ありごあとうございます! みんあさんはすごいです!Lol, Japanese :). Note, I did not google this, I'm actually taking Japanese. I did this for my linguafolio, had to put Japanese somewhere other than in the class discussion blog ^_^'.

Anyway, as I said in Japanese: Thanks so much! You guys are awesome!:

starpokemon123: Daaawww your baby talk is so cute lol! Sorry bout' your computer (I know the feeling...oh yes I know). I hope that it starts behaving properly. Anyway, I hope this was soon enough for you! I think this is my fastest update time this year! pachipachipachi (clap clap clap in Japanese xP). Thanks so much for your review and, yes, I believe I'll start further into Molly's past next chap (already in the works ;D).

Narwhale1: I believe we've already exchanged words via PM, however, I would like to thank you once again for your awesome words of awesomeness. I can't express to you how valuable your concrit is and I hope you'll give me any advice you can, especially on this chapter. I tried to make it go at a better pace instead of dragging it out, but I hope I didn't speed it up too much. Thanks for your review, once again and I hope you'll be willing to let me know of any more improvements I can make :)!

Impressed Reader: Oh my and Anon! Lol jk, I love seeing mysterious faces (so mysterious)! Your review made me very happy, I've tried my hardest to make each character an individual in their own way. It's hard to put personalities into characters from different stories because there's always the fear you'll mess up on a certain point. Like with Maya, I didn't want to make her too much of an airhead, but she still was kind of like a valley girl. I got this from in-game play when she had said "like" in her sentences sometimes. Anyway, enough with my chatter! Thanks so much for taking the time to review and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

This chapter isn't much of plot development as it is relationship development. Let me know if it goes too fast or too slow!


Chapter 7: Feelings Gone Unnoticed

The whole day had gone by quietly. I woke up to make breakfast and found out Owen was already out in the mines. Ramsey said he didn't know when he left which kind of worried me. I mean, the guy could talk shit all he wanted, but I didn't want him to go and get hurt. After a while, I figured he probably left for somewhere else instead and just went about my work.

Currently, I was collecting the last of the wonderfuls and ore since my bag was getting too full.

"This is heavy as frick." I groaned in my fatigue. The bag felt like it was going to rip at any second, spilling all my hard earned work. Slowly, I made my way up the stairs to get out the mine without any mess-ups. I didn't realize how much Owen really carried for me until just now.

. . .

Dammit. I wish I didn't need his help.

"Here we go..." I muttered in disgust as I looked at the entrance to the jewelers store.

As soon as I entered the shop, I saw the familiar hair of cotton-candy purple.

"Good afternoon." Mira said in a quiet voice as Julius turned to greet me.

"Hello~" He sang with a smile. The smile was quickly replaced with a monotone look as he noticed it was me at the shop's entrance.

"Yo..." I muttered and struggled past him. I swear I saw him smirk as I nearly tripped over the rug...frickin' prick.

"Here, lets sort it out here." Mira pointed to the usual spot.

"Alright."

After sorting it out as usual, I put our half of the earning back in the sack and got back to the shop much easier.

When I gave Ramsey the ore and wonderfuls he gave a sigh.

"I see the load is lighter this time around." He said.

"Sorry, I'm not really able to carry as much as Owen." I muttered.

"Speak loudly when you talk to me. Do not murmur with your head down, child." Ramsey ordered.

"Yes sir!" I said in a military like voice to which he gave a 'hmph'. Ramsey wasn't really the most chill person...but I respected him.

"Come inside. There is something new to learn today." Ramsey said as he headed into the shop.

I followed him in excitement. Something new sounded good to me!

Ramsey went and stood over the stove area behind the counter. I noticed it a couple of times and how there was always a fire lit...but I didn't look too far into it. In fact, on further inspection...

"This looks like a smithing anvil." I said in a whisper as I stooped beside the piece of steel equipment. I could see my reflection in the side and could tell it was well taken care of.

"It has been in the family for generations...I am hardly surprised you know what it is."

I looked up at Ramsey. Was that a compliment?

"Step over here to the forge." He commanded and I did as he asked with no hesitance.

"Your father used to work with these. I doubt he ever let you see him work." Ramsey said as he fired up the forge some more with coal.

