My old computer died, and I had to rewrite this chapter. I'm not happy with it, honestly, I planned for more action and it was taken away from me. I'm disgusted. I'm salty. I came close to deciding to wrap the story up this chapter, using super lengthy exposition to get through plot points already established.

In the end, I tried my best to find the good in this negativity and...I'll get back to you if I ever find it. Nevertheless, I've altered my original version of this chapter and I just hope that it doesn't feel rushed.

It most likely is, but only death can stop me from finishing this story now.


Second Chance With Someone New

Chapter 8


Medicine was getting more advanced each year, but Alvarna wasn't exactly the type of place that caught up with the times. He knew the cold medicine Ray gave him before the search mission was wearing off when he asked his traveling companions if they felt the sudden heat wave. They didn't. Not too long after that, Jake was so much more aware of the congestion in his nostrils and a desperate hope the ocean breeze could come through a spot in the cave wall and just... He didn't know... Do something for that blockage.

"If you let a simple cold overpower you in front of three people, I swear..." And that pathetic threat to himself didn't do anything. Jake didn't know what he could even do to penalize himself.

He could always ask Ray if he had more medicine on him, anything. But that would still be showing weakness. Besides, he wasn't sure if it was the kind one could possibly take a fatal amount of. He didn't want to risk it.

Jake believed he was strong. He could complete this search whether Alicia was dead or alive, and keep from staggering until he was in the privacy of his own room. Then he could collapse, and maybe even curse to the walls as he dragged his aching body along the floor in an attempt to at least grab a blanket off the bed. He'd pass out on the floor if he had to.

"Don't pass out now, don't... Don't..." Hollow. Just like the way his own skeleton felt with each new movement.

Then his damn foot got tangled over a rock. It wasn't a fight with a strong monster, no, what made Jake fall to his knees and let out a few curses was a rock on the cave floor. Which cave? Like he knew. There were so many effing caves on Blessia Island, and no easy indicators of which segment one was currently in unless they made it themselves.

"What happened?!" Yue was the first to shout. Jake's rapidly-altering awareness making him wonder if it was because they had still been holding hands at the time.

"Jake!" Kyle and Ray exclaimed together, although the latter was more productive by rushing to Jake's other side to examine the ankle he was exposing.

All of that sudden noise came with a price – floating fireballs began to light up the cave. One ignis wasn't so bad on its own, but a group of ten that were bothered by their antics enough that their bodies expanded and burned hotter? That was a problem. If they had been in the cave with them all this time, Jake didn't know how they didn't notice the sentient fire. He didn't care, honestly.

"Think we can outrun them?" Yue asked, backing up slowly with her hand moving to her sheathed sword anyhow.

"Jake's ankle doesn't look swollen right now; we can try." Ray commented, at least using the new-found light to his advantage. His words took off a weight on Jake's shoulders.

A twisted ankle wasn't going to stop Jake from finishing this rescue mission. Ray offered a shoulder and arm for support, but Jake scrambled from the ground with his hand reaching for his sword. He could still be of some use, and he didn't intend to waste this opportunity... Even if the heat coming off the monsters was starting to make him sweat. A lot. He felt like he was inside the hearth at work, or something.

"Come on, Jake-" Yue cut herself off with a shriek as she had to leap backwards when fire was hurled at her face. She looked between her sword and the ignis that tried to attack, and fear consumed her face.

An ignis wasn't exactly the most powerful monster around, so Jake was frustrated she was freezing up and now joining him and Kyle in taking what strikes they could at the monsters before running. But while he and Kyle covered Yue and Ray as they made their way to the exit – Yue being significantly slower as he saw her from the corner of his eye looking behind them – he realized through an increasingly unfocused mind it was her first time confronting element-based monsters.

"Keep running!" Jake called out, not missing a beat as he sliced through one of the closer fireballs. "Continue searching for Alicia if you can!"

"Yeah! We'll meet up with you once we slow down the monsters!" Kyle added, being much more fast and agile with his slices as he seemed to be in perfect health as always.

Jake could vaguely hear Yue and Ray running, but even though he and Kyle kept bumping elbows and shoulders in the cramped space he realized Kyle's shouts and battle noises were sounding farther away. Either that or the sickness was making it hard to focus. The torturous heat wave in this cave.

"You could die here." Was a thought that popped into Jake's mind that unnerved him simply because of its causal entrance. But he didn't have time to dwell, no, he would be letting the sickness win if he didn't at least fight with whatever strength he was allowed.

