Embraces

For Empress Dotdotdot

Summary: Hugs can be either friendly or romantic. Piers and Jenna experience embraces of both kinds...

A/N: I wrote this for Empress Dotdotdot as a thank you for helping me out one time, and for being such a great Weird Sister of Proxshipping. Why don't you go read her fics one you're finished this?

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Piers smiled happily, gazing about the misty lanes of Lemuria. "This is so wonderful! I'm finally home again!"

Jenna, walking alongside him, grinned at his enthusiasm. "At long last."

"You must be some thrilled to be back, huh, Piers?" Sheba piped up.

"You bet!" the normally calm Lemurian declared. "I want to go everywhere! See everyone!" He dashed on ahead, all the while beaming like a fool.

Felix shook his brown-haired head in amusement. "I haven't seen Piers this animated since we got his Black Orb back!"

"Was he even as overjoyed as he is right now?" Sheba wondered.

Jenna watched Piers greet the other Lemurians. While most appeared pleased at his return--some were even somewhat startled to see him alive--none were able to shrug off the languor that held them prisoner in its tight embrace. As she moved to catch up with Piers, she wondered if Piers had been like them before being swept away by the tidal wave, and if he would return to an existence as slow as the movement of the glaciers of Tundaria when he eventually came home for good. She found she didn't want to even consider such a thing. She had grown too fond of Piers in the nearly two months he joined their quest to stand seeing him lose his spark. Or was fond even the right word...?

"Piers, wait for the rest of us!" Kraden chuckled. "This old body can't move as fast as you seem to be able!"

Piers returned to their side. "Sorry, Master Kraden. It's just been so long since I've been home that I've missed this place dreadfully. Before this, I had never left Lemuria in my entire life."

"So, whom do you live with?" Jenna wanted to know.

"My Uncle and my Mother," he replied. "I can't wait to introduce you to them!"

"Let's go meet your family!" Sheba requested. "The rest of Lemuria can wait, right, Felix?"

Felix nodded. "I also wish to meet your family. They must be excellent people indeed if they're half as kind as you, Piers."

Piers flushed. "Felix, stop. You're embarrassing me!"

"It's true, though!" Jenna chipped in.

"Um, my house is up this way." Piers changed the subject. "Follow me."

He led them past a wide-mouthed fountain and up a set of stairs. Piers' house was made of the same purplish-grey stone from which almost all the buildings in Lemuria were created. Like the other structures, Piers' home showed signs of weathering; there were chips of rock missing from its walls and ceiling.

As Jenna entered the building, she scanned the place with a frown. Several bottles were strewn around, an unidentified liquid spilling out of the lip of each. Papers and other personal belongings were scattered, as though a Jupiter Adept had cast Tornado on the house. She saw only one person, a man who seemed to be in his mid to late forties. He had short aqua-blue hair; there was sadness in his golden-yellow eyes.

"Uncle, I'm home at last!" Piers embraced the man.

His uncle held him tightly then let him go. "Piers! I was certain you were gone forever! Thank goodness you are back again!"

Piers beamed at him, then looked around. His smile faded. "Uncle…where's Mother? She hasn't taken sick again, has she?"

"Oh, is there still sickness in Lemuria?" Kraden interrupted, curious.

"My mother was born with a weak heart. It has troubled her all her life," Piers clarified briefly before turning back to his uncle. "Now that I think of it, this place is a mess! Mother always kept the house so tidy...she couldn't stand it if something was out of place. What's going on?"

Piers' uncle closed his eyes for a moment, then moved away from Piers to stare out the window. His back to them, he began softly, "When you were carried away from us, my sister slowly and steadily slipped into illness. She grew worse and worse...her heart was shattered the day we lost you. She yielded not long ago. I believe she gave her life so that you might return--does that not seem like your mother?"

Piers was ashen. "Wh-where is she now?"

"She is resting." Piers' uncle's voice caught. "In the cemetery."

Piers made not a single sound. Instead, he flung himself from the house. As he passed her by, Jenna glimpsed his face. It seemed as if all light in Piers' life had just vanished with his uncle's words.

"Piers..." Her voice trailed.

"Please wait." Piers' uncle scribbled something on a piece of paper and tied the message onto the leg of a carrier pigeon. The bird soared out of a window. "You are here to research Alchemy, are you not?"

"Yes, that is correct." Kraden adjusted his spectacles in order to view the man in front of him properly. "Why do you ask? Can you tell us anything about--ouch!" Sheba had stomped on his foot before he could embark on a massive questioning spree.

"Not now!" she hissed. "He's just lost his sister! Have a little pity!"

"If you wish to know more, go to Lunpa, who lives in the east end of town. He will see you," Piers' uncle told them.

"Thank you very much, sir." Felix turned to leave.

"Wait...you are going after my nephew, aren't you?" The blue-haired man stepped forward.

"Yes, that's right. Piers is one of us. We can't leave him to face this alone." Felix was firm.

Piers' uncle sighed. "To lose his father in his youth, and now his mother...it is difficult. Please give him some time to himself, to recover. I'm sure you'll understand why he needs it."

"...All right," Felix agreed, seeming not quite satisfied with the request. However, the Valean respected the man's knowledge of his nephew, and so they all silently filed out of Piers' home.

