BXBX NOVEL Chapter 732 Lee Seng's 'Determination'
Ritsuka and Keng were peeking from the side, trying to catch a glimpse of Lee Seng. The Druidic Temple was thriving with wonderful fruit trees, plants and odd vines that crawled up the Temple building.
"There he is!" Keng pointed.
"Lee!" Ritsuka shouted, waving to him. Manny and Evan sighed.
"You two don't have to be like this every time you see him walking about." Manny told them. "He's been walking fine for the last month."
"Can't be too sure!" Keng happily answered. Lee Seng came to a stop in front of the four guys and smiled at them.
"Hey, it's just – damn, you all came." Lee Seng's eyes went over to Manny and Evan. The two of them gave short waves while Keng and Ritsuka bear hugged Lee Seng.
"Is everything okay?" Keng asked. "Can you join us on missions?" Keng buried his face into Lee Seng's cheek. Lee Seng's face squeezed as he tried to rip Keng and Ritsuka off him.
"I'm… gonna die to your smothering love!" Lee Seng shouted, ripping himself away from them. He stomped on the ground a couple of times before wiping his cheek. "Did you just kiss me?"
"Yes~" Keng smiled like an adorable puppy greeting his owner. Lee Seng sighed as he stretched.
"Are you alright?" Evan asked. "What did the Priestess and doctor say?"
"They said I'm fine, but –" Lee Seng answered as the group erupted in cheers. They all moved to hug him, squishing him in the middle of it all. "I'm… I'm not done…!"
"This is great news!" Manny spoke loudly. "You're fine now! You can finally come with us on missions!"
"I think he should ease into it, but yeah." Evan agreed.
"We can have our sixth member back!" Ritsuka smiled.
"What am I then?" Keng asked Ritsuka.
"Our six-point five member." Ritsuka smiled. Keng rolled his eyes as he pushed Ritsuka away. The group broke out of the hug, leaving Lee Seng feeling guilty about not saying the last half of his sentence. Keng and Ritsuka's hands moved in together as they pushed each other. It was their game of strength and Keng could've easily won but felt a sense of accomplishment in beating Ritsuka with Ritsuka's strength.
"Did you have something else to say?" Manny asked, noticing Lee Seng's body language.
"Hm?" Lee Seng shook out of it. Keng and Ritsuka stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Lee Seng. "Well…" He looked at the ground before looking over at Keng. "Do you know anyone who could work on my DME flow?"
Lee Seng went into detail about his current condition. It wasn't the best and it could've been just the stress of yesterday's incident, but something about his powers not functioning correctly bothered him. The guys listened attentively as Lee Seng told them everything. When Lee Seng finished, they all seemed to nod, slowly.
"Yesterday's red eyes incident happened after you and Lily fell from a tree branch and you couldn't suspend yourselves in the air and now it happened, again with the checkup?" Manny summarized. Lee Seng nodded.
"That doesn't sound good." Evan commented. "All of the people who could help him are on Earth… It'd be hard to get there… Especially since—" Manny's hand wrapped up around Evan's mouth. He smiled at Lee Seng and then looked at Keng and Ritsuka. Evan grabbed Manny's hand and tried to rip it off, protesting with muffled shouts.
"I'll send a message to General Halys." Keng suggested. That was enough to draw Lee Seng's attention away from Evan and Manny. "I'm pretty sure someone helped you with your Flow problem last time we were in Daros. General should know someone capable of helping."
"Until then, I think you should take it easy. Wouldn't want you to take on something and then your powers die out." Ritsuka finished Keng's sentence. The two had grown closer over the years. All of them did despite acting a bit colder due to Lee Seng's coma status.
"I agree. Take it easy." Manny nodded. Evan ripped Manny's arms away from him and ducked as Manny's arms moved back to grab Evan. Evan stepped off to the side and eyed Manny before turning his attention to Lee Seng, again.
"You could at least go to the Temple." Keng suggested. "It isn't too far from Lily's side of the town. We could leave right now and probably get there in like… Four or five days by foot."
"I don't want to walk that long, again…" Evan groaned. "The last time we went on foot, we ended up going into swamp territory… A two-day journey took five days!"
"Alright, alright! I didn't think it would be that bad." Keng threw his arms up. "I'm sorry for the millionth, billionth time!"
