Title: Tribe 3: Wonderwall
Chunk 7: Sections 31 thru 35
Fandom: The Tribe
Author: PinkTribeChick
Summary: I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me . . . Life goes on for the Mall Rats after the Chosen take over the city.
Extended Summary: Essentially, this is an Alternate Universe story for Series 3 and beyond of the Tribe. I won't say anything more than that, because I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who have never read this before
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Too many to name! But Bray-Amber, Lex-Zandra, Ryan-Salene, and Jack-Ellie, for starters. There will also be some Tribe-character with original character pairings.
Author's Notes: Again many thanks as always go to Brett The Mole, as he was the one who talked me into sharing this story with others when I first started writing it, and he was the one who kept bugging me to complete it. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you, Brett! And major thanks to Ariannya, Whit, and all the others who at various times read and proofed sections for me and gave me their invaluable feedback.
Enjoy, and please review! Feedback is much appreciated!
Disclaimer: All characters, situations, and song lyrics remain the property of their respective owners. Troy Wisneski belongs to the author Paula Boock, from her Tribe novel "Power and Chaos." Any original characters are sole property of me, PinkTribeChick.
Tribe 3: Wonderwall
Sections 31 thru 35
Dal walked into his bedroom to find Tzara sitting on the bed. She had taken the bandages off her wrists and was running her hands over the slowly healing wounds, crying softly. She looked up when she heard his footsteps.
"They're going to come back for me, Dal. They are. I know it," she said, rocking back and forth. Dal sat down beside her.
"No, they aren't. You're safe here. Besides, they don't even know you're alive," Dal said.
"They'll come back. They always do. They make sure the job's done. You must know that," she responded, calming down. Her crying stopped.
"I know. But what real reason would they have to kill you?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders.
"They never had a real reason to kill my friends or attack us in the first place," Tzara answered. She started to cry again. "I'm just so scared, Dal." Her shoulders shook as she sobbed. Dal put his arm around her.
"I promise you, you'll be safe here. You're a Mall Rat now, and we Mall Rats always look out for each other," he said to her, soothingly. "It'll be alright." She looked up at him, her face tear-stained. "I'll take care of you."
"You promise? You'll always be here for me?" she asked. He nodded, smiling at her. He wiped away a tear that fell down her cheek.
"Thanks, Dal," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "I feel much better now." Then she stood up and walked out of the room. Dal smiled, touching his cheek where she had kissed it. Then she came running back into the room. "Forgot my bandages! Wouldn't want to scare anyone by letting them see my ugly wrists!" She grabbed the rags off the bed and left the room again. Dal laughed. He was most definitely falling for her.
"So, do you feel any better?" Sasha asked Tai-San. She took a long sip of tea before answering.
"A little. Tea always calms my nerves anyway," Tai-San replied. She took another sip of her tea.
"I didn't know you had nerves . . . wait . . . that came out wrong," Sasha said, laughing at himself. "What I mean is you always seemed so calm and serene. Like nothing ever got to you."
"Stuff bothers me, Sasha. Don't ever think that it doesn't. I just hide it well and channel it into other activities. I was always taught that showing outward emotion made you look weak to those around you and made you more vulnerable to your enemies," she said. "It's just, with something like this, it's harder to channel out, and even harder to hide."
"I know. And you made a really big sacrifice, giving Lex up like that, even though it hurt. Don't ever forget that," he responded. He drank down the last of his tea.
"I haven't given him up yet, though," Tai-San said, looking into her cup of tea. Only the tea leaves at the bottom remained in the cup.
"What do you mean?" Sasha asked.
"Only that, in my heart, while I know I can never win him back, I haven't given him up yet. Wounds like this take time to heal, you should know that," Tai-San said.
"Yeah, I know. I'm still healing. But still persistently hopeful that she might change her mind," Sasha said, smiling weakly.
"I doubt she will. You heard the arguing in the café as well as I did," she said.
"Only because we're right next door," Sasha said.
"They have a son, Bray and Amber. And they love each other. Nothing could break a bond like that," she explained. She examined the tea leaves in her cup. "You know, the Chinese used to think that you could tell a person's fortune by how the leaves were positioned in the bottom of their tea cup when they were finished drinking."
"Oh? What do yours say?" he asked, peering into her cup.
"That my pain will eventually subside, and I will be able to become friends with Lex someday. Maybe even friends with Zandra. And that I will find a new love, who is even better for me than my previous," she answered, smiling. "Here, let me see your cup." He handed it to her. She pursed her lips together, examining the leaves, deep in thought. "Hmmm . . . interesting."
"What? What do they say?" Sasha asked, curiosity eating away at him.
"Yours say that you will soon settle down and find a home, possibly here. And that you will choose to stay at that place because of someone you love," she said.
