Um, yeah. Fire Emblem's eating up all my spare time.. I ****ing hate 26X. Anyone who plays that will know what I mean.
Well, as long as I'm updating, I might as well do reviewer responses. Oo, look! What a lot of them!
warpstarmaster122: Um… yeah. In case you don't know, every story gets cliffhangers one way or another. Unless it's a pure humor fic. Then it gets stupid. And, no. Felix's karma hasn't even begun to show itself yet. Mwehehe.
Joker's Specter: Um, yeah. I did part of the last chapter at two in the morning. I seem to be doing that more often nowadays… Anyway, yeah, glad you liked the old guys. They were a 'spur of the moment thing'.
xT-Zealot: Really? (tears up) I- I'm so happy!
Deadly Butterflys: Uh, yeah. Real off.
NintendoGamer: I'll take it from your review you like the old guys, huh? Thanks! Funny stuff is my specialty! Well, that, and battle scenes, if my reviews in Sands is anything to go by… I wonder how I'd do at straight mushy scenes, though. Hmm…
some one: I'll assume exhalent is excellent, then. Why, why, thank you! Thank you so much! (sniffs) Too kind, really.
Muchiko: Oh, yes, I'll update. And Felix… he's Felix. That's all I'll say.
Lu Xun 88: Another one who likes the old guys?! Maybe I should add more of 'em… And to clarify, Mia is not insane. She's merely madly in love with Ivan. And if any of you think being in love with Ivan is insane, you don't belong in this story.
The 8BTFreek: Yet another one who makes a reference to the old geezers. Maybe I'll become a billionaire if I invest in action figures of those two guys… nah. And, really, what's true love if you don't have to go through a few pitfalls in the way? And get more Windshipping in Against My Friends, will you? Thanks.
Lord Isaac: Well… the Mauler is for continuity purposes. And anyway, they'd be hard pressed to find three people willing to be stuck to each other for the rest of their lives, no?
Jupiter Sprite: Thanks! I really should add more of those old men, if you people like 'em so much… And yes, I'll be kind to him. But don't you think getting to spend the entire night with Sheba isn't good enough? Okay, maybe if he were aware of it…
Well, let's get on with it, then. Chapter ain't gonna write itself.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Thursday
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ungh!" Isaac grunted as he finally managed to secure the bonds surrounding Mia. No easy task, considering his (and her) current state. He had found her wandering about town last night in a dazed state, and had managed to wrestle her back to their home (and ending up in several compromising positions along the way).
Now, the sun had risen, he was tired, grumpy, and he had just finished tying up his wife (even though she didn't seem to realize it anymore) to a chair, with Garet's aid. As he wiped his brow, he stepped back to look at his work.
"Is this really necessary?" Jenna asked as she looked at the still-struggling Mia.
"Unless you want Ivan scared out of maybe fifteen years of his life, yes." Garet replied. Just then, the door opened and Picard stepped in.
"So?" Isaac gestured tiredly to the ropes. "You're the seaman, what do you think?"
Picard put his hand under his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know…" He finally said. "I'm not really into bondage…" A second later, he ducked and rolled to avoid several jets of fire, not to mention a psynergetic sword aimed his way. "Kidding!" He yelled. "Kidding!"
Isaac and Garet finally halted the assaults, glaring at Picard. "The ropes." Isaac motioned.
After inspecting them, Picard straightened out and nodded. "They'll hold."
"And what about these?" Jenna asked cynically as she kicked open a cupboard door. Inside, for all the world to see, was Felix struggling ferociously against the bonds that held him tight.
"Okay, his story?" Picard asked.
"Found him half-conscious near the bottom of one of the cliffs." Jenna said offhandedly. "Decided to bring him back and prevent him from causing anymore trouble."
"Ah." Picard said. "In any case, our latest plan is ready. Who wants to come view it?" With general words of consent, the adepts left the room, leaving behind an extremely angry Felix, and a Mia still pining for her "Ivan-chan".
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sunlight filtered in softly through the window, painting the room in various shades of yellow, orange and gold. Not a sound was heard throughout the entire house.
Sheba stirred, a soft murmuring emanating from her mouth. As she blinked sleepily, she rose to stare sleepily at the rising sun. With a yawn, she stretched lithely and hopped out of the bed. Funny. She had been having the weirdest dream about sleeping in the same bed as Ivan-
"Ummh…"
She froze. Then, very, very slowly, she turned around. Ivan lay, fast asleep, on her bed, to the side. As she watched, he moaned unconsciously and twisted over in the bed, murmuring sleepily to himself.
