Chapter 727 Reunions

"There." Keng took a step back. He stuck up his fingers in a picture from and looked at Lee Seng through it. "You don't look like a hobo now." Lee Seng's black hair had grown back over the two cycles he was in the coma. Keng shaved Lee Seng's face and decided he wouldn't tackle cutting his hair. He dried it and pulled the top of Lee Seng's hair together. Lee Seng sat in front of a mirror and moved his head around. He was feeling much better after that bath.

"Are we done? They must be wondering when you're coming… right?" Lee Seng quietly asked. Keng grabbed the t-shirt off to the side and helped Lee Seng put it on.

"Mmmm, they know I've been busy, so no one really looks for me." Keng told Lee Seng.

"Why's that? Has… something been wrong? Is… everyone okay?" Lee Seng asked, looking at Keng. Keng shook his head and patted Lee Seng's shoulder.

"Nothing like that…" Keng's voice drifted off for a moment. "I've been working on learning all the Curses and how to deal with them." Lee Seng nodded as Keng grabbed him. "C'mon, let's go say hi to everyone, hm?"

Keng lifted Lee Seng up and the two slowly moved out of the room and out of the house. Lee Seng could see the house in its entirety. It was small and mimicked something out of a prepackaged home. There wasn't much room for personal space, but the house still felt a bit… Cold. It was void of something.

"You can just use one of my extra shoes for the time being. We'll take you around for clothes and stuff when you're a bit better." Keng sat Lee Seng down and slipped his shoes on for both him and Lee Seng. The two slowly hobbled out of the house and over to the Wang residence. The town of Revit was barely imprinted in Lee Seng's mind. He didn't really remember much of it.

It was night, but people still were out and about. They noticed Keng and Lee Seng and greeted Keng while staring at Lee Seng like he was some sort of ghost. They whispered in a mixture of Fox tongue and English.

"That's him, right?"

"He's the one that's been asleep for almost a cycle?"

"We should give them space."

They kept their distance as Keng slowly led Lee Seng to the place they were eating at. It wasn't too far, but Lee Seng felt tired after all of that walking. There were loud noises and talking. Lee Seng could hear Evan happily laughing about something. It was a strange occurrence. Evan was never that loud.

"Inside we go." Keng motioned after opening the door. "Don't trip."

"Who's that?" Liz asked.

"Keng, is that you?" Evan asked.

"Yeah." Keng shouted. Keng slipped Lee Seng's shoes off and then his own. He closed the door and slowly led Lee Seng over, who almost tripped over the large amount of shoes near the door. "Whoa, careful." Keng was the first to round the corner. Ritsuka looked up and didn't really acknowledge Keng was there. He simply began to look back as the others acknowledged Keng.

"Are you… here with someone?" Olivia asked. Keng simply pulled Lee Seng into view and watched as everyone's mouth dropped. Ritsuka continued to eat as Evan swung at him.

"Look." Evan whispered.

"What?" Ritsuka looked up and dropped his spoon. It grew quiet. Very quiet.

"Le-Lee?" Manny's voice cracked. He was half-turned around and just staring. Liz was the first to stand up. The group collectively stood up afterwards as she quickly ran over and stood next to Lee Seng.

"A-are you really… here?" Liz asked. She tried her best to hold her tears in, but Lee Seng's smile broke it. She sobbed as she hugged him. "You're awake! You're real! You're not just some dream!"

"Lee!" The group shouted. They all hugged around him. Keng smiled and joined in as well. The entire group cried as Mama Wang, Lily and a pink Fox watched quietly. The group was incoherent. Lee Seng couldn't help but cry along with them. They sobbed, not understanding what was being said, but what was felt from their hearts.

After the tearful reunion, Keng sat Lee Seng down next to him. Everyone gathered back in their seats and Lee Seng stared at the human woman and Fox Spirit man. The Fox Spirit man observed him, flicking his eyes back and forth between Keng and Lee Seng.

"You were not lying." Fan'r nodded. "You look exactly like him. It's a shame your journey here before has changed you a bit, Keng."

"Right?" Keng smiled, elbowing Lee Seng. "I'm pretty sure you know him from last time… uhh, when was it again, Lily?"

"During the Curse of the Dryad." Lily answered.

