Garet was dried and fully dressed now, with his hair back to its normal, unusually spiky self. The team had to wait for Mia to catch up, though, as her "moment alone" turned into a full-blown falling out with her Djinn (and that was before waiting for her to get dressed). The gang gathered some extra torches while waiting, and after she caught up they returned to the cave and passed through the room where Garet battled the Pyrodra. There were two exits on the other side of the room, and Kraden told the two that the paths eventually met. "We went in one door and wound up coming out the other." The group entered the northern passage and found themselves in a hallway similar to the one at the cave entrance. Ivan muttered something about fighting a Mimic while lost in here, and eventually they found the staircase leading to a lower level of the cave.
"This is as far as we got last time," Isaac explained as they descended, torch in hand. "Don't know what's down here, so be on guard."
"At least we won't have to worry about another Mimic." Ivan said. "There's never more than one in the same cave."
Sheba slid up next to her fellow Jupiter Adept. "Y'never know. There's a first time for everything." Ivan shuddered as she said this.
"Go easy on him, Sheba," Felix stepped between the two as soon they reached the lower level, another natural hall. "That ended about as well for him as that Yampi incident did for you."
"Hey, at least what happened to him was because of a monster," the girl glared at Garet, who was already glaring back, "and not because of a so-called teammate!"
"Hey, I said I was sorry!" The Mars Adept held his arms out in a sign of exasperation, nearly knocking the torch out of Isaac's hand. "Besides, it was an accident! Get off my back!"
"Boulders!" Everyone turned and saw what Jenna was talking about. The path branched in two, and she and Piers each stood in front of a different path. Both were blocked by boulders, but the route to the right appeared to be the clearer of the two.
The Lemurian faced his fellow spelunkers. "Think I can 'Lift' them?"
"Or should you?" Kraden walked up to get a closer look, taking Felix's torch in the process. "One false move and we could be dealing with a complete cave-in."
"Don't worry about that." Isaac was glowing slightly, with his eyes closed and his free hand against the wall. "The cave is pretty sturdy. These boulders aren't supporting anything. They're just obstacles." At that he stopped glowing, blinking a couple of times as his eyes readjusted to the darkness.
Piers proceeded to lift the rocks with his Psynergy, placing them to the side so they wouldn't block their way when leaving. Garet, meanwhile, stared at Isaac for a moment before feeling guilty for his jealousy. That's something else I'll have to add to my dia- Dang it, Sheba! He sighed, quietly enough that only Mia cared enough to notice. Still, Venus Adepts can sense things about the earth, just like Jupiter can sense the wind and Mercury can sense water. But fires, well...those don't normally pop up much, and even when they do there isn't much to detect.
Except in Yampi.
Shut up, Fugue. He gets enough of that from Sheba.
"Thanks, Forge."
Anytime. By the way, Piers is done.
As if on cue, Mia stepped up to the now-cleared passage, with the others nowhere in sight and the torchlight quickly dimming as they traveled down the corridor. She looked at Garet and innocently asked, "Are you coming?"
"Y-yeah!" Garet cast Flare to brighten the cave, and quickly fell in step behind the Mercury Adept. He didn't want her to think he was a complete space-case, so he quickly said "Djinn." He figured that one word would be enough to explain himself, especially considering her recent argument with her own partners. Mia just nodded her understanding, and the two quickly caught up with the others.
The nine emerged into a larger room. The air was cool, but not stiflingly humid like much of the rest of the cave. This room had no water, though. Instead, many raised ledges were scattered about the room, with sides too high and too slick to climb unaided. A path leading further into the cave could be seen to the right, but they came for treasure and those ledges were the perfect hiding places. The group split into teams of two (three, in Kraden's case), with either a Mars Adept or a torch-wielder on each team.
See, Garet? You're still helpful.
"Yeah, but only because of my fire Psynergy. I still don't have anything outstanding that sets me apart from the rest of the team."
