Author's Notes

What's this??? A chapter that is only a couple hours late??? By Jove, it's a miracle!

I never know what to write for the A/N...

Anywho, Reviews!

ThinMint, yeah, they got pretty beat up. Don't worry, they'll mostly be fine. Thanks for the support!

GiggiEba, heh, thank you. I hope I didn't disappoint you with this one. :)

Now let's get on with the story!

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Simon's POV

I spent the next few days helping Izabell nurse everyone back to good health. Of course, Thomas and Adrian were still not allowed out of bed, but at least everyone else is mostly fine. Valory recovered nicely despite all the damage she suffered. To help everyone else, it was really just a matter of pulling out arrows and bandaging wounds.

"How does your chest feel?" Izabell was passing her hands expertly along Thomas's torso, a frown on her face.

"Not too great, but it feels better now. Thanks Izabell."

The slime girl sighed and stepped back. "This is why I told you to stay in here. Now you'll need more time to get better. And I don't want to hear any complaints abaout it, not from either of you." She gave both Thomas and Adrian a pointed look. The wither skeleton nodded, and Thomas smiled.

"Yeah, we know."

Izabell huffed skeptically and left the room. I gave my friends curt nods before turning to follow her out. Eba is also staying in the med-bay with Adrian and Thomas. We were all worried for her, even when the endergirl had told us she was fine.

"She's just exhausted," Izabell had said. Eba nodded blearily in agreement. "It must have taken a lot of energy for her to warp everyone out of harm's way," Z explained later. "She'll be weak for a few days, but don't worry. Her strength will come back eventually."

Jack grimaced. "Honestly I'm surprised she stayed awake for so long while teleporting everywhere."

Sarah nudged him. "She's much tougher than you think."

The bleak sunlight from outside pulled me from my thoughts. I put on my goggles and stepped outside with Iza. Valory was training with Falconheart despite Izabell having told her not to. The slime girl let out an exasperated sigh after catching sight of Val.

"It's like they don't even want to heal. I don't know why I waste my energy or breath."

I planted a kiss on her cheek and took her hand in my gloved one. "They're just stubborn. But you are more helpful than you think."

Iza leaned into me. "I know they are, but it still makes me feel useless."

I kissed her forehead and tucked some stray hairs behind her ears. "Don't say that. You're not useless; Jack probably wouldn't be on his feet without you, and Valory would still be healing. We need you more than anybody realizes."

She let go of a happy little sigh. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome, Z."

I scanned the plains, making sure everyone was present and accounted for. Sarah, Kaitlin and Ara were talking together under the snow-covered canopy of a tree. Jack was performing target practice on one of the house's walls. Lila had been making knives and swords out of the large bones from the mutant skeleton.

I suddenly remembered the roller skates I had made for the cave spider. "Do you think it's a good time to give Lila her skates?"

Izabell huffed in irritation. "Sure, I guess. If she falls and reopens her wounds she can bandage them herself."

I hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to make you mad. I just wanted your expert opinion."

Izabell tried to free herself without much enthusiasm. "It looks like my 'expert opinion' doesn't matter to anyone if they're gonna ignore it anyway."

I nuzzled her neck. "Sorry."

She stopped struggling and sighed again. "It's okay. At least I know you listen to me."

"We all listen to you, Z. But fighters will be fighters. If they want to hurt themselves, let them. They'll learn eventually."

Izabell smiled and gently untangled herself from my arms. "I should probably be there if you're gonna give her the skates. In case she gets hurt somehow."

I placed one last kiss on the top of her head. "You're the best. I'll be back in half a jiffy."

She giggled and playfully pushed me away. I ran inside and up the stairs towards my room. All the rooms except for Kaitlin's were pretty small (because hers is the penthouse), with room for a dresser, a table, and a bed big enough for two. The walls of mine were covered in papers, from sketches and designs to simple doodles.

