☆ ~》 Milimato POV 《~ ☆

            I have never been a fan of being left alone, growing up that is basically all I did while trying to avoid the others as much as possible. I don't really understand why it was such a bad thing for me to not want to be a warrior, what's even the point? On Mato they start wars for fun, they have bunnies fighting against each other for both practice and entertainment purposes. We have multiple districts on Mato, each district has a leader and each leader assigns the rules of the district itself. The leaders don't do anything but plan the next mission to anger another district and have their fun. We might be hard to kill, but there are a lot of deaths due to the fact that all bunnies have a weakness. The same exact weakness to be honest, the essence of a very special flower that only grows near the lake and the forbidden forest. You could say the forest became forbidden after discovering the effects those flowers had on us. At least this is the information I have gathered from the countless books I buried myself in, after finally getting a place I could call a home. Some districts play fair and don't use the essence of the flower in conflicts, but other districts have developed a way to take the essence from the flower and make special weapons with the intent to kill. Then there is the Lord, the ruler of all districts and their leaders but unfortunately not strong enough to stop the killing of our own kind.

            This is where Lelomato comes in, she is the right hand of the Lord, and in a twisted way, she is there to try and keep the peace. Make sure that people follow the rules and protect her district, our district. Lelomato has been pushed hard since birth to be able to take over as Lord one day, she always talked about making Mato a better place for me to be in. And now we are stuck god knows where and I don't even know if we will be able to find our way back home. I can't even begin to imagine what she must be feeling being away from home, I don't even know what she truly felt like at home. Lelomato spent so much time taking care of everyone else that there was no room for me to be able to take care of her.

            Sure, I cleaned the house. I made the food. I took care of her during every healing process and even came along on some missions. But even on the missions, I was of no use, I always ended up being her weakness, and I fear that one of these days I will be her downfall. Never has Lelomato forced me into learning any type of self-defense, instead she spent extra time on herself learning more things to be able to better protect me from the world. Even though I might be forever thankful for every single thing she does it hurts my heart whenever I see that red spark that fuels her hatred and anger, it hurts me that sometimes when she thinks I can't notice she slowly goes into this sad state where her world probably comes crashing down upon her. Trying to get her to talk about it is no use, it's almost like she refuses to remember those moments and puts them in a place deep inside of herself. My two biggest fears are that either, I will be the reason she dies, or all the things she keeps bottled inside will finally find their way back to her all at once. Getting her to admit that she is happy for a second is hard enough, I can't even begin to imagine what will happen when they all come knocking on her door. Will I be able to keep her safe from herself?

            She doesn't know it, but Nanamato told me about times where Lelomato would end up missing. They had found her by the lake, or the forbidden forest, debating on whether she would walk through the field of flowers and end the chaos inside of her. Not even once has that thought ever occurred to me no matter how hard it became while I was growing up. No parents, living in the orphanage until I was kicked out and Lelomato took me in, being everybody's favorite punching bag if Lelomato wasn't there to stop it. I owe her my life, if I can stop her from going down that dark path again then I will do so even at the cost of my own life.

            Soft knocks are coming from the door before I can hear her call my name. By the sound of her voice, I can tell that I won't be pleased after opening up the door.

            "Milimato, just push the key to my side and I will open the door myself."

            After getting off the bed I slowly make my way towards the key to push it under the door. I can hear her climbing up and using the key to unlock the door.

            "So uhm, this was kind of a bad idea but we will make it work. On the count to three, can you please pull the door with all the strength you have?"

            "Sure Lelomato, but you know it might not be much.."

            "You are stronger than you think now. I am going to count down okay?" If we ever find our way back home I promise I will start to train a little, just so I can be of some use.

            "1.. 2.. 3.."

            Strength has never been a trait of mine, I couldn't even move around the furniture in our house without breaking out in sweat. Somehow the door opens up enough for me to sneak out.

            "Is it safe?" I look up at Lelomato sliding her way down the rope.

            "Safe, yes. Are we leaving? Nope."

            "What? Why not?" Is there no way out of here?

            "I need to show you something, come with me.." Lelomato starts walking towards the stairs but stops in front of one of the rooms. "Wait here."

