Author's Note: Hi, currently on vacation, so I needed to wait for a place with decent Wi-Fi and some time to just sit down with my old laptop and update. Sorry again for the wait.


Bone Marrow

Part 2

It only took AC a few minutes to find the right building and deliver the oxygen. She was far from the only erythrocyte around, after all there were many cells working here, who needed the vital gas, making it even easier for the auburn haired cell to find her way around. When in doubt, follow the crowd.

The downside was that she had to wait her turn, but finally she got her box of carbon dioxide, swiftly left the building again, her cart waiting just outside. She was a bit nervous about 4989 being alone with the blasts, not because of something he might do, but because it could potentially be really awkward for him, considering the circumstances.

At least her stories seemed to have helped make the children more comfortable around him.

AC looked to the bracelet 4989 had made her, covering up her scar. Funny how things had worked out since that fateful day; nowadays she could see the pale bite-mark and recount the event without it sending shivers down her spine. That day she had been certain she would die.

Close to the stomach AC noticed a commotion in the blood vessel, a crowd of fellow erythrocytes that had gathered around something, or someone. Their voices sounded anxious and she approached them, curious as to what had occurred here. If there had been an attack red blood cells would be fleeing after all, so something else must have happened.

What she hadn't expected was to see AB 2934 lying unconscious on the ground.

AC gasped horrified, her box falling to the ground, but no one paid attention to her. It hadn't been all that long since they had met at the liver, and sure, she had looked tired then, but now AB 2934 was pale as death, her body gaunt almost reduced to her cytoskeleton. What had…how?

AC felt hollow, her mind struggling to process what she was seeing. It seemed unreal. She was not even really hearing the other erythrocytes around her anymore, and barely noticed the crowd parting when a few leucocytes appeared. Only when someone bumped against her shoulder, did she register their presence, two bloodied neutrophils and a natural killer cell.

One of the former kneeled down next to AB 2934."Hey, are you alright?!" a neutrophil with rather fluffy hair asked, as he shook the erythrocyte's body, but she only swayed lifelessly in his arms.

'Move', AC pleaded silently as she watched, begging for a sign of life. His fingers reached for her throat, but judging from his expression didn't feel anything.

"She's dead," the NK cell noted factually, her face a blank, and AC's haemoglobin twisted painfully inside her chest. She had assumed, but to hear it confirmed...

"But how?" the neutrophil exclaimed confused. "I don't see any injuries."

"No idea," the other replied, sounding worried.

"Let me see." AC's insides turned to ice, when she watched the female lymphocyte roughly grab AB 2934, all but tearing her from the other leucocyte's grasp. The insensibility with which she treated the body disgusted and horrified the auburn haired erythrocyte. Did immune cells have no empathy for their fellow cells? It was sickening.

The NK cell continued to examine AB's body and talked with the two neutrophils, but AC couldn't hear what they said. Until the fluffy haired neutrophil pointed at the bracelet.

"It's moving!?" the other white haired cell exclaimed, his hand reaching for his knife, ready to strike.

That's when AC saw it. Like a small worm the supposed bracelet had begun to wriggle. It bloated and several dents showed, before it suddenly just fell off. And then it split along the dents.

"It's multiplying!" the NK cell shouted, blade drawn, as all five parts began to move again, each a new worm. "Kill them quickly!"

Around her the watching red blood cells began to scream in panic and started to run, desperate to get as far away from the worms as possible. AC however was paralysed. The bracelet…the bracelet AB had given her too…

The fluffy haired neutrophil jumped back on his feet, blade drawn. "What are they?"

"No idea, but we can't let them escape!" the other replied, stabbing the closest worm, pinning it to the ground, where it wriggled desperately for a few moments before lying still.

NK cell's blade cut two apart in one move and the fluffy haired one got another. And the last was coming towards AC. She saw it, but her mind had turned blank, her numb body seemed like dead weight, unable to be moved, and she could only watch it closing in.

"One is getting away!" she heard a neutrophil yell, pointing at the worm, rushing towards her. But before any of them could deal the killing blow someone else stepped forth.

"Not to worry."

The worm leaped at her like a striking snake, but from the corner of her eye AC saw a green sleeve, and the newcomer caught the creature while still in the air.

"Dendritic Cell."

The green clad cell stepped past AC and spoke with his fellow immune cells, but AC wasn't paying attention, her eyes wandering to her own wrist, still trapped in that trance-like state. That thing…she had the same thing…it was…eating at her. It was…killing her.