I reached under the bed and pulled out the box where I kept most of my important stuff (except explosives; those go in the storage shed). In it where a couple unfinished projects, my pocket knife, pencils, and Lila's skates. I pulled out the steel-toed leather boots and made sure everything was in mint condition.

Once satisfied, I pushed the box back under my bed and dashed back outside. Izabell was talking with Lila underneath a tree. I walked over to them, the skates hidden behind my back. I caught the cave spider's eye and waved.

"Hello."

"Hey Simon."

Izabell smiled and broke off the conversation. I cleared my throat. "I made something for you."

Lila raised an eyebrow. "For me?"

"Yep. Here." I pulled the skates out from behind me. Lila's eyes immediately lit up, and she took them almost greedily.

"No way! Really?"

Izabell giggled. "Yes, really. He made them specifically for you. I helped him," she added proudly.

The cave spider looked the skates over excitedly. "These are perfect! Thank you so much!"

"Do you know how to use them?" I asked.

She nodded eagerly. "I used to do ice skating when I was little, and this isn't that much different so it should be pretty easy."

"Good," I said. "Because I have no idea how. I wasn't even sure if I had made them correctly."

"No, they're fine," Lila assured me. "Better than fine to be honest. This is so cool."

Izabell gestured at the frost-covered plains. "Do you want to test them? There's plenty of space."

Lila beamed at her. The cave spider cleaned some snow and frost off the roots of the tree and sat down. She quickly undid and took of her boots and slipped on the skates. "It's a snug fit," she commented.

"Valory helped me with size," I explained. Lila nodded and started tying the laces.

"They're pretty comfortable. Could you help me up?" Izabell left my side to help Lila to her feet. The cave spider wobbled a little but didn't fall, an excited smile lighting up her features. "Okay... you can let me go now..."

Izabell hesitated for a moment before stepping back. Lila wobbled again and crouched lower. Then she pushed forward and rolled away. The three of us let out a chorus of 'yay' as she skated away. The cave spider began turning back towards us as confident as can be, as if she'd been born with those skates.

The rest of the gang was alerted by our ruckus. Valory smiled widely and ran over to where Z and I were watching. The spider punched my shoulder playfully. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to give them to her now? I wanted to see her reaction! Did you tell her I helped you? What did she look like? What did she say?"

I stepped back, smiling at the onslaught of questions. "Sorry, yes, excited, thanks." Sarah walked over to us. Kaitlin and Ara were encouraging Lila with 'woop's and 'yay's. The skeleton girl stopped beside us.

"What's going on?"

"Simon made Lila some roller skates," Izabell said. "It looks like she's enjoying them."

Sarah nodded and turned to watch Lila, who was skating around the house. Jack walked over from where he was target practicing. "Where did she get the skates?"

I raised my hand. "I made them."

He nodded looking barely surprised and stood beside Sarah. Lila rolled gently back to us and stopped. "Tah-daaaaa!"

We all clapped at her and the cave spider made a mock bow. "We'd throw flowers," Jack said with a smile, "but there doesn't seem to be any at the moment."

We all chuckled at his joke, and Lila rolled her eyes with a smile. Izabell suddenly gasped beside me. I turned around to find her staring into the forest, her hands covering her mouth. I placed my left hand on her back, and my right immediately went to the hilt of one of my shortswords. Izabell gently pushed me back and walked forward slowly.

Everyone was quiet, exchanging confused looks with each other. I followed the slime girl's gaze to a clump of snow that had fallen off the branches of a nearby tree. Something moved beneath the snow. Izabell took a couple more steps forward until she was in front of the snowdrift. Then she knelt down and moved some of it away.

The lump of snow moved again, and a pair of frightened beady eyes stared back at Z from under it. Izabell cooed at it, trying to coax whatever it was out from under the snow. The critter's eyes widened in panic, and the snowdrift moved, but it seemed to be trapped because that's all it did. Izabell gently removed more snow and picked up the animal.

