A continuation of the series that I've been working on recently! If you haven't already, please read part 1 for context.
"Huh? Feudal Japan?"
Confronted with these unexpected turn of events, Hannah's head spun in confusion. Her mind teemed with unanswered questions.
Maria, taking note of the exasperated expression on Hannah's face, motioned to the nurse to leave the two of them alone. After she closed the screen door, the room became much more intimate as it seemingly closed in on Maria and Hannah.
Hannah started babbling off questions, placing her top-of-the-class intelligence in full display.
"Where am I? Am I badly hurt? What-"
Maria offered a warm smile and pulled up a stool to sit by Hannah's side. Grasping Hannah's hand, Maria murmured, "There, there. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, yeah? Let's get you sat up and comfortable."
While Maria adjusted the bed, Hannah cleared her mind and organized her thoughts.
"Is this a dream?" Hannah asked Maria.
"No, dear, this isn't."
Pouting, Hannah replied, "Then prove it."
"Stubborn as always, aren't 'cha?" Maria chuckled. She turned over a part of the blanket, exposing one of Hannah's bruises on her leg.
"This'll hurt a bit, okay?"
With a nod of approval from Hannah, Maria started to rub the bruise quickly.
"Ah!" Hannah grimaced, but she then realized that she hadn't woken up despite the pain.
"See?" Maria settled back onto her stool by Hannah's side.
Tears welled up in Hannah's eyes. "No, no! This can't be! I want to go... back..." Her speech started breaking down into intermittent sobs. Never in a million years would she have been prepared to be ripped out of her perfect little world and placed into a completely foreign reality.
Maria wiped away Hannah's tears and replied soothingly, "Even though we can't go back, we'll try to live our lives to the fullest, okay?" Way to comfort a crying child, Maria.
Once Hannah calmed down, she asked Maria, "How did you get here?"
"Ah, it was quite the adventure, let me tell ya," Maria began, with a sparkle in her eye.
"So I was in class with you, on any ordinary day, when, suddenly, poof, everything disappeared! I began falling through a void, and then I lost consciousness. Couldn't remember what came next, but what I could gather from others lata', I fell in some field east of here, across the straight. I was hurt, so, luckily, some kind souls brought me to their village to take good care of me.
"Once I was back in health, one kind woman took me under her wing and cared for me while I got my act back together. Now me being the health nerd that I am, I set up a little clinic in the house to heal the townspeople if they had somethin' bad goin' on. They were suspicious and all at first, me being Hispanic and all, but I eventually got their trust. I was unusually good at healing others, so they say, so more and more people started visiting me, especially from here, Nagasaki. So I decided to move here to help more people.
"I set up shop here, what, 39 years ago? And I've been helping others since then."
Hannah's eyes were wide open and uttered, "Wow... that is quite the story."
After a brief pause, she piped up and asked Maria, "That makes me wonder, other than the two of us, are there any other classmates that are here?"
Maria nodded. "Tim is also here, and he's currently the Emperor."
Shocked, Hannah stuttered, "W-wait, how?!"
Maria sighed, "About 20 years after I arrived, there was a large rebellion and uprising. It turns out that this coup d'etat was led by none other than Tim, and he overthrew the ruling family."
Hannah's mind started to fill with enmity towards Tim since he had mistreated virtually everybody in the school, so Tim was widely hated.
It was in this moment that she swore to restore the natural flow of history and restore the Tokugawa dynasty to the throne just to spite Tim. How would that happen, though? How would she find reinforcements and stare down an entire army? She didn't know, but she was dead-set on executing the goal.
A nurse peeked into the room from the doorway and motioned for Maria to come. Maria acknowledged the signal, then told Hannah, "Well, I have more patients to tend to. See ya around for dinner."
"Alright, see you then."
As Hannah waited, she could not help but extrapolate the similarities between Maria's story and her own. They both fell through a void and are implants into this strange world.
Wondering if Maria had experienced everything that she had, Hannah anxiously awaited Maria's return.
I'm so sleepy rn... but I did it yay. Gosh, I need to learn how to introduce conflict better, haha. My story-writing skills are nowhere where they should be.
I'll probably be busy for a while with work-related stuff, so enjoy this long chapter while you wait! :p
GuiedGui
11 Jul 2020 03:00
In reply to Draconid_Jo
Thanks for the kind feedback! I'm kind of feeling that this series is moving significantly slower than I'd like to, but I kind of like how intimate the storytelling is here.
As a perspective, this is progressing at about 67% of the speed compared to the original. I hope I have enough time to finish this off... o_O
Draconid_Jo
11 Jul 2020 03:28
In reply to GuiedGui
Well, although I'm obviously overdoing it a bit with MoD (which is only partially my own fault), take my advice: Don't rush it.
(I actually like the slower, more intimate approach you're taking with this, as well.)
GuiedGui
11 Jul 2020 03:32
In reply to Draconid_Jo
Ah, alright. Nice to know that you're a fan. Thanks!
Draconid_Jo
11 Jul 2020 03:38
In reply to GuiedGui
YW.
And BTW, although it'd probably be interesting in other time periods as well, you kinda won me over when I read the words "Feudal Japan", lol!
GuiedGui
11 Jul 2020 04:13
In reply to Draconid_Jo
Haha, as I thought it would.
Historical accuracy is up in the air, though. I'm no history major
Draconid_Jo
11 Jul 2020 04:32
In reply to GuiedGui
Meh, you're writing a cool story about time travel that happens to take place in Feudal Japan, I'm pretty sure that nobody's going to blame you if you don't get everything historically accurate, lol! (IK that I won't.)
GuiedGui
11 Jul 2020 04:34
In reply to Draconid_Jo
I mean, there'll be a canon excuse for invariably mixing in some modern stuff in there. Just you wait.
:p
Draconid_Jo
11 Jul 2020 04:40
In reply to GuiedGui