Vol 2 Ch 21(Lee): The Search Continues

It felt like my eye was numbed, like a presence slowly crawling to it every second that passed it only made me more paranoid it only made it feel like i was losing something.

"Deaf Man" A snap allowed me to refocus. Nicholai threw the syringe away. "You doing alright? I don't need our leader to be my first casualty in my medical career" She patted my shoulder before standing up from her chair. "So?"

"I think I'm fine...just"

"Just?"

"It felt like something was in my eye." My right hand hovered around my right eye, the eye where i felt it...the corrupted one.

"Sadly i can't help with that...that's a DT thing, and I'm not accustomed to that yet...anything else?" Her tone was something she rarely sounded like, where she was genuinely concerned for our well being.

"I dunno...I'll come back to you in case something changes"

"Do so" I stood up from the bed after sitting for what felt like years. I held my head, it was hard ignoring the pounding pain when walking around, and I've lost the energy to do so now. I made sure to grab the uplink before leaving the room, Sam and Kenneth were leaning on the walls waiting.

"Ready?" Sam got off the wall while Kenneth spoke.

"I think I'll be alright" I had all the keys now, we just had to get to the roof. "Nicholai, Kenneth, can you help Edward watch the children while we do this?" Nicholai heard us as she was leaving the office.

"I don't mind, though wouldn't it make sense for Kenneth to be up there with you?" She had a point.

"Alright, Kenneth care to join us?"

"Let's get to it" The three of us began the trip to the roof.

"So, this will give us our magic back right?" Sam was walking up with the railing...she looked a bit more pale but, considering the power that helped suppress her illness is fading...it was expected.

"It should, we'll be stuck here if it doesn't" Kenneth made it to the rooftop door before us.

"We'll need to start finding medication for Sam again, then we'll need more food for the kids" I made sure to stay behind Sam just in case something went wrong.

"Speaking of which...what do we do about them?" Sam leaned on the wall as the railing ended.

"If possible, we bring them, if not, I'll return often to help them" I reached the top of the stairs and waited while Kenneth opened the door. We went out onto the roof, dead plants resided here, along with solar panels that needed cleaning.

"Ain't this some nostalgia" Sam felt some of the plants "Maybe they can still be saved, we were gone for maybe...no, now that we transferred into another timeline...we don't know" She made it back over to us with a somber expression, she took care of them for a long time, I hated seeing it go to waste.

"Alright Ken, were you also told how to set this up?" I set down the uplink on the three legs it had.

"I'm mainly guessing here"

"Great" I said spoke with joy in my voice, clearly being sarcastic. I took out the keys and put them where i assumed they go, which then resulted in a keyboard and screen showing up, the uplink was about my height, a bit shorter though. The screen and keyboard were pretty small as well, the screen was smaller than a laptop's screen, yet the keyboard was just slightly bigger than a laptop's. "Good luck" I moved aside and left it to Kenneth, it seemed like there were tons of menus and buttons to go through.

"Is there an opening in the sky?" Kenneth kept focusing on the uplink as he asked. I looked up, the sky was still partly clouded, however there was a spot that was perfectly clear.

"Yeah like...up-left of you?"

"I just asked if there was one, but thanks" Kenneth continued to press a few buttons, after one last press however, a beam shot from the uplink into the open sky.

"uhh...can't other people see that?" Sam looked at the beam.

"We're a damn lighthouse now apparently" Kenneth got off the uplink. he tried to summon his weapon to no avail.

"Seems it doesn't work instantly" This terrible feeling starting rising in my gut, i couldn't tell if it was either due to the uplink, or a sense of Deja Vu. I could hear footsteps coming up to the roof, yet I still felt off...Maybe Nicholai could help. I walked over to the door and grabbed the doorknob, the feeling of danger continued to wash over me. It took a while but I realized what it was. I reached down into my holster until i noticed nothing was there, i looked down and confirmed it, I recalled that Sam had it. I turned around and tried shouting to her. "Sa-!" I couldn't respond before the door hit me and threw me aside, I lost balance and fell over. A sharp pain took over the majority of my head, i realized my head hit the small elevated part of the rooftop's floor. It wasn't the exact same...but I began to recall more things...it was a zombie apocalypse yes, but we were already setting up an uplink by then...meaning we've done this before...meaning we've died here before, things were different though, Kenneth was here, Nicholai was alive, and Edward was also able to help. I saw Kenneth and Sam hide behind the uplink as bullets were fired at them, it seemed like the uplink was sturdy enough to protect them.