            Uh oh, that can't be good. That devilish smirk of hers is giving her away. What is she up to this time? A wooden object comes my way and I can see Lelomato pushing it forward from behind.

            "What is this Lelomato?"

            "It's a plankmato, and it is going to take us downstairs. I just need you to get up on my back and I will handle the rest. All you have to do is trust me."

            "A plankmato? You know I trust you but this... doesn't seem safe."

            "Just hop on my back already and stop asking questions. The faster you do it the faster we can get home."

            Reluctantly I jump on Lelomato's back, I know she would never put me in any kind of danger but the fact that she is already familiar with a foreign object makes me question her and her methods. After she climbs up on the plankmato she holds on to it and gently makes it move forward causing us to fly down the stairs. The bubbling feeling in my stomach is so uncomfortable that I have to close my eyes because it feels like I'm about to throw up.

            "LOOK OUT FATTY!"

            "LELOMATO!!!"

            I can't help but scream as we seem to crash into something, I refuse to open my eyes and see what chaos she caused.

            "Hey! That's my skateboard!" I hear one of the monsters say, I can feel Lelomato walking but the fact that the monsters are here makes me want to open my eyes even less.

            "Sit still fatty." Who is she calling fatty? It feels like we are getting higher off from the ground but I wouldn't know. For all I know, we are still on the plankmato. A high pitched laughter starts sounding throughout the room, what the hell is going on here? I cling to Lelomato even tighter, I can't be here. Why is she taking me here?

            "You took another one of my skateboards without asking.."

            What does he mean by another one? Wait a minute, I open my eyes to make sure I can see what I am doing before smacking Lelomato in the back of her head.

            "You already did that one time? What the hell Lelomato?! I thought we had a deal that you would stay out of trouble."

            "Ouchie!" Lelomato brings out the cutest pout I have ever seen. "I didn't get hurt, nor did I get in any kind of trouble until he ratted me out!"

            She points to one of the monsters. I had just forgotten about the monsters in the room, after quickly taking a look around I bury my face in Lelomato's neck. I can't handle this attention and she knows it. If I knew how to get up the stairs I would storm off just to hide somewhere else, but what's more confusing is how relaxed she is being in the center of the monsters. I thought we didn't trust them? I can feel her poking the side of my head.

            "Here, eat this."

            The smell of bread fills my nose and I can't stop myself from shyly turning my head and opening my mouth. I know what this must look like to other warriors, a little baby that can't take care of herself. And yes, they are more than right about that one. I might not be a baby, but being around strangers, well, more like a crowd I don't trust makes me uncomfortable to the point that my body freezes up. I can't explain it, the unwanted attention makes me want to shrink and slowly disappear. If they can't see me, they can't be annoyed by my existence.

            "Thank you.." I whisper softly for only Lelomato to hear.

            "You are welcome, just poke me and I will feed you more," Lelomato says and then turns to look at the monsters. "So, are you going to introduce yourselves or do I have to make up new names for all of you? I already named fatty over there."

            "My name is Daeh.."

            "Right.. fatty. So. Don't think I actually care what your names are, because I don't. I am not your friend, I am not even your enemy, I am your nothing. But unlike me this little cutie on my back has that thing you call feelings and you are making her rather uncomfortable. So, let's make this a little more comfortable, before, someone in this room has the honor of dropping the wonderful news about us leaving to her."

            Why do I need to get more comfortable if we are leaving..? What is going on here? I trembled in increasing fear.

            "Seems fair. I am Bang Yongguk, the oldest of us."

            That deep husky voice scares and oddly calms me down a bit at the same time, I don't know why. Maybe I just feel more comfortable after everything he did yesterday. He has black fur on top of his head, not as short as our fur but it's rather short in terms of their size. It smoothly almost reaches his dark brown eyes that have this intense stare that captures your attention.

            "Are you going to introduce yourself, princess?" Who is Lelomato referring to this time? Her nicknames are so confusing...

            "Shut up pigface." The mentioned monster responds.

            "Here, let me introduce you. Milimato, this is princess Chan. She thinks she is the prettiest of them all and has a stick up her ."

