Rescue

Sakura has some help in this maze. The angels were in her ear as she walked. She could feel her little girl near. The tenshi-chi held her hand to her chest and closed her eyes.

Don’t lose focus.

They didn’t need to tell her twice. All she thought about was looking for Miya. Spike would be catching up to her soon. Sakura pushed herself to keep walking. The footsteps got closer. This time, they were running up on her. Sakura had been trying not to look. The rushing around her made things worse. She tried to focus through the dark.

Come on, Miya. Where are you?

She could feel herself floating off the ground.

“You have to stay calm!”

Sakura trembled as she opened her eyes. They were right. The last thing her daughter needed was her mother panicking because something was chasing her. Sakura wasn’t sure if she could do it alone.

“Which way do I go next?” she asked.

“Left.”

Sakura took off running that way. The faster she went, the more she started to fly away. Hang on, sweetie! Mama’s coming!

“Sakura! Get control of yourself! You’re attracting attention from the---”

“What?” she asked. All she got in response was hushed whispering.

“Guys?” the tenshi-chi asked. “What’s going on?” Suddenly, it went quiet. Sakura held her breath as she looked around. Her hand wrapped around a dagger she hid in her sleeve as she slowly started backing away.

Mama! Help me!

“Huh?” she asked. That was all that she had time to get out of her mouth before she ended up snatched away from the maze by an unseen force.

---------

Hot… So hot…

When Sakura drew her eyes open, she found herself lying on something plush. All the tenshi-chi could see was deep purple. Sakura made a face as she attempted to figure out what happened. Her body felt stiff all over. She tried to move but found that she could only more her fingertips and her head.

However, it didn’t take long for her to realize that she wasn’t alone.

Sakura’s eyes were scanning her surroundings when they settled on a familiar figure staring back at her. They widened as he heart jumped in her chest.

“Miya?” she asked. “Miya, is that you, baby?” The little girl didn’t respond or look conscious at first. Her mother feared the worst as she tried to reach out to her. Suddenly, Miya slowly lifted her head as she started to stir. Sakura gasped as relief washed over her.

“Miya!” she said.

“Ma…ma…?” the child asked.

“Are you okay? Can you move?” Sakura asked. Miya started to fully wake up at the sound of her mother’s voice.

“Mama!” she said. Sakura moved her fingers on the hand outstretched to her daughter.

“Here! Crawl over to me! Take my hand!” she shouted. Miya reached out her arm and tried to feel around for the fingers. Sakura tried to free her own hand as a tiny one wrapped around index finger.

“Ah! Good, good! Just come closer to me,” Sakura said. The child crawled in closer and grabbed onto her mother’s body. The whole time, the tenshi-chi tried to free her body from this strange paralysis. She took in a deep breath as she tried to move. The tenshi-chi pictured herself moving her head. Sakura closed her eyes and counted down in her head.

Three… Two…

“One!” she shouted. The best that she could do was sitting up. Even that took more work than what she pictured. By the time mother and daughter were sitting up, Sakura sat in their plush prison panting. She could somewhat move and she got her daughter back. The next part was to try and get out of wherever they were and get back to Spike. Sakura looked down at her Miya as she clung to her torso. She kissed her atop her head.

“Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to get us out of here and find Daddy. And then we can go home,” she whispered. “Just stay with me and we will go home, I promise.” Miya said nothing as she clung to her mother as tightly as she could. Sakura held onto the little girl as she tried to think of how they were going to get out this.