Chapter 40: World's quick state of affairs
Gut felt some movement beside him and opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep at some point during the night, only realizing now his mistake.
Heh, I was more mentally tired than I thought…
He saw Charlotte was looking at her hand, at her too thin hand.
"Good morning, sleepy girl." He said softly, as to not surprise her.
"Oh! Gut-!" She started but paused when realized she had a gritty voice, moving her malnourished hand to her throat. "Ahem, sorry, I was…"
Seeing her apologetic expression, he couldn't help but smile at her demeanor. What she had wanted to say was akin to someone apologizing for forgetting something an important thing.
"Do not worry, you are alright, no? What happened to you that time?" He asked, wondering if she was awake all the while.
"Eh… Yeah, uhm. I, I'm not sure how to explain…" She trailed at the end, not sure if not telling him was the correct option.
He on the other hand, was completely sure of his inquiries. He was sure she had fainted at that moment, but didn't know when that state stopped being real. Wondering what had taken so much time to wake up, he continued with a smile:
"It is okay, now that you are awake, we can go to Paversia."
"Oh, right… We were going there, right?"
"Yes, can you stand?"
"I dunno, my body is too weak, maybe after resting for another day?" She wasn't sure if that would be enough, but she could only try.
"Another day… Yeah, but you ought to know, the war is about to start any second now."
"Eh?" She stared blankly at him, not sure if she heard right.
"Next week ends the time the U.S.A. gave Gercia to find her(you)." He moved his chin, pointing with it at her.
"I-I see," she understood that they might be under surveillance with his action, becoming a little meek, "t-then we can part at any moment, I need help tho."
"Of course. Anything else?"
"Take all these cables off me and, bring me food!" Smiling cheekily, she made Gut sigh.
"You know you became like that because you ate too much?" Even if that sounded wrong, it was the truth of the matter.
"Y-yes, sorry. But only the normal three dishes for now…" She emphasized the three part. "I'll try to not do that again."
She still remembered how she had looked, had someone else seen her, they would had called the morgue, believing she was a dead body after suffering some kind of sickness. She didn't want to be like that anymore.
"Hey, I…" She said after a while, stopping when she thought about the consequences of her query. "Nothing, I'll ask you latter."
"Alright, tell me anything you need." He stood from his seat and started to remove the three tubes she had on her left arm.
Once was obviously for nourishment in the form of serum, the second was to monitor her vitals in case some complications came forward, the last one was for her blood to be changed. It was somehow expended and without vitality, like an elderly, not having any of the strength a girl like her should have in her blood.
Feeling a tingling sensation, she continued to look at her bony right arm, wondering about what she needed and how to prevent her body into falling in the same state again. She had gained some insight this week, so she was sure of what she should do, but she didn't have the blueprints currently. She would need to do it from scratch.
Her laptop had been lost in the fire and her desktop had vanished the day White Prism was born. She then realized, if Prism could 'remember' everything she had 'seen', then maybe she could remember how the things were at the moment she was born. Possibly, maybe.
I have to ask her next.
After sorting her thoughts, she saw Gut sitting in his chair next to her with a mobile in his left hand. He was texting someone or writing something, she thought.
"Hey, what're you doin'?" She asked with her still crispy voice.
"I am ordering what you wanted. This hotel has an online site where one can ask for everything one desires, so it would be better if you stay there without moving too much."
"Oh, yeah, uhm… How're we going again? I…" She paused and looked at herself again. "I'm like this, you know?"
"Yeah." He nodded and continued writing on the phone while answering. "That is another thing I am looking for, a vehicle and a wheelchair for you."
"Thanks… Hey, care to make it automatic?" She grinned when asking, making a mischievous expression.
"Why? You will not need it for too long." He said, turning down her request.
"But! It's more fun like that! A-and you won't need to push me all the time." She started vigorously and finished with a small voice, feeling ashamed of making another weight on him.
"Yeah, but you can always propel yourself, so do not worry."
"Wha- you insensitive fool! You'll make a frail woman like me to propel the chair herself!?" She felt wronged, aggravated even and her face showed it.
"Indeed." He didn't take notice of it, though.
"Then I won't do anything! You'll have to push it around and move it however I want! Hmph!" She looked away with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Alright, it was what I was planning anyway." He assented at this last request of hers.
"Uh? N-no… But the automatic one… huh…"
Looking back at him, she saw he had a mocking smile on his face. She pouted and left things like that. If he wanted to do it that much, she wouldn't make more noise.
After a while of being silent, she started asking about the things that had transpired this last week.
A day after the protests which lasted for almost three days all over Gercia were over, the president finally made his appearance. He said that after an exhaustive search all thorough the country, the hacker girl couldn't be found. After that he lifted the excessive regulations on the international flights, cruisers and trains. The reason he gave for not pronouncing himself before was that he was trying to get to an agreement with the U.S.A.s forces.
The U.S.A.'s president said that they were letting them off this time, seeing how disastrous the protests had been, it was just this morning, and he had seen it while browsing for the things they needed. Gercia still had to pay for nurturing such dangerous criminals, having made a debt of 500 million Gers to the country, and for Necox's name. It was also said that from now on, all relationships between them and Gercia were over, making hard for the normal people to travel between the two countries.
Even if the war didn't break out, it was obvious that at any minor matter, a war would break out or be on the verge of.
The Ethas Theocracy had remained silent, not giving any input nor siding with any power.
The Decronian Alliance, which consisted of only three countries, decided to band with the Lurian's, while the Norses countries decided to do the same as the Theocracy, remaining neutral.
The Druidas, which shared the same continent as the U.S.A couldn't help but be integrated in the latter's side. If not, they would suffer grave consequences.