"Hey, umm, Garet?" The spiky-haired Adept had been paired with Mia, ironically enough. Though not unexpected, as they were the last two into the room and the team had long-ago agreed to partner with their opposite elements whenever possible.
Garet turned to face the Imilian healer. "Yeah? What's up?"
"Umm, w-well, there's...something..." Mia looked at the ground, the blush returning to her cheeks, "th-that I want to...that I need to..."
"Ladder!" This time the moment had been ruined by Jenna, who had found a stone ladder built into the side of one of the platforms. In reality they were little more than depressions in the stone face, but they were uniform enough, both in shape and spacing, that they couldn't be natural. The team soon regrouped at Jenna's location, with her and Piers already at the top, surveying the room. Some of the platforms were close enough to jump to, but others were simply too far away.
"We'll need some rope up here," Piers said. Kraden began busily pulling out several yards of rope - How does he carry all that? Well, I guess it's not exactly heavy - while Ivan climbed halfway up the ladder. The elder handed the rope to the wind Adept, who, once atop the platform, worked with Piers to create tightrope bridges. First Ivan used Lash to tie one end of the rope to a rocky outcropping on another platform, after which Piers would secure the other end to the nearest platform they could reach, with Jenna cutting off the excess rope for later use. While this trio created several potential walkways, the rest of the team climbed up the ladder and prepared to explore.
Garet chose to check the easternmost platforms - At least I think this is east. Kinda hard to tell when you're underground. After inching his way across the tightrope, Garet found a lone treasure chest tucked away between the wall and a few small boulders that had fallen from the ceiling. He half-knelt and poked the treasure chest with his axe, muscles tense from one-too-many Mimic ambushes, not to mention what Sheba said earlier. The chest didn't move, so he inched forward and flipped the lid up.
"Found something!" Garet reached into the chest and pulled out a sword. It didn't look much different than your average longsword, but as soon as the Adept touched it he could sense an incredible power laying dormant within. "W-whoa! That's just...wow!"
"Does that one have a cool Unleash?" Jenna was at the next platform over, and hopped the short gap to get a closer look at the weapon.
Garet just stood slack-jawed for a moment, until his Djinn managed to snap him out of his reverie. "Um, y-yeah, I think. I mean, I've never felt anything quite this strong before."
"Let me see," Jenna reached out to touch the blade, but as soon as she did - "YAH!" - she recoiled. "Oookay. That was something."
"Think this one might be a match for the Sol Blade?" Isaac had just joined the two, with Piers and Felix on the next platform over. He put one hand on Garet's shoulder and the other on his weapon, and the two pooled their Psynergy to compare the blades.
After the two stopped glowing, Garet took a close look at the blade. "Definitely not," he gave it a few practice swings, "but it's stronger than what I've got right now." He strapped the sword in the place his axe was hanging from earlier. "I think I'm gonna keep it."
"In that case, we're selling the axe." Felix turned to check on the others, and just in time to Catch a flying wind Adept.
-*-*-*-
A few minutes ago...
Mia, Ivan, and Sheba were exploring the side of the cave opposite Garet, with Kraden on the ground floor providing light for the trio, being careful not to accidentally ignite the ropes. Ivan began walking across the tightrope, occasionally using his wind Psynergy to keep himself from falling off. Meanwhile, Mia and Sheba had a moment to talk.
"Hey, Sheba... You don't hate Garet, do you?"
"Huh?" The young girl was a bit taken back at the comment. "No, not really. I just like teasing him, that's all." She glanced across the room, where he and Jenna were also crossing to the far platforms. "I used to do the same thing to Jenna before we teamed up. I guess Mars Adepts are just easy to fluster."
"I-I see." Ivan had reached the other side of the room, so now Mia began her crossing. Lacking the wind manipulation of the other two, she would have to rely on her teammates' help if she lost her balance.
