Chapter 19: A Strange Place
A/N: Ello again. Sorry about the even longer wait this time, I took a break to just relax and play some games. Cause sometimes all you need is to just be able to forget about things and just do what you wanna do, y'know? And having no idea what to do for this chapter kinda compounded the urge to do that. Such is life, I guess.
In fact, from here on out these later uploads might become more and more common as I have less and less planned out for the story. Yikes. Oh and the fact that I'll be juggling two stories here soon again, which I haven't done in over a year... and it'll be across two different websites... it ain't gonna be fun. I'll do my best. (God, I say that so much it might as well be my motto at this point)
But anyways... enjoy the chapter.
A few hours passed, as the kid-no, Hailey appreciated being back in her spaceship again.
... It was gonna take some getting used to calling her by name. It almost felt unnatural.
Well, not that I was complaining. It'd probably be weird for her, too.
Anyways, I just sat in the main hub as she did whatever she liked. I didn't wanna get in her way, after all.
After all that, the kid walked into the main hub and sat down next to me.
"What now?" I asked.
"We should probably go let everyone know that I'm okay, right?" She suggested.
"Hmm, that would probably be smart, yes," I chuckled.
"And I can tell them that you adopted me!" She exclaimed.
"And that too," I agreed, "I'm sure they'd love to hear your name."
"You still haven't even called me it yet!" She pouted.
I raised my hands in defense.
"Hey, we've hardly talked since I named you, cause you've been zoomin' around all over the place!" I countered.
She adopted an unamused expression.
I couldn't help but smirk, as by now I knew what this meant: she knew I was right and didn't want to admit it.
"Let's just go to Alpine Skyline," She grumbled.
"Come on, now," I said, "It's not like I'm never gonna use your name. That'd be silly."
"Yeah, I know..." She muttered, "But I just wanna hear what it's like to be called by name!"
"Patience is a virtue, Hailey," I replied with a grin.
She whipped around to look at me with a surprised look on her face, before slowly grinning from ear to ear.
"You happy now?" I asked.
"I guess so," She replied, "Let's go!"
She pulled me to my feet abruptly and dragged me to the Engine Room.
Yep... she was definitely feeling better.
After navigating through the room and peering through the telescope, we were down at Alpine Skyline.
I took a deep breath. Ever since I conquered my fear of heights, this place was slowly growing on me more and more. Not to mention that we have a friend here, now.
"I guess you wanna go find Zena, huh?" I guessed.
Hailey nodded eagerly.
"Well..." I said, smiling.
I then picked her up and sat her on my shoulders, earning a yelp of surprise from her, then a giggle.
"Let's get moving, then," I said, "Lead the way!"
She laughed as we began to move. She'd point to where she wanted to go, and I'd walk over there.
After a few minutes of searching around the village, a nomad came up to us.
"Hello!" They greeted, "You two are probably looking for the chief, right?"
"Mhm," I said, "Any idea where she might be?"
"She went off to the Twilight Bell last night, and she still hasn't come back," They explained.
I frowned. That didn't sound good.
"I take it this doesn't happen often?" I asked.
"Ehhh..." The nomad said, "She'll often go meditate or pray at the Twilight Bell for a few hours, but not a whole night."
Nope... that didn't sound good at all. Maybe it was my sheer pessimism, but Murphy's Law hadn't really failed me before.
"Well, kid? You up for round two with the bell?" I asked.
"I have a name, y'know," She said, "And heck yeah! We can't risk her being in danger."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," I agreed, "Let's move."
She hopped down, and we bolted for the green zipline.
Unfortunately, we'd have to go the long way again, because with how long it'd take to go up to the ship, align the telescope to the bell, and then even hope it works as we've never tried it before... with our luck, it'd take longer.
But we'd already done it before, so it didn't take long at all to get to the bell.
We were stopped by a familiar voice.
"Ah, we meet again."
We turned to see the Badge Seller standing there.
"Oh, hello," I greeted, "Been awhile."
"Quite," The merchant agreed, "Must say, you two put on quite the spectacle back in that castle."
"You saw that?" I asked, "You weren't even there!"
"Ah, my friend, I most definitely was," He responded, "You should know by now that I work in very mysterious ways."
I crossed my arms.
"Good point," I muttered, "Anyway, as much as we'd love to stay and chat, we have a missing friend to look for."
Even through his mask, I knew he grinned at that.
"But of course," He said, "You are looking for Zena, yes? She's a friend of mine as well."
Of course she was.
"I watched her disappear through the bell last night. An odd time, I must say," He said.
"Any idea where she would be?" I asked.
"I believe she often meditates at a place near where your Time Piece landed," He answered, "However, she might act different while she is there."
"Different how?" I asked.
"I do not know," He said, "Sometimes she acts fine, sometimes she just acts... off. It may be related to her past, it may be related to the realm, it may be both, it may be neither. I simply do not know."
That combined with the information we already had made me extremely worried.
The kid hooked onto the clapper and rang the bell three times, and everything went green.