It was a little fox cub, its fur as white as the snow that had fallen on top of it. It tried to wiggle out of Z's grasp, but the slime girl held fast. She brought the little fox close to her chest and tried to soothe the little creature. I looked around at the forest. The fox cub was too small to be out here alone, and vixens are very protective of them. So where are its parents?

Izabell cooed at the little creature and started absently walking towards the house. The tiny cub shrank against Z in terror when it saw everyone else, but calmed down once they were out of its line of sight. I followed her, still on the lookout for the little cub's parents. Everyone whispered among themselves and then went back to what they were doing.

I closed the door behind me and followed Izabell upstairs, towards her room. She was still holding the little animal close, smoothing down its ruffled fur and cleaning all the snow out of it. I opened the door for Z and closed it behind us. "Could you please get a blanket from the dresser?" She didn't take her eyes off the little fox cub as she spoke.

I nodded and pulled out the smallest blanket I could find from the dresser. Izabell took it with a smile and set the little fox down. She started drying out its fur with the blanket, and then wrapped it up in another one so it'd be warm. The fox cub whimpered when she touched it, but it didn't try to run away.

Izabell sat down on the bed beside it and started caressing its head. I had been leaning against the wall, watching her every gentle move. "Where do you think it came from?"

She smiled. "I'm not sure. Foxes live in taiga biomes, or in snowy taiga. I don't know how it got here."

I thought this over for a moment. "Maybe there's a taiga biome on the other side of the mountain range. It might have wandered into the valley with its parents."

She looked up from the little cub. Its white fur was slicked down so it clung to the cub's small frame. "Did you see them? The fox parents?"

I shook my head, and Izabell relaxed. "It's an orphan, the poor thing," she said. The little fox had closed its eyes and huddled under the blanket's warmth.

"Maybe not. Its parents may still be out there somewhere in the forest."

She frowned. "But female foxes-"

"Vixens," I interrupted.

She smiled lightly. "Yes, vixens. Theyare very protective of their cubs. She wouldn't have left it there in the cold snow."

"She might have been distracted with something and the cub wandered off."

"Oh but you wouldn't do that, would you?" She spoke at the little cub, who pricked its ears but didn't open its eyes. Izabell pet the little fox's head between the ears, and it leaned into her comforting touch.

I sighed. "You want to keep it, huh?" She looked up from the white cub.

"Would that be so wrong?"

I shrugged. "I'm not judging or arguing against it. It's just an observation."

"So I can keep it?"

"In theory."

Izabell grunted irritatedly. She hates it when I use that phrase, saying that its no way to answer a question. "Why 'in theory'?"

"You don't know if the fox will want to stay here with us. You can't keep it locked up at all times. It might want to leave once its old enough."

She opened her mouth to retort before she realized what I had said. "Do... do you think it will? That it'll just leave one day?"

I sat down beside her and gave her a hug. "It's a possibility, Z. Its a wild animal. If you want to nurse it until its older, go ahead. But it might decide to wander off again at some point."

Izabell leaned into me, still caressing the little cub's head. "I have no choice, Simon," she began. "Its too small to be out there by itself. I'm going to keep it. Maybe it won't want to leave, but if it does, then I'll respect its decision."

I smiled and kissed the top of her head but didn't say anything. The little fox opened its eyes a crack, staring curiously at us from under its eyelids. It wiggled a little and crawled out from under the blankets, padding slowly onto Izabell's legs. The little cub rubbed against Z's stomach and curled up in her lap. The slime girl smiled and pulled the blanket onto the cub.

Izabell was still smiling lightly as she turned to face me. I returned her smile and kissed her forehead, causing her to giggle. She leaned against me, sighing happily. I zoned out after a few moments, and when I zoned back in, I realized she was sleeping soundly. The little cub snored gently on her lap. I chuckled.

