She loomed over her grey-haired friend and tried to smile. It seemed smiling had become harder for her to do after the incident ten years ago. She sighed and kneeled down next to the sobbing woman before her, putting a comforting arm around her. She positioned herself comfortably on the bed of her companion, making sure that she didn't feel uncomfortable in her embrace.
In between whimpers and sniffles, the brown eyes of the crying girl traveled their way up to the face of the woman next to her. Not helping one bit, she threw herself onto her friend and continued to cry, her tears wetting the woman's muffler that was placed around her neck for warmth.
"It's alright Clair, he… Died a brave man," replied the red-headed woman as she pushed herself upward. Her friend had pushed her down onto the bed as she hugged her.
"I know Nel, I know," was the reply of the grey-haired girl.
After the woman, referred to as Clair, had fallen asleep after her exhausting afternoon of bawling her eyes out to her friend, the other woman, named Nel, brought the covers up to the woman's neck.
The sun had set and the lights were off, seeing they weren't needed in the day. The woman quietly walked out of the room, as she closed the wooden door slowly. She didn't want to wake her tired friend.
"How is she?" asked another woman walking down the hallway, her voice calm, and her eyes cold, but filled with sadness. Another girl came up from behind her, red eyes to the brink of tears.
"It would be an understatement to say horrible," replied Nel, brushing her red hair behind her ear. She sighed in frustration.
"That bad huh?" asked the woman who had spoken before, the woman next to her, coming out behind her to embrace Nel. She began to whimper, but no tears to wet her already moist clothes.
"It's okay Farleen, you don't have to cry," began Nel, as she rested her hand on the woman's purple hair.
"But he was as good as family to all of us of the Secret Legion! Why did he have to die Nel! Why!" cried Farleen, her companion keeping a straight face, but showing sadness behind her quiet exterior. Nel decided to play copy cat to her subordinate and attempted to keep a straight face after staring at the other woman for a few seconds.
"He was old. Everyone dies Farleen," replied Nel, attempting to soothe her friend, but failing.
"Farleen…" replied the other woman, walking up to both of the women in front of her, putting a hand behind Farleen, her eyes strained, attempting to keep from tearing.
After a few minutes, the woman realized what she had been doing.
"I'm sorry Nel, Tynave, I just had to let it out, you know?" Farleen cried, as she pulled away from her friends arms, noticing that she had placed an uncomfortable aura around them. She attempted to stifle her cries, but Nel smiled painfully, showing that she too was trying hard no to cry.
"Come on Farleen, maybe you should sleep."
"Hey! How's it been going? Haven't seen you since-"
"-Since that incident 10 years ago, huh? It's been that long already?"
"Time flies, yet seems so long, huh Mirage?" replied a blonde man. A smile spread across his face. He looked like he was as hard as a rock, towering over the woman before him. She too, had blonde hair, and her eyes looked up towards him with mixed emotions, but her face as clear as a white board.
"That, Cliff, is an oxymoron," replied another woman as she walked towards them, her green eyes traveling back and forth from figure to figure.
"Hey! Maria! When did you get here?" asked Cliff. His arms stretched wide as if waiting to be embraced the younger woman.
"I got here about five minutes ago. It shouldn't be long before Fayt and Sophia arrive as well," replied the woman as she brushed passed the wide arms of the behemoth standing before her and facing the other woman.
"It's been a long time 'mother'," replied the blue haired woman, blinking once and not blinking again until the other woman replied.
"Please, don't call me mother, it seems… rude," replied the other woman, tugging at a strand of blue hair on the side of the other woman's face.
Before Cliff could say anything, Maria hugged Mirage in a warm embrace. She, of course, was caught off guard.
"I missed you so much Mirage!" cried the woman, her arms tightening around the other woman after every word spoken.
"Please, by all means, I missed you too, but don't kill me," replied the older woman, pushing Maria away from her gently and smiling kindly.
"Sorry, it's just… After ten years you start to miss people," replied the woman sheepishly. Mirage just smiled warmly at the younger girl's reaction.