"Actually, he always let me come in and watch when I turned 6. By the time I was 12 he let me actually hammer the ore and cool it." I said, feeling nostalgic at the memories.

Ramsey turned and looked at me with interest.

"Michael was the superstitious type...he would never let a woman observe his work. Not even his wife."

I smiled and shrugged.

"Maybe he had something planned for me..." I said and hopped toward the forge to see what Ramsey was doing.

"I assume then that you know the basics." He said.

I nodded and he began to go into a more detailed explanation. He explained the smelting process where the ore would be melt down and purified into slabs. Then he went through the hammering explanation where he showed me how to straighten out a bit of melted copper. I was able to do the other steps from that.

"Good. Your task is now to smith your own hammer."

The sound like a record screeching on the DJ table resounded in my head.

"Boss man said what now?" I questioned, hoping Ramsey's humor was as dry as the old farm's soil.

"A hammer. I want you to make your own. It's hard for someone with your skill to make one out of gold or silver, so try iron. The quality of your hammer will improve when you're skills in smithing excel." Ramsey explained.

I recalled Owen's hammer having been silver in color. Which meant he was at a pretty high level of smithing. It was respectable really, though I'd be crazy if I was going to let that jackass impress me when he's just that...a jackass.

"Okay, I'll give it my best." I said and looked towards Ramsey with a little confusion on where to begin.

"You'll start by smelting 3 iron ores in the furnace. You must make sure you keep the airblasts consistent with each other. As I've mentioned, you do that with the pedal. Iron may not be as high in quality as copper or silver, but it is one of the toughest metals to form your tools. Do what you have learned." Ramsey lectured.

I nodded and reached for the bag of metals to find three bars of iron. Ramsey put his foot on the bag and, with amazing force, dragged it away from me in one swoop. He was pretty strong for someone his age...

I gave him a surprised look.

"No, Iron ore. We are able to purify our own metals, but you will need some of the impurities as well. You must go retrieve your own iron ore."

"If we're able to purify them ourselves...then why do we go to Mira for our ores?" I asked.

Ramsey did something that shocked the hell out of me...he smirked.

"Understand this, Molly. Blackmith's pour their hearts and their blood into only the most important of jobs. If it is a simple repair, upgrade, or tool we do not bother with so much work."

He paused.

"Do not misread my words. Each job is important in our trade. But we are the ones with the authority to pick the specially done ones. Understand?" He lectured.

I let myself be astounded at the thought of this. Being a Blacksmith was not only a lot of work, but an honorable profession. I always thought of it as a means to bettering the tools, but it was also a means to bettering the soul as well.

"I just realized that this job fit my Dad's personality really well..." I said with a bit of pride.

Ramsey nodded and, with that, left out the door.

Now, it was time for me to get to work. First things first...the mine.

[XxXxX]

As soon as I found the required ore, I hurried back to the shop with a spring in my step. Just in case, I had gathered more than a few iron ore.

So here I was, smelting the iron into its bloom. A goopy mixture of iron was the product, and I dunked the tray of the bloom into cold water so it would harden. Unfortunately, when I went to pry out the hardened bloom, it crumbled almost immediately.

As I went on, this kept happening and I was wondering what I had done wrong.

It was probably late at night when I was out of iron ore.

"It's all been wasted..." I groaned in anger as I kicked at the pliers.

What the hell was I doing wrong? I couldn't even get past the smelting part! I could see that the iron wasn't melting fully, but it would get into a goop of some sort of mixture. Maybe I was smelting it wrong. But I remember Dad smelting his copper the same way, so I had to be close.

"Molly!" I heard a voice ring angelically, as if Goddess sent.

Chloe was standing on her tiptoes, by the upstairs banister with her hair untied and messy, wavy. Two towels in her hand and a smile on her face.

Her boyish grin caused me to take on one of my own and we exchanged chuckles at her sudden proposition. Her because she knew I'd say yes, and me because I knew I needed a break.

"Ready for a break." She stated exactly what I had been thinking.

"You read my mind."

[XxXxX]

As I sat, rubbing my awesomely scented soap onto my body, I couldn't help but think of the trial and error that Owen must have went through at first. Maybe I can understand his anger towards me a bit better. I mean, I'm sure anyone would be mad if they were working towards a goal their whole life and someone else suddenly comes in to threaten your success. Maybe that was why he was such a rude prick. Maybe it wasn't because I was a girl.

