Chapter 867 Blooming Emotions



"This really might be a life or death situation so…" Lee Seng's voice trailed off. Calis was left with silence as the strange Fox Spirit said his goodbyes and even left a gift. Did he really want to know? A part of him couldn't completely say no. He waited behind the door for a while. When Calis was really sure Lee Seng had disappeared, he unlocked the door and stepped out. He looked around, knocking the statue. 

Calis's eyes moved down and noticed a small little statue. Calis wondered how the statue even survived the pressure of the deep sea. He picked it up and lifted it up to his eye sight, straightening himself out. 

There was a Fox Spirit entangled with someone else. He could tell with a bit of looking that it was a Merfolk. 'A merman?' Calis thought. He twirled it around and noticed features similar to him. He looked around, wondering if the Fox Spirit was waiting in a dark corner, waiting to jump out and say it was a joke. 

"Say, Calis." Keng's spoke. Keng looked over to Calis who was splashing his tail against the water as he sat on the dock. 

"Yeah?" Calis answered, smiling at his tail. 

"Do you think my brother will ever wake up? It's getting closer to two years and I'm beginning to think he might… never wake up."

Calis up and noticed the Fox Spirit was still. He stared out to the sea with sad eyes that hadn't disappeared since Keng and his friends fled to Daros. Calis dropped inot the sea and appeared in front of Keng.

"He'll wake up." Calis answered. "He's got the strongest brother besides him. Of course he'll wake up." Calis smiled and Keng looked at Calis for the first time. He let out a small chuckled and Calis dipped underneath the water, skyrocketing out and landing next to Keng. "Don't worry about your brother. Today's your day to relax. RELAX." Calis wrapped his arm around Keng's shoulder and patted it.

"What's… this…?" Calis whispered. He stared at the statue. Feelings bubbled inside of him - feelings he hadn't felt so strongly before. His eyes shook as he quickly lifted his hand up to wipe it. He turned and closed the door behind him, locking it. "Who were you exactly?"

New Angeles, Earth

Lee Seng blinked back into existence. The warm light poured into the apartment bedroom as he let out a yawn. He couldn't hear a single person in the apartment. 

'They must've left.' Lee Seng thought. He pulled his armor off and set it back in its place in the closet and stripped out of his clothes and threw them in the basket. He grabbed some new clothes and moved into the shower and took a quick shower. 

"Did I do the right thing?" Lee Seng asked himself. "The warm water rained down on him as he submerged his head underneath the stream. He didn't know what else to do with all of those memories he had gotten. He put them back in place, but it still felt messy. Lee Seng finished his quick shower and dried himself off. He threw on his new clothes and wandered over to his phone. He had forgotten it. He grabbed it and noticed a couple messages.

"We're out making creds today. Take today to rest." Ritsuka texted him. Lee Seng smiled and clicked the next message. 

"Olivia isn't feeling well. She's resting in her room. Try not to disturb her!" Liz text read. There were emojis with it and Lee Seng clicked his phone off and stuffed it in his pocket. He walked out of the room and instantly noticed Liz and Olivia's door was cracked open. He could finally hear something. It was Olivia quietly sleeping away.

"Why didn't I hear anything earlier?" Lee Seng's stomach growled and he instinctively opened the fridge and looked around. "I guess I'll make something for the both of us." He grabbed some stuff for porridge and quietly closed the fridge door. He set his things on the counter and began to move like he always did in a kitchen - fast and efficiently. 

'I'll make some porridge in the rice cooker,' Lee Seng thought. He opened the rice cooker and noticed there was some rice left. He'd set the leftover rice in another bowl and covered it. He washed the rice cooker bowl and gathered some new rice for porridge and washed it. He began to set his things into the pot, filling it with water and setting the bowl back in the cooker and closing the lid. He clicked a couple buttons and turned.

Olivia stood in the hallway, groggily looking at him. She rubbed her eyes. "You're home." She said. "Keng and Ritsuka said you went— Ack! Ack!" She coughed up a storm and Lee Seng naturally moved over to her. "I'm fine." She stuck her hand out.

"I went to Daros to do something." Lee Seng answered. "Should you really be out of bed? Are you okay?" Olivia waved him off. 