Unfortunately, Sheba wasn't thinking of that at the moment. "You like him, dont'cha?" Mia nearly fell when she heard this, but Sheba realized her mistake in time to create a Whirlwind beneath the Mercury Adept, keeping her airborne long enough to regain her balance. "Sorry! L-let's talk about this later, eh?"
After about a minute of careful balancing, and a few close saves from her companions, Mia finally made it across. Sheba then got on the rope to join them, while Ivan tugged on Mia's sleeve. He mouthed the words "be quiet" and led her to a small crevice in the wall, where a sleeping figure could be seen. Its entire body was purple, although the lower half was a more royal shade while the head and feet were much lighter in color. The head tapered back into three wing-like appendages, which worked in concert with its Psynergetic abilities to keep it airborne - while awake. It was another Djinni, this one of the Jupiter element.
"YAH!" Ivan and Mia turned when they heard Jenna, but seeing no monsters they returned their attention to the sleeping Djinni. The elemental spirit moved a bit, disturbed by the Mars Adept's shout, and subconsciously stirred up a small cross breeze before drifting back to sleep. Ivan just smiled while Mia let out a silent "aww," but the peace would not last long.
Sheba made it across the tightrope much faster than Mia did, and wanted to find out why her friends were looking at the wall. As soon as she caught a glimpse of the Djinni, she muscled herself between the two and lifted the creature from its stone bed. "Oooh, aren't you just so cuuute!"
At this point the Djinni was fully awake, and quite startled at being picked up by a complete stranger, Adept or not. As a self-defense maneuver, the Djinni whipped up a powerful gust directed at what it thought was its captor. The wind was strong enough to lift Sheba off the ground, who let go of the Djinni as she flew across the room. Fortunately, Felix turned around at this time and caught her with his spell.
We now return to our regularly-scheduled fanfic.
"What was that?" Garet leaped from platform to platform, heading to where Mia and Ivan stood. He already had his new weapon out, eager to test its abilities. Felix put Sheba down on the lower floor, and he and Piers quickly jumped down to check on her. Kraden also huffed his way to the windblown girl, while Isaac and Jenna followed Garet.
Ivan pointed at the one responsible for Sheba's sudden trip, which now flew in circles above their heads. "She scared a sleeping Djinni. Jupiter."
Isaac looked for the Djinni, but was barely able to keep track of it as it frantically flew about the room. "And now we're probably going to have to fight it. Typical."
"Allow me." Garet raised one hand and prepared a Psynergy attack, but Ivan grabbed hold of his arm.
"Hold on! It was probably a mistake! We should at least try to reason wi-ack!" Ivan let go just in time to dodge a Plasma spell from the Djinni. While the warriors had been arguing, the Djinni had finally got its bearings.
Okayokay, so: we got a bunch of humans, mostly Adepts, some of each element. At least it's not monsters this time, but how'd they find me? Hey, what's that feeli-Mars Psynergy!!! Don't hurt me! In fact, this is your fault, not mine. Take this! Plasma!!!
After dodging the attack, Garet resumed his spell. "See, it's a fighter, just like the rest of 'em. Inferno!" Several dozen fireballs flew from Garet's hand. Although they traveled in several directions, they all converged on the Djinni. In response, the Jupiter being used the same technique it used on Sheba.
One might expect such a strong wind to extinguish the fires. Unfortunately, our heroes weren't that lucky, as the balls of fire were actually reflected by the wind and now traveled towards the five Adepts.
Although caught somewhat off guard, the heroes managed to counter the counterattack. Shouts of "Granite! Flash! Tornado! Flare Storm! Ice Missile!" echoed throughout the room. Two more Djinn, Flash and Granite, appeared next to Garet and Isaac, respectively, and raised semi-transparent barriers around the five Adepts, able to negate most of any damage they might actually take. Jenna shot out raw, short-ranged flames, which formed a small wall and blocked a few of the fireballs. A pair of whirlwinds appeared in front of Ivan, which caught several more fireballs and safely dissipated them.
