Immersion World

by Max Jager

  Eladienne stood over the group of them, glaring all of them down as she protectively watched over Lynn.

  "Thank you." Jess said.

  "Get everyone else who is wounded to come here. I need to help that big guy too, but I think this one is hurt worse. And the big guy is a little scary." Lynn instructed, mumbling that last part quietly. "Are you three the only ones who got hurt?" She asked, gesturing to Fate, Carley, and George."

  "I think so." Sophia replied.

  "Is Carley alright?" Brooke asked as her and Elliott rejoined everyone. When they spotted Fate leaning against the wall, and they noticed that she was covered in blood as well they looked even more concerned. "Fate you got hit too? You okay?"

  "He will be okay." Lynn replied. "He's still alive, barely, but he's alive. The others should also be fine, I can heal everyone."

  "He?" Eladienne questioned and shot her a confused look.

  "Yeah, that threw me off too." Lynn sheepishly answered as she looked up at Eladienne. "But yeah, once I took control of the body to start the healing process I figured that one out."

  George and Matthew returned to the group, and George sat down beside Fate. "Hey, Fate, you alright?" He asked as he waved a hand in front of her face, but she didn't respond. The look in her eyes seemed distant. "Wakey wakey!" George called out as he shook her a little.

  The jerking movement made Fate shout in pain and immediately snapped her out of her thoughts."I-I'm alright." She quickly said, biting her lip and cringing in pain as she spoke. "You okay? You got shot too."

  "Sure you are. And yeah, I'm fine." George replied, trying very hard to mask the pain in his own voice. Although each word he said was wavering just a little and he seemed to be having a little difficulty breathing. "As much as I wanna leave that prison cell, I think we should stay the night in the prison. It's a safe place to stay until we're rested up."

  "How did you guys escape?" Brooke asked. "The plan was to swap with a guard, but you had no guards to swap with."

  "Yeah. About that." Matthew grumbled. "Inami was capable of walking through the bars this entire time. But she didn't tell us." He stated and shot the small panda girl a glare.

  "I thought we supposed to stay in the box." Inami murmured quietly and looked at the ground. "I not know. I not want to get in trouble. They say stay in box, so I stay in box, like a good girl. Then I help get key when he told me to." She said as she pointed at Matthew.

  Brooke and Elliott both couldn't help but to laugh a little.

  "Look Ella, they have a little panda girl with them." Lynn spoke up.

  "Lynn, you don't know if they were hurting her or not, or why they are keeping her around. That means nothing." Eladienne insisted.

  Inami walked over and tugged on Eladienne's jacket. "They my friends. They help find Thomas. They nice, they sometimes feed me fish."

  "They only sometimes feed you?" Eladienne raised an eyebrow.

  "Yeah! It good fish! I like them." Inami cheerfully replied.

  "We feed her every time we eat." Sophia corrected Inami. But Eladienne shot her a look of distrust.

  "She doesn't look malnourished." Lynn spoke up.

  "Fine." Eladienne sighed, knowing exactly why her sister brought it up. "We can stay with them until you finish healing them." Then she turned to George, Matthew, and Fate. "But I am watching you humans, touch my sister and I will make you wish you were dead." She warned.

  "She doesn't mean that." Lynn insisted. "She's friendly once you know her."

  "No I do mean it." Eladienne stated.

  "We won't hurt her, promise." George replied. "I saw you punch that wall, I'd rather that not be me."

  "Good." Eladienne nodded.

  Lynn healed Carley just enough to ensure that he wasn't going to bleed to death, then she went to heal Fate and George since their wounds were less severe. Most of the bullets hadn't gone clean through Carley like they did the others, and he had been shot several more times. Once they were healed she returned to healing Carley.

  Brooke and Elliott left the group for a moment to scavenge the camp. They were able to find everyone's stolen gear along with some other food and supplies. After a little while George carried Carley into the jail so they could rest inside a building. Lynn would resume healing him once they were inside. It was a long and tedious task, but she eventually removed all of the bullets and healed the wounds. They just needed to wait for Carley to wake up, and they were sure he would. Jess stuck by Carley's side the entire time, and she allowed Brooke, Sophia, Fate, and Elliott to check up on him twice. Every time they came after that she insisted that he needed undisturbed rest and shooed them away. Snipes and Inami were allowed to come as many times as they wanted. The rest of the group found a place to camp out and they settled in for the remainder of the night.

  Next Chapter: Breaking up, the Group Grows Smaller.

  Chapter 12: Breaking apart

  (Sorry for the excessively long delay, school and work got in the way a litttle too much.)

  — Chapter 12: Breaking apart, the Group Grows Smaller. —

  The next morning everyone started to wake up to the smell of a campfire being lit just outside. Before she went to investigate Brooke walked over to Fate and George, who were both sitting together off in the corner of the room. "Hey you two." Brooke greeted. "You guys okay?"