I watched Chloe with amusement as she had just wound down from her swirling and twisting. Now she was floating idly by, lying in her aftermath of bubbles.

"Ducky ducky ducky ducky." She said in a dazed chant to which I smirked.

Thinking back to my issue of the forging, I stretched my hands up high and leaned my shoulders back on the edge of the ginormous tub, lifting my head sky-high to look at the ceiling tiles.

"Molly..." Chloe called to me in a relaxed tone.

"Hmm?" I answered back.

"Are you and Owen fighting?" Chloe asked, her usually joy-filled voice sounding dejected and drained, just from that one sentence.

My head quickly snapped up as I faced her looking at me with her vivid hues of blue, a troubled look on her face as she was sitting on one of the steps that was engulfed by the warm water.

I didn't know how to answer that exactly, and I guess Chloe knew that.

"I mean...you don't have to answer if it's kinda nosy..." She sighed and let her eyes trail away from me. Chloe's eyes suddenly looked off, like they were devoid of life, and she began to look much more wizened than a normal 7 year old should be.

"No. No it's not nosy at all." I said in a comforting tone as I made my way over to her. I couldn't bear to see her looking so sad.

"The reason me and Owen don't get along is...well it's complicated. I actually don't know why kiddo. It's like he hates me. I didn't mean for it to go like this when I got here."

Chloe's eyes suddenly lit up and she looked at me with a hopeful spark.

"Molly, is that really all? That's all there is to it?"

". . .Um...yeah." I answered, suddenly very confused. Is Chloe bi-polar?

She did a fist pump in the air.

"Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Getting G! Getting G!" Chloe suddenly thrashed around in a spur.

"Wait, what? What're you getting money for?" I questioned.

Chloe hopped out the bath in a frenzy and laughed with her hands positioned on her waist in a victorious manner.

"HAHAHA I'm the best!" She gloated in a Waluigi voice...okay that's beyond weird. Then she sped out the bathroom, only barely remembering to get her towel.

. . . O_o . . .

That Up there? That's basically the face I was making right now.

"Dafaq...?" I murmured with nothing else to really say about the...peculiar actions of Chloe.

In my dizzied thoughts, I dipped my head under the water and blew bubbles out my nose. It surprisingly relieves a lot of stress and clears the head, I highly recommend it.

The inside of my body started to feel so ethereal as I let my air escape me. The dream-like feeling could easily be what a snowman feels like when he melts.

. . .

I popped out of the water as my epiphany appeared clearly.

"That's it!"

Almost exactly like Chloe, I sped out of the bathroom with my towel barely hanging around me and dressed in some work clothes as fast as I could manage. I was determined to finish that hammer!

In my hurry, I almost trampled over Chloe, who was surprisingly fully clothed, and Ramsey.

"Child, where are you rushing to at this hour?" Ramsey called to me in a state of shock.

I turned to them, hopping from foot to foot.

"I'm going to get some more iron! I just got a frickin' genius idea!" I shouted in delight and, with a grin, started back on my way to the mine, not hearing what Ramsey was shouting out at me.

The thought of my plan working got me so excited that I hopped like a little kid down the steps into the mine. My muscles felt ready to work until they dropped.

This was what I've been waiting for. No, not the idea for the forging. And no, not a chance to prove myself. What I was waiting for was the motivation. The want to do something with nothing but the utmost passion. The invigorating drive that conquered my will to do anything else but the task at hand. My Dad always described his passion in that sort of way, and to finally be able to know the feeling and the share what he felt...it was like a eulogy in his name, much greater than words at a funeral could ever be.

I had barely noticed until now that I was smashing away at the rocks around me to find iron ore. My eyes started to droop with lethargy, which was weird since I was so pumped out just about 3 seconds ago. Admittedly, it was becoming unusually hard to find iron.

. . .

Or anything else for that matter...

"What the hell?" I said with a pant, leaning heavily on my hammer with exhaustion. I was so into my thoughts that I didn't even notice where I was...or where I wasn't maybe? All I knew is that I was surrounded by pitch blackness, which was weird because the mine had lanterns strewn about it, we couldn't see without them. I was more than sure they weren't solar powered since Ramsey went to mine at night on various occasions. That's when the drooping feeling in my eyes suddenly became a stinging feeling, like someone had thrown a pound of pepper in my eyes. In the suddenness of the sting, I dropped my hammer and brought my hands to my eyes on reflex.