Mia's spell, which created a multitude of icicles above her head, flew out and impacted the rest of the fireballs. The resulting clash of fire and ice filled the room with steam, obscuring everyone's vision. In most cases, the fireballs and icicles negated each other, and any flames that got through were absorbed by the elemental barriers created by the Adepts' Djinn. A few of Mia's icicles also got through, but hit the ceiling rather than the Jupiter Djinni. One in particular hit a crack in an already unstable stalactite, which began to shake as its foundation weakened further.
Sheba conjured a whirlwind of her own to dissipate the steam, just in time for the team to see the stalactite fall, cutting one of the ropes. "Nice one, Garet!"
"NOT! MY! FAULT!!!"
"Uh, guys?" Jenna noticed the Jupiter Djinni glowing. "A little focus, here?"
"I'm on it." Felix aimed his arm at the ceiling above the Djinni. "Stone Spire!" More stalactites loosened and fell, this time due to Psynergy rather than physics. The Djinni felt the disturbance soon enough to cancel its Psynergy. It managed to deftly avoided each stalactite, and didn't appear to be breaking a sweat - I wonder if Djinn even can sweat. Isaac began using the same technique, increasing the frequency with which the stalactites fell. Despite this, the Djinni managed to dodge them all, although there were a few near misses.
Sheba aimed her staff at the airborne Djinni. "Lemme try. Storm Ray!" Electricity could be seen running from her hands and through her staff to its tip.
"I'm with ya. Searing Beam!" Jenna cupped her hands in front of her. A small ball of Mars energy accumulated in her hands.
The two girls released their attacks almost simultaneously. A bolt of lightning blasted from the end of Sheba's staff and arced towards the Jupiter Djinni. The recoil from the blast, combined with the slickness of the floor, shoved her into Felix, who stumbled out of his casting and in turn knocked Kraden over, causing him to drop his torch, which landed flame-first into a small pool of water. Jenna suffered similar effects from her attack. As a beam of concentrated flame traveled straight towards the Djinni, Jenna found herself almost falling off the edge. Fortunately, Ivan and Mia managed to catch her, one at each arm. Isaac, distracted by his concern for his friend, cancelled his Psynergy to help them lift her up.
As for the Jupiter Djinni, it could sense both attacks as they were being prepared. When they were launched, it momentarily negated the unconscious Psynergy that kept it aloft. While the Djinni plummeted to the ground (a rather scary experience for it, partly due to its element and partly to its small size, which made a twelve-foot drop feel about four to five times as long as it would to a human), the two attacks collided not only with each other but also with the stalactite that was about to fall on the Djinni. The resulting mass of Psynergy created an explosion that flooded the room with light and sent many small pieces of stony shrapnel flying in all directions. The noise from the attacks also scared many Sea Hedgehogs out of their hiding places, although they were smart enough to flee from the attack rather than add to the heroes' troubles.
As the light from the Psynergetic clash faded, the group realized just how dark the cave had grown. The only light in the room came from Isaac's torch, as well as the faint glow given off by the Djinn. Jenna and Garet both cast Flare to increase the light, but, as both were still near Isaac, the concentration of light cast eerily large shadows across the room, particularly behind the already-large platforms. Sheba remedied this problem by taking out her spare torch and casting a weakened Ray: a spark of lightning arced from her open palm to the top of the stick, igniting the torch and adding at least a little more light to the room.
"Great," Garet leaped off the platform, "you killed it." Flash soon landed on the Mars Adept, who weaved his way through the rubble the two Venus Adepts had created.
Piers climbed over a fallen stalactite, moving closer to where the Djinni had fallen. "I'm pretty sure Djinn can't be killed. Besi-whoa!" The Mercurian warrior ducked just in time to dodge a shockwave of condensed air. The Jupiter Djinni had cast Slash, and was now flying about the room again.
