Virginia fell heavily to her knees beside the withered plant and held her hands out to it, the tips of her fingers brushing against the dead leaves and stem. She didn't know what to say, or to do. They had all been so hopeful of success, and she knew that fortune always favoured the brave, and the determined. She had tried so hard to believe in chance, she had wished, she had hoped…
Both her fists connected with the ground hard, crushing a few other dead plants ringed around the aconite, the drifter leader bowing her head in loss. Jet was standing behind her, and said nothing at all. Florina had left the mound, in a futile attempt to find another seedling of the herb, refusing to believe that hope had departed. They had already searched everywhere, and this dead little sprout was the only piece of aconite in the entire secret garden and beyond. Even if Gallows did get lucky and find the arnica herb that he was looking for, it would be perfectly useless without the other vital ingredient to back it up and reinforce. Without aconite, Clive would remain a monster forever.
"This is it, huh?" She muttered bitterly to the youth behind her, shaking her head. "This is what we tried so hard for? A tiny corpse? Why is this- it's not supposed to be this way…" Virginia trailed off into quiet sobs, holding a hand to her face to hide her tears. What would she say to Catherine when they came back empty handed? Sorry? No, she couldn't face the others without a hope to give to them, she would never be able to look them in the face and see their sorrow, knowing that it was her fault for it being there. For being a bad leader, not even able to complete a simple task. Because of that, many people she cared about would suffer.
Jet looked away. "Not supposed to be this way, eh? What way is it supposed to be? I expected as much from a dead planet like this. I'll tell you what, never get your hopes up too high, or else it'll hurt even more when it all comes crashin' down." Virginia gave him an odd look, her blue eyes misty through the tears. It was just like Jet, to be a cold asshole when nobody wanted his input. If she didn't feel so weak and shaky inside, she would have knocked his lights out, then and there. "Don't get me wrong," He continued, "Hope is good and all, take it from me, I know." He patted an inside pocket of his jacket, where his Hope Shard lay in wait, smirking ironically. "But too much of it will make your life miserable. You're bound to be disappointed half 'o the time, that's what makes life challenging and difficult."
The girl's voice was calm, laced with a held back desperation. "So, what do you suggest we do now, Jet? Do we give up?" The boy was about to make a structured answer when he was suddenly silenced by the murderous look in Virginia's eyes as she turned to him, losing his reply. Every word becoming more hysterical as the sentence moved along, she continued. "Of course that's what you'd say, it's not as if you ever feel anything anyway. You're always so cold, Jet, like you don't give a damn about anything or anyone! And that's the way you want it to stay, right? Right?!"
Hanging his head and looking listlessly at his shoes, Jet took one great exhalation and said one syllable, the word short and powerful in it's simple delivery. Glancing up and locking his artificial violet eyes with hers, he threw away doubt and just went for it. "No." He said, brushing past her and yanking the dead herb out of the ground with delicacy. "No." He repeated, feeling the plant's life force barely existing within it's ruined shell.
Virginia looked more than confused, stepping away from the silver-haired boy. Equalising his hold on the plant by adding another hand to support the aconite, Jet placed it over the other so the plant could no longer be seen, hidden under his thick guard glove. His eyes did not stray from Virginia's, and for the first time she noticed how intense the violet hue was when focussed upon her, it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and tingle. "What… are you going to do?" She asked automatically, a weak wind blowing her plait and loose strands of hair back.
Jet remembered what the living plant looked like, from the piece of paper shown to him and tucked away in one of his pockets. It was suited for a milder environment, where there was more water and less sun, thousands of years ago, before the great wars scarred the earth. In a time where only Jet could remember, where only he could exist. "I am an android, so I get hunches sometimes, unexplainable ones." He replied, repeating the words he had said to her only the other day. "And with that, I am a…uh, a rewriting machine."
He knelt, cupped hands out in front of him, and Virginia watched with fascination as he closed his eyes and seemed to vacate his body with the intense concentration needed to focus an ARM, or in Jet's case, trigger his special power. A green light shone between the cracks of his fingers as it was hidden underneath the gloves, the boy remembering back, to an ancient world, where everything was pure and untouched.
