Jon watched the news... she sighed in relief. The town was back. She knew she had to fix things as soon as possible. once the alignment happens again, she'll wish it all away. Karyn called again.
"Hey Jon... are you okay?"
Jon felt a tear sting her eye. "Yes Karyn- just... Oh God, is this my fault?"
"It's okay," Karyn tried to sooth her. "We don't know what happened there... it might not have anything to do with your wish. This isn't exactly 'interesting'."
Jon thought a little about that reluctantly. "Hurting people is interesting to some people," She said rather darkly.
"But not to you. This was your wish... you tell me. Was having a town disappear interesting?"
"N-No... it wasn't." The slug girl said softly. Maybe interesting in a news sense... but not as something to experience. She thought people might actually be dead...
"So you see? It can't have been you," Karyn reasoned. "We have school tomorrow... you ready?"
"Yeah..." Jon replied still not sure what to make of it. How can she think of school at a time like this?
"I've been thinking a lot about Tiffany," She said a little sadly.
"Huh? Why?"
"During the week in school she was..."
"Herself?" asked Jon refraining from swearing.
"Think about it Jon. Was that really herself? I just don't know..."
Jon shook her head. It was like that of Karyn. Jon didn't really know what to make of female social circles. Even if she was in one... should she be bothered by how Tiffany acted? She thought she was acting as she always did... it was a good thing she didn't like slugs. "Well.. I'll keep an eye out," she said in the end.
For a while they continued to talk, though Jon's mind was still distracted. She glanced at the stone, carefully locking it away. The book was on her desk. What could be Britanny's connection? She would find out...
Eric held the little girl in her arms, and despite everything she smiled just a bit. She was a cute kid... even if she was completely mistaken about who her mother was. All she had to do was take Nikki across the crack to her home...
"Is anyone in there?" The teenage skunk girl called through the opening. The strange fracture itself was a very strange sight. The edges exhibited some kind of reflection, but it was also a delayed reflection. In one of those tiny reflections she saw Nikki move her hand... she glanced down to the little girl, who then moved her hand in the same way a moment later.
"No answer," Said Eric uncertainly.
"A-Am I.. lost?" Nikki asked upset.
"Don't worry. I'll take you to your mother," she said earnestly. The poor thing... she wondered if maybe she had transformed recently? She heard that for some people, the transformation made them lose a lot of memories the younger they became. Eric herself had only lost a few of the big things, but still retained enough to function as she always did.
It was entirely possible the transformation induced various false memories on the child... Who knows?
"I'm- scared," Nikki said pitifully.
"Don't be..." Eric said. "You came through there... so your home must be there."
"P-Please come with me?" She asked hopefully.
Eric tensed a bit, but the look of a child in such a predicament melted away her fear. Maybe if she had a quick look, it should be okay...
The two skunk creatures stepped through the strange crack...
Eric wasn't sure how to describe it. Before she had an 'out of body' experience... this was something similar, yet infinitely more strange. There were moments that things around them seemed to move really fast, suddenly slowing, and speeding right back up again. She felt a little ill.
Suddenly she found herself... on grassland once more. She glanced up... a yellow sun? It was day now? What the hell was going on?! To her annoyance she still had not changed back.
Nikki looked around. "T-This doesn't look like home either," She said crying.
"It's okay," Eric said holding her. She took a good look around, finding a lush forest. There was not even a road, or any evidence of civilization here. The young skunk suddenly felt very scared...
where were they? Were they in the other world? Or back on Earth? Or... somewhere else entirely?
Nikki started sniffing the ground. "S-Something's here." She said. "It's got your scent."
Eric blinked. "What?" She was also a little disgusted at the thought she even 'had' a scent... still she knew what Nikki meant. Eric also had Nikki's scent as a memory. A familiar scent.. but then, they were both skunk creatures.
Nikki started digging rapidly using her claws. "It's here," She said.
It was a box... and inside were three letters. One addressed to Nikki, another to Erica, and the last said do not open.
One thing on the box caught her eye though... a date.
September 2, 1885.