"It's too fast," Jenna ran a hand through her hair, "how are we going to stop it?"
"Umm, Ground. Duh!" Those still on the platform with Isaac turned to see Granite, who had fallen off Isaac's shoulder during the chaos.
"Oh. Right." Isaac held out his hand and shouted the Djinni's name. Ground, a Venus Djinni like Granite, appeared from his palm and created half a dozen spheres of earth energy. These spheres quickly homed in on the Jupiter Djinni, who dodged them quite easily. It then prepared another spell, for once unaware that Ground's attack had changed direction and was about to strike. The six energy balls struck the flying Djinni in quick succession, shocking it out of its Psynergy. The true effect of the attack, though, was to magnify the effects of gravity on the target. The Djinni soon found itself falling to earth, this time unable to control its descent, completely terrifying it.
Piers and Garet were the first to reach the Djinni, who was using all of its Psynergy to try and lift itself off the ground. For a moment, the Djinni managed to hover an inch into the air, only to fall back to earth, completely exhausted. The effects of Ground were actually visible, as a small field of energy could be seen around the Djinni. Flash jumped off Garet's shoulder and hopped over to the Jupiter Djinni.
Soon the rest of the team caught up, and Garet turned to face the group. "Flash is talking to it. Just give them a moment."
"Yeah," Sheba rolled her eyes, "because Mars is the element of diplomacy."
"Hey, from what I understand, this whole mess is your fault!"
"My fault!? You nearly incinerated half the team!!!"
"How was I supposed to know it could reflect the attack? Besides, what does that have to do with-"
"That's enough, both of you!" Kraden had stepped between Garet and Sheba, holding his extinguished torch as though it was still lit. "I must say, you two have been at each others throats ever since that Yampi incident."
Garet let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you."
"Well, it's true," Isaac was now beside the scholar, and lowered Kraden's "torch"-wielding arm. "Besides, that's not the point. We're supposed to be a team, which means we can't keep fighting each other."
"Don't look at me," the wind Adept raised her hands in defense, then pointed her free hand at Garet. "He's the one who keeps attacking his teammates."
"Those were accidents!!!" The flame in Garet's hands intensified, reflecting his emotions.
Isaac raised two Psynergy hands, one in front of each Adept, although he nearly dropped his torch in the process. "I didn't mean literally 'fight.' Look," he dispelled the hands and turned to his co-leader, an uncharacteristically mischievous grin spreading across his face, "Felix and I have actually been talking about this, and we think we have a solution."
Now Felix stepped forward, holding a torch Jenna must have lit for him (and meant to replace the one Kraden stole earlier). "Basically, we don't go any further until you two work out your differences."
Collective cries of "WHAT!?!?" echoed throughout the room (except from the Venus Adepts, of course, and Kraden, who had overheard their plan earlier) but Felix just held his free hand up to silence the group.
"You two can do this in private, if you want. Either way, I'll be acting as a mediator, since most everyone else might be too biased towards one of you." Felix just barely glanced at Garet as he said this.
Sheba just crossed her arms, being careful not to set herself on fire, and squinted at Felix. "Yeah, and what makes you think you won't be biased?"
"Oh, it probably has something to do with Venus Lighthouse." Jenna didn't hesitate to tease her former tormentor, even if her older brother had to suffer as well. "It was pretty romantic, after all, the way he leaped off the aerie to try and save you."
Both of the Adepts in question started blushing, with Sheba acting much like Mia did above-ground. "Th-that wasn't... I mean... It wasn't my... H-he just... Jenna!" The red-head just giggled as she turned away, walking over to Ivan and Piers, who were on the lookout for monsters. Mia was off to the side, speaking to a Mercury Djinni sitting on her palm.
"Aaanyway," Isaac handed his torch to Ivan and reached for Sheba's, "why don't you three go somewhere else. The rest of us will stay here."
