Chapter 29: Over Heaven
A/N: As I thought, this took forever to make. I also got a bit... sidetracked by other things.
Well, stuff happens. Nothing I can do about it. At least this chapter is longer, I guess.
On another note, we're almost at Chapter 30. Now you may be asking: "Does this mean the story is gonna be ending soon?"
To which I reply: "Haha, no."
I still have a lot I want to do. At this point, this story might end up being FIFTY chapters long by the time I ring down the curtain. Which would mean that this series would be, like, 120 chapters long in total. Crazy.
I honestly never expected this to get very far. I expected to quit after, like, four chapters when I started the first book. And I've been going back and re-reading it, and...
WOW, my writing has improved SUBSTANTIALLY over the course of writing this. I honestly don't get how I got you all hooked on this with how awful my old writing was, hah.
Well, I'll be sure to give this series one hell of a finale when the time comes. It deserves it. You deserve it, for putting up with my horrible writing for so long.
Well, enough sentiment, on with the chapter.
I woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly good. Enough so that I instantly got up and got ready for the day.
When I walked out into the main hub, I saw Hailey sitting at the television, a perplexed look on her face.
She just looked at me suspiciously and said: "Did you mess around with the TV last night?"
"Uh..." I replied, "I didn't break anything, did I?"
"No," She answered, "I was just wondering why it was connected to nothing."
"Yeah, that might've been me. Not my fault your peoples' devices are so overcomplicated, though," I said.
She just shrugged and turned back to the TV.
"On that note, I want you to show me how that works later," I told her.
She chuckled.
"I'll try to," She responded, "After we visit Zena, maybe?"
"Sure," I said, "We should probably go check on the directors after that."
"What about Alpine Skyline?" She asked.
"I already told both Zena and the nomads that I won't be around often," I countered, "If they can handle Zena being gone for weeks at a time before, they can handle nobody being around now. I'm not putting both of our lives completely on hold for something that isn't completely needed."
I watch her shake her head in disapproval.
"So you're just going to abandon them?" She scoffed, "What about your promise?"
My eyes widened in alarm.
"Oh, no no no, I don't mean it that way. Like you said, I made a promise. I tend to keep my promises. I'm just saying that if we have other things that need to be done, those will be done first. I'll be sure to check at least once a day, of course," I explained.
She tilted her head.
"Well..." She muttered calmly, "Okay. I guess that's fair."
She then stood up and turned to me with a smile.
"We should probably go get ready to see Zena, then!" She beamed.
I nodded, and began walking toward the kitchen to get breakfast.
"I just hope she gets well soon..." I muttered.
I felt something small climb onto my back and arms wrap around my neck, as I heard giggling.
"It's so cute to see how much you care about her," Hailey said over my shoulder.
I just sighed.
"Just add that to the list of things I never thought I'd hear..." I grumbled.
She just giggled.
"... Especially not from you."
We spent the next half an hour getting ready for the day, eating breakfast, brushing our teeth, blah blah blah, all that boring stuff.
Once we were done, we stood at the telescope in the metro room.
Last night I thought to myself whether I didn't know if I was scared or excited.
Well I knew now.
I was dreading this very much.
What if she noticed something off about me? She'd then ask, and...
What would I say? Would it be lying to tell her that nothing's wrong?
... Would she even believe it?
I just sighed and shook the thought away.
"Well, I guess let's get going."
"Wait!" She shouted.
"What?" I asked.
"Shouldn't we get a gift for her? A get-well-soon gift?" She suggested, "I think she'd like some flowers."
She then gave me a mischievous look.
"And what's more romantic than a guy giving his beloved flowers?"
A chill went down my spine.
"Do NOT."
She giggled.
"I'm just joking! But I do think she would love some flowers," She replied.
"Well... I guess you're right," I agreed, "Do you know any flower shops though? 'Cause I certainly don't."
"Let's look for one down in the city!"