            Why does she have to be so insulting all the time? She is going to get us in serious trouble one of these days. Suddenly one of the monsters gets up from his chair and I can't help but hold on tighter to Lelomato as I pray that we won't get eaten.

            "That's enough! Milimato, that is Kim Himchan and he is a couple of months younger than I am." Yongguk says while pulling Himchan down into his seat again. Himchan's fur is in a different color, it's brown instead of black. His gaze screams that he probably wants us dead at the moment, but maybe Lelomato isn't that far off with the whole being the prettiest of them all? I wouldn't know but there is just this glow around him that I can't explain. This entire time I have felt all eyes on me, except for one pair of eyes that are glued to Lelomato.

            "Hi. I'm Jung Daehyun. Those two are both 26, I am 23 years old. Nice to meet you!"

            I don't know if that is the biggest smile I have ever seen in my life or if he is trying to scare the crap out of me by showing how big his teeth are... Either way, I doubt it is me he is trying to show anything because his warm eyes are still glued to Lelomato. In fact, now that I think about it they have been ever since the first time we saw him. Maybe he likes stars? I wonder if Yongguk and Daehyun are related, the fur on their head is the same color. Now that I look closely, the monster sitting next to Daehyun has the same one as well.

            "I'm Yoo Youngjae and I'm 22 years old."

            I am really trying to tell the three apart. I mean, black fur.. same length.. Their eyes are all a shade of dark brown. Although Youngjae does have smaller lips than the others. I recognize his voice though, it's the same one that thought we couldn't speak.

            "Moon Jongup."

            I could barely hear his voice as he spoke, it was almost as if he was as shy as I was. But this time I was sure that it was a smile on the monster's lips and not him trying to show off his teeth. His gray fur on his head complemented his dark eyes and even though he was wearing armor you could see a lot of muscles, maybe he is their best warrior?

            "Jongup is just a little shy around new people. I'm Choi Junhong btw, I recently turned 20 and Jongup is 21."

            The last monster was the only one who had almost as bright fur as the walls were white. For some reason he is the youngest yet I saw him being the tallest with a rather skinny build. Having them introduce themselves did nothing to help the fact that I badly wanted to get out of there, even though they had better manners than Lelomato.

            "I'm Lelomato and that is Milimato but I am sure you already knew that since you kidnapped us and all. Now Yongguk, I think it's time you start explaining the situation since for once I am not the one to blame." Why don't I like the sound of this?

            "You can't leave yet because it is not safe out there, Byungho and Younghwan who kept you in the 'glass box' are desperately looking for you and have even put out a few traps here and there to try and capture you. I said I was going to handle them and I will, I just need more time. So why don't you just stay here where it is safe until they have forgotten all about you?" Why are they looking for us, we haven't done anything?

            "There you go again with the silent order, 'you can't'. Yes, I CAN. Unless you are ready to fight me I will be walking out that door to find Bubbles. I will probably smell their traps before being able to spot them so there is nothing to be worried about. However, if Milimato wants to stay then we will stay. But I will be going out to get Bubbles either way and THAT is not up for discussion." Why would she let me decide? I never helped plan anything before, let alone make a decision that involves our safety!

            Oh, wait... Yes, I did... I trusted Yongguk, but did I really?

            I can hear them talking back and forth but I can't focus on it. What if she is serious and wants me to make a decision? I don't think I would call it trust, more fear of the unknown outside. But Lelomato is all healed, she can take care of us, right? I just want to go home. At least I knew I would be safe in our house. When I look up I end up meeting Yongguk's gaze, has he been staring at me this whole time? Why is he even looking at me? The rest of the monsters are intently staring at a now shouting Lelomato.

            "Milimato. What do you want to do?" Her soft voice breaks me free from the staring contest with Yongguk.

            "Huh? What do I want to do? With what?"

            "Do you want to stay here where they claim 'it's safe' or do you want to come with me to go find Bubbles?"

            "Why won't you answer the damn question pigface? Who the hell is Bubbles?" Himchan barks at Lelomato. I don't know why but these two can't seem to get along at all.

