Chapter 36: Shining Armour
A/N: Another super late upload. This one was almost a whole goddamn month.
... I think I'm gonna have to cave in finally. There's a lot of stuff happening right now that's worrying me too much for me to want to write often, and causing me to be busy. And it's only going to get worse... probably permanently.
Juggling two stories at once like this just isn't going to work anymore, I won't have the mental stamina nor the time to do it. I know that's a stark contrast to what I said last chapter, but that's just how it is.
Again, I won't be abandoning the story completely, but... well, upload rate might be more like once every two months. Atrocious, I know. I don't wanna have to do this, but life's forcing my hand.
Sorry...
Well... either way, I hope you enjoy.
Neither of us moved for a good long time. I think we'd found our new favourite pasttime.
I, however, found myself worrying about her again. Not about some evil god trying to possess her or whatever the hell is going on with that, but just her physical state.
How is she going to get around her own home without putting any strain on her wound? Like, it's literally built on cliffs!
I decided to voice my concern to her. Her response was, to no one's surprise, confusing, if not worrying.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Markus. I... hehe... I have my ways."
I ask her what she means by that, to which she promptly ignores.
Sigh.
Well, whatever. Guess I'll just have to trust her, even as peculiar as that response was.
I'd gladly help if she needed it, though, and I'm sure her people would too-wait-
... I just realized something.
How are they even gonna react to the news that we're a thing now?
Well I'm sure they'd either be happy or simply not care, but part of me feels like at least a few of them would be weirded out by that? Someone's gonna hate it, though.
What a weird thing to have to worry about.
I decided to tell her about this as well.
She smiled and closes her eyes.
"Oh, that's funny you should mention that, Markus," She sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"It's a funny story... the nomads, they've always wanted me to find a lover. Aaaaalways. For centuries I've had people I knew approaching me and saying 'Zena, you're so nice and pretty, you deserve to find someone to love like everyone else!'. Or whatever else," She narrated.
Wow. That sounds obnoxious.
"... Really?" I asked, completely baffled at the prospect, "That must've gotten annoying quickly."
"Not annoying, really, but exhausting, yes. I knew they had a point, but I simply didn't feel it was worth it. I didn't really think I needed romance in my life. Now, I wasn't necessarily against finding a soulmate, but I had bigger things to worry about at the time, like protecting my people from a deranged interdimensional god."
...
"Well... that makes me wonder," I muttered, not wanting to discuss what she just said, "Did any of the nomads try to... heh... woo you?"
She sighed.
"Countless times, yes. Every time I'd kindly tell them that I wasn't interested in romance. It still happens to this day," She explained, "I wanted to make it clear for a long time to come that I would never really be interested in romance. It's funny how fast that turned around."
She then looked at me with curious eyes.
"Although I have to wonder, why'd you bring this up?"
"I'm just curious how you think your people will react to the news that we're together now," I explained, "I feel certain that at least someone isn't gonna be happy about it."
She adopted a thoughtful expression.
"I don't think most of them would really care that much, Markus," She replied, "Yes, it's almost guaranteed someone won't take the news well for whatever reason, but almost all of them would either not care, or be happy. And they know better than to judge anyway if they don't like it."
"Well... yeah, but I just wanted to be sure," I muttered.
"I know."
There was a knock on the door, and this time I stood up before Zena could throw me off.
A cat I hadn't seen before walked in, their outfit telling me they were some sort of nurse.
"Hello, Zena!" They greeted happily with a feminine voice, "How are you doing today?"
"Ah, I'm doing well, thank you," She replied, "I'll be leaving tomorrow!"
"Oh, fantastic! The doctor told me you were doing much better, so I thought, instead of me bringing you a tray of hospital food-we all know how bad that is-why don't I help you get walking again so you can go down to one of the diners?" They explained.
"That's a wonderful idea!" Zena agreed.
The nurse then looked at me.
"And you must be Markus?" They asked.
"Yeah, that's me," I replied, "Did she talk about me?"
"Oh, all the time," The nurse giggled, "With the way she talked about you, though, I half expected you to be wearing medieval armour and carrying a sword."
The implications of what the nurse was saying was clear.
"Funny," I muttered.