She dragged me along to the metro room.
We teleported down to city.
"Let's get looking, then. We... might be here a while," I muttered, "Cause I doubt a city like this would have too many flower shops around, it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
So, we walked around looking for anything that seemed promising. Fortunately, we were able to ask some of the citizens if they knew about a flower shop along the way, and got pointed in the right direction. It only took about ten minutes. We weren't able to read the sign up top, but the large cherry blossom on it seemed about right.
We walked inside, revealing a quite large area with rows upon rows of flowers, and a greenhouse room off to the side.
"Ah, a customer!"
A very happy cat came to greet us.
"Welcome to Sakura Flower Gardens. How may I help you?"
"We were looking to buy some flowers for a good friend of ours in the hospital. She's crazy about them."
They perked up.
"Ah, I see! How thoughtful of you. Does she have a preference?" They asked.
"Uh... not that we know of. She likes the colour white, though," I explained, "So maybe, flowers with both white and another colour on it?"
"Alright, I know just the thing. Follow me," They replied..
We followed them through some halls until we stopped at a planter box filled with elegant flowers that had petals that were white in the center, with a gradient to yellow at the tips. It reminded me a bit of the sun.
"Do you think these will work?" They asked.
"Oh, she'll love these," I replied, "How much?"
I looked down at the tag, and noticed a picture of a pon with '700' tagged next to it.
... Didn't the Shadow Badge cost 1000?
"Normally? About 700 pons. For you? 300," They replied.
"That's quite a discount for people you've never met before," I said.
"Hey, you're doing something good for your friend. I can respect that. And don't you worry, it's not like we'll go bankrupt from one sale, haha!" They assured me.
"Well, if you're certain," I said, "We'll take 'em."
"Great! I'll be back in a minute with the bouquet and vase," They said.
"The vase comes with it?" I asked, "I, uh, I've never bought flowers before."
"I dunno if other places do it, but we do," They replied, "After all, what's the point of buying flowers for someone if you don't have something to display them in?"
They then ran off.
"This place is pretty nice," Hailey said, "Just smell the air!"
"True. And they seem like very generous people," I agreed, "I think Zena would love it here."
She smiled.
"I'm still confident that she likes you," She said.
"Whether she is or not, she can remain blissfully ignorant until she's healed," I replied.
The cat came back later with the bouquet and vase, and motioned for us to follow. We were brought over to a till.
I dug out the money and handed it to them, who took them and put them in the cash register. They handed the vase, with the bouquet in it, to me with a grin.
"There ya go," They said, "Hope she gets well soon!"
I smiled.
"Thanks a lot. We'll definitely be sure to come back here if we ever need flowers again," I said.
"Heh, more discounts for you, then," They replied, "Bye!"
We left as the cat waved to us.
I felt butterflies in my stomach.
"You're really going to make me give them to her?" I asked Hailey.
"Yep!"
"You know how uncomfortable that's going to make me, right?"
"But you're the one who loves her. Don't you want to be the one to make her happy?" She asked, "And don't you want to win her over once she's recovered?"
"Well... yeah, but-"
"Then you have to give them to her! She'll be way happier if you give them to her than she would be if I did!" She said, "Because I'm comfortable giving them to her, and she knows that. You aren't. So if you're the one who gives them to her, she'll know for sure that she means a lot to you, because you're stepping out of your comfort zone."
"... Won't she realize that I like her if I do that, though?" I countered.
"I don't think so, you've been uncomfortable around her in the past. I remember, when she teased you about dancing with her, you turned so red I was almost worried you'd explode!" She replied, "And besides, it's just a get well gift. Nothing crazy about it."
I sighed.
"Well, I guess I'll do it. Just to make her happy," I admitted defeat.
She clapped her hands in satisfaction, and we walked our way to the hospital.
When we got there, we walked inside, and got checked in to visit Zena.
As we turned away, I remember hearing the receptionist say something to me.