            "I-I-I don't know."

            "STOP SHOUTING YOU IDIOT YOU ARE SCARING HER." Lelomato starts shouting back at Himchan, if someone doesn't stop her she is going to end up killing someone. They don't know her like I do, she can't handle others making me feel anything but happy.

            "WHY DON'T YOU STOP SHOUTING FIRST."

            Please make them stop. Just make them stop. I don't know why but my eyes slowly search for Yongguk and if I didn't know any better I would say his eyes haven't moved an inch. Suddenly he takes his hands and covers his ear while he tries to tell me something. I am not that good at reading lips and I think he understands that because he starts pointing at me and then covering his ears. So I do as he says and cover my ears, I don't even know why I do it.

            "SHUT UP THE BOTH OF YOU! Himchan if you can't handle this situation go upstairs or take a walk, Lelomato please try to keep yourself calm so we can sort this out like adults." Why am I not good at reading lips? I can see them moving but nothing makes any sense.

            "Listen to me you little , talk to me like that again and I will rip your intestines out and feed it to your little group of idiots. You are lucky that Milimato is holding on to me right now or that scenario would already have happened." Yongguk signals for me to remove my hands that are covering my ears and much to my surprise it's dead silent in the room.

            "Now, would you mind answering us about this Bubbles? Are there more of you still out there? We will help you find Bubbles if you let us." If it wasn't for the fact that I can feel Lelomato's blood boil I would almost have believed that everything was just fine here by the sound of his voice.

            "I can find Bubbles on my own thank you very much. Milimato do you want to stay here or are you ready to go find Bubbles and go home?" Why does she keep insisting for me to make this decision, I am sure whatever I pick will end up getting us in more trouble. Yongguk did say we were free to go yesterday and today we are no longer allowed claiming it's dangerous for us to be outside of this house. But are we safe inside this house? If looks could kill Lelomato would be dead already from the daggers that are shooting through Himchan's eyes. Even if we were to somewhat trust Yongguk, how will we even be sure that Himchan won't kill us in our sleep? Do they sleep? I mean they have beds so they probably sleep, it makes more sense at least.

            "I want to go home.."

            "Then it's settled." I can feel Lelomato turning around and walking towards the end of the table, I think she is ready to walk out of here. Oh god, please let us leave...

            "Not so fast." A pair of hands shoots out in front of her and I can feel her getting ready to attack whoever is trying to stop us. I bury my face in Lelomato's neck holding on to her for dear life.

            "Please Nyx... Get us out of here.." I whisper for only her to hear.

            "This is the third time you try to stop me with your filthy hands fatty, there better be a good reason why it's still in my face or I will ing kill you."

            "Who is Bubbles?" Daehyun asks.

            "Are you kidding me? Milimato I need you to let go of me for like two seconds okay?"

            "NO! Please just, let's go.." Why can't we just leave? We are not their responsibility.

            "Milimato get off my back now so that I can get us out of here, they won't touch you I promise.."

            "WHO is Bubbles?" Daehyun asks again.

            "Shut up fatty! Hemera get off me please.."

            "IT'S A SHIP! OKAY, BUBBLES IS A SHIP!"

            I don't know why I end up trying to take a look at what is going on, but I turn my head towards the other end of the table and am met once again by Yongguk's intense gaze. I can't understand what is so special about me, if anyone is impressive in this room it's Lelomato. You will notice her whether you want to or not, the confidence of this bunny is beyond this world. She has this strong aura that captures your attention and if for some mysterious way it doesn't, her loud mouth will. The room is suddenly filled with laughter.

            "What the are you laughing at princess?" There she goes barking at people again..

            "You named that rusty old thing Bubbles? OMG, this is priceless!"

            "Himchan, that is enough. Your ship is in the garage, so no need to go look for it." I hear Yongguk's calm voice say. Now that I think about it Yongguk did ask him to go find Bubbles. They actually brought back our ship.

            "Do I look stupid to you? Do you think I am just going to take your word for it? You, fatty, show me." Lelomato kicks Daehyun's hand before climbing onto it as she is talking.

