The Dream Shifter

Chapter 272

He understood Bakkhos clearly. It exceeded his expectations. 'I can end this! I can bring an end to this while they're still in my territory. The Omega Division won't need to be involved.' Simonides looked around at all of his men. A plan already began to form in his mind. "I'm going to need all of your help. I need to know everything you know about each of them."

Afternoon quickly passed into evening for Team Yumi. The shifts came to an end and the rest was all they could spare. They all gathered back in the camp to push out. A lot of ground remained for them to cover to meet back up with Yuki. However, when Chiharu went to pick up Nerine, she moved on her own. It pulled them all back.

Seiji pushed through them realizing that she was waking up. He knelt down at her side watching her slowly come back around. Once her eyes opened, he leaned in a little concerned. "Are you alright? Does it still hurt?"

Nerine met eyes with Seiji feeling a little lost in them and not hearing his words. However, she glanced over to see others behind him. She tried to draw away pushing with her arms, but realized they were gone. 'My arms! I don't have my arms! I-I—" Panic settled into Nerine causing her to fall over in the grass with no support.

He quickly grabbed her, but she fought his hold. "I'm trying to help you! Stop squirming about!" The strength in his body overcame Nerine's frantic flopping. However, it did not stop her from screaming. "The hell? Now you're screaming!"

Unable to watch the scene longer, Fumiko stepped in to put her hand on Seiji's shoulder. He snapped back almost tossing her away. She kept her ground with him and worked to calm herself. Once her breathing and heart beating slowed, she felt ready to speak. "She can't understand you, Seiji. Remember, we speak different languages."

"Eh?" Seiji looked back at Nerine trying to understand what Fumiko talked about. He saw the frightened look in her face. "Oh, how the hell do we talk to her?"

"She's going to have to do it. Her power can allow us to talk. Once she calms down, she'll probably figure it out."

It took longer for the hint to pass through Seiji. He saw Nerine struggling in his hands. Seiji pushed her back up against the tree to help her. Once it looked like she was not going to fall over, he backed away. His hand rubbed through his hair confused. "Don't understand what your problem is. You weren't scared before."

"Really, Seiji. The things you chose to be ignorant about."

Nerine panted heavily. She heard her heart pounding in her chest. All of the images of the night came back to her. She remembered how she lost her arms. The fight and Seiji protecting her flooded her mind. It eased her a little. He was next to her. 'He's not dead. I'm glad…but…' She looked around at her surroundings feeling confused. It became immediately apparent she was no longer in the camp.

After examining the environment, her eyes came back to the ones in front of her. She heard them speaking, but did not understand what they said. 'They look like they know him. Are these his comrades? What happened to me? Why am I with them?' A bit of panic returned for Nerine as she felt uncertain in her new situation. She needed to understand why they took her.

A thin ripple came from her body expanding through the foliage of the forest. Nothing changed physically, but it was enough. Her mind still felt light from all the stress she put on herself in her fight. Nerine swallowed slowly. "Why am I here?" She glanced over at Seiji.

Seiji almost jumped with excitement. The glow in his eyes was clear to everyone. "Nerine! We can chat again! But seriously, what the hell with screaming in my ear!" He leaned in as he spoke with no mind for boundaries or the scene.

She felt a little odd for being scolded for screaming, but it did make her feel a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she replied meekly, with a little red coming across her nose. Her eyes suddenly focused on the sight of Seiji's bandaged arm. The scene from the fight returned to her. She wanted to stretch her hand out, but nothing was there to move. "Does it hurt?"

"Huh?" Seiji's face changed a little in confusion, but he looked down at where her eyes fixed on him. He lifted his arm to show her. A quick flex of his muscles proved it still functioned. "Not all! It's a little weird, but it works. So I'm not complaining." Seiji gave a carefree smile back at her.

Seiji's smile infected Nerine. She found herself returning it. It no longer felt so bad. "I'm glad."

Fumiko cleared her throat to get their attention. She smiled at the two of them, but not in the same way. "As enjoyable as it watching to lovers chat, there're some more important matters we need to discuss."

Both of them turned a deep shade of red. They spoke to together in protest. "We are not!"

Their denial ended up causing Yumi and Fumiko to giggle a little between them. However, Fumiko returned to a serious expression quickly. She leaned forward on one foot. "Teasing aside, we have some questions for you before we can proceed."

Skipping backwards in time a little, it was late night about to breach into the dawn. However, it seemed as though the dawn would never come. It felt like something held it off in perpetuity, as though some cruel hand toyed with dolls never satisfied. The sun desperately waited to give its light to the poor souls forced to walk out their terrible fate. Yet it waited—

"Enough already! It's about damn time," snapped Yuki, the target of his sudden outburst was unknown.

Saki looked over at him a little confused by his words. It had been, admittedly, awkwardly silent in the group. They had someone naturally anti-social, Haruo, someone secretive, Ayumi and someone upset, Yuki. It was a little difficult for Saki, let alone anyone else to try to start up a conversation. She suspected none of them even thought about trying to talk. However, she knew she needed to respond to Yuki. "What are you yelling about?"

Yuki bent over a little, clearly bothered by something. His fingers were spread out and shaking in trying to manage the emotions. "The whole rescue was only supposed to be half as long as then return back to us. But twice the length! We've been ignored for fifty chapters! Fifty! And now we're back!" A grin came across Yuki's face in contrast to him previous emotions.

She could not help but respond with a flat disbelieving expression. "Are you angry or happy? You need to make your mind up."

"I'm angry! I'm the main character and nothing for fifty chapters! The reader's have forgotten all about me!"