She'd be safe, she knew this place like the back of her hand.
... Right?
The green cleared, and we found ourselves in the other world for a second time.
"Well, let's get moving," I said.
We began the trek across the Twilight Bell, again.
It was the same trek as the first time, nothing new.
Until we took the zipline to the end and landed.
"Do you see that?" Hailey asked.
"What?" I responded.
She pointed over to another zipline.
"Was that there before?" I asked.
"It could've been," She answered, "We were focused on the Time Piece, remember?"
"True..." I muttered, "Well, let's go see where it takes us."
We latched onto it and took off.
It went far... really far... very far.
We were sailing through void for minutes.
Until, finally, out of the darkness emerged what seemed to be a large, shallow stone basin, about the same size across as the Twilight Bell, full of water, aqueducts spilling into it from seemingly every direction and water spilling over the edges into the abyss.
And I made out a familiar, unmoving shape in the center.
We landed on a dry aqueduct and stopped.
"I saw her," I said, "She's here."
"Why would she be here? What even is this place?" Hailey asked.
"I have no idea. I'm sure she'd love to tell us, though," I said, "Let's go talk to her."
We walked over to the edge of the basin.
"How deep is this?" She asked.
"Let me find out," I said.
I sat down at the edge of the water and cringed as the cold embrace of the water hit.
I then slowly leaned into the water and felt around with my feet for any solid ground to stand on. Fortunately, it wasn't too deep.
I dropped down into the water, and it only came up to my knees.
Seeing this, she dropped down into the water as well, hissing at the sudden change in temperature.
"Let's go," She grumbled.
We trudged through the water to the center of the basi-hold on...
I took a double take.
Zena was knelt down on the water. Not in the water, on the water. Defying any logical explanation.
Her head was down, and she was facing away from us, so I couldn't tell if she was even conscious.
When we got to the center, I walked in front of her and looked at her.
Her eyes were closed, and she had no expression on her face.
Not to mention, she wasn't moving at all. She was like a statue.
"Hello?" I greeted.
No response.
"Zena?" I tried again. Nothing.
What the hell...?
"I don't like this," Hailey said, climbing up onto my shoulder, "This is way too creepy."
"I'll try one more thing to snap her out of this," I said.
I then proceeded to let out a loud, high pitched whistle. If that wouldn't wake her up...
It worked.
She yelled in surprise and splashed down into the water.
She got up with the most shocked expression I'd ever seen.
"Uh... are you alright?" I asked.
She smiled and let out a small laugh.
"Oh... I'm fine! I'm just... really surprised," She said.
I let out a sigh of relief, and I heard my daughter do the same.
"Um... if I might ask, what are you doing here?" She asked uncomfortably, "I thought only I knew about this place..."
"We were looking for you," I said.
A look of realization hit her.
"Oh! I didn't even see you up there!" She laughed, looking at Hailey, "I guess you're feeling better?"
"Yep!" She shouted happily.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Zena exclaimed, "I'm so glad, I couldn't bear to see you like that."
"Let's get out of this frigid water before talking, please," I suggested.
Zena smiled.
"Oh, it's not that bad... but yes, that would probably be smart," She chuckled.
So, we made our way back to the zipline, cold, yet relieved.
We sat down and looked at the construct in front of us.
"So... what were you even doing here? What is this place?" I asked.
"This? I don't really know how to explain it... it's very special," She said, "It's basically a place of prayer, but it's also way more than that."
"So you were praying?" Hailey asked, "To who?"
"The ancestors," Zena replied.
"Who are they?" I asked, "Like, the literal ancestors of your people?"
"Well... yes, but no... it's very hard to explain to people who aren't already very familiar with our culture," She stuttered, "Some are literally the ancestors of the people, others are something else."
"Fair enough," I muttered, "What were you praying for?"
She took a deep breath.
"Well... it's actually quite funny... I was praying for her well-being," She said, looking over at Hailey, "That she would get well soon."
"Well, I guess it worked," I said, "Didn't it, Hailey?"
She grinned and nodded.
A grin also spread across my face as I watched Zena become very confused.
"... I think you have some explaining to do as well!" She exclaimed, "Your name is Hailey?"
"Mhm!" Hailey exclaimed.
"How did this come about?" Zena asked.
"Well..." I said as I stood up and picked up Hailey in my arms, "I'll let her explain."
"I told him a lot about me while I was sick," She explained, "I didn't have a name on my old world, that's why I was so shy about it."
"Oh..." Zena said, "Then... where did the name come from?"
I grinned.
"I named her..." I said proudly, "because I adopted her."
Zena audibly gasped, covering her mouth with her hands in shock.
"You... you... adopted her?" She asked.
"Yep. She's officially my daughter now," I said.
She went still for a few seconds...
... before suddenly sprinting forth and catching us both in a tight hug.
It completely caught me off guard, leaving me scrambling for an answer to what the peck to do.
I didn't have to scramble for long, as she quickly pulled away with an embarrassed look on her face.
