Yaaaawn…that was a decent sleep…wait a minute…I'm back in my room? How did I get back in my room…wasn't I rescuing some people that were captured? Where's Nomad? Maybe he can explain all this…it'd be nice if I didn't exit battles knocked out or sleeping for once…
I got out of bed to find I was still wearing my outfit…I feel my pocket area and I realized…I still had that map, I should go show this to Nomad and Jay. I put on my shoes and head to where the meeting room is, for some reason it felt like a good while since I was back here but it can't have been more than a few days since my first encounter with my evil clone.
I arrive at the meeting room to find Nomad there looking at something, not sure what but he notices me come in.
"Hey Clara, how was the sleep?" Nomad asks.
"Okay I guess…everything feels weird…I remember not remembering things and now I remember everything again…I'm confused" I answer Nomad.
"Your evil clone placed a device that supresses memories, we got it out of you while you were sleeping" Nomad explains.
"Well I guess I'm glad I remember things" I smile.
"Yeah, I was worried about you, you know?" Nomad tells me.
"You were?" I ask.
"Yeah, you didn't come back at all for a few days, I was worried you'd end up like Jay or worse" Nomad tells me.
"Well, he says worried, more like he tore apart the city looking for you" I hear Jay's voice from behind
I look behind me to see Jay with a teasing smirk and I got the feeling Nomad might be blushing under that mask.
"Hey Clara I'm glad you're safe" Jay tells me.
"Thanks…did you get a new leg?" I ask Jay
"Yeah, got to test It out last night, works perfectly, well…it was made by me so yeah…" Jay smiles.
"Well I'm glad you can walk again Jay" I smile at Jay.
"I'm glad too, I hate wheelchairs" Jay frowns at that.
"So um, where are all the others that were with me?" I ask the pair of them.
"They're here safe and sound, from what we've heard, you're quite the hero" Jay answers.
"I mean…I couldn't just leave them…" I scratched my head.
"Yeah, even without your memories, you are committed" Nomad notes.
"Speaking of, while I was looking for a weapon I came across this map" I told them about the map.
I pulled a map out of my pocket and laid it out on the table for the both of them to see and their expressions turned surprised.
"Clara…this is the location of Cortex's base" Jay says with excitement.
"It is, so it was far north of the Wumpa Islands this entire time" Nomad notes.
"I gotta send this to the top, we'll probably be in for an assault too!" Jay takes the map.
Jay then rushes out the room to contact our superiors, leaving me and Nomad alone together, as soon as it got quiet, I hugged him tight with both my arms and my wings.
"I missed you Nomad" I told him.
"Yeah, I missed you too Clara, You're like the only girl I can stand around here, well, considering the other one is Melody…but still, I'm glad you're alive" Nomad returns my hug
"So…tore apart the whole city to find me?" I smirk at Nomad.
"Well…I…wanted to find my friend safe and sound and not cut up like Jay and—" Nomad started.
"Well it was very sweet of you and your attack did save us" I smile at Nomad.
I stared into his eyes…well through the mask anyway…kind of hard to do so when he never takes the mask off but well…I like it…he makes you feel safe and secure next to him and threatening to his enemies…I'm feeling that feeling again the longer I stare into Nomad's eyes I just wanna…can't resist…he's looking into my eyes too…
"Nomad…" I speak his name.
I lift up Nomad's mask just so the mouth shows and he seemed to not resist this as I got my mouth closer to his, closed my eyes and—
"Hey Nomad I heard the Angel was back and—" I heard Melody's voice.
I froze and turned around to see Melody enter the room…I do not know why but I feel extremely angry right now like I wanted to choke her for this interruption.
"What were you doing?" Melody asked me.
"What?" I ask her what she meant.
"Oh…I see…sooo…someone's good to see you back, Clara" Melody gave me a weird smirk.
"What are you doing here Melody?" Nomad asks in an annoyed tone.
"Well I was going to see our cute little angel over there, but it seems you got to her first and were about to see her up close, if you know what I mean, not that I blame you…" Melody was absolutely smirking at us for some reason.
