A/N: OK! Don't freak out, but I wrote a LEMON. As in, a lemon, lemon. As in, Raine and Sheena get down and dirty. AS IN THEY HAVE SEX AND I WROTE IT! Omg. I'm the only one freaking out here, aren't I? I don't know what's gotten into me. I swore I never would ever write one but...
I feel like such a skank now ;.;
I think I'll put it up on Adult Fanfiction Dot Com. I'll let you know when it's up. Read it if you want. Those of you who do will get some insight into Raine and Sheena's current shitty relationship as well as a very minor spoilers for something that's going to happen later in the story. Of course, it's nothing terribly major but it gives you an edge over the other readers, you know? It's pretty big, though.
And now back to your regularly scheduled rant!
Oh me, oh my, what have we here? If anyone was confused by the family tree, send me an email (it's on my main page) or a PM and I can send you a link to the family tree I drew up. It's a lot easier to see if you have a chart to follow.
So, if Matias is to be believed, Sheena and Matias are cousins to Raine, Genis and Kloitz, and Lord knows who else. This could prove troublesome... Why didn't anyone comment on that? And since my little lemon is canon in the RUNAWAY universe, that means: INCEST! I warned you there would be incest, didn't I? I bet you guys thought it would be Raine/Kloitz or Raine/Genis, didn't you? Well, didn't you?
Review or the owl will freaking eat you!
Lloyd- "Electricity" by 311. I really had a lot of trouble finding a song for Lloyd, and I still don't think this song captures him well enough, but it's the only thing I could think of.
Without you, the eyes gaze, the legs walk, the lungs breath, the mind churns, the heart yearns, the tears dry without you.
10,840 words. If there are typos, point 'em out and I'll fix em. Enjoy.
OoOoOoOo
Raine walked into the house. It was a nice enough place for a young couple and their small child, she figured, taking in the tidy interior and the stew simmering on the stove top. How homey. Raine was never a good cook, so she doubted she would ever make a good house wife one day, unlike the other silver-haired woman currently in the house. Of course, Raine didn't want to become a house wife some day. The thought was mildly amusing, but more alarming than anything else, and made her anxious. Seeking to end thoughts of matrimony and commitment, Raine turned her attention to the elf in question, her soft lilac eyes gazing intently, trying to take in every detail.
Virginia was sitting over a cradle, rocking it with her foot and staring at the tiny occupant with adoration in her eyes. The elf woman didn't notice her at first, but that was what Raine had intended. Raine simply wanted to watch them for a while, and watch what a real mother looked like.
Raine had never known a real mother.
Eventually, the elf must have felt her in the room. She started, looking over at the doorway, but then relaxed when she saw it was only Raine standing there.
"Oh, you came," she said. She gave Raine a small wave.
Raine nodded, smiling softly. "I wanted to see the baby," she said. "I've heard so much from Kloitz and Alex. The way they talk about how beautiful and wonderful and intelligent she is, you'd think she'd climbed Mount Fooji to hang the moon in the sky."
"I'm sorry, she's asleep now. A few minutes ago you could have held her."
Raine said something; she could not remember what.
" --- ---- ----"
"You can't see this," Alex said, though he was nowhere in sight. "This is a dream; it doesn't have to make sense."
Static and a crackling buzz filled her vision and her head, sharply returning the world back to focus only a few scant seconds later. Virginia was looking down at the cradle again, smiling. "She is beautiful, isn't she?" the woman said, almost in awe, tenderly reaching in to push scraggly hair out of a pale face.
"Yeah," Raine agreed, walking over to Virginia and looking at the sleeping baby. Messy black hair framed the baby's delicate features, and though her eyes were closed, Raine somehow knew that when they opened they would be a shockingly sharp, dark purple.
"She looks just like her father," she added, somewhat in surprise.
But the baby was in a restless sleep; mumbling and letting loose tiny baby noises. After a few moments, eyes amethyst and luminescent popped open and the baby opened her mouth, letting loose an earth shattering wail and scrunching up those glowing eyes in consternation.
