Rain Child: *sighs* against some of the FEW reviewers' advice, this is not going to be a one-shot, as I am on page 30 in my notebook, so too bad to the people who didn't like it. This story is slower moving than the other ones I've written so far, so it might take a while for the plot to kick in. This is a sad story, so I might depress you for a while. If you are patient, you'll get to see a happy ending, I promise. Oh yeah, I've beaten the Jupiter Lighthouse, so I know the beginning wasn't accurate, and for the people asking for more detail, it was a semi-old memory, and memories aren't usually very clear after a year or so. Now, without further ado, Chapter II of Part I!
Recommended Music to set the Mood: Someone Searching By Ginny Owens
Dig By Jars of Clay
Let Me Show You the Way By Michael W. Smith
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I suppose I better go see Mia…" Jenna smiled crazily and calmly made her way to Garet and Mia's home, greeting any passersby as calmly, if not more than, any other person…
The once fiery Mars Adept knocked on the door, to have it opened by Garet, who smiled kindly towards his one-time crush and long-time friend.
"Hey, Jenna, how are—Mia's upstairs." He'd seen her bandage. She grinned sheepishly at him.
"Kitchen knife again?" he questioned, sighing inwardly.
"Yeah. How's Isaac been?" She asked, eager to change the subject from her hand.
"We had to take away his machete today." He reported somberly
"But it's wooden!!! Surely he knew--" The female Mars Adept asked, aghast at such a foolish attempt.
"He didn't care. I guess he's desperate to escape life, Jenna dear." The fire adept sighed quietly as he watched Jenna's dark brown eyes fade out a little. She and Isaac had always had a special bond. A saddened Jenna ascended the stairs, nodding a greeting to Mia, who causally healed the shallow scrapes. Jenna grinned childishly, looking towards Mia's rounded belly,
"Boy or girl?"
"A boy, I think, but I still need to ask Sheba."
"Where is Sheba, she'd already left the house when I woke up this morning."
"With your brother, if my intuition is right."
"Hmm…I think I'll go see Isaac. Thanks for…my hand."
"No problem, come back and visit again sometime, hopefully under…different circumstances."
"Sure…"
As Jenna left, Mia murmured worriedly to her husband, "I worry for those two…"
"Me too…"
~*~*~*~
Sheba and Felix stood near the psynergy crystal, talking casually, until Sheba suddenly remarked,
"You know, you never did keep your vow…"
The Venus Adept's face was downcast, as he gruffly remarked, "I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't hurt Dora and Kyle, or Jenna, especially Jenna. I couldn't shame my parents. What a fool I was…"
The Jupiter Adept nodded empathetically, "As it should be. Just wait, Felix dear." Sheba kissed his cheek, and went back inside the inn, as his eyes followed her, conveying shock; his cheeks tinged pink.
"Well then…" the adept trailed off, and went home himself. He had a lot of thinking to do.
~*~*~*~
Jenna knocked gently on the door—loud noises bothered Isaac. Dora, now sporting gray-flecks in her orange hair, answered the door, her saddened face transforming into a joyous smile upon recognizing Jenna. Her husband, Kyle, stood behind her, nodding his head towards Jenna.
"Hi ma'am, Mr. Kyle. Umm…can I see Isaac?"
"Of course, Jenna dear, you can bring him lunch. I'll give you a tray and you can go right up."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"Please, just Dora."
Kyle headed outside, and Dora handed Jenna a tray containing two lunches.
"I hope you haven't eaten."
"No ma'am, I mean, Dora. I'm sure it'll be wonderful. Thank you."
Beaming happily in spite of herself, Jenna went upstairs, opening the door as she called to Isaac,
"Isaac, I brought you lunch…"
Isaac sate upon his bed, reading. Anyone would never have guessed why his first sword, a wooden machete, had been taken away from him. He smiled calmly at her, something in his stormy blue eyes brightening. Sadly, he remarked,
"Mom's worried again, isn't she?"
Jenna nodded, and sat next to him on the bed, and set their lunches down on a table by his bed. She scanned the now nearly empty room. Garet had been right when he said they'd taken the machete. The place above the door bore a pale spot in the pattern of a sword. She looked sadly towards him, empathetic.
"They just don't understand."
"I feel like I'm missing half my soul."
She searched his sapphire eyes. Mercury's Light was gone. Instead, Jenna saw the burning desire of Mars' Revenge. He was intent on getting away from pain- that was for sure. Mars, the element she was aligned with. Of course, having Mars' Revenge didn't mean you cared for a Mars Adept, it just meant something had hurt one, and the one with the flame in their eyes. Her eyes locked with his, as she placed her hand over his.
"I understand, Isaac."
Isaac jerked away, furious. His words were hot like coals.
"NO, Jenna, you don't. To love, and to have it toyed with for so long, then ripped and crushed, thousands of knives piercing your very soul. You have no idea, because you've never loved!"
Taken aback, her own eyes now glowed with fury, and tiny candle-sized flames were upon her fingertips already.