"Please, help me!" AC's vision was blurry as she broke into tears, the drops warm against the membrane of her cheeks, finding herself shouting in desperation.

Nonetheless she somehow saw all four leucocytes turning towards her, the fluffy haired neutrophil reaching for his knife again, clearly alarmed. "What is it?"

She was afraid, but she had to tell them. What choice did she have? "AB 2934; she gave me this bracelet when she came from the liver! I think it's one of those things!" AC cried, her throat feeling constricted, making it hard to speak.

The neutrophil with the fluffy hair kneeled down by her side and took her arm, lifting her wrist, much gentler than she'd expected, his light grey eyes studying the…'thing' around it.

He proceeded to grasp the worm and tried to surprisingly carefully remove it without hurting her, only the blunt side of his blade touching her membrane, but to no avail. "Damn, my knife can't cut through it," he growled and moved on to try to tear it off with bare hands. It yielded similar results.

"If these things are feeding on erythrocyte, maybe it would be saver to simply kill the host," the NK cell suggested nonchalantly, not even a hint of pity or concern anywhere in her expression. AC froze up. No…

"What?!"

Both neutrophils moved their bodies between her and the once more paralyzed erythrocyte, who now only saw the fluffy haired neutrophil's back. Then the other spoke. "NK, we're supposed to keep the body safe, which includes the cells living in and providing for it. If we can save her, we will," he declared coldly.

The female lymphocyte didn't reply immediately, but then the erythrocyte eventually heard her sigh. "Fine. Show me the damn thing already."

The fluffy haired neutrophil moved aside, but remained next to AC, while his colleague addressed her. "Go on."

Would she really not hurt her? Still frightened AC hesitantly raised her arm, fighting to hold back new tears. She didn't want to die. Impatiently the NK cell then grabbed the extended arm, pulling her closer, making the auburn haired erythrocyte flinch. From the corner of her eyes she saw that both neutrophils seemed tense, but surprisingly their eyes were not on her, but their fellow leucocyte and her sabre. Looking down AC saw that the tip was pointed at her chest. One stab would be enough.

But the NK cell only cut through the crimson ring, slowly, methodically, cytoplasm gushing, probably what the worm had already absorbed from her. Dead the foul thing briefly shivered before simply falling off, merely leaving a few red dots behind on AC's pale membrane, likely a bite-mark.

"There you go."

AC stared at her newly freed wrist, Dendritic Cell gently placing a reassuring hand on her shivering shoulder. Was that it? Was she just going to be alight? The neutrophil, whose hair covered his right eye gave her a few moments, before he spoke to her again. "Do you know anyone else who's got one of those things?" he asked her calmly, though his visible eye looked at her kind of intensely.

Intimidated, AC slowly nodded, averting her own eyes. "As far as I know 2934 only gave them to RD 9843 and AE 3803…"

"AE 3803?! Are you sure?!"

AC jumped, seeing that the neutrophil's eye had widened. Now he really looked scary, especially with that cytoplasm all over him. "Y..yes," she stuttered fearfully and confused. "Why?"

"1146…" the other fluffy haired neutrophil began.

"You go find the other!" his colleague just shouted and ran off without any explanation.

Had she said something wrong?

"Right. Red Blood Cell?"

Timidly AC met the leucocyte's grey eyes. "Huh?"

"Can you tell me what RD 9843 looks like?" he asked with a soft and warm sounding voice, while displaying a gentle smile. "It would really help with our search."

Right; with so many erythrocyte it could take forever to find RD otherwise. "Oh,…sure." As she described the other red blood cell as detailed as possible, AC couldn't keep her voice from stuttering, her gaze always wandering back to the bite mark on her wrist. It had been close…so close.

Though his posture told her that the fluffy haired neutrophil was edgy, probably wanting to start his hunt, he didn't pressure her, only nodding every now and then. AC finished by telling him RD 9843 approximate destination, and to her surprise he didn't immediately run off, instead he took his transceiver and passed on the information to his fellow neutrophils.

When he looked to her again, she saw him turning his head from the corner of her eye, AC was again focused on her wound, nibbling on her lower lip. Just as she was about to get lost in her tumultuous thoughts and emotions, his voice broke through to her, and he was still giving her that soft smile. "Hey, you're going to be alright."

AC smiled to herself. Back then she'd been too shaken and frightened to appreciate his kindness, not just when speaking to her, but also later when he'd brought her to the bone marrow, before joining the search for the other infected.

