Faraway
Table of Contents
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 Chapter 80 Chapter 81 Chapter 82 Chapter 83 Chapter 84 Chapter 85 Chapter 86 Chapter 87 Chapter 88 Chapter 89 Chapter 90 Chapter 91Chapter 65
With a brave face, Danny reached the bottom floor; his heart pounded with uncertainty about what he was going to find, but the allure of the enchanting melody kept him moving forward. As he stepped out of the staircase, he was greeted by enclosed walls with a worn-out door standing before him, as the sounds of someone playing a piano could be heard from outside this very door.
Last for words, two sides of him are now fighting each other, one telling him to run away as fast as he can while the other is urging him to investigate the source of the music, trying to convince him to open the door and see what's on the other side.
Taking a deep breath, he knows there is only one decision he has to make, and that is the choice of checking who or what is playing that piano. Danny deeply fears the unknown, but the pull of the music is stronger than his fear. "Okay, here goes nothing," he said, muttering under his breath. He then reached out to grasp the door handle, only to suddenly hear the music stop.
"What?" Frozen as a statue, every part of him became iced to the bone. He stood there with his hand still grasping the knob, wondering if he had made a huge mistake by coming down here.
He can feel his own whole body shaking; the sudden silence is even more terrifying than the music. "Oh god," his voice trembled. "This is bad, really bad," he thought to himself, his knuckles immediately turning white as his grip on the door tightened.
"I should've listened to my instincts."
Gripping the handle firmly, he cursed himself for being stupid enough to come down here and say, "What have I gotten myself into?" The question echoed in his mind, the only answer being the deafening quiet that fills the room.
There is one thing more scarier than killer robots: creepy crawlies and ghosts. It is the unknown, alone and unarmed in this forsaken place no one dared to visit. "I shouldn't be here..." He whispered, his voice barely audible over the pounding of his heart.
The silence was oppressive, weighing heavy on his very soul and making it hard to breathe. He stood frozen, his hand still clutching, unsure of what to do next. However, the longer he stays here, the ickier the situation becomes.
But he had come this far to check the mysterious source of the music; leaving it would mean admitting defeat to his own curiosity and fear.
There was something irresistible about the song that drew him in, and he couldn't shake off the feeling that it held some sort of significance or purpose due to how familiar it sounds: "dammit." Seeing there was no choice in this after arriving here in the first place, Danny finally made the foolish decision of continuing forward rather than running back with his tail tucked between his legs.
With a trembling hand, he firmly closed his eyes before slowly twisting the handle counterclockwise, a soft creaking sound filling the air as the door opened. "Please don't be a ghost."
He breathed out, refusing to believe that he was walking into a trap as his heart beat was becoming like a runaway train. The anticipation of what he might find on the other side was almost unbearable, making him want to puke due to how stressed he is in this moment but couldn't for the sake of his own curiosity.
Stepping inside with no clue of where he was heading, Danny immediately felt the presence of a person standing in front of him, causing all his hairs to raise on his arms and neck. Refusing to open his eyes to what might be a ghost staring at him in its cold, dead eyes.
"Hello?" Shaky and barely above whisper, he doesn't know if he is speaking to an actual person; the only thing he can feel is the beating of his own heart and the extreme fear of the situation he is in from his idiotic choice of doing something like this.
Sweating bullets, teeth bared to the open, and a face full of dread—his entire body was visibly shaking; the only thing he could do was stand here in pure terror and ask, "W-who are you?" Managing to stammer out with a couple of words.
Danny was trembling with fear of coming face to face with a possible ghost, horrific creature, or some otherworldly being. "Please," he begged, "don't hurt me." He feels like pissing in his pants, embarrassing as it is. He has no control over his own body right now; the only thing he can do is pray that whatever is standing there is not going to kill him.
An eerie silence filled the room once more, broken only by the sound of his own ragged breathing. The atmosphere was thick with tension, where one wrong move could spell his doom.
Dangerously finding himself rooted to the spot, unable to tear his gaze away from the figure before him, Danny had no choice now but to open his eyes and see the threat that lay in front of him. So in confronting the problem head-on, Danny wouldn't feel so much like a loser in this situation than he did before.
Forcing himself to open his eyes as he continued to shake violently, they slowly and carefully opened wide, revealing a pair of piercing orange eyes staring back at him.
"Oh."
His pulse skipped a beat as he let go of the breath in his lungs and noticed that she was dressed differently than before. Her hair fell down her back, framing her pale complexion and identifiable features. She wore a basic V-neck shirt under a long brown robe that covered almost her whole torso down to her legs.
"Unity?"
Feeling as if he were the butt of the joke, Danny is both humbled and relieved that it wasn't some ghost or, at worst, one of those Renegades trying to lure him into a trap. Instead, it was no other than Unity herself standing in front of him.
