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Special thanks to
Bonar, Celestia's Paladin, crazy reader, Golden Sun Guy 17, Noel the mermaid, TrippyToastersAndABagOfChips , and our new reviewer: templeofdecay for reviewing!
Onwards!
Oh, and there's some explicit language in this chapter
Oh, gods, the pain: Jenna's first thought as she awoke the next morning. Glancing up from… wherever she was, she tried to make out anything through the haze which was her vision. It eventually, eventually being a very long time for the girl suffering from a hangover that threatened to split her head in two, registered that she was lying in her bed. She had absolutely no memory of even entertaining the idea of going to bed last night, so she reasoned that someone must have carried her there.
Sitting up very, very, slowly so as not to anger the beast she had invited into her head, Jenna tried her best to look around the room. Sheba was asleep in her bed, but, judging from the bucket by its side and the ghastly smell that accompanied it, the poor girl had not managed to acquire a good night's sleep. After seeing the bare morning light through the porthole of their room, Jenna decided that it was not worth the effort, nor the pain, to try and get up, so she lay back down, trying to piece together the shattered remnants of the night her mind had.
She did not push herself though, at least not a second time, because that hurt greatly, the very thought of thinking brought pain, so instead she just let the memories return in whatever order they wanted and she tried to fit them into a probable timeframe for the night.
There had been drink, oh she definitely remembered that alright. There were parts of her that greatly regretted that fact, but others that were so glad for it, Jenna didn't know where she stood with her opinion. It was unfair after all to try and judge when suffering from the severe aftermath of what may have been a good thing. It would take time to see. Of course, there was also dancing, music, food, laughter, unfortunate sickness for some, all the generalities usually associated with typical parties.
Isaac… that's right, she had danced with him nearly the entire night. The last dance she remembered was… another slow dance, maybe? Yeah, that sounded right, the first she had been very awake for, but that one she had been very tired. Maybe she had fallen asleep in Isaac's arms. She had danced all night with him, being pulled close to him, and spun around with him in love and passion. She didn't really care if Isaac didn't think of her that way, if maybe she was only his childhood friend, but last night she had felt the love in her heart swell.
Wait, the… oh gods… Ivan and his stupid-ass 'chair'… She… She hadn't actually pounced on Isaac, had she? She didn't kiss him full on in clear sight of all her friends and, worst of all, her brother, had she? Oh no, no-no-no-no-no… What had she done? She had kissed him, ruined their delicate friendship forever! She had always felt their friendship teetered dangerously on that point of great friends and romantic relationships… if Isaac didn't want to cross that point, everything was ruined.
Maybe she could blame it on the drink or the party, maybe she could say it was just a present, find some way to make it so that it never happened or that it didn't mean anything.
Two blazing knives stabbed right into her mind to accompany the two knocks that someone was cruel enough to rap against the door. Groaning in pain, Jenna dragged herself to the door as quickly as possible so that she would not have to suffer anymore. She loathed Sheba who seemed entirely oblivious to any noise. Seriously, her own footsteps hurt to hear… Wait, she was still in her red dress, well, that made sense. If she had been in anything else there would have been hell to pay for whoever was stupid enough to undress her.
Pulling open the door, she came face to stone-face with Felix.
"I need to talk with you." Her brother stated immediately.
Jenna nodded, though she wanted to change or go back to bed to nurse her head, and reluctantly followed him topside. In the common room the crates of drink had gained a new decoration: Garet. The lug was passed out on top of the crates, his limbs draping down onto others. Jenna smiled inwardly, laughing at the man, as Felix guided her outside and to the nose of the ship.
"Last night." He started astutely, but Jenna cut him off.
"I'm gonna go ahead and guess this is because I kissed Isaac last night, right?" She asked, knowing the answer already.
Felix breathed deeply through his nose, "Yes."
Jenna interrupted him, before he dared continue whatever argument, "Before you say anything, I was drunk and it was one kiss on his birthday. It didn't mean anything." She stated, trying to believe the words herself.
"I hope you understand that I'm not allowing it."
That made Jenna angry, she wasn't sure why, but it just didn't sit well with her, "You're not allowing it? Sorry, Felix, but I don't give a damn what you allow or don't. It's my life and I'll do what I want. You don't get to tell me what to do. Not anymore."
Felix was clearly taken aback by that outburst, but his form did not falter, "I'm only trying to care for you as your brother."
"No you're not. You just don't like the idea of Isaac and I together, you never have. Besides, what right do you have to say anything after that thing between you and Mia last night?" Jenna didn't like it when her brother got like this, and she knew how to shake him, how to argue back effectively, "You're such a hypocrite. And don't try playing that brother angle either. You're not my brother anymore. You're our leader. That's it." Jenna still loved her brother, but he wasn't a brother in the sense that he thought, "How many times since you came back have you asked me about those years I was left alone in Vale? None. That's how much you 'care' about me, 'brother'."
"I never asked because I cared. I didn't want to bring back any bad memories. I thought you might not have wanted to remember or talk about it." Felix replied.
"No, I wouldn't have, but when you came back I remembered everything anyway. I would have liked if you had so much as asked me! Even if I didn't want to talk about it!" She blurted out in response, "And, you know what, we're gonna talk about it now."
"Jenna…" Felix tried, but his sister pressed on.
