You would think after the first few hours of starting on a vacation, you'd be as carefree as possible; however, it wasn't the case this time.
Sylvia was killing time in the bathroom, while Wander would lay on the bed. There were two separate ones for each of them; and they were both king size, making him look like a pea in comparison. He felt secure enough to take off the poncho and expose the bandages, looking at himself made him feel alienated and anxious. He would lay there in thought trying to make sense of these feelings and could pick up nothing. He would pick at them, curious to see if the wounds were healing up any. He decided it was about the time to change them, and wanted to take a short nap.
By the time Sylvia came out, Wander was on his side asleep. His legs tucked inwards and his shoes where on the other side of the bed. She quietly crept to get a closer look to see his face, and he seemed to be in a peaceful bliss. Then annoyance came, she remembered if he took too long of a nap, he'd be jumping around at night going a hundred miles per hour.
She looked out the window...Rockna's sun was nearly gone. She prayed for a no repeat of him being knocked out all day.
Then an idea came to her.
"Time to dig some dirt."
She left the room and closed the door as silently as she could. Instantly she heard the faint splashing water from downstairs. She remembered.
"Ugh, stairs."
When it came to fighting sometimes, she could easily drop down long distances and heights with no trouble or hurting herself, but since this was not Hater's ship, she couldn't do that normally, this was a public area.
She reached the first floor and looked at the reception desk. The octopus man from earlier came out from the door with his business jacket in one arm, facing away from her. He turned around and looked straight at Sylvia's face, surprised.
"Sup?" She put her hands on her hips.
"Oh, it's you. How is everything upstairs?" He was eager to know.
"It's...fine," She hesitated, then loosened up, "I have something to ask you."
"Yes, anything." He held his upper tentacles together.
"Tell me right now, what do you have against Wander, and what's a Furnicle?"
His easy going composure stiffened at the name, and he expressed worry.
"Oh uh, that. I don't know what I was blabbing about," He scratched the back of his head, faking embarrassment, "It was very unprofessional and I apologize."
He went around the desk and entered the other door inside and he stepped out.
"My shift is over, and I need to go." He bowed, and started to go out the sliding doors, but was stopped by a disgruntled Zbornak.
She stomped the granite floor, making a slight shake in the room.
"You're not going anywhere, until I get what I need." Sylvia said sharply.
He flinched in her grip, she was giving him a scary glare. She looked at his nametag.
"So..Nate is it?," She brought her face closer, "Tell me now."
"O-okay okay!" He half shouted.
She let go, waiting.
"Follow me here, it's more private."
Nate went back to where he was before, through the doors and lead her to the Employee's room only. He let her go in first and he cautiously closed it and looked out to see if they were being seen.
Sylvia could see a medium sized kitchen with two offices in the back to the right. Would she finally know the answers to Wander's kind and past?
"So, miss Sylvia, if I recall, your friend is a Furnicle, or at least, related to one."
She side glanced him.
"Normally, I have books about their history at my house, but here we can research it up on the computer over there if you need to, and I can do most of the explaining."
"Just explain, I don't have time to look it up, especially..."
She rubbed the bruise on her face, somber. "Go on."
"I'm sorry to break this to you, but your friend may not be as he claims." Nate looked down sadly.
Sylvia's face lit up, surprised.
"What do you mean?" She asked, perturbed.
"Furnicles...were wiped out due to their aggressive, and destructive nature."
Sylvia's face plummeted to horror.
"Your friend, Wander...it's only a matter of time before he is pushed to the brink of having to hunt and take you out." Nate said bleakly.
"Hello?"
Wander somehow found himself in the middle of the hallways of the museum. How he got there, he didn't know. All he knew was he needed to find the way back. It wasn't the place that didn't make him feel welcome, it was the memory of the mirror. The eerie silence of the place made his wounds throb. Even though his hat was with him this time, he still felt unsafe.
"Sylvia?" He cupped his hands and called for her.
But no answer. He felt helpless again without her. It was one of his biggest fears.
"She's not here."
He whipped around to see who replied, and someone with a dark silhouette and hat was slouching against the wall.
"You almost had her destroyed, now she hates you."
Mirror Wander stood up straight and glared at him. In an instant he was in front of Wander who watched him, frozen with horror. His reflected version poked a finger into his chest and softly whispered,
"Will you be able to live with yourself, knowing what the thing inside will make you do?" He cackled.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
...
"That's crazy! Wander would never come after to destroy me!" Sylvia protested firmly, not believing it for a second.
"For now, maybe," Nate pointed his tentacle close to her forehead, "But in the history books, they turned eventually, whether by their own will or not."
"Flarp drassing holes, I wanted something to help make our situation better, not some nonsense about Furnicles- er, whatever about killing things."
"They're worse than Lord Dominator." Nate stated suddenly. "Their level of power could crush several planets at once if they chose to."
Sylvia stiffened. "How do you know about-"
"He Dominator, has destroyed my home planet. That's all there is to it."
He? Then Sylvia thought, Nate doesn't know about her real identity. Which made sense to her.
...Suddenly, their meeting was interrupted by a deafening roar. It shook their cores.
