Jack brushed back his hand through his shredded faded hair.
At a time which now seemed long ago in the past his hair had blazed as finely as the sun playing across a field of maize.
Now the reality was far less romantic.
The ordeals Jack had gone through had drained much of his spirit and optimism.
When the war against the Chosen had ended and he had finally escaped his captivity he had been a much changed Jack.
He had barely known himself when he had seen his reflection in the river while catching his supper.
Jack laughed quietly but there was no humour in it.
Maybe becoming a new Jack had been fitting considering what he had come home to when he had returned to the Mall.
"Here we are then." he told Chloe.
"Are you sure you wont come in?" Chloe persisted.
Jack shook his head wearily.
"No." he said.
"Jack please!" her eyes were pleading.
"Chloe there's just people I dont wanna meet." jack replied evenly.
It was true. That was the reason why he had become a wanderer moving across the country from place to place.
No place to call home.
No people to call his friends.
Unable to get help anymore.
What had happened upon his return to the phoenix Mall had been the deciding blow.
he had hoped too often and now like evrything else that had finally abadoned him.
"Like Ellie?" Chloe was dead-pan.
Jack looked back at her suddenly haggard.
"Look I'll...I'll see you around sometime. Kay?"
Chloe had always had that nack for knocking the nail right on the head.
"Jack..." Chloe crossed over to him.
"Yup?"
"Thank-you." she whispered putting her arms behind his neck and hugging him. "and good luck."
"Hey Jack." came a voice in an absent minded way.
KC was fiddling around at his stall in the near distance.
Jack raised a hand in a half-hearted greeting to the ex-thief turned Mallrat.
KC blinked and then spun back to face them upsetting his stall in the process.
"Jack! Your back!" KC filled the distance between them in half a second.
"Well not really." jack chuckled although his heart just wasnt in it somehow.
He neednt have bothered.
Already KC's attention had transferred to Chloe.
he stopped in mid-stride.
"Chloe?" he breathed hardly trusting his eyes.
"hi KC." she replied coolly. "seen a ghost or something?"
"You've...changed." KC stuttered.
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Have I?" she asked coyly.
"Your so...so..." he lost the words.
"Yes?"
jack felt the tiny tic of a smile play at the edge of his mouth.
If he hadnt known any better then he would have thought that KC was experiencing his first crush.
"Are...are you back for good? Come inside and have a drink and something to eat." he suggested.
Chloe beamed. "That'd be great! I'm starving."
They turned and began to walk off to the mall.
"um...see ya!" Jack called as he realised that things were slipping away from him.
Neither Chloe nor KC heeded him and so he was left behind in the middle of an unfamiliar market without a single face he knew.
Jac sighed and resisted the urge to follow them and aim a kick at KC's hind-quarters.
Chloe hadnt been much but at least she'd been familiar company.
Now losing her and watching as she went back to return to her life made him feel sad and old.
Jack felt like he could go out into the middle of the forest and die without any knowing or caring.
Funny.
he hadnt thought about it before but one day the children would be calling him 'one of the adults'.
That just made Jack feel sad.
"Jack?"
Jack looked up startled out of his brooding in the direction the voice had come from.
The person he saw clambering over the heaps of rusted metal was Amber.
Or was it Eagle?
he couldnt tell.
Her eyes glowed as she saw that it was definitely him and she quickened her pace to reach him.
"Jack!" she threw her arms around him and held him close to her.
"Amber...." Jack breathed warmth spreading through him as he squeezed her in return.
Yes.
It was Amber.
Not Eagle who remained aloof so as to hold back the past and deny her true self to avoid being hurt again but the real Amber who cared about those around her.
Jack was glad he'd chosen to walk Chloe back after all.
At least he'd gotten to meet Amber one last time before the end.
He patted her back unsure of what to say.
"You look brilliant." he settled for. "And bigger." he added realiseing that Amber was showing now.
Amber giggled as they drew apart.
"So what are you doing?" she asked.
"Leaving." Jack found that it didnt hurt as much if he said it quicker.
"Oh." Ambers face fell slightly. "Well I...I guess your getting pretty good at that."
"Yeah." the pleasure he'd felt at first had died a little. "Well I didnt mean to see anyone. I mean I was..."
"Well you cant just go leaving me without saying goodbye." she rebuked him.
Jack blinked.
Leaving her?
when they had first met Amber had been at his throat constantly about his determination to believe that at least a few adults must have survived the virus somehow.
Now she spoke warmly to him and didnt want him to leave at all.
But he had to.
it he didnt go now it would be too painful for him later.
"Well erm...goodbye." he settled for in the end rather lamely he feared.
"No not like that! Look come inside first."
"I...I'd rather....not." he prostested.
But he was weakening and Amber could see it in his face.
"Ellie's at the farm with Alice and Luke is at the hotel with Ebony so...." Amber realised that there just werent words that could ease his pain.
She offered Jack her hand.
"Come on." she said simply.
Jack looked away but Amber took his hand in her own and turned him to face her.
"Come on!" she insisted.
Jack wanted to turn her down.
or did he?"
Looking into Amber's eyes he saw their friendship and all they had been through together.
Being Mallrats together.
Their history.
Jack realised that it wasnt what he wanted at all.
Amber smiled warmly as she realised that she had talked Jack into coming back to the mall with her.
as she led him in she knew that he'd vow to leave as soon as he was rested.
Amber would work on him.
By the end of Jacks stay he would want to remain with them in spite of the past.
She knew she could do it.