"After I lost you, mom, and dad, I just didn't know what to do! For days I just wandered around Vale, desperately hoping that I might see any of you coming back. I had no idea what to do. Everyone in Vale just looked at me with pity, believing it would have been better if I had died too. I felt so helpless, and scared, and alone. I…" Jenna choked on the words and the memory of her greatest weakness, "I tried to kill myself. I tried to fucking kill myself, Felix! All so I could be with all of you again! And you never even asked how I felt! Am I getting through that thick-ass skull of yours!? That's how much your goddamned 'care' is worth to me! Isaac was the one who saved me. Isaac has always been there for me, always, even when you were still around! He is always the one who has cared for me! So you have no right to say anything remotely brotherly to me anymore or deny Isaac and me anything! Try and earn that back first, or just go to hell."
Jenna made to leave, but Felix placed a hand on her shoulder in the beginning of an attempt to be caring. Jenna spun around, driving her open hand into Felix's face. During the resounding smack that echoed through the cold morning air Jenna stormed away, angrily wiping away the tears, and Felix just turned to the water beneath them, sighing deeply.
Neither of them realised that the entire emotional exchange had been overheard.
Mia yawned wide, fully enjoying the memories of last night. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, allowing the glorious light of a new day to shine onto her bright sapphires, and she smiled, wiping the tiredness from them. She didn't get up, she didn't have any intention to leave the wonderful comfort of her bed. Felix didn't expect anyone up early, not after how wild last night had been, and though neither he nor she had taken to it with as much heart as the others, she knew they would need rest as well. She could enjoy the amazing comfort the Lemurian ship's bed offered until the waking sounds of the others become audibly obvious.
She turned her eyes over to Felix's side of the room, not sure of what to expect. Usually, if she woke early enough, she may find him reading, or meditating, but more often than not he was up and ready to go, to face the dangers every day brought. More often than not she did not see him in the morning, when they could have chances to talk in private without interruptions from the others. After last night, Mia wondered if even she may be awake before him, hoping to see him sleeping, she never did see him sleep. But he was up and gone already.
This surprised her a little, only a little because this was the norm, last night had been rather tiring for all of them, after all. Then again, everything was tiring for their poor leader. Every day was just as tiring as those nights. Every day he had to face so much, it was all on him, and they rarely ever thanked him for everything he did, for helping them survive day after day. Truth was that, if not for Felix, a lot of them would have suffered a lot more, it was thanks to his decisions and his judgement that they had gotten through everything so well, meshed together as a team so perfectly. Mia thought he deserved a lie in just this once, maybe she could convince him to take a rest later.
After all, she thought, fully smiling to herself, she had danced him ragged last night.
After spending no time to change from her nightclothes and just moving out of her room, she began walking to the common room. Mia was slightly freaked out by the absolute silence on the ship. Usually something could always be heard. The Jupiter Adepts laughing together, the sounds often found their way to every corner of the ship, or Jenna scolding someone, usually Isaac or Garet, for the most miniscule of things. Then again, the silence was nice too. Though she swore she may have heard some faint sounds coming from Jenna and Sheba's room, but dismissed it when she remembered just how sick Sheba had been by the time it was called for the party to end. She and Piers had to deal with most of it.
Climbing into the common room, she grimaced at the state it had been left in. Chairs were toppled, bottles and glasses littered the floor, various liquids spilled from several containers into the carpets and the wood, and of course, Garet was unconscious on the crates as everyone had left him last night. She smiled to the man, moving to his side and taking a precarious seat on the edge of the boxes. Placing her delicate hand on his forehead she began working Plys through him so as to ease the pain of the aftermath of all he had consumed last night.
She was very surprised when the man's eyes cracked open slightly. He grinned a little to her, but he didn't move from what had to be an uncomfortable position. She made to question him, but he brought his finger to his mouth, telling her to be quiet.
"Felix and Jenna just had a pretty serious argument." He whispered, his eyes telling the truth of just how serious, "Can't make it seem like I overheard, Jenna went back downstairs. Felix is still out there. If he comes back in pretend I'm still out and you don't know anything."
Mia nodded, "What was it about?" She asked, wondering what they would have to argue about after last night. Then it clicked. Isaac and that kiss.
Garet's expression let slip more than this though, "Not my place to tell. Leave me here, I'll get up when need be." He whispered, giving her a quick wink before he closed his eyes and resumed his unconscious acting.
Mia stood up, looking between the door that Felix was beyond, the stairs Jenna had retreated down, Garet, and the kitchen area. She struggled to decide what to do, normally she would just go outside and let the morning refresh her, but right now that seemed wrong. She corrected that thought, it only seemed wrong because of the knowledge of the argument, if she was to pretend she had to go outside.
Taking a deep breath, and running another Ply through Garet's forehead, she casually pushed open the door to the deck and allowed the saline morning sea air to flow through her body. The scents of salt and fish came in fresh. She stood by the railing, staring out at the sea and the ochre horizon. The sun wasn't long up, only having just become full above the line of the sea, and it spilt all of its colour freely over every surface it could touch. Humming to herself, trying to make it seem as though she knew nothing, her thoughts tried to figure out what else Felix could have been arguing about.
Turning her head from side to side, humming whatever tune last night's musicians had managed to get stuck in her head, she hoped to innocently catch sight of Felix. That way she could try and help him, get him to apologise for or justify whatever he had done to ruin the happy mood of the ship. Indeed, no one actually knew about the argument outside them save for herself and Garet, but that didn't mean it wouldn't somehow manage to get to everyone. Things had a habit of doing that on this ship.
Before long, she saw Felix's slouched form sitting on one of the benches of the deck. She did admit that she had to move herself a little to finally see him, but that didn't matter, "Oh, Felix! Good morning." She chirped happily as she moved over to him taking a seat at his side, "Tired?"