The several ignis monsters were screeching angrily at them, all swishing and trying to charge at any uncovered skin in an effort to burn them. Their swords blocking their skin was the only thing keeping them from serious burns. These types of monsters weren't the most imposing, but non-sentient fire could destroy entire communities if left unattended so...

"You can't die here." Jake's mind took a drastically different turn as he felt the sweat pour down his face and back, his sword swings to slowing down as his legs trying to support him turned frail.

"What would happen if you never told anyone your far more hidden feelings of them? Your own father, Yue, Cecilia and even Kyle..."

Jake's vision rapidly turned blurry, and he opened his mouth to shout at Kyle to steady him but he didn't hear it. He was aware of standing in a battle stance one minute, then collapsing the next. And the last thing he saw was Kyle's mop of red hair enter his field of vision before everything went dark.


"What are you doing here?!"

"No time to explain! Jake needs help!"

"Jake! Please wake up! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

"We'll have to lie him down and apply cold washcloths to help with that fever..."

"I can't bear with the thought of losing my only child."

"You have to be okay. Be okay, Jake. Tell me I'm too loud and annoying; tell me anything."


Jake experienced moments like this before. Everything would be dark, but then there would be the faintest traces of light coming in from random places in his own mind as he also mostly clearly heard the different voices. He didn't know how long they had been trying to communicate with him, but every time he tried to regain his full awareness the light turned back to a vast black curtain.

He didn't mind the darkness, honestly. It made him sleepy. It made him forget about the voices, go back under in the depths of his mind. He was just about to, but suddenly his other senses began to trigger.

His upper body was cold and wet, and his skin was bare against the blankets both under and over him. This was a familiar place of rest to him; his own bed at long last. And his nose picked up the scent of exotic perfume in the air.

Jake's eyes slowly opened, vision blurry but somehow expecting someone to be at his apparent bedside waiting for some kind of response from him. He turned his head to the side, since the other was just wall. But despite the aforementioned perfume, there was no one there. No over-sized eyes filled with misplaced concern, no overzealous cry of happiness he was awake. There was no Yue.

If he were in one of the novels she liked to read, however, the narrative might be that he was dreaming of her while unconscious. He wasn't. Everything had been dark except for that occasional light he tried to chase, and that was probably...metaphorical at best. But he would be lying if he thought to himself he hadn't expected to see her.

It was probably foolish to not mind having Yue be a little over the top, spring to his side and hug him until he couldn't breathe. It was so foolish, and he didn't mind. He felt like he just rose from the dead, so maybe he could be allowed to participate in some silliness willingly. If only Yue was around, though. He couldn't help but let out the smallest chuckle imagining the surprise on her face.

Chuckling... He really was dying.

Before Jake could elaborate on that thought, he heard the door creaking louder than it had any right to. He hurriedly lifted himself against the pillow, half expecting Yue. Instead, he saw pink hair contained in a side ponytail and any mildly good mood he had crashed. But it made sense; Ray was going to be a doctor someday, and he needed a real life situation to prepare himself. He looked stoic as expected of a doctor, but somewhere in Jake's mind he wondered what happened to Alicia. Did they have time to be fussing about his health when Alicia was probably still on Blessia Island?

Before Jake could even open his mouth, there was a soft thud of a basket on the floor. What looked to be nice, clean washcloths scattered.

"You finally woke up." Ray's tone was mostly calm, his face was stoic. It was too bad that the sparkle of relief in his eyes betrayed him.

"Don't know how I managed to sleep with these bitter cold washcloths." Jake grumbled, determined not to miss a beat. He began to remove the washcloths off his forehead, arms and chest.

Ray helpfully gathered the basket and approached his bedside for him to toss the used washcloths in. With that out of the way, Jake tried to search his eyes. He wasn't the best people-reader, mind you... But he tried to find some sign where they failed. Alicia was still missing, Beck was who-even-knows and Yue could be injured from trying to fend off monsters before she was ready to.

"Hey, about what happened on Blessia..."

"...Was the fault of the medicine I gave you."

Jake wanted to agree. Anything to blame the human race, but actually no. He settled against the pillows, stubbornly folding his arms like preparing for some moral debate.

"Look, you're the doctor. You give people medicine, even though you were stressed from all that drama with your girlfriend you still wanted to help."

Ray gave him a long, downright neutral look this time. He didn't seem like he wanted to argue about the matter, but he wasn't exactly leaving.

