Biohuman

"Will… Will that thing that happened inside happen again?" Liz asked. She switched her crouching position into a sitting position. Olivia wandered over to the boys while Manny simply watched, feelings that felt too mixed to decipher.

"The Soul world?" Keng asked, looking at her. Liz shook her head.

"No, the book… Will it explode like that?"

"Dunno. The spell happened to be on that book, that's all."

"So, it won't explode again?" Liz asked, again. Keng gave her an inquisitive look. His curiosity grew but he stopped himself from getting curious.

"Dunno." Keng looked at the ceiling. "That's up to you."

"Y'know why I ask this… right?" Liz asked him.

"Your turn." Manny loudly stomped over and knelt down parallel to Liz. He looked at Keng with a cold glance. He raised his hands and Keng let him do his thing. It was unusually quiet between them for the whole duration. Manny awkwardly pulled his hands away as Keng felt more of the Negative disappear. He slowly stood up as a delayed Liz helped him.

"There." Liz quietly told him. Manny was growing jealous and everyone but Liz and Keng could notice it on his face.

"Th-thanks." Keng smiled at her. He rolled his neck and felt an odd sense of déjà vu. "Why does it feel like this happened before?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Nothing" Keng brushed it off. "Probably some weird déjà vu. We got more pressing matters on our hands."

"Yeah, like your abilities. Who you actually are, why you were born from Lee Seng or whatever?" Manny sourly interjected. Keng turned to him and nodded.

"What do you wanna know first?" Keng asked. Manny rolled his eyes as he thought about it.

"Your name… It's Keng?" Olivia asked. The group's attention went onto Olivia as she took a step forward.

"Yeah." Keng nodded. "Lee Seng gave me that name."

"No wonder why it's Hmong." Manny commented. "I was wondering why a… Fox boy was named that."

"Fox Spirit." Keng corrected. "I'm a Fox Spirit. Relatively young but evolution-wise not so young." Keng's five tails fluffed around him, wrapping around his waist and resting in different spots behind and next to him.

"What's a Fox Spirit?" Evan asked.

"Humanoid beings with no necessary gender assigned to them at birth, I guess… We're creatures born from the God King."

"You're genderless?" Liz asked. Keng turned to her and tilted his head back and forth a bit.

"I was." Keng replied. "Technically, I identify as a male because Lee Seng is a male. When I was a little baby, you could actually tell… Well, I guess you couldn't if you saw me in my Fox form." He tapped his lip as he thought.

'He even has Lee Seng's habits…' Manny observed.

"So, you identify as a guy but don't have… Parts?" Evan asked.

"Oh, I'm a dude alright." Keng looked at this crotch. He smiled and looked up at them.

"Who's the God King? I'm kinda… Lost on this whole thing." Olivia asked.

"My Father. He's a god from my home Realm, Daros." Keng replied. Their faces grew more confused as Ritsuka nodded.

"Been there. It has two suns in the sky." Ritsuka nodded.

"You've been there?" Evan asked.

"Of course. Lee Seng brought me there."

"Why?" Manny asked, defensively. Keng noticed some hostility in his voice but ignored it. Maybe he was just a bit jealous. "Why did he take you there? To Daros or whatever."

"Well… I guess I accidentally found out about his secret, and he decided to bring me there. Time is so weird there. Four days there is one day here. We went for a weekend." Ritsuka replied without much thought.

"So, you can go to different Realms?" Liz asked.

"Yup." Keng nodded.

"How? A-are the Realms like this place?"

"Kinda?" Keng shrugged. "Technically I can only travel to three other Realms including Earth."

"Earth's a Realm?" Evan tilted his head.

"Well, yeah… It's not the only place to live. There's a bunch of them from what texts I read while I was at Daros, but yeah. There's different Realms." Keng looked around noticing Manny seemed the most conflicted about this. "Any other questions…? Manny?"

"Hm?" Manny turned to face Keng. Keng raised his eyebrows at Manny and repeated his question.

"Any more questions?"

"Uh…" Manny looked down at the stone.