The man let out a long, and understandable sigh, "Yeah… I really am."
Mia's touched his arm softly, care entering her eyes, he didn't often admit to being tired, "What's wrong?" She questioned, so desperately wanting to brush his locks of hair out of the way of his face.
Felix shook his head, leaning back in the bench, the locks of hair falling behind him revealing a bright red handprint on his cheek. Felix had clearly run a cure into it, Mia could tell, but not enough to be rid of it, "Nothing," He replied, still not meeting Mia's gaze, "last night was just rather eventful."
"Yeah, it really was." She smiled in return, trying not to indicate the handprint, "Thanks for dancing with me, by the way. But, why don't you go back to bed and get some rest, hmm? There's no point in leaving this early. No one's up but us so if we get attacked at sea there could be problems, and I don't think we have enough Psynergy to fly the ship safely back to sea. You can rest until everyone else is ready enough to go. It shouldn't be too long. Besides, you really look like you need some time to rest and get some shut-eye. Did you even sleep last night?"
Felix shook his head, "No." Then he said something that surprised her, "But, you're right. I'm exhausted. Tell the others I'll be trying to rest, they can leave whenever they're ready."
Mia blinked twice, sure she had misheard him, but when he stood up and wavered a little she believed him. At his side within a heartbeat, she took some of his weight onto her shoulder, "Here, I'll help you back downstairs. Promise you'll take it easy today, okay?"
He nodded as they made their way through the common room, "I promise."
When they reached their room, Mia lay him down on his bed, telling him to just leave the tunic on and not worry about trying to get it off. Then, after changing in the bathroom herself and suggesting he find some way to plug his ears before he drifted off, Mia smiled to him and whispered a good night before she left him to rest. She placed her back against the door after she closed it, exhaling breath of relief.
Felix actually listened to her advice. That was rather new. Still, she knew it was most likely because of whatever argument he had with Jenna. Smiling a little, she went back to the common room to tidy up and tell Garet it was okay to get up now.
Garet smirked, even though his head was pounding, as he and Mia set about tidying up after last night. Mia was in the process of emptying out the remaining liquids in any container that was lying around, he was doing the same now and then, though he drank the remains rather than poured them down the sink. That probably wasn't the most productive way of facing today or of curing his hangover, but cleaning up was cleaning up.
It wasn't long before the mugs, flagons, steins, tankards and glasses had been emptied and tidied away. As Garet began closing up any crates of drink that remained open, Mia began clambering up onto the ones across from him to take down the decorations he had so painstakingly struggled to put up. He looked up just in time to see one of the boxes wobble as Mia climbed it and darted across the room. He managed to catch her even before she fell, and pushed the box into a sturdier position.
"And I'm supposed to be the one with no balance." He laughed as he made his way back to the crate he had been sealing shut.
Mia giggled a little as she pulled down the ribbons from the walls and roof, "Thanks, Garet. So, do you remember much of last night?"
Garet grinned, he did remember one particular detail, but how could he say it now? Surely he had to drag it out a bit first, "Oh, this and that. Once the dinner ended it kinda goes hazy. I have to apologise to Sheba for dancing, don't I?"
"Oh yeah." Mia laughed, "Oh and me. Thankfully I was smart enough to only dance with you once."
Oh, she just asked for it there, he couldn't let that slide, "So-rry, beautiful. You had me replaced pretty quick anyway, I'm surprised you even remember me after your romantic moment with Felix." A blush flared into existence over the healer's soft face, a blush that rivalled the colour of Garet's own hair, "So, oh darling healer, what was that about?"
"N-nothing!" Mia stammered, trying desperately to believe herself, "I wanted to dance that's all. What do you mean what was it about? It wasn't about anything."
That was far too many words for Garet to believe her… and that hurt. He loved Mia, to think that she might like Felix over him threatened to break his heart. He refused to believe that, hoping he was just taking it all the wrong way. It wasn't unlike Mia to become very embarrassed whenever anyone hinted at her doing something 'relationship-y'… so maybe he was overreacting just as she may be, "Suuuurrreee... and what about when the slow dance ended, huh? You two just stood there staring at each other. Sheba, Ivan and I bet you'd kiss."
"I wouldn't kiss Felix." She argued, mentally saying she had done so once before, "You're reading into this too much."
"Oh, right, of course." Garet mocked, "I should have remembered, you're saving yourself for me. Thanks."
Mia frowned to him, raising a sceptical eyebrow, "Yeah. You believe that, Garet."
Garet began chuckling to himself as they resumed the clean-up operation. He diverted his thoughts away from Mia and his heart and to Jenna. He had forgotten about her attempt so long ago, he assumed Isaac had to. They were the only ones who knew about it. It had taken a long time to calm her down, even longer to bring her back to who she used to be. It was easy to assume everything was okay, that she was better.
He knew it would never be better, nothing was ever perfect. They both knew she always took time each and every day to remember her family, she would never be 'better'. It was easy to forget, or not think about, her attempt. They never mentioned it, or brought up anything like that, around her, themselves or anyone else, but Garet never thought that she may have thought of it every day since her first try.
He would have to tell Isaac. The two of them would have to sit down with her again. He knew they should probably include Felix in that conversation. After all, what kind of friends would they be if they didn't try and rebuild the kinship Jenna and Felix should have?
