A New Save File

Chapter 7.3

He then walks away and towards the group that had now formed.
"so where did you go?"

Lilith then stops talking and looks to you, then to Zelda who caught on and stop talking as well, wanting to hear where you've been as Daniel continued.

"The last we saw of you was on the news about a group of armed men.. chasing you..
Maybe they're the same as these people?"

You watched as his face grew with disbelief just from saying those words before looking to you for answers.

All you could do was nod and simply start explaining.

"Yeah and probably.. they were pretty terrifying, even tried to use someone else to bait me out.. didn't work though.
I managed to give her and opening, and she stamped on the guys foot, shoved him away and ran.
I got shot in the arm, she came back with a car thankfully and I got out mostly unharmed.
Then I found out she's the daughter of a mob boss.. what are the odds, right?"

Patrisha, Daniel and Lilith have shocked expressions, you didn't blame them.

"I had that exact look on my face too when I found out.
Anyway, she got me to a doctor and he patched me up.. then that's where I disappear..
I was given enough time to heal up at one of their hideouts, her mother - the mob boss came up with a basic plan, a credit card with a lot of money in it, a car.. I didn't go for that as I wouldn't be able to stay hidden if it got damaged.."

All three look at one another, wondering where you were going with this.
"So I asked for a boat.. she gave me an old patrol boat used in the Vietnam war, retrofitted with GPS, cruise control along with clean serial numbers, a passport, all the things I would need to keep it running.. even a pretty solid backstory and I wasn't going anywhere so I memorised it as well as I could.
I had basically become a globetrotter by accident."

Everyone was pretty interested by now as no one aside from the two were asking questions.
"That girl must have meant a lot to her.. Where did you go?"

"Everywhere they couldn't.
They eventually could though so I'd have to bail on one country and move to another.
Nearly got lost when I was being chased a few times and a few storms caught me by surprise and nearly broke the boat.
Eventually found out about plastic and rubber bullets.. those helped a lot.

You were pulling on your fingers as you counted all the occasions and moments that kept you moving.

Both Daniel and Lily still showed shocked, but much more tame as they try to take in what they were hearing.

"OK, they were trying to kill me! 
If it means they stop for a while, I'm gonna send some pain their way."

Patrisha nods on the other hand.
"That's pretty smart."

You then think, if they're asking questions then you could at least ask one.

"Daniel.."

"Yeah?"

 "...what did you mean by early retirement?"

He looks at Lilith and Patrisha as they look at him.

He clears his throat and takes a deep breath before looking you in the eyes.

"I messed up a pretty big surgery..
It was some.. CEO of a big company and his lawyers basically got my licence taken away on the spot, it was years after after you disappeared.
...I was so desperate to know that you were ok that I hired a private investigator when the police stopped looking.
That's how we know it was you on the news..
I messed up that surgery because.. I was distracted, thinking about.."

He stops but Patrisha gives him her hand, reassuring him as he takes a deep breath.

"Things went down hill from there.
Patrisha had to redeploy eventually to keep us afloat and I got a job working as a nurse from that point on."

It felt like your heart had just stopped, you could feel the hairs stand all over your body.
You felt... mortified.

"We don't blame you, we nev-"

Lily then speaks up, unable to stay quiet anymore.

"I do."

Everyone then looks at her, just as shocked as a few minutes ago.

Both Daniel and Patrisha, startled by what they could only assume was plain rudeness now go to tell her off.
"Lilith!"

She stands tall and says her piece.

"No, I still stand with what I said before."

She looks at you fury in her eyes but keeps herself calm and reserved as tears threatened to fall pour.

"You could have stayed gone to the police.. hell, ...you could have even asked that mob boss to prot-"

You had to stop her...
"Lily, I did.. I went to a sheriff not far from where your town is, it... they shot up the department and everyone in there..
It probably got swept up under bigger stories on the news, no wonder you saw me on it... who tries to gun down a 16 year old kid in broad daylight with AR's and Handguns?..
I don't know how I got out of either of them alive, its all a blur now."

She just had a look of dread along with defeat now.

"Look.. all I know is that the further I was away from all of you.. the safer you were.. and-"

A chime rings all of a sudden, one you knew fairly well by now and you go to reach for your sheikah slate but wasn't with you..

Zelda then pulls out her slate.

Your eyes dart between the slate and her face as yours was now growing with disbelief.
"Wait, what?
How many sheikah slates are there?!"