My friend, my love, and my muse. Always.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Theridas's POV

I picked up a pile of books and started organizing them in their shelf. Pepper had suggested I help out at the Grand Library after I told her that I'd liked the book Kyle had suggested. "You could check out another book if you wanted," she told me. That was a plus, but honestly, I was enjoying the work.

"You do know where it is, right?" She had asked. I smiled at her.

"Yes, I know the way Pepper."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. And if I get lost I can ask for directions." She sighed and slipped her arm through one of her jacket's sleeves. She had a worried look, as if she wasn't sure I truly knew the path to the library. I was also a tad nervous, but I wasn't about to tell her that.

I didn't do much except work at the bar and walk around with Pepper. She showed me around the city, but it felt like no matter what I'd somehow find a way to get lost in it's seemingly infinite streets. I had grown tired of the dull grey and bleak sunlight, and the dreadful cold didn't help either.

But I felt so at home in the library, with it's warm orange light streaming from the windows, all the colorful books, the creaking of the wooden floor underfoot, the quiet conversations I had with people who needed help finding a book. It was basically paradise.

Pepper was having another girl's day out with lady Anastasia and Ella. I love Pepper, with all my heart, but it felt good to be away from her constant teasing. I tucked the final book in its rightful place on the shelf and turned to grab another stack from the little cart I used to move the books around.

Kyle was on the other side of the library also re-shelving books. We don't talk much together, but he's never been rude with me. I finished shelving my stack of books and moved on, pushing the cart towards the wall. I needed to stack the rest of the books upstairs, but I couldn't drag the cart up because it would damage the staircase. That's why the library has a system of little elevators for the books operated with pullys.

I gently stacked the books into the little elevator and then closed the hatch. I 'parked' the cart out of the way and headed towards one of the twin staircases. They curved inward going down so that they faced each other on the bottom floor. They were separated by a lounge area with couches and tables.

I waved a greeting to the few people there and walked up the stairs. It already looks big from the outside, but the library is just massive. There's rows upon rows of bookshelves, some reaching as high as the ceiling. I reached the elevator hatch and started pulling it up. It took a couple minutes and a lot of effort, but I was successful.

I got another cart from up here and went back to shelving the books. A couple people walked by. Some asked for help and some simply greeted me. It was relaxing to be here at the library. The hours ticked by until it was well past noon and the sky had darkened. People were leaving the library one by one.

I reorganized one last shelf and walked down the magnificent stairs. Acaria greeted me from the front desk with a smile. "Finally heading back home, Theridas?"

"Yes. I organized all the shelves you asked me to, as well as a couple others."

She raised an eyebrow. "My, aren't you productive? I can barely get Kyle to finish his own set of shelves. Thank you so much for your help."

I bowed. Many people whom I consider my friends always find it funny that I bow, but I do it anyway because that's my nature. "I'm glad to have been helpful."

Acaria waved me away, still smiling. "No need to bow, Theridas. Have a good night."

I nodded. "Good night to you too, Acaria."

I walked down the cold streets of Veridon City. I had my dark hair tucked under a cap, and a scarf wrapped snugly around my neck. My cloak didn't do much to keep me warm, but Pepper likes it when I have it on. "Makes you look more intimidating, not to mention manly," she commented one day.

The jacket and jeans I had on did little to ward off the cold, but I didn't want to use my fire in clear view of many people. After an hour of wandering, I finally spotted Pepper's apartment complex. The light on the apartment wasn't on, so I guessed she hadn't come home yet. I walked up the stairs and down the hallway towards her apartment.

I unlocked the door with my set of keys and walked in. Just as I had thought, Pepper wasn't here yet. I closed the door, flicked on the lights, and walked over to the small kitchen. Pepper did most of the cooking even though I'd told her countless times to let me do so. She only allowed me to help unless she felt too tired to cook or argue.

I lit the stove and checked the cupboards to see what I could make. I was pretty sure Pepper would be home soon, so it'd need to be something quick. I set a pan on the stove and opened the small fridge that sat in the corner. It wasn't a very good fridge, so Pepper didn't like leaving much in there for too long.