He sighed when the room was finally clean and fell into a very sticky couch. Speaking of which, he wasn't currently in the cleanest state, nor could he see how his hair stood at the minute. He should probably go and wash, he stank of drink and Sheba's vomit after all. Besides, he should probably wake the others up as well. Felix had been quite vocal about leaving before the party, he must have wanted to leave as early as possible.
Mia told him not to wake Felix as he went downstairs. He smiled and nodded to her, before he eventually stumbled into his room, being greeted by quite the hilarious sight. Ivan was entirely passed out on the floor, and it seemed as though it had happened half way through unchanging. He was missing a boot, his jacket, he had only one arm out of the sleeve of his shirt, and his trousers were falling down around him.
"Ivan!" He roared, after creeping right up to the boy's ear.
He paid for that of course, as Ivan jumped a mile, head-butting Garet right in the nose while his electrical Psynergy was active. The boy bounded back, desperately clutching his skull as he ran his Psynergy through his mind, trying to root out the source of the ungodly torment within.
Garet meanwhile, massaging his nose, laughed at the young boy, "Don't drink if you can't handle the aftermath, boy." He smirked, patting him on the arm as he made his way into their bathroom.
"Shut it." Ivan snarled in response, rocking back and forth as he tried to cure his mind.
"Hmm, angry in the morning, eh?" Garet said from beyond the door, "But you're such a fun and loving drunk… what a conundrum."
Ivan grunted as he steadily crawled up the wall he was against. It almost hurt to move, it seemed the higher he was the more delirious and in pain he was. Still, if he could just get washed or changed, get last night off him, he would be fine. He was sure.
As Garet came back into the room in his boxers, Ivan rushed into the bathroom. Sticking his mouth down by the taps of the sink he let the water rush into his mouth, intent on downing as much of it as he could. Garet was chuckling behind him, holding some towels and another tunic. His hair was a dishevelled mess, resembling a longer red version of Isaac's, though it was much less dashing than his.
"Wake the others will ya?" Garet smiled as Ivan finally felt hydrated and left the bathroom, "Oh, but leave Felix. Mia says he needs to rest or something."
Ivan nodded, as he began to finish his uncompleted changing attempt, "You got it, bro."
"Oh, and leave Jenna alone. She's not feelin' the best. She's in her room, so she and Sheba can be left for now."
Understanding this, but wondering what was wrong, the young Jupiter Adept quickly made his way to Isaac and Piers' room when he was finally finished cleaning himself up. Isaac was half hanging off his bed, his bed sheets tangled around him in a mess of fabric. Piers was being as boring as ever, asleep soundly without any problems.
"Alright, guys!" Ivan announced comically, waking the two occupants of the room, "C'mon get up, world's still in danger! I'm in danger, you're in danger and some guy named Steve is in danger! Let's get to it!"
The two groaned and Ivan ran from the room, thinking of bothering Jenna and Sheba for the fun of it but ultimately decided against it. He greeted Mia as he came to the common room, she being in the process of whipping up a breakfast for the group, and resigned to wait for all the others to join him. Twenty minutes later, all but Sheba, Jenna, and Felix were gathered around the table for breakfast.
By midday they were well out to sea. They had navigated out of the river, that trip made quite short by utilising the Wings, and were steadily flying north towards Prox. The winds were relatively calm, and thankfully flying resulted in no monster attacks. Isaac greatly enjoyed the lack of beasts trying to turn him into their next meal, after all, he didn't quite feel up to having to fight today. He wanted to keep enjoying the euphoric feeling of last night. Of course there was the pain of the aftermath, but it was outshined.
And that was thanks to Jenna.
She had kissed him, entirely. He hadn't been expecting that. At all. That was a real surprise. He really didn't know what to say, or think, when he tried his brain just kind of switched off and all he could remember was the moment. That amazing feeling of her lips pressed firmly into his, her hands pulling him closer, her tongue dancing with his in a joyous revelry of love. He really loved her, more than ever. Still… he had to wonder why she had done that.
He wanted to believe that it was because she felt for him like he did for her, but common sense told him that she had drank quite a bit so her senses probably weren't with her. After all, she hadn't exactly thought the kiss through. She had bounded on top of him, knocking him to the floor, banging his head off it and leaving them in a very uncomfortable position for it. Not that he had noticed at the time of course, nor had he thought that everyone was watching them. He'd have to talk with Felix before he did anything.
"Yo, Isaac." Garet called gently from the railings, gesturing for him to join him.
Isaac smiled broadly as he came to Garet's side, admiring the flapping Wing at the ship's side. The man seemed like he was in pain, not physically though, "Still hung-over? Well, I suppose you did pass out when you were dancing on the crates. It's your own fault really."
Garet chuckled a little, "Yeah, I am a little. But, it's about Jenna."
Isaac stiffened his pose a little. He wasn't sure where this would go after what had happened last night. He wasn't sure what Garet's position with Jenna was, if there was one. What if Garet felt about her the same too? Neither of them would want to stop the other from being with her, they loved each other too much to do that to the other.
"Um… remember the Boulder?" Isaac didn't respond, he let Garet talk. The man swallowed once and pressed on, "Remember how Jenna… how she tried to… you know… not deal with it?"
Whoa… t-this was taking a very unexpected, and unwanted, turn. Isaac really hadn't expected this to be brought up. Ever. They never talked about it. They never wanted to talk about it. They had both considered it better practice to just leave it as a memory and be with Jenna at all times, "Uh… y-yeah. What's brought this up?"