"You are still such a child…"
"Um, hello? I'm still here," replied the man, grinning brightly. The women were taken out of their moment as they stared at Cliff with a little anger, but smiling, none the less. "And were is my hug?"
"You don't get any. I don't remember ONE good time with you," Maria replied harshly, turning her back on the man as he looked at her in disbelief.
"Hey! Don't give me that! Remember when-" The man began when Mirage out stretched her arm out and clutched his hand.
He looked down at her confused as she just smiled back at him. He was speechless, and Maria was looking at both of them very confused.
"You interrupted our greeting Maria," Mirage replied, breaking the silence with her answer to the question that floated through both people's minds.
"Um, I did?"
"Yep, and I didn't get to greet Cliff at all."
"Now that you mention it, you didn't! That's not nice at all!"
"Hey, I'm with you now aren't I? Haven't you wanted that for a few years? To be with your friends once again?" asked Mirage, looking up at the man's face with a small smile.
He looked down at her. He felt his face start to warm up. She looked too innocent, nothing of what he remembered her by. He remembered her as the woman who beat him in every sparring match they had. He then took the other woman's hand quickly and smiled.
"There, now we're all in this together!"
"Not what I had in mind, but okay," giggled the older woman, holding the younger woman's hand in her own.
"Okay?" replied Maria very confused.
"Hey, I think I see Fayt! Hey Fayt!" yelled Cliff, releasing both women's hands and waving towards a blue headed man in the crowd at the space port.
The man turned towards him and smiled, waving back as a woman along side him peeked around him to see her old friends.
Her features brightened as she waved frantically and happily towards them.
Both walked over towards the group and greeted them all enthusiastically, earning hugs and choke holds.
"I haven't seen you three in ages!" replied the brown-haired woman as she clutched her bag to her side securely, smiling very brightly and happily.
"Yes, it has been a terribly long time," replied Mirage, smiling at the woman next to her.
"How has work been going? Is being a chef AND a symbology professor a really easy job?" Maria asked, interested in how the woman made a living.
"Oh, it's a living nightmare! I have to wake up in the morning and teach students then cook! I don't mind cooking, but teaching is a real drag, but hey, it's a living," replied Sophia, smiling at her companions grateful to her small vacation.
"And how about you Fayt? How had you been holding up?" asked Cliff, nudging the man in the side.
"Well, I've been doing pretty good as a scientist, but I much prefer to just sit back and play some good old video games," replied Fayt, earning a punch from Sophia. He just smiled sheepishly towards her. He knew how much she hated him playing games instead of working. He did that a lot.
"Well, now on to why we're all here. It has come to our attention-"
"Please, Maria, you're not addressing a crew, you're addressing your friends, be more… Casual," Cliff interrupted, not at all impressed by her way of speech.
Maria sighed and glared at her friend, but kept on speaking anyway.
"Well, we received a transmission from Nel through the Inventor's guild that Adray Lasabard has… Passed away," replied Maria, the faces of everyone in the group dropping.
"He was… A good teacher," replied Sophia, having learned her symbology attacks and training from him.
"He was a great team member," Fayt replied, remembering how Adray kicked monster meat in the battle field.
"Well, let's leave the remising for when we get to Elicoor II, they might be more happier to hear it," Cliff interrupted, receiving a kick to the shins by his long-time pal, Mirage.
"Cliff, don't be so insensitive," growled Maria as Cliff rubbed his knee, his face showing signs of pain, Mirage seemed a bit more happier for the remainder of the trip.
"Hey, don't be calling me insensitive! I care about the old man as much as the next guy, but I mean, don't we have a flight to catch? It's about to leave," replied Cliff, and as soon as he said that, as if on queue, the computer announced that their ship would be leaving in five minutes.
"Oh crud! We'll never make it in time!" Fayt jumped, as he looked around to where the announcer had said their ship's port was.
"It's this way!" Maria yelled, motioning towards the B wing and running as fast as she could, as did the rest of the party.
"Oh no! We'll never make it!" gasped Sophia, looking at her wrist watch and noticing that they only had a minute before their trip to Elicoor would leave them.