"Oh, no..." Virginia said, picking up the baby and smoothing back her fuzzy black hair, humming a inner strength lullaby to her. "I'm worried for her. She's been getting so sick, and the doctor's medicine doesn't seem to be doing anything." Virginia's tired, shadowed eyes looked up at the half-elf in an expression of resignation and anxiety. "I just wish we knew a way to help..."
"Virginia, you're exhausted," Raine said firmly, holding out her arms. "Let me hold her for a while, you need to rest. And hey, you never know. Maybe I have a healing touch!"
"---- ---- ----," Virginia crackled.
Alex reached over Raine's shoulders to cup his hands in front of her eyes, blocking her view even as maddening static filled her ears, broken only by his voice ringing out clear as a bell. With her back pressed up against his chest and his arms around hers, she couldn't deny his presence in the room any longer. She put her own hands over his, holding them even as she tried to pull them away.
"And wouldn't that be helpful?" he said. "This is a dream, you know. You can do that. It doesn't have to have a sad ending." Alex was standing behind her, a threatening and overbearing presence that no one could see and only Raine could feel. "This is your world, Raine. Stop hiding from it by refusing yourself sleep. In the dreams, you can be at peace."
"Even if it is a false one," Raine murmured bitterly, to no one. She let her hands drop to her sides.
"You're the one who asked for it."
Raine's lips opened to emit more static.
Virginia's lips quirked to the side. "You sound like my husband. Trust me, I'll be fine."
"No, you wont," Raine said. "Trust me. I can take care of her, Virginia." The half-elf winked at her. Alex was gone, for now. "I'll treat her like I'd treat my own family. How does that sound?"
The older woman bit her lower lip in indecision, looking down at the whimpering baby. The squalls had lessened somewhat, and she already looked as if she might fall asleep again. "I really don't..."
Raine put a hand on her shoulder, reaching out again. "Go rest."
There was a long moment of inner struggle before Virginia succumbed to the temptation and gently transferred the baby into Raine's arms. The half-elf grinned and moved to another chair, singing her own lullaby to the baby girl.
"She likes 'Mockingbird'," Virginia added, trying to be helpful and already reconsidering her decision.
Raine frowned. "I'm not sure I know that one," she admitted, feeling foolish. "Well... I think I might know... a little bit." Clearing her throat, she started gingerly, uncertain, but then the tune came back to her and the lyrics soon followed, flowing from her mouth as she gently rocked the black-haired baby.
"Hush little girl, don't-say-a-word,
Momma's gonna buy you a Mock-ing-bird."
Virginia smiled in relief, moving to another room. Raine's soft voice followed her, and the poor, tired woman seemed almost to be sung to sleep just as her daughter was.
"And if that Mockingbird don't-sing,
Momma's gonna buy you a dia-mond ring,
And if that ring turns into brass,
Momma's gonna buy you a look-ing glass... And you are a good girl, aren't you? Kloitz wasn't joking. If I could buy all those things for you, I'd do it in a heartbeat." Raine broke away from the song, speaking in a hushed whisper to the baby. "You're giving your mom a hard time, though. But I'll take care of you for a little bit while she's gone, I promised. Yeah, you'll be my little sister from now on. How do you like that..."
The baby looked up at her with luminescent purple orbs, and the half-elf could almost swear the baby understood her. She was intelligent- Raine could see it in her eyes. The way they looked everywhere, darting from side to side, trying to learn everything about the world as if there was no tomorrow.
"...my little Rainebow?"
OoOoOoOo
Raine's eyes snapped open and she realized that one of her worst nightmares had come true- she had actually fallen asleep on her Rheiard.
Her heart lurching up her chest into her mouth, Raine watched the needle that measured her altitude steadily drop. Pressing her lips together in a tight frown, she clenched the sides of the Rheiard with her knees, giving the handlebars a sharp tug as she tried to pull the machine higher, hearing Mesha's concerned voice in her ear. Angrily flipping he headset into a mute setting, she struggled with her out-of-control Rheiard, the nose jerking left and right no matter how hard she tried to pull back into a safe altitude. Beneath her she heard the tips of tall trees scraping against the hull, and her heart beat out of pace, giving random panicked bleeps instead of the steady thrum.