"Felix." Garet answered simply, "He had a talk with her this morning about last night." He made an unnecessary face to get his point across, Isaac hadn't needed that, "Well, Jenna didn't take it well. He said he wouldn't 'allow it' and that he was looking out for her as her brother. Jenna really didn't like that. She exploded, saying that Felix wasn't really a brother anymore, that he didn't really care about her. Apparently Felix never asked how she was after he 'died'. He didn't want to bring back any bad memories. Jenna ended up just telling him everything and it all just came out. Then she stormed away, been in her room since."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier!?" Isaac yelled, drawing Piers' attention, turning to rush to the girl's side.
Garet grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his side, "I wanted to give her time first, you should know that, as far as she's concerned we didn't hear anything. And I wanted to wait until Felix was up, we owe it to them to try and get them back to how they used to be properly."
Isaac sighed, leaning on the railing with his best friend. He had done right, really. They often considered Jenna and Felix's relationship to be back to how it was, because that idea had come along when they were still naïve. They had been taking things at face value lately, so they needed to shape up. Seems Garet was already on his way to doing that. They should wait for Felix, "You did right, man. I say we wake Felix up though."
"Probably best. I thought he'd be up ages ago, because it's him. But, yeah, I'd say that's the best thing to do. Ivan and Sheba can take our shifts up here, it's mostly quiet. Piers could deal with anything anyway." Garet sighed, "C'mon. Hey Piers, we're taking a break, we'll get Ivan and Sheba to watch you."
"Very well." The Lemurian called back, his eyes fixed on the horizon.
Isaac and Garet made their way downstairs, stopping into Garet's room where they found Ivan and Sheba laughing together. Smirking to each other as they left, after getting them to head upstairs, swearing the two were secretly at it, they knocked on Felix's door. The man answered moments later, seeming fully awake and together they made their way to Jenna's room.
Sheba sat perfectly still on the couch, afraid that if she moved the horrible screeching pain she felt when she first woke up would return with a vengeance. Ivan sat beside her, using his Psynergy to try and cure her. She smiled to him, but his eyes were closed in concentration. She so wanted to just lean forward and kiss him, to attack him and not care who saw, she just wanted to have him. She remembered suddenly that Ivan was in her mind and shut herself up immediately.
She looked around the room, careful not to move. Mia was sitting at the table reading a book. The healer looked up and smiled back to the girl. Sheba knew that Mia could most likely have her headache gone in a second, but she wanted to spend more time with Ivan. She knew she had promised that they would spend time apart and try and figure everything out, but it had been a month now. She knew she wanted to be with Ivan… he was still undecided.
Kraden sat across from Mia, doing the very same as she was, granted he had stacks of books and papers. The scholar never seemed to have his nose out of something educational, it seems even after all he had tried to learn throughout his life, he still didn't know enough. Sheba wasn't sure how he did that, she was never really one to care for learning in that sense. Besides, what could those books teach him? All of them were no doubt written by non-Adepts, spouting theory after theory about the lost age, Psynergy, the elements, and Alchemy. Chances are Kraden could learn more from them if Ivan or she ever found a way to manipulate his mind the way they could do with other Adepts so they could exchange knowledge. Non-Adept minds were weird.
She smiled as she looked back at Ivan and moments later his Psynergy faded away, the pain from her head entirely gone. He beamed to her as his eyes opened, revealing their mysterious purple sheen, "Better?" He asked.
She pulled him into a hug to answer, squeezing him once tightly before releasing him, he didn't get a chance to return it, "Much better. Thanks."
"Anytime, always glad to help you out." He smirked, but then it quickly morphed into a rather strange expression, "Umm… actually, could I talk with you for a bit? In private?"
Sheba felt her heart leap into her throat rather quickly. She had just been thinking about him in 'that way'. What if he had found that thought when he was in her mind? What if he wanted to discuss that? Maybe he wanted to say he wanted her too… or maybe that he didn't. She was so afraid and so enthusiastic, in a way, about this conversation. She was unsure though, "Umm, sure… okay." She mumbled as she stood up.
The two of them left the common room, drawing the teasing attention of Mia, and found their way into Ivan's room. Jenna was still in her room, so they couldn't talk there. The poor girl really mustn't have been feeling very well. Ivan had said Garet had told him she wasn't feeling her best. Sheba could sympathise, after last night she doubted anyone was in great form. Plus, she had kissed Isaac, she was probably avoiding everyone to stem the tide of teases she would receive, as well as a talk from Felix. Actually, he was still in his room as well, which was rather strange. Then again, Mia had said he needed his rest, so she didn't question it.
Ivan sat down on his bed, patting beside him to indicate she should do the same. Carefully, taking time not to seem too eager to be on Ivan's bed with him, Sheba eventually brought herself to sit beside him. For a few moments it was relatively quiet, save for the sounds of the sea that came from the porthole, then Ivan let out a slow breath, a very slow breath. Sheba didn't know how to take this. Then Ivan spoke.
"Umm… you really don't know anything about yourself… do you?" He asked awkwardly.
Sheba suddenly felt very strange, that wasn't where she expected this conversation to go. It was true she didn't really know anything about herself. She didn't even know where she was from. Faran, her adoptive father, told her that she had fallen from the sky and that he had found her in a crater after watching her fall from the heavens. She had no parents, no knowledge of where she was from, she was as unsure of who she was as anyone. She always doubted that she fell from the heavens as a baby, but everyone in Lalivero had told her the same as Faran had. She was continuing on the quest with Felix, not just to save the world, but to see if she could find anything about herself.
"Uh… y-yeah…" She answered, fiddling with the bed-sheet behind her.
