The Masked - Reunion and Revenge

Chapter 22: Small Steps

A/N: ...Do I need to keep apologising orrrr...? Anyway, here we are again. Same old story. Let's just keep going...

The Questioning

The group of three were discussing what to do next.
"Soo...Where do we start to even look for them?" asked Kate, to which she got shrugs from both of her friends. "Got it," she said sarcastically.

"I feel like we could just try to think like them... Hey, Char. What would Mika do next? You spent the most time with her," Mike asked as he flinched a little for no apparent reason, which Kate was about to ask about, but Charlotte didn't notice so she answered him without any deviations.

"Hmm... I'll be honest, I don't know if it's a good idea to rely on me. I was expecting the same thing as you two when the attack started," Charlotte said while looking down.

"That she would come see us..." Kate said quietly.

Mike sighed. "They're most likely not gonna go far anyway. Let's ask around a bit to see if anybody saw them and we'll think more afterwards," he suggested. The girls agreed with him and got up. "Ah, but I still have something else to do, so you two go and I'll catch up," Mike said.

"Aight! Gotcha, Mikey!" Kate pointed at him while winking. Charlotte giggled for a second at her. Mike blushed a bit.

"Shut the hell up with that stupid nickname and go already!" he pushed the girls out of the house.

"Hmph! What does he know? Though I wonder what he has to do," Kate said while being a little puzzled. Charlotte just walked forward, giving no reply.

"Hey! Wait a sec!" Kate ran after her friend.

"Haa... Ack!" Mike groaned as he felt a piercing pain in his stomach. He bent down.
"They don't need to know you're useless..." he said to himself as he was changing his bandages. He got hit in the stomach, though he can't recall exactly what happened, that's where he feels pain and saw a deep wound. "I'll be fine in the end..."

.

The girls went to the borders and started searching for people to ask. The problem was that because of the attack, now there were very few people around any areas.

"Haaa? Where are the people at?" Kate complained.

"We got attacked, remember? People can't technically live here," Charlotte explained.

"Ah, right. Why do I keep let that slip outta my mind, really now," Kate grinned.

Charlotte sighed and kept walking.
In the end, they found a few people to ask, but every single one of them said the exact same thing: "Sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that.", but that was just the Western Region. They went to the North one and the same response, then the East and that's when they actually got two people answer something useful.

"Yeah, I think I saw them go in a cave or something near the boundary," said one of the guys.

"Wasn't it a barrier?" Kate whispered to Charlotte.

"Same thing," Char whispered back. "Thank you for your information," Charlotte said and left.

"Heyyy, when is Mike catching up to us? It's taking him so long. Maybe he's lazing around! That guy...!" Kate said with a kind of fake anger.

"Or maybe he's tired. Or maybe he can't catch up to us because we're moving too quickly, or he doesn't know in which Region we are," Charlotte tried calming Kate down.

"Right. That sounds better," Kate said while crossing her arms.

"Of course it does..." Char whispered as she looked at her friend with annoyance.

.

"So where do we attack next?" Lucas asked.

"I suggest we go to The Dogs. They're opposites of The Cats and it'll be easier knowing that they're the exact opposite of those who we've already fought," Jack proposed.

"She's right. We'll have and advantage in knowing their most possible actions," Ney agreed.

"Alright! Then when do we do this?" Norman asked, getting hyped up.

"How about we wait at least a week to regain our forces and prepare what we need. Let's not rush," Martha said.

"Finally you contribute with something to these attacks," Norman said a little pissed off.

"What are you talking about? I did fight, didn't I?" she answered just as pissed.

"Ha? You think that's enough? You still gotta come up with suggestions and help out with the plans and shit like that, you know?!" Norman yelled.

"Oh yeah? Sorry that I'm not that good with making plans and I don't want to mess them up!" Martha raised her voice as well.

"Woah there guys, calm down. We're all doing our part of work," Jack calmed them down.

"The Dogs, huh... Not bad what they said. I can't wait," Mika thought. "I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat. I feel like being on the edge of a cliff actually... Now I don't know what falling off would bring, but it definently can't be good. Try to hang on, Mika. Keep at it," Mika comforted herself. She felt like going mad any moment, but she just didn't realise it enough to make it stop. Not that she could make it stop now, it was already too late, but you know...

Emotional

Jack went to Mika who didn't seem so well.

"Is anything wrong, Mika?" he asked as he approached her slowly.

Mika didn't say a thing, but turned to him with an expressionless face. Jack stopped in his tracks for a few seconds, then continued walking towards her. Mika stopped him from sitting down as she got up. Jack grabbed Mika's wrist and stopped her.

"Talk to me," he demanded, but in a worrying tone.

"About?" she finally responded.

"Anything. What's on your mind? You don't look so good," he said with a big and worried gaze.

"You're a flower, Jack. If I start talking, you'll definitely wither. My words and thoughts are fatal," she said, not looking at him, but down.

"I'm no flower to perish in your hands, Mika. You know well that I'm nothing but a carnivore plant who poisons others so much more than you do. I dragged us all into this madness after all," he comforted.
They both looked at each other. Mika saw an offspring of both terror and love, while Jack saw eyes of solitude. What shall I call it? Beautiful or unexplainably terrible?"

There was a little silence between the two.

"I feel like shit," Mika started with a deep sigh. "I want to murder people who did absolutely nothing wrong, but my mind keeps telling me they must have  done something in this life to deserve death because there is no other way. I know it's wrong, but I don't want to think it's wrong, but I want to at the same time. I don't know what to think. I feel like I could do anything right now. I could make people bow to me like a queen of death on her throne made of bones from dead people, with her butlers serving her poison and her drinking it to show she can't die just to scare them shitless. But in the end she still dies. We all do. No matter what you think or do, we die," she stopped.

"That's... such a nice example? From a rational point of view. If we would be more in touch with our feelings, we'd think something like: you can do anything if you really put your mind to it. Of course, that's just bullshit. There is something called the impossible, and the impossible is just not possible. That's all there is to it. So I do agree with that menatlity of yours, Mika. You're not alone," Jack said as he let go of her wrist and hugged her.

"Let go of me. I'm a monster. An atrocity. A stupid human being. Someone not worth of livi-" Mika got cut of by Jack putting his finger over her mouth.

"Just... stop thinking. You need to empty it every now and then," he hugged her tighter.

Mika let out a tear. The last one she'll ever have.