"Go get em, tiger."
I froze, and just began walking as I felt heat rush to my face. I heard Hailey suppressing laughter.
"Please end my misery," I growled.
"Oh shush, you big baby," She replied.
On the way there, I asked Hailey something.
"Do you really think she won't notice?"
"Notice what?" She responded.
"Notice that something's different?" I elaborated.
She smiled.
"Maybe, not right away, but she'll definitely notice something," She replied, "Buuut, I wouldn't worry about it. She wouldn't pressure you to tell her."
"Wouldn't want to worry her, though," I muttered, "Or even worse, make her think that she did something wrong."
"She wouldn't think that. And I think you'd do a good enough job to make her not worry about you," She assured me, "Relax, dad. It'll be fine!"
I sighed as we pulled up to her room.
"Well, here goes."
I knocked on the door. Zena told us to come in, so I put the flowers behind my back as we entered.
When I looked over at her, she was smiling wide.
My brain proceeded to short circuit. I had to start taking deep breaths to calm myself.
"Hi, Zena!" Hailey greeted, "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm feeling alright," She said, "It hardly hurts to move anymore."
Fortunately, the deep breathing worked (I think), and I was able to talk.
"It hurts to move?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Nothing I can't handle, though," She replied, "What's that behind your back?"
I looked down bashfully, unable to keep the smile off my face.
"Heh... well, uh," I muttered.
I hesitantly showed them to her, causing her to gasp.
"This is... uh... a get well soon gift, for you. And... a thank you for saving my life," I said, "Who knows, maybe it'll make this cold, dull recovery room just a bit more warm and lively."
I handed them to her, and she just stared at them in pure shock.
"Markus..." She said enchantedly, "I... I don't know what to say..."
I looked down, scratching my head. It suddenly felt quite warm in this room.
"D-do you like them?" I asked.
"They're beautiful. And they're for me...?"
"You... you risked everything you had to come save my life," I stammered, "I-it's the least I could do to repay you."
"I..."
She took a shaky breath, and I saw tears begin streaming down her face.
"I..."
Was she going to...?
"Th-thank you..."
She began to cry.
Zena, possibly the strongest woman I knew, crying in front of me. I wasn't sure what to do.
I looked at Hailey, who just smiled at me and motioned toward her. I knew what she was telling me to do, and even though every part of my brain was telling me not to, I did.
I walked up to her, and gently hugged her. She set down the flowers beside her and returned it with full force, beginning to cry even more.
Neither of us said a word, as we both knew they weren't needed in this moment.
I didn't dare let go until she stopped crying.
I wanted so badly to just tell her how I felt, tell her that she was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, that seeing her smile made my day just that much brighter... I wanted nothing more than to just do that.
But... I didn't. I couldn't. Not right now.
After a few minutes, she had calmed down and slowly let go. I did the same.
I backed away with a bashful smile and scratched my head.
"I'm glad you like them," I said, "But... you can thank Hailey for that. It was her idea."
"I only mentioned it so you could do it," Hailey inputted.
"But it was still your idea," I replied.
"Well, thank you both for the gift. It means a lot to me," Zena said.
I merely nodded, unsure how to reply.
She closed her eyes and sighed, a truly content smile across her face.
"I'm so happy I met you two..." She said, "In all my years, I've never met anyone as amazing as you two. Never ever."
"And... we're glad we met you too," I responded uncomfortably, "Do you want me to go fill that vase with water for the flowers?"
"If it's not too much trouble," She answered.
"Alright."
I grabbed the vase and walked over to the bathroom, filled up the vase from the sink, came back and set it on a table beside her, then took the flowers out of the bouquet and into the vase.
She stared at them with a huge grin on her face.
"That makes this so much better," She said, "How did you know I love white and yellow? Did you both pick them out?"
"Ehh... I just had a hunch, I picked them," I replied.
She let out a small chuckle.
"You know me better than I thought."
