The Silent Fool
AN: Thanks for the review, liament! (I'm sure I spelled that wrong...) It's good to know that someone thought I was getting a nice start.
AN: Okay, people! This is the MEAT of the story! (And a long meat, too.) Garet will lament and angst till his hair falls out!!! Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Requiem
Garet's POV
"Hi Garet," said Picard with a cheery wave, "Care to join Isaac and I in the great hunt for fire wood?"
Isaac laughed. "We'll need your "fire power" to get them!"
Garet laughed too, deep tone ringing in fake jolly, "Haha! No thanks, guys. I need a little time alone."
It's nice to know that they'd care enough to invite me with them... But still..."Oh? With who, Garet," teased Sheba, "With... Jenna!"
Ivan and Mia immediately cracked up in near tears, but Jenna was not amused. "What?? Never! Not in a billion years!"
"Oh, relax, Jenna! The whole world will fly on rocks before you two could get together! Besides, we all know that you'd never leave Isaac!"
Isaac and Jenna both turned tomato red at the comment. Maybe I should leave...Among the gentle teasing at the star-crossed lovers, Garet slipped off to find his own place to settle, with his well-known fake smile plastered on his face like dried glue. Felix was the only one to notice that he was gone.
Garet found himself at a small clearing in the forest, small enough that only the tiniest hints of sunshine beamed down to reflect in a small, clear puddle of a pond, apparently untouched by the darkness created by the over-crowded trees.
It suited Garet's mood perfectly.
Slowly, inch by inch, the fake smile peeled off, the happy glint in his eyes faded to reveal Garet as a shell of who he once was. He kneeled on his dark trousers, disregarding the dirt and mud for a better look in his reflection. The happiness once there gave up to hollowness and left his face dark, troubled, and angry. He stared at his reflection for a moment more as he began to reflect on himself, in the quiet, eerie silence of the gloomy forest.
Life is harsh and unfair to all of us,
Be you a poor peasant or hero of the world,
And no matter what you do, time will rust
And leave you as no more than a shadow of what you once was.
Despite all the cheers of the crowds,
Screaming at the top of their lungs as we appear in Tolbi,
No one even bothers to glance at me.
Many of them see me as the brute and Isaac as the commander of an army,
A soldier and his general, a pirate and his captain.
Everyone looks at the "hero" of the group, Isaac the Invincible.
Despite the fact that we are a team, Isaac gets the credit of all our feats.
Don't get me wrong, Isaac DOES try to disregard this,
But he's so quiet that people just run right past it.
Even so, a few handfuls of people cheer for the "underdogs".
Ivan and Sheba are practically the gods of the younger teens,
Mia and Picard are the healing idols of many men and women,
And Jenna, of course, gets the second place of glory as the love interest,
And the adoration of men and admiration of girls everywhere.
And what recognition do I get?
None.
Nada. Zip. Nothing. Zilch.
Why?
I'm the brute. I'm the buff dude with the pointy hair.
I've even heard of people who want me kicked off the team.
Like you could be kicked off!
Apparently, my presence is "dirtying" the almighty, holy light of the others.
I'm a piece of trash in paradise, a peasant in the circle of nobility,
A smudge of dirt on their boots.
They don't even know half of the things I did for the team.
Who beat Saturous and Menardi when the Isaac, Ivan, and Mia went down?
I did.
Who cut down so many monsters with a broadsword that the sword has a red tint to it?
I did!
And who constantly has to live in the shadows of his "betters" because of the public?
I do!
Of course, as such is the case of this never- ending chaos called our lives,
It doesn't end there.
Maybe its because I'm a klutz,
Or because I'm the strongest.
Maybe it's because of the media's ideas of us.
I'm even seen on my OWN GROUP as a clown!
I'm a klutz and some guy who eats all their food,
I'm a dude with no purpose and does nothing,
I cause trouble and I'm an idiotic moron!
Guess what world?
I'm a FOOL!
That's right, a fool!
Shall I dance for you all while singing a song?
Shall I parade with a grin on my face while hiding my humiliation?
"Dear gods, he knows how to say humiliation!
But he's the fool!
He can't even spell that!"
A fool I am, and a fool I remain.
God forbid that I do something grand,
Which would only mean dumb luck.
God forbid I save Isaac,
It would be a fluke.
Hah.
And in the stories, you know how they say the hero gets the girl?
Apparently, I'm no hero because I'm right here with no girls around.
No, of course not.
The hero is Isaac, and he gets the girl.
Of course, as it must be a fate created by the gods,
He took the one girl I might have actually loved.
This would be Jenna. You heard it from her yourself:
"What?? Never! Not in a billion years!"
Oh, that hit deep, Jenna. Real deep.
But you know what's the worst part?
She loves him too!
She does! I saw them kissing by accident myself!
I got yelled at and scorned by her,
But I kept up the façade of happiness.
Why?
If I didn't, Isaac would worry about me.
We just can't have the leader get worried, could we?
Even worse, he'd ask what's wrong. What would I say?
"Oh, you just took the one girl I might love and she hates my guts."
Yeah, that would have ended well. The media would even scorn me again.
Grr. Stupid media.
Hold on a second, what was that?
Maybe she teases me but loves me?
Pfft. Don't get your hopes up.
If she DID love you,
Why would she choose Isaac?
