The Dream Shifter

Chapter 269

In the middle of an endless field of grass, a lone figure staggered forward barely standing on their legs. A cruel wind blew through whipping at their white military uniform. It threatened to knock them over, however they refused. They were unwilling to allow anything to knock them over.

A dark shadow fell around their eyes turning their features harsh with deep determination. They stared blankly forward unconcerned with any of the scenery. They saw nothing. It was empty to them, completely white. None of it mattered to them. One thing lingered in the distance always taunting them. It kept them going. It allowed them to ignore everything, even the fatigue their entire body felt.

Nothing would keep them away. They would keep going until they reached them. "I'll find you…I'll find you! You can't escape! I will have my answers from you, Yori Mizuno!" A stone cold expression came across Athene's face. Nothing would stand in her way.

Constant travel became hours of relative silence. Everyone kept mostly to themselves while keeping a brisk pace. Yumi always felt like she had to jog to keep up with the others. Fatigue continued to creep up on Yumi until she collapsed to the ground. Her body shook. She tried to keep it from everyone as long as she could, but she could no longer hold herself together.

Fumiko knelt down to Yumi quickly realizing the condition of Yumi. 'We've only been walking…but she looks like she's ran a marathon.' She looked back at the others, who stopped confused by Yumi's sudden collapse. "I think we should rest a little. None of us have slept in more than a day and all of this walking is just going to drain us." Resting her hand on Yumi's shoulder, she tried to give her a little comfort while protecting her. 'She's been keep it to herself trying not to slow us down, even though she's been weakened…Yumi…'

"Take her for a little while," Chiharu ordered, as she dropped Nerine down next to Fumiko without waiting for an answer. "I'll search out for a safe place to camp." She ran off in a blur for Fumiko and Seiji, Yumi only saw her disappear from sight.

Slowly recovering her breath, Yumi pulled herself back up. Her legs shook too much to stand, but she managed to sit at least. "It's okay. We can keep going." Yumi strained to connect her words together smoothly to remove any hint of her shortness of breath. It succeeded with only marginal results. "We need to catch back up to Yuki and the others."

Lightly pressing her hand to Yumi's shoulder, Fumiko kept Yumi from attempting to stand a second time. "You don't need to force yourself on our account, Yumi."

"But!"

"You don't need to try so hard. We're all here together." Fumiko gave her a little smile hoping to comfort her.

"…alright…" Yumi turned quiet afterward and her body relaxed a little. Her eyes turned down towards the ground. A long expression drew across her as she buried herself in thought.

Chiharu found an area only a short walk from their location to hide them. A small forest with a dense growth covered much of the entrance, but broke deeper in. Thinning out to something manageable, Chiharu guided them to a loose clearer. "We'll rest here. Shifting watches every two hours. When night hits we'll start moving again." She stepped out into the thick of the forest, but stopped for a moment. "I'll take first watch." After those words, Chiharu disappeared into the shadows.

"Tch, brat," snipped Seiji. He crossed his arms and slammed himself against a tree trunk. The force was enough to shake the tree, dropping a few leaves in the process. "Going around ordering people around like she's in charge."

"A little decisiveness isn't a bad thing," Fumiko replied, walking past Seiji towards Yumi. She leaned down to Yumi, seeing her already working to become comfortable. "Yumi—" Her words stopped short realizing that Yumi already fell asleep. It made her smile a little.

"You know that ability to read people isn't always a good thing," commented Seiji, with his eyes closed looking like he wanted to sleep.

A surprised look came across Fumiko's face. She turned her head back as she stood up. "What are you talking about?" Some confusion ran through her still trying to process it all. 'He's acting oddly out of character…'

Minor annoyance popped up on Seiji's forehead. "I'm no more blind about the things around me than you. I just don't like thinking about them."

"Should you really be admitting that?" Fumiko could not help but sweat a little hearing Seiji's speak. "But what point are you trying to make?"

"I'm saying your wish to comfort Yumi may only be hurting her. You may be the oldest among us, but we aren't in need of a mother."

The words continued to shock Fumiko more. She walked over to Seiji starting to feel bothered by him. "Is that what you think?"

"It's not that hard to think that. I've seen the way you are, that someone like me can see it."

"You just insulted yourself."

"I'm just aware of myself."

"I see." Fumiko knelt down folding up her legs, but kept only her feet on the ground. She stared at Seiji seeing someone she had not seen before. It surprised her still even after having their chat to hear the things coming from him. She never expected to have such a deep exchange with him. Curiosity mounted inside her. A strange thought made her want to explore how far it went with him. 'He's not smart in an intellectual way, but he can still have a talk like this. He's not as blind about those around as I thought. Maybe I'm not as good as reading people as I thought if I missed this…or maybe I just assumed like everyone there was nothing deeper.'