"Oh my god, you scared the hell out of me, you little..." Shaking his head, he let out a smile from relief in seeing someone like her. "I thought I lost you," he said, despite knowing she wouldn't understand the words he was saying but rather the intention behind the way he carries himself, which includes body language as a whole.
"Now that I found you, we should head back upstairs." Grabbing her hand and turning around without second thought, he was about to move until she refused to comply. Confused by this, he then looked back at her with an inquisitive gaze and asked.
"What's the matter?" He asked, though he knew the answer would be nothing but a bunch of incomprehensible babbling as usual, "Did you lose something?" Guessing the reason why she is not following him in the first place, she says, "Come on, let's go; it's not safe down here."
Frowning at his response, she turned her head before using her hand to point at the long set of halls, with the sunlight piercing through the set of windows on their left shoulder. "Errr..." Telling her trusted friend to follow her, she was leading him in the opposite direction of the staircase, leaving him bewildered as to why she was insisting on going somewhere else instead of heading back to safety.
But knowing how persistent she is, Danny reluctantly followed along, hoping that wherever she is taking him, it will be worth the risk of staying down here any longer than necessary.
"Okay, fine." If it means gaining her trust completely, then he won't hesitate to do so. "Lead the way then," he said with a shrug, "but promise me we'll get out of here soon, alright? This place gives me the creeps," shuddering at the icky feeling the place is giving him, he was more than happy to leave this accursed abandoned floor behind and return to the relative safety of where there is life present.
"Let's just hope we don't run into any more... surprises." Unity, however, seemed oblivious to his concerns, too focused on the path ahead as he continued to hold his hand while leading the both of them further into this hall.
Danny's eyes scanned the long, somewhat lit corridor, the shadows cast by the lights dancing across the walls like restless spirits. Glancing left and right at the same time, anyone who is with him would think of the young man as nothing more than a paranoid freak, but after seeing everything he can see in a world overrun by anarchists and robots who just want to see them dead.
Reasonable thing to be logical in cautious of every little thing he comes across, not wanting to be a confident fool who got himself killed by underestimating the danger lurking in every corner of this crumbling hellhole.
Watching her lead him makes it rather poetic justice in how the tables have turned when he was the one leading her to safety after rescuing the girl from danger. Although seeing her have new clothes makes him wonder if it was Hansel's doing.
It wouldn't be the craziest thing to imagine since, after waking up to this world, he never realized before that Danny already had his clothes worn without his consent. Whatever the case, he doesn't mind one bit since the doctor or his peers themselves aren't evil at the least.
They could do much worse when he or Unity were unconscious. But they didn't; rather, the head doctor used kindness and compassion to help him and Unity as well, giving them a chance to survive in this harsh and unforgiving world.
Now, he is grateful to have such people by his side, if it means wearing clothes of which he wasn't aware. "At least you're clean and dry now," he said with a chuckle, looking at how healthier she is compared to before. "Hansel must've done that, huh?"
"Oooh!" She responded with a simple yet joyful sound of delight, her small hands wiggling excitedly in his grasp. "Uuuuhhh!" The way she reacted to his question made it seem like she understood what he meant, but Danny knew better than to assume that as she stopped and turned her head to look at him, smiling happily at the mere mention of the doctor's name, giving him a clear answer of her approval at her growing trust with the two kind-hearted young men she had the honor of befriending with.
"Hmm..." He pondered, "You know, I'm starting to think that Hansel might be the only sane person in this whole messed-up world," he said with a sigh, shaking his head at the state of things.
"He lost someone precious, forced to deal with all these sick people in need, and still manages to be kind and compassionate." Glancing back at her with a smile of his own, he said, "and he even had the nerve to clean you up!" His tone was light and teasing, but there was a warmth to his words, a genuine appreciation for the doctor's never ending altruism.
"Kkkyaaahh!" Unity giggled, clearly amused by his commentary, her eyes sparkling with mirth before suddenly embracing him tightly, burying her face in his chest. "Ggwwaaaahh!" She cooed; the sound of contentment in being cared for by people she can trust is evident in her voice.
Danny's heart swelled at the sudden action, standing there unsure of what to do other than see her as some kind of long-lost sibling he had never seen before, making him feel protective of her. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he said, awkwardly patting her on the head as a sign to return the wholesome gesture.
"Gaahh!"
His face softens at this sight; he feels like talking to someone who can't properly function like a normal human being. It made him feel saddened at the possible cause of this condition she has.
Maybe it was trauma or disability; Danny doesn't know, but he is willing to find out more about her to make her life easier as much as he can while having someone in her life to protect and care for.
As the two of them stood there, he wondered how much his life had changed since that fateful day he woke up in this strange new world. From being alone, confused, and even scared, to forming bonds with people like Unity and Hansel, he had found a sense of purpose, a reason to keep going despite the hardships.
Giving him a chance to live life to its fullest.
Find your way!
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