/Rav had calmed down a bit. There was still the occasional tiny sniffle. But, for the most part, he was fine again. Night had set over the ocean, making it shine and twinkle. Net had drifted into sleep, falling asleep on Rav, although Rav had moved him so that Net was in a more comfortable position. All of a sudden, Rav heard Stringer, his annoying voice echoing in his mind. "It's time to go..!" Rav stood up reluctantly, took off his cloak, draped it over Net, wrote a message in the sand, and dissapeared into thin air. When Net woke up, he would be greeted by a simple message./
'sorry, i had to go. i hope you like my cloak. see you on the 1st. love you..'
Meanwhile, in the office, Mint realized that he hadn't seen Rav in a while, so he went to go check on him. Rav was still out cold, and a hint of worry registered in Mint's eyes. So he called for Cyber.
Transfer between realms felt very painful, but through time is worse. Rav felt like he was being pulled and torn at every angle. His skin burned, his head ached. And all of a sudden,
it stopped.
Rav was in a hallway. Light Christmas music sounded from the other side of it. Rav could hear voices and some laughs. He recongized the voices instantly, it all came back.
Rav was at his friend's house. They were making a Christmas Eve dinner together. Rav knew that in presicely 273 days, the first titans would make war allegations. And in 294 days, the war would begin. The voices were talking, and Rav knew exactly who was who. He walked down the hallway. He had never felt so much happiness in his life. Sam was failing miserably at trying to flip some bacon without stepping back. Hannah was trying to help him, but also kind of failing. And Net, his Net, was making batter for some cookies. Net smiled at Rav with his dough-covered face.
"Hey Rav! Long bathroom trip, huh?"
Rav nodded, and went over to Hannah and Sam, who were obviously making the bacon a bit too crispy.
"Stand back, guys, I got this."
Rav picked up a plate from the cupboard, got the tongs from Sam's hands, and tossed the bacon in the air to catch it with the plate. He noticed almost 2 seconds later he shouldn't have done that. Hannah and Sam were staring at him in awe. Rav's eyes darted around, and he put the plate down.
"don't try it."
They finished making the meal, and had a nice, Christmas Eve dinner. Sam was hoarding the fruit, Hannah stopped eating after her first serving, and Rav and Net ate like normal people.
They decided to watch a movie afterwards.
It had been a while. Sam had fallen asleep on Hannah, but she didn't care. Rav couldn't sleep. Even with Net, he didn't feel safe. He felt like any second, a Fallen Knight could burst through the wall and tear Net away from him. Again. Forever.
Anxiety is bad.
It can take you over.
You have nobody but yourself to console you.
So Rav started to slowly cry again.
He stopped a lot quicker than in Afterdeath's Abyss. Net's shirt was a bit damp, but he still was sleeping. Rav only wanted to check one thing before trying to sleep again. Rav took off Net's glove and rolled up his sleeve. Sure enough, on Net's wrist, the veins that you can see were black. Rav thought one thing.
'you are my net.'
Rav snuggled up against him and finally fell asleep.
Net slowly woke up. It was Christmas Day! He was about to spring up when he noticed that his glove had been taken off. He very slowly picked it up and put it back on. Nobody could know that he was a vessel for an extremely dangerous parasite that can alter a being. If he was found out, he knew bad things would happen.
He'd be taken away from Rav and Hannah and Sam.
He'd probably be experimented on.
He'd have to stay in a government containment chamber for most likely, the rest of his life.
He decided to hold off on waking everyone up for another half an hour. While he waited, he cuddled with Rav.
'I love you.'
