Author's Note: I own nothing. Here we are again joining Jen and Rook in their stories.

War Between Worlds

1 Somewhat Traditional

Rook was a but confused. Jen had taken him into the Prototruck and held up a blindfold.

"Ok so I need you to put this on and promise not to peek." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why?"

"It's your birthday you're not really allowed to ask questions like that." She seemed to immediately understand his confusion. "It's a surprise." She insisted. He sat down in the passenger seat and nodded.

"Very well, I trust you." Jen laughed lightly and tied the blindfold in place. He heard her get behind the wheel and take off. After a bit he could not contain his curiosity. "So on Earth it is prohibited to ask questions on the day of ones birth?" Jen laughed.

"No, you're allowed to ask questions, just not where we're going. That's the surprise." Rook frowned slightly.

"So it is traditional to take a person to an undisclosed location on their birthday?"

"When you put it that way it sounds silly. It's more of a tradition to take someone to a place they will enjoy. To spend the day there, or in our case the weekend." He could hear the smile in her voice though he could still only see the inside of the blindfold.

"Ah this is why there were bags in the back of the Prototruck?" He asked lightly she laughed again.

"Curse your observant Plumberness. Yes that's why there were bags back there. I took the liberty of getting you a few things you'll need for where we're going." She stated and he felt the slight lurch of the Prototruck exiting the atmosphere.

"Are we leaving Earth?" Rook asked.

"That sounded like a question about where we're going." Jen teased. "But no not technically, this is just the fastest way to get there." She was right in a few minutes the lurch happened again as they re-entered the atmosphere. In minutes they were landing and he heard Jen hop out of her seat. She stepped over to his and he took off his seatbelt. "No peeking." She insisted, taking his hands and pulling him up out of his chair. He nodded slightly.

"I promised I would not." He insisted. She laughed again, leading him to the back of the Prototruck.

"Ok wait here for a second." She demanded and let go of his hand. He was alone for a moment. He heard a click as the back of the Prototruck was opened and a cold blast of air came rushing in. "Ok you can take off the mask now!" Jen said grinning. Rook reached up and untied the blindfold. He blinked, Jen was standing in the doorway of the back of the Prototruck, wearing a large puffy coat he'd never seen before. Like most of her clothing it was bright green and stood out like a sore thumb against the white expanse behind her. "Welcome to the Alpine mountains!"

"What is all this?" Rook asked looking around curiously. The world was covered in white.

"Snow!" Jen exclaimed. She bounced forward. "I remembered when we first met you had said that Revonnah doesn't ever get a hard freeze, and I did some digging, you've never done a mission on any kind of ice planet. So I decided that for your birthday you should experience something new. So I called in a favor!" She tossed him a large coat, in a deep forest green. "Come on!" He pulled on the coat and followed her out into the white expanse. It crunched under his feet and he smiled.

"This is quite different." He pointed out, stepping down on a fresh patch of snow. Jen giggled slightly at his reaction to his surroundings.

"Well that's not all either." He frowned looking up to ask what she meant and finally noticed that they were not just in a valley of white up in the mountains. There was a large building made of wood and glass nestled in the piles of snow. It was quite large, with a covered balcony and what appeared to be something like a zipline going up the mountain towards the peak. Coming down the stairs towards them was a teen, about Jen's age with short black hair, Rook couldn't tell their gender. Jen seemed to know them though.

"Eddie!" The two hugged for a moment and Jen pulled the other teen over to Rook.

"Rook this is an old friend of mine, Edwin Grand-Smith, he goes by Eddie though. His grandfather owns the resort." The boy Eddie grinned.

"Yes he does! Welcome to the Chateau D'Or! Our best resort in the French Alps! Skiing season hasn't quite kicked off yet, so the two of you mostly have the place to yourselves." Rook raised an eyebrow.

"What is skiing?"

"Winter sport." Jen explained. "I'm not much for it I prefer a snowboard, closer to a hoverboard." Eddie grinned.

"Well if you're interested in learning the skiing instructor is in residence." Eddie suggested, Jen grinned.

"I think I'd like to see you on skis. See if your as coordinated on a board as you are on your feet." Eddie grinned at them gesturing back up the stairs he had just come down.

"Plenty of time for that later. Lunch will be served soon. We'll get you two settled in your rooms first." Jen grinned and grabbed their bags out of the Prototruck. They followed Eddie inside Rook looking around curiously. Eddie was more than willing to expound on the accoutrement of the resort.

"Seventy rooms, thirty with kitchenettes, twenty with full kitchens. Though we have a full kitchen staff on as well, if I remember correctly Jen eats quite a bit." Jen rolled her eyes.

"I have a very high metabolism." She commented and Rook nodded.

"I have noticed that." He smiled at his partner.

"We've got a skiing and snowboarding instructor in residence. Equipment you can borrow if you want. And of course, standard in our resorts, a swimming pool and a hot tub, both indoors. An open bar, legal drinking age in France is eighteen so none for Jen but Rook you can sample as you like, assuming you can have alcohol." Jen nodded but Rook shook his head.

"I do not know that I will partake." Eddie shrugged.

"To each their own. Breakfast served from eight to ten. Lunch is noon to two. Dinner is from seven to nine. Room service is available, menus are in your rooms. Everything you want is on the house, only the best for my friends." Eddie said leading them to their rooms, which were next to each other. "Lunch in ten." Rook nodded heading into the room Eddie handed him a key for. Jen turned to Eddie.

"You got it all set up for tonight?" Eddie nodded at Jen grinning.

"Jen my dear you must have faith in me. The staff has all been informed that he's an alien and they won't make a big deal about it. We have everything you requested for tonight. Have some faith." Jen nodded taking her key from Eddie. "Hey maybe you should have some fun this weekend too." She rolled her eyes at him, punching him gently in the shoulder.

"Yeah well, you're pulling out all the stops. How could I possibly avoid having fun?" She teased. Eddie shook his head slightly as she slipped into her room with her bag. She sighed looking around, admiring the expansive room, massive bed and bathroom with a bathtub large enough to submerge herself fully in. Yes, this weekend would be just what they needed after everything they had been through. She had nearly died on Galvan before finally beating Malware, regaining a piece of herself she thought lost to her forever. That had been barely a week ago and everyone insisted that Rook and Jen deserved some time off after that. She just hoped he would have fun this weekend too, after all it was his birthday.