"Didn't you say you quit before? I thought that's why we weren't back."

Such words made Yuki jolt a little, but he turned away to ignore the reaction. "I'm the main character, did you think I was being serious? It's just a hyperbole."

Lowering her eyelids a little, Saki narrowed in on Yuki. "Couldn't find work elsewhere?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Yuki crossed his arms turning back towards Saki. He looked a little calmer. "Besides, it's not like I'm angry with the ending or anything like that."

'Tsundere now?' Saki started to feel like she was losing grasp on Yuki's thoughts. "I don't even know what you're talking about now." She sighed a little. It was a while since he was so difficult to manage for her.

Yuki flung his arm back in a seemingly random direction adding to his dramatic posture. "I'm talking about the cliffhanger!" Pulling something from behind his back, Yuki changed his posture once more. His voice altered to a soft more delicate tone. "Teasing aside, we have some questions for you before we can proceed." Once he finished reciting the line, he tore away the Fumiko mask he wore.

He closed his hand to leave only his index finger point out in said random direction (not random, the actual location of Team Yumi). "To leave with such words of expectation and then be treated to us in the next chapter. That's so cruel to the reader! If this was a manga I'd throw it across the room and stop buying it!"

"So what you're actually mad about is a mean cliffhanger where the reader is being withheld from important plot related information only meant to drag out the tension and suspense of what the truth of the story is while teasing the reader?"

"Yes!"

"So you're not mad about being ignored?"

"Yes! No! Of course I'm mad!"

"Enough you two," barked Ayumi, "I don't think the fourth wall can handle the beating anymore." The two turned from each other to look at Ayumi a little surprised she jumped into the conversation.

Yuki jumped out near her holding two things in his hands. "Don't worry I've got brick and mortar to fix it!"

Reflexively, Ayumi close fist backhand whacked Yuki in the head dropping him to the earth. Her expression stayed serious as ever, despite the situation. "Enough with the jokes. The readers will lose interest with too many jokes. This is supposed to be a serious point in the story."

"Yes, ma'am," Yuki replied, sort of obediently. He tossed away his props. A moment later, he stood up straightening himself out. Yuki glanced away looking directly at something. A wicked grin drew across his face. 'Chapter title page start now!'

Another fist came down on Yuki. "No more." Ayumi's face held a darkly serious expression that said to move on (moving on, yes ma'am.) It managed to turn even darker than before.

Emotions settled down as their walking continued. The pace remained brisk for them. Saki had no trouble maintaining speed, but after the hours of marching Ayumi, even trained, showed signs of fatigue. Sweat dripped down her face. It went ignored by her, refusing to acknowledge it.

Tired of ignoring his body and plain tired as well, Yuki spoke up. The silence already broke with his last tirade. He no longer concerned himself off the smaller matters of the awkwardness when resting came to the front. "I need a rest," he declared, before dropping down in the grass.

Ayumi naturally protested his action. She turned around, still working the serious face from before. "We can't stop. Time is short and if we don't—" A hint of a shaking tone bled through her words.

Yuki stopped her before she got too far on her usual response. "We won't be any good to anyone if we're too exhausted to move."

"You're too soft. You need to be stronger and more disciplined. No one else is complaining, but you." She pointed out the perfect conditions of Saki and Haruo to him. The sweat on her face remained ignored.

Her answer made Yuki's eyelids lower a little to flatten his gaze. "Did you really just try to compare these two to me? Unlike me, their bodies are superhuman now. Hell, Saki could run to the capital and back and still not feel tired, right?"

Saki shrugged a little, not wanting to get dragged into the debate. The lack of backup bothered him a little, but he redirected to Ayumi. He lifted his hand to point at Ayumi's face, though to something more specific. "Besides, you say all of this, but don't try to tell me that you're sweating so much because it's a hot night."

Ayumi's face turned a little red as he finally struck on the point she had nothing to defend. She turned away from Yuki unable to respond. Seconds of silence from her kept all of them wondering if she was thinking of a way out. At the end, Ayumi sat down in the grass still faced away from them. "One hour."

Yuki and Saki looked at each other grinning a little. Everyone took up their place in the middle of the field. Nothing existed for kilometers, with only trees to break up the horizon. They had no options for a place to hide.

"You get some rest too and sleep, Ayumi," added Saki. "I'll keep watch."

"No, I'm more familiar with the situation. I'll stay on watch."

Saki pressed her eyebrows a little together annoyed by her stubbornness. However, she did not plan to give up against her. "Sleep. Like Yuki said, my body's different from the two of you. You need to recover more than me. Plus, I know you've been using your power to keep our tracks hidden, though against Yuki's wishes."

"Ayumi!" Yuki exclaimed. He pulled himself back up from lying down. "I thought we agreed!"

"I wanted them to think we all went back to rescue the brother, if they tried to track us."

Raising her hand, Saki interrupted Yuki before he protested any further. "I have to agree with her on this. I know why you did it, but I can't say I agree with the ideal. We have to end this quickly before anything else happens like with Yori."

Discovering Saki not siding with him took Yuki back. He expected her always to agree with him. The surprise made him feel oddly alone. Even surprised, Yuki continued with his protest. "But if they don't know where they are, they'll cause more trouble to those innocent."

"Only if they believe we've gone to the towns. It should be pretty clear to them that we're not hiding."

"But taking such a risk—"

"Would you rather to take a risk with us that you'll end up regretting even more?"

"That's…" Yuki wanted to back away. She slammed on a difficult and sensitive subject. Everything that happened with Yori already made him feel guilty. He did not want it to happen again, but he wanted to keep innocents out of their fight. 'I know I can't have both, but even still I can't…'