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Chapter 4
Mimori made her way back to the previous room, away from the hot-headed Ryuho Tairen. She was seriously starting to doubt his sanity. Followed by her place on the Lost Ground. She sighed. Was it going to be like this for the remainder of her stay on the Lost Ground? She definitely didn't think she'd be able to handle his hot-headed attitude for that long. After all, she didn't really plan on returning to the Mainland. But that, well that she would keep to herself, god knows what would happen if Ryuho found out.
Forgetting the constant flow of worst case scenarios going on in her mind, she thought it better to make herself useful.
Wait.
Mimori frowned. "How exactly can I do that if nothings come up yet?" she asked aloud. Well there goes her master plan of shutting out her mind. 'Think, think, think…'she prodded herself, leaning against one of the many counters. 'Well, I guess I can see if Asuka needs help… with whatever he's doing.'
Mimori nodded to herself. Yep that's what she'd do to pass time. It was amazing how not one Native Alter had caused trouble yet. That, she couldn't figure out as she exited her safe haven of a room, and made her way to Asuka Tachibana.
Once she reached the main room of the HOLY convoy she saw no sign of Asuka, or anyone else for that matter. And they were… stopped?...
Mimori was confused. She gave the room a once-over. Where was everyone? They were stopped, no one but her was aboard, and nobody told her anything. What was going on? That's not like them. She was the top doctor on the unit, they needed her. Mimori scowled. "I bet it was Ryuho's idea to leave me be." She shook her head and walked over to the monitor. She studied the screen carefully… nothing was out there, or so that's what the monitor was telling her. Was there some type of glitch? If they were outside – where they just had to be, considering the empty convoy – they would come up on the scanner.
Mimori was about to hit the scanner, hoping maybe it was just frozen, but thought better of it. There's no point to risk breaking it. She would go see for herself. Never rely on a machine to do a woman's work.
She reached the door and pushed the button to open it. Nothing. It remained closed. Now the panic was starting to kick in. She repeatedly pressed the same button, while putting some of her weight on it, hoping it was just stuck. Still nothing.
"Open damn it! Open!" she screamed in frustration. Where was everyone?! "I said open!" she shouted one last time, kicking the door. To her surprise, it slid open. "What a relief." She mumbled to herself.
She took her first step out of the convoy, took in her surroundings, and froze. What she saw before her made her head spin, making her instinctively clutch the door frame to help steady her wobbling legs. It was everywhere, and she had nowhere to go. She quickly scanned the area taking everything in; it was like one big pool of blood. What happened?
Just a few minutes ago she was arguing with Ryuho. How the hell did this happen? And why wasn't she aware of it?
"Ryu-Ryuho!" she screamed not even a millisecond after her eyes landed on his body. Her heartbeat quickened rapidly as she ran towards his body. "Ryuho! Ryuho!" she cried while struggling to keep her balance as she ran. 'It's too slippery!' she mentally screamed. Her legs didn't quite agree with her rapid pace and she finally fell. Blood splashed up from the ground and harshly hit her in the face. She felt the vomit rise up in her throat but she pushed it back down. Despite that she kept on. She had to make it to him.
By the time she reached Ryuho's body she was covered in blood. But she didn't care. "Ryuho?" she called as she kneeled next to him, shaking his still body. "Ryuho, come on! Open your eyes! Wake up!" she begged. This couldn't be the end. He was an alter user, he had to be strong! Why wouldn't he wake up?! Mimori couldn't take it. Everything was coming all at once.
"What happened here?!" she screamed heatedly.
"Ryuho," she sobbed. "Please… wake up! You can't leave me! Not like this!" she cried, clutching on to his bloody uniform.
Everyone was… everyone was dead. At least fifty bodies were surrounding the area. What the hell happened? Why was she still here? It was completely deserted. Did they go at war or something?
"Why didn't… why didn't I hear anything?" she questioned, way beyond baffled. "Something like this… something like this I would have heard, right? So why!"
Frustration. That's what she felt at the moment. Along with disbelief, sorrow, and anger. They were all there. Her emotions were running wild and she couldn't control them. How could something like this just happen? It didn't make sense, nothing added up. She was right there, in the convoy. How was she so unaware of something of this extent?
In the middle of her mind blowing debt she gagged at least three times in a row. The stench of blood was becoming too much for her, and every time she was to observe her surroundings she'd experience a slight black out. But she couldn't pass out now. No, she still needed to wake Ryuho.
"Ryuho," she called softly. "Please. Wake up."
But he didn't. And her frustration and fear got the better of her.
"Ryuho!" she screamed through her tears. "Wake up goddamn it! Ryuho! Wake up! Ryuho!"
As if out of instinct, or habit, her hand flew up to her chest, desperately trying to clutch onto her hope. But none was there. The pendant Ryuho had given her as a child was gone. All that was left was a thin strand of black string. Her eyes went wide as her mouth dropped open. "No." she exclaimed. "It can't be. He's not… he can't be. There's no way… no." she repeated over and over again as the tears she had desperately tried to subside came back stronger than ever..
