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Cheng Xin still hadn't woken up.
Neither had Alisa.
Red sat cross-legged on the ground, the punishing steel icy to the back of his barely-covered legs, watching them sleep as he washed his wounds. It hurt to move, his ribs aching and thigh burning with every step he took. His ankle was swollen to a size that human ankles probably weren't supposed to be, but at least he could still walk. Not very well, but it was better than nothing. He supposed he'd gotten off relatively easy compared to Cheng Xin, who'd taken it to the head, and Alisa, who'd spent their time in the freak hurricane screaming at air and then promptly passed out the moment her back slammed into the ground.
He took the time to carefully study his human body, getting accustomed to every inch of it and wondering if certain parts could prove more than useful, flexing his fingers and wiggling his toes. It was interesting, to say the least. Awfully weak, but interesting all the same. Although he supposed he would have to eat more if he was forced to remain human. He had no idea how the original Red had survived; he was as skinny as a twig.
He chewed on a paperdust sandwich as he waited, cringing at every bite. He hoped most human food was like the meal the old man had served him before he'd been thrown into the maze. The thought of it made his stomach rumble, so he closed his eyes and tried to get past the powdery taste of the sandwich as he ate.
There was the sudden screech of metal behind him, making him wince and curl up into a ball. It sounded far too similar to the scrap-metal junkyards on X9-7. He comforted himself with the fact that, at least, Vanguard's walls didn't play Justin Bieber when they moved. If they did that, he might have been forced to take the gun from his waistband and shoot himself in the head.
Once the shriek of grinding steel had subsided, Red untucked his head from between his crossed legs, wincing as he delicately pressed scabbed fingertips to his crushed ribs. With his luck, the fragile mortal bones had caved in and caused some kind of internal hemorrhaging. He would probably be dead in a few hours.
At this point, Red wasn't sure what was overexaggeration and what was truth.
When he finally dared look behind him, what he saw made him drop the remnants of his sandwich. He immediately sprang up, then fell again with a whimper of agony as his bad ankle gave way. After some groaning on the floor, Red risked standing up a second time, hobbling his way over to the sleeping twins and their slumbering dog.
He took a little more time to gaze upon Cheng Xin's peacefully asleep face that he'd have liked to admit, before shaking the boy awake. Cheng Xin woke without any noise or fuss, his long lashes fluttering upwards. He looked up at Red with questions in his groggy eyes, but Red was already waking Alisa up, urgency in his hands and hissed voice.
Alisa wouldn't wake up. Red continued shaking her, afraid his discovery would be sealed away once more, but she refused to even stir. When he was on the brink of giving up, her eyelids shot open and she promptly kneed him between the legs.
