RFY - Chapter 3 - Patching Together

Ina didn't live with her parents. Her parents were both Korean and had moved back to their home country last year. So Ina lived alone in a small-ish apartment near the middle of town. It wasn't that small, as it had two separate bedrooms and a full kitchen and bathroom. There was even a living room that contained a nice couch and tv. Amelia had been over a few times, but now was different. She'd probably be staying here for a while.

The car ride to her house had been mostly silent. In the few words that were said, Ina said that she had the rest of the week off, but Amelia had as long as she wanted. Amelia appreciated the time Ina was taking to help her out.

Amelia sat on the edge of the bed for a long while. The fear of her own dreams kept her from sleeping. The horrible laughing from the Priestess filled her mind during every silence. She wanted to drown it out with music, which Ina supplied until she inevitably went to sleep.

Eventually, she fell into a mostly dreamless sleep. A few sounds and images haunted her, but it only made her wake up in a cold sweat the next morning. It wasn't actually the morning, though, it was two in the afternoon. She must've been up extremely late the night before.

She didn't hear any movement outside of her room. Making her way out into the living room, she didn't see Ina anywhere. Amelia was thankful that her friend had let her sleep so late, but where was she now? She wandered into the kitchen soon after.

On the kitchen counter, Amelia saw a note that read, "Ran to get some more food, didn't have Inaugh food for both of us:)" A smile crept onto her face for the first time in a while. Ina always had a way to cheer her up. Amelia turned on the TV for some background noise and tried to distract herself the best she could.

The door to the apartment eventually opened later in the day. Ina was back from her shopping trip. She was being careful to not make too much noise in case Amelia was still asleep.

"I'm awake now," Amelia recoiled slightly from how coarse and rough her voice sounded. All that crying last night had done a number on her vocal cords.

"Oh, how are you feeling Ame?" Ina called back out to her. Amelia got up from the edge of her bed and walked out to the living room again. Ina saw how disheveled she looked. "I'll take that as not very good."

"Heh, I'm at least feeling better than last night. It's amazing what a night of sleep can do."

"More like a night and morning of sleep," Ina joked back. Amelia smiled.

"What'd you buy?" Amelia made her way over to the bags Ina had brought in.

"Some ramen, chicken, pork, a bunch of vegetables, and a box of those energy bars you always bring to school." Amelia thought about how weird it was for her to have paid attention to the last item, but understood that it was out of kind observation and nothing malicious.

"Sounds good, " she replied. Ina's expression shifted to one of nervousness.

"The police called earlier, they asked if you wanted to grab some things from your house," she explained, "I told them that you would probably not want to go back there and I would give them a list."

"Yeah, you're right," Amelia said quietly. She began to think about what she would need.

"I'm sorry for kinda making a decision for you…" Ina's voice faded as the words left her mouth. She was pretty guilty about her actions.

"It's fine, you know me well enough, so I would've done that anyways," Amelia calmed her friend's nerves. Ina smiled warmly.

Amelia was very thankful to have someone so caring and friendly, like Ina, as a close friend.

A few days passed without many notable events. Amelia lounged around and got a grip on her mental state, although it was a weak hold. Ina continued to support her vulnerable friend in every way she could think of. She cooked food, tried to engage in happy conversations, and played a few board games she had laying around.

The visits to the hospital never got easier, though, only more normal. Amelia didn't cry now, even if she wanted to. She needed to be strong for him if, no, when he woke up. That went for both mental and physical strength, so she had begun to run around the block where Ina lived. The feeling of running brought uncomfortable memories at first, but they soon faded away. Eventually she really enjoyed the time she spent running. It made her feel free and like her problems couldn't hurt her.

"Hey Ame, I invited someone over for a little. I hope you don't mind," Ina called out from the living room. Amelia sat in her room this Friday afternoon. She paused the video she had been watching.

"Who is it?" she replied. Depending on who it was she might say hi or just go out for a run.

"It's that new transfer student, Gawr Gura, from our photography class. She wanted to help me out with some of the stuff I missed this week. Maybe she could help you, too, since you aren't really artistically inclined." Amelia barely heard past the words 'Gawr Gura'. She was coming over?! She couldn't be seen like this!

"When is she coming?!" her voice was much more frantic now. She swung her legs off the bed and started to mess with her hair.

"Probably in 30 minutes give or take." Well a shower was out of the question now. Thankfully she wasn't abhorrently dirty or anything, so she just needed to fix her appearance.

"Thanks for the warning Ina!" she complained. Ina laughed to herself.

"Sorry, but this is the most energy I've seen from you in a while. Trying to impress her or something?" Ina teased her. Amelia groaned.

"I just don't want to look like total dogshit." She was able to make herself presentable in the short time she had. Gura would only be over for a couple hours at most, so it didn't have to be much.

There was a knock on Ina's front door after 45 minutes. Ina sighed and got up to answer it. Amelia hid in her room like a coward.