I leaned over the rooftop, i ignored the fear of falling off, i was probably going to die anyways. The window the two were in were right below. I used my krambit to hit the glass, it cracked it and made a loud audible noise. If they didn't hear, they should have now. When I sat up and leaned on the wall I saw the person, they were exactly the same...yet, the way they talked implied they could see the future too...or at least know if time rewinded...so why kill us again if we were going to come back anyways? Everything in my body felt terrible, i probably ruined something...i didn't have the health of a DT anymore after all. I wanted to stay awake, I wanted to at least make some attempt to help, at least something better than smacking glass with a Karambit. That attempt however was pointless, without noticing it, I used all my strength on the glass, and soon my vision faded into nothing, then my feeling, and soon my hearing as well, not like i heard anything well before i went.

Was my memory going to vanish again? Last time I rewinded time, that's how i died, however now I was being killed, would time rewind again like before where i remember everything? Or would my memory fade away like before?

"I didn't expect your return so soon" A familiar face appeared...just as sudden as my surroundings, I was back in that time place, the one that showed everything.

"Why am i here again? I didn't teleport" I questioned them.

"Well...you're dying, you come here everytime you do."

"Dying, so I'm not dead yet?"

"Not yet...but that's to change"

"Great, just what i wanted to hear...so what happens now?"

"Whatever you want"

"Pardon me?"

"You decide what happens after you die, do you rewind time and prevent it? Restart from the very beginning, go back to a certain point you want. It's whatever you can think of."

"But i didn't have my powers, so why did I come here?"

"Are we on Earth right now?" They were right, i wasn't. "So there you go"

"But if i died before, than why is my memory mangled?"

"Maybe another time traveler messed with it, that, or you chose to rid yourself of those memories"

"And I would get rid of my memories for what reason exactly?"

"I said maybe...I dunno everything." They closed a book and put it back on the shelf. We were in the area where me and Sam first arrived after falling into here.

"But you do, your whole thing is keeping time, that includes the future"

"This future, I don't immediately have other timeline's futures, after all" I noticed the book he put away was my journal, not the old ones, but the one i was writing in before the first rewind...meaning he got it after i rewinded time.

"So that means other versions of me in the past will see what happened before i rewinded time?"

"Exactly, the only way i can see your future is if someone already went through it:"

"That seems like a terrible power"

"Maybe, now, what will you do?" I wanted to give it thought, but trying to do so made me more confused. If i went into a new timeline, i'd have to explain everything, and i wouldn't know what world I'm going into, yet, I don't know how far i could rewind time when i come back, for all I know I'll just get brought back and die instantly again, and going back to the very start...that was an obvious answer, hell no.

"I..."Before i could give an actual answer a sharp pain in my head took over my attention, i couldn't think or speak, and I felt really hot for some reason...which would be impossible considering the area i died in, and right now, yet, i was still heating up.

"Well, seems there's no reason to decide, just know that you'll have to choose next time, and the next time won't give you as much as a chance to decide as i did." I blanked out again, this was getting annoying, spending time in this void felt like it was draining my soul everytime I encountered it.

"Welcome back" My hearing came back before my sight did. My head was still pounding in pain, yet, no more blood was coming from it, just like the start of all this, i had a bandage around my head, that's what i felt then at least. When my sight returned I was back in the nurse's office on one of the beds, the four of them were around the room, while the kids were playing on the floor with various toys.

"Uplink turned on just in time" Kenneth spoke while he leaned on the door. "And" he looked over at the others.

"We explained everything to them for you" Sam finished his sentence.

"We didn't really believe it at first, but what they showed us was so cool!" One of the kids spoke up, i guess they took it well.