"I was so wet. All. The. Way. Up. To. My. Knees!" The next thing Lee Seng knew, Evan was near Keng, grabbing his leg as Ritsuka tried to separate the two. Manny sighed, rubbing his head as Lee Seng watched, surprised.
"Guys…" Manny spoke.
"THE MUD CLUTCHED ONTO ME LIKE THIS, KENG! FOR THREE WHOLE DAYS! THREE WHOLE DAYS!" Evan had the grip of a koala. He did not want to get off.
"Evan, we get it. Just get—" Ritsuka began to say as Evan screamed. Manny rolled his eyes and eyes began to turn to look at the group of Biohuman boys causing a scene. Keng sighed and just started to walk with Evan stuck on his leg.
"C'mon." Keng motioned. "He isn't getting off anytime soon."
"Did I miss something valuable?" Lee Seng asked Ritsuka. "When did Evan get so… Loud?"
"Years of paranoia went to his mouth." Ritsuka chuckled. "C'mon." He patted Lee Seng and walked with him as Manny shook his head and followed after Keng and Evan.
"Evan, get off!" Manny shouted.
"AHHHH!" Evan shouted back.
"Oh my god. Why did you have to become so loud?" Manny embarrassingly asked.
"Your energy flow's out of whack?" Ritsuka asked Lee Seng. Lee Seng looked at him and nodded as they slowed to separate themselves from all the yelling. Ritsuka nodded. "Olivia's grandma was right. You would need a lot of energy to even function. Who'd a thunk you would still have flow problems…"
"How did I even get energy put back into me? Isn't it dangerous to feed someone your energy constantly?" Lee Seng asked.
"There was a period when we first came here, that you were somewhat submerged in some lake. Chrono said the lake would help you. We had to carry you to a secluded place up on a mountain. The weather was strange but when we got there, it was quiet. A sage was up there, waiting for us and took care of you while we watched. For three weeks we followed the same routine. We hunted for food and water and kept a watch on you. Keng wouldn't talk for months. He would simply do what we suggested, sometimes ignoring us completely and staying by your side.
"I think he took it the worst out of all of us. Manny was devastated. He cried and cried for you to wake up, but Keng kept quiet. I thought he was beating himself up because he didn't save you sooner. He prayed endlessly for Rox'su and Vox'su to answer him. I think he wanted to blame them. If they hadn't taken away your abilities, you'd be alive." Ritsuka told Lee Seng. Ritsuka's eyes shimmered for a moment before he wiped the tears away. He looked at Lee Seng and noticed how serious he had gotten.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to get so dark, but…" Ritsuka looked down.
"It's how you all felt, right?" Lee Seng quietly answered. Ritsuka nodded and looked ahead, following the bending path back into the market.
"I think we all worked our butts off from the second we stepped foot in here… Olivia worked herself into sickness." Ritsuka let out a sigh and checked on his tied-up hair. "Evan became like that because he didn't want to show anyone what he was feeling. He created… all of that to let everyone know he could be our light, but…" Lee Seng leapt up and wrapped his arm around Ritsuka's neck and pulled him down.
"It's alright." Lee Seng answered, pulling Ritsuka's hair tie off. He released him and played with the hair tie as he watched Ritsuka's hair fall to his face. "It must've been so hard for all of you… Look at me, I suffered so much trying to get better and I'm still not better." A forced smile grew on Lee Seng's face as he turned and pushed the hair tie into Ritsuka's hand. The two stopped and Ritsuka couldn't help but notice Lee Seng was trying his best to hide his emotions. "I'll make sure I fully recover and get us back to Earth so we can finish our business, 'kay?"
"Lee…" Ritsuka shifted in his spot. Lee Seng turned away and nodded with a burning smile on his face.
"We just need to find that cup in Limbo first." Lee Seng nodded. "Once find that, we can save the Merfolk and prepare to leave for Earth." Lee Seng's fist bundled up. He started walking, again, leaving Ritsuka behind. Ritsuka hastily put his hair back into its usual look, following after Lee Seng.
"Lee!"
"I'll make sure you all get closure." Lee Seng looked at Ritsuka. Lee Seng was angry. He was sad. His friends had suffered the last two Daros cycles because of him when they could've been searching for the Cup and answers about the Deimons. "I'll get through this, Ritsuka. Someone will know how to fix me. There's someone out there. I know it!"