"I'll be fine. I just heard you so I came out to check if it was you or not." Olivia coughed.

"Did you take medicine?" Lee Seng asked. 

"I'll take some more in a bit."

"Let's get you to bed and I'll wake you up for medicine and food in a bit." Lee Seng suggested. He helped Olivia back to bed. "I'll get you a warm towel for you head." He quickly turned and moved out of the door and came back with a towel and a bowl of warm water. Lee Seng dipped the towel into the bowl and wrung it. He folded the wet towel up and set it on Olivia's head. 

"Thanks, Lee…" Olivia weakly smiled. 

"It's what friends are for." Lee Seng smiled. "I'd wipe your body down, but… I'm a dude so this'll have to do." Olivia weakly chuckled.

"Thanks a lot… I know you must have a lot on your mind… Just know… I'm here for you." 

"Mmm." Lee Seng nodded. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up when the porridge is done, 'kay?" Olivia nodded and watched Lee Seng turn and exit the room, leaving the door cracked. 

Lee Seng moved over to the living room and noticed all of his paperwork stacked neatly together. He pulled the papers and scanned them, noticing his latest work was at the front. 

"None of this makes sense." Lee Seng whispered. "If Trina's Last Wish was the answer to all of these things, why did it react the way it did? Runes can't be triggered on pieces of paper with a pen or pencil… They have to be drawn with energy. Did I accidentally do that without realizing?" He shook his head. There's no way he could've accidentally done that. 

'If I did, the pencil would've exploded.' Lee Seng thought. He flipped through the paperwork and read some of the stuff he had gathered. 

By the time the porridge was done, Lee Seng had underlined and marked up almost half of the stuff he had gathered. He set his things on the couch and stood up, taking a moment to stretch before entering the kitchen. He grabbed a bowl and a ladle and set them next to the rice cooker. He opened it, cursing under his breath as he tried to fight the steam. He picked up the ladle and carefully scooped the porridge a few times before pouring it into the bowl. 

Lee Seng took the bowl with a spoon over to Olivia's room and quietly peeked. Olivia was fast asleep, wet towel still sitting on her forehead. He quietly entered and set the porridge down and grabbed the wet towel. He set it on the bowl of water and hunted a chair down before waking Olivia.

"Liv." Lee Seng quietly called out to her. He shook her arm, trying to wake her up. "Olivia. The porridge is ready. Let's eat and then take your meds, hm?" Olivia stirred awake, quietly groaning as she opened her eyes and noticed Lee Seng next to her. He helped her up into a sitting position and grabbed the bowl of porridge. He stirred the porridge, spooning a bite and blowing on it. "Here." 

Lee Seng carefully lifted it over to Olivia and watched it take the bite. She squeezed her eyes as she battled the heat of the porridge. Olivia pulled away from the spoon and Lee Seng scooped another bite. Lee Seng was quietly attentive as he fed her. Olivia couldn't help but look at him as he fed her. There was something about the way he was so attentive to her.

"Is it hot?" Lee Seng asked.

"No, it's fine." Olivia answered.

"Do you want some water?" 

"S-sure." Olivia nodded. Lee Seng set the bowl of porridge on the night stand and stood up.

"I'll be back." Lee Seng walked out of the room and came back moments later with a cup of water. He handed it to her and took his seat. "So," Lee Seng cleared his throat. "Do you really want to go back to… Capitol City? Just cause… I want to?" Olivia pulled away from the cup, holding it in her lap. 

"I honestly didn't want to go at first. I honestly still don't know if I want to go, but…" Olivia trailed off. She gathered her thoughts and looked at Lee Seng. "Some of us can't avoid what's to come like others… It's only natural you'd want to find answers about everything that's happened… The Creator… The Deimons… There's a lot of questions there. I understand why you want to know so much."

Lee Seng smiled. Olivia had voiced her opinions on things very easily. She was one of the first to voice it. She didn't hold back and that made Lee Seng happy. He realized he had stared too long when Olivia stared back at him blankly.

"Oh, sorry. You were saying?" Lee Seng grabbed the porridge and stirred it. Olivia smiled and shook her head. 

"Let's finish this up so I can sleep, hm?" Olivia suggested.

"Y-yeah." Lee Seng nodded, trying to hide how flustered he was.