"Nah uh, I believed them instantly!" Another kid spoke

"No you didn't! Stop lying!"

"Oi! What'd we say about arguing?" Nicholai got the pair to stop fairly quickly...it made me question how long I was out for.

"Wait...what about that guy?" My voice sounded terrible, like I was speaking through some ancient microphone online.

"They left the minute the uplink finished" Sam sat on the side of the bed. "So, last time you almost died you saw something, how about now?"

"I guess...when I die i can do a few things...and...apparently, I've done this many times before"

"So your memories are missing...hehe" I didn't get why Sam was laughing. "Well, ain't this some normal trope in series? The main cast, or just one of the main characters lose their memories, and they somehow find it through some obscure vision they recall when they were younger?"

"I guess it does sound like that" I thought for a bit "Yet, i don't recall any visions"

"Neither do I"

"Lee, try getting up" Nicholai stood at the side that Sam was sitting on. "We'll catch you incase you can't, but it hasn't been that long, so i expect you to be alright"

"Thanks for the pressure" I grabbed the railing beside my head and used it as leverage to stand up, my legs were slightly wobbly, but other than that, I seemed fine.

"Good, i didn't expect a few days out to put you down"

"A few days" I looked at Nicholai as I continued getting balanced.

"Yeah, you're lucky it wasn't more considering you almost cracked your damn skull open." Nicholai sounded irritated...she must've done a lot.

"Hang on...if we have our powers...why aren't we in Eaxura?"

"Oh that can be explained easily, if you remember our powers use up our own energy, and Sam and Kenneth got grazed by bullets, and holding the guy back from killing you got difficult...meaning"

"We didn't have enough energy to leave" My legs got tired fast, so i resorted to leaning on the wall.

"Exactly Lee" Sam confirmed what I said as she stood up herself.

"That also includes how much medical stuff I was using on you, trying to keep you alive tired me out, and it's obvious why you couldn't help us leave" Nicholai looked over to Kenneth, he nodded and left to go somewhere. "He's going to grab the uplink if you were wondering, we only have to use it here, then we can take it back without the effects going away."

"I see, thanks for the reminder" I got off the wall and steadied myself again.

"I got in contact with Raymond, he doesn't mind getting housing for the kids and getting Edward equipped."

"Equipped?" I looked at Sam as she finished speaking.

"You have a new member of the team!" Edward spoke with pride...either that or baseless bravery...either one worked.

"Guess I gotta start acting like an actual leader now huh" I held my head.

"Still hurts?" Sam looked at the bandage.

"Yeah...and a lot too" I managed the pain enough to lower my hand back to my side.

"Sorry i couldn't do more" Nicholai went over to one of the cabinets and began putting stuff away, I hadn't even noticed all the supplies that were out as they were behind a curtain...hopefully she didn't operate on me while the kids were here.

"You did more than enough with what you had" The urge to put my hand against my head came back as the pain slowly trickled back to maximum, but I would try getting used to it, putting too much pressure on it might break a stitch or something.

"Got it" Kenneth returned shortly after with the uplink on his back...it suited him a lot, but it looked like it would crush him if he moved even slightly wrong.

"We can get going now" Sam didn't sound excited, probably disappointed that this adventure was almost for nothing, but I think she's happy the kids are alright...don't think she cared much for Edward joining the team as only I really know him.

"Sam, we can stay a bit longer if you want, I think I got one more idea where they could be" While Sam looked at me, contemplating her choices the others looked at each other.

"It's fine Sam, it's not like we need you to help us, you can go with Lee, your parents are helluva lot more important" I expected Nicholai to have a irritated tone, talking as though they did need her help, but instead it was letting Sam know that it was perfectly fine to go.

"Alright Lee, let's get looking!" Sam now had a smile, this was probably what she wanted from the start.

"You two should be able to move more easily now that you have your powers and it's a smaller group, just make sure you stay safe" The others departed, however one of the kids stayed.