Seiji's eyes opened sudden knocking Fumiko back not ready for him to be staring at her. A flat expression rested on his face with a little annoyance buzzing around him. "You know if you think about too much nothing'll happen."

His words managed to stabilize the situation for Fumiko. She used her only hand to keep her balance while leaning back as she rested on the ground. "This coming from the man that only acts."

Shrugging his shoulders, Seiji tilted his head back toward Yumi. Their winding track met the start once more. He looked a little more serious than a more before. "Just like comfort can hurt."

'Back on that…' Leaning forward, she accepted the new mood. It was the reason they began talking. "You think I'm hurting Yumi because I'm telling her to take it easy?"

"She has her pride. Comforting her is only going to make her focus on how she has changed rather than on breaking the seal."

"But she's pushing herself too hard. She's only going to crash, like earlier."

"Pushing yourself to your limits isn't a bad thing."

The response was enough to get Fumiko off her butt and stand. She leaned forward with her body tensing up from the emotions flowing through her body. "You only think that because of the type of person you are. Yumi's just a girl!"

Seiji leaned forward resting his arm on his knee. He looked up at Fumiko unflinching with a deep piercing look within his eyes. "You say that, but it's just a reflex for you, isn't it? Sure, I enjoy fighting, but the fights I got into back then were hardly more than childish bouts. But you've felt it since you came here." The words from Seiji wound around him making his appearance sharpen and turn severe.

"What do you mean?" Staring at Seiji, Fumiko felt as though he was swallowing her. There was something unsettling and yet familiar about his words. It almost made her scared.

Throwing back a hand, his thumb pointed back in the direction of the camp. "I saw the way it looked. I'm not dumb enough to ignore what that means. You can say Yumi's a girl or yourself, but none of us are children anymore. We didn't truly understand what we were getting ourselves into when we decided to help Yuki. This is the adult world we're in where what we do has real consequences." Images of Nerine and Cosmas flashed through Seiji's mind. He narrowed his eyes trying to push it away.

Fumiko felt the weight of his words slam down on her shoulders. It broke her legs and dropped her to the forest floor. The screams of the soldiers injured from her fighting echoed in her ears. She thought she had moved past it. It was something unavoidable. 'So he noticed too. I didn't want to say anything, no I couldn't say anything… I never thought it would be like this.' Fumiko touched her hand to her cut arm feeling the roughness of her skin. "Real consequences… Yeah, we've all gotten our taste."

"This is simply a warning," Seiji replied, holding up his bandaged arm. He stared for a moment at papers that held everything together and sealed the blood inside his body. His eyes focused through his fingers back on Fumiko.

She glanced back at him. Her body still felt heavy. "These are all heavy prices for just a warning. What do you think'll happen the next time it's not a warning?"

Seiji's face froze still as though it became stone. His eyes still fixed on her through his fingers. "Death."

A gasp escaped Fumiko's lip by accident in her surprise. Her eyes already drew open wider than before. The word alone was force enough to stop her, but it felt like the dark look in his face was worse. However, a second later she lost all of the warmth from her body. It happened because she agreed with him. She already knew the answer and only hoped for a different one. She accepted it already.

"You want to run away from it?" He saw the aghast expression on Fumiko's face. It was the look of wanting to deny what one already knew, a childish response. Yet he knew it was normal. It was familiar. "You aren't the only one." The admission turned his face even darker with shadows cast over his face harshening his features.

"…Seiji…"

"We just have to bare it and remain strong. The future will continue to test us to see what we're made of." His mind went back to his fight with Cosmas. It tightened his body. He remembered the emotions still so clearly.

Fumiko saw a flicker in Seiji of more in his words. She remembered the struggle she had with her power and the realization it brought her. 'I managed to find control even after seeing how terrifying a power it was. But I still caused so much… I think he might be right about this testing us. I don't feel like I'm passing…' Tilting back up to the sky, the blue open expanse made Fumiko feel a little disconnected from her concerns. It eased back her memories. She laid down letting the sparse grass cushion her back. "What have you found?"

"Something," Seiji answered, with a pause in his voice that lingered on the last syllable. His thoughts strayed from control. He snapped his head to the side letting the bones pop. It cleared away the pieces he preferred not to think about. "A part of me I didn't know existed. One I don't know how to control if I see it again."

Listening to Seiji did not give her any more relief. She hardly expected it to do anything for her. It told her he had similar problems with the situation as her, but nothing either of them could do to help each other. 'Something…I guess that's one way of putting it.' Fumiko turned her head to look out into the forest. 'I wonder what sort of things Chiharu's dealing with? She's the youngest amongst us, it must be even harder for her…'

Early afternoon showed a lot of progress in the camp. The additional help of the MPs cleaned up the area quickly. Rebuilding everything went smoothly with nearly all of the camp already back to normal. The outward appearance of everything improved the soldier's morale, but the sting of defeat left a sour taste behind.