WHAT was Ivan doing in her bed?! Sheba blinked as she stared, still silent, at Ivan. One part of her brain quickly arrived at a conclusion: Ivan was a pervert who had snuck in at night.
Rational thought, however, quickly won. Ivan wasn't a pervert. She had seen enough of him in their travels to realize that. So… the most likely reason was that he had stumbled in here by accident last night, and, well… this was more or less a desired result.
Okay, first question solved. Second question. How was she to actually remove him from her bed? She wasn't a titan in terms of physical strength, nor was Ivan light as a feather (although, admittedly, he was lighter than most of her friends). She didn't really think conjuring up a magical wind to shift him to the guest room was going to work, either. What then?
As she mentally ran through all the possibilities of extricating her fellow Jupiter Adept from the room, she continued to observe him with one part of her mind. Strange, he'd never seemed quite so vulnerable. Nor did he ever seem so… well, she couldn't find the correct word in her mind.
As she watched, he half-turned in the bed once again, golden hair shining in the morning sun. Shaking her head slightly, she reached down to tuck a loose strand of hair behind his ear.
"Sheba…" She froze. Ivan was talking in his sleep again. As she quickly scooted backwards, Ivan frowned slightly, and turned one last time, before settling back down into a deep sleep.
Sheba raised an eyebrow and sighed. "I suppose I can expect you not to get into any trouble?"
With silence as her only answer, she sighed one more time before leaving the room. Vale was definitely for the weird ones…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ummph!" Fury gritted his teeth as he pulled out another crate of dynamite from the hole he and Cannon had managed to create in the mountainside. This was tiring, backbreaking work, but soon, it would be all worth it. They would create the biggest explosion ever see since the eruption of Mt. Aleph, and the names of Fury and Cannon would go down in history!
Ah, forever to be remembered…
His pleasant daydreams were interrupted by Cannon's head poking out of the hole in the side of the partially-ruined mountain. "Fur?"
"I thought I told you to stop calling me that." Fury grumbled as he hopped down from his vantage point. "What is it?"
"I need some help." Cannon indicated a crate filled with a strange powder. Fury bent over, and with some effort, managed to decipher the rough words sketched onto the crate's side.
Solid KOH2. Do NOT mix with liquid CaSO4.
"Uh?" Fury muttered under his breath.
"So, uh, should we carry it up?"
"Does it explode?"
Cannon grabbed a few grains from the crate and tossed them onto the ground. As he cast a weak Flare, the cavern was illuminated in a sudden blaze of heat and light.
"Yep." He confirmed.
"Carry it up."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ivan emerged from the guest room, rubbing his eyes sleepily. As he stretched and yawned, he noticed Sheba already downstairs, preparing breakfast.
"Oh, you're up earlier than usual." She laughed as she half-turned to look at him. "What'll it be for breakfast, then?"
Ivan managed a half-smile as he slid into a chair. "Uh, if you don't mind, actually, I'll not take breakfast at your house."
That got Sheba's attention. "Why not?" She asked. Then a half-smile appeared on her face, unseen by Ivan. "You mean… you don't like my cooking?" She said, trying to adopt as sad a tone as she possibly could. Damn. How those Mia do it on Isaac?! She makes it look so natural! Regardless, she had apparently got it down well enough, if Ivan's reaction was anything to go by.
The Jupiter Adept had very quickly gone through several facial expressions, most of them generally a variant of 'unhappy'. "I- I, uh- t-that is…" He stammered incoherently.
Sheba managed to hold the stern expression a moment longer before bursting into laughter. "You're so easy to tease, you know that?" She chortled, wiping away tears of mirth from her eyes.
Ivan's eyes narrowed, and he frowned slightly. "Y'know, " He said as lightly as he could. "That wasn't exactly a nice way to use your feminine wiles."
Sheba raised an eyebrow before returning to the steaming pot in front of her. "Well, you can consider it repayment for spending the night in the same bed as me."
"Uh-huh." Ivan muttered sorely to himself. Then the impact of what Sheba just said chose that exact moment to whack him upside the head. "I- wuh –WHAT?!" He sputtered.
"You heard me." Sheba replied evenly as she stirred the porridge in her pot. "You- I'm assuming- accidentally stumbled into my room, assuming that it was the guest room, and thus, went to sleep. Me, suffering from a rather bad headache for the better part of the day, was feeling rather tired and thus did not bother to check if anyone was inhabiting my bed. And that brings us to where we are now." As she said that, she watched Ivan's face go through a rather large and varying range of colours, most of them closely linked to red.