"You plan on joining us Crystal?" I crouched to her level. "It'll be pretty hard, we're going to a dangerous place"

"Well...maybe they'll go easier on you if a kid is with you" She didn't have her game out...or on her at all from what I see, I guess one of the others took it with them. Instead, Crystal looked determined to join us.

"Alright then, just keep up" I spoke the last part in a different tone, letting her know I was joking. After I was stable, I left with the two. I began searching the walls of the school looking for something.

"What're you doing?" Sam stood behind me.

"Hang on...there" I found the map on the wall, it wasn't just of the school, but the entire city. I tapped on a few key points. "If the car was going to us while returning to their base, then that leaves this small part of the city"

"You know...when I wasn't with the adults...i passed a place that looked like people were there." Crystal looked at the map.

"Alright then" I picked Crystal up and brought her up to the map. "Where?" It only took a few seconds before Crystal pressed her finger on the map. It was an unnamed part of the city, however it looked perfectly defendable, the start of a wide lake was behind it, defending it from zombies there, buildings surrounded it, meaning the only place to get into it...at least for zombies, was the front. "Good job kiddo" I set her down and patted her head.

"The car...or ATV, whatever Edward called it, is still working, we can take that" Sam suggested.

"They might realize we killed their guy though..." I thought on it "But, there were a few crashed ATVs, we can just say we repaired it and took off with it."

"They don't know about Kenneth though, would they believe kids fixed a military vehicle?" She was right.

"I think I have a pretty good excuse, but I'll come up with more just in case"

"Alright, let's get to it then before we change our minds"

The three of us left the school and got into the ATV, it was only until I started the car that I realized something.

"Crystal, sit with Sam, she'll hold you since the seatbelts aren't meant for your age." Crystal then climbed up and sat on Sam's lap. We all buckled up, I checked the compartments and a map fell out.

"Lucky for us" Sam commented.

"I would've ripped the map off the wall if there wasn't one." I handed Sam the map. Some of the boxes were put back into the car...we wouldn't need them since we have our magic back...but perhaps we can bribe people with them...certainly not them though...since it was their supplies to start with.

With everything set we began to drive off, Sam helped me navigate the roads I'd forgotten, and I told Crystal was my life was like, considering she didn;t have much time to be a normal kid before this.

"High school sounds terrible" Crystal commented after I told her about the stuff we learned before the outbreak. "Being a superhero like you guys sounds better" I couldn't really comment on that...It still confused me, the future Crystal is vastly different than the Crystal in front of me now...Things change drastically that's all I knew.

"Take another left up here" Sam waited until we were done to warn me, I turned the wheel left and well...left we went. There isn't much to mention during the car ride.

It was an annoying ride, going past debris, destroyed cars, and a bunch of packed roads, but eventually, with enough patience, we made it. It wasn't long before a light shined on the car from above, my eyes were immediately flashed with white.

"Make yourself known" I looked over to Sam as the voice spoke from the radio...I don't know how they knew the channel we were on.

"If your parents are here it'd be best if you said your name" Sam seemed to agree with me, and grabbed the mic of the radio.

"Sam"

"...and how did you get one of our cars Sam?" I sighed, I should've told her in advance. I motioned for the Mic which she promptly handed to me.

"We found one of your cars by the side of the road, we had just what we needed to fix it...we found that the supplies in the back were going here...so we came over" There was silence before the voice came back

"And the girl in the back?"

"We found her and a group earlier...though, after we went on a scavenging run we got separated"

"And both of your names?"

"Lee and Crystal" Once again silence, from what I saw they were talking on the top of the wall. I took my hand off the mic and put it back.

After a few minutes of silence, the gates slowly opened. From the looks of it, they were still watching us, but were allowing us in. We slowly drove in and the gates closed behind us, it wasn't long either until three people came up to the car, they all had guns on them, a part of me was curious on how they got all this, i highly doubt it was through peace.

"Out of the vehicle" We did as we were told, and Crystal made sure she stayed close to me "Follow us" Once again we did as we were told. While we walked I looked around, everything looked makeshift, and yet it all looked good as well, I could see bars, houses, hell, even diners, this place was like if the apocalypse never occurred. When we got to an important looking building, a guy at the front, sitting at a table, held out a box.