"It's another big question that isnt' about you, but Lee Seng." Olivia spoke up. "Where is he?" Keng bit the inside of his bottom lip as he tilted his head.

"He was in a different Realm but showed up on Earth again…" Keng answered after thinking of how he should deliver the news. "But…"

"But?" Manny repeated like an impatient kid. "But what?"

"He dropped off my radar as soon as I came back here." Keng looked down at his hands. "I don't know where he is but… There's a lot more complications with him and I."

"Like what?" Liz asked. "You two have a fight or something?" Keng tilted his head back and forth, really unsure about how to answer that.

"It's very complicated." Ritsuka answered.

"How complicated? Lee Seng just disappeared, right?" Manny asked. "We just have to trace to where you last saw him and then find clues." He turned to Keng who still had the same look on his face.

"It's really complicated." Ritsuka said, again.

"How so?" Olivia asked. Keng stopped and sighed.

"If I don't find Lee Seng… Something bad will happen to both of us." Keng answered. He stood up letting the group soak that in as he began to pace.

"What do you mean by that? How bad could it be?" Manny asked, standing. He was drifting towards Keng who didn't want him near him. Keng didn't even know how to deal with bringing up the potential Protocol mutation thing in Lee Seng's head and the...

'Demon Fox.' Keng sighed.

"How bad is it, Keng?" Manny asked, grabbing him by the shoulders. Keng kept his eyes down. He simply shook his head trying to pull away. Manny wouldn't take that as an answer. He continued to ask him, getting nothing.

"Manny." Liz spoke. "Let him go. He's obviously uncomfortable."

"How bad is it?!? Tell me! I have the right to know how my friend is doing! Tell me!" Manny pleaded. Keng shook his head.

"No." Keng answered.

"No?!?" Manny's voice rose. "No?!? You have a duty as someone who came from him to tell me – his best friend – what happened!"

"You're not even his best friend! Stop living that delusion!" Keng shouted. Manny froze as Keng pushed Manny away. "Don't act like you're his best friend after all the bullshit you put him through. Don't even get me started on what you and Sara even did!"

"What does Sara have to do with this?" Evan asked Ritsuka. "Did you tell him about Sara?"

"I know something happened during that Summer, Manny!" Keng shouted. Manny shrunk looking away. "You can't say anything? More like you don't want to because its exactly like that situation all over again! You don't want to lose him, but you already did!"

"You don't know jack shit!" Manny shouted.

"I know everything. Have you ever wondered why Lee Seng lived with you peacefully?" Keng asked, stepping forward. "He was basically blackmailed into doing that by the Numbers. Maybe even you, too." Manny could feel the fear building. His face grew wider as the guilt inside of him wanted out. "You used that against him, and he kept quiet. He didn't want to be around you. Not at all. Not since the day you randomly decided to call him up when he just got his powers."

"Y-you—" Manny looked up at Keng. Keng's eyes shook with anger as his fists bundled. The Fox Spirit's tails whipped behind him as Keng looked at Manny like he was some sort of monster. "I—"

"You what?" Keng tilted his head. "You're sorry. You didn't mean for any of it to happen? You know who you sound like? Sara." Manny's fear snapped as anger bubbled outwards.

"You take that back right now!" Manny shouted. He stepped forward as two tails blocked Manny from coming closer.

"Does it hurt?" Keng asked. "Maybe you should sit with that hurt for the next two and a half years and understand what it was like to be in Lee Seng's shoes! He didn't have friends. He doesn't have parents. His siblings can't even take care of him because they're at the beck and call of the Creator. He had nobody when he needed people and you're one of the many reasons why he is the way he is. It's your fault he puts on a façade and acts okay in front of everyone here. He desperately wants to move away from that person, but he's still chained to it because you're a constant reminder of that loneliness."

Keng came close enough to Manny that he could hear Manny's breath shake. He shook his head and retracted his tails and turned.

"Lee Seng was supposed to tell you all of this, but I ended up saying it." Keng sighed. "I'm not going to tell you anything else. Ask Lee Seng when I find him."

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