And Jet was all of a sudden walking through a field of living flowers, blossoms of red, blue, yellow, white, purple and many more hues covering the emerald green grass and creating a veritable rainbow of life, the drifter slowly making his way through the foliage and not stopping. It was a lot cooler here, like he stood in a permanent shade, the temperature mild and inviting. This world, it was only the inside of his first memory and not essentially real, but it's value to Jet was worth more than all the gella he could get his hands on. This memory was priceless.
A memory of the past can save the future…
Brushing aside a cluster of dazzling wildflowers, Jet climbed up the exact same hill Virginia and Florina were inhabiting somewhere in the future, shaking his head almost disbelieving at what he was seeing. The hill was purple, thickly populated with a patch of healthy fresh aconite, in such large quantities that no grass could be seen underneath it. This was the motherload. Jet reached the top a pulled a fairly healthy one out of the soil, looking the flower over. He could not take this plant back with him to reality, that was a certain impossibility, but he could memorize the information, the chemical make-up of the plant, and take that back with him. As a rewriting machine, Jet could save this data and maybe…
Virginia grabbed Jet's shoulders as the boy threatened to topple over, sweat standing out on his brow and all his muscles going limp. He didn't let go of the plant, however, and that was the only part of him left that still seemed to be existing in this world. His lips moved in quiet speech, but it was Adam Kadmon who was talking, not Jet Enduro at all. "Aconitum Napellus download in progress. Overlapping deoxyribonucleic acid program onto control sample via Kadmon conduit #2. Downloading…"
Confused by his seemingly delirious rambling, Virginia regretted yelling at him with a passion and hugged his body closer to hers, hoping that he would come out of his trance soon, so she could apologize to him. Jet's body temperature had increased and he was breathing deeper, teeth gritted in concentration. Something was draining his stamina, and it made him look like he was in some form of pain. Florina returned, but it was not to a heartening scene. Gasping, she got to her knees quickly and bit her lower lip, frightened. "What's wrong with Mister Jet?" She asked worriedly, eyes wide.
About to confess that she had no idea, Virginia was silenced as Jet suddenly calmed down, opened his eyes and sighed, falling forward into her arms. The green glow faded, and he was Jet Enduro once more. Opening his hands and dropping it's contents, the aconite plant slipped between his fingers and laid to rest on the grassy ground, purple petals vibrant in contrast to it's departed brothers. Florina noticed it and uttered a noise of surprise, picking up the healthy young seedling and turning it over in her hands. It was a miracle, only seconds ago it had been lifeless and dead.
Virginia noticed this as well, tilting Jet's chin up so she could speak to him properly. His eyes were a little glazed over and his breathing was erratic, like too much of his energy had gone into the resuscitation of that tiny little plant. "How?" She asked, in the hopes that Jet was alert enough to answer her.
It took a little while for the question to reach Jet's brain, and then a little more time for him to formulate an answer and reply, feeling like he had just run about twenty miles without a break. Expelling a shuddering breath, he smirked and pushed Virginia away, getting up by himself. A little wobbly, he wiped the sweat off his face with the back of a hand and glanced at both girls with deliberation. "You know by now, I remember things I'm not supposed to remember, and I have a good memory when it comes to stuff like that. I know what aconite looks like, an' I know what it's made up of as well, so it's no problem for me to rewrite the plant with the data I already have. There was still a spark of life left inside the dead plant, so I kinda just brought it out and changed it. It's easy when you're an android, see?"
Both girls looked at him with mixed expressions. Florina just seemed to be confused, unaware of Jet's unnatural origins, while Virginia's face flickered into several different feelings consecutively before it finally decided on one, the girl crying out and nearly knocking the breath out of Jet's lungs as he was hugged mercilessly, the boy too shocked to make any physical reaction to her. Virginia cursed into his chest and hit him gently, shaking. "Wh-why didn't you tell me you could do that?" She breathed with emotion, unsure on what to think.