If she did love you,
Then why hasn't she said ONE NICE THING TO ME?
After I traveled all over Weyward to save her butt!
I spent that day watching Jenna adore Isaac,
Ignoring my sorrow and agony of unrequited love.
I wasn't the hero. I don't deserve love.
That why Jenna and I have drifted apart.
She probably doesn't notice,
Since she's too busy eyeballing her "dear hero" while I lie in the dust.
Isaac better know how lucky he is.
The only one who knows of this is Felix,
Although I'm sure Sheba is starting to pick up on it.
Picard is trying hard to be my friend too, but that's out of sympathy.
I made Felix promise not to tell.
I couldn't stand to break their "perfect little relationship"
Or my best friend's heart.
Or, even if she locked the door on me and left me in the rain,
Jenna's either.
Who am I to say they don't deserve their happiness?
I AM just a fool.
But one day, Jenna will realize that I DO have feelings,
Especially concerning her.
People WILL realize that I have a part in this tale,
Despite my clumsiness and strength.
One day, people will realize that I'm no toy,
No one to play with or wrap around your finger.
One day...
Why not start today?
Felix POV
Felix was setting up the camp of the large party when he heard Jenna turn Garet down heartlessly, although without knowing how badly that got to Garet: "What?? Never! Not in a billion years!" He turned around to look at Garet's expression as they joke about the relationship. Garet made a brave face, but the experienced Felix saw his heart smash into even smaller pieces than the glass slivers he had left.
His sister might have gone too far, even if unwillingly. If only she knew...
He waited for the heart-broken man to leave the group before giving his usual stare at his teammates, especially on Jenna.
"Stop fooling around and get back to work. We need to get the camp ready."
Isaac shot him a look of gratitude, obviously not knowing why he really stopped the embarrassment, but his girlfriend was only a few steps closer. She returned his look with a look of her own.
What's up with you?Felix gave her a quick, although stern glare before returning to setting up the camp tents.
Jenna POV
What was THAT about, thought Jenna, What did I do wrong?
Sheba was trying to pair me up with-
Oh.
THAT.
Maybe I was a little harsh on him. But he's changed since Vale. Of course, he's older and more... spiky-haired, but it's like he changed. Of course I was glad to see him, but after the reunion...
Oh. I never DID show my gratitude, did I?
Well, Isaac is the leader so he saved me... Right?
Besides, ever since the reunion, he seemed to distance himself, even more after Isaac and I started going out...
Oh no.
Could Garet actually LIKE me?
No way! That spiky-haired buff boy only cares about food... But maybe that changed too... Felix DID comment before on how Garet always puts up with my constant teasing because we're like family...
Right?
Jenna straightened up from the labor of getting the pans out of the bag. She looked around from her new height to find Garet, but didn't see him anywhere.
"Where did he go off to?"
"He went into the woods. Why?" Felix stood up and stretched after the arduous task of nailing in the tents to the ground.
"No reason. Just... curious. I never noticed him leave the group before."
Felix muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like: Probably because you're too busy drooling over Isaac. Jenna glared at him.
"What was that?"
"Nothing that you'd care about. He'll be back soon... And Jenna?"
"Yeah?"
"Stop being so mean to him. He IS Isaac's best friend." Felix moved away a couple of feet to attack another challenge: Starting a fire without magic.
What if he DID say that I was too busy drooling over Isaac? What is THAT supposed to mean? Am I missing something here?!
Shaking out these impossible questions out of her head, she went over to her brother and stared the fire, using Flume.
Jenna found herself staring at the fire late that night staring into the red- orange flames that danced and leapt into the sky with a passion she never saw before in anything else.
Sheba and Ivan were the first to retire, being the youngest and using most of their energy today, and then Mia went after healing the party of some wounds from random monster attacks. Picard left soon after that with Felix to play a few card games before they took watch and Isaac tried to stay up with the fire witch, but she sent him to bed after fighting all day.
So Jenna was alone with her thoughts, staring into a fire of her own creation, when she heard the unmistakable footfalls of boots. Garet's boots.
She scrambled up and almost stared at the Garet before her. His face was in shadows, not caused by the night, and his eyes dark and emotionless. He sat down at the fire, sitting not quite next to her but not far enough to look back at her through the flames. Jenna nervously licked her lips.
"Garet..."
"Hmm?" He answered, not quite unkindly but not with a lot of enthusiasm. It was like hearing Felix when he was hiding behind the mask... Monotonous.
"I'm... I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't mean to sound so harsh, but... You and me? Together? They must have been high on mushrooms." Normally, this would have gotten at least a grin from Garet, or even a laugh, but he didn't so much as look up from the fire.
"Yeah. Impossible." He moved to get up, towering over Jenna, but not moving his gaze from the flames. "You can go now. I got the watch."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Jenna paused halfway to her tent. "Garet?"
"Yeah?" Another emotionless answer.
"Is something wrong? Is there anything you'd like to tell me or Isaac?"
"... No. Just go to bed, I'm fine." He sat back down again, carefully averting her gaze with the flames.
Why did he pause, Jenna wondered as she reached her tent, What happened to the Garet I once knew?
Poor, poor Jenna. Just a wee bit slow when it comes to these things. Oh well. In the next chapter, we'll be seeing how the rest of the party notes this new Garet!
READ AND REVIEW!!
Dragon Scales 13