"No, no, no, no, no!" she muttered, her eyes blazing with their own light. Holding onto the handlebars with one hand, she pointed her palm down at the earth and gathered her mana in the center of her palm. "Air Thrust!" she shouted, desperate for any way to lift herself higher.
Well, that was certainly one way.
The impact was jarring; Raine almost fell out of her seat. Her Rhiard spun in little upward barrel rolls as she fought to keep her lunch from scattering along a section of forest in the outskirts of Neo. Pulling again on her Rheiard, she managed to stop the barrel rolls and once more was cruising along at a moderate pace as her students rushed to her side.
"Professor Raine! Are you OK? Did you lose control?" Mesha asked, hovering above her. "Do you need to land?"
"I had no idea you were a fellow thrill seeker, Raine," Harley grinned.
"Shut up before I slap you," Raine groaned, purposefully not being clear as to whom she was addressing. As she expected, both of them clammed up and glided away in a blessed silence. Slapping herself a few times, Raine kept herself awake when the adrenaline wore out. Turning her headset back on, she murmured orders to her students. "When we reach Neo we should stay there for a few days," she said. Maybe that way she could force herself to get a full night's rest, and who knew? Maybe seeing Genis would relieve her never ending anxiety for a few days. She couldn't help but worry about her little brother; she hadn't talked to him or contacted him in any way for...
Raine struggled to remember, and became alarmed when she found she could not. It was just as foggy as her dream had been- but she remembered that it had been a bizarre dream. There were two Raines, and there was always someone standing behind her, the way Raine had always stood behind Genis, tense and ready to spring in to help him when he reached trouble- or found something he shouldn't have.
She could feel Virginia's diary burning in her back pocket, right next to her own diary that she kept. Of course, hers was a more meticulous example of record-keeping; journal entries specifically dated and interwoven with complicated scientific jargon that would have made Lloyd's head hurt. She had already read Virginia's diary twice before, and was in the middle of reading it again a third time. She was a little disappointed in how a lot of the pages were illegible due to water stains or were scratched out by Virginia's own pen, and her mother only sporadically mentioned any dates. Her diary wasn't daily or weekly or monthly, as far as Raine could tell. Just whenever the mood struck Virginia, or she had a break in her duties as a busy mother of a little girl.
Raine looked out to see the trees thinning, the coastline appearing, and Neo rising up into her field of vision.
OoOoOoOo
"What do you mean he dropped out?" Raine raged at the unfortunate young lady at the front desk. Her own students had opted to go visit the actual city first before touring the campus and meeting up with Raine at the hotel.
The girl- her sticker brightly proclaimed that her name was Alice- stumbled over her words, explaining as best as she could to the furious half-elf. "Genis Sage dropped out last month," she said. "A letter was sent to this address in Meltokio, since you are his legal guardian and- ah- this is the address you were listed under. There might have been a problem with the mail service...?" she asked hopefully.
No. Raine simply never checked her mail as often as she should, both hoping and dreading there would be news from Sheena.
"No," Raine said out loud, her eyes already glazing over as she turned around. "No. Thank you for trying to help, me, I'll just..." she walked away without finishing her statement.
Raine stepped outside into the dying sunlight. It was almost time to go to the inn and find her students, and then what? Go on another noble quest to look for her runaway brother? Raine was tired, much too tired, to think, and yet that was exactly what she needed to do.
"Wow, Mesha, I never thought I'd run into you here."
An unfamiliar voice calling the name of her decidedly more fragile student stopped Raine in her tracks. Quietly following her ears, she found Mesha standing dead-still, cornered by two larger shapes. Where was Harley? Raine felt something was very wrong with the situation and an unreasonable anger stirred deep within her tired frame, but she did nothing, simply listening to the conversation grow more alarming with each passing second.
"Oh- Kaleb," Mesha said, her voice resigned. "I really never thought I'd run into you either." Her tone of voice implied that she never wanted to run into him at all.
"Were you accepted into this school as well?" Kaleb asked, the question innocent. But before she could answer, he laughed. "Jeez, sorry. I forgot your daddy doesn't know how to read so he couldn't fill in all those forms, now could he? I guess it's a good thing my family isn't as pitiful, right?"
