Calis held onto Lee Seng's wrist, struggling to pull the sword away. He gritted his teeth, watching the Fox Spirit despair. Lee Seng wailed, dropping the molten sword. He dropped to his knees as he incoherently begged for Keng. Calis knelt down and hugged Lee Seng, leaving Ritsuka to realize he had held his breath.
"It's okay." Calis whispered to Lee Seng. "Everything will be fine. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault."
"Calis!" Manny shouted somewhere off in the distance. "Where'd you go?"
"Over here." Calis waved his hand to catch Manny's attention. Manny rushed over, hearing Lee Seng's cries. Calis continued to hug him while Manny absorbed what was happening.
"Ritsuka?" Manny asked, running over to him. "Are you okay?" He helped Ritsuka up, who silently stared at Lee Seng. Ritsuka sniffled, wiping his nose and nodded. Manny looked over and understood everything in that moment.
The small group came back to the cabin, to find no one there. Calis sat Lee Seng on the couch while Manny headed over to the kitchen to whip something up.
"Make yourself comfortable." Manny told Ritsuka. "It's just us." Ritsuka pulled the backpack off and set it next to the door.
"You guys were here the whole time…?" Ritsuka asked, looking around.
"Calis and Lee Seng found us yesterday. Us being me, Numbers Two, Nine and Ten."
"There's Numbers still?" Ritsuka nodded and whistled.
"Come sit, Ritsuka. You must have traveled quite far." Calis motioned. Ritsuka took a seat next to Lee Seng, glancing at his friend. Lee Seng took deep breaths and wiped his tears away. Calis sighed and retracted into the couch.
"Are you sure you want me to cook?" Manny asked the group. "Uncle Niko might've taught me a little bit, but I'm not as good of a cook."
"What do you have?" Calis asked, standing up. "I could whip something up, but it might not be to your taste…"
"The Merman's gonna cook." Lee Seng chuckled. He scooted out of his spot and turned to lie on Ritsuka's leg. Ritsuka cracked a smile and looked at the kitchen.
"Never thought that duo would cook together." Ritsuka commented.
"Hey, I may be bad but I'm not that bad." Manny responded to their comments. He looked to Calis and pointed at the walk-in pantry. "There's only canned stuff and a little bit of dried meat. We'll have to make due with what we have."
"Can't be too hard…" Calis walked into the pantry.
"Hey." Ritsuka spoke in Japanese to Lee Seng.
"Hm?" Lee Seng responded back. Ritsuka brushed a loose hair strand away from Lee Seng's face.
"I'm glad you told me all of those things. I didn't know how much you were suffering alone. It must've been scary to be there all alone. It must've been scary to lose your life and then see Keng fade away. Everything might've been taken away from you, but we're together again. Everything that's been taken away, we'll take back." Ritsuka patted Lee Seng's shoulder and Lee Seng nodded.
"I know." Lee Seng replied in Japanese. "I'm trying to look on the bright side, but it's hard." Ritsuka nodded and continued to pat Lee Seng.
Manny and Calis whipped up some breakfast and the gang started to eat. Lee Seng didn't eat much, keeping to himself while Ritsuka and the others caught up.
"Ah, so that's why you have a large bag." Manny nodded. Ritsuka nodded and leaned back into the chair, tipping it backwards.
"I'm trying to get back to the others now. They'll probably be mad at me for taking my sweet time." Ritsuka sighed. "But I'll take today as the best day ever. Lee Seng found me and it led me to you guys!" He laughed, warming the place up. Even Lee Seng couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Will the Numbers be fine with us leaving?" Calis asked.
"They said they were going to continue their search, so I assume they'll be fine with us leaving." Manny shrugged. "Clean the dishes, wash up and let's go."
"Where are we…?" Ritsuka whispered. He stood outside, cleaned and in new clothes. Lee Seng had taken the liberty to quickly wash and dry all of his clothes, giving Ritsuka his 'baggy' clothes look back.
"Why'd you give him new clothes?" Manny whispered to Lee Seng. "He looked good in those tight shorts." Lee Seng ignored his childhood friend's thirst and moved over to Ritsuka, leaving Manny to wait for Calis.