-*-*-*-
Garet, Sheba, and Felix walked into the hall-like portion they traveled through earlier. Both Felix's torch and Garet's spell provided the trio with light, but Garet cancelled his spell to conserve his Psynergy. Felix stood in the doorway, blocking their only route back to the team. If anyone had looked past him, they would have noticed Mia's Djinni spying on them. Of course, Felix was facing Sheba and Garet, who mostly just glared at each other.
Ultimately, it was up to Felix to break the silence: "Look, we're not going to get anywhere, in more ways than one, if you two don't talk this out. So start talking."
Sheba turned away from the earth Adept and crossed her arms. "You make this sound like an interrogation."
"I can make it one, if I need to." He looked at Garet. "But I'd rather you two work this out on your own, if possible."
Garet looked at the ceiling, "Jeez, where to begin?" After a moment, he focused his gaze on Sheba. "Might as well get it out of the way. Sheba, do you hate me?"
"Wha?" Sheba spun to face him, a little shocked to hear him ask that. Wait, why does that question sound... Oh yeah! Mia asked the same thing! "No, I don't hate you. You just keep doing stupid things."
"Stupid!?" Garet took a half-step forward, which seemed like quite a bit in the narrow hallway. This was the first time Sheba had said anything like this, but it sounded familiar for some reason. Still, Garet tried his best to stay calm. "Okay, if I'm so 'stupid,' uhh... N-name three times!" Sheba opened her mouth, but Garet cut her off: "Besides just now and the Yampi incident!"
Sheba scowled for a moment before raising her hand and counting Garet's mishaps on her fingers. Slowly, for dramatic effect. "One, you ate all that wax fruit when we stopped by Tolbi. Two, you jumped off Jupiter Lighthouse to try and save Mia." Felix coughed, but Sheba just continued, "And three, just earlier today, you jumped into a pool of water with all that armor on."
"Hey, we went over that already! I had to do something, or Mia could've died!"
The wind Adept looked at Garet like he was crazy (which she may have already thought, for all anyone else knew). "Umm, no we didn't."
"Wait, we didn't?" Garet was a bit dumbfounded. I'm sure we talked about that earlier. Didn't we?
"Anyway, I wasn't done yet. Four, you walked in on the girl's spa in Champa." Sheba shuddered at that memory, but otherwise continued unabated, "Five, your accidental 'kiss' with Jenna; boy, was she mad. Six, when we were in Kibombo..." Sheba had to switch to counting on her other hand now, but Garet wasn't even paying attention anymore.
"She said jumping into the water was stupid, and I told her why I did it. I just know I did! I think I even admitted it was a stupid idea."
Actually, I think you just imagined you did.
"No, I KNOW I-"
I think Ember meant you dreamed it.
"What? Oh, right! That dream..."
Exactly! It started when she said that you're really stupid. That's something I've never heard her say to anyone. Not until now, anyway.
Sheba, of course, was enjoying her increasingly long list of Garet's various acts of foolishness: "ended in complete disaster, won't even go into detail on that one. Ten, you nearly caused a cave-in at Garoh; it took all the diplomacy we could muster to keep them from killing you. Eleven, there was that time you tried fighting a Fire Bird single-hand... Are you even listening to me?"
"Huh?" Garet snapped out of his near-trancelike state. "Oh, sorry. Ember was telling me something."
"Well, try paying more attention to the real world," Sheba puffed. "You asked me to prove how stupid you can be, but what's the point if you don't listen?"
"Look, I know I do some stupid things from time to time, but sometimes I have to. Like earlier, when Mia got dragged underwater. Or that thing you mentioned with the Fire Bird: I was holding it off so you guys could keep moving."
"Oh yeah? Then what about the wax fruit and the hot springs?"
"Those were accidents! I didn't know that food wasn't real. And in case you forgot, I fell into the hot springs. Champa is built into the cliffs, after all."
Sheba crossed her arms, glaring at the Mars Adept "And just what were you doing up there, hm? Spying on us?"
