Chapter 11

I was having trouble breathing, so the man in the room called someone else into the room saying,

"I think she's hyperventilating, I don't know what to do."

"Move!" The other person in the room shouted then she held my shoulders and said calmly, "It's okay Snowe... calm down... take deep breaths... It's going to be okay." She reassured. I started to feel normal again after some time had passed and the man from before sat back down across from me.

"I'm sorry... I should have been more considerate when giving you this information." You think?! I struggled to keep my sarcastic remarks to myself and instead just glared in his direction. "Now the question is... do you want to stay here... or are you requesting transport back to our home world? It'll be two days before your ID and Passport are ready if you decide to stay..."

"I'll... go back... I want to see what I missed."

"Oh My name is Muko, I forgot to mention." He reached over the table to shake my hand and I accepted. "If you wish to return within a week, there will be no charge. After that though... I can't promise it will be easy." I nodded to show I understood and withdrew my hand. I'm going home...I should be excited but... instead, my head is all messed up right now. I had to wait a few more hours before the teleport device was ready since others were coming with me. The man and the woman from earlier were both waiting, as well as 5 people I didn't recognize. The transport room had a skylight and I saw the sun setting for the first time... It made me wish that I was watching it with... no I shouldn't even think about him! Not right now... but it would be nice if he could be here to hold me while I cried. The tears haven't stopped coming since I heard about my father's death... but I haven't made a sound... so maybe no one noticed.

"Stand in the center of the circle! The trip will only take a few seconds but you may feel queasy once you land, Please ready yourself, we depart in 30 seconds!" A timer lit up above the circle in the center of the room, so we all huddled together and waited. Once time was up a white light enveloped us and I was back on Infaniya. Some of the buildings looked unfamiliar but it felt nice to be home, I was last to fly away... maybe because I'm the only one not returning to a real home. I made my way to the prison instead, There's only one on the whole planet, on an Island that is shared by all three continent's governments. When I approached the gate I was stopped by a guard,

"What's your business here?" He asked with folded arms.

"I... want to visit a prisoner." The guard seemed perturbed but led me to the visitor entrance, anyway. I told them I wanted to see Qon Ark and the warden made the comment,

"Oh him, he's surprisingly popular. We rarely got visitors before he came around." That information made my stomach churn but I kept my feelings of revulsion to myself. He asked me to sign some papers and then led me to a room with a table, and 3 chairs. "Take a seat." I did as asked, but the officer stayed standing. A moment later Qon was ushered into the room. His hair was unkempt and he looked tired, but otherwise, he was exactly the same as I remember him.

"Snowe... Snowe?! Is that really you? See, it's her! I'm not a murderer! Look."

"Sit down!" The guard leading him in shouted while shoving him down into the chair across from me. That guard left and Qon got giddy, practically jumping up and down in his seat.

"Where have you been?" He asked cheerfully... as if he had a right to be so casual with me.

"I... can't recall... I disappeared from your house and ended up on Earth a month ago." I answered, he started mumbling to himself, then said,

"A month? Then why are you just now getting here?"

"You should be grateful I even showed up at all!" I yelled, the guard shushed me and I held my head down.

"It's just... I've been in here a long time for something I didn't even do." He muttered, "Even a month less would have been nice." He doesn't really care where I've been... he just wants to leave prison.

"You deserve to be here." I accused and he scoffed rolling his eyes. I looked back at the guard and whispered "You raped me, and you probably manipulated plenty of other people and just got away with it!"

"Rape? Even if I did, that was a long time ago and I didn't even get to finish... the maximum sentence for rape is 20 years, I've spent 99 years in this hellhole!"

"It... doesn't feel like it's been that long for me, I'm still not over it! The least you could do is show some remorse," My voice was quivering, but his face still looked indifferent,

"Well your perception is the one that's wrong, we can agree on that. I'm not the one who can't remember the last 100 hundred years of my life." His tone was one of irritation. I flinched in response. Apparently, my wounds have healed but a part of me is still afraid of him, even in this situation "Plus, your boyfriend tortured me enough," Boyfriend? He could only be talking about one person.

"Smoke... tortured you?"