            God, why didn't I think of that? Why do I so blindly just go along taking their word for everything? So far I haven't ended up in any real kind of danger but what about next time? They are all the same, no one is ever going to be by my side like Lelomato. I learned that the hard way on Mato, so what makes these creatures any different?

            "My pleasure." Your pleasure? What pleasure? Is he eating us?! This is exactly what I was talking about, they try to lure you in and then they will kick you when you least expect it. I can't keep my eyes open, we are starting to move and if it wasn't for that little fact that Lelomato is here I would probably have died from multiple heart attacks. How can she be so calm? What if this so-called garage is a twisted torture dungeon where they are going to skin us and eat us for lunch? What if they lock us up in a better cage than Byungho and Younghwan? How will we ever get back home if we are stuck there? I know Lelomato is strong but everything on this planet is so different from back home that I can't expect her to be able to handle everything like she handles it back at Mato.

            "Is this what you were looking for?" My eyes shoot open at the sound of Daehyun's voice, I know I said I couldn't keep my eyes open but when we stopped moving I knew that whatever was going to be in front of us is going to be our fate. But this time I actually worried for nothing, because I am currently staring at a less shiny Bubbles.

            "BUBBLES! Put me down fatty!" Lelomato runs up to her precious ship and I can hear her heart breaking from the shock of the current state of her ship.

            "Bubbles, reboot." Not a single sign of life coming from Bubbles. We need to fix her if we are ever going to get home.

            "BUBBLES PLEASE REBOOT!"

            "Lelomato, I think she is dead. We need to magically find the right tools to fix her back up."

            I don't even know what tools you need or how you fix a ship, I never participated in those kinds of things either on Mato. Sure, I read a couple of books here and there with the basic stuff but it just wasn't as fascinating as everything else so I didn't store it in the back of my head. Why would I? I never thought the day would come where I would actually have to be able to know the stuff and help out with a ship.

            Lelomato has now walked inside the ship and gently puts me down. Flashbacks from the crash start to appear as I can clearly see the amount of blood that is covering the floor from dragging her body outside of the ship. I can't believe that so much has happened these last few days, to be honest, I don't even know if I remember correctly every single detail of what has actually happened and I was the one who was actually awake for it. I feel Lelomato's hand running through my fur as she plants a kiss on my forehead.

            "We will be fine Hemera, I promise. We will fix Bubbles and then we go home, it's that simple. We just have to figure out a good hiding place where we can sleep and fix Bubbles in peace, I should probably have all the tools we need to fix her up and if not? Then I will find them somehow. No need to worry about anything okay?"

            "I'm scared. I don't like the way Himchan keeps trying to kill you in his mind. Or how Daehyun keeps looking at you like you look at food. And Yongguk kept staring at me. They won’t let us go, that is why they are keeping a close eye on us."

            "Milimato. We have Bubbles, I have my weapons and I am fully healed. Whatever these humans think they can do to us to keep us locked up, I will return to them a thousandfold. All you have to do is stay by my side and trust me, I got this." How did she manage to get her gear on that fast? I didn't even see her reaching for it.

            "Let's go take a look on the outside again." Lelomato takes my hand and slowly walks out of the ship, I just have this feeling that I am still the one who has to make the decision on whether or not we stay here while fixing Bubbles. I don't know how to figure out what the right answer is.

            "So, as you can see your ship is here, Youngjae can probably help you take a look at it and we can fix it up before you leave. All we want is to keep you safe until then." All the humans were now standing here in the garage looking at us, my heart feels like it is about to jump out of my body.

            "I can fix my own ship thank you very much, but where we go from here is up to Milimato. I want her to feel safe, if she feels safe I can focus more on fixing Bubbles without being distracted. So what do you say? Do you want to trust these humans and stay here or do you want us to take our chances outside somewhere?"

            Why, oh why, do I have to decide, I can't do this. Maybe I am overthinking it, maybe I should just close my eyes and take a deep breath before saying the first answer that comes to mind? As I close my eyes I can see all eyes staring at me, I try not to be too affected by it and just take one long breath. Emptying my head from all previous thoughts, do you want to stay or go?

            "Stay."

            What did I just do?