"Any weapons in here" I thought he was speaking to us, however the guards who brought us put their weapons into the box too. Of course, i kept my karambit on me, but other than that I put everything in. We were then esorcted into the building, it seemed like some sort of remodeled church, now made into some meeting grounds.

"Welcome" Four people stood at the end, and began speaking to us even when we could barely see them.

"They're here like you asked." They began speaking to each other, while that was going on I looked at the four, one of which was Kai. I almost spoke up, until Kai put his finger to his lip, telling us to stay quiet about it, the other three didn't ring any bells.

"It's a shame that they didn't make it, but we are grateful for you three for returning the supplies instead of taking it."

"Of course, we're fine as is, anymore supplies and we'd be greedy" My heart might as well have been pumping guilt into my body, the only thing that's stopping me from being honest is the fact they shot at us first, and even then the other guy crashed and got himself killed.

"Yes, greed tends to be the reason so many people die, say, do you know what happened to those two?"

"It's just what i could gather, but since the windshield was broken, and one of their bodies were far from the car, I assume they crashed...well, the crashed car shows that too." After I spoke, i could see a message in the corner of my eye that Kai sent.

What the hell did you two do?
-Kai

Listen, they attacked us first, you can't blame us
-Lee

Sam?
-Kai

I dunno, i wasn't out there when it happened
-Sam

Great...

It seemed like Kai heard enough, but he still didn't speak up

"What do you think about this?" One of the other four spoke up, it was an older woman, I just assumed she was the eldest. She spoke to what looked like a middle aged man, he wore a grey military jacket, nothing else he wore caught my eye.

"It was going to happen regardless" The man's voice was a lot more gravely than I expected. "They were reckless and hotheaded, always firing before asking questions" The other two leaders seemed to dislike his answer, Kai was more or less indifferent to it.

"W-well...what made you decide to bring it back anyways? Even if you didn't need it, it surely would've aided you" The woman spoke again, it seemed the other leader wasn't keen on talking.

"We're looking for someone" Sam spoke up, yet she made sure her voice was low.

"Ah...and I assume for bringing this to us, you want a favor?" The military jacket guy spoke again, it was like he was speaking down to us. Sam didn't respond to him, yet she wasn't afraid, i wouldn't be either, we have our powers back again...though it made me realize how much we relied on it...though I feel i realized that already. "I suppose it'd only be right if we payed you back." It wasn't an answer I think either of us expected, yet Sam smiled in response.

"My my, when did you get a heart" The older woman spoke again, she clearly mocked the military guy.

"It's only right we repay favors, if they're asking for this little to be on equal footing then so be it." I assumed each leader led some different department, maybe the military guy focused on alliances or combat.

"So, who're you looking for" Kai spoke up, he probably already knew the answer and was just asking so the others didn't question why he was so silent all of a sudden.

"There names are Cali and Baker Calstainos, Cali has pink hair and they're often together, last I saw them they both had blue clothing on...Oh! They also have a necklace o-" Sam continued explaining what her parents looked like, I however kept holding on to the side of my head, I only focused on the sound of my breathing and trying to numb how badly it hurt.

"The boy alright?" The leader who had yet to talk spoke.

"Oh...someone tried attacking us earlier...he got launched into the edge of the floor." Sam explained it for me.

"So it almost broke his skull...he seems fine though" He crossed his arms, his voice was way softer than everyone elses.

"We have a good doctor"

"So it seems" The military guy spoke once more, there was then a pause, I looked around the church in this silence. It looked the same as a normal church, with very minor changes, like hanging banners...I swear I eyed some propaganda too...though those look destroyed, so perhaps it was anti-propaganda...perhaps there was another group before they came here.

"We'll get started on the search, you three should all rest, that doesn't even involve the trip you must've taken, considering we haven't seen any of you around." Sam and I were cautious, I don't think either of us trusted them.