"Mmm, right." Keng nodded. Lee Seng looked over to the others. They weren't really interested in the conversation, but all of them seemed to take glances at Lee Seng. Lee Seng did what he normally did and observed. Fan'r, the pink nine tailed Fox, was Lily's father. Lee Seng must've met him before, but it wasn't ringing any bells. He barely remembered who any of Lily's supposed members were and was having a hard time believing the grown woman was Lily.

The human woman was Mama Wang. She's Lily's and her brothers' mother. She fell in love with Fan'r on Earth and Fan'r decided to 'whisk her away.' The two have been happily married ever since and even with Mama Wang's slowed age, she grows older while her love doesn't.

"So what have… You guys been up to for… Two cycles?" Lee Seng asked his friends. Manny and Evan snapped out of their daze and focused on Lee Seng.

"Missions. Jobs. That sort of thing." Evan answered. "We've been practicing our new abilities too."

"Abilities?" Lee Seng repeated. Olivia nodded.

"You gave them to us that day." Olivia quietly told him. "I guess you can't remember most things right now." She pointed over to Evan. "His kinetic redirection abilities basically grew so that he's always producing kinetic energy even when he's sleeping."

"Was a pain to sleep the first year with it, but I've gotten used to it." Evan smiled. Olivia pointed to Liz.

"She can create psionic shields and barriers now." Olivia moved to Ritsuka. "Ritsuka can use his other weapon abilities as he pleases. He's been practicing with the bow you gave him as of late, too."

"Really?" Lee Seng looked at Ritsuka. Ritsuka seemed the most out of it. He was quiet and reserved. Darker than the rest of the group. Ritsuka simply nodded and stared at his empty plate.

"Ah, don't mind him." Manny patted Lee Seng's shoulder. "The last copule cycles have been, uh —"

"A shit show." Ritsuka answered. He finally looked up from his plate and straightened his back out. "It's been an absolute shit show. We can't even go to Earth often anymore, y'know that? Do you know what happened after we left it?"

"Ritsuka." Olivia raised her voice. "Don't."

"No!" Ritsuka slammed the table. Evan and Liz jumped. The energy had quickly grown tense. Ritsuka turned to look at Lee Seng. The once caring friend wasn't there anymore. His eyes were cold. "The Deimons. The Deimons came out. That's what happened. What we did back then was a mistake! We made the Deimons come out and now…"

"Ritsuka." Manny called out. Ritsuka stood up and walked out. Lee Seng turned and watched.

'Deimons?' Lee Seng turned his head back to the group.

"What happened?" Lee Seng asked.

"Shortly after we killed that Deimon, thing… Everything kinda went to shit…" Manny quietly began. "The village was swarmed and… We had no choice but to leave." Olivia grew stiff. Liz put a hand on Olivia's shoulder and forced a smile as she comforted Olivia. "The village got ransacked and… We had to run. If it weren't for Keng, we would've died."

"They would've killed you." Keng looked at Lee Seng.

"What? They were after me?" Lee Seng asked. Manny and Keng nodded.

"What about… Is everyone else… okay?" Lee Seng looked around the table. It grew silent.

'No.' Olivia thought. Lee Seng looked at her and noticed she was wiping away tears. Lee Seng simply nodded and sighed.

"Then, Ritsuka's like that because…"

"We don't know how it's like in the city." Evan piped up. "He's worried about his family. Like most of us are, we don't know anything. I think he heard rumors of what happened and has been like that ever since."

"Does he… Blame me?" Lee Seng asked.

"He blames me." Keng quickly answered. "It was my choice to take us out of there. Even if it meant…"

"Others dying." Liz finished. "We couldn't do much then."

"And we can't do much now." Manny sighed. "We've been trying to do whatever we can do, but… It's really hard to see the fruit of our work."

Lee Seng looked up at the ceiling. It's been nearly two Earth years and the Deimons had finally made their move.

"How soon can we start therapy?" Lee Seng asked.

"So soon?" Keng asked. "Well, we can go tomorrow." Lee Seng looked at Keng and nodded. Then he turned his attention to his friends.

"I've been missing a lot, hm? Maybe it's time for me to practice really hard and figure out what's really going on."

"You want to fight?" Manny asked. "We've been trying and-"

"And we'll try until we crack them." Lee Seng cut Manny off. He smiled and looked at Manny. "Don't you know who I am?"