Her friends had been so relieved to see her again, upon her return to the bloodstream a few days later, as they had heard about the incident, but not known whether she'd been affected. Looking back now, the auburn haired erythrocyte felt guilty for having mentioned to them that NK had wanted to kill her in her retelling of the events. Maybe things would be different now, if she'd neglected to include that particular detail.

And perhaps she should have found the courage to approach and thank 4989 earlier than she had.

AC stopped on the road, looking ahead to the lawn where she'd left said neutrophil with the children, a smile spreading across her lips once more.

She had wondered if he'd continued to tell them stories, but instead the erythroblasts were playing again, running across the grass, kicking the ball back and forth between each other. 4989 was among them, the girl with the injured knee on his shoulders, excitedly pointing at where the ball was at any given moment.

It was however obvious that the fluffy haired neutrophil was holding back, only ever passing to one of the children immediately, never going for the goal, which incidentally was between the posts of a set of swings.

AC could hear the shouts and laughter, her smile widening when a blast made a goal and the injured girl cheered for her teammate, 4989 lifting her up above his head.

Since her talk with Dendritic Cell AC had wondered what she should do if the worst were to happen, if the rift could not be mended, whether she should remain with her old friends or embrace her new ones. Not just 4989, but also the other three and AE 3803, even though she'd met the other erythrocyte only a few times thus far. And after having looked back at so much these past two days, her first meeting with 4989, the time at the liver, all the hours spent together and now as she watched him play with the little erythroblasts, laughing just as brightly as any of them, she realized something; should it come to that, her decision was already made.


"Big sis, big sis!"

4989 turned his head, when he heard one of the boys shout, seeing AC 4293 join them, her cart once more parked by the side of the road.

"Big sis, you've got the even the teams," the boy told her, tugging insistently at her jacket.

The auburn haired erythrocyte chuckled and placed a hand on the child's head. "Don't tell me our neutrophil is being unfair."

"They're winning."

"Are they now?" AC looked to 4989, who quickly averted his gaze, whistling innocently.

Truth be told he was barely involved in the game, but he was hardly going to complain when it meant she'd join in. Still, it wasn't like any of the kids were actually upset; truth be told no one was counting, and both teams were going for the same goal. If anyone was losing, it was the goalie, but that girl too seemed unperturbed, even when she let a ball through.

"Alright, who's in my team?"

A few second later the game was back on and for the first time 4989 actually had to defend the ball whenever it was passed to him, as AC was certainly not afraid to challenge him for it with a smile on her face, making his mitochondria pound.

When he had first approach her all 4989 had really wanted was to find a way to alleviate the fear most erythrocytes felt towards leucocytes, perhaps gain a friend in the process. Even if the former hadn't quite worked out yet, not that he was giving up on that particular project, especially now, there was something else. As he watched her during the game, beaming from ear to ear, having so much fun, smiling at him, he wondered for a moment if this was how 1146 felt whenever he looked at AE 3803.


Eventually it was decided that the game ended in a draw, not that anyone actually knew the score, and the adult cells had to depart again. After all 4989 was technically still on patrol and AC had to get the CO2 to the lungs. The children were sad to see them depart and continued to wave and shout goodbyes even when AC and 4989 were already back on the road, the two turning around one more time to wave back.

"Thank you…for what you told the erythroblasts earlier," 4989 suddenly began as they walked past the main complex of the vast school, a subtle, but nonetheless grateful smile gracing his face.

"Happy to help," AC replied, happy that she'd been able to assist. "But you don't need to thank me; I was just telling the truth after all." And she was glad for anyone who would listen.

For a second his cheeks featured a pale pink hue. "Still, meant a lot to hear you say it," the neutrophil confessed. "And I'm sure it made a difference for those blasts to hear those things from you, rather than me."

"Possibly, yes." A senpai probably was more persuasive in this regard, which suddenly gave her an idea. Playfully she nudged 4989 with an elbow. "Maybe I too should teach them about neutrophils," she told him with a grin, though judging by his expression turning from surprised to elated, he'd realised that she was being sincere.

"You're very welcome to come along, if the macrophages allow me to visit," he told her happily, almost sounding relieved; maybe he'd been nervous about trying to teach an entire class of possibly frightened erythroblasts on his own.

"Loved to." That promised to be fun, or at the very least interesting. Most importantly however it would hopefully make a difference.

The two continued on, walking side by side in comfortable silence, occasionally crossing paths with other erythrocytes, and even sometimes hematopoietic stem cell, who were looking after the blasts playing on the grounds.

When they neared the exit, 4989 suddenly perked up, his smile widening. "Is that?"