"This might sound strange, but… you don't need to know where you're from or who your family is. I'm the same." He admitted, "I don't know my parents and I only found out that Master Hama is my sister and that Contigo is my hometown a bit back. It doesn't really change anything, Sheba."
Sheba blinked at those last words. It… it didn't change anything? That couldn't be right, "B-but Ivan-"
"I was adopted too, Sheba. I know how you feel." He stated with an expression that told the whole truth of that matter, "I always wanted to know who I was, where I came from, if there was anyone looking for me. Now I do know, and nothing's changed for me, sure it's nice, but you don't need it. I really hope that you do find your family someday, but it won't change you. You'll still be you. You'll still be Sheba. Remember, we're your family too, all of us."
"I-Ivan I… I j-just-"
"Sheba." Ivan said seriously, "Where you're from, who you're descended from, it doesn't decide who you are. You do. And you've done an excellent job of doing that."
Staring into his eyes, Sheba felt the tears almost forming in hers. All she had longed for her entire life was to discover who she was, where she was from, to find anything about her and now someone almost suffering the same fate as her told her it wouldn't really matter. It hurt, she still longed for it. She couldn't help it. Her entire life she had been different.
She was the only Adept in Lalivero and believed that she was the only one in the world before she saw Ivan use his Psynergy a year ago. She was always given special treatment in Lalivero, the special child who could soften the winds of the sandstorms that sometimes blew through the town. She had only been treated as an equal after being kidnapped by Saturos and Menardi and consequently continuing the quest with Felix.
"Ivan… I-I…" She sniffled and breathed in quickly, almost crying.
Ivan pulled her into a hug, wrapping his small arms around her and tenderly running his hand up and down her back. She almost laughed at this, and she returned it fully, bringing herself even closer to him, so glad he was there. The hug was so caring, loving and soft. Silent tears rolled along her cheeks in a mix of mirth, sadness and regret.
Ivan pulled away and smiled softly, "It's okay, Sheba. I'm sorry. It's just when I was in your head... I kept seeing, well, you just searching for it." He produced a small handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped away the glittering streaks on her cheeks, "I just wanted to help."
"You did, Ivan." She sniffled and smiled gladly, "You did. Thank you."
He put his arm around her and pulled her into a loving embrace. She gladly rested her head into his chest, curling up and pulling Ivan closer to her, glad that he was with her. In time, the sombre mood left them and they began to smile and laugh together. They told the tales of last night to each other, teasing and laughing together, fully enjoying the other's company. Sheba for one was so happy.
Then Isaac and Garet came in, saying that it was their turn on deck. Still smiling as they made their way upstairs, Ivan and Sheba strode confidently onto the deck weapons and laughs in hand.
Felix had no chance of sleeping had he tried. Yes, he was very tired, and after everything he learned he was absolutely exhausted, his mental faculties overloaded by what his sister had revealed. He tried not to think about it, did his best to ignore it all, just to think about something else, but he could not turn his thoughts away from his only sister. He loved his sister, he knew he didn't show it often enough, but he did.
Jenna was a strong girl, or at least he thought she was. She could handle herself easily enough. Hell, she had been defiant toward Saturos and Menardi even, and was not shy about holding her tongue to them or Alex. She had been threatened, she and Kraden, yet she stood up to them unwilling to take any crap from them. As much as Felix may not have particularly liked the conflict between the Master Adepts and his sister, he couldn't help but feel his chest swell with pride as he watched her. She had grown up just fine without him or their parents.
That's what he had thought up until this morning. Maybe she had only become so spirited because of that… incident. Had she not been driven to that maybe she wouldn't be who she was today… had she not been saved she wouldn't even be there today… He could feel a tear or two on his cheeks, but he wasn't bothered wiping them away, he had no right. These tears were for his sister, wiping them away would be like proving he didn't care about her.
Two knocks rapped against his door, accompanied by the voices of his two oldest friends, and though they hadn't been friends in a long time, Felix should have expected this conversation. One of them would have gone to Jenna eventually, and she would have told them, and they would come to kill him. He was fine with that really, after what he had done to his sister he deserved some amount of punishment.
He dragged himself to the door, pulling it open, murmuring a faint 'come in' before returning to sit on his bed. Isaac and Garet followed closely behind him, Isaac remaining standing while Garet sat on Mia's bed.
"We need to talk." Isaac stated sharply, not much care in his tone.
Felix made to answer in the affirmative, but Garet got his words out first, "Isaac, chill. Felix," Garet said, fixing his auburn eyes on him, "I was awake this morning, I heard everything. We haven't gone to see Jenna yet."
Felix didn't answer, he allowed them to say their piece, it wasn't as though he could have said anything to help the situation after all.
"Listen, this… problem… uh, we've tried to just keep it as a memory for the past few years. We never brought it up with her after it, acted like it never happened, never talked about it ourselves after, all we've done is tried our best to make sure she never did it again." Garet said quickly, Felix was rather surprised it wasn't Isaac doing all the talking, "We thought she was over it… you know, as much as anyone can be over something like that."
"You must have brought it all back when you came back from the dead." Isaac said harshly.
"Isaac, relax, it's not his fault, he couldn't have known." Felix found himself somewhat surprised that Garet was defending him and that Isaac was moody… traditionally the roles were reversed.
"It's fine, Garet, he's right." Felix spoke, avoiding both of their eyes, finding a knot in the wooden grain to stare at, "This is my fault, if Jenna had managed to somewhat bury it, I dug it all back up when I came back. I just wished I'd known."