"Oh yes, every day for 10 years," He displayed his fingers to me and I noticed how his fingernails were missing and there were stitch marks around each of his fingers as if they were clumsily sewn back on. "He made healing quickly feel like a curse... and.. the scars won't go away... parts of my body will never recover." Qon cringed as if remembering the pain and rubbed his wrist, I then noticed the same stitch marks around his wrist and running vertically down his neck.

"I didn't know..." I admitted, keeping my face down.

"These wounds aren't actually the worst part... he has quite a way with toxins,"

"I... I'm glad he did it." I blurted and Qon glared at me,

"You selfish bitch! I took you in when no one wanted you and you think I deserve this?! I wish I really did kill you, b*tch!" The guard rushed behind Qon and incapacitated him.

"Visitation is over..." I guess that was a trigger for him... just how badly did Smoke hurt him? I've seen Smoke fight, it always ended quickly with him as the undefeated victor but he never crossed me as a sadist. I left the prison and headed to my next destination... the Southern Palace. It was unguarded as usual because this is the home of the most powerful beings in the world. I entered the gates and made my way through the vast gardens then knocked on the door. The person who answered was Serco, Smoke's older brother. Last I heard he was banished to Earth. He looks just like an older version of Smoke... even though I guess they're both done aging, his eyes were bright red but the color flickered and moved around like a flame,

"What?" Serco was well known for being curt, but since it reminded me of Raijian I couldn't help but smile.

"I'm here to see Smoke." He eyed me for a second then moved aside so I could enter. The palace was large, with gold lining the walls, and flecks of gold shimmered from the marble floors, I remembered where Smoke's room was, thankfully, since I had to escort myself, I had no idea where Serco went. I had only come here one time with Ibij to pick up Smoke for a party. I knocked on the door and he answered, shirtless. His hair was longer, it hung down to his waistline now, but he was smoking, getting his daily dose of vitamins, he lost composure when he saw me and stomped his cigarette on the floor. I've never seen him be caught off guard or be ungraceful in any way. "Hi." I greeted shyly and he embraced me tightly.

"Snowe... is it really you?? What the heck?!" Wow, he's pretty excited. This is such a relief compared to everything else I've experienced today, "Let's talk in the library." He stated, not giving me a chance to respond, but holding my wrist and tugging me along. Once we were inside he closed the door then he erected a soundproof barrier around the room. "Where have you been?" He asked while sitting on top of the reading table, I sat down beside him,

"So I may have... accidentally used time travel," I replied sheepishly.

"...What?"

"Let me explain! I ... was caught up in a dangerous situation,"

"I know that part." He noted.

"Mhm and I wanted to escape, I felt this overwhelming fear and the need to run... next thing I know, I'm in the future." Smoke vanished from next to me and turned into smoke, and then he formed 12 clones, all scanning the shelves of the library.

"Oh, here it is!" One of the clones yelled, then all the others fused into that one and he removed a book from the shelves. "You can have this." He said while handing it to me,

"The... Tale of the White Rabbit?" Smoke then sat beside me.

"Yeah.. basically it's about a rabbit that travels through time to escape danger... it says that the rabbit chooses a host and grants them its powers but... the downside is, that he can't control what time period he ends up in... I thought it was fiction but... I guess it's not." I hurriedly flipped through the book. There was no author listed, but there's also no denying, this story is about me. I hugged the book to my chest.

"I appreciate the gift." Smoke laughed,

"You've always been awkward... I guess you haven't had time to change." He commented,

"I... also want to thank you for standing up for me... thank you..." My voice shook and Smoke hugged me once again,

"Duh, of course, I'd stand up for you... I felt so useless because I couldn't protect you... I needed to do something." I held him tighter,

"That wasn't your fault... It was mine. I didn't tell you anything... I was too ashamed of my life... I put myself in that situation. You did more than enough for me," Smoke sighed then pushed me away and said,

"You should go." Have I upset him?

"I'm sorry," I whispered and he laughed,

"You haven't done anything wrong... there's just... someone waiting on me, in my room and," My mind was spinning, "... You keep reminding me why I liked you back then."

"I always wondered why, myself," I said, my interest growing.

"Snowe... I'm engaged. But... I might just have to leave her ...now that you're back." Smoke looked into my eyes as he delivered this heart-attack-inducing phrase. Is he serious?! The intense emotion coming over me is shock. I don't even know how to respond.