The Others

The next morning, Reiko was back by the waterfall, gazing into the water. The sun had already come up, and there was nothing for him to see in the city now that it was light out. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through the water, slightly bubbly from the churning waterfall.

Then a totally random thought slipped into his mind: there are no streams or rivers nearby

for a moment it didn't mean anything, but the thought struck him harder:there are no streams or rivers nearby

weird....

Out of simply curiousity, Reiko took off his shoes and socks and stepped into the water, feeling for holes where the water could escape. The water came up to his waist in the deepest part of the pool, and there were no underwater streams for the water to escape.

Reiko stared into the waterfall, heart pounding. If he found a secret cave behind the waterfall, it would be his little haven, so he could escape.

without thinking, he walked straight into the waterfall--

--and was almost pummeled to death.

Reiko came out from the other side, gasping for breath, and dragged himself onto the bank, where he collapsed and didn't rise, unconicous.

When morning came Geomana and Sano were off. Geomana had recovered greatly and could run.

"We're not flying," she protested as she put the note on the counter.

"There isn't much else we can do."

"We can run?"

"You can out run me by a mile."

"We could walk?"

"You really don't want to fly do you?"

"Never again."

Sano sighed, "we'd better get going before Kresko wakes up then."

Heading out Sano thought of the ways to get to their destination. "By boat."

"You say something?"

"Well, I have an old friend who owns a shipping line. He may be able to give us passage that way."

Geomana breathed a loud breath of relief, "thank God! I was starting to think we were going to have to fly." She shuddered at the thought.

After a while of walking Geomana realized they weren't headed towards either Sano's house or the bar.

"Where are we going?" Geomana asked, feeling foolish.

"Theres another exit, sorta...my personal one."

"Ohhh."

When they arrived they found Rieko unconcisouss on the ground.

Idiot, idiot, idiot! was the first thought that Reiko remembered. Let's just walk straihgt into the middle of a heavy waterfall now, especially when you knew how shallow the water was. did it even occur to you to try and go around the waterfall instead of in the middle?

then all thoughts came to an abrupt halt except for one: pain.

Reiko groaned and tried to move his arm, but he couldn't. He could barely even feel it. And his leg was definately broken, he had no doubt about that.

Feeling his face with his good hand, he decided he was alive. But he was definately better dead...

He closed his eyes again and lay still, not wanting to return to the world.

Geomana gripped Sano's arm, both in a reassuring gesture to herself and in a somewhat restraining way for him.

"Rieko!" Sano shouted.

**Thats all i've got**

Reiko heard voices, but his ears were ringing too much to understand what they were saying. Something nudged him, but he didn't move. He couldn't move. He was nugded again, harder, but as much as he wanted to stop them, he couldn't. Words didn't seem to work either. As much as he wanted to tell them to go away and leave him alone, his tongue didn't seem to work.

But, even though he knew he couldn't, he tried to say something--anything. So he tired.

what came out instead was a mix between a grutn and a moan. Not even Reiko knew what he was trying to say, but at this poit, it really dind't matter.

"Rieko, get up," Sano nudged him again.

Rieko stopped as if the fog in his head just cleared and he realized who was talking.

"Sano," Geomana pleaded, "don't hurt him."

"I'll try not to kill him, but he's already hurt."

Geomana kneeled by Rieko, pulling Sano with her. She managed to roll him over and he opened his eyes.

"Holy shit!" he said and tried to scramble away from Sano.

"Rieko calm down!" Geomana said. "If you try to run you're going to kill yourself. I only want to help."

Rieko looked at her like she was crazy, "why would you want to help me?"

"Because I can't bear to see someone in pain."

Sano made a disgusted grunt.

"Sano, I won't leave him here to die, and he will if we don't help him."

Sano looked down, then at Geomana. He looked at Reiko last and bent down. Reiko shuffled back a bit, Sano didn't move to hurt him, "Get on my back, I'll carry you to a doctor."

"As a thing, no way!" Reiko shouted

Geomana was going to say something, but Sano got to it first, "No, as a human, There's a stairwell further down the cavern, so hop on."

Reiko just sat there not moving, "No."

