• Chapter 24: Surprise Reunion

    Steven, Order, and Shonic quickly flooded into the room as soon as they heard Amy. The only thing that greeted their entrance was curtains fluttering from the open window, a bed with its covers rustled, and Amy, searching frantically around the room as if Arc had just shrunk and got lost somewhere. Steven walked to the open window and looked out side. There wasn’t any trace of which way they went, at least not that he could see. Turning his attention back to Amy, who at this pointed seemed as though she was looking for Arc and her sanity, he walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

    “Amy, calm down,” Steven said, making sure Amy was looking at him “you need to calm down.”

    Amy’s eyes widened “Calm down? How are you calm? They took Arc!” Her words were frantic, but it was apparent that she was trying to calm down.

    “Getting worked up won’t help anything.” Steven attempted a smile to try and calm Amy down more.

    Amy collapsed to her knees and her head fell, as if defeated, Steven could hear her holding tears back. She brought her head back up and looked at Steven. She nodded and attempted a smile as Steven helped her up.

    Shonic and Order walked back out to the creature that had been knocked out on the front lawn. To their surprise it was gone, but there were marks as though it had been dragged away. They agreed that it either crawled away or was taken, either way it wasn’t a threat. A few moments later Steven and Amy walked out of the door. Amy was wiping the remnants of a few tears that escaped away with her sleeve.

    “Where’s that thing we were fighting?” Steven asked looking around.

    “We don’t know, but” Order pointed to the ground “it was either crawling or dragged away.”

    “Hm.. well for now we shouldn’t really have to worry about it,” Steven thought aloud “but we can’t stay here.”

    “We know anther place… Bravo was always careful about these things.”

    “Well, we really don’t have a choice right now… Order, Shonic please lead the way.” Steven said, gesturing with his hand.

    They nodded and started a slow jog down the street. Steven followed, but Amy took one quick look back through the door, incase somehow, Arc had come back. Steven called to her and she snapped out of her hopeful daydream and followed them down the road. After about a half hour of a jog, they arrived at the edge of town. Order and Shonic stopped, and turned towards Steven and Amy. Catching their breath, Steven and Amy looked around, but didn’t find anything.

    “Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Steven asked

    Order nodded “Of course, just watch.”

    Turning what seemed like a branch on a tree, a door shot up and replaced the tree. Shonic pressed a button and the door opened up, letting out a very sweet fragrance, as though someone had filled it with flowers. Shonic and Order walked in and motioned for Amy and Steven to come. Cautiously they walked into the door. Immediately after they did the door shut. They looked for a way to continue, but didn’t find it. Instead they turned around and say two buttons on the side. One said up and the other said down. Shonic pressed down and the small room they were in lit up and came to life with a hum. It started moving down, slowly at first, but it picked up a bit of speed. Nearing the end, they could all feel it slow down, and hear the faint sound of water running.

    “Wait,” Order said, stopping them with his hand “what’s that?”

    Shonic listened carefully “It… sounds like someone is in the... shower?” He said, not sure how someone could be.

    They proceeded carefully out of the elevator, which lead into a long hall. Walking silently down the hallway, not a sound was made. Reaching the end Steven peered around the corner and saw someone lying down on the couch.

    “Is that… Arc?” Steven said, not entirely able to see the person.

    Amy, holding back excitement, peered around the corner too. She carefully walked over to the sleeping person and a smile threatened to rip her face in half.

    “It is Arc!” She said as she knelt down beside him, checking to see if he was any worse than he was.

    Order, Shonic, and Steven walked out into the room, still looking around everywhere, and proceeded to Arc. They knelt down beside the couch he was placed on only to find him either asleep or unconscious.

    A figure quietly walked out of the bathroom, with a towel around his waist. The light reflected off of his blond hair, which caught the attention of Amy, who looked up quickly.

    “Hey, who are…” Amy stopped mid sentence as she saw the man smiling widely.

    “Quiet,” He said as the others looked up too “you’ll wake the sleeping guy on the couch.”

    Steven looked, dumb found, as he recognized who it was. “You dirty trickster… Bravo?”