"Go away Melody, go train, we might have a big mission on our hands soon" Nomad says.
"I'm sure you'll have a big mission with her soon and—" Melody started.
"MELODY!" Nomad shouted.
"I'm going! I'm going!" Melody walks out.
I watch Melody skip out of the room saying something about me and Nomad sitting a tree doing something….
"What was that about?" I ask innocently.
"N-Nothing, just Melody being Melody…speaking of…um…you should probably rest a bit more" Nomad suggested.
"Um…not that tired but maybe we can talk a bit or something all this action the last couple of days and stuff, plus I wouldn't mind talking with you more while we wait to hear from Jay about the map" I suggested.
I can tell Nomad is debating with himself…not sure why but…
"Sure why not?" Nomad agreed.
I feel really happy all the sudden.
"So, anywhere you want to chat?" I ask with a smile.
"Well, I'm kind of hungry let's get something to eat" Nomad decides after a moment of thinking.
"Sounds good, ooh! Maybe I can try these two minute noodles that are meant to be soooooo good" I say in excitement.
Five minutes later found Nomad and I sitting together at a table while I wait for these noodles to do their thing with excitement! I've heard these are really cheap take two minutes approximately and taste really good, I was flapping my wings a bit in excitement.
"So I wanted to ask for a bit Nomad, why does Melody…do those things she does? Especially around Jay?" I ask Nomad.
"Well…she flirts with everyone and she wouldn't mind bedding anyone of us—" Nomad starts
"Melody can turn us into beds?" I ask innocently.
"…you are too innocent Clara. But she wants to have her own way of fun with us…but she and Jay were together and well she had her own fun with Jay on a mission and well, the enemy caught them off guard, Jay got shot and there was a lot of trouble as you're not meant to do that." Nomad tells me.
"Jay got shot?" I ask.
"Yeah…Jay was in love with her and after that they broke up cause well…that incident…don't go mentioning it to Jay, it's still a sore subject." Nomad tells me.
I feel confused, he mentioned love…
"Nomad, you say Jay loved Melody…what does that mean?" I ask Nomad.
"You…don't know what love is? You really are innocent" Nomad sounds so shocked.
"Well what is it?" I ask Nomad again.
Nomad sighs…was I expected to know what it was? Did I miss something in our training…?
"Um well, it's where a guy and a girl…or two guys…or two girls…or two transgenders, non-binary and…well whatever it is, two people really like each other, like really really like each other beyond best friends, and well…when you love someone…I can't believe I'm explaining this…well you want to be with them, you care about them, they're sorta your whole world…" Nomad starts explaining.
"So how do you know if you're in "love"?" I ask Nomad.
"Well…love is kind of complicated…for guys say like straight ones like me, we see a pretty girl, we get to know them and then you just sorta…know." Nomad answers that question.
"That's really vague" I comment on that answer
"It's really hard to explain, you have to feel it to know, but you know it when you feel it enough, you start imagining that person a lot, preferably alone with them, you appreciate the little things…god I'm so bad at this…" Nomad says.
I have this feeling…that's similar to Nomad's description of "Love"…but it's related to what I assumed to be mind control of some kind.
"So Love is mind control?" I ask.
"Where on Earth did you think that? It's perfectly natural to think it, Clara!" Nomad sounded so dumbfounded.
"Oh…." I say.
So…if this feeling ISN'T mind control and is Natural does this mean these feelings are natural? Real? And something that people want? If so then…
"Your noodles are done" Nomad says to me.
"Oooh!" I look at the noodles.
I get the lid off the noddles and notice it steaming and looking so delicious as I picked up the plastic fork and…it's…it's…..YUMMY! Oh my god it's so simple and YUMMY! It's like delicious string so you can slurp down.
"This is so amazing!" I say with the biggest grin on my face.
"I'm glad you like it Clara" Nomad says with a bit of a laugh.
"What?" I ask what the laughing was.