"Jake, your condition must have been worse than a cold. I didn't provide the medicine you needed, and that's all there is to it." Ray said matter of fact, reaching out to squeeze his arm but abandoning the idea halfway. "There's no one at fault here except that man who kidnapped my sister, so don't invent blame on yourself. It's worth noting that you did try to help me propose, and you even joined the search party. So if you dwell on your condition coming back, I'll dwell on the good things you've done."

"You really shouldn't say all of that like you think I'm a decent person." Jake said with shiver with more disgust than chill. And all Ray did in response was smile almost smugly, but it looked misplaced on him.

There was a sudden smack from the outside of the bedroom door, followed by a hushed voice apologizing and another scolding them. This made Jake look up curiously, and Ray to shake his head like a parent with uncontrollable children.

"Now that you're awake, I should spread the word." Ray said, failing to hold back the slightest amusement in his voice while he handed Jake his shirt that was neatly folded nearby. "Let me know when you think you can take them."

Jake considered pretending to be dead, but dreaded one of those live burial things. In the end, he tried his best to contain his gripes and complaints as he put his shirt back on and told Ray to unleash the visitors. And so it was done.

The door flew open and crashed into the wall, no doubt leaving cracks. Jake doubted his father would make them pay for repairs to his business, but he could dream. Although his dreams were short-lived when he saw Kyle, Yue and... ALICIA?

So many questions were on the tip of Jake's tongue, and he couldn't ask without all of them trying to be spoken at once. So he may have looked a bit speechless as his visitors lined up in no specific order at his beside, though it was worse pointing out Yue being first and Ray being last.

"Before this gets awkward..." Kyle said, blissfully oblivious to how late it was to say that. "How do you feel? When we brought you back to your room, you were dangerously feverish. Natalie said that really high fevers can damage the brain."

Jake couldn't do anything but stare in shock at the whole brain damage news, Yue included. She had been squeezing his hand up until that point, then she was practically crushing his bones with strength he'd certainly never seen her use elsewhere.

"But you look like you're alert, so thank goodness!" Kyle added, practically smiling from ear to ear in approval.

"Well except for your bad timing, I feel alright." Jake said as earnestly as he could with so many eyes all waiting for a sign he was about to die. "I've got this pain in the back of my head – that must have been from falling, because I remember seeing a cave floor. And I'm way too cold from those washcloths you tried to bury me in, but I'll manage. I think the worst part is my nose: I feel like air's cut off there."

"You think he's got the flu? Like... One of those super dramatic flu types from more populated towns?" Alicia cut in, looking to her brother at her side.

"I believe he does." Ray responded professionally, though obviously a bit shaken from Alicia paying attention to medical concerns. "The cold medicine I gave him should have been in effect longer, so it must be the flu. And now... All he can do is stay off his feet for another week or so, be treated as much as he can."

"That's gonna suck for him." Alicia whined, turning back to Jake. "Hey, I had the flu once – I wasn't a pretty sight. Everything ached, my head felt like it was going to burst and the worst... The worst things I've ever seen in my life were draining from my nose."

"Alicia, when did you ever have the flu?" Ray suddenly asked in shock, to which Alicia shrugged.

"I ran away for a whole month to another town when I was sixteen; I got sick after spending a lot of time watching acrobatic outdoor performance art, and then Mom finally tracked me down and-"

"People!" Yue suddenly shouted, bringing all eyes to her in shock. She brushed back any frizzed hair and composed herself. "I'm sure Jake's going to be fine; he's probably damaged some pride after this, but he's tough. He'll get better."

"Say it like you need to convince yourself, honey." Alicia said...not quite as under her breath as she may have intended. A confusing mix of a snarky tone, but concerned eyes.

All of these voices at once were starting to become grating, enough so that Jake began to massage his temples and cast a glower their general way. And that seemed to be enough to make Ray and Alicia bow their heads and apologize surprisingly meek about it.

Kyle still had to open his mouth, of course. "So Jake, you're probably wondering how we found Alicia."

"Honestly, if she stayed lost forever-"

"Well actually, I know this isn't the most appropriate thing to say... Your passing out helped us find her."

All Jake could do was stare blankly at Kyle, hopefully communicating: what the actual fu-

"I had to drag you out of the cave, and I even got a few mild burns from a few ignis along the way, but nothing some odd medical concoction couldn't treat. When I found Ray and Yue, they were being confronted by three death stalkers that I helped Yue finish off."

