This chappie is dedicated to Rambie, Fushica, and digiwildfire who gave me excellent reviews. Honorable mentions will be found at the end of this chapter.
Chapter three: Broken
Eva woke up and did her morning "routine" that Rick had secretly taught her, which basically helped her get her senses more alert for the day. First, with eyes still shut, she sniffed the air. It smelled different… like… no, it couldn't be. And yet it was… The air had the scent of… guy. It had a guyish smell. Waking up to a guyish smell was usually a bad thing.
Next, Eva she listened to what was going on around her. She heard a loud snoring. No surprises there, except for the fact that the snoring was coming from right behind her.
Then, Eva focused on each section of her body, one at a time. Her feet: fine. Her legs, also fine. Her hands, of course. Arms, check. Back… fine, but she found she was leaning slightly on a hard-ish surface, but it wasn't hard-hard, like wood. Head, same deal, except there was a feeling like someone's chin on the top. Since she had a sneaking suspicion where she was, she slowly stretched out a hand in a horizontal arc. She felt a… sheet. Eva poked at it, bracing for it to swing like her hammock. It didn't. It felt like a mattress. Like a hard packed cot. Jordan slept on a cot.
Eva was now almost certain. She slowly opened her eyes, and saw her own side of the room. Which was currently across from her. 'That can't be right!' She thought. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Same deal. This was it. She swiveled her eyes to her right and slightly turned her head. She saw Jordan's chest (with a shirt over it, duh) slowly rising and falling with each breath. Then she looked down and saw his arms were gently coiled around her waist. So gently that she hadn't noticed them.
Eva's first impulse was to get away. Then, she realized that Jordan was either protecting her or comforting her from last night or both. Either way, she decided to stay and wait for him to wake up. 'That's gonna take a while', she thought, mentally laughing. There was nothing to do at the moment, except check the time. Which she did.
'Four a.m.! This time of day is getting pretty common around here!' she thought. 'Back to bed!' She looked up at the snoozing Jordan again and chuckled.
"Well, at least you have the right idea!" There was no point in staying up, and besides, Jordan had a nice build, so Eva snuggled in and went back to sleep.
--
7 a.m.
"Molly. Molly. Wake up. It's just a dream!" Jordan shook Eva gently. It seemed more like a nightmare than "just a dream". He had been startled awake by Eva screaming "Nooooooooooo!", and when he tried to wake her up, he used her fake name so that no one else would know her secret. 'What is going on around here?' Jordan wondered.
"Hnnh… no… please… no more… go away…" Eva stirred.
"Molly? It's just me, Jordan. No one else is here." Jordan kept on trying to wake her up.
"No, Jordan… you wouldn't… no, please no! Jordan!" Eva twitched, mumbled something incoherent. Then: "Huh, what? Jordan, is that you?"
'Thank heaven' Jordan thought. "Yeah, I'm here. You gave me quite a scare this time."
"So… you're not… gone?" Eva mumbled weakly. She was still shaking from her dream.
Jordan saw how frail and small she was ('She may be tough on the outside, but against her emotions, she doesn't stand a chance'), and enveloped her in a bear hug. To his eternal surprise, she sort of snuggled up to him, rather than squirming away. They both knew that Eva needed him, now more than before, because her nightmares were returning, and because Don Wei would try to get to her because he knew she was his daughter.
"I guess I woke you up just in time. What was your nightmare, anyway?"
"Well… first, it was my mother's death, over and over (sniffle), then it turned into my dad dropping me off at that horrible boarding school (sniffle), and then…(sniffle) it was a Crog… it… went up to the team...and..." Here, Eva burst into tears.
Jordan was shocked. He had never seen Eva cry before. "What did it… oh." He said, realizing that Eva couldn't tell him because she would just keep on crying. 'I can't believe someone her age could ever dream something as bad as that' he thought. 'Is it just me, or am I thinking like Rick?'
"It was so real… " Eva gradually stopped sniffling. "It was going to get me when you woke me up."
"It's okay, you're safe here." Jordan hugged her (again) reassuringly.
"Thanks, Jordan." Eva said sadly. "I'm a broken person. My mother died when I was five, my dad dumped me in the worst boarding school in the country and now he doesn't even recognize me-well, it used to be that way, anyway-, the gunner of my ship, would you believe it, is my best friend, and now he's my psychiatrist!". she managed to laugh weakly before going on, "Listen, I've been thinking. We've been through a lot together. I watched out for you, and you protected me. Like a sort of guardianship-type thing. I don't want a relationship-I'm not ready and you're too old for me anyhow-I just think we should stick together more. We're basically all we've got."
"Well, that was quite a speech-" Eva cut him off.
"Shh, did you hear that?"
Eva stared intently at the door for a moment, listening, then said, "Don Wei's coming. Let me up." She got off Jordan's lap and sat down next to him.
"Excuse me, but I thought I heard something. Is everything alright?" asked Don Wei.