"Yeah, I'll go refuel the car, in case you all decide to depart" Kai spoke and began walking past us, however right when he got close to my shoulder he spoke fast. "I'll make sure you three are alright, just rest" He patted my shoulder and left.

"I guess we'll take up your offer then" My voice shook slightly, whether that was out of worry or my head pounding was unknown to me.

"Alright, we'll get you all in a guest room before getting you actual accommodation" The woman continued speaking. Maybe she was a peacemaker. She walked over to us. "Shall we get to it?" I saw something in the corner of my eye again.

Edward joined Bravo Team

I guess they got to it already...that was pretty fast as well. We folloed the woman through the place.

"So, what are your first impressions of Dekar?"

"It's nice, I feel like you can forget the outbreak ever happened in here" I said exactly what i thought, she seemed pleased by it. Crystal and Sam didn't give their answers, they might've been unsure.

"I see, that's good to hear..." Her face got somber. "We have many refugees come by, apparently, if their words are true, we're on of the last settlements, of course, there are more, but maybe there's only one or so in a country."

"Do you guys...have enough room for them all?" Sam asked.

"Luckily yes, we keep expanding our walls after all, we have many plants and a farm area on an island behind Dekar's location, many talented people are here too, the only thing we have to look out for is selfish people, and raiders. Otherwise we're safe" A part of me was content with that answer, if they really were safe then we wouldn't have to worry about saving everyone here...hell, maybe Cali and Baker are here. "Here it is" It was like they said, it was pretty small, just a single room with two beds, but I could handle sleeping on the floor, if i slept at all. "we should have an actual place for you three tomorrow, if you need anything, then let one of our caretakers know" They handed Sam a radio, it seemed like it had a special branding on the side of it, everything Dekar owned must've had a logo...that's kinda cute actually. The woman left while I took another look into the room, it also had a stove, and a few other things, we were practically living in a small apartment.

"You two can take the beds, i got something else I wanna do"

"You sure?" Sam put her bag inside and near the door. "I was gonna try and find out if anyone has seen my parents."

"I don't wanna be alone either..." Crystal spoke up.

"Guess none of us need it." I put my stuff near Sam's bag. As I stood up straight again I noticed a box on a counter, I looked through it and saw it had our stuff. I grabbed the box and walked over to Sam. "Here" She took her stuff as I did the same, I set the box down on the counter again.

The three of us walked back out the room, we had only our weapons as stuff weighing us down, it felt great being lighter, that was for sure.

"Where do we look first" I made sure Crystal was near one of us at all times.

"What about the guards on the gate? If anyone has seen people come by, it'd be them right?" Sam looked in the direction of the gate, it wasn't a far walk but just enough to be annoying

"Well, what're we waiting for?" We began the walk to the gate. A part of me wanted to check the other buildings to see how they were on the inside. There were a few kids running around the place, they were pretty joyful from the looks of it, seems like the person who killed us as humans didn't come through here, so they targeted us...which made sense "I hope you understand one day..." That was clearly directed at us...yet I don't know when that's meant to come into play?

"What?" Sam looked at me worried.

"Oh!" I looked back at her, i felt a little stupid. "I must've spoken aloud...don't worry about it...just thinking" Crystal looked even more confused, I couldn't really explain it to her, even with her knowing what we are now...not like I even understood myself. Disrupting my thought, a kid ran into me.

"Sorry Mister!" They nodded at me and continued to run off. I immediately checked my pockets to see if anything was missing, it was terrible of me to think that a kid would steal...but considering it's happened before, I didn't feel that bad. After that we made it to the gate, it looked well enforced with tons of shipping containers and sheet metal making a majority of the enforcements. I was going to question how they got so many shipping containers, but realized quickly that we're next to water, perhaps they had a crane somewhere...Seeing all of this made me feel bad, killing those two people, but they fired first, sure, the others might think i just killed them, but it was self defence...I hope it was at least.

"I gotta say, you love to zone out" Sam got my attention again.

"There's a lot to think about here"

"I guess there is" She smiled as she looked back at the gate, one of the guards walking along the top noticed us and sat on the edge of the wall, a deep part of me was worried that specific piece of wall would snap off, the wall was tall after all.