"Dammit, that hurts!" I hissed in pain.

I felt dizzy then too and started tripping over my own feet before I finally reached the wall and tried to group along it. So even though I could suddenly see, I was still in a confused daze.

"Okay, one step at a time Molly." I said in reassurance. I realized I must've hit a hell load of gas pockets in my excitement. First it was the sleeping gas, then the darkness gas, and now I was feeling the effects of the confusion gas. If I wasn't careful I was going to hit a-

The ground underneath started to shake loose, and I could feel the ground tear away from under me in a terrifying moment.

Pitfall.

I stuck my hand out for something to grab, hoping I'd grab onto the edge or something. Although I didn't grab something, someone grabbed me. I felt the rush of air as I was pulled up from almost falling through the hole completely. The person's hands were big yet gentle...so it had to be Owen.

"You idiot!" He shouted in what I could only think was exasperation.

Yup, definitely Owen.

He stood me up on my feet, and instead of being able to protest against him, I fell against his body like a lump of rocks.

"Let...go..." I said, feeling my words slur.

"You're leaning on me." He said, matter-of-factly.

While I realized this, I wasn't going to let him be correct...though he frickin' was and I despised him for it.

"...Shtill..." I said. Oh Goddess, there it goes. The always prominent "h" before the "t".

I could feel the sudden racking of Owen's body, the tremors felt like earthquakes in my current state. That could only mean one thing, and one thing only...

That this loud ass mo' fo was laughing at me.

I gave a growl (or what a growl sounded like when you were the equivalent to being drunk) and tried to stagger away from the massive man. Beautifully enough, I tripped and landed on my ass in my attempt to escape him.

"I'm not gonna lie..." Owen said with a sigh, as if calming down his laughter.

A moment of silence.

"You look frickin' ridiculous!" He started back laughing once more.

Screw this.

"I'm just...gonna lay here. Just quietly...and wait for you...to leave..." I said, lying my head on the ground to calm the dizziness.

"No that's not even on the list of choices you get. The last thing I want to do is carry you're drunken ass up the steps." Owen said as he made his way over to me.

"Drunk...I'm not..." I argued.

"Actually, Yoda, you are. Confusion gas has a certain chemical in it that gives you the equivalent feeling of being impaired after drinking your limit at the bar. Drink this." Owen said as he propped me up and put a bottle to my mouth. His face and hands and...everything looked like he had added an extra two to each to them.

Oh...make that four.

"Stop moving..." I muttered.

"Shut up and open wide." He said with a chuckle in his voice.

The stuff tasted awful, and for a moment I considered that Owen was trying to drug me, pin me to the wall, and post a sign above my head that read "I'm Molly the Destructor" or something idiotic like that.

However, the stuff started to clear my head almost immediately. It was like...instant sober fluid or something.

"Whoa." I said as Owen's face suddenly came in clearer than ever. Turned out, his eyes weren't such a murky gray. They didn't make me flinch with recollection of Derrick's eyes anymore, now that I could see them clearly. Actually, they couldn't be more of the opposite. Owen's eyes were actually a strange mix of a very very light green with two small, light navy blue rings circling his pupil and iris. I could see the light of amusement in them, and an always prominent strength. Then I could see them shimmer lightly and the reflection of my own, plain brown in them, as if he were now fully recog...

Hold up, pause, stop the movie, and all that good stuff. What's going on here?

I could tell Owen was thinking the same thing because his face showed confusion. We pulled from each other, and I realized that I must've been staring pretty hard at Owen. He stood up slowly and dusted himself off.

"I guess trying to get my focus back made me stare a little too long." I said and stood up, just a bit too fast, and the air rushed to my head. I staggered and Owen steadied me without hesitation. I jumped slightly from his touch in surprise and he reached up and scratched his cheek. Things just got a little awkward.

I looked to the ground and saw the iron ore, remembering what I was doing here in the first place.

"Hey! I did manage to get some. Whaddya know!" I said with a grin and bending down to retrieve all 6 pieces of ore.

"Oh, yeah. Now I remember why I came down here...what the hell were you thinking coming to the mine at night?" Owen scolded me in his normal 'I'm-the-effin-Hulk' voice.