After all that was just what Amber did.
The End!
At a time which now seemed long ago in the past his hair had blazed as finely as the sun playing across a field of maize.
Now the reality was far less romantic.
The ordeals Jack had gone through had drained much of his spirit and optimism.
When the war against the Chosen had ended and he had finally escaped his captivity he had been a much changed Jack.
He had barely known himself when he had seen his reflection in the river while catching his supper.
Jack laughed quietly but there was no humour in it.
Maybe becoming a new Jack had been fitting considering what he had come home to when he had returned to the Mall.
"Here we are then." he told Chloe.
"Are you sure you wont come in?" Chloe persisted.
Jack shook his head wearily.
"No." he said.
"Jack please!" her eyes were pleading.
"Chloe there's just people I dont wanna meet." jack replied evenly.
It was true. That was the reason why he had become a wanderer moving across the country from place to place.
No place to call home.
No people to call his friends.
Unable to get help anymore.
What had happened upon his return to the phoenix Mall had been the deciding blow.
he had hoped too often and now like evrything else that had finally abadoned him.
"Like Ellie?" Chloe was dead-pan.
Jack looked back at her suddenly haggard.
"Look I'll...I'll see you around sometime. Kay?"
Chloe had always had that nack for knocking the nail right on the head.
"Jack..." Chloe crossed over to him.
"Yup?"
"Thank-you." she whispered putting her arms behind his neck and hugging him. "and good luck."
"Hey Jack." came a voice in an absent minded way.
KC was fiddling around at his stall in the near distance.
Jack raised a hand in a half-hearted greeting to the ex-thief turned Mallrat.
KC blinked and then spun back to face them upsetting his stall in the process.
"Jack! Your back!" KC filled the distance between them in half a second.
"Well not really." jack chuckled although his heart just wasnt in it somehow.
He neednt have bothered.
Already KC's attention had transferred to Chloe.
he stopped in mid-stride.
"Chloe?" he breathed hardly trusting his eyes.
"hi KC." she replied coolly. "seen a ghost or something?"
"You've...changed." KC stuttered.
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Have I?" she asked coyly.
"Your so...so..." he lost the words.
"Yes?"
jack felt the tiny tic of a smile play at the edge of his mouth.
If he hadnt known any better then he would have thought that KC was experiencing his first crush.
"Are...are you back for good? Come inside and have a drink and something to eat." he suggested.
Chloe beamed. "That'd be great! I'm starving."
They turned and began to walk off to the mall.
"um...see ya!" Jack called as he realised that things were slipping away from him.
Neither Chloe nor KC heeded him and so he was left behind in the middle of an unfamiliar market without a single face he knew.
Jac sighed and resisted the urge to follow them and aim a kick at KC's hind-quarters.
Chloe hadnt been much but at least she'd been familiar company.
Now losing her and watching as she went back to return to her life made him feel sad and old.
Jack felt like he could go out into the middle of the forest and die without any knowing or caring.
Funny.
he hadnt thought about it before but one day the children would be calling him 'one of the adults'.
That just made Jack feel sad.
"Jack?"
Jack looked up startled out of his brooding in the direction the voice had come from.
The person he saw clambering over the heaps of rusted metal was Amber.
Or was it Eagle?
he couldnt tell.
Her eyes glowed as she saw that it was definitely him and she quickened her pace to reach him.
"Jack!" she threw her arms around him and held him close to her.
"Amber...." Jack breathed warmth spreading through him as he squeezed her in return.
Yes.
It was Amber.
Not Eagle who remained aloof so as to hold back the past and deny her true self to avoid being hurt again but the real Amber who cared about those around her.
Jack was glad he'd chosen to walk Chloe back after all.
At least he'd gotten to meet Amber one last time before the end.
He patted her back unsure of what to say.
"You look brilliant." he settled for. "And bigger." he added realiseing that Amber was showing now.
Amber giggled as they drew apart.
"So what are you doing?" she asked.
"Leaving." Jack found that it didnt hurt as much if he said it quicker.
"Oh." Ambers face fell slightly. "Well I...I guess your getting pretty good at that."
"Yeah." the pleasure he'd felt at first had died a little. "Well I didnt mean to see anyone. I mean I was..."
"Well you cant just go leaving me without saying goodbye." she rebuked him.
Jack blinked.
Leaving her?
when they had first met Amber had been at his throat constantly about his determination to believe that at least a few adults must have survived the virus somehow.
Now she spoke warmly to him and didnt want him to leave at all.
But he had to.
it he didnt go now it would be too painful for him later.
"Well erm...goodbye." he settled for in the end rather lamely he feared.
"No not like that! Look come inside first."
"I...I'd rather....not." he prostested.
But he was weakening and Amber could see it in his face.
"Ellie's at the farm with Alice and Luke is at the hotel with Ebony so...." Amber realised that there just werent words that could ease his pain.
She offered Jack her hand.
"Come on." she said simply.
Jack looked away but Amber took his hand in her own and turned him to face her.
"Come on!" she insisted.
Jack wanted to turn her down.
or did he?"
Looking into Amber's eyes he saw their friendship and all they had been through together.
Being Mallrats together.
Their history.
Jack realised that it wasnt what he wanted at all.
Amber smiled warmly as she realised that she had talked Jack into coming back to the mall with her.
as she led him in she knew that he'd vow to leave as soon as he was rested.
Amber would work on him.
By the end of Jacks stay he would want to remain with them in spite of the past.
She knew she could do it.
After all that was just what Amber did.
The End!