The skunk girl glanced around in mid panic. If that was right.. then this was the old west.. Hedgeton was a boom town trading in furs and wood from that forest... which meant... they were in serious trouble!
She anxiously read her letter, while Nikki read hers.
The note had a very simple instruction. Samuel will help you
Eric looked with annoyance... her letter didn't have much to go on... she glanced at Niki. Whatever was on her letter, seemed to be a lot longer. The girl was reading with a curious expression. "What does yours say?"
Nikki looked at Eric with a look of guilty. "U-Um.. I'm not 'supposed to say..."
"Huh? Why not!"
"M-My mommy told me not to..." She said biting her lip.
Eric sighed. Well at least Nikki was realising she was not her mother. Who would leave this letter? How in the world did it get her own scent on it? It made... no sense! She sniffed the air... she could also hear trees being felled in the forest. She and Nikki were not safe. If this was the old west, there was no telling what humans would do to them!
"We have to get out of here," she said to Nikki.
Nikki smiled happily. "We can go in the forest. It'll be like my mom taught me,"
"Your mother taught you how to survive in the forest?" She asked surprised. Maybe that's why she had no clothes...
"uh huh... It's not hard."
Eric nodded. It didn't look like they had much choice. The cracks in time here were all sealed up... "We're... We're both... lost... now," She said almost crying herself. Oh God...
Nikki looked sympathetically. She glanced at her letter a little guilty as if wondering if she had permission to bend an instruction slightly. "T-the way home could be here in a week..."
Eric looked at her. "Could?" Why was she saying could? "Did that letter say how to get home?"
"I- I can't tell you..." she said. "P-Please don't make me..."
Eric sighed. She looked at the letter that said Do not Open... she wanted to open it right now, in case it had information on how to get back.
"Y-You can't open it yet," Explained Nikki.
"Why not! This is an emergency Kiddo. Don't you get it? We're in the past!"
"S-Something bad will happen. Please?" She asked hopefully.
Eric sighed. The child really did look upset... what did she read in her letter? "Okay... fine... but I'll be keeping this letter on me."
Nikki nodded... with a rather glad expression? It was as if that was exactly how she wanted it to be anyway.
Eric's pulse was racing... she was in the past... and in her current form, that was a really bad thing. Still... what if... she could warn people in some way, about the events in her time? Maybe she could tell people to stay indoors on that day... maybe... maybe... she could warn herself at the least? She wouldn't be a skunk then! If she wasn't a skunk, she might not have ended up here... she might still be home instead. A cure was still in sight! But how to arrange such a thing?
If this wasn't all some elaborate hoax that is. The box didn't exactly give much concrete information... if they found other people, they might get more information... but dare she risk it?
Muriel continued to relate her story, she told every detail. She even told them about Tetra, believing they had the right to know about her.
"I thought... I sensed... something," her father the fire-lion explained.
"I- I don't want her in harms way," Muriel admitted quite upset. "I'm a police officer... I take those risks. It should not be my daughter," She said holding her mother in her arms.
"Oh honey..." How reversed the situation had become? There was a time she was worried when Muriel became an officer. What if she got hurt? The natural way of things was for Muriel to continue living when she had passed on... but how hard it would be, if that girl was only 9?
Her father placed a paw delicately on her daughters shoulder. "You know... my grandfather... your great great grandfather, was a soldier too... he was a child."
"W-What?"
"I remember it well... Back then, children did take part in warfare. It was not normal.. but not unusual either."
"What.. happened?" Muriel asked a little apprehensively.
"He was stationed in a ship, as I recall at the age of ten... having lied about his age, and they thought he was twelve. One of the youngest soldiers in the world at that time... He did play a part in saving lives... but for every story of strength, there was one of regret. There were children who would cry for their parents, as soon as the shelling started. My great grandfather wept when he explained this story to me."
Muriel paled just a bit. "W-What should I do?"
"Be there for her.. My grandfather had nobody at that time... when things get dark, be her light. When she loses clarity, make things simple for her. If she has no choice but to fight... make sure she fights with all her heart and soul. She is of our family now... and has that going for her."
Muriel smiled a bit. Her grandfather was so kind...