Isaac took a step forward, "Yeah, but what I want to know is why you apparently never asked her how those three years alone were for her. Why didn't you ask her, Felix? Did you just not care? What?"
Felix shook his head, turning to look into the judging blue eyes glaring down on him, "Don't be a fool, Isaac. You already know why I asked her nothing of the past. It was already safe to assume how difficult her life was after I left it. Seeing me may have brought back one too many bad memories, I didn't want to have to put her through the pain of having to relive them by asking her. I just wanted her to know that I was back, and that I cared for her. Every day I asked her how she was, looked out for her, did everything I could to try and rebuild our family."
Isaac's gaze softened some, but not by a whole lot, "You didn't want to put her through the pain, or you didn't want to go though it yourself?"
"Both."
Garet intervened quickly, standing up and placing a hand on Isaac, "Look, man, he did what he could. I bet it was hard for him too, he had to live in Prox for all that time, knowing that Jenna was probably having such a hard time. Cut him some, alright?"
Isaac sighed, relaxing noticeably, "Yeah… alright… sorry, Felix."
"No need."
"Alright, great." Garet replied, glad that seemed to be sorted between the two leaders, "Now, it's all well and good trying to solve this in here amongst ourselves, but I'm willing to bet Jenna's in her room crying or punching something and generally just being a wreck. We need to sort this out with her."
Felix shook his head, disagreeing with that statement, "Not we. Not yet. You two perhaps, but seeing me right now won't help her. It would be better if you two helped her."
"I agree, it probably would be better if we helped her alone, but that would not be better for the two of you. She needs her brother back, Felix." Isaac stated, "It's fine having us, but she needs you back if we're ever going to get past this."
"C'mon." Garet sighed, grabbing Felix beneath the shoulder and lifting him from the bed.
Reluctantly, knowing this would not end well, Felix followed his two friends to where his sister waited.
Jenna sniffled and batted at her eyes for hours. Felix could be such a bastard. Why did he have to make her remember everything today? The day after she had kissed Isaac for the first time? This should have been a great day. This day should have been the most perfect in her entire life, at least in recent memory. No day had much contest to what today should have been in the past five years, that was for sure. Today should have been the day.
Today… she had hoped that today, following the events of last night, she and Isaac might actually be able to bring their friendship past just that. She wanted more with him, so much more. She had loved him for years, but she was always so unsure of how he felt, especially after the Boulder fell. After that, she really couldn't tell if Isaac had feelings for her. He was the kind of guy to either stay a friend rather than exploit someone's feelings of loneliness or enter a reluctant relationship just to keep that person happy. How could Jenna have ever been happy with either of those scenarios? That Boulder ruined so much.
And today should have been the day to fix all of it. But no, Felix, one of the lost to the Boulder, decided that would not happen. He had to remind her just how much that day had changed everything, how it would always haunt every day, no matter how great. After that day nothing could be fixed. Her relationship with her brother was forever destroyed, her emotional stability had been rocked to its very core, all of Vale never ever looked at her the same way again, and all hope for Isaac and her being together was shot down.
She still loved Isaac, she always had. For as long as she could remember she loved her best friend in the whole world. One of her earliest memories was of Isaac and her together playing, laughing. He had been with her through her entire life. She had always pictured them getting married, raising a family together. Yes, it was the perfect dream, but everyone had a perfect dream. Hers was not so unrealistic though, all she wanted was Isaac and a family. Before the Boulder that seemed like such an achievable goal. But how could it be perfect now?
It couldn't be perfect without her parents there with her, or without Isaac's father with him. It couldn't be perfect anymore, the Boulder had completely destroyed her life. That's why she just wanted to end it, what use was a destroyed life? Those had been her thoughts in those moments. Thank the gods Isaac and Garet found her, they showed her lives could be rebuilt, but they could never be the same. Felix just didn't understand everything she had been though. He thought he had it rough in Prox, she had it even worse in Vale, even if Isaac and Garet were always there for her.
"Jenna?" A voice called shortly after a few knocks on the door, "It's Isaac. Garet and Felix are here with me. We know what happened, let us in. We'll sort it out, okay?"
She sniffled, wiping away her tears and went to the door. Isaac and Garet smiled to her, such sweet friendly smiles, as she opened the door. Felix though kept his eyes turned to the ground, his entire face hidden by the hair that fell over it. She allowed Isaac and Garet easy access to the room, smiling to them as best she could. She tried to shut the door in Felix's face, but Isaac had seen that coming and told her to relax.
Isaac and Felix took a seat on Sheba's bed, while Jenna and Garet sat on hers. There was a silence for a moment or two, Garet and Isaac seemed to be communicating with each other, and when they were done Isaac finally spoke.
"Jenna. I, we, hoped that this issue would never come up again." Isaac started very slowly and very carefully, "We know it's difficult. This will be just as hard, nothing's easy anymore, but you and Felix really need to sort things out. Garet and I will try and keep things calm and sort out any details for the two of you, okay?"
"There's nothing to discuss." She stated firmly, glaring daggers at her brother, "He recruited you to get me to say sorry and forgive him, this is done."
"Actually," Garet interjected, placing a hand on Jenna's shoulder as she had made to stand, "I was awake this morning. I heard everything. This was my idea and we had just as hard a time convincing Felix to come here."
"I'm sorry, Jenna." Felix started, looking into his sister's eyes with true remorse.
"Oh, that means a hell of a lot now, Felix." She retorted angrily, "You think one apology will make it all better? You think you can say one word and suddenly I'll forgive you, that I'll forget all the crap I've put up with because of you?"