"Actually, I can explain that." The duo looked at Felix. "A bunch of the Djinn had gotten lost in the fortress. While you girls were down in the springs, the rest of us were looking for them. Garet and I were looking for them outside, and Garet lost his balance."
Sheba looked away, pouting slightly. Garet did feel bad about that incident, but couldn't think of any way to try and cheer Sheba up. An awkward silence followed, and Felix finally had to get the conversation going again.
"Sooo, I think we know why Sheba's upset. But what about you Garet?"
"Me? What do you mean?"
"Well, why is it you keep fighting with Sheba?"
"Umm..." Garet looked at the Jupiter Adept, who turned to face away from the others. "Well, I don't want to fight. She just keeps bringing up all the little mistakes I make. And it really grinds on my nerves when people remember me for my failures instead of my accomplishments."
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere." Felix looked from Garet to Sheba, who still refused to look at either of them. "Your turn, Sheba. Why do you keep focusing on Garet's flaws?" A long silence followed. "Sheba?"
The wind Adept was leaning against the wall now, her eyes closed. "...I'm not talking to you."
"Okaaay...?" Felix looked at Garet, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if you won't talk to me, then talk to Garet." Sheba just shook her head. "Why not?"
"Y'know," Garet walked towards Felix, "it looks like you two have problems of your own, so I'll just *oof*." The fire Adept had tried squeezing past his Venusian friend, who only shoved him back.
"Nobody goes anywhere until this is sorted out." Felix walked over to Sheba, half-dragging Garet to make sure he didn't try to escape. "Look, Sheba, if I said or did anything to offend you, I'm sorry." He let go of Garet's sleeve and put his hand on Sheba's shoulder, but she just batted it away.
"Don't. Touch. Me." Sheba's words dripped with acid, made even eerier considering she was usually the cheeriest member of the group. Garet recognized the tone in her voice, though - It's just like in my dream.
I thought it was Jupiter Adepts who had prophecies.
Not now, Scorch.
Felix moved around his friend to look her in the eyes. "Sheba, what's wrong?"
Sheba grimaced, then erupted into a fount of emotion and movement. "What's wrong is that you say you're not going to take sides and then you do! And you admit that you were there when Garet fell. H-how do I know you both weren't spying on us?" Tears began streaming down the side of Sheba's face, and she paced up and down the hallway, forcing the two boys to keep their distance from the door. "An-and then you, you *sob* try to act like you want me to *sniff* feel better, and, and..." Sheba was now halfway between the doorway and the two warriors. At the moment she was walking away from them, but suddenly twirled around, nearly whacking her hands on the cavern walls. "...have you ever once considered someone's feelings before opening your big fat mouth!?"
Ember: That was in your dream, too.
Felix: "Sheba, I didn't mean it like that. I just-"
Garet: Yeah, but what came after that?
Sheba: "Do you even *hic* think before you act!?"
Scorch: That was in there too! I remember that part!
Forge: No, I think it was more like...
Felix: "Look, I'm trying to apologize..."
Garet: Guys, focus! Didn't she say something about my-
Sheba: "J-just...just leave me alone!!!"
Garet: "That's it!"
Sheba was about to leave, but stopped when she heard Garet. "Wh...what? What are you talking about?"
"Yeah, where'd that come from?" Felix stood right next to Garet, completely perplexed.
"I think I know what this is all about now." Garet walked up to the emotional wreck formerly known as Sheba. "This is about what I said about your family, isn't it?"
Sheba just stood speechless for a moment. "...Waitwhat?"
"Back in Atteka, just after we teamed up. You said that the entire reason you came with Felix was 'cause you thought you could find out where you came from."
"Y-yeah, I remember that." Sheba wiped some of the tears from her face. "S-*sniff*-so?"