"Huh?"

"It is!" The fluffy haired neutrophil exclaimed brightly and started to wave excitedly. "Sensei!"

Ahead AC spotted another neutrophil on the road, who looked up when 4989 shouted. After a moment of confusion or perhaps just surprise, the other leucocyte smiled. "Well, there is someone I hadn't expected to see today," he greeted them once they reached him. Close up he looked older than most neutrophils AC was used to see, and there was surprisingly calm aura surrounding him, which was reflected by his voice. "U-4989, good to see you again."

"You too, sensei," her friend replied happily.

The older neutrophil with very short hair, whose tag identified him as U-1110, turned to the red blood cell. "And this is?"

"AC 4293; nice to meet you."

"Likewise, miss," he told her with a friendly smile, before turning to 4989. "She's…?"

"She's a friend," 4989 quickly answered, almost hastily actually, and confusingly AC saw that faint, pink hue colouring his usually pale cheeks again.

"I see," 1110 said, sounding amused.

Recognising the awkward atmosphere, AC quickly decided to jump in. "You were one of 4989's teachers?"

"Yes, I indeed had the pleasure to tutor him and his friends. Seems it was only yesterday you all graduated."

"It wasn't all that long ago," 4989 noted.

His old sensei nodded. "True, but your no longer a band cell either," a concerned frown flashed over his features. "And from what I've heard you all have been through quite a bit in such a short time nonetheless."

The fluffy haired neutrophil however grinned. "Good thing then we had you as our teacher."

"You know, I was never quite sure if you actually listened to me," the other mentioned, though it seemed to be more teasing than earnest criticism.

"I did," 4989 protested, before looking away bashfully. "I just sometimes had my own interpretations of your lessons."

1110 chuckled. "I suppose that is one way of putting it."

"Sounds like fun times," AC noted, considering what she already knew of the four neutrophils, especially 4989. She had little difficulty imagining him as a true little troublemaker as a child, and she remembered 2626 mentioning something about a bow.

"The four of them have certainly been among my more...entertaining students," the teacher admitted. "Perhaps next time you stop by I could share some stories, if you are interested."

That sounded too good to be true. "I'd love…"

Suddenly 4989 covered her ears with his hands. "Ah, I don't think that will be necessary," he hastily told 1110. "Please."

AC however only giggled at his reaction grasping his hands with hers, trying to pull them off; they didn't exactly keep her from hearing what was being said anyway. "Hachikyu-kun; don't worry."

"Sorry, but Dendritic Cell having photos of every embarrassing moment in my life is bad enough," he told her, sounding a little desperate, a pleading look in his eyes, when she looked over her shoulder.

Was he worried that she would wind him up with whatever she learned? Sure she'd teased him one time or another, but that he would be this worried about her finding out more about his childhood seemed strange, and just a little sad. "Oh, come on; whatever he tells me can't be worse than your first driving attempt with the cart."

"In my defence that bump came out of nowhere."

"Do I want to know what you tried to do with an erythrocyte delivery-cart?" 1110 chimed in, one of his eyebrow raised.

The fluffy haired neutrophil rubbed the back of his neck. "Would you believe me if I told you that it wasn't in any way combat related?"

"No."

"Then probably not," 4989 admitted, smiling innocently.

1110 sighed and shook his head. "Haven't changed a bit as I see." Nonetheless he quickly smiled again. He looked content to AC, but then his gaze wandered to the nearby school building. "Sadly I'm afraid we're going to have to catch up some other time."

"Giving another lesson?" 4989 asked him, finally pulling his other hand back from AC's head.

His former teacher shook his head. "No, we had an invasion earlier today," he explained, taking the two by surprise; it was truly rare that any pathogen made it this far into the body, and at least to AC it was terrible to imagine in what danger the blasts had been in. "It was successfully repelled without any problems, but I haven't seen two of my students since."

Now 4989 smile vanished for good. "Do you think…?" but he broke off, perhaps not wanting to finish the sentence, and AC's haemoglobin twisted.

1110 however shook his head, despite looking just a little troubled. "No. Knowing them they have used the opportunity to go explore the bone marrow," he gave his former student a meaningful look, with just a hint of a smirk. "Just like some other myelocyte once."

"Thought it was a promyelocyte," 4989 mumbled sheepishly.

The other neutrophil chuckled. "In any case, I still have to find them, preferable before they get up to something."

"We'll keep an eye out," AC promised him.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," he told her, smiling kindly. "It was nice meeting you, miss."

"Likewise."

