Chapter 5: Recruitment

A big yawn came from down the hall. Mikka was tired. She stayed up really late the night before working on her report from her recent mission.

"Man, that spirit wouldn't give up," she said as she rubbed her eye. "WHY DO I HAVE TO COME IN THIS EARLY. Awww can I sleep in!"

"No, this is important," Len said walking up behind her and startled her.

"Can you not come out out of nowhere please!!," Mikka said.

Len laughed.

"It seemed to be a really bad emergency, Ted sounded really serious," Len said.

"What happened?," Mikka asked.

"Who knows, but they were rounding up blades to go in this search party. Usually, Ted doesn't jump at those...it only makes me wonder...," Len said.

Mikka looked down as they walked. It was silent.

"He must feel responsible in some way," Mikka said finally.

"That's what I was thinking," Len said.

The silence returned but only for a little while.

"Oh, hey. I noticed that you are growing your hair out," Len said to break the tension.

"Oh," Mikka said as she twirled some of her hair on her finger. It was now down to her shoulders. "...I just feel like it's...more inviting...you know..."

"Inviting?," Len chuckled " since when have you cared about that?"

"I always have, ok...?!," Mikka said.

"Is it because of Martha's kid...?" Len asked.

Mikka stopped and looked to Len in anger.

"No! That's not why!!," Mikka yelled.

"Whoa, whoa. Hey, I was just teasing," Len said trying to calm her down.

"Good! I am doing this for myself, okay?! You hear me?!," Mikka yelled.

"What is wrong...? What did I do?," Len asked in confusion.

Mikka shook her head and sighed.

"Come on, let's go see what Ted wants," she said as she started to stomp away.

Len shrugged and just followed behind her. When they got into the room they found Ted sitting at one of the benches. The room was big and very metallic. There were benches on the outer edges and seats littered the floor. In front of the seats were desks that called people's numbers.

Mikka and Len took a seat next to Ted.

"So...what is this about Ted?" Len started off.

Ted just sat there in silence. Mikka knew something was wrong because Ted wasn't talking. Whenever he was silent, she knew that thoughts are flooding his mind. Thoughts that he, himself did not want to think of. She knew it killed him to answer but she has to know.

"Ted, we need to know what is going on with this mission...," Mikka said.

Ted looked and Mikka and sighed.

"It's my fault...," Ted said at last.

"What is?," Mikka asked.

"Remember those boys from the demonic spirit a while ago?" Ted said.

"Yeah," Len said.

"Well...they ran away from the city," Ted said.

"What? Why?" Len asked in disbelief.

"I don't know," Ted said. "I told Trent to protect Owen...maybe he went with him because of it"

Mikka could not speak. She remained silent. Why would Owen leave?

"Mikka...?" Ted called her name to snap her from her trance.

"Ted...we need to get them back," Mikka said with a concerning look.

"You seemed really close to that boy, Mikka," Ted said.

Mikka stared at him in shock.

"Well...I...um...," Mikka said trying to find what to say.

"It's okay, you are very caring. We know how you are," Ted chuckled a bit and gave her a smile.

Tears formed in her eyes as she reached out and hugged Ted with all her might. Len smiled and gazed to the side, only to be surprised by a group hug between the three of them.

"Too...much...hugging," Len said squirming.

"We love ya too, Len," Ted said with a chuckle.

"Love?! Hey guys, this isn't funny anymore please let go!" Len said squirming more.

Both Mikka and Ted smiled. Len then stopped squirming and joined into the hug.