Welcoming My Brother

Our whole group headed back to the house, Candice accompanying Liz, Roy following behind Candice, and Ken and I stuck to each other. The two brothers were behind us.

"Why didn't you tell us that 'someone' was Liz?"

Exaggerating a shocked expression, Ken then laughed quietly.

"She was the one who didn't want me to tell. She was afraid that you guys would forget her. Besides, she originally didn't even want to come to Aquarius. I had to convince her!"

Snitching on Liz to Ken, we both kept to ourselves and let the three of them talk peacefully. Well the two of them, since Candice and Liz did all the talking.

Ken sighed as she heard about Liz's hesitation.

"There's no way we could forget her. She and Barbie got along really well when they met, and they were really loud as well. The whole house could practically hear them laughing and talking with each other. But more than that, besides us, she also took losing Barbie pretty hard. It's hard to forget the devastated look on her face when the news broke out. But we were caught in our own grief at that time as well. And before we knew it, she had vanished. Didn't even turn up for the funeral."

Shaking his head, Ken recounted those painful days after Barbie had passed away, a sad smile on his face.

The two of us descended into heavy silence for a while, before I patted Ken on the back and we shifted the topic to something else.

Once back at the house, we all split up. Ken, Roy and I prepared to bathe and sleep. But Candice had other plans, and dragged Liz to the living room. Probably for a very long talk that would last half the night.

Leaving the two of them alone, we washed up and headed to bed first.

The next morning, everyone had breakfast made by Candice and Roy. Ken was in charge of waking everyone up, and had chosen the weapon of a pan and a ladle.

Waking up groggily, everyone had staggered like zombies to the bathrooms to wash up. And when I had met Liz, I saw her with long and dark eyebags but a happy smile on her face.

After breakfast, both Liz and I said goodbye to the family. They had also closed the inn for today, probably to let the reality sink in, so we headed back to the AT center by ourselves.

"In the end, wasn't it good to come to Aquarius?"

Smiling at Liz, she smiled back and admitted that coming here was better then she had thought it would be.

We then waved each other goodbye as Liz boarded her spaceship with Kyle as the pilot, and I headed for the space bullet.

[Alright! We have finished our 4 month deal!]

Sazzy jumped for joy beside me as we entered the platform, with one small bag filled with the clothes I had bought from Aquarius.

Instead of heading for the platform that led to Mors, Sazzy instead led me to another platform. This one led to Sana.

[My friend, Ava, has said that she has already talked with your brother and introduced him to the basics of this world. Also, to make things more consistent, your brother has records from a medical institution in Sana. So we can go there to meet him right now!]

Walking to the platform with the sign 'Sana' on it, the two of us got into the slightly crowded space bullet.

[Sana is nicknamed 'The Medical Planet' as it is where a large number of health institutions are. For this corner of the galaxies anyway. It has a very strict check at its AT center, where a lot of devices aren't allowed into the area for many reasons. Recording devices, devices that emit strong or particular wavelengths, and even certain sharp objects or opaque containers. If you ever bring something that is prohibited, there is a large locker area for you to leave it at before exiting the AT center.]

Sazzy pulled up a picture of a device. It was a handheld device that could emit a holograph.

[Sana doesn't allow the use of personal terminals. In fact, personal terminals will have no signal when it is in the near vicinity to Sana. So they hand out these special devices instead that have a 3D map inside, as well as all the useful functions needed to navigate and spend your UC on the planet.]

The moment Sazzy finished explaining, we just arrived at Sana.

Pulling up my personal terminal, just like Sazzy had said, the whole thing was buffering and could not show anything. So I closed it.

As we alighted from the space bullet, we followed the crowd down an escalator towards a large area where there were many divergent tunnels branching off.

[The medical institution that your brother is in should be under area F so we need to head into that one.]

Holding my hand, Sazzy helped me navigate through the large crowd to the tunnel that was the third from the right. Walking through the tunnel, there were several signs on the sides and overhead giving instructions on what is not allowed, what is allowed, and general rules to follow while on Sana.

The one thing in common with all of these was that anyone who was caught breaking the rules would be kicked out from Sana. There were no fines, no other punishments.

I guess since most visitors were either patients or family members of patients, being kicked out was a bad enough punishment.

Following the crowd to the end of that tunnel, it then opened up into a large space with several lines that were going through these door shaped machines. Staff in uniform were ensuring people entered the machines one at a time, and after the person passed through the machine, it would emit either a green or red light. A green light and they could continue on no problem. A red light and another staff in uniform would pull them aside and speak to them.

Looking around, I saw the lockers that Sazzy mentioned in several rows on the far left side. At an area where a staff was constantly helping guide people in keeping their belongings.

Getting into one of the lines, we slowly shuffled forward until it was my turn. Sazzy, being invisible and all, just went ahead freely through the machine without it detecting her.

Walking through the machine myself, the moment I went through to the other side I turned back to check the color it emitted.

Green. Good.

Giving a small sigh of relief, even though I was carrying nothing but clothes, I then accepted the device that Sazzy was talking about from one of the staff and headed onwards past the space and into an interchange with many buses coming and going.

Sazzy pointed to a certain bus, numbered F2434, and we boarded it. The ride was a short one, lasting for less than fifteen minutes, before we alighted at a large lobby with a sign on the right gesturing to the mall, a sign on the left pointing to the patient wards.

Going left, we lined up at the registration counter, where Sazzy quickly told me the section and ward my brother was in, and we received our visitor pass as well as directions.

Entering the transporter, which was a device that was like the lift in my previous world, but for a single group and was instantaneous, I scanned my visitor pass on its control panel and watched the doors close. Then, in the blink of an eye, it opened again on our floor without me feeling a single thing.

We stepped out and, using the signs on the walls, navigated our way to the ward my brother was in.

As I opened the white doors, nothing could prepare me for the shock I felt seeing him in the medical institution's light blue patient gown. I could feel my heart speed up, my vision turning slightly red, as the panic swelled up in me.

It was happening again. As it always did. This need for violence, to break something, to make someone or something pay. Even though I didn't know what they were paying for. But, the moment I felt a slightly warm touch on my hand, the red haze seemed to fade away.

Looking at the small boy who was holding my hand with no fear. His black eyes so deep as if they would drown me, make me forget about everything, as if I was floating in the wide empty void. And yet it was from the one person who could anchor me down to the ground. My brother.

"Big sister, Alex."

Saying my name, he slid his fingers up from my hand and grabbed my wrist. He did this action with such familiarity it showed how used he was to calming me down. And it worked, like always. My heart rate started to slow, the world came back into color, and I could feel a smile creep up onto my face.

Putting my free hand onto his face, I stared at his worried black eyes that displayed how much he loved me, but also how much he had suffered because of me. He showed a maturity a seven year old should not have.

Shifting my position to pull him into my arms, I breathed a long sigh of release now that he was here.

"Welcome to your new home, Oliver."

I felt Oliver hug me back tighter, until I felt his strength run out, before we separated. Still holding my wrist, he pulled me over to his hospital bed and we sat down.

Beside his bed, sitting on the visitor's chair, was Ava.

When she saw that I noticed her presence, she gave me a nervous wave before being polite and dragging Sazzy away to explore the shops downstairs before us.

Alone, Oliver didn't let go as we sat in peaceful silence. Then, once his hands started to loosen and one naughty finger was rubbing the insides of my wrist, he looked up into my eyes once more to return my greeting.

"I'm home, Alex."