"See you around, sensei."

The three cells parted ways again, 4989 waving his old teacher goodbye, as they started to walk. AC had to admit that she was tempted to come and see U-1110 again, learn a few things about her friend's past. But she didn't want to go behind his back, betray his trust.

"Would it really be so bad, if your old sensei were to tell me some stories?" the auburn haired erythrocyte finally asked after a while.

Her friend blushed yet again. "Well, some of them are rather embarrassing," 4989 confessed.

"I'm counting on that," AC joked, but he only pulled a face, making her place a comforting hand on his arm. "Hey, don't pout; nothing he could tell me would make me think any less of you. But knowing you as well as I do, I cannot help but think that there have been some rather…interesting events I missed out on. I mean you as a boy? You must have gotten up to all sorts of mischief."

"I seem to have made quite a lasting impression," the neutrophil noted, but he sounded more amused than upset.

"Adorably eccentric, remember?" AC chuckled and saw him grin in response, much to her delight. Maybe she could get him to tell her some stories instead. He'd told her plenty of his job already, even re-enacted some with the help of the platelets, so he wasn't exactly secretive.

It looked like he wanted to reply something, but just when he opened his mouth, his receptor went off, ringing loudly in both their ears. "Stay behind me!" he told her stepping protectively in front of her, hand flying to one of his knives. "Antigen!"

They were still within the bone marrow, at the outskirts of the school, but the street before them was empty, with only a few erythrocytes up ahead, who went about their duties undisturbed. But that wasn't the only way.

"The side road!" AC noted out loud, looking to a small path to their right, just between the last building and the crimson wall that marked the border of the red bone marrow. She was certain that she could hear voices coming from there.

4989 merely nodded, perhaps having heard them as well, and approached the alley. AC hesitated for a moment. She knew that she would be of no use in battle, but she hardly wanted to simply wait and see what happened. Finally she left her cart behind once again and followed her friend, just as he disappeared behind the corner.

Making sure she kept that distance, just to be safe, AC approached the alley and heard a chuckle that sent shivers down her spine. No cell possessed such a voice. She turned around the corner and saw up ahead two myelocytes, one on his knees, holding his left arm, while the other stood in front of him, holding aloft his small dummy knife. What captured her attention the most however was the creature looming before them, a red bacterium, its membrane looking almost wax-like, with six arms, all ending in three clawed digits. It's pale, greyish eyes narrowed when it saw 4989 running towards it, and it revealed needle-like teeth as it snarled.

Serratia marcescens

An opportunistic pathogen, which can infect various regions of the body, from the respiratory tract and eyes to the urinary tract. Less commonly it can also cause osteomyelitis (infection of the bone and marrow), endocarditis or meningitis, and is gaining relevance as a causal agent of nosocomial infections, which are infections gained after/during hospitalisation. Serratia are capable of producing the pigment prodigiosin, which can discolours contaminated food, like bread, red/blood-red.

"Get away from them!" 4989 shouted, rushing past the two children, blocking a clawed hand with his knife that had been aimed at the standing myelocyte's head. "AC! Take the boys!"

"Right!" She ran the last few steps and grabbed both myelocytes around the waist, pulling them back and away from the bacterium.

One of the boys looked at her confused, his eyes as wide as dinner plates, while the other watched as 4989 engaged the red pathogen, dodging another one of its orange appendages. They saw him cut off first one, then two more of the creatures arms, hearing it hiss in pain, while the neutrophil closed in.

AC knew that he'd faced countless of those monsters, nonetheless her insides twisted as she watched him fight. She even realised a moment later that she was holding her breath.

However there was fear now in the pathogen's pale eyes as it backed away, perhaps considering escape. Desperate it launched all three remaining arms at 4989, claws flashing, but the neutrophil leaped forth, head lowered, and thus avoided the attack completely,though AC gasped at how close it was.

"Now die!" He slashed upward, cutting across the bacterium's torso from hip to shoulder, bright red cytoplasm gushing forth.

AC breathed out relieved as the germ collapsed, 4989 stabbing it one more time to make sure it was dead. She slowly let the boys down, their feet gingerly touching the ground. The erythrocyte saw that they were focused on the adult neutrophil as he examined his kill and pulled his blade out of the body.

"Are you boys alright?" AC asked, crouching down next to the myelocytes, gaining their attention, both turning around to her.

"I'm alright, but 3521 got hurt," the boy, who had stared at her with big eyes earlier told her, pointing at the other.

"Where?"

