Chapter 42 Situation [OLD]
[Gundam Nova]
March 10th, I.J.C 200, Metalica’s Restrict Zone
“Hm…it’s good, so next, we will leave it to rest in the fridge for about 2 hours. Well then, Do you guys want to hear stories?” I ask them as I put the Pie back into the fridge. I saw the little kids' eyes shine as gold as they soon all replied similarly.
“Yay! Big sis’s Story time!” The most energetic one is Ollie, the one I bonded with the most during my time staying here, she would always be the one to wake me up and ask me things, she was a very curious girl. I think…because of my conversation with Klara and her, that I managed to mellow out my guard a bit.
Ollie quickly clings to my leg and I slowly untangle the mess of hair that happened when I didn’t notice, I braid her long hair into little pigtails, and she liked it very much, but she was very messy and was very active so her hair would always return in mess every time I notice.
“It would be a bit before Hanya returns, and a long time before the Pie sets itself. So, where did I leave off last time?” I ask them as I sit down on a chair and the little children start surrounding me, Irly holds her hand out and walks toward me with a book.
“Thank you, Irly.” I patted her head and said thank her, and she smiled at me and returned to her seat near Ollie, it seemed those two were inseparable. I look at the book Irly gave me, it was about the adventure of an Elf child, finding the purpose in his life after he was left alone after his grandparents passed away. I think we are around the middle part.
I slowly turned the page to the one with the bookmark and I was right, we were in the middle part. It was when the boy met a little fairy, who gave him a purpose to slay the demon. A pig Demon, now…isn’t that familiar? Why do I feel like I know this story before? An Elf child who journeys to slay the demon and save a princess…Zel…? It is quite froggy so I don’t really know if it is something I know or not.
“Let's see…Ahem… ‘The fairy led the boy through a treacherous maze, where many danger lies ahead, with each step the ground shook as if the earth itself would split in half. And once the boy reached the center, there stood a giant tree…” Yeah…it was really familiar…
I continue to read them the story of the book, adjusting my voice to match the character, making a little joke to keep the children entertained, and answering their questions about the story with patience, and soon before I even know it, hours pass by quickly.
“My Lady! We got the grocery!” Hanya yelled out from the outside of the house, She returned much more quickly than I thought.
“Well, I guess We should stop the story here this time.” I put on the bookmark and closed the book, the children made a sad expression and let out a disappointed voice. But Ollie is the saddest one, she always loves the story. “Don’t be disappointed, we will continue after…Now then, Who wants to decorate the pie!” I intentionally raised my voice and put a cheerful tone to it, and I instantly saw the kid cheer up, thor emotions changed very quickly as expected of children.
“My lady! I got everything you ask! Cherry, strawberry, and even blueberry! Oh and also I bought Whip Cream, and milk plus 10 boxes of cereal! This should last them for over a week.” Hanya said with a smile as she slipped out of her shoe and almost fell down to the ground but Odis who was with her quickly grabbed groceries, not letting them fall together with her, “OW! Why didn’t you catch me!” She quickly yelled at Odis but contrary to her expectations, he just ignored her and headed toward me with the groceries.
“I will put them in the fridge, My lady.”
“Thank you, can you leave the fruit on the counter? I think the pie is set already, we can start decorating them.” I thank him and help the crying Hanya get up from the ground, she really is a klutz…I wonder where that cool big sister went?
“Hanya, hurry up,” Odis said coldly and Hanya quickly got up and wiped away her tears instantly. It seemed between the two of them, that Odis was the one who was in control seeing as Hanya was very scared of him.
I sigh a little bit at their antics and walk toward the kitchen, the children are already there and waiting with anticipation. The mute boy is the most excited, I came to know that his name is Ari. he became mute because of his trauma and was unable to gain back his voice, but he was very energetic, and he liked cooking very much, I mean it, he would always be the first one to join whenever Ms.Claire start to cook or when I would make these little desserts, he would show up and try to help as much as possible before trying to make a little on his own, under supervision of course.
I took out the fruit, there were blueberries, strawberries, and cherries. I ask for these because their sour and sweet taste would be a good contrast to the very sweet cream pie. Slowly, I cut them into flat pieces, and placed them on the side. This took me 10 minutes, it seems I’m starting to become very good with the knife.
“Alright, everyone! Let’s start decorating our Pie.” The children yell in unison, and I hand them each a plate of fruit. I took the Cream Pie out of the Fridge and I think I nailed it. Not only was the cream set but it still retained its softness as I poked it a little. I put them on the table where the children were sitting.
“Alright everyone, look at what I’m about to do and copy me ok?” With everyone focusing on me, I took my plate of fruits and started the arrangement. First, I placed the strawberries near the crust of the pie, and then I overlapped the strawberries with a slice of cherry and Blueberry and repeated until I reached the center. “Alright, that's the first line, now to the second line. Who wants to do it?” I raise my hand and then, the children raise their hand after me.
“Me! I wanna!” Said Ollie, raising and waving her hand energetically.
“I want to…” Irly said quietly, hiding her shy face behind her other hand.
“Mhm!” Ari let out his voice and waved them around as energetically as Ollie.
