I am really sorry if it took me few months to update my story. Basically, I am working now on a graveyard shift so I find it hard to drabble on the next chapters due to lack of sleep and fatigue. But I'll do my best to update as soon as I can.
We had a bit of a view of what Serah, Snow and Hope has been currently doing and now let's take a look on what's up with Noel and Yeul on this brand new ( quite short) chapter.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome!
Enjoy reading the two new chapters of A New Journey Begins!
A Place to Protect...
"That's 500 gils all in all." The young man with the black hair wearing a dark blue shirt, tattered jeans and muddy boots kindly said after carrying the crates of goods inside the orphanage.
"Thank you very much for delivering the produce here every week, Mr. Kreiss. At our age, it is really hard for us to go downtown to buy the stock of food for our kids." The woman with the long black hair and black dress said with a smile.
He chuckled. "Just call me Noel, Mrs. Kramer. Actually I always thought of that whenever I harvest these vegetables. I worry about your safety. It's not that safe anymore to travel that far so I thought of delivering these to you regularly to avoid you the hassle. If you would like to buy groceries, I can also grab them for you. I always deliver at the town market anyway so that would be much practical. I really wanted to save you the trouble of traveling that long." Noel replied while arranging the baskets of veggies and fruits in his old jeep.
"You don't know how much I appreciate it. Thank you, my dear." She bowed her head gently in gratitude.
"No worries, Matron." He smiled. "How's your husband anyway? Is he now okay?" He asked.
Edea looked back at the huge old stone house behind her. "He's doing better every day. He always go for a walk at the shore in the morning to exercise his legs with his walking stick guiding him."
"That is good to hear. I hope everything's doing well with the children." He stared up at the big house and at the kids happily playing at the front yard which the woman replied with the kindest smile.
"At the gods grace everything's doing perfect." She said.
Noel nodded and bid his farewell. "Well, I should be going now. Yeul will start to worry if I fail to be back on time."
"Please give my greetings to your beautiful wife. Take care on your way home. Drive safely." Edea waved at him, still smiling.
"I will. Goodbye! Till next week!" He nodded, waved and left.
He looked at the wide fields as he travel through the Centra plains. He saw the herds of sheep and cow grazing at the fields and then looked at the clear blue sky. "Weather's nice." He complimented and he exhaled the fresh air deeply and inhaled soundly. This place is beyond beauty. Way more peaceful than the world that we grew up in. The people living here like Matron are really kind and warm. This is a world where anyone will be so afraid of losing. I know we will.
And he instantly thought about his friends. I wonder how's everyone doing? He thought. All I know is Fang and Vanille wander the forests near the Shumi Village up north. Serah and Snow is doing ok at Winhill. Sazh's at the Fisherman's Horizon with his son Dajh. Hope's chasing his dream at Balamb. And Claire? I haven't talked to her for a long time already. I wonder how's she doing in Esthar these days? I think I should give her a call. He contemplated as he pulled his old modeled phone and dialed. The phone rang in his ears and he waited for the woman to answer.
"Huh? She didn't picked up. Hm. Maybe she's , what's new?" He resigned and laughed as he thought of her being irritated while having a hard time finishing multiple tasks in just a single day. He returned the mobile phone in his pocket as he held the steering wheel in his two hands and continued his way home.
"Yeul, I'm home!" Noel peeked at the door through the living room as he searched for his wife at their simple house. "Where is she?" He wondered as he decided to go to their small kitchen and looked for the blue haired seeress.
He moved his head from left to right and still he didn't find her. "She's not here either." He starts to worry. He thought of exiting at their backdoor from the kitchen leading to the backyard and scanned the fields and there she is, he can barely see the pale skinned young woman tending the plants and quite far from their house.
Noel hurriedly ran through the towering leaves and bountiful plants until he reached his wife. "What are you doing outside? It's getting dark now. What if monsters suddenly attack you?" He said, looking around alarmingly.
"Don't be scared. I'm with Bruce here." She looked at the male Great Dane playing in the mud not quite from her. Bruce might be a large breed of dog, but he's a damn bloody coward.
Noel sighed. "Fine. But we need to go inside now. That's enough work for today. You need to rest." He laid his hands on his wife's shoulders and gently pushed her to the direction of their house. The huge dog barked and ran past them and stopped just inside the door and waited for them while wagging his tail.
Yeul gently laughed. "I'm sorry I was too preoccupied with taking care of the field, I forgot to cook for our dinner." She looked sideways at her husband behind her.
"That's fine. Just sit on the couch, take a nap or watch TV and relax. Dinner's on me." He winked.
"Are you sure? You've been out the whole day delivering. You must be tired already. YOU need to rest."
He shook his head. "I've got my energy back now that I see you." She blushed at what she heard and smiled. They entered the kitchen and Noel went to the counter. "Go now. I'll start cooking." But Yeul remained standing at the door, clearly agitated as she looked outside.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
She looked at him and smiled weakly. "Nothing."
He approached his wife and cupped her face. "You okay? Are you feeling sick? Tell me."
The seeress mildly shook her head and looked at him worryingly. "It's just… This whole thing. Living in this world..."
"You know the feeling of having so much happiness in your heart like everything's almost perfect and you are very contented with the things that's going on. I have a foreboding feeling. I somehow do feel like everything has a price. I sense that something… something terrible is about to happen. One night, I even dreamt of this world being drowned in chaos. I saw the suffering. I heard the cries of agony like they're all real. The pain... Death… Noel, I'm scared."
He paused at what he just heard. And moved to hug and console his wife. "No. That will never happen. Whatever we left in our world, it's all over. This is the new world that is promised to us. And we have Claire to thank for for the rest of our lives. She saved us and brought us here. No gods can hurt us anymore. Nothing. They are all long gone." He comforted his wife. But deep inside of him, he can't help but worry at his wife's revelation. Could it be that Yeul can still foresee the things that is about to come? The gift of the seeress? A premonition?
No. He protested to himself. But if it is true, I won't let anyone or anything harm us again, let alone this world. We will fight to protect everyone. That is a pact that we've made together. I will protect Yeul with all my life.
That is a promise that I made to myself…
And to Caius.