"Well, I said some things back then that I probably shouldn't have. Like how I wouldn't have really cared much if I was in your shoes." Garet rubbed the back of his neck, too ashamed to look the girl in the eyes. "So, umm...I'm sorry. For being so insensitive."
Another awkward silence followed, broken only by the flicker of the torch and the occasional shuffling of feet. After wiping away the last of her tears, she finally spoke up: "Don't apologize. Please."
"Wha? Really?" Garet was a bit stunned. "B-but, isn't that why you've been harassing me all this time?"
"No, no." Sheba turned away from the two boys. "I was just teasing you and, well...I guess I just got carried awa- Is that a Mercury Djinni?"
Garet and Felix looked past the wind Adept, and Garet cast Flare to brighten the hallway. Just inside the next room was Mia's Djinni, Sleet. It was hiding behind a rock by the doorway, but it's crabclaw-like tail could be seen sticking out to the side. The tail stiffened when Sleet realized it had been spotted, so it peeked above the rock and saw all three Adepts staring at it.
"Umm, hi?" Sleet hopped out from behind the rock, rubbing the back of its head with its tail. "I, uh, was just, umm... Buh-bye!" With that, Sleet turned around and ran back to Mia.
Felix sighed, "I'll go check this out. You two done here, or-?"
"A-actually," Sheba turned to look at the Mars Adept, "there's something I kinda wanted to talk to Garet about, in private."
"Alright," Felix shrugged, then walked past the two. "Be right back."
A brief silence accompanied Felix's absence. The light from Garet's spell lit up the duo's faces while casting their shadows to either end of the hallway. Finally, Garet spoke: "Sooo..."
"Ah, r-right." Sheba brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "Earlier, you said that you, uh, were sorry for being insensitive, about what you said back at Atteka. But, really, I wanted to thank you for that."
Garet raised a hand in front of him. "Wait, thank me for apologizing, or for what I said in Atteka."
"Well, both, I guess, but I meant what you said about my family."
"You're...glad I said that?"
Sheba rubbed her arm, looking at the floor. "Well, I wasn't back then, of course. But then Kraden had something to add. I started thinking about it, and, well..." She then raised her head, looking at the way the shadows danced across the ceiling. "Let's face it: I don't know anything about my birth family. For all I know, they could be completely crazy or sadistic. Or maybe they abandoned me because they didn't even want me in the first place. I certainly hope neither is the case, but...maybe I'm better off not knowing." Garet noticed more tears welling up in her eyes. He wanted to comfort her, but before he said anything, she continued: "Th-there was something else you said that day, you know."
"Umm... What was it, again?"
Sheba giggled for a moment, for reasons Garet didn't quite understand. Then she looked him in the eyes, wiping a tear with her sleeve. "You *sniff* said that Faran raised me like I was his own daughter. A-and you realized that I was afraid, b-because I could ever be his real daughter. Later, I realized what a fool I was being. Faran does think of me as family, whether we're blood-related or not. I...I probably never would have realized that if it wasn't for what you said that day, so...thank you."
"Eh, you're...welcome?" Garet wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he was glad to know he was able to help her. I think...
"C'mon," Sheba turned to leave, grabbing Garet's sleeve and dragging him along, "let's get back to camp."
-*-*-*-
Author's comments:
Somebody mentioned that this looks more like a Garet x Sheba fic, even though I labeled it as Garet x Mia. This chapter doesn't exactly help, does it? Don't worry, the next chapter should clear up any confusion.
Honestly, though, I don't view this as a romantic fic, and I'm not usually a romance fan in the first place. In fact, much of this chapter and most of the next and previous chapters weren't in my original plan for the fic. This story was going to be a way for me to practice fight scenes, but the plot kinda got away from me. That actually happens to me a lot, but I generally don't keep those changes unless, like I said last chapter, I think it's better that way.
At any rate, the people I've heard from seem to like the story, so you can expect to hear more from me soon. In addition to the rest of this story, of course.
Oh yeah, and that one part was supposed to be left in script format.