Seeing as her name was coming up, Yue leaned a little closer hoping to catch Jake's eye. Of course she did. Despite all the possibly judgmental eyes in the room, she reached out to hold his hand. And maybe if there hadn't recently been a kidnapping and general dramatic reactions to the flu, Jake would have been at least mildly self-conscious about it. But it was okay. No one bothered to look twice.

"I had enough magical energy to teleport all of us off the island, but that also means we didn't have to look for that guy who kidnapped Alicia." Kyle added, a flash of unease appearing on his face.

"Good riddance!" Alicia cut in once again with a huff, folding her arms. "Who cares if that guy was left on the island to be attacked by monsters, or got lost while swimming back? That's the last time I willingly talk to a new face before hearing gossip about them!"

The visitation would have to be cut short, Jake realized. He was annoyingly weak and felt like sleeping again, but didn't know how to break that to these people without sounding like that. And just when he was about to fumble his way to an excuse to get them to clear out, Egan appeared in the doorway with a steaming bowl.

"Hate to interrupt the gathering, but I heard Jake's voice and assumed he might want the dinner he missed." Egan said with a slightly more chipper tone than normal, trying to maneuver past so many people in the small room.

Jake still felt ill, but the earthly scent of herbs and vegetables no doubt expertly cooked... He accepted the bowl gratefully, not even caring about the fact Egan insisted on smiling at him like he'd just watched him rise from the damn dead. He assumed it was some kind of instinctive, fatherly response but it was also something he always thought he'd understand as a child but still didn't in his twenties.

"Well, I think I've lingered enough... Actually, we're all kind of hovering." Ray spoke up somewhat timid, giving the window a glance despite the curtains concealing the Alvarna morning.

"Did any of you rest while I was unconscious?" Jake asked, staring into the soup rather than anyone's eyes.

The room fell silent, with the exception of Egan taking his leave as he obviously had a business to run downstairs. Sometimes Alicia made a thoughtful popping sound with her mouth, and others Kyle hummed quietly.

"My condition wasn't worth all of you losing sleep." Jake said with a sigh like he was dealing with a bunch of fools.

"I actually dozed off a few times." Alicia murmured, raising a shameless hand.

"Jake, we were a team. It may have been brief, but despite our differences we tried." Yue said next, eyes practically gleaming with affection when Jake stole a look.

"Well, I tolerate Ray. As I said before: Alicia could stay missing and I wouldn't shed tears-"

"I never!" Alicia huffed like that was actually a shocking revelation.

"The point is: you could have easily gone to your homes at any point, rest and try to get normality back. Am I supposed to feel something from this? Gratitude? The warmth caused by happiness? I don't get it." Jake felt like he could have gone on and on, but just bringing this up at all was making him cringe while three out of four gave him unwavering attention.

"Because even though everyone in this town doesn't get along all the time, we're still connected." Kyle said as if it were just a simple fact. His pure smile didn't even falter when Jake groaned and buried his face in his hand.

"That's the cheesiest garbage I've ever heard."

"Okay, it's cheesy." Kyle admitted with a genuine laugh that Jake couldn't tell if it was at his expense or just amusement. "But that doesn't change the fact I believe it."

"Yue doesn't even live here." Jake pointed out, just desperate to be right about something at that point.

"Okay, but Yue's on friendly terms with a lot of the other ladies here and um... You seem fond of her." Alicia said quickly, grinning almost wickedly like she just needed to be right too. Then again, she was definitely seeing gold for love fortunes flash before her eyes when looking between him and Yue.

Yue looked a bit nervous from Alicia's comments, but didn't add anything to it. Jake thought that would have been a great spot for her usual quips her being drawn to him, and instead she kept her attention on Jake and watched him eat. As if anyone can properly consume food while being watched, but okay.

At the end of whatever thinly-heartwarming moment Kyle originally set up, Jake still didn't think that he felt much of anything. But he silently decided that it was becoming difficult to avoid Kyle, especially when he took his leave by suddenly remembering Cecilia would be worried about him disappearing. He considered confronting him about the old topic that seemed like it would forever prevent any kind of friendly relationship between them back on Blessia, but that obviously didn't happen.

But Jake had Yue as inspiration for how to approach someone.

Alright, so she was his only inspiration. But he felt like he could be inspired by the times she didn't show any outward hesitation and just threw herself into a situation. It didn't always work for her, but if she was discouraged she appeared to bury it deep and ignore it for a while.

It was when Jake was downing the rest of his soup ravenously that Alicia separated from a departing Ray so she could sidle up to Yue and place an arm around both her and Jake. And she had just one thing to say as parting words.