"What'd ya two need?" The guard had an accent, but not one I could figure out.

"We're looking for someone, think we can ask you a few questions?" Sam had to talk a lot louder than the guard did to be heard.

"Well, get askin then" I couldn't tell if they were annoyed or not, but they were ready to answer anyways.

"They have the same hair color as me, a small bit taller than us, wearing a nice colored jacket, they're really cheerful too" Sam continued to describe them, at least until the guard cut her off.

"Listen lass, all I needed to hear was the hair part, I doubt any one else has that distracting hair." The guard went quiet for a few seconds, before continuing. "I think they came by, two people right?"

"Yeah! Only one had pink hair right?"

"Yup, though they didn't come to live in Dekar, they only traded us a few things when we were a small settlement, and that was a year ago." Sam looked a bit saddened by the news and it seems the guard noticed that "Come on now...I mean, they're probably still fine, they had a group themselves, they said they were heading to a town south of here"

"See Sam, we can just head there next, shouldn't be too hard, we'll track them down eventually, the settlements here so far seem friendly."

"Of course, we don't get anywhere by fighting, we're known for our running electricity, water, and food, so we trade for other things that other settlements give us, like a military settlement west of here gives us our weapons and traps. And the people you're looking for gave us solar panels and batteries." I never expected this, a zombie situation where people don't try killing one another...at least for the most part.

"That makes me feel a lot better" Sam's sad expression became one of hope, and Crystal reflected that with her own joyful expression.

"We should get going as soon as possible then." The guard nodded at me after I finished speaking.

"Good luck to ya all" They got off the ledge and back to patrolling the gate...guards on the gate made me slightly paranoid about their words of peace...but I reminded myself about the dangerous people we've come across so far, that helped me be less worried about them having so many guards. Before the three of us could continue on our search, my hud appeared with an urgent message.

Return To Eaxura
To: Lee
From: Raymond

We have a situation that requires you to be back in Eaxura, I expect your return asap, do not take too long. I'll explain it to you once you return, whether you bring the two back with you or not, is entirely up to you.

"What's that?" Sam looked over at my hud.

"We have to cut the search short"

"Come on! It's only been a few days, I doubt we're that skilled that Raymond needs us all the time" Sam began to get annoyed, i don't blame her, there's millions of other people Raymond can call on, and considering they might as well have abandoned us...I took a breath.

"Kiddo, you don't mind staying with Kenneth or Nicholai for a bit do you?" I crouched to her level as I asked her. Luckily, Crystal shook her head in response to my question. "Good" I patted her head and stood back up "We shouldn't get a portal up out in the open." The three of us returned to our temporary room. We made sure we didn't leave anything behind as I summoned the portal back to Eaxura. Crystal watched as I did it, still amazed on what we could do. After everything was done, we left.

After we made it back safe I let out a sigh, I think I secretly liked the simplicity of a zombie apocalypse a lot more than this DT thing. It took a second to realize we weren't at all near where I tried teleporting us to, instead we were in Eaxura's main town hall, or whatever the hell they called it. All of Bravo team were there, seemingly annoyed as well.

"The fuck is CSF?" Matt sounded the most pissed off, it sounded that way when I entered.

"It's simple, I'm sure Lee has heard it before" Raymond spoke, he wasn't wrong though, I feel like i've heard of it before, maybe recently. "Corruption Suppresion Force, a group of DTs that have the main goal of dealing with corruptors, they have extra pay, extra time off due to Corruptors not appearing often, and a bunch more benefits, the only downside is the increased danger that comes with it. I've recommended you all for the CSF, and they seem willing to take you all after some things are done"

"Why us?" I crossed my arms as I spoke.

"Why do I do anything? Listen, there are very little people that have the powers that you all h-...err...well, that isn't entirely true, however, considering you all haven't been infected by Lee's corruption, it shows that you all have a high resistance to it, meaning you all are prime members of the CSF" We were all clearly still made about this. "How about this, you all have missing memories no?" Raymond looked at me the second he finished speaking. "For every mission you complete alongside the CSF, I will answer any, and I mean any question you may have, we got a deal?" Kenneth, Nicholai, and Kayla were getting ready to speak, before staying silent and looking at me.

