Chapter 11: The Return Home

"Everyone! Please stay in your groups!" Yukari called out as she scurried from one Red Cross Tent to another. "We're going to get you home, but we just need to take down your names so we can contact your loved ones!"

Yukari had never been more overwhelmed in her life. Sure, the Emergency Room would get hectic at times, but this? This was utter madness! In just a few short hours, thousands of nurses, doctors, and surgeons from all over the world had answered the call from Red Cross to assist with the crisis in Singapore. And what a magnitude of a crisis it was! For at present, Singapore's southern coast was flooded with refugees from Saint Henry's island who had all been missing for the past fifteen years. A hasty military perimeter had been established around the beach, and UN soldiers constantly barked directions at the displaced multitude.

Yukari stopped to catch her breath as she looked out towards the enormous crowd. Unlike most humanitarian crises that affected people in just one location, the refugees in this crowd were all from different parts of the world. Some looked to be from part of Africa and the middle east, while others were more fair skinned. Men, women, children, elderly, all of them had a place in this crowd. Yukari could not believe her eyes. Just who or what in this world had been evil enough to trap them on that island? And from the way most of them were acting, had their memories been stolen?

"Yukari!" Mina's voice called out.

"Mina!" Yukari exclaimed in relief as she turned to meet her friend. "Thank goodness! I was beginning to think I'd have to handle this whole area myself!"

"Nope, they got someone else to cover down in Area C!" Mina beamed. "So I can be back here to help you and the other medical personnel!"

"Well, I'm glad you're excited. Looks like we're going to be here for quite a while."

"Nurses Yukari and Mina! Get over here for the next person!" the doctor in charge of their area shouted.

"On our way!" Yukari and Mina yelled back, bolting over to the main table under the white tent. As soon as they reached their designated spot, the head doctor filled them in on the situation and asked them to cover for him while he stepped to another part of the area. Yukari and Mina agreed, walking over to the table in a brisk manner.

Both of the nurses stopped short when they saw who was next in line.

"Takagi?" Mina asked.

Takagi blinked in confusion as her ears registered the voices of her old middle school friends. Her shoulder-length brown hair and face were riddled with dirt, and there were many small cuts on her hands from when she'd helped gather firewood on the beach.

"Um—um—yeah, I guess that's me," Takagi said.

"Ma'am, please," the Singaporean soldier sitting behind the desk said. "It's going to be alright. We just need your name and address so we can get you on the right transport back home."

The soldier clicked his pen for what must've been the millionth time in the past hour alone. "Your name, please?"

"Uh...Takagi," Takagi responded.

"Takagi, we need your full name!" Mina chimed in, her eyes beginning to water. "You remember us, right? It's me, Mina! And Yukari!"

"Mina, settle down!" Yukari chastised. Although she herself was also emotional at the sight of their long-lost friend, they couldn't afford to let nostalgia affect their duties.

Takagi held her head as she looked at Mina and Yukari. Those names rang a bell, yes, but hadn't she met those people in middle school? These two nurses looked a lot more grown up. Then again, their faces did bear an uncanny resemblance...

Inside Takagi's mind, something clicked.

"Yukari—Mina—it really is you!" Takagi exclaimed.

"Yes, yes Takagi!" Mina nodded. "Now do you remember your first name?"

"Let me think for a minute. Uh—yes, Mika. Mika Takagi."

"And do you remember where you lived prior to your abduction to Saint Henry's Island?" the soldier said in a dutiful tone as he jotted down her name.

"Think, Takagi," Yukari encouraged. "You remember our old middle school, right? In Tonosho, in the Kagawa Prefecture?"

"I—I think so, but I'm not sure," Takagi replied.

"Wait!" Mina butted in, scrolling through the pictures on her phone. Not less than thirty seconds did Mina locate an old photo from their middle school days. She turned her screen to Takagi, praying it would jog her memory.

It did. Takagi's face lit up with newfound life.

"I remember now, yes!" Takagi smiled, turning back to the soldier. "Mika Takagi, Kagawa Prefecture, Tonosho, Japan!"

"Perfect!" the soldier said, then pointed at Mina and Yukari. "One of you can escort her to the zone for refugees coming from Japan. They'll get her on a truck to the airport, and make sure she gets on the correct flight."

"Will do sir, I got this," Yukari volunteered. "This way, Takagi."

As Yukari escorted her friend through the bustling crowd of soldiers, nurses, and refugees, she made sure to keep a firm grip on Takagi's shoulder. Much to Yukari's relief, they arrived at the correct zone without much difficulty. A large military truck guarded by a small squad of soldiers was parked behind some metal barriers. In just one short truck ride and flight, Takagi would be back home again. Takagi's eyes began to water—for so long had she been trapped, for so long had she been cut off from the rest of the world. And now she was about to return home!

Yukari had many questions for her friend she hadn't seen in many years, but now was not the time. She turned to head back to the tent, but felt Takagi grab her arm.

"Yukari wait, please," Takagi implored.

"What is it, Takagi? I need to head back now!"

"The dark-haired boy who sat next to me in class...who was he?"

Yukari was stunned.