The other figure continued. "Yeah, man. And Mesha- what's this I heard about a fire being set to your barn? That shit is messed up."
Mesha was silent.
"Hey, speak up!" the other student urged. "Why won't you talk to us? Huh? Why won't you talk to us, is it because we're humans?"
"No," Mesha said. "It's because you're pathetic."
The two young men erupted into laughter, slapping each other on the back and hugging Mesha with one arm as if they were best friends. "Oh man, Mesha! George, did you hear what she said? That's hilarious! Say it again! Say it again! We're- what? Pathetic? Oh that's fuckin' rich, Mesha!"
"Mesha seems to have grown a spine since the last time we hung out," George noted.
This seemed to give the older one, Kaleb, an idea. He grabbed Mesha by her thin arm. "Say," he said, "Why don't we give little Mesha a tour, since we're from the same town and all? Let's show a little town spirit and give Mesha a tour of the school. Let's hang out again."
He squeezed her arm.
"We can show her where we little girls who don't know how to keep their mouth shut," George kept on.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Mesha said, but didn't put up any resistance. She was curiously dead.
"We heard that just before we left town, someone set fire to your barn," George said. "And then who comes along but lil Mesha the Freak, pointing fingers at our family?" He shook her, roughly, and her body limply accepted it, free arm flapping like a rag doll. "It's because of you that my little brother was refused admission to this school, you stupid bitch!"
Mesha reacted at that. She pulled away from them, stepping back but only into concrete. She was still boxed in by their larger frames, pressed up against a wall. "Shut up, Kaleb," she said sharply. "Don't pretend you aren't to blame! Do you actually feel justified for what you did because my mother was an elf? Your whole family is just a coven of bigots! You're a bigot, you'll marry a bigot. Your father's a bigot. Your bastard little brother is a bigot. Your mother probably would be too, if she didn't die- ohhhh," Mesha smiled. "That's right. She died giving birth to your little brother, didn't? I'm soooo sorry. It must have slipped my mind."
Kaleb tensed. "Don't you dare talk about my mother."
"I'm so glad I'm not such a weak person who only feels gratified when attacking a girl half his size," Mesha said, her voice painfully joyful and already cracking with emotion, despite her battle-ready stance and dry eyes.
"But maybe that's because I had my mother for a while. Does that make you jealous? Or... Maybe that's why you grew up so retarded," Mesha mused. "Grew up so that you could get drunk one night and set fire to my barn!" She stomped one foot, thrusting her face into his, their noses almost touching so she could transmit the full fury glowing in her emerald eyes.
George moved without warning, swinging in with a roundhouse punch. Crying out, Mesha stumbled out of the way but wasn't able to miss the next attack- Kaleb's boot hit her right in the jaw and she whiplashed back into the wall. Pushing against it blindly, she tried to barrel her way through but one of them grabbed her and slammed one fist into her gut.
Hit them, Raine thought, watching with intense lilac eyes. Fight back, Mesha. Fight them. They're creeps. I dealt with creeps when I was your age.
"Icy Needles!"
There was a collective howl of pain and the two brutes stepped back, and Raine smiled grimly. Follow up with something else, come on, she urged, but Mesha only stood there, frozen by indecision. When it was clear that Mesha and Raine weren't on the same brain waves, Raine stepped in.
"Leave my student alone," she said coldly to the young men, who were just beginning to recover from the ice attack. When one of them- Raine couldn't tell the two brothers apart- moved to try and do to Raine what they had done to Mesha, Raine smoothly dodged it and smashed the flat of her Balacruf spade against the boy's head. He crumpled to the floor and his brother dashed off into the night, cursing loudly.
Raine sighed. "Taking care of you seems to be more taxing than I first thought," she murmured to Mesha, not unkindly.
Mesha was shaking. "I could have handled them," she lied, and jumped when Raine put an arm over her shoulder.