"Um, well Molly here had a nightmare and I'm just calming her down?" Jordan said, taking the cue.
"Well, alright, but if I find out either of you has done anything to the other-"
"-It's okay, sir. I'm fine, and so is Jordan. I just had a bad dream. Yeesh, since when did you become nice?" Eva assured.
"Good night, I want to see you up bright and early."
"Sir, if it means anything to you, it's seven thirty a.m."
"O-kay. Well, get ready, then. We have a big day ahead of us."
When Don Wei had gone back to his room, Eva said, "That, my friend, was not the old Don Wei. But really, did you do anything-"
"No." Jordan swore. "Not on my life would I do anything to you."
"I'll just have to take your word for it." Eva teased.
"Hey, I don't kid around on those subjects. Please don't." he begged.
"Okay. Wanna wrestle?"
"Sure."
This time, they held back a little, partly because they didn't want to hurt either of them, and partly because they were a little embarrassed (you try wrestling the opposite…um… gender in you pj's). Jordan won this time, pinning Eva by her shoulders. He immediately let her up, though.
"Whew, that was fun. We have to get ready, though I don't know what Don Wei has in store for us today."
"I hope it's not his cooking."
"Yeah, in case that happens, just to let you know, Nourasian food is good."
"How long have you been eating at Aikka's?" Jordan said, raising his eyebrows.
"If I were poisoned, you would know by now. Don't knock it till ya try it."
"Alright, I'll just have to take your word for it." Satisfied, Jordan sat down. "That's not all I'll take… or have already taken!" he rummaged in the space under his mattress and brought out a plain notebook. In big, sketchy letters on the front it said, "Diary/Drawing Notebook".
"Hey! GIVE THAT BACK, JORDAN!"
"No chasing until we get ready."
"Humph." Eva stalked off back to her side of the room behind the curtain and got dressed. "Jordan, are ya done yet?" she called over to him.
"Hee hee-oops!" Jordan said, putting the diary down. "In a minute!" he called back.
"Jordan, there's nothing stopping me from coming out there and-"
"Alright, alright, I'm ready! Jeez."
"Eep! CHASE! CHASECHASECHASECHASE-MUST GET DIARY BACK!"
"Aah!" Jordan ran off with the diary, with Eva hot on his heels.
"JORDAN I SWEAR IF I DON'T GET MY DIARY BACK I'LL-I'LL KIDNAP YOU IN THE ARROW AND MAKE YOU BARF!"
"Ha ha! This is fun!"
"JORDAN THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"
"Look she's turning all pink!"
"OUCH! PINK! IT BUUUURRRRNS! GRR JORDAN I'LL LOCK YOU IN A ROOM WITH DON WEI!"
'Now that would be scary.' He thought to himself.
"I'LL CHOP YOUR MANHOOD OFF AND FEED IT TO THE CROGS, YOU ASSHOLE!"
'Ouch'
"I'LL CUT YOU UP, DEEP FRY YOU AND EAT YOU FOR DINNER INSTEAD OF DON WEI'S WRETCHED GLOP!"
'Ewwww…'
"I'LL CHUCK YOU INTO AN ACID RIVER!"
"We already passed those!"
"No, we didn't. Look for yourself."
"Aug!" he said looking out a window. The acid rivers were still there.
"I'LL… I'LL SET AIKKA ON YOU!"
"Okay, okay, I give! After…" He flipped through the pages. "Done!"
"Jordan, you should know I'm still gonna kill you. And face it I have higher metabolism than you so don't try to run away." Eva snapped as she grabbed her diary away.
"Hey, what's all the commotion?"
"Oh, hi, Stan. Wanna help me kill Jordan?"
"Yay! I'll go get Koji!"
"Aack!" Now almost everyone was chasing Jordan. "Hey Molly, don't kill me-I helped you!"
"Reading my diary doesn't help, Jordan, but this does! Now I get to turn my emotions into energy! Wheeeeeee! Oops, now I'm talking like a psychiatrist!"
…
FIN
Yes, I know, it went on and on. I still hope you like.
Okay, I'm laying down the genres: This fic will be Action/Adventure, Angst/Tragedy, Humor, and Friendship. It's not Romance because I think of Jordan as Eva's big brother. Now for the honorable mentions!
Fushica- You don't know how right you are. Thanks for reviewing both of them! Here are Two Piping Hot Cookies of Your Choice!
Rambie- Wow. I didn't know my meager writing skills could do that. Also, thanks for the review of Wheel of Lyoko. Two Piping Hot Sugar Cookies with Icing for you!
digiwildfire- Thank you for mentioning that about the acid and sulfur that I mixed up. I kind of forgot about it. Thank you for forgiving me, I'll make the changes ASAP. One Piping Hot DoubleChocoFudgeRipple Chocolate Chunk goes out to you!
P.s. I am making a Jordan altar on my computer.
P.p.s. I counted 27 ellipses points in this fic so far.
Woot!
- Virtual Dragon of Oban