At the end, Gut had told her that even if Paversia had remained seemingly neutral, it had all the countries eyes on. Not only because she was going there, but also because in there were some of the most dangerous criminals to the world, like James, and a few others.
"At least the war won't break out now."
"For now." Gut corrected her.
"Right… So, how long until you think it'll break down then?"
"I do not know. I suspect until advancements in whatever they were planning to do makes progress."
"What do you mean?" She tilted her head at his words.
This was the first time she heard they were planning on wagging the war on something else than herself. She was the one who was wanted and the war was because of her, even if she knew that wasn't entirely true, she knew she had her own part in there.
"I was told that when this war breaks out, the countries wanted to test some new armaments, to note down their efficiency and points to take caution."
"W-what? Really? They are waggin' war only for that?" She asked with astonishment written all over her face.
"Yeah, the governing powers only care about things like that, after all." He agreed.
He didn't tell her that the principal actor on this war was her machine, he didn't want her to feel more guilty than she already was.
Silence permeated the room, she was truly indignant about the presidents and their partners, not believing they were so shameless and uncaring about the people that would receive the devastation that entailed a war.
The door was knocked after a while, breaking the silence.
"Sir, I've brought the dishes you requested." A voice came from the other side.
Gut went to answer and brought in the cart with four dishes on it. He didn't allow the man entry as Charlotte was fully displaying her face with her freckles. Anyone who had awareness of the world's situation would recognize the girl, even if she was malnourished.
After having her fill, her stomach was protruding like she was in the fourth month of pregnancy, not as big as it was one week before, though. She felt complacent even though she was worried of her belly swelling too much and looking like she did that day.
As it was Saturday, they had to wait for two days before the vehicle Gut had obtained arrived. He made it a delivery as he didn't want to go far away from the little and cute mummy, lest something happened to her or she was seen by the hotel's attendants.
"I plan on meditating a while," she started after finishing the last of the dishes, "please tell me if something starts going wrong again."
Gut had a worried look on his face, he couldn't believe she was doing it again after last time's event. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I won't be so hasty this time, so there shouldn't be any problem."
"Hasty? You were hasty and that happened?" He asked incredulous.
"Yep! Wanna know what I did?"
His interest was sparked, but he wasn't sure he should hear what she had done, at least not here.
"I shall abstain from it, I believe it is best to keep some secrets to yourself."
"Oh," she looked around, remembering that they might have been spied on, "you're right, huh."
*****
The two waiting days went without any problem. She had regained some muscle, to Gut's astonishment. She could already move her body without much trouble, but couldn't stand on her feet for more than a few seconds, so she would still need to use the wheelchair that arrived the day before for some days.
She hadn't made much progress as she couldn't move the proteins of the food as good as she believed at first. Prism was the one doing it, and it couldn't be put in automatic, yet. The only moment it could be done was when the External Projection was on, and it required her to meditate so she wouldn't use more energy than necessary, even with the revised form.
After eating her sumptuous meal, she asked Gut to help her to the bath. She hadn't taken a shower for more than a week now and was feeling the odor of her body. She didn't want Gut to scrub her or to stay and look at her while she washed her body. She wasn't in that bad of a shape!
She put on her clothes and the bandage on her chest, feeling it for the first time in a while. She noticed some of her bust was gone, lamenting her carelessness once again.
After she was ready, she called for him to come and do his magic on her face. He came with the wheelchair, helped her on it and went out to the room with her to do her makeup. They packed all the things they had and went to the lobby to wait for the vehicle to arrive.
When the car arrived, she couldn't help but marvel at it, it was big, too big just for the two of them. Its color red. It had four doors, and the one at the back to allow more people to get in. Inside could be seated up to ten people without problem, double if one had the need. Its bumper could protect the important parts in any kind of accident and it had a luggage rack fully installed.
She wasn't that much knowledgeable about cars but she knew this one had costed him a little fortune, she believed that even when she was at her best, she wouldn't have been able to afford it.
"How," she swallowed, "how much was it?"
"Little details, let us go."
Little!? I'm pressed for money all the time and you call this little?!
When she was to get in, she realized it was too high for her, there were stairs for a normal person to get in, but she wasn't normal right now, she was a malnourished patient and could only walk a little.
"Help me?"
Finally on the passenger seat, she looked through all the stuff it had. The radio, three screens, the controls for it all, the innumerable buttons for things she wasn't sure what they were for, the compartment in the middle to hold things, etc.
After Gut was done with all their baggage, he mounted the beast and started it.
"A beauty, is it not?" He asked her, showing an unusual happy expression.
"Yeah, but why so much extravagance?"
"I had wanted to have one of these for the longest of times, now is a good time, so I bought it." He said as he went through the buttons, nodding from time to time.
Going out again, he continued to talk with the man who had brought it, he had an uniform on him of the company that sells this kind of vehicle. After ascertaining everything was okay and all the fluids were correct. He boarded once again, giving Charlotte a piece of paper.
"What's this?" She asked as she looked at the paper, on it was printed something she couldn't put her fingers on but somehow recognized.
"It is a map, the route we are following to Paversia. Look at it and help me navigating on this country, I am not that used to it." He turned his sight to drive the car after he was done explaining the paper.
After hearing him say that, she recognized the shape of the Igny country, she didn't recognize it at first as it didn't have its name, but the name of the cities they were visiting. At the back of the map were points of interest and places they shouldn't approach.
He started to drive before she could finish reading through it. She made a surprised sound and pouted at him, which he ignored.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Vespertian
Vespertian I did a map of this route but you can't see it here as wn is shitty with formatting, so if you want to see it, go to the cover page and help me! Or simply go to royal road...
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