This was denial. Once that pendant was gone, so was its creator. That's just how it was. She had depended on that pendant for too long to accept the inevitable. The pendant was gone, as was Ryuho. But she wouldn't – no couldn'taccept that.
She looked down at his face; she had never seen him so serene before. The thought made her want die right there with him. But she couldn't; suicide was never the answer. She would keep trying.
"Ryuho," she said firmer than before. "Ryuho, you wake up right this minute! This isn't like when we were kids, you wake up right now! This isn't a game, Ryuho Tairen!"
The raven haired teen was struggling to keep her eyes open, it was clear she was about to faint. It was only a matter of time. So with the last of what she had, she attempted to scream his name one last time. But before she knew it, the next thing she experienced was her whole world turning black as she fell into unconsciousness.
"Mimori?" she heard someone question. To her surprise, it took everything she had to open her eyes. Her face was wet, that much she knew. "A-Asuka!" she exclaimed once her vision settled.
Asuka was hovered over her with a worried expression on his face. "You were having a nightmare, Miss Mimori."
Before the Heiress could even comprehend what was happening, her eyes began to water and she found herself clutching onto the purple haired Alter User as if her life depended on it. That was one hell of a nightmare.
Asuka stiffened. This wasn't what he had been expecting. After a few seconds of uneasiness, his instincts finally kicked in and he found himself wrapping his arms around the crying Heiress, holding her tight.
"Shh…" he soothed. "It was only a dream. It's okay now, you're fine."
Mimori nodded against his chest, but she didn't let go. It felt too right and at this moment, he was the closest thing to reality she had. There was no way she was going to let something that felt so real go. No way in hell was she returning to that dream.
After a few moments of soothing words from Asuka and a dose of reality, Mimori's tears had subsided. Who knew he was so good at calming people down?
"Thank you, Asuka." She mumbled softly.
He smiled warmly at her. "It was no problem, Miss Mimori. You almost gave me a heart attack when you didn't wake up the first few times I called your name. That must have been some dream, huh?"
The raven haired teen grimaced. "You have no idea."
He nodded in understanding. From where he stood in the situation, it looked like one hell of a nightmare. Walking in on one of your companions thrashing around in their sleep isn't something he wanted to ever experience. And to think your dreams were supposed to be the only place where the real world couldn't get to you.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
The chocolate eyed girl looked at her savior as if he had two heads. He quickly got his answer from just that gesture alone. No.
"Well, you weren't out for more than two hours. So far were haven't encountered any Native Alters." Mimori stiffened. Just like in her dream. "And we should be stopping sometime soon; just to make sure everything is in check. It's odd not encountering any this late in the game don't you think? So the commander ordered that we wait it out. You know in case any decide to come around this area. They won't know we're still here, they'll think we're still going north."
"Jeez this doesn't seem like much of a medical expedition anymore. I thought we were heading out to help injured people, not hunt Alters."
Asuka laughed goodheartedly. "Well Miss Mimori, I guess seeing as Ryuho is out with us, the commander sees fit to hunt. But don't worry; I doubt anything will pop up. We've gotten this far."
"Yeah. I hope so. I wanted this trip to be normal. Help people and go home. That's it. No fighting involved."
Asuka sympathized with the girl. He knew what she meant. Ryuho wasn't part of the plan. And he could never keep his hands off of that Native Alter with the lethal arm. It must be hard for her.
"So," Mimori piped up, "Do you need help with anything? I've got nothing to do and I'd rather not go back to sleep. I want to make myself useful."
"Hmm. Well, I guess you can help me organize some files I've been meaning to do. But," he looked at her seriously. "You have to tell me how that," he said pointing to her bandaged hand. "Happened first."
Mimori shifted under is gaze. She had long since forgotten about her accident. The pain was still there, but she must have gotten used to it. Figures he would ask. He's just that type of guy. Either way, she caved and told him the story. He was less than pleased once he got a dose of how careless she could really be.
"Miss Mimori," Asuka said sadly as he shook his head. "You have to be more careful. You have no idea what your father would do to us if you get hurt."
Mimori guilty looked down at her hands. She didn't want to cause anyone at HOLY any problems just because she was a klutz. Asuka grabbed a hold of her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. She looked up and he smiled at her.
"Don't worry about it. Come on, lets go organize some files." He paused and winked at her. "It'll be fun."
Mimori couldn't help but laugh. Asuka was becoming her aspirin for life, or something of the sort. For some reason she found herself smiling at the thought.
"Come on," Asuka dragged out dramatically while grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room. "I'm going to take your offer while it still stands. Good thing you haven't seen how many there are yet."
Mimori raised an eyebrow. "Asuka." She said, now unenthusiastic.
He looked back at her and smiled sheepishly. "Under five hundred, but over two." He said answering her unspoken question.
Mimori glared at him. "You're lucky, I'm a good friend."
"Aren't I?" he said playfully, winking at her again. This time she found herself becoming flushed. Thank god he wasn't paying attention.
Something was amiss. Or something was definitely changing.
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