Unhealed wounds

/"Amant!!"/

/Boom!/

Amant instantly raised his arm in front of him and tilted his head to his left side. His eyes squeezed shut as his body shook visibly.

"Amant.." Keir spoke softer, realising he was too loud, "Hey…You're safe…"

Keir tried to comfort Amant but noticed his words weren't getting through.

'How does Ramona wake him up?' Keir scratches his neck and immediately pulls up his panel.

'Did I write that down..' He scrolled through the notes, 'Ah there… let's see… Don't shake him awake..don't shout at him… slap him instead?'

'Huh?' Keir felt his brows twitching, 'Is this for real?'

He shrugged, 'I would like to slap him anyways. Fits my agenda.'

Keir raised his hand and swung it down at Amant's face, resulting in a loud smack sound.

"Agh!" Amant's eyes widened. His eyes were wet.

"I love waking you up now." Keir said with a smirk.

Amant stared at him with his brows snapped together.

"And that's a joke.." Keir chuckled while taking a few steps back, "I will prepare breakfast!"

He hurriedly grabbed the pot and the ingredients, leaving the tent. Keir immediately brought his hands up to shield his eyes from the light, 'It sure is bright..'

Amant slowly sat up, taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart.

He wiped the tears away and looked down at it.

'I'm still crying from that nightmare?' He thought to himself.

He held his head and sighed, "Come on.. it's been so long.. I shouldn't even be having nightmares about that anymore.."

Lowering his head, he removed his hands and saw more tears on it, "Why am I crying from that? It's just a lost arm.."

He felt his heart souring when those words were spoken out. He clenched his fist, wiping the tears off as he mumbled under his breath.

Keir sat outside, covering the lid he muttered, "That reaction reminds me of when I woke dad too... but dad didn't lose an arm.."

He stared up at the sky slowly clearing, his eyes brightened as he pulled up his interface world.

"Tch, still no connection.." He grumbled, closing it.

He darted a gaze towards the tent and looked back at his notes. His expression dulled, 'I guess I was too busy building the board, I didn't notice something was wrong with Amant..'

Amant poked Keir's shoulder, causing him to jump up with a screech.

"What the hell?!" Keir held his chest, feeling his heartbeat rapidly, "You can't just do that!"

The side of Amant's lip curved up, "I didn't know you could make such a high pitch noise."

"Well fuck you too." Keir flipped him, showing his middle finger.

Amant chuckled, hearing Keir rambling on and on.

Soon Keir also ran out of things to say, and sat down.

"I don't get a chair?" Amant raised a brow, seeing Keir sitting on a folded chair.

"Get one yourself.." Keir smirked, "I will be sure not to finish it when you come out."

Amant gave a half shrug while strolling to the tent, saying, "If you finish breakfast by yourself, I will make a mysterious stew for lunch."

"Hah.." Keir starred as Amant entered the tent.

A notification appeared at the corner of Keir's eye, causing his brows to frown.

Amant slowly stepped out of the tent and noticed Keir's hand held together, seeming to be in a daze.

Amant pursed his lips and took a deep breath.

"Kai! I'm surprised you didn't finish the breakfast afterall." He exclaimed in surprise, strolling over to Keir.

"Haha.. I don't want any mysterious stew afterall.." Keir rubbed the back of his neck.

Amant sat in his chair as Keir opened the lid.

"My interface was connected to a new network, unsure of the intention of the provider." Keir spoke softly, using the smoke as a cover to mask their conversion, "I will fight in the interface world."

"So the usual.. except we might actually die.." Amant gulped, "Why can't we eat in peace.."

Keir didn't give a reply, as he placed the lid facing Amant's side.

Keir slipped on a different pair of gloves from his pocket, as he took the bowl.

"One piece for me, one piece for you." He said while taking the heat pad out of the pot.

As Amant took the bowl, he saw a light shining at the corner of Keir's eyes. He looked down at the bowl in his hand, and glided his finger at the bottom. Feeling the material changing.

Keir suddenly looked up and reported, "One o clock, behind the third rock. He's alone."

Amant was already on his feet when Keir looked up, dashing towards the direction. His body lowered as he approached the rock.

He had his bowl held to his chest as he launched himself towards the side of the rock. The moment he saw a figure, he threw the bowl at the figure's face.

The person didn't have time to react, as the bowl cracked on impact, breaking into many shards and slicing their face. Followed by the heat pad that smack across the face

Blood spilled on the snow, and the figure rolled over holding their face.

Amant rolled on the snow and quickly got up, holding a retractable knife as he panted.

Keir slowly approached with another bowl in his hand, and a thicker glove on his right hand.

He had a pair of goggles on and his mask covering his face. He got near the person and asked, "How did you have an unregistered panel?"

The person was wearing a thick fur coat that made one unable to see their figure properly.

"Why do you care?" The person's voice was muffled by their hands, "You guys always attack first then question, how unsurprising."

"You were the one to strike the first blow." Keir's voice was rough as he spoke, "I don't count that as a friendly wave if that was your intention."

The person stopped moving, and sighed, "You're right.."

They suddenly threw a handful of snow and tried to get up, but Keir remained unfazed and grabbed their hood. That action caused them to fall on their face.

"Your wound can get infected if you leave it, don't want to ruin your face now, do you?" Keir slowly spoke.

"Like hell you guys care.." The person finally faced them, causing Keir's eyes to widen.