"How do I even read this?" Ritsuka whispered.
"Give me it." Lee Seng snatched the map and held it. "Dude, this is upside down." He flipped it and scanned the map. He took off a hand, letting the map droop as he scribbled a rune. The paper floated in the air and Lee Seng pointed at the cabin they were at. "We're here. Where are you trying to go?"
"Here." Ritsuka pointed to cabin fifty-five. It was higher up in the mountains.
"Holy hell. We're far." Lee Seng traced his finger from where they were at to where they needed to go. "That's going to be a day's journey… maybe more."
"It wasn't that hard coming down."
"Which route did you take?"
"I think this one?" Ritsuka traced a path going right and then down.
"Broooo, y'all took a roundabout way…"
"Well, the cabin's up in the mountains so that path was the only way we knew to get down."
"Whatcha talkin' about?" Manny asked strolling over with Calis.
"There's apparently one way to get to the group. They're over here." Lee Seng tapped cabin fifty-five. "And Ritsuka and Jiro descended over here." Lee Seng traced the trail. "If the cabin's in the mountains, we'll probably have to follow the same path."
"That could take… so much longer." Manny sighed.
"As long as we get there, we'll be fine." Ritsuka shrugged it off. Lee Seng nodded and took the map and folded it. He stuffed it into his pocket and looked at the backpack on Ritsuka's back.
"Gimme the backpack, I'll stuff it in Storage." Lee Seng motioned with his hands in a 'give me' motion. Ritsuka didn't argue about it and handed it off. Lee Seng took it like it was nothing and started walking. He put the backpack in the Void Storage.
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Calis asked Lee Seng. "Shouldn't you check the map?"
"I have a good memory." Lee Seng replied. "I know where we need to go for now."
"He's always been good at tracing his steps and finding his way to things." Manny told Calis. "We could get lost in New Angeles and he would know where to go." Calis couldn't quite believe anyone would have that amazing of a memory. Manny and Ritsuka both nodded.
"He's right. Lee Seng has a crazy memory. Probably why he did so well in math and science." Ritsuka sighed. "Dude knew formulas like it was nothing."
"Formulas?" Calis asked, unsure about the word.
"They're complicated things made up of numbers and/or letters. It's… stuff we don't need to get into. It serves no purpose here." Manny quickly explained.
Lee Seng eventually pulled the map out to see how far they went. They would soon need to turn and follow the snaking path. He didn't know what surprises would be waiting for them but those thoughts were far from his mind. He continued to think about Keng and his poor will to live.
'I didn't even know I was that low.' Lee Seng tucked the map into his pocket. He walked twenty steps ahead of the rest. It was a habit he had put himself into when they started doing missions. 'Well, since I got that out of my system, I should really hold onto the others for help… Even if it takes me a long time to get Keng back and start [Cultivation II], I sure as hell won't wait until I'm old… What if I become old while doing it? Am I gonna be like those old Foxes…?'
Lee Seng shook the thought out of his head and turned left into a path that wasn't there. He was going insane! 'Of course, I would fall into my own feels again! They always blind me!' Lee Seng thought as he stomped forward.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Manny asked Lee Seng.
"Yeah. Pretty sure." Lee Seng answered. Manny and Calis looked at each other worriedly. Something had caught their attention and they were walking straight towards it. "You don't trust my memory anymore?"
"It's not that…" Calis replied. "Rather… It's the thing we're walking straight into." Calis pointed ahead.
"What?" Lee Seng turned and realized too late. A wooden tendrils snatched him up, pulling him away into the ground.
"Lee!" Ritsuka shouted. He summoned the bow and pulled an arrow into existence. The arrow burned of fire as he readied the attack. Lee Seng didn't scream or panic. He simply let the tendril take him closer to wherever it wanted to take him.
"I wanted this to happen." Lee Seng sighed. His entire body lit up in flames and the monster shrieked. The wooden tendril burnt away, releasing Lee Seng. Lee Seng flipped and skirted across the ground, coming to a stop near the plant monster's mouth. It shrieked as a purple goo flew out of its mouth. "Hey, monster." Lee Seng snapped his fingers and a flame ignited. "Apparently I'm not at my best, so I'm gonna need to take it out on you!"
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