Felix shook his head, "No, but I am sorry. I never knew it had been so difficult for you. If I had-"
"If you had you would have had to have asked me how it had been!" She cut across angrily, tears welling in her eyes again, "You couldn't have expected me to just come out and tell you! The fact is, you had to get me so pissed at you that I shouted it at you to hopefully get through your skull!"
"I know, but I never thought it would have been that hard. I always thought these two would be there for you. I never thought that thought would ever cross your mind." Felix responded softly, doing his best to get across how truly apologetic he was.
Jenna though, was having none of it, "These two? You're dragging them into it now? You're lucky they were there for me and that they still think you worthy enough to be their friend after all the shit you put them through! We could have been working together from day one, but you had to wait two years before you gave them a single explanation! Isaac and Garet have always been there for me. Unlike you."
Isaac and Garet were looking at each other with some uncertainty. They weren't exactly sure how they planned this to work, but this hadn't quite been it. Both of them made to try and calm down the situation, but their efforts meant nothing when Jenna's mouth opened again.
"You know what the worse thing is, though?" Jenna pressed on, "You're the one who started this. All over some stupid fear about me and Isaac! I kiss Isaac once and you get all high-and-mighty saying that you're not going to allow it! Where the hell do you get off telling me what I can do, or who I can kiss, or what I want? You're not our goddamned parents!"
"I know that!" Felix retorted, tired of this verbal beat-down, "Alright, I get it! I screwed up! It's not like it's the first time! But you're acting like I don't love you, that I don't care about you! I do, Jenna, you're my sister. You might not think I'm much of a brother anymore, and I'm sorry, but I do my best to look after you every day." He sighed deeply to himself, Jenna didn't respond for a second or two so Felix took the chance to press on, "Every day I do something I regret, some decision is made that I know was the wrong one. I made one back in Contigo that I'm regretting… One I regret every day since I came back into your life!"
Isaac and Garet sat back a bit. Shouting matches between Felix and Jenna were awfully reminiscent of Vale, they had often argued. The difference this time is they were both skilled warriors, and the topic at hand was much more serious and delicate than everything they had argued over in Vale put together. Moreover, to see Felix shout nowadays was very rare. He shouted in battles and in places of great noise, but never in situations such as this.
"Oh and what's that huh!? Oh, no, we didn't get that Djinni in a time efficient manner so now we have to hurry or we lose another millimetre off Weyard? Huh, what is it!?" Jenna shouted angrily, standing over him.
Felix jumped from the bed, glaring down at his little sister, "Our parents are alive! So is Isaac's dad! I thought that if you knew you'd be too damned distracted to save the world! All you'd want to know each and every day is how they were! Too afraid to fight in case you got hurt and weren't able to see them! That once we got to Prox you would just want to stay with them rather than go to the Lighthouse! I know it was stupid, but…"
Felix exhaled a very vehement breath, all other occupants of the room entirely shocked. Felix stormed away moments later, having given up on this reconciliation attempt. Garet chased after him, trying to bring the man back to explain. Jenna stood still, her mouth agape. Her hand went to her heart and she fell backwards onto the bed, staring blankly at the space Felix had just occupied. Isaac was doing the very same, neither of them could quite believe what they had just heard.
""Mom… Dad… alive?"" Jenna thought. They were alive? How… but… Jenna's mind went completely blank. All she had was the image of Felix shouting at her and the words continuously repeating in her mind. Her parents were alive. It just… it just didn't seem real.
Isaac swallowed twice, his eyes occasionally blinking. His father… he was alive? His dad, the man he had lost years ago, was still living somewhere? That star he had associated with him had no meaning to him at all? But… but how? It was a miracle enough that Saturos and Menardi had saved Felix. He never dared to hope that Jenna's parents and his father were lucky enough to be saved as well. It just seemed so unlikely.
He blinked again and looked to Jenna. She was staring at nothingness, tears rolling down her cheeks. Isaac was at her side in a heartbeat, cradling her closely as she just continued to be lost to this new knowledge. How was she supposed to even begin to understand this?
Felix slammed his door behind him, punching the wall furiously as he let his emotions break free. He punched it several more times, watching as his vision blurred with tears that fell to the ground. Gods, damn it, this was never supposed to happen! They were supposed to go through Prox, light the Beacon, then return and learn their parents were okay! Why did the world just continuously want to break his family? Had they not suffered enough already?
Garet returned to Jenna and Isaac moments later, having given up on Felix once he heard fists beating into the wall. Noticing the two together, he nodded to Isaac and closed the door for the two of them. He lay against the door as he did. Felix kept that knowledge from his own sister? He understood him keeping it from Isaac, somewhat, but his own sister? That was just cold, heartless. After everything Jenna had been through she deserved the truth more than anyone. Garet was not going to help Felix with this one.
Jenna rocked back and forth in Isaac's arms, still trying to grasp what Felix had told her. Her parents… they were alive. So, she still had her whole family? Then… what if she had killed herself all those years ago? What if Felix had come back to a Vale where she had, and had to tell their parents? Would anyone ever forgive her for that? She had hated that moment of weakness more than any before, but now, it cut so deep into her soul… she just didn't know what to do.
She fell into Isaac's embrace even more, breaking down and just letting everything escape her. How could any of this be real? This should have been happy news, and somehow… somehow it had become so horrible and devastating. What was wrong with the world?
That's the latest chapter.
Dramatic, huh? Poor Jenna.
What did you all think?
I'd love if you left a review and told me.
Until next time,
Your friend and writer,
Droory