LAUGHILY

Emma's breathing was heavy as she swung her feet out of bed.

Tancred had been roused from his sleep by her scream. Ruffling his hair, he peered over the other heads in her direction. Nobody else seemed to have heard.

"Em? What's the matter now?"

Emma drew in her breath sharply. He had said now. He was tired; annoyed that she had so many problems that involved him. Not only was she angry with him for being selfish, incompetent and shallow, she was also guilty. Her conscience was speaking up; she was a burden to all her friends.

"N-Nothing," Emma stuttered, sliding her feet into a pair of cozy faux fur slippers. The warmth of the slippers brought a smile to her lips. Emma crept down the corridor, hoping to find Tracy. She needed to talk.

Instead, she found Reid Rubix. He was not alone.

She decided to remain hidden for the time being. Swallowed by shadows, Emma tiptoed along the hallway, keeping her body pressed discreetly to the wall.

Reid appeared to be with a girl. He was snogging her, Emma realized. She was so upset she couldn't breathe. Fortunately, this prevented Emma from gasping with bemusement and blowing her cover.

How could Reid do this to her? She had considered him to be her knight in shining armor, the prince who would arrive to carry her away on his brilliant white warhorse. And now, his betrayal stung like a stab wound in her heart.

She stole quietly closer, unable to back away and erase the memory. She was not one to rationalize with herself.

"Reid?" she called softly, fighting to keep her voice low. "What are you doing?"

Reid leapt away from the other girl as though he were burned. "Emma!"

"Care to elaborate?" Emma asked coldly, hands on hips. "Or would you like me to dump you here and now?"

"You were cheating on me?" The other girl, a third-former named Liz Thornton, folded her arms across her chest and glared at Reid. He took a step back.

"No—I wasn't cheating on you. And I wasn't cheating on you, either," he hurriedly amended, turning to Emma. "The problem is, I'm endowed."

Emma's angry words caught in her throat. Tancred had been right.

"I absorb other's abilities. If a Child of the Red King comes between spitting distance of me, I'll be able to do exactly what they can. And—and now that your endowment is love, I couldn't help but return it. It was—inevitable, Emma."

Emma couldn't speak. Liz Thornton, who Lysander often spoke scornfully of, wrapped her arms around Reid from behind, smirking spitefully toward Emma.

She backed slowly down the corridor, her eyes locked fixedly on Reid. She took a deep breath and turned into her cabin without a backward glance, ignoring Tancred's question of, "Emma? Where were you?"

The moment Emma returned to the room, she began to repack her bag. She didn't seal the zipper. The noise would have affirmatively awoken Tancred, who would obviously disapprove of her intentions.

She was going to run away.

Run away and hide—forever. From the Bloors, from her friends, and from her endowment. She would never again succumb to love. She would never again succumb to anything less than pure genuine.

"Emma, you can't leave." Reid was still in the hallway when Emma slipped out of Cabin No. 6. "I know I've upset you, and I know you're disappointed. But please don't run away. Rethink your actions—please."

"You don't know what you're asking me to do," Emma said coldly, not meeting his eyes as she sidestepped the blond boy. "You're asking too much."

She was a burden to her friends—just another weight on their shoulders. Nobody could support her for much longer unless she received enough time to pull herself together. She needed the time away from the people she loved to compensate.

"I'm sorry, Reid. Goodbye."

Emma stole away.

Fidelio Gunn shot Olivia a grin from across the table.

Olivia felt a shiver of honey-chocolate warmth course through her body. Her heart was hammering at her chest at an alarming rate, and a thunderous migraine was controlling her mind. But Olivia ignored all these distractions and sent a flirtatious smile in turn.

"I wish Charlie were here," Tancred muttered as he took the seat beside Olivia. "He could fix this."

"Well," Olivia mused, still distracted, "you'll be seeing him later this afternoon. The Captain's already turned the boat around. It'll take nary an hour and we'll be home!"

"That's what I'm afraid of," Tancred murmured, shoving his offered plate of bacon and eggs away.

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked, munching dreamily on her bacon. "What's happened now, Tancred Torsson?"

"Well—it's Emma."