Jet felt his neck beginning to be dampened by her tears, so he patted her on the back comfortingly and shot a glance at Florina, who was carefully inspecting the plant for any explanation on how it was now alive. Pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket, Florina wrapped the seedling up securely and tied it together with a piece of string, knowing that the two drifters now had what they wanted, somehow. She was glad to have helped, even though she didn't really do anything.
The silver-haired boy pried Virginia away and held her at an arm's length, hands planted on either shoulder with both their eyes locking together. He shrugged. "I didn't know," He admitted airily, "But I had a hunch, I tried, and it worked. Hope, eh? Too much is a bad thing, but not enough is also just as bad. Kinda reminds me of gella, actually." He chuckled, but was cut off as he saw Virginia staring at the ground, her eyes uncertain.
Then she looked up, and she was smiling again. "I don't quite know how you managed to do it, Jet, but I'm not about to question a miracle when we need one the most. Thank you." Shrugging his hands off her shoulders, Virginia leant over, grabbed him by his red and white bandanna, and then kissed him softly on the cheek, noticing exactly how much Jet tensed when the contact was made. Lingering there for a few choice moments, she then pulled away and faced Florina, slipping into her usual and much more cheerful disposition.
Going silent, Jet just went into his own little world for the time being, a light red blush spreading from his neck and up to his cheeks. Gradually, a hand travelled up to his cheek and held it weakly, his expression lacking any coherent thought. Truth to tell, Jet had never been kissed by a girl before. It was strangely… nicer than he would have expected. "Nurm…." He murmured incoherently, making no sense whatsoever.
Florina passed Virginia the parcel she had made, adjusting her hat afterwards when her hands were freed. "It looks like Mister Jet just swallowed a fly," She noted with a giggle, "Or maybe something even bigger. Please be careful with that plant, it is very, very rare. I hope your friend gets better soon, tell them that I hope they recover." The girl kicked Jet's pile of dead vegetation, the foliage scattering up in the air like a rain of brown snowflakes. They landed around her, and she laughed. "I am going to work hard so that the next spring will be the most beautiful ever! Then my auntie can be proud of me! I better be getting back to my chores, Virginia, Mister Jet. Goodbye." Waving a little, she descended down the hill and made her way back to the cottage, gratified at the other's happiness.
"Nurm…" Jet slurred.
Virginia waved for a bit, then turned back to Jet, the boy still somewhere in another universe. She seemingly ignored this. Like handling an object made of fine china, the drifter leader placed the parcel in her pocket and smiled, her face beaming. "So, what do you say? How was that for luck?" She placed a finger on her chin, thinking. "Lombardia must have had a nice long rest by now, do you think she'd give us a lift back to Baskar Colony? Oh wait, I just need to free up Stybba and then we can go. What do you think, Jet?"
"Nurm…?"
She waited for a few seconds for a legible answer, but when she received none, Virginia grabbed his wrist and led the boy back down to the cottage, where Florina was feeding a generous amount of dried-out grass to the pure white mare tethered there. Rested, the horse looked up when Virginia uttered her name, and came when she was called, the girl cheerfully releasing the horse until she would be needed at another time. That was the good thing about horses, they were loyal to the very end. Well, Virginia took a moment to reflect upon Arod, almost all of them were.
Leaving his trance and feeling horribly upset over it, Jet called Lombardia and she curtly answered, replying that she would be there within minutes. In Filgaia, dragons were the epitome of efficiency. The two people looked into the blue sky just outside the secret garden, wondering how Gallows was holding up. Actually, only Virginia was thinking about this, Jet had his mind, as well as his eyes set elsewhere.
"…What are you staring at?" Virginia asked when she couldn't hold the question in any longer, the temporarily shapeless form of Lombardia appearing on the horizon. Jet hurriedly looked away, defensively moving into a forced stony façade.
"Uh, nothin'." He lied, turning around and crossing his arms moodily. However, even acting like this, the android just couldn't help but crack an embarrassed smile.