It stopped, Sylvia stared upwards to the ceiling, nervous but firm. She knew that scream anywhere. It happened back at Spearnight...
However, Nate wasn't as composed.
"Oh no, no, no," he trembled, "He's coming to get us!"
"Shut up! That's Wander! He needs me and something happened!"
Not putting up with Nate's beliefs and cowardice she flew out the door, leaving him stunned.
As fast as she could she went to the room they were staying in, the closer she got to it, the louder she heard Wander's crying.
"PLEASE, DON'T TAKE ME THERE!"
"Wander!?" Sylvia shoved the card-key and flung the door open and stormed in.
Wander sat upright, eyes wide as saucers and he panted heavily, he noticed Sylvia just a few feet away, his terrified face lessened.
"Oh, hi Sylvia." He greeted, sheepish.
"Are you alright? I heard you screaming all the way from downstairs!" She said worriedly.
Out of the last minute, to make it look less worse than it was, he fibbed.
"Yeah I am, I just had a really intense good dream." He saluted.
She blinked, dead-panning.
"Wander, your scream was really loud, that sure isn't caused by a good dream."
"Don't worry about me."
This time his words weren't cheerful or heartfelt. He appeared sad. It sent the kind of message to Sylvia...that he needed to be alone.
She said nothing more and left the bedroom, but not before coming back to say,
"I'll be downstairs if you need me, alright?" She said sweetly.
He only responded with a short nod. After she left, he swiped his hat and hugged it tightly.
"What is wrong with me?"
...
"What happened?" Nate asked nervously.
Sylvia returned to the Employee's room and closed the door, not facing him and deep in thought.
"Nothing to be scared of, if that's what you mean."
"Oh, okay."
He was relieved she came back not hurt, and so he relaxed. He wasn't sure what to think of Wander since he knew little of him. From outside, he appeared as harmless as a puppy, but he was still afraid of the one possible side that could destroy whatever he pleased.
"But let me get this clear," Sylvia faced him, "I'll be sure that he doesn't turn against me or anyone else. Me and Wander have been together longer than you know."
She made a confident grin.
"It would take an army of other people to convince him to turn evil, and he still couldn't do it."
Nate cleared his throat. "For now, I'll believe it."
"So, where were we?" She was straight-forward.
"Oh, of course, have a seat." Nate pointed to an office chair.
The two settled, and Sylvia was all ears.
"Wander's species are known as Furnicles, as you already know, sorry for the repeat. In the beginning of time, it was told by legends they were born from stars themselves. It wasn't until thousands and thousands of years later, they preferred to be known as Star Nomads, which I'll get to later."
Nate straightened in his seat.
"That much I already knew about him, star Nomads." Sylvia input.
"Furnicle's forms and appearances changed over the years from evolution, researchers at the time didn't know what they looked like back then, so they described them as feline. Still, no one knows what they looked like."
"They loved to tell stories. Their only love and passion; was to record events that schools these days tell in history to children. Some of those history books were written by them hundreds of years ago. Basically scholars. Furnicles went about the galaxy to lecture to fellow aliens, and raised their offspring to do the same."
That doesn't sound like the goof ball I know, Sylvia thought.
She found it a little hilarious if Wander went about lecturing people across the universe.
"But then that's when it became bad," Nate went on, "When they are in a state of pain or distress, they lose all sense of themselves. Some became mad or enraged when others disagreed with their ways of teaching and lifestyle, thus a war broke out. It was studied back then when they became fewer in numbers, researchers captured them for experimentation, and believed it to be their defense mechanism and instinct."
"That's when it became their downfall..," Nate looked at the floor sadly.
"They let their beliefs get the better of them and took it so personally. Eventually, they became almost extinct. As the centuries went on, they were spotted in different galaxies without any companions or a home. They preferred to travel alone. Rumor has it they began to change their ways, and started to preach and lecture about stories of peace and kindness."
Pang.
Sylvia gasped. That's when it hit her like a bag of bricks;
When Wander was fighting, he did everything he could to get rid of his enemy, and went all out. She shivered at the scenes as she could only watch him fight to stay alive. Now that sounded like Wander. It all made so much more sense to her, the way he acted in which at times made her so frustrated with him.
But she loved it. She loved the side of him that loved to help. That she could never change.
The problem was if he should know the truth or not.
"Anything else you want to know?"
She would have to think about this.
"No."
...
By the time she came back to the room it was late at night. She didn't come back right away because she wanted to stare out at the beach behind the hotel to clear her anxiety. She found Wander in the same place she left him. Unmoving and asleep.
Tomorrow was a new day. She vowed to make it the best for the both of themselves.
"No more talk about mirrors, or Furnicles business. We're gonna have fun." She held her fist, determined.
Now, she was excited. Wander did this just for her, and it be a spit in his face if she didn't enjoy it and let her personal problems get the better of her. She hopped into bed with a new mood of enthusiasm, and instantly fell asleep.
Little did Sylvia know, Wander was wide awake while she was downstairs, and didn't get any sleep that night. His brain was running non-stop with questions he tried to make sense of and it kept his heart pounding.