"Are you all right?" Raine asked her. Mesha nodded, then just as quickly shook her head no. Her trembling increased until it seemed that Mesha was on a separate plane of existence where earthquakes ravaged the earth. Still shaking, she was led to the campus plaza, and they sat at a bench in front of a small fountain in the center of the plaza. Raine said something and the Unicorn Horn began to glow, illuminating Mesha's pale face.
"You did handle them well, at first," Raine reassured her, running gentle fingers across the bruises blossoming on her face. "First Aid." Warm air blew Mesha's green bangs up for a few fleeting moments. "I take it you've met them before? Do you know their names so that we could report them?"
"Yeah," Mesha sighed, lowering her eyes. "But it doesn't matter. It never really matters in the end- they always find a way not to get in trouble, and then they would come looking for me."
Raine's eyebrows bunched together. "That was in the past, in a small village. This is a bigger world than the one you're used to, Mesha, and sometimes it can be fair."
Mesha shook her head, that strange, dead expression in her eyes again. "I don't care," she said. "Punishing them wouldn't make me feel better. It's just going to be a big problem..." She bent forward, cradling her face in her hands. "I don't know why I provoked them like that!" she snapped, grimacing painfully. "I'm just a... I'm the only retard here. It didn't change the way things were going to happen, it just made them angry and I brought myself down to their level! I hate them!"
She shook her head. "Everything went downhill when we moved to that place," she said, in bitter tones, angry hot drops of liquid escaping from between her fingers. "They n- never accepted us, and then Mom died, and everything went to suh- suh- shit!"
After her tense outburst, the girl could only cry. Noiselessly, silently letting the fear and pressure seep through her eyes, the windows of her soul let open just long enough for fresh air to be let inside a storm-battered mind.
Raine had taken her away from the small town with its small mind, but it was still too early for any of it to be taken away from her. For a few moments Raine considered seeing if Mesha could fight this inner battle alone any better than the physical one that had brought it about, and then decided she didn't want to. She reached out and hugged Mesha tightly, putting one hand behind her neck and letting her rest her head on her shoulder.
"It's all right..." she said to the girl. Fight this, she wanted to say. Fight! Control yourself! I fought it, when I was your age... "It's all right, Mesha. You'll be all right. You just went through a stressful thing, that's all. It's all right." A sudden idea struck her, the way to calm the girl and the answer to so many questions Raine had been asking herself lately. Why had she helped the girl in the first place? Why did she continue to help her?
"You don't have to worry," Raine said firmly, pulling out a handkerchief and giving it to her. "You're my student. I'll protect you, and Harley, too."
Because no one ever protected me.
OoOoOoOo
The spike of ice shot through the air, ramming straight through Gnome's midsection. The Summon Spirit let out his death cry and was sent hurtling. He lay yards away, impaled to the ground he called his mother and the medium for his magic. The brown, mole-like creature struggled even after that, spasming under the unforgiving chunk of ice and whining piteously before the flopping became sporadic and eventually...
Stopped.
Sheena stood frozen in place, waiting with a beating heart for Gnome to get up. He didn't, and despair flooded through her. "Gnome!" she said, running over to him, putting her hands against his furry paws and holding them up. Two sets of soft brown eyes met each other, one of them clouded with pain and the other with worry. "Gnome?" she asked, moving one hand to grasp the chunk of ice jutting up towards the sky. It was dry, not at all effected by the warm tropical weather, and her grip didn't slip. She could pull it out if she wanted to, but she restrained herself, not knowing if she should.
"Aw..." Gnome groaned, frozen in place. No blood pooled out of the gaping hole in his stomach, and all the cuts that Yuan and Zelos had landed were curiously clean. "Aw nuts, Celsius, that was rough."
The Summon Spirit of Ice snorted. "Quit your bitching, furrball," she sneered before vanishing in a flash of blue light.
Gnome smiled at her before wincing. "Ouch. Don't cry, Sheena. You've killed me before, remember? Speak your vow."
"I am not crying," Sheena said, angrily, pounding a fist into the ground as she jerked her head away, her long black bangs covering her eyes. She let her hand fall from the ice, wrapping her arms around herself, unable to look at him. "You're an idiot."
"That's not a vow," he reminded her, resting his head back against the grass and closing his eyes.
