Biohuman

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Lee Seng and Olivia spent the next twenty minutes filling in Liz on what happened during their visit at the hospital. The TV had been turned off and some lamps were turned on during the explanation.

"That's all that happened. "Lee Seng said, finishing up. "Did I miss anything else?"

"You got it all." Olivia told him. She had finished her bag of popcorn and was cleansing her mouth with bottled tea."

"Man… That really happened? That's a… Nasty way of finding out Sara cheated on you." Liz sighed. "And you made that big of a bet with two Numbers in the room? What're you thinking?!?"

"I know I can do it. Just means we're going on more missions." Lee Seng stuck his finger up.

"But that won't happen unless we resolve the problem of what happened back in November. This whole thing literally rolled into one big mess because Ritsuka blames Manny for our only chance while Manny thinks he didn't do anything wrong." Liz told them. "What're you gonna do about that?"

"That's why I have to just explain what happened. It isn't anyone's fault." Lee Seng told her.

"How? You don't remember anything from that day."

"Who says I don't?" Lee Seng raised his eyebrows. Liz and Olivia's eyes grew wide. Liz turned to ask Olivia about this when the shock on her face told Liz everything she needed to know. "I remember everything. I can explain what happened and we can get to the true issue between the team. Everyone's suffered, not just me, right?" Liz and Olivia nodded. They all had suffered in different ways after November.

Olivia and Liz were constantly asked about what happened. They felt like they were suffocating because of the questions. People were nosy and just wanted to gossip about it. Lee Seng knew he would drag his teammates down with him. Everyone was just waiting for him to fail and once he did, they talked about him like wildfire. It was on the news, online articles, social media, you name it. People had waited months to see him fail and when he did, they just said, "I told you so."

"So, we'll figure it out together." Lee Seng told them. "I need to figure it all out…" The sounds of footsteps climbing the stairs slowly grew louder as Ritsuka turned the corner.

"Why're you guys talking so late?" Ritsuka rubbed his eyes. He held a water bottle in his hand as he waddled over to the group. Lee Seng would've looked at his phone but realized he had crushed it in the room. "It's like 1am…" He wandered over towards Lee Seng and rounded the corner, sitting on the chair diagonal to Lee Seng.

"You're home? Are you okay?" The tired Ritsuka asked.

"I'm fine. How about you?" Lee Seng asked. Ritsuka's tired brain lagged behind. He didn't know what Lee Seng was talking about until he remembered what had happened earlier today.

"I'm fine. Just came up for some water. You need help going downstairs?"

"I'm fine. I should be able to put myself to bed just fine. If we're too loud, we can just continue this conversation tomorrow." Lee Seng looked at the girls.

"Is it important?"

"It involves what happened today." Lee Seng told him. He nodded and yawned.

"Ah, if you want to talk about it, let's talk tomorrow. I've been in my room all night because Liz said to give Manny space."

"I said to give some space for both of you." Liz corrected. She stood up and looked at Lee  Seng and Olivia. "Well, let's sleep. You're both home and that's the only reason why I stayed up. We'll continue this conversation tomorrow."

The group nodded and the girls headed off to bed. Lee Seng followed Ritsuka into the kitchen and leaned against the counter l top as he watched his friend fill his water bottle.

"When did you get back?"Ritsuka asked. He moved her right hand up his loose shirt and scratched himself as he watched his water bottle fill up.

"Not too long ago." Lee Seng answered.

"Doc said you're good?"

"Mmm, just a migraine. Dr. Valentin wasn't in so he's coming by, probably, tomorrow."

"Why didn't you stay the night?" Ritsuka removed his water bottle and turned to face Lee Seng. He capped the water bottle and moved over to stand parallel to Lee Seng.

"Staying in a hospital is suffocating." Lee Seng answered. "Got flashbacks to staying in the lab for physical therapy."

"Ah. I would feel the same way too then." Ritsuka opened his water bottle and took a large gulp of water. "Well, I'm glad you're okay." Ritsuka rounded the island and patted Lee Seng.

'Was I the only one who got their memories wiped? They didn't act too out of the ordinary…' Lee Seng thought as he shut off the lights and followed Ritsuka down to the basement.

"Night." Ritsuka said as he turned left.

"Night." Lee Seng waved as he turned right.

'I'll figure this out tomorrow. I need everyone here to understand what happened. In the meantime, I should probably get some sleep.' Lee Seng entered his room and flicked the lights on as he shut the door. He pulled his winter coat off and set it on the office chair before heading into the closet.

He stripped everything his boxer briefs off and grabbed a new boxer brief and wandered out of the room and into the bathroom. He shut the door, checked for towels in the storage closet and grabbed one out of it.

He turned the shower on and let it run for a while while he set new boxer briefs on the sink countertop and towel on the towel rack. He pulled his boxer briefs off and stepped into the shower closing the glass door.

'What am I gonna do?' Lee Seng thought. The flashes of Keng disappearing from his Soul world appeared before him. God King Dathro's words rang in his head.

'Even Dathro mentioned Keng wasn't here with me. What am I gonna do? I gotta find Keng somehow.' Lee Seng instinctively clawed his chest. It had become a habit. He waited for the pull in his chest but it didn't come. He looked down and realized something was wrong.

"Why isn't it working?" Lee Seng clawed his chest again. He could start to feel the rumble but nothing happened. He tried over and over again to no luck and let out a frustrated sigh as he sat in the shower.

'Memories were either altered or created to change the history of the last half year… Keng is gone and I don't know why. The Protocol has grown in so little time. It's more hostile now… And Nicole is on my ass.'

"Ugh." Lee Seng groaned. "What am I gonna do?!?" He knocked.the back of his head I'm the glass behind him. He ran his fingers through his dyed blonde hair and listened to the pitter patter of hot water hit the shower floor and his body.

"Between the team, Keng, the Protocol and school, what am I gonna do?" Lee Seng groaned. He lifted himself off the ground as he grabbed the shampoo Ritsuka had set in here. He could feel his head pulsing, again. He cursed under his breath as he massaged his scalp and soaped his hair.

"We'll deal with the team stuff first since that's what I can do now." Lee Seng told himself. "I'll need to figure out what happened with the Protocol on my off time. Keng will eventually come back. Maybe I can Realmwalk and find him when I have more time."

With a rough new plan set, Lee Seng scrubbed himself with body wash and rinsed his head and body off. He shut off the running water and opened the door. The large mirror had fogged up as he grabbed the towel and wiped himself down.

He stepped out and wiped a part of the mirror and leaned in to look at himself. He stared at his face, studying it for a while until he noticed something was different.

"Huh?" Lee Seng whispered. He leaned in closer. He studied his eyes and realized they were brown. "They aren't red and blue anymore? And my ears and tail are gone too…" He straightened himself out as he dried his hair. "A Number Mark, too." He touched his chest. The black ink had drawn out the Roman numeral number for eleven – XI. "What happened after I was found?" He turned to the side to check his body in the slowly defogging mirror.

He had no nicks or marks from what he could tell. He felt physically fine besides the migraines. His legs didn't feel sore and hard when he first started the physical therapy sessions. The new memories didn't stick out like the created and altered memories.

Lee Seng was sure he actually went through physical therapy.

'If that's the case, then did Manny, Sara and I really make up too?'