I found myself feeling very nervous all of a sudden.
"Well, um, how has it been here?" Hailey asked, "Are you learning anything new about the modern world?"
"Quite a bit, yes. They don't really believe me when I tell them where I'm from, which I suppose is understandable, yet they still cooperate and answer any questions I have," Zena said, "They're very nice people."
She then turned to me.
"And what about you? How did it go back home?" She asked.
"Uh... it went well, I guess," I replied, "Once I told your people what was happening they calmed down quickly. They also seemed to accept that it'd be a while since you came back, and that I'd be trying to keep watch until you get back."
I then raised an eyebrow.
"Random question, do you often leave for long periods of time?" I asked.
She frowned.
"The only times I've ever had to leave before was... well, it's a bit of a long story, but let's just say I've only ever left when I absolutely had to," She said, "It's a very rare occurrence for me to be gone for longer than a day, and usually when I leave I tell people."
"But you didn't exactly have the time to wake anyone up and tell them," I inferred.
She nodded.
"I had to come help you, after all. And I expected to only be gone for a few hours at most..." She said.
I then heard Hailey gasp.
"Peck! Sorry, I'll be right back," She groaned, before running out the door.
"Um... what is 'peck' supposed to mean?" Zena asked in confusion.
"I... uh... well..." I muttered, "All I'll say is: don't say that around a bird."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"You let her say things like that?" She scoffed.
"It's only a curse word to birds!" I defended myself, "And it's funny!"
She just gave me an unamused glance, before shaking her head.
"Well, I suppose humour is subjective," She said.
I looked down and scratched my head.
"I wouldn't let her say that around birds, y'know," I muttered, "And she's a good enough kid to know not to."
"You really must have to run after her a lot, don't you?" She asked, "More than I thought..."
"Every day," I said.
She sighed.
"You know, you need someone to help look after her. One person couldn't raise an energetic little girl like her all on their own while taking proper care of themselves as well," She suggested, "And, you need someone to watch over you, as well. Tell you when you're being silly and maybe put you in your place when needed."
... What exactly was she implying?
I took a deep breath to counter my growing level of discomfort.
"I-I think I'm doing alright," I stammered, "And it's not truly a solo act, y'know. Cooking Cat offered to babysit her sometimes, Conductor offered to give parenting advice, etcetera."
"I know," She said, "But it still must be a lot. I feel bad for making you look after Alpine Skyline now. As if you don't already have enough to worry about..."
"I wouldn't even be around to have anything to worry about if you didn't save me," I said, "It's the least I could do."
"But still... you need to take some time to relax," She said, "Ah, I know. Once I'm out of here, I'm going to spend a full day helping you unwind. You need it."
I scratched my head, completely unsure of how to reply.
"I... uh..."
She was silent.
"Oh... did I say something wrong...?" She said, "If I overstepped my boundaries, I'm sorry. I just want to help you."
Oh Lord... this is exactly what I feared.
"Zena..." I muttered, "It's... you didn't..."
I shook my head and sighed.
"You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just..."
I scratched my head.
How was I going to say this?
"You see..." I muttered, "I'm just... thinking about a lot of things right now."
"... Is there anything you need to tell me?" She asked.
Part of me began to panic that she was on to me.. Another just hoped that she meant that only generally, as in to vent anything that could be troubling me.
"I... uh..."
I heard her sigh.
"Markus," She said seriously.
I forced myself to look at her, and saw her look serious, yet calm.
"I know there's something you're not telling me," She said.
Oh.
No.
I looked away as I felt heat rush to my face.
"What are you so afraid to tell me?" She asked, "I want to help you."
I was floored. I could not even formulate a single word to reply with.
"Is it... something to do with me?"
-Gah!
"I... it's..." I stammered, "I... I can't..."
"Markus... do you... a-are you saying... what I think you're saying?"
...
She completely cracked my façade wide open. In, like, two minutes, if even.