“I see, since everyone wants to do it, how about we rotate? We will go clockwise, and once we finish one line we will let the next person on our left do it?” I look over at everyone and they let out a sound of agreement, “Alright, well then let's start with Ari!” Ari is the one sitting to my left so I pass the Pie to him, Ari looks very excited as he hurries to grab the plate of fruits and starts to quickly try to arrange them.
I quickly grab his hand and stop him before he can smash the pie. He turned to me with a questioning look, “Ari, You don’t have to hurry, We will do it like this.” Slowly, I guide his hand and place one of the strawberries on the crust, “See? If we do it with patience it will turn out well, so Don’t be hasty, alright?” He nods to my words. Seeing his confident smile I let go of his hand and watched as he slowly put the Cheery in, and then the blueberry, he repeated it multiple times before it reached the center of the pie.
He turns to me excitedly, and I pat his head. “Good job. See, if you do it slowly, it will turn out well.” He nodded again and passed it to the girl on his left.
I got out of my seat and walked toward the girl, her name was Iris, and she was a shy girl. I watched as she did all the steps right with tenderness, “Good job, Iris. You did it beautifully.” I praise her and she hides her face in her arms.
It continues like this, I would watch over the children as they take turns decorating the pie, praising them when they did a good job, guiding them when they did something wrong. When the 2nd round of rotating was finished, the Cream Pie was beautifully decorated with Fruits.
“Good job everyone! The Pie turned out very beautiful. Now we will chill it for another 30 minutes, and when everybody comes back, let's present them with this little surprise, alright?”
“Yes!” they all reply in unison. And I heard the voice of an older woman mixed in. I looked over and saw Hanya sitting there with the children…with a plate of fruits of her own while Odis was in the kitchen, cutting up Apples as a snack.
When did she… join? I honestly didn’t notice.
“Then since we need to wait again, let's go back to our story time.” I quickly ignore it and go back to the children, putting the Cream Pie back in the fridge, I decide to ignore Hanya who is playing with the children while waiting for me to start…
March 10th, I.J.C. 200, Metalica’s restrict zone, Klara’s POV
“Hah! I'm so tired! So this is what you do every day?” I turned to ask Yougi who was sitting next to me. He was wearing a safety helmet the same as me.
“Yeah, but honestly! You are still absurdly strong as always! How did you pack that much strength in that little body of yours?” He asked me as he tapped me in the back.
“Eh, probably genetic? I don’t really know but I am always strong, y’know. So is today's shift over?”
“Yeah, Let’s get Anna. I think she should be done too.” Yougi got up and went to get his and mine paychecks. It was a day-by-day paycheck so it wasn’t much, but since it was my first time here, I got half of Yougi's even though I did more than him. “What? Jealous? Well, if you come to work every day it would be this much!”
He raffles my head roughly.
“Oi! Stop it! Yoha is the one who made my hair today!” I quickly tried to stop him but he only did it rougher!
“That's so! I’m jealous! So take this!” Once he finishes he quickly runs away from my grab.
“Know this! If I catch you! You ARE DEAD!” I threaten him then run after him, But goddamn is he fast! Not only that he also got longer legs than me! Before we know it, we run through to the medic tent where they tend to the wounds or the sick already.
“Anna! Help me! The little demon got mad!” That bastard!? He hides behind Big Sis Anna!
“What’s wrong, Klara.” Big sis lowers herself to match my height and asks me as she adjusts my hair.
“Big sis, Yougi bully me!” I try to make myself look sad but I can’t or at least not good enough as Big Sis Anna just laughs.
“I see, I see. Yougi is a bad kid, isn’t he? I will punish him for you.” She said jokingly as she turned to Yougi. She slapped his arm lightly and Yougi would then exaggerate his pain. Yelping Ow! “See, I punish him for you.”
“No, I want you to hold him, and I will punch him,” I said with a deadpan face, Yougi quickly turned pale.
“Oi! Not fair! Your punch was too strong!”
“Shut up! People are sleeping here! Get the love bird and the kid out!” The doctor quickly yells at us to hurry and leave. “Oi! Anna! You forgot this!” He then throws an envelope to Big Sis Anna. She quickly bows down in thanks before we make our exit.
“Hm, he gives me much more this time. Ehehe, he really is too kind.” giggled to herself, She quickly put the envelope into her backpack. We talk about things in our day as we walk back to our house.
Suddenly, I noticed something different. The air in here was different.
“Did we go the right way?” I ask them.
“Yeah, we go the right way, why?” Yougi answered me but soon, he too sensed that something was wrong.
Even Anna soon starts to increase her pace, she knows something is wrong, we all know because we all grew up in this harsh Colony.
Before we could turn into a full sprint, a group of men appeared. A local thug. They were a group that prayed on other people and isolated one area to catch their prey, it seemed we fell into their trap without knowing.
Yougi and I quickly went in front of Anna, she didn’t know how to fight.
“I heard you kids got a lot of money today.” the biggest man came out, he wasn’t wearing a shirt, showing his belly. “Hand it over and no one gets hurt, alright?” He said, threatening us with a large metal bat.