Olivia raised an eyebrow as a signal to continue.

"She's—she's run away. I can't find her anywhere; her luggage is gone. But I'm sure something happened last night. She screamed, and I figured it was a nightmare. So she told me to go back to bed, and I tried. But I couldn't. I noticed her stealing out of the cabin, and was tempted to follow."

"Why didn't you, Doofus?" Olivia shouted, as she smote Tancred's arm. "I don't care if your conscience told you otherwise; it's Emma!"

"I—I just couldn't," Tancred muttered, avoiding Olivia's narrowed eyes. "So I heard a heated discussion outside, and stayed under the covers. I decided I didn't want to hear it. They were having a row, I'll bet, because Emma returned, packed her bag, and left afterward."

"Who was having a row with Emma?" Olivia questioned, leaning in.

Tancred shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

"We were having a row." Olivia and Tancred glanced up, startled. Reid Rubix, his breakfast tray balanced shakily on one hand, was far from occupied. A single glass of orange juice and half a slice of toast acted as his meal. His haggard face betrayed disappointment.

"Emma caught me snogging Liz Thornton," Reid explained. He confided in Olivia and Tancred, sharing the secret of his endowment and how it had worked when Emma fell in love. "If I was by Emma when she fell in love with another guy, such as Lysander, perhaps, I would fall in love with him as well."

"That's creepy," Tancred murmured.

"That's gay," Olivia blurted, loudly enough that her words could be heard from the other end of the table.

"Well, yeah." Reid reddened. "So you see my point. Emma became upset and left. I tried to stop her. She wouldn't listen. She told me I was asking too much when I begged for her to reconsider. She wouldn't listen," he repeated morosely.

"You never liked her at all!" Tancred shouted triumphantly. "You were always there, pretending. I knew you hid something, Reid Rubix!"

Reid merely walked away, but Olivia couldn't miss the expression on his face. Was it loss? Pain? Pity?

"Tancred, Reid couldn't help it." Olivia didn't know exactly why she was siding with the boy who had broken Emma's heart, but all she knew was that she couldn't stand by and let Reid's remorse eat himself up.

Her ruse worked. Reid flashed a grateful smile over his shoulder as he strolled over to Liz Thornton's table.

"We've got to find Emma," Tancred said immediately.

Olivia nodded. "Our number one priority," she agreed resolutely. "Let's begin when we dock back at the city."

Tancred shook his head. "No. I don't care about you, but in an hour and a half, it might be too late. I'm leaving, now."

Olivia's jaw dropped. "You cannot be serious about this. Where would you look?"

"Ingledew's. Or the park. Anywhere Emma Tolly would go for peace. And fortunately, I know her well enough to know where those places are."

Tancred began to saunter away. Olivia caught his arm desperately.

"Tancred, you can't do this!"

Tancred yanked away from her grip. "Watch me."

Emma Tolly was grateful for her wings. She'd been able to pile on three quarters of her clothes and possessions onto her body in order for the bag that she would sling around her bird's neck to be lightweight and buoyant. She could never have swam back to the city with merely her weary arms and frail body.

Now, her bag was practically empty, containing only a thin shirt she had been unable to find room for on herself. She spread her strong, sturdy condor's wings and took flight, soaring above the gaseous clouds so her bag would not be spotted by curious birdwatchers.

She knew exactly where she was headed.

Emma landed neatly on the soft grass behind a park bench. Hidden, Emma transformed into her human self, removing the bag. She could feel the stings and burns on her neck from where the bag's strap had dug into.

She crawled into sight, resuming a casual position on the park bench as she fell under pretense of tying her shoelaces. Passersby didn't give her a second glance, and Emma felt certain that nobody could find her.

She was wrong.

A tap on her shoulder caused her to drop her shoelaces and spin around. Completely caught off-guard, Emma nearly fell off the bench. Teetering on the edge, her eyes widened as recognition dawned.

Why was she staring at Tancred Torsson?

"Tancred?" she frowned.

"Hey, Em," Tancred said, smiling broadly as he took the seat beside her. "Why did you leave?"

"I—" Emma inhaled sharply. "Why did you leave?"