I took a deep, shaky breath to attempt to pull myself together, and looked into her eyes. She seemed very confused.
Well, it was now or never.
"Yeah... I think I am," I said.
She put her hands over her mouth and closed her eyes. I slowly heard a giggle begin to surface.
"Markus... come over here so I can hug you again," She said.
Huh?
I froze in complete surprise, before my mind finally worked and told me to do as she asked. She wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace, and I returned it.
She... she actually...
She actually loved me back...?
I felt the words come from my mouth automatically:
"I... I love you, Zena."
She giggled again, and I felt a kiss be planted on my cheek.
I began to feel dizzy from euphoria.
"I love you too, Markus."
Hearing that, I completely broke.
I felt tears of joy surface.
Everything I could ever have possibly wanted in my life... I had it all. Happiness, purpose, friends, family, and now, even love.
It was true, I was in hea-
...
No. Saying that wouldn't do it justice to how I felt. No, no, I wasn't in heaven, I was a step above that.
I was over heaven.
And if I wasn't the luckiest living being in the Multiverse before... there was no doubt in my mind that I was now.
Also, I knew I was going to have to buy a truckload of junk food to thank Hailey with. I question how long it would have taken for me to realize how I felt about Zena if Hailey wasn't such a little genius.
Wait...
I was Hailey's dad... and now if I had a lover (Hah, add that to the list of things I'd never thought I'd say)...
I put two and two together, and began to chuckle, slowly getting stronger until I was completely laughing out loud.
"What's so funny?" Zena asked.
I had to collect myself again.
"It's just funny how many things I'd never thought I'd experience until I was brought to this universe," I said, "And... if we're going to be lovers... well, you know how I'm Hailey's father?
I pulled away from the hug and smiled at the beautiful woman in front of me.
"Well, I think she's going to start viewing you as her mother, too."
Zena's eyes widened.
"Because... you're her father... and..." She thought aloud, "I didn't even think of that..."
She hugged me yet again, laughing harder than I'd ever heard before.
"I would love that!"
I laughed as well, returned the hug.
We sat there like that for a long time, enjoying each other's company.
It didn't matter that we were in a somewhat noisy hospital with noisy devices. It was still nothing but pure, unadulterated bliss.
'She can remain blissfully ignorant', I had said. 'I don't want to get in the way of her recovery,' I had said.
Never before had I been more happy to be wrong.
Oh, and... Hailey was going to freak out when she came back.
I couldn't wait to see it.
A/N: Oh, Markus, you should've known this was going to happen.
I can practically feel it that some very specific people are going to enjoy this chapter very much.
And to add to that...
THE FACADE IS FINALLY OVER. THANK GOD.
You have NO IDEA how hard it was to try and make convincing arguments that I was considering not making them a couple, even though I wasn't, really, at all. And I'm pretty sure I failed miserably at doing so, cause I'm a horrible liar!
If you were wondering, yes, I was basically planning all of this-not from day one of Zena's introduction, per se-but very quickly after. So, I've been puppeteering you all along to want to see them get together! Checkmate!
... If you can't tell, I've been looking forward to this day for a while now.
And for those who aren't into romance that much, don't worry, I'll do my absolute best to make sure it isn't obnoxious and cheesy. But I'm not terribly used to writing romance, so it's gonna be a learning experience. Feedback will be greatly appreciated.
*Deep sigh of relief*
Well, onto the reviews, only one this time.
XStarInTheSkyX: Hey, do whatever you want. I thought the daily boop was kinda funny, it was a fun end to a meaningful review. But if you don't want to do it, then that's cool too.
And if this IS the last boop, then here is your last peck:
PECK!
Thanks again for the review.
As for the next chapter... well, I think we all have a vague idea of some of the events that are gonna be happening next chapter.
Dunno if I'll be able to get it out quickly or if it'll be another 2 week long wait again. We'll see.
But I guess I'll see you all then. Seeya!