"Hello Gura," Ina greeted her friend happily with a nice smile.

"Hey Ina!" Gura was much more aggressively friendly. Even though she was late, she made no comment on it. She immediately tried to hug Ina, who accepted it hesitantly. Ina felt her cheeks get a little warmer.

"Ame want to come out here?" Ina tried to divert some of the attention away from her.

"Ame? Oh you mean Amelia. That's a cute nickname. Where is she hiding?" Gura became distracted like a dog immediately and began to seek out her next prey. Amelia realized that she was going to be found no matter what. After sarcastically thanking Ina under her breath, she stepped out from inside her room.

"Hi Gura…" she said sheepishly. Gura's eyes were that of an apex predator. Amelia didn't have time to react before Gura was in her face and smiling.

"Hey Ame! Is it ok if I call you Ame?" she asked quickly.

"Uh, yeah," Amelia responded after a short moment. Gura's eyes lit up even brighter than they had already been.

"Yay! So we're friends then, right?" Amelia's heart skipped for a moment. Gura was incredibly friendly and oddly aggressive.

"I guess so," the words came off her tongue slowly, as she was still taking in the meaning of Gura's proposition.

"Well then," Gura finally pulled back away from Amelia's face, "I guess I should get you two slackers up to speed." She gave a big smile to show that the insult was a joke. Ina looked over at Amelia with slight concern that maybe the joke had been lost on her. Amelia smiled and laughed a little.

"I guess we do have a lot to catch up on," she said to Gura. Ina smiled now, too.

The studying was over in the blink of an eye. Time flies when you have fun, Amelia assumed. The three of them actually got very little studying done. Most of the time had been spent with Gura asking questions to Amelia or Ina. Gura managed to get Amelia's phone number through these questions. Amelia tried to play it off quietly, but she was internally freaking out.

"Well I have to leave soon," Gura stretched her arms above her head. She leaned backwards, almost falling onto her back. They were all sitting on the ground in the living room in a kind of circle.

"Do you need a ride back?" Ina asked. Gura shook her head.

"Nah, my mom dropped me off and wants to pick me up. Also you drive?" Gura's tone changed to surprise in an instant. Amelia couldn't help but laugh a little at the sudden change.

"Yeah, I need to since no busses come over here and my parents aren't even in the country anymore," Ina explained. Gura looked over to Amelia with new found curiosity.

"Speaking of parents, how are yours Ame? If they're super cool like mine I'd want to meet them!" Gura's enthusiasm distracted her from the look Ina gave to Amelia. It was one filled with concern and surprise. Obviously Gura didn't know what had happened, but how would Amelia react to this sensitive topic? She shifted her gaze down to her hands in her lap.

"They are awesome…" Amelia said quietly. Gura's eyes softened slightly. "I wish you could've met them, you would've gotten along amazingly." Gura now fully understood what kind of topic she had brought up.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that they weren't here anymore," she said solemnly. Amelia shook her head.

"They're not dead, just missing. The police are working on trying to find them. I know they'll be found alive," the resolve in Amelia's voice surprised Ina. It seemed like hanging out with Gura had really helped her mental state.

Inside Amelia's mind, a few different thoughts were swirling around. She was going to find them in the past and bring them back. Creating new timelines be damned, she was going to pull them out of there with certainty, no matter what.

The next morning rolled around and Amelia felt the most refreshed she had been in a while. It felt like the world had been made new, like nothing could hurt her anymore. She smelled something good from outside of her room. Ina was probably cooking an amazing breakfast, she guessed. She made her way out and Ina was indeed cooking.

"Well you're up early, normally I don't see you until at least noon," she commented. Amelia made her way over to look at the food.

"Yeah," she yawned in between words, "Had my first good sleep since I've gotten here." Ina smirked.

"You dreaming of Gura?" she asked slyly. Amelia felt all her sleepiness vanish as her social instincts got the better of her.

"What are you *hic* talking about Ina?!" she stammered out. Ina laughed at her.

"Well, I guess it was only Inavitable until you fell for someone cute and funny like her," Ina's cheeks reddened slightly. Amelia didn't notice, as her face was completely red by this point.

"I-I-I would never *hic* dream about a friend like *hic* that," Amelia wasn't technically lying since she didn't dream about Gura that night. She had daydreamed about her, though. Ina wasn't going to let up.

"Man, I'm going to have to tell her about this. She would love it!" Ina was mostly kidding about that threat. Amelia was in full on fight or flight mode now.

"Don't tell her *hic* anything. Why are you doing this to me so early?" She held her burning face in her hands.

"Just seeing what you can handle. It seems like you're back to yourself."

"I won't be if you keep *hic* messing with me like that," Amelia pouted. Ina tried not to burst out laughing at her friend's expense and also to not mess up her cooking.

"Well, this will be done soon, so you might as well chill out here until it's done," Ina began to cut off Amelia's escape routes.