"I stole a lifeboat from the ship," Tancred said, grinning widely. "I wanted to follow you—to make sure you were ... alright."

"I am. I am, now. I just needed a bit of time to myself."

"Don't kid yourself; you've only been here a few seconds," Tancred muttered. "I've been—well, I've been watching."

Emma raised her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry. But I know you're not okay."

"I am. I told you, I just needed several moments to myself."

"That wasn't several moments," Tancred smirked. "That was—what? One."

"Well," Emma said, smiling now, "perhaps I'm feeling better because you're here."

"What?" Taken by surprise, it was Tancred's turn to teeter on the edge of the bench. "Oh, I mean—wait—did you—are you—Emma, I—"

Emma's smile broke into a fully-fledged grin. Her eyes were bright.

"I'm feeling ambitious."

She reached forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. Still grinning, she tipped her forehead to his, finally allowing her smile to diminish until her lips would connect with Tancred's as though they were two puzzle pieces purposely made to fit together. And they did.

She suppressed another smile when she felt Tancred pull her closer. She broke away, happier than ever.

"I really, really like you, Tancred," she murmured, breathless.

"What can I say?" Tancred said, winking. "Ditto."

Emma laughed lightly as he pulled her toward him again.

"How do you feel now?" Tancred asked, following another kiss.

"Like I've just experienced my happily-ever-after," Emma giggled. "But it's more of a—laughily-ever-after."

Tancred mimed a mockingly thoughtful expression. "You know, Em," he said, after a pause, "I should say that you can't run away from your problems. But at the moment, I think running away was the best choice you ever made."

Emma laughed.

Julia Ingledew waltzed happily around the bookshop, helping the customers. She had never felt better.

She couldn't wait for Emma to return. The second her niece returned, the news would break. She could almost see Emma's reaction.

Julia's spirit dwindled. What if Emma became spiteful? Would she become envious, or jealous? She was so used to Julia's pampering, it would be hard to adjust to change and difference. Julia knew the feeling well. From normal, low-class bookseller to the girlfriend of the Children of the Red King's personal consultant, Charlie's Uncle Paton Yewbeam, Julia sometimes felt slightly overwhelmed with all the continuous dilemmas and situations Charlie brought upon her niece.

As Julia ushered the customers outdoors and swapped the sign to read Sorry, we're CLOSED, she noticed a pretty blonde girl straying up the path by the Cathedral. Squinting out the window, she recognized Emma.

"Emma?" Julia opened the door, beckoning to her niece. "Emma! Come!"

Emma came. She darted toward her aunt, embracing her tightly around the waist as hard as she could. Julia felt the air exit her body, but she breathlessly greeted Emma with equal joy.

"Oh my goodness, I just can't believe you're back! Wait until you hear the terrific news."

"What news?" Emma took a tentative step back.

What a darling, Julia thought, she suspects something's wrong.

"No, nothing's wrong," Julia amended quickly. "Paton—I mean, Mr Yewbeam—and I are planning to adopt a boy."

"Is it Billy?" Emma asked hurriedly.

"No, the Bloors would never give us the dear child," Julia apologized. "It's a boy from the adoption agency; he'll be spending much more time here at the bookshop. We figured it's time to buckle up and begin driving in the same car."

"You mean, learn to live together," Emma said suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"Emma, we're adopting!" Julia could hardly contain her excitement.

"I know that's not all," Emma frowned. "Auntie, you can't fool me. Tell me!"

Julia giggled. She extended her hand.

On her fourth finger sparkled a bright ruby, flanked with diamonds and a crystal-studded, pure gold frame. Emma gasped.

"You're engaged?" She flew forward and hugged Julia elatedly. "CONGRATULATIONS!"

Julia laughed. "I've finally found my happily-ever-after, Emma."

Emma shook her head as an image of a blond boy entered her mind. "No ... you've found your laughily-ever-after."

Jacky: Ahw, Julia's getting married. It's always been my dream to create the ultimate wedding/ring for Julia and Paton.

You: Hooray for JuliaxPaton pairing!

Jacky: NOTE - THIS IS STILL INCOMPLETE. I wish you all a Happy New Year, if I don't post again.

Please Review! : )