"Never say never!" cried Cliff, running faster than everyone, but still slow for his and Mirage's standards, seeing the rest of the group wasn't as fast as they.
"That, Cliff, is another oxymoron, and our ship just left," gasped Maria out of breath. She stopped and looked out of a window. The ship they were going to take, disembarking as they saw it enter gravitical warp.
They all looked flabbergasted. Their mouths open wide to the scene in front of them. Their ship had just left, and it wouldn't be back for a day or two.
"W… What the? That did not just happen. Tell me that didn't just happen," gasped Sophia, her hands up to her mouth.
"It didn't happen?" replied a woman as she walked up to the group. Cliff looked at her, eyes wide, then a grin spreading on his features.
"Hello little lady! Who might you be?" replied Cliff, acting as smooth as possible, earning another kick to the shins by Mirage.
The woman giggled, sending a chill down the women's spines as if something Cliff was doing was terribly wrong. That was a familiar giggle….
"Why, it's me! Souffle Rossetti! The leader of the Rossetti troupe!" declared the woman, banging her fist into her veluptous chest that had men walking by stare.
"Peppita! How has it been going!" squealed Sophia in delight. The childish girl that she had met at the hotel resort ten years ago appearing before her in an older and much mature state would make any girl like Sophia squeal. She would have fun talking to her.
"Sophia! Maria! Mirage! How I missed you guys!" replied Souffle, brushing away a few tears that had appeared. It seemed that the impact of the meeting had caused her emotional trauma.
"Um, hello? Men still alive here," replied Cliff, staring at Peppita in disbelief. Who would have known that she would grow up into this beautiful woman? Fayt had to think about video games to stop from staring lower than Peppita's face.
Peppita hugged each woman individually before turning over towards her two other companions. She suddenly locked eyes with Fayt and put her hands up to her face and blushed, moving back and forth as if a tune was playing in her head. This made Fayt and Cliff stare at her more, Cliff receiving another kick to the shins, and Fayt, well, he received a fire ball to the face.
Souffle snapped out of her day dream, remembering the things that had happened between her and Fayt, and blushed, looking at the burning man and the fallen behemoth.
"Sorry guys, just remembering the old days were Fayt and I used to hang around each other," smiled Peppita, earning looks from people passing by, mostly from men, but also jealous looks from women.
"Wow Peppita! You sure grew up into a beautiful woman!" Sophia said, looking Souffle up and down as if she was a model critique.
"Thank you!" smiled Peppita, remembering the days were her and Sophia didn't get along. She thought about that and smiled. She didn't know that they would ever get along.
"So, what do you do for a living Peppita?" asked Maria, looking as curious as ever.
"I still manage the Rossetti troupe! Our spirits haven't gone down! Thanks for being there at our first performance Sophia! It meant a lot for the troupe!" Souffle replied, smiling at Sophia, earning a smile back.
"Is your troupe successful?" asked Mirage, deciding it would be better to get in the conversation instead of taking care of the men who were staring at Souffle; they weren't doing anything wrong… Yet.
"Of course! We've gotten lots of gigs! I can't believe how many people adore me! See Fayt! I told you my autograph would be worth something!" replied Souffle, tossing her bangle up in the air, hitting Fayt straight in the face.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry Fayt!" jumped Sophia, looking at Fayt with concern, his nose bleeding his lip bitten.
"Yeah, I'm okay… Maybe that's punishment," Fayt replied, he was swaying from side to side.
"I think you hit your head there pretty hard…"
"Anyway! Back onto our little problem! How are we going to get onto Elicoor II to mourn Adray's death now! Our ship left!" cried Maria, tugging at her hair in frustration.
"Oh! Is that your problem? No worries then! The Rossetti troupe has earned enough funds to buy a ship! We would gladly take you all there, seeing that is where we were heading," replied Souffle, smiling at her friends around her.
"Really! Thank you Peppita!" Sophia jumped with joy as she took Souffle by the arms and gave her a strong hug.
"Eek! I don't think I'd be able to take you if I died!"
"Sorry!"
"Boobies…"
"Shut it Cliff."
"Ow!"