I took two steaks wrapped in paper and closed the fridge. I pulled out a pot and filled it with water. Steak and steamed vegetables wasn't the quickest thing, but I didn't have much of a choice. I seasoned the steak and poured a little squiggle of oil into the pan. Then I plopped the steak onto the pan.

The water soon started to boil, so I placed a metal colander in it. I cut up some carrots, potatoes, and broccoli before dropping them into the pot. I heard the door creak open and then shut closed. "Wonder if he's here yet," I heard Pepper mutter to herself. I washed then dried my hands before walking out of the kitchen.

Pepper was hanging her jacket, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw me. I smiled at her. "How was your day?"

She blinked and giggled. "I had a blast. And you?"

I shrugged. "I enjoyed myself."

Pepper shook her head with a smile. "Of course, of course, mister manners," she said in a mock deep voice. She walked up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "What do you want for dinner?"

I walked over to the kitchen and gestured to the pan and pot. "Way ahead of you."

She crossed her arms with a barely contained smile. "I should have known."

I flipped over the steaks and moved the vegetables a little so they wouldn't burn. Pepper went off to set the table. I brought out two plates from the cupboards and set them down on the counter next to the stove. I made sure the steaks were finished before quickly placing them on the plates. Then I pulled the colander out of the pot to let it drain and cool.

I shoveled vegetables onto our plates and served them at the table. Pepper got two glasses out from the cupboards and filled them with water before placing them at the table. I pulled out a chair for her and she giggled.

"Such a gentleman."

I smiled and sat down in across from her. "I try my best. It comes easy having been a royal servant for so long."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. How was life as a servant?"

I gave her question some thought. "Alright, I suppose. My father and the king had been friends, so he always treated me kindly. Most of my time was spent shadowing lady Anastasia and princess Kaitlin."

Pepper looked up from her meal. "Princess?"

I nodded. "Yes. She was constantly getting into all sorts of problems, and I was charged with basically keeping her alive."

Pepper snorted humorously. "Really? What kind of problems?"

"There was one time when she snuck out of the nether fortress and wandered the nether until she found a trio of magma cube babies. When I found her she had been hopping around with them all over the place."

Pepper giggled. "Really?"

"Yeah. She insisted on playing with them before heading back to the fortress, saying that they 'needed help to find their nest'. Only once they were back in their nest, she agreed to go back."

Pepper shook her head with a smile. "She sounds like a handful."

"She truly was." I chuckled. "You'd think a twelve-year-old would have more sense than to leave the confines of the fortress. And, when she turned fifteen, I caught her 'teaching' baby blazes to use their fire. I was almost incinerated on the spot."

Pepper giggled again. "Was that all you did?"

I took a long drink from my glass of water. "I also ran errands and helped with cleaning and cooking on occation. But yeah, most of the time I was worried the princess would get herself hurt somehow."

Pepper sighed happily. "I love it when you talk about your past. You sound so wistful and happy at the memory."

I smiled. "Thanks. I like talking about it."

We continued talking together long after we finished our dinner. Our yawns became more frequent as the night crawled away. Eventually Pepper stretched and got up slowly. "I think it's time we hit the sack, love. I'm bone-tired."

"Yeah," I said, stretching as well. "Me too."

We crawled into bed, not bothering to change into some more comfortable clothing. Pepper snuggled up to me and yawned again. "Good night, hun. Sweet dreams."

I draped my arm around her waist. "Good night Pepper. Sleep well."

It took me no time at all to sleep, all warm and toasty next to the person I love most.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Author's Notes

10pm isn't that late, is it? I mean, I'd feel better to post the chapter at 12:59 rather than at 1am because it means I wasn't technically late. So yay for me! :D

Anywho, thank you so much for your time and patience. Have an awesome day!

~ LeMafiaKreb