I'm not sure what I did to deserve this…
I have tons of stuff to do and prepare before we leave… we all know that it will be difficult to take naps once we are on the road, but instead of my well-deserved nap… I'm walking behind a huge entourage of rats carrying a little girl and a snake on a shabby platform.
At least I'm not on it. that would be disgusting… they will need a bath when we come back to Green shelter.
'Dante!!! Where is my daughter?'
Mmm, I forgot to tell her we were out…
'We went out to play with Cai-Cai and Pinky~'
'Oh… Pinky? why is that rat with you?'
Finally, someone that understands me… I know she doesn't like mice either.
'She wanted to meet him because Cai-Cai talks about him a lot… we should be back for dinner.'
'Why so late?'
… I shouldn't lie too much…
'She is working on your Christmas present... can't say anything more I don't want to ruin the surprise.'
'Ok take care of her and tell me if anything happens… where are you by the way?'
She was trying to know more…
'Secret…'
After the short conversation and guaranteeing Isabella that Dana will be safe I focused on my surroundings…
Dana was having fun being carried by the rats, but she hasn't told them a single instruction about where to go so we are kind of walking around aimlessly.
I was thinking about telling her, but she noticed it herself. She had no idea where we are or where to go and that's expected… a lot of buildings collapsed in the area and made the place unrecognizable.
'Dante~~. Help~…'
*Sight*
I wonder what these humans would do without me…
___________________________________________
Using Dana's old memories and making a comparison with Spencer's current knowledge I was able to find the place where her old house should be.
Luckily it wasn't too close to the vortex, so the building wasn't swallowed by it, but as we walked and got closer, we found more buildings collapsed in our way.
In the platform, Dana and Cai-Cai were happily eating some snacks that Dana brought in a small backpack.
Sometimes the streets were completely blocked, but with a simple order Pinky redirected his rats around it, but there was a point when we reached a dead end…
'To the south!!'
'We came from that direction….'
The building we were looking for should be two blocks away but every street we tried to use was obstructed.
'The pass has been blocked by the Farmland Lord before leaving!! we can allow him to get it his way! Go my subjects get rid of this barricade left behind by the unholy followers of the demon god!!'
*SQUEAK!!!*
The rats carrying Dana and Cai-Cai carefully left the platform in the street and run towards the blockade and started to dig it. Soon enough more rats started to appear to help greatly improving our advance.
Dana also went to help them with her tiny hand removing dirt and small rocks.
The advance was slow but continuous, after getting rid of the first blockade we found the second one a little ahead of us… I hope we get home by dinner as I promised Isabella.
We managed to cross every barrier thanks to Pinky's rats.
They were extremely fast and somehow managed to survive the sudden collapse of a place they were digging.
The reason for their ability was that some of them had improved physical qualities so they could do more stuff than an average rat.
In the meantime, Dana was getting nervous, he noticed that it was getting darker and had difficulties recognizing the place.
We continued to move forward and found another collapsed building but this time before Pinky could instruct his rats Dana ran towards the collapsed building…
On the floor was something that she recognized as her building's nameplate…
She looked at the rubble and started to slowly dig into it hoping that everything in here was okay…
I didn't know how to tell her that she will not be able to find it…
The other rats moved forward and started to carefully dig the remaining of the building with her…
*Rumble*
The floor trembled as another building started to fall.
One of the rats jumped in Dana's direction trying to push her away.
I recognized the rat as… well, I didn't recognize it… all of them look the same to me but Dana knows that this was the fat rat that received and announced us at the throne room…
The falling debris was about to crush the rat and Dana might get hurt too.
This was getting out of control…
I did the only thing I could think of.
'Help~…'
The Space distorted and a human figure appeared in front of me.
He scanned his surroundings with his green eyes to size the situation and without taking a second, he broke a tiny grey marble with his fingers.
All the debris stopped midair…
He turned around and locked his eyes with mine.
"Now… you are going to explain to me why you and Dana are so far from Green Shelter…"
…
...
...…
I was scolded… not going into details… but I lost two boxes of tuna supplies as punishment (I had to manipulate him to lower it to only that).
"It's getting late so we should go back, Dana, give me your hand."
"No!! we are here, I need the present!!"
Dana used puppy eyes…
And… I should have asked her to help me lower my punishment before…
He looked at the collapsed building for a second and walked to the plate.
He crouched next to the rubble and touched it with just one finger.
He looked up and took a step back sizing the place where the building used to be.
"We can recover your present… but not today, we have time and right now is too dangerous."
"But mom has free the next days I can't come here…"
"I'll talk with her don't worry we will find your present okay?"
Dana seemed to be doubting but after seeing the rats looking at her and recalling what almost happened, she nodded.
"Good, now give me a second before we leave."
He sat on the floor and looked around as if he could see something that no one else could. He moved his hand and three marbles floated away from him.
They never fell, after arriving at a certain position they just stopped moving, floating a few meters above the floor.
As he said he was sitting for a minute before standing up.
"This will do. Let's go."
"He turned around and extended his hand to Dana."
She doubted for a second and looked at the building one more time before taking his hand.
They both took a step and disappeared…
I looked at the place for a few seconds. I had a weird feeling as if something that I couldn't see was going on… I went into Spencer's mind to see what he do and found out that he reversed time in the area… this building collapsed because of the vortex so it didn't happen too long ago.
That seems like a really good option.
I looked around and noticed that the rats were already leaving carrying back Cai-Cai.
Wait…
'Spence!! Are you going to leave me here!!'
'Part of your punishment…'
I should have stayed napping in the couch
__________________________________________________________________
When I got back that night I was severely scolded by Isabella, mainly because she was dirty when she came back… thank god she doesn't know what really happened, she would have killed me.
A couple days later Spencer went with Dana to the repaired building and they found what they were looking for.
A photo album.
Isabella wasn't expecting it and told us the stories behind most of their photos, the story of a young couple, how they met, the time was pregnant, Dana's first day at school and a lot more.
It was a nice evening, filled with tears and snot as they recalled the people that weren't with them.
That photo album just made Spencer's decision to find his mother, Isabella's husband and G's parents stronger than ever, and because of that, I think it was worth it…
I will miss those boxes of tuna thou~…