Chapter 23: Follow the Trail

Gohan thought that today would have been like every other day so far. Upon waking in the morning, however, he was quickly proved to be wrong.

Marie's flower bed was empty, and a small pink note was lying where she normally slept. The note read:

"Follow the trail of senses

Along the border of invisible fences,

Upon where the pieces have been set

To where we first met."

Gohan let a laugh slip, trying not to wake anyone else up, but he didn't know Marie could write something akin to poetry.

She has way too many secrets; his thought gave him some form of excitement because he knew Marie hadn't told him everything yet. She seemed to keep rambling on about 'pieces' over the past few days, being in the happy stupor that she had been the day they were in the field.

"Pieces like in a game," he mumbled, thinking it over for a moment before letting the thought slip. Sometimes things Marie said didn't make sense, so he figured he would wait for her to explain. She always did.

He decided to follow the instructions in Marie's poem and made his way towards the window of his room. No one would stop him from leaving. He had kept his distance from the others despite knowing that it hurt them. They didn't need to be dragged any further into the mess known as his life.

The drop from his window to the ground wasn't significant, but as soon as he touched the grass beneath his feet, the tingling feeling resurfaced.

"'Follow the trail of senses'," he repeated, glancing down at the piece of paper. Marie had left him a trail, despite him having a feeling of where he needed to go.

In order to test his theory, however, he started to walk in a slightly different direction than what he had first intended to. When he strayed too far from the path, pain replaced the tingling.

I know that you like games, but this is going a bit too far, he winced as another streak of pain flashed through him. He quickly got on the 'path' again and continued walking.

"'Along the border of invisible fences.'" More like 'along the border of prickly needles,'" he muttered irritably. The consequence of his statement was a small tug on his foot from a light green vine.

I did the best I could; Marie's voice echoed through his mind before he was left alone again. He shook his head, finding that their 'connection' was just a tad bit creepy sometimes (he didn't receive another consequence, which let him know that Marie somewhat agreed with him).

He soon arrived at the small building that was still standing. Looking around for something that could signify pieces, he found that he couldn't see anything like that. Maybe he had it wrong…

"Might as well check," he mumbled, trying to ignore the tingling in his side again as it resumed. Marie sure did know how to annoy him sometimes…

The entrance to the underground lake seemed to be surprisingly clean. The slabs of stone that Leyla had pulled away when they first visited were neatly stacked into piles, making him sure that something had to be up. The tunnel that led to the lake was lit up with the same familiar blue glow.

At least some things stay constant.

"'To where we first met'," he whispered, walking into the cave and feeling shocked at what he saw. His friends randomly jumping out of places also created the feeling though, "Wha-"

"Happy Birthday!" Leyla, Marie, and Kenny all shouted at once, making him laugh at the surprise.

"Congratulations, Gohan! You are now officially twelve!" Leyla gave him a smile, making him realize that she must have told the others.

"That doesn't really mean much other than you're a year older! You can't drive a car or anything, but… uh… I guess there wouldn't be any cars to drive around here in the first place…" Kenny trailed off, realizing that his statement had quickly turned downhill, but they all laughed anyways.

As he thought about it, the poem did make sense. They were the pieces, but didn't that mean…

"Hey Marie, wouldn't the last two lines be switched?" he asked, knowing that the place came first before the pieces. He pointed to the words on the paper, and she frowned slightly.

"It doesn't matter," she stated simply as she grabbed his hand and started to pull him closer to the water. Her feet touched the sand below the water, and a pang of jealousy from Leyla made him come back to his senses.

"Is this some sort of drowning ritual where you miraculously revive me again?" he asked, letting loose a small laugh. Marie's pull on his arm vanished, and he looked up to see sadness in her eyes. An equal feeling ran through him along with confusion.

Did I hurt her feelings? It was supposed to be a joke… he watched worriedly as she stood still in the water, not moving an inch. He didn't seem to get much reaction out of her other than sadness.

I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hurt you, he sent across the link, hoping that she would understand. Her head tilted to the side a bit as she received his apology and she nodded, the sadness fading a bit.

Marie walked out of the water and towards him again, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had done something wrong. It had felt like no one else was there or maybe that they shouldn't have been; that it should have only just been the two of them…

"Come on, Gohan! We made a cake!" Leyla tugged on his arm this time, pulling him towards a cloth covered rock that served as a table.

"How in the world did you-?" he started to ask, shaking his head, but she interrupted him excitedly.

"We have our secrets," the look on her face was one of pride.

"Actually, I made it," Kenny's sudden statement made him turn around to look at his friend. With the seriousness that he had said it with, he couldn't really tell if Kenny was joking or not.

Maybe that's something I'll never know.

Leyla and Kenny were currently engaged in a fight to figure out who had actually made the cake, which gave him time to glance over at Marie. She had a distant look in her eyes, which made him slightly worried.

Nothing over the course of the day made any sense as to why Marie was acting the way she was. They would be having fun, but when no one was paying attention, the vacant look would return to her eyes. The only thing he could think of was that he had hurt her, which made the sadness that she felt become his.

They came out from the underground lake as the sun was starting to set, painting the sky in reds and yellows. He smiled, feeling as if this was the best birthday he had in a while.

Someone grasping his hand made him look back, seeing that it was Marie. She gave him a small smile as if to say "I forgive you." He returned the smile, feeling better already.

What he didn't know was that his world was about to get turned upside-down again very soon, and he had no control over what was about to happen. Unbeknownst of what was to come, he led the way back to the building, feeling peace for once.

This one sort of just came out of nowhere. I wanted to get a birthday scene in, considering the fact that Gohan's other self in INY (I Need You) said that he was twelve when he "left", but I wasn't quite sure how to do it. Things are going to be speeding up soon and we are heading towards the end (sort of, depends on how many more chapters I can think up :) ). Now for the real question: who actually baked the cake? Was it Kenny, Leyla, or Marie? Or does Gohan actually sleep walk and did it on his own? We may never know… or I might be able to put the answer in as an extra! Also, happy birthday to AnimeWolfGirl16 (and it's my birthday too, just to let everyone know :) ). Please tell me your thoughts in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9