"Should we go see Lunpa, now?" Sheba wondered. "I don't know if I really feel like it, now..."

"I suppose we ought to." Felix bit his lip, deciding. "It would give Piers the space he needs." He walked a few paces, but stopped when he realized Jenna had yet to move from her place. "Sister, are you coming?"

"You go ahead and fill me in later, okay, Felix? I have something I need to do." Jenna didn't meet his eyes.

"Well...all right. But be careful what you say, all right?" Felix touched her shoulder and then he, Sheba, and Kraden headed for Lunpa's tower.

He knows what I'm going to do, she thought. At least he's not trying to stop me.

She began to search the town, until she discovered the path to her destination: the cemetery. When she arrived, she stooped to pet a black-and-white patched cat, working up her courage. Then, she stepped along the rows of graves, until she came upon Piers. The tall man was standing in front of one headstone. He had his face cupped in his hands and was sobbing softly…hopelessly.

Jenna was struck by an intense feeling of pity. At least my parents are still alive, even if they're far away, she thought.

She wrapped her arms around Piers' body and hugged him close, trying to convey feelings of love and peace to him through her embrace. Piers continued to weep, but after a while, one arm left his face to curl around her shoulders. He held her to him, taking comfort from her wordless compassion. They didn't move for a very long time.

* * *

"Are you sad to be leaving Lemuria so soon, Piers?" Sheba wanted to know as they prepared to set sail.

"No. There is little left for me here," was his sad answer.

"You've still got your uncle," Kraden mentioned.

"True...but I was always closer to Mother." Piers tried to shrug off his grief. "But enough of that. Let's keep going--it's a long way to Jupiter Lighthouse."

They began to drift away from the dock, quiet. However, the silence was soon broken by a not-so-innocuous inquiry from the Child of the Gods.

"Piers..." Sheba questioned, a dangerously mischievous smile on her face. "I've been thinking. I never realized how old Lemurians get, so I'm wondering if we're giving you the proper respect after all."

"Please." Piers forced a smile. "That doesn't matter. Treat me as you always have."

Jenna grinned. "No, no. We don't want to be rude. Exactly how old are you, Piers?"

"Tell us!" Sheba chimed in.

"This isn't about respect! You just want to know how old I am!" Piers accused angrily.

Sheba, Jenna, and Kraden laughed at his words. Frustrated, Piers turned to Felix, who was navigating the caves that led out into the open ocean.

"Felix, you're in on this, too, aren't you?" he interrogated in a show of paranoia.

"No comment," was Felix's only response as he steered around a pillar of rock.

"That's it! I won't be made fun of! I will not tell you!" Piers folded his arms in an air of finality.

"If you say so!" Sheba giggled.

Jenna shared in her mirth, but then, without warning, felt depressed. Quietly, she turned and retreated to her cabin. Plunking herself on her bed, she sighed. It had taken Piers several days to be able to function. He spent hours sitting on his bed, staring at the wall. Nearly the whole time, she had been there. She never spoke a word, but stayed with him to show him that he wasn't alone and that he had friends left in the world. All of them had done so, of course, but...

I'm probably the only one who fell in love with him because of it, she mused wryly. All that time alone had allowed her to think, and during that period, she had become aware that not only did she love Piers, but she had felt that way for quite some time.

I can't say anything about it, though, she thought, flopping over onto her stomach. The last few days, she had been wondering about Piers' age. Although he appeared not much older than Felix, from what she had learned of Lemurians during their stay in that great city, she knew he could very well be hundreds of years old. His reluctance to share that particular scrap of information confirmed what she had feared.

I can never tell him how I feel...it wouldn't be right for us to fall in love. It'll never work, never.... To her shame, she began to cry. She had never been able to weep noiselessly as all good tragic heroines seemed to be able to do. In an attempt to silence herself, she stuffed her fist in her mouth, but it didn't seem to muffle the sound of her sadness very well.

"Jenna...are you all right?"

It was Piers. Jenna sat up and tried to dash away her tears. But they just wouldn't stop coming, a fact that embarrassed Jenna deeply.

Piers came over and sat on the bed. He caught her in his strong arms and held her to his chest. "Jenna, don't cry. It'll be all right. We'll rescue your parents, don't worry. They'll be back with you before you know it."

He thinks I'm upset about Mother and Father being held in Prox, Jenna realized.

She sniffed, and buried her face in his deep blue coat. "It's not that...it's something else."

"Well, what is it, then?" He laid his cheek on top of her head, still holding her in his warm embrace.

She didn't answer. This is so nice, she thought. Why am I depriving myself of something so wonderful? "Piers, I..." No, I can't. Jenna changed her mind again. It's wrong...

"Yes?" Piers let a kiss fall on the top of her head and then the tip of her ear--all that he could reach, since she still hadn't removed her face from his coat.

Jenna froze, then slowly withdrew so she could look him in the eye. "Piers, what on Weyard are you doing?"

Piers pulled back instantly. "You don't like this?"

She laughed nervously. "Y-yes! I mean, no, I like it! I mean...should you be...? You're so much older than I am!"

"Does it matter?" He watched her face with his lovely sunshine eyes.

"No..." Jenna whispered. "Not in the slightest."

And their lips met.

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Ta-da! Anyway, review this (ahem), and leave your requests as you go, okay?