I gave a snort of disapproval at his sudden change and proceeded up the stairs. Owen, how ever, wasn't trying to keep the distance. Instead, he was following right behind me.

"Hey, give me some space would ya?" I said as I sped up.

"Are you going to answer my question or go on doing dangerous shit?" He said, a serious tone in his voice.

Owen continued to follow me at my own speed as we exited the mines.

"You're going to keep doing dangerous things then?" He seemed to demand an answer.

I stopped and slowly turned to look up at him. What did he mean by being so bold? Was he trying to say I wasn't capable of looking out for myself? That could easily be my conclusion if it wasn't for the look in his eyes. I couldn't do anything more but look him up and down with curious eyes, my mouth locked tight with no intentions of spewing out anything more.

"Owen! Molly!" The familiar little voice had called me out of my stupor for the second time that day. I turned to see Chloe jumping up and down and waving on the porch, seeming really excited. I smiled and raised my free hand, waving vigorously at her smiling form. Owen followed suit and we walked forward to greet her.

"Good, you found her." Ramsey's voice of steel rang and I could feel the lump the size of a cue ball in my throat. His tone sounded less than happy.

"Yeah. She was practically on the verge of a broken leg if I hadn't come when I did." Owen said with his arms crossed.

I opened my mouth to protest but was cut off by Ramsey's hand.

"You have no right to talk back, Molly. What you did was dangerous and an unimaginable threat to your own well being. Depending on how far the drop, you could have lost much more than a leg." Ramsey said.

"Yes, Boss." I muttered in defeat.

He stared me down for a moment longer before turning and walking back into the shop, Chloe following behind him, looking back at me with concern.

Owen walked to the door and held it open with an expectant look on his face. No longer in the mood for an argument, I accepted his gesture and walked into the shop. I took the iron to the furnace to start smelting it, but Owen stopped me.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

"I'm about to smelt the iron ore I worked, oh so hard for. Gotta make a hammer and all that." I said snatching my hand away from him.

He rubbed his forehead and looked at me with impatience.

"Is that why you went down there at the most dangerous time possible?" He asked.

"What's so dangerous about the mine at night? It's just as dangerous during the day?"

"No, it isn't. At night, the gases expand more and the more dangerous gases spread to the higher levels due to the cooling temperatures."

I just gave a grunt as I tried to get back to work. Owen jerked me back to look at him.

"I'm pretty sure I've said this already, but do you know how idiotic that was of you? You would have seriously injured yourself. And just over making a hammer!"

"Okay, Owen! Maybe it seemed a little weird that I've suddenly got all this energy and desire to make a simple hammer. Maybe I was going overboard...but who the fuck cares? I've got something that I finally want...no...need to do for myself. It's like this burning feeling in my chest and there's nothing to drench it out! I can't even thing straight! That's why I wasn't being careful and got myself in that situation!" I ranted.

. . .

"You're really something else..." Owen muttered, his palm covering his mouth.

Something started tugging on my insides at his gesture. This guy suddenly getting all upset over me, what was his deal? It was making me feel...I don't know weird!

"Owen, why do you even care. You've made it obvious that you wish I weren't here." I said, crossing my arms and looking him in the eye.

Owen looked straight at me, and with overbearing boldness said,

"Because I do." He nearly bellowed at me. I was shocked by his answer,

"And what Julius said couldn't be further from the fact. I don't even mention you half the time. Don't believe everything you hear Molly, especially from Julius. Listening to the gossip just puts you at his level, and you're better than that. I can tell."

I reluctantly gave a hum of acceptance to his answer, though I didn't really understand. I hadn't known him for long, yet he was all of a sudden concerned with me, and acting like he knew what I was all about. I let my eyes wander back to the furnace and reached for the iron ore again. This time, Owen gave a much gentler tug and my shoulder.

"It's better to wait for tomorrow. You're going to need more energy than you have for making a hammer. Trust me." Owen said.

The way he was acting, how could I not agree to follow his directions?

Besides...I'd wake the neighbors.


Well? WELL? It was good right? I'm a genius right? I know, I know. No need for applause. (Just kidding that could've been SO much better hahaha).

Thanks for reading my lovely viewers! Reviews are welcomed in any size and language!