"Amber, maybe?" he said.
"No, not her. Someone else," Tai-San said. "But I'm not sure who." She looked up at him. He was smiling strangely at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"
"No, not at all," he said quietly.
"What, then?"
"Nevermind. I have to go talk to Lex and Zandra, to see what they want me to play at the christening tomorrow. Are you going to be okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine now. See you later?" she said.
"You will, don't worry. Bye," he said, standing up. He got up and walked out of the room, toward Lex and Zandra's room, still wearing a goofy grin on his face.
Tzara walked past Jack and Ellie's room quickly, heading for the café. Ellie had gone downstairs, to use the restroom, and Jack was in the room alone. He saw a flash of red go past the door and walked over to the doorway, peering out. A petite red haired girl was walking toward the café. Jack called out to her.
"Hey! There's nobody in there!" he exclaimed. She stopped and turned around to look at him. He felt his stomach drop to the floor. She was gorgeous. She had bright green eyes and very pale skin, and she smiled at him, making his heart race.
"Are you sure?" she asked back.
"Amber and Bray left with Troy and Ryan a little while ago to go get the baby, Salene's sleeping, and Lex and Zandra are with Sasha, discussing the ceremony for tomorrow. Patsy, Cloe, and KC are tutoring with Tai-San," he said. She walked back toward him.
"I don't believe we've met. You must be Jack," she said, putting out her hand. He shook it, being careful of the wounds on her wrists.
"How'd you know?" he asked.
"I've met everyone else except for you and Ellie. Just seemed logical that you must be Jack," she said, smiling even bigger. "I'm Tzara. I just came to the mall."
"So, you're the girl Ryan found last night?" Jack said. She nodded, pointing to her bandages. "I'm glad to see that you're okay. I know everyone was really worried."
"Yeah, I know," she said bashfully, looking down at her feet. "So, where's Ellie?"
"Right here," a voice said. Jack looked around Tzara to see Ellie standing there. Tzara turned around.
"Hi! You're Ellie?" she said.
"Yeah. You're Tzara, right?" Ellie responded. They shook hands. "I heard Ryan found you last night, practically dead."
"Almost. But Dal and Amber fixed me up, saved me, really," Tzara said shyly. "Well, I'm going to go find Dal. I hope I'll see you both again soon. Bye." She walked off, and Ellie glared at Jack.
"What?" he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I saw the way you were looking at her, Jackers. I'm not stupid, you know," Ellie said irritably. Jack put his arm around her.
"You have absolutely nothing to worry about, whatsoever, El. I love you, and only you," Jack said to her, smiling.
"You'd better," she said, pulling him back into the bedroom and shutting the door. But before the door closed, he took one last glance at Tzara as she walked away, while Ellie wasn't looking.
"You're not leaving, are you?" Ebony said, walking into her room. Troy was packing a backpack. He ignored her, and continued to pack. She walked over to him. "Please, don't leave, Troy. Please. I don't know what I'd do without you here." He stopped packing and looked up at her.
"Go insane?" he said sarcastically. "Not that you haven't already."
"That was uncalled for, Troy. I did nothing to you," she said.
"You call breaking a promise nothing? Wow . . . your definition of nothing must be different from mine," he said.
"I was only doing what was right," she defended herself. "You can't blame me for that."
"I planned on telling them both eventually, Ebony! I was trying to keep my word to Amber, and let her tell him first. Although, somehow, I don't think she ever had any real intention of telling him," he said angrily. He started to pack again. She grabbed the bag out from under him and threw it across the room.
"I'm not going to let you leave," she said. "I'm not going to lose you again, just when I've seen some hope that there might be the Troy I know somewhere inside of you. You wouldn't have told me unless you knew I would tell. Admit it. You told me on purpose, so you could blame breaking your promise to Amber on someone else." He looked away.
"You make me sick. Go ahead, leave, be a coward again. You always run from everything, anyway. What should make this any different?" She started to walk away, when he grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. He kissed her squarely on the lips. Then he pulled away, leaving her breathless.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Everything you said is right. I am a coward, and I do run away from things. And I tried to pin the blame on you for breaking my promise to Amber. But I'm not going to leave. I'm just packing some basics, for the trek to the beach with Amber and Bray, to retrieve Michael. I'm not walking away this time. Too much is at stake, and I have nowhere else to go. I'm not going to abandon you again, I promise. You're all I have left in this world that means something to me."
"Oh, really?" Ebony said. "Well, you're not going to get off that easily with me, Troy. And don't think that kiss had any affect on me in any way. Grow up, get a life." She walked off.
"Why does everything always have to be a battle with you, Ebony?!" he exclaimed in frustration. She stopped in the doorway and briefly turned to face him again.
