES!"
(Opening theme from that particular cartoon, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, begins playing out loud, freaking the other Robo-Sols out.)
Yet another Robo-Sol: "I WILL NEVER TAKE THE DISHES OUT EVER AGAIN!"
Yakov Smirnoff: "In Soviet Russia, dishes take you out..."
Blackheart ZERO: "And once again, the Blackheart says, 'Nevermore'!"
November: "Maehara Shinobu School of Anything-Goes Cooking: Skillet of Doom Bash Attack!"
June: "Go, November!"
August: "Yay, November!"
December: "November 3:16!"
The Cook: "You may take out lives, but you will never take... our kitchen!"
October: "Hmm, rubber band plus butter knife added to rice paste glue and random rusty nail with copper wiring and a set of Eveready AAA dry cell batteries equals Doom's Plasma Cannon. Not quite the Chibi Killstick… but it'll do…"
Person WMA: "Chibi Killstick reigns supreme."
Largo: "My enemies will know PH34R again..."
Piroko: "Baka" shoots Largo
Largo: "When I respawn, you are so censored dead."
Ruri: "Baka..."
Ils ne passeront pas. The cry of valor at the tragic Battle of Verdun, where two million men died failing to force a decision in the Great European Conflict, where French and German soldiers fought to death resolving the War, when uncommon valor was common virtue. Ils ne passeront pas.
They shall not pass.
Akari and John were living back to back, fighting off the hordes of Robo-Sols flooding them from all quarters, the enemy coming from all points of the compass. Both fought to protect the other's flank and back. Both fought with all the skill and power and determination they had– and then, when close to the failing point, somehow tapped reserves they never thought they could harness, continuing beyond human endurance.
They shall not pass.
Numbers didn't mean anything. Wounds didn't faze them. Death was nothing. "I ain't got time to bleed!" snarled Akari, unleashing a storm of throwing daggers in the form of playing cards even as the mechanical rabbits she released homed in on the nearest enemy and blew up or chewed the Robo-Sol apart, as her swords struck again and again. For his part, John didn't look like he was sheathing his sword anymore in traditional battoujitsu; he was attacking so fiercely and so rapidly that most of the time the katana was cutting a foe down, spent only a moment in the sheath and then was out again doing its killing work.
They shall not pass.
Robo-Sols came. Robo-Sols attacked. Robo-Sols died.
They shall not pass.
Finally, only one was left. The true one, the one created by Blackheart ZERO and subsequently consigned by Lone Wolf SIX to the Abyss, only to reappear and be defeated by the now-Lone Wolf NEO.
Robo-Sol was not moved by the destruction of its army. It was its plan all along: To wear down the humans with superior numbers until it was sufficiently repaired and the targets weakened considerably. Then Robo-Sol would strike.
It struck.
Just as he finished off the last of his enemies, John was hit by a cheap shot launched by the backstabbing Robo-Sol. Akari saw him go down, black-clad form wreathed in smoke–
Was that blood?
John failed to move.
Just like Venom earlier. Just like Zato-sama.
Not again. Not again, pleaded Akari with a God who might or might not be listening to her, seeing in the fallen captain her precious Zato-sama. Not again, please don't let me lose him again. Not again, please, not again.
Robo-Sol hit Akari herself. She went down, almost blacking out if not for the force of her will and the thought of John and Zato dead.
It's not fair. It's just not fair. I can't agree to that. I–
Above her, Robo-Sol laughed derisively.
I just won't agree!
Akari's world went red. Down on her knees, she managed to entangle Robo-Sol with her cape. Then–
"Instant Kill: I See Saw You!"
As the cape fluttered away, Robo-Sol reappeared from it, now stuck inside a big wooden box with only his head, hands and feet sticking out. Next to him, Akari yanked hard on the starter cord of her cutting tool to begin her final act.
It's a common sight to see magicians sawing people in half. Akari's Instant Kill takes the idea one step further in terms of mayhem. Instead of a hacksaw or a conventional wood saw, she uses a 100 horsepower diesel-driven chainsaw–
"AW, DAMN–"
–And promptly loses control of the monster, the vicious chainsaw bucking her around wildly before heading straight for Robo-Sol with a vengeance–
"–TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE–"
Lone Wolf NEO shudders and looks around. He had felt the chainsaw-toting presence again for some odd reason.
The girl stood in the midst of the Mayship's smoking decks and the recent violence wrought by hands of her own bidding and those of others who thought to defy Fate with sword and war and magic and technology. Her red-trimmed cape of sable flew wild in the wind even as the twin swords borne in her hands ran freely with the dark slick liquid that was the precious life fluid of her prey even as they soaked the floor. Ruined remnants of her slain foes lay all around her, reminders of the battle that ended just now and the costs it entailed– and the victory it embodied. Here was a dismembered hand; there, a severed leg. The head of her hapless victim itself was ground beneath her heels, eyes empty of light, permanently silenced.
She surveyed the devastation all around her with cat's eyes –one blood red, the other sea blue, summer flame and winter frost, Hell or Heaven– and rendered her judgment of all she had accomplished and of what she had allowed herself to become.
Akari Odine wept.
She felt the arms around her, then, comforting her, reassuring her. The scent was there once more. The peace of home was there again.
Like Zato-sama.
"You don't have to cry, Akari. You're strong. You did the right thing. But if you want to cry, go ahead. Crying makes it better. Crying lets your heart feel lighter. Even devils may cry. But you're human, and so you must cry."
Akari looked up to him.
It was John, of course.
Just like with Venom and Millia, or Zappa and Megumi so recently, or the coming pairings in this story, The World Within And Without. Or, from The Wedding Night 2, Bridget and May, or Ky and Dizzy, or Rock and Hotaru, or Sol and Kagura.
Just like all of those love stories, this one ends happy.
Crying, Akari Odine buried her face into John's chest, hugged him tight, and never really did let go ever again.
Nevermore, said Blackheart ZERO and Shakespeare, indeed.
Nevermore.
"History truly is an endless waltz," a voice decided. "The vicious cycle goes around and around, repeating itself over the days and weeks and months and years and centuries and millennia, humankind's joys and follies over and over again in bittersweet tribute. Nothing really ends; everything always goes on.
"So is it with me."
Four looked deep into the emptiness of the Door of Night, seeking the one she longed for all this time in that one action.
"Where are you? Just where are you?"
There is no answer. There shall be none for now. Only Fate will tell.
Sooner or later, Fate will tell.
Sighing, Four reluctantly turned away. The dragon of Time waited. The future girl of wandering fame beckoned. She must go to them, fulfill her part of Fate's Tapestry however boring and distasteful and hopeless it seemed for her.
But not before wondering where he is– and when he will be back for her.
"Sheo…"