  "Yeah I'm great!" George energetically replied. "But it seems like Fate is sick. She's just spacing out, somethin's not right."

  "Fate?" Brooke questioned, but she was unresponsive. Fate just stared off into the distance. "Fate?" Brooke repeated, this time speaking louder and shaking her a little."

  "Wha? What?" Fate mumbled as she snapped back to reality and looked at the two of them. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm fine. Really. Just leave me be."

  "Fate." Brooke sighed. "You're not fine, what's wrong?"

  "Really, I'm fine." Fate insisted.

  "Fate." Elliott spoke up, overhearing them and joining the conversation. "Just tell us, we are all friends here."

  "Yeah. We want to see you get better." George insisted.

  "I really just need space to clear my head." Fate answered. The look in her eyes seemed to be really distant, she looked almost like she was in a daze.

  "Fate, comeon, you can tell us anything." George insisted again.

  "Guys. Please." Fate closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. "Leave me be for now."

  George nodded. "Alright then, but we are here for you. Don't shut us out for too long." He replied, then gestured for Brooke and Elliott to leave her alone and follow him. He lead the kids over to the other side of the police station and leaned back against the wall. "Leave her be for now, but keep a close eye on her. She doesn't look like she's in the right mindset, we don't want her to get hurt."

  Brooke and Elliott both nodded. And Brooke spoke up. "Do you know why she's like this? She's usually pretty strong, I've never seen her break down like that before."

  "Not a clue. And that's exactly why I'm worried about her." George replied.

  "We will keep an eye on her." Elliott replied. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Carley starting to wake up. Jess, Snipes, Inami, and Lynn were all waiting around him.

  "You're finally awake." Lynn greeted, "You must be really resilient to survive wounds like that. I patched you up as best as I can, but you should seek medical attention from a professional. Just to make sure I did it all right, I'm still in training."

  Carley nodded a little. "Always had to be resilient, would've died a hundred times over by now if I wasn't. Even before coming to this world, I always had to take care of myself." He replied simply. This, felt really weird. For once he was one of the tallest people in the group, if he only counted the small group that was standing around him. Inami and Snipes were both shorter then he was, and Lynn was shorter then Inami, although she was a little taller than Snipes. Only Jess was taller then he was, and that wasn't by much. It was a pretty rare occasion for Carley.

  Jess nodded and wal
ked over to stand beside him. "Yep, and then he met me and ever since I came around I made sure he didn't have to be resilient anymore. He's got me to support him every step of the way now." She proudly replied, and Carley nodded a little in agreement. "Inami, Snipes and I all stayed by your side the entire time while you were out, to make sure you were alright."

  "Thanks, but you don't need to do that." Carley replied.

  "A few of your other friends also came by to check on you." Lynn spoke up, assuming that Jess had just forgotten to mention them. As she spoke she gestured to Brooke, Elliott, Fate, and Sophia.

  "Yeah, they came by a couple times." Jess brushed it off a little

  "They came by a lot actually." Lynn added, assuming Jess had also forgotten about that. "The group kinda reminds me of everyone back in the village, we are all so close-knit and such."

  "Just a few times, they weren't here the whole time like we were." Jess countered and shot Lynn a look that clearly told her to stop countering everything she said.

  "But you-" Lynn started to say but caught the look she was given and immediately stopped with a very confused expression on her face. "S-Sorry." Lynn took a step back, her body and posture turned inwards and her head lowering submissively, making her look even smaller then she already was.

  "It's fine, really. Thanks for the info." Carley stepped into the conversation in spite of Jess. He looked around and spotted Fate off in the corner. "Is Fate alright?"

  "I wouldn't know." Jess answered.

  "U-Um, she appears to be in a state of shock." Lynn hesitantly spoke up, shooting a glance at Jess to see if she was allowed to say that.

  "Do you know what caused it?" Elliott butted in and walked over to them when he heard the discussion shift to Fate. Brooke followed along beside him and shot Jess a glare, she too had heard just about everything.

  "Probably something in that fight we were all in. But I was focused on my sister, I didn't see much of what happened on your end." Lynn replied.

  As soon as yesterday's fight was brought up Carley immediately looked sick. "I-I'll, be right back." He quickly and quietly said before leaving the building.

  "You okay Carley?" Jess asked before she quickly followed him out.

  Eladienne stepped away from the wall she had been leaning against and gave the humans a questioning look. "He really getting sick over killing another human?" She questioned. "You humans kill everything else, it's like murder is your first instinct. What's the big deal?"

  "You don't feel any remorse for the two you killed?" Lynn questioned.

  "Of course not, they tried to kill us." Eladienne stated simply. "I mean, it was just a couple humans. Pretty shitty humans at that, we probably saved a bunch of lives by killing them."

  "We aren't wired to kill, it's just a reaction to fear." Matthew joined the conversation. "Humans aren't as bad as you might think. Our group isn't bad, right?"

