Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 343. Hollow Tree

I took Henry’s arms and lifted him up while standing with my back to him. Bending forward, I gripped his thighs—with his arms dangling over my shoulders, I managed to carry him on my back successfully.

I walked over the black earth while the rain came down, feeling that this current scene was the perfect ending to the fire I had been in when the crystalline world exploded.

From a lonely walk amidst scorching heat into an ice-cold rain, but with a warmed back—this outcome didn’t seem so bad.

I tried to ignore the nagging fear of what would happen if Henry woke up, about the talk we had to have, and about the moment I’d have to decide if I continued to play nice with him or gave in to my possessive, weak, and scared side.

Instead, I tried to concentrate on the child who was still a good distance away and tried to steer my thoughts in another direction, for example, how to get out of here.

...I know how important I am to him, but fuck, affection can change in a heartbeat.

You just had to make one mistake, say something you shouldn’t have said, and a whole family can turn against each other; I would know.

Without the rubble and the remains of the destroyed skyscrapers, it was easier to reach the kid, even without superspeed, which I was too drained to use. Hell, even Henry felt heavy, although I should be able to carry him effortlessly.

...So let’s compare my mistakes: first, the one that made me an unloved outcast, and second, what I most recently did: 1.) Telling my mother about my vision and her dying because I either cursed her or didn’t successfully prevent her death, and 2.) my counterpart making Henrietta’s counterpart aware, leading to the death of his parents (and world destruction), in addition to taking over his body to use him in a fight and wanting to kill and eat him.

Fantastic.

FUCK.

The eating part, I think, was because my desire to possess Henry had been twisted by the giant’s influence.

We all know that the fucker had the hobby of eating people, and this time, despite me acting consciously and the fact that I was free from headaches or falling unconscious directly after using this immense power, it still changed my mindset into something I would never do in reality.

Because my hobby isn’t going cannibalistic.

More importantly, if I eat him, he is gone.

So the chances are high that I will try to attack him again when the tables turn and I use this power, and that’s a risk I won’t take.

I eventually reached the unmoving kid.

"Can you walk, little one?" I asked her loudly so that she could hear me amidst the rain.

She nodded and stood up.

"Soon you’ll get something warm to eat." I bent down while balancing Henry on my back, gripped Henrietta’s wrist, and then straightened again.

She was moving her lips without saying anything, her eyes were wide open, and I could see rain falling onto her eyeballs, and her not blinking at all in response.

Fucking fantastic. Our ticket home was brain damaged or something. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

With my hand back on Henry’s thigh, I held onto Henrietta’s wrist simultaneously and dragged her over the ground while carrying him.

I steered in the direction of the forest, hoping the trees would stop the rain, and best case, we’d find a cave there.

The skyscrapers are all gone, aren’t they? I looked around, and there was absolutely nothing besides flat land that was as drenched as we were.

But if they are gone, why was there no fucking portal home?

Wasn’t it like this? If all the counterparts in one world are gone, then the open portal would close.

Didn’t that also mean that a portal home would open if there was none in the first place?

So, either we hadn’t killed all the Room-Counterparts, or it~just~didn’t~work~in~our~favor.

What a fucking blast.

We eventually arrived inside the forest, and under the tall trees, it felt somewhat safer, though I don’t think the human squad from before was still chasing after us.

Because the dragon had fought itself free, who knows what it did to them? Hopefully, it killed them off.

I navigated between the trees, trying not to injure Henrietta by dragging her over sticking-up roots or anything. The rain made it easier to transport her, but her whole body was full of earth, but oh well.

I stopped when I saw a thick tree trunk that was hollowed out and would provide enough space; it was absolutely perfect for us if there was no cave around.

"There!" I pointed at it for the kid to see, and we made our way to our new hideout.

When we arrived, I conjured up a few blankets before I whisked Henrietta inside, then bent down a bit so that Henry wouldn’t get hit by the low "doorframe."

I kneeled down, held onto his hands, and leaned him as gently as possible against the wooden wall before I motioned for the kid to come inside.

She took a seat in between Henrietta and me.