"How DARE you! Isaac, I've loved, deeper than anything you ever held for that…that…wench! I dreamt of the moment I'd be loved, just like all little girls, but I couldn't tell anyone, I always tagged along with my brother and you and Garet! And I chose the wrong person, obviously, because he couldn't give a damn, if he's willing to try and take his own life with a WOODEN SWORD!!! And all I can do is watch him die!!!"
Jenna sank down, her head in her hands, but her eyes tear-less.
"Sorry…" she muttered, her voice trembling and unsteady.
And realization smacked Isaac in the face. She'd just confessed everything she had left, and he'd just yelled at her. The guilty Venus adept took her in his arms, stroking her hair, whispering to her his apologies.
"I'm sorry Jenna. Jenna, love, I am so sorry. Oh, what fools we are!"
Jenna looked up at him, her chocolate orbs, full of Despair slowly being consumed by Venus' Love. Silently, the mourned their losses, tears flowing steadily, but without a sound, until they drifted into peaceful, dreamless sleep—for the first time since the Boulder Incident.
The door creaked open as Dora entered to check on Isaac. A flash of worry went across her face upon noticing the uneaten lunch, but tears of relief spilled over as she saw her son and his dear friend, looking at peace after so long.
'She always was like a daughter to me…' Dora pondered as she took the lunches, and left the room.
~*~*~*~
(A Father's Grudge)
Vale's peace seemed contagious as she ring of a single ax against wood echoed through the wind. However, the peace did not affect one of the Valeans—it never did anymore. Kyle chopped would steadily, fluidly, his thoughts swirling in time to the music of the ax.
'Isaac…my only son… That girl, she's destroyed our family, and poor Jenna. Doesn't that dratted Mercury Adept know what she's done!?!' He grieved among his thoughts, whom brought him back to when their journey had first ended.
*FLASHBACK*
Isaac embraced his reunited family, hugging them tight in happiness that seemed to ebb from Kyle's beloved son. He whispered joyously to his father, unable to keep it to himself any longer, "I never got to tell you Dad, I found her…"
*End Flashback*
He smiled fondly, but frowned shortly thereafter, never breaking the pattern of his chopping. Isaac had gone so far down.
*Flashback*
Knock! Knock!!! Dora called to her husband,
"Kyle, dear, could you please get the door?"
"Of course!"
He'd opened the door, warmly greeting two of his son's best friends. As he called Isaac down, he studied the two. Garet smiled almost with pride, and Mia's cheeks were flushed. It had been then that he noticed. Mia wore a ring. The ring was beautiful, a silver one, with a single sapphire in the center, flames engraved around the stone, signifying Mercury's alignment with Mars. Kyle had nodded to Garet in silent approval, and it was Garet's turn to flush with pride.
Isaac had come bounding down the stairs, calling out a 'hey' to his friends. After exchanging greetings, the three wandered outside, talking animatedly.
*End Flashback*
Isaac had come back alone, running up to his room, as if in a daze. They'd found him there later that night with gashes across his wrists. Kyle had healed them, but it didn't erase his and Dora's worries. That had only been his first attempt. He'd used his swords, daggers, and even tried jumping out a window. Isaac moaned in intense grief, wild with emotional pain. Isaac's once beautiful, deep blue sapphire eyes were now pale and crazed, resembling a stormy sea, full of foam. The Venus adept smashed things, yelled, attacked anyone but Dora, Kyle, and, oddly enough…Jenna. As a last resort, after a week of trying to calm him, Dora had found an old sleep bomb to know Isaac out with.
Chop! Chopt! Place another log on! Chop! Even yesterday, after he finally seemed to be recovering again, Isaac had tried to take his life with a mere wooden sword. Garet and Mia had long ago stopped visiting Isaac, fearful of his crazed state that sometimes appeared. It was only around Jenna that Isaac truly resembled a saddened state of who he had once been. Kyle smiled fleetingly at such a ridiculous solution. Isaac obviously didn't care for Jenna anymore- he barely talked to the poor girl when she came to visit. Of course, things always changed, for even now he heard Dora calling for him.
"Kyle!" she called, "He's sleeping!"
Husband and wife embraced, and Kyle found himself crying as he commented,
"We owe Jenna everything, you know."
"She's happy just to be with him. She has her family back, and feels safe in Isaac's arms, but you're right."
The happy couple went inside, joy ebbing off their faces. Even the most non superstitious Valeans will still tell you how something seemed different about that day, bittersweet, may-haps.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Note: The whole, 'we owe her' thing at the end. If you bothered to read Kyle's grudge, you'd have noticed he thinks about how Isaac seems to be hiding something (I think) about Jenna, because he only bothers to be himself around her, to the most extreme extent. So in a way, as Kyle blames Mia, he also feels grateful towards Jenna, because he feels like Jenna is Isaac's cure.
Anyways, I hope you err…enjoyed this chapter. This would be the end of Part I (Memories and Building Futures). So please, if you could review (a lot more than four), it would inspire me to spend the many hours it takes to type all this up. Otherwise, this story will remain hanging right here, even if it isn't really a cliff hanger.
Rain Child the Depressed and Insane