They both giggled.
"Maybe your knight in shining armour can help you, too," The nurse said, now talking to Zena.
Zena slowly sat up and scooted towards the edge of the bed.
"I don't think I'll really need-"
What is she-
As she was talking, she stepped down from the bed and attempted to stand, but her legs couldn't support her and she tumbled forward-
Right into my arms.
She appeared very bewildered, then smiled.
"My knight in shining armour indeed," She stated.
"You need to be more careful," I warned her, "It's been a little while since you last walked."
"Yes... I-I think I'm fine now, though," She said, slowly pushing me away.
I released my arms from her but kept my hands firmly locked around her wrists in case she fell again. To my relief, she was correct.
I released my grip and stayed beside her as she took a first step forward. Her leg buckled and I immediately felt an arm wrap around my neck which threatened to take me down with her. But I was strong enough to stay upright, and neither of us fell.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Oh I'm fine... this is just a little... weird," She said.
"Take it easy," I told her. She nodded.
Slowly, she began to start walking again, this time using me for support. After a few minutes of that, she let go and started trying to walk again on her own. This time, it worked.
"Huh," The nurse said, who was silent through the whole thing, "That was faster than I expected. Good job, both of you! My work here is done."
Zena smiled and watched as the nurse ran out of the room.
She then looked back at me with a big grin.
"You must be eager to get out of this room finally, huh?" I guessed.
"More than you think," She replied.
"I guess let's get going, then?"
"Absolutely."
I walked over to the door and opened it, motioning for her to go first.
"Ladies first."
She shook her head with a chuckle and went through.
"You're so silly."
I smirked and exited the room as well, closing the door behind me, and we began to walk side by side.
It was a pretty silent walk back to the hospital's main entrance, I imagine Zena was just busy revelling in finally seeing something other than the same four walls, floor, and ceiling for the first time in what must've felt like an eternity for her.
It's a little bit peculiar how a woman as old as her wouldn't have a nigh-infinite level of patience, but I guess that's just a part of her charm.
Anyway, we kept walking until we found the dining area in the hospital. Cool. It also had a skylight, which was neat.
There was a sandwich shop, a coffee shop called Sunbucks (I kid you not), and a couple random fast food places.
I asked Zena where she'd like to go. She chose the sandwich shop. I paid for her sandwich as well as my own.
We sat down at a table and unwrapped our sandwiches, but I felt Zena looking at me intensely.
"... Yes?" I said.
"This wasn't exactly what I was expecting for a first date, but I suppose it works," She said with a hint of smugness.
I snorted.
"I wouldn't even call this a date, just 'cause of how improvised this all is," I responded.
"Then why don't you show me a real date?" She asked, resting her head on her hands.
"Of course I will... when we have the time to," I muttered, "Might be a while."
"Well, if you're going to make me wait, then you'd better absolutely stun me when the time comes," She warned, "Or I won't be a very happy gal."
I chuckled nervously. What did I get myself into?
"Yeah... I will."
The rest of our meal was spent with occasional smalltalk. The sandwich was... meh. About what you'd expect from a plastic-wrapped, store-bought sandwich.
Once we'd finished though, I noticed it looked a little warmer in here.
I looked up at the skylight, and noticed the sky painted orange. The sun was setting-
The sun was setting? Already?
Did we really spend that much time together? Did I accidentally discover how to time travel? What?
"Huh..." I muttered.
"The sun's setting already..." Zena sighed.
"Well, that just means we're closer to tomorrow. And you'll be out of here," I said, "Well... I understand why Hailey was late now."
I could practically feel Zena's smirk.
"Hypocrite," She teased.
I let out a groan. I really was.
"Well, I guess I'll have to get going. If Hailey got back before I did, she's not going to let me hear the end of it. And for good reason," I mused as I stood up.
Zena stood up as well and gave me a really warm smile.
"Thank you for spending the whole day with me, Markus. It really means a lot to me."
I felt my face heat up and looked down. Why can I not handle appreciation or compliments at all?
"Don't... uh... don't mention it," I said, "I had a great time."
She gave me a quick hug, which I returned.
"See you tomorrow," I said.
"Tomorrow..." She muttered, "I can't wait."