"I- I would never deliberately do that. I- It was a-an accident. Y-you know that, right?" Ivan managed to stutter out, doing a great impression of a man pleading for his life. And as far as Ivan was concerned, he was pleading for his life. If this incident caused Sheba to end up hating him, he might do something drastic. Something as drastic like the time Jenna had initially turned down Garet's marriage proposal.
Well, okay, maybe he wouldn't try to tap dance outside the window with a bucket on his head. He still wanted to protect his (apparently shredded, pulverized, crushed, etc) dignity. But still, getting hated by Sheba (a.k.a. light of his life) would rank right up there with eating spinach. Maybe even worse.
"Well…" Sheba paused just a bit longer than was absolutely necessary. She knew she really shouldn't be behaving like this, but Ivan was just plain fun to tease. Not to mention easy. "Oh, all right." She said, hiding a secret smile. "I'll let it go."
Ivan's next breath came out in a huge sigh of relief. As he leaned back tiredly, he was vaguely aware of Sheba placing a bowl on the table, filled with steaming hot porridge.
"Breakfast?" She asked gamely.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Felix remained absolutely still. They were gone. The traitors.
He thought he could trust them. But no… they had betrayed him. They had all betrayed him. He was alone in this world.
Luckily enough, he had long since learned never to trust anybody. That had been in Prox… after he had been taken there by the late Saturos and Mernadi. They had been kind enough to give him a dog. An… Alsatian. It was well-suited for the freezing weather of the cold north.
But what they didn't know was that the dog… it had betrayed him. It had tried to kill him! Kill Felix! Every night, it would creep into Felix's room, slowly, stealthily, and then… it would… it would stare at him! Always, he could feel it's hot breath on his neck, it's… it's malevolent eyes glinting in the near-darkness. And Saturos and Mernadi had been deaf to his pleas that they remove the wretched thing forever from the household. But he had gotten the better of it! Yes, it had been a sweet day when he had finally turned away the evil, evil dog forever! He had seen it off from the house, tail between it's legs! It was gone! Gone, vanished forever! The canine assassin was no more, and at last he could rest easy in the nights, secure that no one was out to murder him.
Until the cat discovered where Saturos kept his dagger…
But that was irrelevant, Felix reminded himself. Focus. Focus on the task at hand.
Foolish adepts, thinking they could tie him up with ropes?! He had battled the Doom Dragon, he had bested Dullahan, he had defeated the cursed Alsatian, and they sought to tie him up with ropes?! He laughed at the thought!
Felix decided to ignore the fact that he had spent the majority of the Doom Dragon battle unconscious, owing to a well-aimed Cruel Ruin attack. Ditto for the Dullahan fight, and a Formina Sage.
But that's another matter entirely. Focusing deep inwards, Felix created a sphere of Venus Psynergy, which quickly surged into existence, forming into three magnificent swords, the components of the powerful Odyssey spell. That finished, he directed the swords inwards, slicing through the ropes with ease.
However, when one is tied (very securely) to the ropes upon which the spell is cast, the swords don't really bother to make any distinction between ropes and the caster. Felix learnt this particular lesson very quickly. (Albeit painfully)
But this was not enough to deter him. Standing, he cast Potent Cure on himself, before checking to ensure that all his bonds were cut. Satisfied, he threw his arms to the air and laughed.
"FREEEDOM!" He cackled. Then, he rushed out of the door. He would find Sheba before Ivan did… and he would tell her everything. Everything! And then she would fall in love with him and all would be well.
Thud!
"Dang tree root." Felix muttered before picking himself up.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Picard slowly made his way up the craggy mountainside. His latest plan involved injecting several pheromones found in the concentrated sap of the Mad Plant on Sheba. Thus was supposed, apparently, to make the target (Sheba) extremely malleable in terms of suggestions concerning romance and politics. And he had ensured that it was not barbeque sauce
Luckily enough, he reflected, Jenna and Ivan had not been told of this plan, as they would more than likely raise all hell about manipulation, and Ivan would probably want Sheba to fall in love with him naturally anyway. He had his own misgivings about this whole affair, as it was. But Isaac had cheerfully informed him that the effects were only temporary, and had managed to quell, however temporarily, his worries.
Turning, he noticed Isaac signaling frantically. Readying his weapon – a blowpipe, Garet had called it-, he saw Sheba emerging for a brief stroll.
Taking careful aim, he crouched low, ready to fire. Isaac headed over to Sheba, to try to keep her in one place. Ready, aim, fi-
THWACK!