Sano got up and dusted himself off and drew his sword.

"Sano no!"

"I'm not going to hurt him, much."

"I knew you were evil."

Sano bent down a grabbed the sword by the blade to shorten it. He moved quickly and with some extra cloth he had on his person he mended all of the serious cuts and gashes as best he could, "There, now you wont die down here as long as you get back up in a few days."

Reiko just looked at him self and then back up at him, "Why, why do this?"

"I told you, I can't fix the world by causing more suffering now can I." H offered his hand to help Reiko up and slowly he took it.

Geomana could barely believe it, he could do that?

"Rieko," she said after she got to her feet, "why did you come back?"

"I didn't really intend to yet."

"Yet?"

"I intended to come back...with some back up."

Geomana was shocked, less for what he was saying but the fact that he was actually saying it.

"Rieko," Geomana said, her anger getting out of her control, "get out, and just...go away, don't come back here."

Involentarially her eyes started to change, she had to get control soon or she'd become a wolf and rip his throat out.

Sano put his hand on her shoulder and she latched on to him. He looked up at Reiko, "You think we're bad, but you just harmed her in a way that may never heal." He punched him in the face, but with nothing attached.

Reiko stumbled back, but regained his balance, "You bastard."

"You're the bastard! I thought you'd be a person who could understand, but instead you destroyed our trust by hurting Geomana! You tortured her, beat her, and she still gave you another chance! You are the evil ones, not us! We want to live in peace while you kill our people! One day you'll see the depth of your action and the consequences of them."

Calming down he grasped Geomana with all his might and love, It'll be okay Geomana, I wont let anything happen to you, i promise.

Geomana buried her head in his chest, letting the rythmic beating of his heart calm her down.

"Rieko, just go, this is as much for your safety as it is for hers."

"What do you mean?" he asked, making a small movement towards the waterfall.

"Just go," Sano said, a little more sternly.

Rieko bolted for the waterfall and slowly eased himself out.

Geomana started to cry. "I can't believe I was so stupid! I trusted him!"

Sano cooed nonsense to her, promising never to let anything hurt her again.

"Thank you for not hurting him" she said. "He doesn't have a reason to hurt you now."

Reiko limped down the trial, clutching his side. He hadn't meant to go back to the Underground, just to find some place to hide. He didn't even know that there were other enterances beside the bar.

At first he was confused at the reaction Geomana had given him when he had answered her question,--who wouldn't want to go back to the Underground?-- but finally he understood. "Dangit, Geomana, not that sort of bck-up!" he hissed through gritted teeth. "Did you think I was stupid enough to go through that bar again?" He hadn't meant the police force; he had directly lied to a cop about the Undergound. Plus he had no friends there, anyways, and no one believed him. But if he had been able to get an Other to go with him...

He sighed and shook his head. It would've been suicide to go back down to the Underground anyway, with a Herskon or not.

Vaguely he wondered about how he would explain his state to his sister, but that wasn't what was really on his mind. there was no where for him to go. There was no safe place he could stay and hide. There was no sanctuary at home anymore, his friends had abandoned him since he had become a cop, And he wouldn't find any warmth at the police sattion, either.

A rock slid under Reiko's foot, and he fell to the gorund, jarring his sore leg. He swore explosivly, clutching his leg as if that would help the pain. Tears blurred his vision, and he pushed them away tersely. But he didn't try to get back up. He sat in the middle of the trail, trying to push all his thoughts out of his head.

Hey Tony! Your turn!!!

Sano pointed towards the left, "Geomana, go that way and take the stairs up."

"Where are you going?"

"Reiko went the wrong way and I have a feeling he's hurt."

"So what, I don't care!" She turned the other way.

"Maybe not, but if he is to hurt to get out he will die. How do you feel about that?"

Geomana looked down hiding her face. Sano came up and hugged her from behind, "I love you." He took off leaving Geomana to think about what he said.

Not even a minute out did he find Reiko. He looked at Sano and wiped tears from his eyes, "I don't need your help!"

"I'm not going to argue with you." He picked Reiko up and put him on his back, "We're getting out of here." Sano ran back the way he came.