"You're the boss, what's your call?" Sam waited.

"What happens if only one member joins the CSF?" I stared back at Raymond.

"Well, Lee, if you're saying only you'd join, I guess the enirety of Bravo team can get the benefits, except for the extra time off"

"And when does this change happen?" After finishing my sentence I realized a lack of someone. I looked around until I noticed Kaz on Nicholai's shoulders, luckily they took Kaz with them.

"Well, perhaps after a while, you all still have things to improve on, I mean, you all don't really fight often using magic, but in the CSF, that's all you can really use. Don't get me wrong either, you don't have to join the CSF, just making sure you all know I'm giving you the opportunity" The only thing that told that time was still moving was the light outside slowly changing as time went on. "You may all leave, I'm sure you all have things to do" We all began to leave the place, Kayla and Kyle warped elsewhere, Kenneth took Edward somewhere else, and Nicholai just leaned on the outside wall, reading whatever it was she had on her hud, once again someone was missing, that was until my shoulder felt more pressure.

"Joining the adventure Kaz?" Sam walked to my side with Crystal in tow.

"Yewp" We were all ready to continue the adventure, that was until i began to see how tired everyone was.

"How about we rest up first, it's been a helluva day no?"

"Alright, but we meet first thing this morning" Though Sam was the only audible response, It seems everyone agreed. Crystal began walking with Sam, I was ready to bring Kaz home too before,

"Lee" Raymond called me again. A slight pause was the only thing after he spoke.

"Kaz, how about you go with Sam tonight"

"Awright!" Kaz hopped off my shoulder and joined Sam and Crystal, I could see Sam's confusion from where I was.

"Get it over with" I faced him, crossing my arms once more.

"You know what the deal is with you being corrupted right?"

"I have more resistance than others yes, so you've said"

"Yes, there are other people like that, but that's also how I know why you can be such a good fighter, or at the least a good magic user"

"Elaborate" Raymond seemed perfectly content with sharing more.

"You can use corrupted magic more often of course, or at least use more until you need more medicine, if you've noticed, we haven't had you in a hospital, that's because your body can filter out corruption on its own, and if you make sure not to use too much corrupted magic, your corruption level will decrease still...meaning you are self-sufficiant when it comes to corruption." Raymond looked conflicted "You know...I could train you myself if you wa-

"I'm doing just fine myself"

"You know...you really are too paranoid"

"I feel it's justified considering the scenario"

"My job isn't hurting you, you know that right?"

"And yet you're sending children to fight your battles for you, I feel that's hurting us"

"Well you're all taking it pretty well then"

"I died you know,

"You chose to rewind time by stabbing yourself, you didn't know the outcome, I feel you all could've taken on zombies"

"...ho-"

"I told you, there are other people like you, that includes people who can time travel, DTs are only ever slightly unique and that uniqueness always tends to come from partner-links, something you and Sam aren't utilizing right, you have co-op attacks and skills, passive abilities, bunch of other stuff, but you two continue to do whatever it is you're doing on earth"

"Sam's parents will always be more important than whatever you ask for"

"...good" He seemed glad I said that. "That's one way to increase a bond I guess" He paused once more, sighing before continuing "Sam can come along if you desire...if she agrees to it that is"\

"Why do you want me to accept so badly? If there are other people like me, then train them"

"Because the multiverse clearly loves to target you, and it's your last life after all" I thought about that last part, if it was my last life...why did that time guy give me the chance to live again after I die...that would mean I still have another life, unless it counts as rewinding as well. "So?" Raymond awaited an answer.

"After we find Sam's parents"

"Alright then, I see no problem with that" Raymond walked back inside, I could see Nicholai rolling her eyes.

"Raymond is always sketchy" Nicholai closed her hud and walked past me "Make sure you keep your guard up" After she passed me I waited a while before heading back home. Every day there was more to think about than before

And it was starting to annoy me.