Picard slumped over, and the dart went wide.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Oh, for the love of Venus! I swear, Blitz, you're impossible!"
"What?" The Jupiter djinni argued. "He was close to discovering our position! I had to take the necessary precautions to ensure he doesn't find out about the project!
Ground rolled her eyes before turning over to the unconscious form of the Lemurian. "He wasn't even facing this way! And the crater is a good half-mile upwards! There's no way he could have discovered it!"
"Better safe than sorry." Blitz obstinately replied.
Before Ground could continue, however, Shade hopped down, carrying a bundle of steel rods. "Hey, guy and gal!" She yelled. "Hurry up! That thing ain't gonna build itself, ya'know!" Then she stopped short as she caught sight of her master's unconscious form.
Ground made several discreet nothing-to-do-with-me motions before sauntering away.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Okay, let me get this straight." Breath asked in disbelief. "You're telling me, that because Blitz decided to bean Picard on the head and knock him out, Shade has rallied the Mercury Djinn in a war against the elements of Jupiter for vengeance.?"
"More or less. She calls it the Holy War of Mercurian Vengeance." Gust confirmed unhappily. Hopping over to the edge of the tent they had temporarily set up, he opened one of the flaps, allowing Breath to peer outside. "Observe."
The scene outside was one of chaos. Over a dozen Mercury djinni were hopping around, taking cover in crags, firing blasts of Mercury Psynergy, and getting pelted by lightning rays from the Jupiter Djinni occupying the higher ground. As she watched, she saw a Jupiter Djinni –Gale?- divebomb the group of Mercury Djinni.
"Jupiter is superior!" He cried as he unleashed a windstorm that knocked away a Mercury Djinni trying to sneak up him. Then Shade leaped onto a tall rock.
"Sally, my brethren!" She yelled. "The fall of the noble Lemurian Picard must be avenged!" Creating a shield, she deflected Gale's attacks, before replying with a squirt of water at him.
"Good Jupiter." Breath muttered tiredly. She definitely had not bargained for this. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw several Mars and Venus Djinn doing their best to go about their work as usual, and Fizz trying desperately to halt the war. She wasn't too successful at all, Breath noted.
She would have wept had she possessed the capability.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Enough of this!" The Wise One boomed. "It was bad enough that they desecrated the sacred mountain so, but now… now, they have completely ruined the Mount! They must pay for this!"
"Yeah, yeah…" Alex muttered sardonically as settled down to read a book. Something called "Lord of the Elemental Stars."
"They shall pay for it!" He bellowed again. "And I shall ensure it!" Thus saying, he began to rise to the air.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Fog concentrated, sending a wave of icicles pouring into the ranks of the Jupiter Djinn. Most of the scattered, but Wheeze shot forward instead, knocking him to the ground.
Angrily, Fog climbed to his feet again, before kicking the irritating Jupiter Djinni away. Wheeze quickly rose to the air, and fired a lightning bolt at him.
With a snarl, Fog aimed his next Ice Missile spell straight at the Jupiter Djinni in the sky. "Try this on for size!" He yelled.
Wheeze rolled his eyes. "You know how much you sound like a cheesy comic book villain?" He laughed.
Fog fired off the spell, watching as the icicle projectiles surged through the air. There was no possible way Wheeze could avoid them…
Then he saw Haze, twisting in midair and a smoky cloud covered her entire form, until she fired the cloud straight at Wheeze, covering him completely.
The icicles flew past… smacking the Wise One who had appeared right behind Wheeze right in the eye. With a howl of pain, the Wise One floated back into Mt. Aleph, leaving the dumbstruck Djinn wondering what the heck just happened.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Remember that day when we met again on Jupiter Lighthouse?" Ivan asked, a smile on his face as he recalled the day, so many ages back.
"I recall you lying in a pool of your own blood." Sheba replied, a tiny smile on her face.
"Hey, you try fighting when you're constrained to a pathway that barely leaves you any dodging room." Ivan countered gamely. Then, as an afterthought, he added. 'What did Isaac want anyway?"
"Strangest thing." Sheba shrugged. "He started complimenting me on my dress, even though it's the exact same thing I wear just about everyday. But the longer it went on, the more nervous he seemed to get. After a while, he just excused himself and went off in the general direction of Mt. Aleph."
Ivan nursed his cup of coffee, before taking a sip. Just then, he heard a weak scratching at the door. "Hm? What's that?"
Sheba had already stood up, and walking over to the door, she opened it. "Wha-?" She managed. A weak, mangy dog barely managed to stagger in through the doorway before collapsing on the floor.