"Because it's the only way I know if people mean what they say. I make them fight for it," she responded. Then she walked out. Troy rolled his eyes in exasperation and started to pack again. Amber came into the room.
"Are you almost ready?" she asked. "Bray's getting a little anxious. He wants to be back here with Michael before sundown."
"Yeah, I'm ready," he said, slinging his backpack onto his shoulder. He walked over to her. "I'm sorry about all this, Amber. I really didn't know what other way to tell you. I was trying to wait until you had told Bray, but it seemed like you were never going to tell him."
"I wasn't. But, now that I know my son is alive, it seems right that Bray should know. When things were different, it was hard to tell him. Hard to dredge up the past. You don't know how much it hurt, losing my baby. Or at least thinking I had, anyway," she said. "But it's okay. I'm glad you told us. Otherwise, Bray and I might've never known."
"Well, I'm sorry for taking Michael in the first place and hiding him. It was a stupid thing to do," Troy said. "One of the many things that I regret in my life. But I'm making amends now, and that should stand for something. I'm determined to become a better person, even if it kills me. I want to be the person Ebony used to know and love." Amber smiled at him sympathetically.
"It'll be okay, Troy," she said. "Come on, let's go get Bray, then we'll head on out." They walked out of the room.
Dal sat in his room, leaning his head on his hand, reading information about anesthetics and pain medications that could be used on pregnant women in labor. He was determined to be prepared as possible, since Salene was having twins, and anything could go wrong. There was a high possibility of her delivering early, and an even higher possibility that Dal would have to do a caesarian-section. And learning from Trudy's labor experience, he wanted to be able to offer Salene with something more powerful than parecetemals for the pain, but something that wouldn't hurt the babies. So far all he'd found was about epidurals, medications that went into the spinal cord, numbing the nerves. Most of the medications that were used as such were going to be practically impossible to find. Dal was ready to give up, when he heard a knock on the door.
"Can I come in?" Tzara asked, in her shy, quiet way. He nodded, shutting down the laptop. She walked into the room.
"What can I do for you?" he asked, smiling at her.
"Nothing . . . I just felt like talking," she said. "It's so quiet around here right now, it's unnerving."
"I know. But Bray, Amber, Ryan, and Troy will be back soon, and Tai-San will finish the tutoring session in a little while. As for Salene . . . well, she needs all the rest she can get," Dal said. "And I have no idea what Lex and Zandra are up to. I'm not sure I even want to know."
"Jack said that they were planning the ceremony with Sasha," she responded.
"You met Jack? When?" Dal asked, surprised.
"A few minutes ago, when I was walking to the café. I met Ellie, too," she said, making a face. "I don't think Ellie likes me very much, though."
"What makes you say that?" Dal asked. "What reason would Ellie have not to like you? She just met you."
"I don't know," Tzara said, shrugging her shoulders. "I just sensed a little anger directed at me by her. I don't know about what."
"I bet I do," Dal said, smiling. "Ellie's a very jealous person when it comes to Jack. She trusts all the other girls in the tribe, just not you. You're new, and she considers you competition, until you prove to be otherwise. Don't worry about it, she'll get over it eventually."
"I hope so. 'Cause she's the only girl that's the same age as me around here, and I'd hate to have her hate me over something so stupid. I mean, Jack's cute and all, but he's not my type," she said.
"Not your type? You just met the guy, so how in the world could you make an observation like that?" Dal asked, puzzled. Most girls went for Jack, so the fact that Tzara didn't was a little odd.
"I don't know. He's just not my type," she said.
"Give me one good example of why he's not your type," Dal said, raising an eyebrow.
"Why are you asking? It's not like it involves you, or it's that important anyway. He's just not my type, I can't explain why," she said defensively. The tone in her voice made Dal even more curious to know.
"Just answer the question, Tzara," he said firmly, smiling at her.
"How? How can I answer a question that I don't even know the answer to?" she said, standing up. "You're on crack, you know that?" She laughed, walking out of the room. Then she stuck her head back into the doorway. "Oh, and just so you know, I know you're trying to bait me, and it's not going to work."
"What, me?" he said, feigning innocence. He batted his eyelashes at her, with puppy dog eyes. "Why would I do a thing like that?"
"You figure it out," she said. "If you're so smart." She left again, and he doubled over, laughing. She was so goofy sometimes.
I'm feeling nice today, so I'm gonna post another chunk after this one, in honor of Tribefanatic, my first reviewer, and tribalranger and WhiteWarrior, my two newest reviewers! Thanks for the feedback, you guys rock! Thanks again for reading, now please go and tell me what you thought of what you read! I love reviews – they keep me going! Toodles until later . . .
