Harumi found herself lost among a lot of rubble, it was heavy, pressing onto her as she tried to wriggle her way out.
What once was her home had now become her tombstone, or so it seemed, she was still alive, luckily, but the same couldn't be said about her parents.
She wasn't sure where they were, but if the fallen rubble around made any indication then at least she was sure they weren't alive anymore.
It was all so… disorienting, she knew she had to crawl herself out somehow, don't think about the rubble, about the pain or even the prospect of the parents she lost in minutes.
So crawl she did.
It hurt, the rubble and garbage around kept on prickling her exposed skin, hurting her battered body even more, but she kept on crawling, even when it was difficult to breathe, even when her hands were bloody and her legs stopped functioning, even when the rubble above kept getting closer and closer.
Even when she cried for her mom and dad.
She kept on crawling because she knew they wouldn't come.
They were dead weren't they?
One moment she had been sleeping, napping under the warm afternoon sun.
"Harumi?
It was her mom, and she had cuddled onto her snake plushie even more,she knew that if she just refused to get up her mom would eventually carry her.
She didn't want to wake up.
"Harumi"
She frowned, something was wrong, she knew it, that wasn't the gentle tone she was used to, no, it was a frantic one, full of panic and fear.
That woke up Harumi a little bit more.
By the time she had shaken the sleep off her eyes she was already being carried towards the door.
She couldn't see her father anywhere and it scared Harumi.
The panic spread to her like a disease and soon her confused eyes were full of tears on the brink of falling.
She was let in front of the elevator, it wasn't recommended, of course not, but she knew her way down from there, her mother turned around, possibly to go back for her father.
Where was he?
"Harumi?"
She looked up, for one last time to see her mother's face.
"Can you go alone?"
Without thinking a lot Harumi nodded, because, what else could she do?
"Wait outside"
Harumi looked outside the window, buildings falling, outside? Outside wasn't safe, but then, by the way the building was shaking neither was inside, so where to now?
By the time Harumi turned back towards where her mother had gone her home was gone.
Everything shook around her, she couldn't even begin to make her way towards the stairs let alone outside.
By the time her mind finally caught up with her she had gone under and everything went black once again.
A heavy, sudden weight on her chest woke her up with a jump. Despite the cold air of the desert around her she felt very hot.
"Harumi"
Her red eyes landed on the blonde kid in front of her.
She blinked.
"Lloyd"
He smiled a bit sheepishly. "Good Morning"
"You woke me" She glared, sure it hadn't been the nicest… dream but she didn't take kindly to being woken up.
"Sorry" Muttered the kid, avoiding her gaze and letting his own red eyes wander around.
He scratched his head, despite his shyness he didn't make any move to get off of her.
"You just… uhm… you were turning around a lot and you… you kinda woke me up"
"Oh"
Ah, it hadn't been a dream at all… more like a nightmare.
"... My bad then"
"No no" Lloyd finally got into a more sitting position. "Is fine really! I've shared bed with the others and I can assure you they're way worse"
Harumi tilted her head.
"ALL of them?"
"Yeah"
"Really?"
"Yep!"
They stayed in silence for a few minutes, Harumi looking at the dark sky of a peaceful night, admiring stars and just… contemplating stuff.
She was glad they got to sleep outside as much as they did, after the… incident she didn't like sleeping in darkness, or cramped spaces which the van usually was, but at least the time they had to actually spend sleeping there wasn't a lot.
Most often than not they all just laid in whatever spot they found for the night… or a room if they were lucky enough.
The silence wasn't awkward, at least not in Harumi's opinion, it felt peaceful actually, Lloyd seemed to think otherwise.
"So… Uhm… Did you have a bad dream?"
"Yes"
As if he wasn't expecting to get an answer Lloyd just let a soft "Oh", going back into silence before getting up and running to the backpacks with a soft "Wait here" thrown her way.
So she did, there wasn't anywhere to go anyways. At least she got into a sitting position.
Soon enough Lloyd was back, a couple of cups with hot chocolate on his hands, promptly he pushed one onto Harumi's hand before sitting back and drinking from it.
She followed suit while she watched Lloyd's face, as if trying to muster the courage to say something.
Finally, he opened his mouth, determined.
"I know it's a bit too soon" He scratched the back of his head, bi-color hair getting even messier. "But… you know we're here for you, right?"
"... Right"
"I'm serious, that's what they're always telling me anyways" He nodded towards the rest of the group. "It takes some time to believe it but… even if it's a lie I think is on worth believing"
And Harumi stared at her own small cup of hot chocolate, looking at her red eyes reflecting back.
"And… Do you believe them?"
"I think so… I mean, we're family aren't we? Don't we have to believe in each other?"
Her reflection blinked back at her and it surprised her to see a small smile on it. Her eyes softened.
"Yes, I guess we are"