The boy with the short ponytail hesitated. "My arm," he finally admitted with a low voice, lifting his left one a little. "One of its claws got me."

4989, the front of his uniform completely bloodied, joined them and had evidently heard that last bit. "Can I see?" he asked friendly, as he crouched down as well. The boy complied, if slowly, and with the cleaner of the two gloved hands the fluffy haired neutrophil took the injured arm. There were three clean cuts, thankfully only bleeding a little, and judging from his expression AC figured that her friend wasn't too worried. "Nothing deep, that'll heal quickly," he confirmed with an encouraging smile and let go of the arm again. "What were you boys doing here anyway?"

For a few moments the two myelocytes looked at each other, before the injured one lowered his gaze and the other somewhat meekly replied. "Well, we heard about the repelled invasion and wanted to check out what kind of germs they were."

The other nodded. "That's when we saw something strange and followed it all the way here."

"And you didn't get an adult?" AC asked, a little astonished by how bold the two had been, but maybe this was a myelocyte thing. They were trained to become fearless fighters after all; that had to manifest sooner or later, though these two had apparently found their limits.

"We just wanted to take a look," the uninjured boy claimed sheepishly, snivelling a little. "But as soon as we found it, it attacked us." And with those dummy-knives, they'd been defenceless.

Well, then at least they hadn't planned to take it down by themselves. "You were lucky," the erythrocyte noted, and obviously feeling guilty, the two boys hung their heads.

"Let's get you two back; U-1110 is still looking for you two," 4989 mentioned as he stood up, making the children flinch.

U-3521 glanced over to his friend. "Sensei is going to be so mad at us," he mumbled.

But the fluffy haired neutrophil shook his head. "He's going to be glad you two are still alive," 4989 assured them, before pointing at himself. "Trust me, I too was a troublemaker, but he never bit my head off. At worst he's going to scold you for not getting help." His words seemed to ease their minds, and slowly both of them nodded.

Together they all left the alley, going back to the main road, surprising an erythrocyte, who happned to pass by and quickly hurried along to stay out of their way. AC decided to leave her cart behind for the time being, instead offering a hand to the injured boy, who still looked quite nervous. At first confused he looked at her hand, before hesitantly taking it, AC slowing her pace a little to match his. 4989 meanwhile was busy removing drops of cytoplasm from his face and neck, probably worried about frightening other children with his appearance.

The little group soon reached the main school building, where they had parted ways with U-1110 earlier, seeing that apparently all the children were headed there, probably gathering for the next lessons. Among them was a very familiar group of erythroblasts, and they recognized them as well.

"Big brother! Big sister!" Some of them shouted, as they all came running towards them, bright, heart-warming smiles on all their little faces. AC could practically see 4989 light up when he heard them calling him 'big brother', even as he quickly put away his bloody tissue.

"Looks like we've got a welcoming committee," he noted happily, just before the kids reached them.

They looked a bit aghast at the sight of 4989's red jacket, but their attention was quickly drawn to the myelocytes, when they realised one of them was bleeding. "What happened to Nii-san?" one of the girls asked concerned.

AC once again crouched down to be at eye-level with the children. "These two here stood up to an evil germ, trying to invade the bone marrow, but 3521 here got hurt in the process," she calmly explained, reassuringly squeezing the myelocyte's hand. "Could one or two of you run ahead and get one of your teachers?"

"On it, big sis," one of the boys this time promised, tugging another by the arm and the two quickly ran off together.

"Did you kill it, big brother?" the girl with the scraped knee meanwhile asked 4989 curiously. "The germ?"

"Of course," the fluffy haired neutrophil confirmed. "It's my job to protect you after all. Made a bit of a mess though," he admitted, scratching his cheek in an almost bashful manner.

Now with a small entourage to escort them, AC, 4989 and the myeloblasts enter the school building, attracting quite a bit of attention from the other students, many of which stopped or at least slowed down to watch. AC however didn't really care, instead she was busy watching and listening, as the erythroblasts asked the myelocytes all sorts of questions, mostly about the germ-incident. The young boys were mostly bemused, answering with one or two words at most, and the red blood cell assumed that neither of them had ever even spoken to an erythroblast before, and were a bit overwhelmed by their curiosity and friendliness.

It seemed like their visit to the bone marrow had already paid off in a small way.

When she looked to her friend, AC saw that 4989 was just as if not even more delighted by this development than her, grinning brightly from ear to ear. She loved seeing him this happy, and why shouldn't he be; his goal now seemed actually obtainable, if not for their generation, then perhaps for the next.