  Eladienne hesitated before answering. "No, so far you guys have been not much different from everyone back home. But I've only been around you humans for a night, that doesn't mean much." She stated. She then turned back to her sister. "On the thought of that, are we ready to go?"

  "Go where?" Lynn tilted her head as she asked.

  "Home, of course. Or at least away from them." Eladienne crossed her arms. "They are all healed."

  Lynn shook her head. "I need to bring the boy to a proper medical professional. I don't know if I did it right or not, my lessons with Cora didn't go into fatal wounds and organ damage yet. I need to stay with them to make sure he doesn't have lung failure or anything." She replied. "It would be my fault if something happened after we left and he didn't make it back."

  "Lynn." Eladienne firmly stated. "You did your best, you don't owe them anything. Let's go, it's not safe around them. You saw how it ended up for Daenestra when she tried to help the humans."

  "These ones are friendly, I can tell." Lynn simply replied. "I'm older than you, I have more experience with people."

  "You're older than her?" Matthew questioned. "You're so much smaller than she is. You're like, kid-size" He laughed.

  Lynn immediately pouted and shot him a glare. "Just because I'm short doesn't mean I'm a kid. I'm almost five feet tall. Elves are a little smaller than humans on average you know." She protested. "I'm twenty five, she's only twenty three." She quietly murmured under her breath.

  "But…" Inami walked over to Lynn, standing right beside her to measure their heights. "I taller. Just a little. You not kid like me?" She tilted her head a little as she spoke.

  "No." Lynn shook her head. "I'm probably closer to twice your age."

  "Twice?" Inami looked confused.

  "She means she's a lot older, Inami." Snipes spoke up.

  Lynn just sighed quietly, but it was Eladienne to speak up next. "We need to go."

  Lynn just shook her head. "You can head back if you want, I'm staying. I want to make sure he gets back to safety, and I still didn't find what I came out here for. I might find some in the human village."

  "No way in hell I'm leaving you alone with them!" Eladienne argued, stomping her foot.

  "What did you come out here looking for?" Matthew asked. "Least we can do is help you out in exchange for your help."

  "Well, you either go back or stay with me. I'm not leaving yet, I can't." Lynn stated, then turned to Matthew. "Humans had some sort of medications that cured illnesses, and in some cases prevented them entirely. It was vastly different from what we have in the village. So i wanted to find some and bring it back to research it. We can cure illness pretty easily, but preventing it we seem to be behind in. So I was hoping we could learn more about it by studying human medications." She replied.

  "Any medications that were held in this city before it's abandonment would likely be gone by now." Brooke spoke up.

  "Yep. People would've grabbed those first. Well, maybe second after grabbing money." Matthew replied. "Your best bet really would be going to Belle village, north east of here and through the woods. We are probably going to go back to resupply, so you're both free to tag along or go on your own."

  "I'll tag along with you guys." Lynn replied.

  "Don't I get a say in this?" Eladienne replied.

  "You get a say in what you personally do." Lynn pointed out.

  "I can't talk you out of this… Can I?" Eladienne grumbled. She watched as Lynn shook her head, leaving her with no choice really. "I can't leave you alone with them. I'll come along."

  "You really don't have to, I can handle myself." Lynn replied.

  "I know. But I am not going to just leave you to do this alone." Eladienne replied.

  "Well, I guess introductions are in order then if you're staying." Elliott replied. "Come with me, I'll introduce you to everyone here."

  It would be a couple hours before the group was awake and ready to set out. Brooke and Elliott left the police station, and spotted Fate, Carley, and Jess all outside already. Fate was still staring blankly off into the distance with a lifeless look in her eyes. Carley, on the other hand, looked very sick. He was leaning against Jess's shoulder, his arms were shaking a little, his face was completely pale, he seemed to be barely holding himself together. It was uncertain whether he was doing better or worse than Fate.

  "Fate, are you ready to talk to us?" Brooke asked.

  "Please just leave me be." Fate quietly murmured.

  "Alright, we won't push again." Brooke replied, then nudged Elliott to silently ask him to speak to Carley for her. With Jess standing right there she didn't feel comfortable initiating the conversation.

  "Carley, are you alright?" Elliott asked as he and his sister approached them.

  "I'm fine. Thanks." Carley replied.

  "No he's not." Jess spoke up. "You guys got him into this mess, this is your fault. And I don't just mean you two, the whole group did. I knew it was a bad idea for him to travel with you people."

  "Hey! We didn't do anything." Brooke uncontrollably snapped, straightening her back
to stand just a little taller then Jess.

  "You are all responsible for this!" Jess argued, trying to stand taller than Brooke, but she was just a little shorter.

  "Jess, it isn't their fault." Carley weakly replied.

  "No! It is entirely this group's fault!" Jess argued. "They put you in a position where you had to do everything for them. They did nothing to get themselves out and to get rid of these bandits, nothing! They left it all on your shoulders to get them out, until the very last minute when they thought you had failed."