I broke away from the hug and began to walk toward the exit, waving toward Zena the whole time.
Once I got outside, I took a deep breath. What an amazing day.
I took out the Time Pieced and beamed myself back up to the ship.
When I got back, the first thing I saw was purple and yellow.
I looked down and saw a very annoyed Hailey standing there with her arms crossed.
"So, it's perfectly okay for you to stay as long as you want, but when I stay as long as I want, you get upset over it?" She deadpanned.
"We kinda... fell into a trance, I guess. Nothing else seemed to exist aside from the two of us, and I guess while we were like that, I guess a lot of time passed," I explained, "I fully understand now. She makes time fly by at lightspeed, it'd catch anyone off guard. So, I won't hold last night against you at all."
She smiled and let out a sigh.
"Thankyou."
I picked her up in my arms and exited the storage room, beginning to walk back to the main hub.
"I hope you know that I'm always going to try my best to be a good father figure. I never said I knew how to be one, but I'm just doing what I can. Sometimes I screw up."
She nuzzled into me.
"I know..." She said sleepily, "I'll always be happy to call you my dad."
Such an angel...
How did I get so lucky?
I shook the thought out of my head before I could let it wander, as I walked into her bedroom and began to tuck her in.
I decided not to tell her yet that Zena would be released tomorrow. The reason for this was simple: if I did, she'd be too excited to sleep.
I'd tell her in the morning.
"I never asked you..." Hailey muttered, "How was your day with her?"
A large smile wormed its way onto my face.
"Absolutely amazing," I replied, ruffling her hair lightly, "I really have to thank you for noticing what was going on between us. You best bet I'm gonna buy you a bunch of candy and other junk food or whatever for that."
She smiled.
"You two really were meant for each other. I mean, I'm a kid, so I know I wouldn't exactly know much about love and whatever, but even I know that you two are just perfect. What's the thing they say...? Oh yeah, you complete eachother," She mumbled.
"I guess we do," I agreed, "And you'll be getting to see a lot more of her."
She closed her eyes as she smiled from ear to ear.
"I want her to be my mom," She said as she drifted off to sleep.
Well... there it is. She said it. Just as I thought.
Zena was going to love this.
A relaxed sigh escaped my lungs as I exited the room and meandered my way to the attic and plopped down into my bed.
What a great day, we did so much. And now we have a plan for-
Oh. Am I gonna have another dream of that thing?
I frowned. Maybe, maybe not.
But like it even mattered.
I've been through hell and high water, there's nothing that could scare me now, not even a dark eldritch god (especially considering there was a good chance it wasn't even real.)
I closed my eyes and took another deep breath as my consciousness began to fade.
I whispered one thing before I fell asleep:
"Bring it on."
A/N: I feel like these last few chapters have been focusing on Zena a little bit too much. That's something I plan to fix sometime in the next few chapters. Markus and Hailey still have recording and contracts to do.
I don't really know when the next chapter will come out again. I said 2 months, and that seems the most likely, but basically I'm just going to work on this only when I feel like it.
Or when such an unreal amount of time passes that I decide I have to work on it whether I want to or not. Which would equate to about 2-3 months.
I'm really sad that this is happening. This series was/is possibly my greatest passion project of my whole life, having to distance myself from it truly is sad. I have so many plans for this, too! So many freaking plans!
But at this rate it'll be two freaking years before any of those come to fruition. Or they may never even come to fruition at all if things get really bad.
But that's the pessimistic outlook. There's still a chance everything will get better and I'll be able to make chapters at a consistent rate again, maybe even back to my old normal once every 1-2 week upload schedule instead of 2-4 weeks or 1-3 months. But I don't know.
Just remember. Keep it in the back of your brain at all times that I'll never forget about this story, never abandon it, never nothing. Because it's in the back of my brain at all times.
There will always be a next chapter. It's just a dice roll as to how long it'll take.
So, with all that said, onto the one review.
Pizzatime6969XD (I still can't get over that name): Yeah. That's the plan now. I need a real break from this. So I'm finally going to take one for real. Thank you for the support, it makes me feel better about doing this.
Well, that's everything. I'll see you all next chapter... whenever that is.
Take care.