"What in- a dog?" Ivan murmured as he hurriedly went to it's side. From the look of things, this was an Alsatian breed, more usually suited to the freezing temperatures of the North. They could handle themselves just fine in this climate, though. Just not without food, which this pitiable creature obviously lacked.
"It looks half-starved, the poor thing." Sheba said affectionately as she stroked it's thick fur. "Ivan, could you get me that packet of meat in the cabinet? And ground it up, if you don't mind." With a nod, Ivan disappeared into the kitchen.
Sheba slowly fondled the dog's fur. From the look of things, it was about five years old in human time, and although it was weak and gasping, it's eyes were alert and intelligent. Grabbing a bowl and her mug of water, she poured it's contents into the bowl, smiling slightly as the dog lapped it up greedily. Just then, Ivan appeared at the kitchen doorway, holding a plate of venision.
As they watched the dog eat it's meal at the speed of a vacuum, Sheba shook her head with amusement. "Seems I've found myself a new pet." She said wryly.
"What are you going to name it?" Ivan asked.
"Shee… I think I can decide that later." She laughed. "Meantime, I think I'll take it out for a walk." She turned to face Ivan with a tiny grin. "Care to join me?"
Let's see, spend some time here in a stuffy house, or go out with the True Love of my life, walking though the paths of Vale, and enjoying her company. Oh, that's a tough one. Ivan thought. "Why not?" He replied.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Felix ran over the slight rise, grinning. Soon, he would be in Sheba's house, and he'd be able to confess that he loved her, vows of agreement be danged. And there was nothing that the stupid shrimp could do about it! Hah!
As he rounded the corner, he caught sight of Sheba. Perfect! He crowed. He was about to increase his speed to meet her, but what he caught sight of next changed his mind very quickly.
Ivan was right beside Sheba, a slightly goofy smile on his face. He was also, damningly enough, holding hands with Sheba, as they strolled the streets, seemingly oblivious to anything else. That, however, was not what made Felix halt in terror.
It was… it was… it was the… the d- d- d…
The Alsatian pricked it's ears up as it caught sight of a vaguely familiar scent. Glancing around, it quickly pinpointed the source, and started after it in a slow easy lope.
Which was enough to send Felix screaming as he ran away like the hounds of Hades were after him.
Sheba stared at the fast-retreating figure of Felix with a fair amount of bewilderment. "What's his damage?" She asked. Ivan merely shrugged.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Okay, battle over?" Breath snapped. "Good. Fine lot you are. I'm sure your masters will be just ecstatict to know that you started blasting the snot out of each other over the knocking out of a single Mercury Adept. Thank the Elements the Venus and Mars Djinn had more sense than you. Now, if you want to have any hope whatsoever of completing the project before the deadline, I suggest you hop to it. NOW!" Her last shout was enough for every djinn in the vicinity to scramble for the crater, fumbling over their various tasks.
Breath sighed. "Behind schedule, a dysfunctional crew, and Scorch accidentally burnt the plans. At this rate, we'll need a miracle to finish this…" Shaking her head, she started after the others.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She held my hand. Ivan lay in the silence of the night, still staring at the hand which had grasped Sheba's own for the better part of the afternoon.
I am in such a state of complete and utter joy right now that if I actually manage to get to sleep, it will be a total miracle. Ivan noted as he lay on his bed. As he lay in the dark, heart aglow, he could almost still smell her scent.
His thoughts were interrupted by the soft padding of feet in the hallway. Sitting up, he saw that the dog had entered his room. "What's the matter?" He asked it sleepily. In response, the dog hopped onto his bed.
"Well," Ivan laughed with good humor. "You're no Sheba, but you'll do, I suppose." The Alsatian merely glanced at him before settling down into a deep sleep.
"I suppose I should follow your example, then." Ivan chuckled softly to the dark. Talking to myself again? Well, I guess that doesn't change the fact that Sheba held my hand, and I am so totally blown away by this I can't even begin to express the utter joy I feel because she HELD MY HAND and wow, I think it's still warm and it fitted into my palm so nicely and all… With these mental ramblings stored away for the moment, Ivan allowed himself one more sigh before cast Sleep on himself, slipping into darkness, and sweet thoughts of Sheba in his dreams.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Two more chapters to go! And the biggest hurdle yet presents itself tomorrow! Or, maybe it doesn't. Just wait for an update. Ha.
And let me tell you, this chapter did not want to get written. The second section of this, you might say. The whole waking up scene. But, I'm done, it's here, so enjoy.
Till next time!