"Haha... sorry about that..." She said, "It's just... I always hoped that you would be her father figure. From the day we first met, I already saw it in both of you... it would've been perfect," She said, "And now it's actually happened. I'm just so happy for you two..."
I looked away and scratched my head, a smile growing on my face.
"Well... thank you," I muttered awkwardly, unsure of what more to say, "Can't believe you actually saw this happening from the beginning, though. Was it really that obvious?"
"Um... yeah," Hailey piped in, "I'd been beginning to see you as my dad long before I told you."
"How long?" I asked.
"I dunno..." She said, "Since, uh... the cruise...? It happened slowly, so I can't really tell."
"Huh..." I muttered, "Well, now I feel dumb."
They both laughed.
"Well, everyone fails to see the obvious once in a while," Zena said, "Better late than never, yes?"
"True," I replied.
Y'know, I really was glad we met Zena. Hailey loved her, I enjoyed talking with her, and she was just generally fun to be around. And through her, we get a special insight on the fascinating culture of the people who lived here. I just hoped I'd be able to return the favour to her one day.
However, unfortunately that day wouldn't be today.
"Well, I'd love to stay and talk, but we should probably get going," I said, "We have places to be... none of our other friends know about me adopting her yet, we have to go tell them."
She seemed a bit surprised.
"So... you came to tell me first?" She asked.
Oh.
"Uh... yeah, we did," I said, "It was her idea."
Zena's face lit up like the sun.
"Wow... I don't even know what to say..." She said, "Well, I won't keep you any longer, but... thank you."
Hailey hopped down, ran over to her, and hugged her.
"Thank you!" She said, "For just being awesome."
Zena went still, clearly unsure of how to respond.
She adopted a timid smile and knelt down, returning the hug.
It was possibly the most heartwarming scene I've ever seen. It was just too adorable.
"You two... you're the most amazing people I've ever met," She said.
Hailey then looked over her shoulder toward me.
"Come on, join us!" She invited.
Zena laughed and looked at me.
I wasn't too sure about that one.
"Uh... no thanks," I declined.
"Come on, now," Zena teased, "You're enough of a man to dance with a woman through the night but not enough to hug her?"
I felt the heat rush to my face immediately, and I heard them both laughing.
"Th-that's two completely different things!" I shouted.
"Then do it for me?" Hailey begged, "Please?"
They both gave me that look... you know... that look someone uses when they really want something from you that you just can't bear to say no to.
I sighed.
"Ffffine," I muttered.
I didn't even get a chance to do anything before they both ran over to me and caught me in their group hug. Good grief.
With no other way out, I sighed and returned the hug.
"I have a feeling that, at this rate, I'm going to be getting gray hair before I turn thirty," I muttered.
They both giggled.
Well... as much as I hated to admit it, it was nice. Really nice.
After some time, we all pulled away.
"We should probably get going..." I said, "After all, we should probably tell our other friends what we told you, right? Seems pretty important."
She chuckled.
"Mmm, that would probably be for the best," She said, "I should probably return to my people soon, anyway. If you can, tell them I'll be back soon, I don't know how long I've been gone."
"Will do," I said, "Let's go, Hailey."
We waved goodbye and left through the zipline.
After a short trip back to the bell and finding ourselves back in Alpine Skyline, we would've returned to the ship, but we had one thing to do first.
Instead, we returned to the village and told the nomad we'd talked to earlier that Zena was fine and that she'd be back soon. They were very grateful.
Then, we finally returned to the ship.
Well, that certainly took longer than I expected it to. Well, I didn't really know what I was expecting, but... of all the things I could've been expecting... I definitely wasn't expecting that.
Either way, because of that, I had a feeling the others would have some surprises in store as well. What those would entail? I had absolutely no idea!
Well, I'd be finding out soon enough, as Hailey was immediately dragging me through the Engine Room off to the next place.
It seems I'd have to get used to her sheer energy level again!
A/N: Well, there's that. Sorry if I worried you that something bad was going to happen to Zena, hehe.
... Also, I have a feeling, just a slight expectation that a certain someone is gonna have a field day with this chapter.
I had a little change of plans: I'm gonna try to write a chapter for each area here before beginning the next arc... which, if you've been paying attention, you might know what it is.
Because there's nothing like some fun times with friends! And, to be honest... I still have to think about what exactly I'm going to do for the next story arc, so this gives me some time that I need. Maaaaybe I should've planned this story out more before I began...? Eh.
Well, time for reviews! There's three this time.
Xenuro: For your first review, yeah, I get it. Glad it wasn't disappointing. And an assassin, you say? I'd certainly hope not. As for your second review: maaaaybe? We have things planned, but they're vague. We don't know exactly what we're gonna do, or at least I don't. Maybe ask the others what they think?
Snow Blizzard: Well, it's not an addiction if it's good to have. Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for the reviews.
Well, that's all for this chapter, folks. Next up, our favourite protagonists drive our favourite purple noodle even further up the wall than they already have. See you then.
