Paradoxical timeline

Broomy landed in a suspiciously calm area of the orange zone. A cave near a lake in a grassy area.

"I stayed here to heal once. Full privacy." Roxy said.

"Should have some water and quenchy." She looked into her treasure box.

He looked at the cave and the clear sky above it.

"I have cola and some crushed chips too, don't ask how long they were inside."

"Thanks." He chuckled.

She rode her broom, they looked at each other. He waves as she flew away.

In the cave he didn't know what to do exactly.

'Should I get in a cocoon or something?'

He ended up sitting on the ground.

'I think I should organize things in my head first..' He brings his knees to his chest and wraps his arm around his legs, cheek resting on his knee.

Roxy was in the sky at an altitude a human can't handle. Watching carefully.

There were a time when Ryu was not Ryu.

A time when one blob strayed far away from the home in the red zone. Smaller and weaker than its apex predators peers, unable to reproduce. It crawled looking for purpose, not ready to die just yet.

Driven by instinct and limited time the creature went on a journey.

A long journey where a mountain in the blue zone, the human zone was the final distention.

A neighboring nation of the land of the unwanted. A facility deep in the woods of the mountain.

A children care center with no adults in sight.

Some metal machine with wheels and couple arms roamed the building. Checking vitals and other signs of bed ridden children.

Not the case for all of them.

A boy with black hair and no legs. Bunch of medical devices connected to him.

A holographic device with primary school curriculum was his only escape. He did homework and solved problem, math, science and language and everything in between.

The full marks on all exams and quizzes was his supply of hope. The adults come once a month after all.

The last time they came he tried to talk and failed to pronounce words correctly, rendering them to ignore him.

This time he made alerts on the holographic system for them to check it out and see that he learn, he's not in a coma or a vegetable or anything else. He just can't walk.

He looked at the only moving person aside from the machine. A boy with blonde hair. Sami walked here and there even getting extra attention from the moving machine.

He looked at him from the small glass window of his room door. The cannulas attached to him made turning to his sides almost impossible, he was not risking it after a needle broke under his skin.

He didn't have a choice but to look at the ceiling when the hologram disappear, leaving him truly all alone.

A major wave of intense pressure engulfed that area of the orange zone. A trail of sweat dropped down Roxy's jaw, face unusually worried.

The gray blob movements got weaker and weaker. It went deeper in the mountain to avoid the human in its weak state. Moving toward the cold metal of the facility's walls, crawling inside.

Unusual noises woke him up from his sleep. He pushed the button to open the hologram and show his work, pupils frantic with hope and anticipation.

The visiting adults were frantic too this time. Only two and they were pacing around in panic, looking for something.

"Were is he?!"

"Found him!"

He saw one of them holding Sami.

"Let's go quick!"

"Wait! we should check for other children."

"What children? You and I buried them when they died!"

"But still! W- we should check!"

"Are you out of your mind? waste time checking for sick children, their parents didn't even want them. Go if you want but I'm saving this one and getting out of this country!"

The two backs walked away, getting smaller and smaller from the door window.

The room felt darker, the ceiling closer. Even the machine wasn't moving anymore, only standing still in a corridor.

A broadcast sound carried two words. 'Facility shutdown'

The boy couldn't move much despite removing cannulas from his arm, the attempt ended with him falling.

The lights turning off one after another didn't give him time to soak in the fall. He crawled to the door, barely opening it.

The door closed back on his thigh before he could exit completely.

Through the pain and tears he was something gray sliding on the floor, equally weak, equally at a dead end.

In the sky a scream and a wave of fear jolted broomy to fly away, Roxanne made it disappear, landing on the ground on her foot.

She inspected the cave which was empty except for a trail of red and gray blood that lead to the lake.

She blinked, trying to imagine a scenario of what happened.

The crimson and gray painted a top layer over the water. Couple bubbles popped quietly and the ripples in the water settled.

'It should be fine, Ryu can breath down there. And I could mess it all up if I jumped now...' The disjointed pupils stared the water, catching all variables to decide the next move.

A half human body and half tendrils tangled like a ball of yarn reached the bottom of the lake. One narrow pupil and another round one looked up, rays of sun still penetrating through blood.

'Pretty, maybe I can make depicted it one day.' He thought abut the view.

He chuckled at himself for that thought.

A sliver of pain made him look at his legs, the prosthetic about to activate emergency mode.

He remembered what his doctor thought him.

"The ivory react to pressure, if you're drowning the prosthetic will try to float you up, just detach it and use it as a log."

'I missed my check up, he'll lecture me for hours next time.'

He tried to wrap tendrils around himself, keeping the legs down. he closed his eyes again. Down the memory lane again, when a boy and a blob wrapped around him stumbled out the facility.

Bleeding and panting the wrapped unit hid behind some trees as many adults chased and fought between each other with weapons.

He held his breath as footsteps got louder near him. His tiny hands grabbed the blob tighter even though it was practically attached to him. He was just hugging himself.

Screams of adults got louder and closer, the adults he wanted to be closer to hours before.

'I- I wish they can't see me.'

He didn't see it, but his points tanked to 0.99 and the adults passed right beside him.

Walking up further in the mountains, the boy's round pupils turned narrow, some of his veins got dark gray and the blob merged its flesh completely before dying.

He walked more steps before falling on his face, gray veins went away making him seems normally human from the outside.

The president walked the mountain cautiously with a lantern until she saw a collapsed bleeding boy, she ran to him in panic.

'I don't understand what I feel. It's all good now, I shouldn't be conflicted.'

The next he remembered was waking up in a soft bed, sun til room and ivory legs attached to him. Though painful standing up was possible, he saw his reflection on a mirror for the first time.

A boy, a blob and ivory legs.

'Maybe that's all it is.'

Finally recalling the whole night he remembered how him the blob merged with him the boy, incomplete yet lasted eleven years. The complete merge was a mere continuation of that.

Tendrils loosened their grip, all his veins turned gray as more tendrils disappeared.

Roxanne's worried flattened as ripples disturb the still water. A hand grips the ground as Ryu pulls himself up out of the water.