“Eat shit, shithead. Go work and earn money yourself!” Yougi said as he prepared his stance to fight.
“Y-yougi! Don’t provoke them! Come on, just give them our money and they will leave us…” Anna said she was scared. So I hold her hand. “K-Klara…?”
“Hey! You see! That girl has a brain! Come on do as she said and we will leave, we do not like the other group, we don’t like kicking children, or raping one as well.” The group laughed at his words.
It's disgusting.
“On my signal, start running. OK?” Yougi said, I nodded to him but Anna was still hesitant. As we took so long to decide the group started to move.
“Now!’ Yougi shouted. I took Anna and ran the opposite of Yougi. I took Anna into the narrow street where most of the men couldn’t chase us while You would go back to the way he came from.
“K-Klara! What about Yougi!” Anna asked as she tried her best to run.
“Don’t worry about him, Run with all your might!” She shut up after I said that, and we continued to run, but come on! What the Fuck is happening?! Wherever we come out there is always one of that gang to find us!
So I run deeper into the slum part, faster but Anna can’t keep up anymore. “Anna, get on my back!” I quickly told her and she did as I said, “Urg!”
“S-sorry…I’m useless…” She said as she rested on my back.
“Don’t say that, anyway, I should get to running now.” With her on my back, I started running. She was heavy but not heavy enough to weigh me down too much so I could still go relatively fast.
I continued to run for a few minutes, then it happened.
Bang!
A gunshot, it just passed my head too!?
“Holy shit! If you have a gun you should rob those adults! Not a kid like us!” I yell behind me while quickly ducking under the window of the house I manage to get in.
“That! W-what you! Get for running!” I heard the gang leader say as he was panting.
Shit…now what do I do?
March 10th I.J.C. 200, Metalica’s restrict zone. Hanya’s POV.
“The dark magician used his spell, turning the young Elf princess into an Eternal slumber as he was defeated, laughing at the horror on the face of the young hero, leaving his final malice in this world.” Hah ... .the voice of the Young Lady was Truly soothing, what more eating a slice of apple while having a fluffy kid on my lap!
This is truly heaven! Odis was sleeping lightly in his chair right now, well he did not really sleep just closed his eyes, that guy never knew how to sleep!
“With the passing of the dark magician, the young hero manages to save the princess but is she truly saved? With her falling into the endless slumber…” I heard the loud grasp of the anticipating children and I too was drawn toward this excitement.
“The young hero-”
“Where's Mother Claire!?” The young Lady was interrupted by the oldest boy, as he was panting and sweating like crazy, it was like he ran a marathon or something.
“Is something wrong?” My lady asks him, I quickly take the child that was on my lap and put him on the ground, Odis is also waking up.
“It's an emergency! Klara and Anna are in danger.” Everybody froze up, and I quickly got up and stood but soon I was forced to stop by the intense feeling of fear.
“...Klara…is in danger?” The cold voice of Young Lady, as she slowly put the book on the table.
“Yeah! We got chased by a gang and we got separated and they went after those two! So Where is Mother Claire?! If she here then we could-”
“Where is she?”
“W-what?”
“I ask you, where did you last stay together?” The young Lady's cold voice was full of intense Emotion, but most noticeable was her anger. A raw Anger that would put anyone into fear.
“W-we were walking home from 7 street when we got into their trap, but I saw her running toward the 4 street so she should be there.” The boy stuttered with his words.
“Hanya, Odis. Get ready. We are going out.”
“Understood.” Odis immediately acknowledges her.
“U-understood!” I quickly followed, I had never seen her this angry before, no it wasn’t anger at this point, it was wrath. She quickly turns her face and changes her expression.
“Sorry, It seems we got in a little trouble. Can you guys stay here and behave yourself? I promise you that I will make a cake next time if you behave.” She said with a cheerful voice toward the kid, lowering their worry.
“W-will Big sis be ok?” the shy girl…I think her name is Irly, ask the Young lady.
“Of course. I will. Don’t worry. I will bring them back before you know it.” She replied cheerfully and with a final pat on the head, we got out of the house.
“Hanya.”
“Y-yes!” I quickly answer her calls.
“Contact the Military, If they don’t respond, use the Ottoman name or other, get them to respond, now. And stay here and protect the house. Don’t let a single hair on their head be touched.”
“Yes! I understand!” I quickly bowed down to her, his cold voice was so threatening and full of authority that it made me scared.
“Odis.”
“Yes, my lady?”
“You come with me, we are going to get them.”
“My lady, Please pardon my rudeness but I would like you to re-”
“Did I stutter, Odis? What Did I just say?” Her threatening voice was brought down fully on Odis but he didn’t budge in the least.
“Please reconsider, Just me will be enough to get the two of them back.” He stood his ground. The young lady took a bit of time but she walked forward.
“Your duty is to protect me, do it as if your life depends on it. I trust you, that's why I will go and get them myself.”
“But-”
“That is Final, Odis. Get your ass moving or I’m leaving you, Now.” Odis seems like he wants to say more but he keeps quiet and follows the Young Lady…
“Wow…she can be scary…Well, time to do my job I guess.” Quickly took my phone out, I dialed the number of my contact.