It wasn’t enough space for all of us to stretch out comfortably, but it was enough when we were sitting down—it was nearly cozy when one ignored that we all were drenched from head to toe.

I let out a long sigh and checked on Henry; he was alright.

Then I conjured up a towel and threw it on Henrietta before I gave the child one together with water and a plate full of fries; for myself, it was Coke.

Henry got a towel on his head and a thick blanket that covered him up to his chin.

After emptying a can, I patted the eating kid’s head and flipped the coin to look into her past in hopes of finding a clue—another possibility to go home, other than Henrietta.

I watched the coin flip and float, turn and fly, before landing in my hand. Yet the moment I caught it, it was back on the table.

Hmm...

I tried again, with the same result.

I touched Henry’s hand under the blanket and flipped the coin on him—just looking into his past for the moment—and saw him facing a red-eyed tiger.

Ooookay... I am curious what that was about, but not now.

I touched the girl again, but I couldn’t flip the coin on her.

It wasn’t because my power didn’t work, but because it didn’t work on her.

Fucking fantastic, so there was no way to find out more about her or the human squad with their clients.

There was nothing to do, so I held Henry’s hand and looked into the future, only seeing us sitting inside this hollow tree while the rain outside worsened.

I groaned internally. Fine, let’s try to repair our ticket home.

I would have fed Henry my blood to get him to wake up instantly, but I didn’t dare because of what just happened. I didn’t want this dirty blood to touch him ever again.

Henrietta was another case.

"Come here." I took the empty plate of potatoes from the kid and let it disappear.

I patted my lap, as there was no space, and the kid could warm herself on me.

She was very obedient, a good kid, and sat down facing me and holding onto my clothes.

With her out of the way, I could reach Henrietta and pulled her closer. Biting my wrist, I held it over her mouth and watched the blood trickle down. I noticed that her lips were bluish, nearly blackish.

Is that because of the cold?

I looked at the child, and her lips were also not flesh-colored, albeit not as grave as Henrietta’s.

My head snapped to Henry, but I found that he looked normal and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What’s wrong?" I asked her while still holding my wrist over Henrietta’s mouth.

The kid gestured to her arm, making a motion that told me she had been injected with something.

Hah! Did they poison them, giving out the regular antidote to stop them from running and keep them obedient?

"Okay, no problem." I can feed her. If my power doesn’t work on her, then maybe I won’t be able to control her or use her body—this thought made it easier.

And I wanted to heal her anyway; together with the need to properly communicate with her in the future, this worked out.

I conjured up an empty shot glass and poured a bit of blood into it from my already healing wound.

Then I took another look at Henrietta. She had stopped whispering, and her eyes had closed, looking as if she was sleeping peacefully. GOOD FOR HER.

And her lips were of a normal color again.

"See her lips? She is better because of my blood." I held the glass in front of the kid’s face, and she took it while watching me with big eyes.

She took a sip, and the glass was empty; her face looked instantly better, and her lips were back to normal.

"That will be our little secret, okay?"

She nodded solemnly, and I patted her head before I shook Henrietta with one hand, trying to wake her up repeatedly.

Didn’t work; she was lost to the world.

If I could flip the violet coin and enter her body, the chances were good that I could open a portal...but I won’t risk my mind getting polluted.

I looked at the table in my mind and touched the surface repeatedly, just to make sure that the shield was still intact.

But the fucking tabletop flipped.

My heart dropped, and I was in the midst of flipping it back in panic when I noticed that the crystalline surface had not cracked or shattered like before; it was still fully intact with the violet coin on top of it.

Huh. Well, it was true that I could flip the violet coin without suffering side effects like going crazy.

Maybe I really could enter Henrietta’s body and bring us out.

"Kid. I will rest my eyes; if anything strange happens, don’t worry." I assured her and flipped the violet coin, with the drawing of many different people on it.

I watched it float and turn, chanting in my mind for an ’H’ to appear on its surface and that this ’H’ would stand for Henrietta.

However, what I got was near enough in the alphabet, yet ’near enough’ wasn’t what the fuck I was needing!

I was sucked into the vortex, not able to guess who the fuck I would show up in, when on the coin there stood only a big

’K’