"You Clara, you know how to battle and yet you've never had noodles" Nomad explains.
"Hey, I was trapped in a castle for most of my life until a bandicoot decided to battle Cortex" I say to him.
"And then you escaped almost got caught again until a masked stranger saved you from the evil lab assistants." Nomad said.
"Well I am forever grateful for that" I say as I hug him.
Is this love? These feelings I've been having…they want me near Nomad, I'm constantly thinking about him and everything he said has him in it…
"Well…I think we should rest, we need to be awake when we assault Cortex's base" Nomad tells me.
"Well, let's drop by my room first" I say to Nomad.
"Alright" Nomad nods.
I finish the noodles and lead Nomad to my room, I cannot hold the feelings any longer after Nomad has described them…I feel love for Nomad and I have to tell him…he is my teammate, my object of love…I cannot hide this from him and well…maybe he already knows?
When we enter the room I take a deep breath.
"Clara is everything okay?" Nomad asks.
"I…think so, Nomad I must confess with that discussion about…love…I…feel that…" I tell Nomad.
"You what?" Nomad didn't quite hear me.
I moved the bottom bit of the mask up and then planted my lips against his…he didn't resist as I kiss him to show my feelings and to my surprise I felt him not just taking it but doing it back…I felt my heart approving of this actions as hugged and kissed him for what must feel like eternity but was most likely 5 minutes until we finally broke apart and I think I stared into Nomad's eyes dreamily.
"Wow, you really feel that huh? So that's why you were asking…" Nomad asks me.
"I um didn't know what the feeling was…until you mentioned love…I feel that way with you Nomad…and I wished to share that feeling with you" I explain to him.
"How long have you felt this?" Nomad asks.
"I think since we chased your evil clone…but I think maybe without me knowing…longer than that…maybe since we first met…I don't know how this works…" I answer.
Nomad sits me down on my bed and sits next to me.
"I must ask…do you feel the love feeling with me?" I ask Nomad.
"…I do. I'm not quite sure why it was you but well…I certainly didn't expect you to go directly to me…" Nomad answers.
"I do not think I can hide feelings like this for long…I think I'm a person who needs emotions to be let out and not bottled in…" I tell Nomad.
"Still…took some guts to just kiss me…I like that" Nomad tells me.
"So, I have shared you love and you have shared love with me, what happens now?" I ask Nomad.
Nomad just holds me close to him while I wrap my wing around him and I smile at him. This felt really right to me…is this what love is?
"We be together, boyfriend and girlfriend…but don't think I'll go easy on you in training just because you're my girlfriend now!" Nomad went from sweet to stern.
"Yes sir!" I nodded.
"We'll have time for more love things after we take down Cortex, once this mission is done, I guess I'll have to show you what life has to offer but for now, we'll spend today making sure we're rested up and then if we got any time, we'll do some training full on and then the fun stuff happens" Nomad tells me
"That sounds good" I agree to what Nomad is saying.
I have Nomad…someone I know I love next to me…but to keep that…I have to make sure Cortex goes down, for good this time. And once he's gone for good, the evil clones are next and only then will what I and Nomad have be safe…nobody's gonna touch that on my watch, I'll make sure of it!
"I know we need to rest but…could you stay with me and talk with me? I want to learn more about this girlfriend thing I'm supposed to be now" I ask Nomad.
"You act like it's a promotion at a job" Nomad comments.
"But I am promoted technically from teammate to girlfriend am I not?" I tell him.
"True, but yeah sure, we'll get some pizza and stuff and just chat and do stuff ya know?" Nomad agrees with me.
We just sat on the bed together, talking and talking, I found out about more methods of love through dates, compliments and the like…all of it was fascinating to me and well…I can't wait to do some of them and I will when Cortex goes down, we've chipped away at him and now we've cornered him. I also learned of a few other things and at the end of the day after eating pizza and relaxing for the day while the higher-ups make a plan of attack, Nomad and I slept together in my bed and in his arms.
The Mask Stayed on.