"The minute I was rescued, I knew I had to do something to repay you. Now Kyle and my brother are already in relationships, so... I'd like to make a loving bridge for you two."

Jake was too busy choking on a chunk of potato in the soup to properly tell Alicia where to stick her matchmaking schemes. Meanwhile, Yue was too flustered to speak coherently. And the rescued fortune teller readjusted her hat and practically skipped out of the room happy to be able to never accept the consequences of things.

"Do you think we should stop her?" Yue asked, gesturing to the recently-slammed door.

"I want to see her try." Jake responded with new-found air in his lungs, and probably the most annoyed look on his face. "Someday she'll realize people can fall without any outside help."

"I wonder if that applies to you and me." Yue said like she was thinking out loud, but was wearing a rather smug smile, so yeah...

Jake set the bowl on the bedside table and found a more comfortable position. He could have countered that if he really wanted to. He didn't, so why dwell on it?

"Well, I need to rest up so I can get on the next boat. Please don't be stubborn, and let your body heal itself while I'm gone." Yue said before delicately turning his head to face her and pecking his lips. She made sure that even though it wasn't a dramatic kiss, they had lingering eye contact.

Jake was sure his breath was caught in his throat again from all this, but even if he looked absolutely bewildered by more of this willing affectionate contact of hers... He decided to just go with the flow by reaching up and clasping the hand she dropped.

"Since I've been sick before all of this even happened, I will go crazy from just sitting here waiting to heal." Jake informed her in fair weather fashion. "Someone better put a heavy lock on the door and window if they don't want me to bust out and run off into a dungeon to prove that I am, in fact, stronger than an illness."

"Do what you will, but just remember: you can't feed an ego if you're dead."

"As if anything that's happened in this year let me keep my ego."

"No, you still have it... But I'd be far more unsettled if you didn't."

"Yue, there's never going to be a time I understand how your head works."

"Ah, but you're not supposed to."

Yue broke into a smile, and that seemed to be where she wanted to leave things. But with their hands still connected, she wasn't able to walk away before Jake pulled her a little bit closer until she had to balance against the bed's frame for support and was practically bumping noses with him.

"Jake..." Yue's eyes looked dangerously close to bursting, but she took casual glances at their proximity and his face. "Your fever must have come back for you to do this. But it's not safe for people who are sick to suck face, and all that..."

"No, it's not like that." Jake sighed and leaned back, at least to make the scene look less bizarre if his father were to burst in. "After Alicia's remarks about possibly trying to get us together, I want you to know before anything like that even happens: it's not impossible for me to feel something like... You know, what you're feeling. But people never know how they'll feel until they take a chance, so when I'm healed and your back in Alvarna – I would be willing to court you."

Yue stared at him for a very long time, expression the same as before. If Jake didn't know better – honestly, he didn't know how his head was still functioning after both the fever and falling on a cave floor – it seemed she was hopelessly lost in a trance. He even tried to snap a finger in her face to no avail.

"I know that I keep trying to put distance between us, but everyone in this town is almost certain to start rumors while Alicia works herself to death behind the scenes. So let's try; let's find out if elves and humans can have a mildly functional relationship like anyone else." Was he rambling? Hell yes. But Jake had to fill the awkward silence somehow.

"Do you want this? I mean, I'd understand if it's too soon..."

Yue shut her eyes and inhaled a little, looking like her troubled soul was becoming rested. Jake expected her to leap onto him since he'd left himself open to something extreme like a particularly extended kiss or some kind of tackle hug. But Yue was absolutely calm, maybe the most she'd been in some time.

"Yes, I want to." And that was all Yue had to say before giving him a final, fond look before taking her leave.

Jake took the opportunity to lie down and get some proper rest this time, proper rest this time, but just as he shut his eyes he heard the unmistakable noise of a clatter and Yue laughing like she was stricken with relief while addressing Egan. What she was babbling to his father, Jake felt he didn't need to know.

What was most interesting to Jake was the fact he fell into a peaceful sleep. He didn't have dreams, and that was for the best. Words couldn't express how great it was to not have a certain female elf haunt them after he and Yue set up... Whatever they set up. He was ready for it.

He just had to make sure that he didn't fall below Yue's expectations. Maybe he would never truly understand how she could feel anything for him, but she did for a reason. Hopefully, he had the power to act like a mildly decent person for her. Hopefully, stressed until the word seemingly loses all meaning.


TBC