"I think I'm just going to *hic* go back to sleep…" Amelia was burnt out already.

"So you can dream about Gura again?"

"No!" Ina began to laugh extremely hard, completely unable to hold it in anymore. She was careful to not mess up the cooking, though.

"I hate you," Amelia said with sarcasm.

"If you go back to sleep, you'll miss a certain invitation from a certain girl you may or may not like," Ina taunted. Amelia's interest was piqued, so she stopped and looked at Ina. She readied herself for another teasing joke, but this time her friend was serious.

"Gura invited me and you out for bowling later tonight. Seems like she just couldn't get Inaough of us," Ina explained. Amelia sighed at the forced pun again.

"Maybe I'll go, but only to make sure you don't tell her anything weird." Ina wasn't convinced.

"Uh huh."

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. Ina's food was delicious, as always, and the rest of the day was spent watching videos and playing more board games. The allotted time for bowling came near and the two girls readied themselves for a fun night. Amelia actually had time to put effort into how she looked. Ina didn't care as much, but she did take a little more time.

Ina drove over to Gura's house to pick her up. The ride there was filled with a little more teasing from Ina about Amelia's feelings and begging from Amelia to not say anything. As soon as Gura entered all the noise stopped. Amelia felt way too embarrassed to say anything. She had even given up the front passenger seat, so she had something to hide behind.

"So are you excited for this Ame!?" Gura turned and asked. Amelia tried to shrink away from her eyes.

"Y-yeah. Can't wait…" her voice was quiet to avoid her nervous hiccuping, but it also made her very difficult to hear in the loud car.

"Huh? What did you say?" Gura leaned as far as she could into the backseat.

"Gura, don't fall out of your seat," Ina chastised. Gura pouted before returning to her original seated position.

Ina and Gura joked back and forth a few times, but Amelia didn't hear a word. The loud ambient volume of the car already made it hard to hear, however she was busy cringing internally at herself.

They arrived at the bowling alley shortly there after. Amelia was broken out of her lowlights slideshow by Gura's happy cheers. They all got out and headed inside. Once everything was paid for, Gura stepped up to bowl first.

And completely shanked it into the gutter.

Ina playfully laughed at her. "Let me show you how it's done," she said with a smirk as the small girl slowly made her way back to her seat. Ina then proceeded to nail a strike.

"She's mean," Gura said to Amelia. Ina bowed at the two of them, gloating in her victory.

"Maybe, but she's still fun," Amelia said back before taking her own turn to bowl. She threw an eight point frame. When she turned back around after her second shot, Ina and Gura were arguing about something.

"Ame, she said I should turn on the bumpers!" Gura cried to her. Ina just smirked. It was evident that she was getting very comfortable around Gura.

"Ina, didn't she invite us here," she gestured to the small girl next to her. Ina laughed.

"Yeah, maybe I'll tone it down a little bit." She squeezed her fingers together to show how little she meant. There was almost no gap between them. Amelia rolled her eyes.

"It seems like tonight is Ina's bullying night." Gura began to fake sob and Ina stared at them with dangerous, but playful eyes.

Ina did win the whole game. The three of them decided to do another game, which Ina also won. Both wins were by nearly 50 points. Ina was just too good. Gura did successfully get two strikes during the last game, though. So she was relatively happy with her improvements. Amelia had done well too, just not well enough.

"How do you do any of that?" Gura asked out of sheer confusion as they all made their way back to the car. "It's like you can will the ball wherever you need it to go!"

"Yeah, I've never seen you or heard about you going bowling before," Amelia commented.

"I'm just very in control of my body. You've said that one of my defining traits is my calmness," Ina said to Amelia. Amelia begrudgingly agreed. "Plus, I have gone bowling a few times, but not too much. Also you guys just suck." She stuck out her tongue at them. Gura stuck her tongue back out at her.

"We can at least say that it was a fun night, right?" Amelia tried to lower the competitiveness of the atmosphere. Gura and Ina both nodded.

"Yeah I enjoyed it."

"It was a lot of fun!"

Author's Note: A break from the heart-ache. It will be back very soon, though. Sorry, not sorry.

A few answers and fun facts: I completely forgot that Atlantis sank and wasn't just underwater, so that it is written as if it had always been underwater. Maybe it sank so long ago that the people there were forced to evolve into what Gura looks like and they developed underwater? Making theories for my own fic is kinda fun :)
'Red' Gura will appear later on, but not any time soon. She is definitely not a very nice person. Wouldn't recommend spending time around her.
For this first part "RFY" of the story, Gura and Ina are indeed just humans. It will be explained in later chapters, don't worry, but for right now they are just humans. It is kinda hard to articulate that without tagging it as such, so I guess I have to say it here instead.
I've managed to write 10k words in two days. The last time I did this was when I wrote the second part to this (16k) in a week. So that's pretty cool. I'm very happy with the progress I've been making on this large project. (It is very, very large)

Next Chapter: An Unfortunate Meeting

Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!