"You mean...Nishikata?" Yukari asked.

"Yes...yes, that was his name," Takagi replied after thinking for a moment. "What happened to him after I was taken?"

"I—he became a crime fighting agent in the US. Along with his friends Takao and Kimura. Why?"

"Because I saw him," Takagi revealed. "He was there on the island."

Again, Yukari had no answer. Of all the people to have caused this uproar, it had been Nishikata?

Yukari shook her head to snap herself out of her daze.

"Takagi, I'm glad you're back, but I really need to get back and help Mina, okay? Don't worry, the other Red Cross volunteers will take good care of you! I'll see you back at home."

"Okay, thank you Yukari," Takagi smiled. Yukari smiled back as she walked away, a newfound sense of hopeful resolve in her step.

On the other side of the perimeter, Nishikata was having a much different experience. Not only had the new Prime Minister he and Oliver had helped shown up, but so had the press. And Nishikata had nowhere to hide from the limelight as an energetic reporter shoved a microphone in his face.

"So Agent Nishikata, you say that you and Agent Oliver were in the same FBI class, correct? How was it going on a mission with your fellow agent you hadn't seen in years?"

"It was an honor," Nishikata said with a flat smile on his face. "We were able to weed out the corruption in Singapore's government with ease, then found these other people who needed our help."

That was a lie of course. But Nishikata had learned to treat encounters with a press like an interrogation from the enemy. Never reveal anything crucial.

"It was a bloody wild fight, that much I can say!" Oliver's charismatic, upbeat tone rang out as he clapped Nishikata on the back. "We're glad that all these people are freed and we will ensure all of them make it back home safely!"

Nishikata maintained his false pleasant demeanors as the cameras continued to flash. It wouldn't do him any good to lash out at the press, especially with a large contingent of UN troops and the Red Cross present. He kept the performance up for another ten minutes, and excused himself as soon as the reporter finished her incessant ramblings. Hearing his earpiece beep, he keyed it and heard Kimura's voice on the other end.

"CEA Headquarters want you in Japan pronto," Kimura informed him. "They're sending me and Takao over as well."

"I see," Nishikata replied. "Which part of Japan?"

"Tonosho, Kagawa Prefecture."

Nishikata froze.

"Captain Hamaguchi from the local police department gave an anonymous tip about a high value escaped convict he believes has fled to our hometown. Apparently, this particular convict busted out of Guantanamo Bay."

Nishikata had no response. Another criminal scum. This time in his hometown. The mission was the mission and it had to be done.

"Very well," Nishikata told Kimura. "Thanks for letting me know."

"There will be a helicopter coming to pick you up from your location soon," Kimura informed him. "See you at home."

The device beeped off, and Nishikata was left standing alone in the bright streets as the news reporters buzzed, trucks growled, and helicopters flew overhead.

Home...now that was a word he had not heard in a long time.

And a place which he'd hoped he'd never have to return.

..............................................

"He murdered Krampus!" King Frost howled, his voice shattering the windows in the icy throne room. "Disrupted the Sacred Balance! Tread upon ground that is forbidden for all mortals! And you dare suggest I show mercy!"

"It was you and my brother who pushed him that far!" Santa shouted back.

The throne room was silent. Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Dracula, the Big Bad Wolf, and all the other Guardians were too stunned to speak.

Never in all millennia had one of them dared to defy their King like this.

"What. Did. You. Say?" King Frost replied, his eyes alight with a deep, penetrating and hateful fury as he gazed down at Santa.

"You heard me!" Santa yelled back. "I pleaded with you many times over the years to re-evaluate the methods used by my brother! I begged my brother to reconsider when you wouldn't listen! I warned you that there would be a breaking point. And now, here it is!"

King Frost stood up from his throne, and descended the clear, icy-blue steps. His large, black boots created echoes every time he took a step, and his great scepter glistened with a tantalizing sheen. Santa did not move a muscle as King Frost approached him, and kept his stance even one King Frost got right in his face.

"Say that one more time, weakling," King Frost said in a calm voice laden with unquenchable rage.

"The disruption to the sacred balance is your  fault," Santa growled back. "Shall I say it again?"

"Initiis Novis,"

Santa had lived in the North Pole all his life. And yet, even then, his blood still ran cold.

"What?" Santa said more in surprise than confusion.

"Initiis Novis," King Frost repeated, a sinister grin spreading across his face.

"No...he wouldn't!" Santa thought with a horror he'd never felt before.

But the jolly old gift-giver's worst fears were realized as a stinging cold, colder even than King Frost's Throne Room began to crawl underneath his thick red coat and penetrate his skin. The soft, vengeful footsteps of the newcomers rang out as the throne room doors were opened and they were allowed inside.

Santa saw them, their faces. Former Guardians who had been elevated to positions of greater power many years ago. Among them were Cupid and Beowulf, who Santa was relieved to see.

But then there was her...

The hauntingly beautiful, yet merciless force of vengeance that had destroyed countless innocent lives.

A ghost far more horrid and wretched than any mortal serial killer, with a dress blacker than the darkest night sky.

A woman whose name was feared across all of human legend, and across all the world...

La Llorona