"Why did you attack me?" Sheena demanded. She reached up and wiped at her face with her sleeve, shoulders still shaking.
"Aw, nuts, Sheena," he said, and she had to strain to hear his soft whispers. In spite of herself, she leaned closer to him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Jeezum, I'm sorry I had to do that. I wasn't in control of myself. I'm... I'm sorry. All I knew is that I wanted you to be my master, and I was loose on the world with no master to control me. And..." He opened his eyes. "And that's how we Summon Spirits really are, Sheena. I wish it was otherwise, but we're not human. We don't work the same way. I was loose on the world, and I became what I really am- I'm not your friend.
"Your transformation was completed, you changed into something else... it's as if you died. And so now you make a new pact." Gnome sighed once, shaking his head from side to side.
"What?" Sheena asked, her voice still wet from tears and confused. "...What? You mean... I don't feel any different." Her heart began to race in fear, and she held his paw tightly. "Gnome, what am I? I can't make a vow, not until I know. I need to know."
"...Speak your vow," he said again, his eyelids drooping.
Sheena had to think hard, but not for long. "All right," she said, shifting to sit up straighter. "If that's the way you want to play. Gnome, I want to control your power until I stop breathing forever. You are my servant, you got that? No one else's. You are my friend, and I promise I'll always use your power wisely and I'll never treat you bad." She paused, awkward. "And... and that's it."
"Yeah," Gnome said. "That's good...It'll last a long time, too. Now that you're... a half-elf."
And he siiiiighhhhhhhhed, his large, furry form collapsing into itself and compressing into one shining mote of red power. The garnet floated in the air in front of her for a moment, shining its light on her face and blowing her bangs away from her eyes with a surge of powerful wind before gently sinking into her outstretched hands.
She held the small gem against her chest, bowing her head again and staring at the ground.
OoOoOoOo
"Dad! Dad!"
Kratos's head shot up and without a second thought he was on his feet, moving towards his son's voice. "Lloyd?" he asked, feelings of concern stirring in his chest. For a few moments, all he could see was Lloyd, two years old again and running towards him with a scrape on his knee. Then he saw the bright red armor and a blood caked blond head and unfurled his wings to add speed to his running feet, his cold angelic heart beating faster. "What happened?" he asked.
"Colette's hurt!" Lloyd said, his face torn in anguish as he held the prone form of his wife up to his father. "Please, heal her Dad!"
"Give her to me," he ordered, handling the tiny blond with surprising gentleness from a hardened warrior. "Healing Stream!" he said, channeling the mana in his body, forcing it out through his arm into the body of his daughter in law. "What happened?" he asked again, unblinking as he watched the magic do its work.
Pale-faced, Lloyd explained as best as he could what had transpired. "They're probably still fighting out there!" he realized, a bit too late, half-turning to go back and help before whipping back around to kneel next to his wife, young face screwed up in anxiety.
"Go help them," Kratos urged. "I'll stay here with Colette."
Lloyd shook his head. "I can't!" he said. "I can't, I can't! Damn it, this is my fault!" He punched the earth, gritting his teeth together.
Kratos said nothing, understanding the plight of humans in love, having been one himself at one time. They waited in silence, tensely waiting for the blond to open her eyes and smile, neither willing to think of what they would do if she didn't.
"NEVER FEAR!"
Lloyd jerked his head up as a familiar, annoying voice assaulted the serene quiet of the island. He turned around even as a pink-and-orange blur shot past him. Zelos came flying out of nowhere on fluorescent orange angel wings, losing control of his flight mid-way and crashing into the ground, skidding a few yards before stopping, face-first, into the dirt.
"THE GREAT MASTER PIMP ZELOS IS HERE!" he screeched into the dirt, one hand upright and pointing at the sky like a messenger of the Goddess about to deliver an edict. Before anyone could say anything, he hopped to his feet, running over to them to place the palms of his hands on the thin red gash on Colette's head. "First Aid!" he said, and the two magic swordsmen pooled their energy together while Lloyd watched over them.
Uncountable tense minutes passed; and then her eyelids fluttered open and she looked around her with hazy eyes, not quite lucid yet. Lloyd shoved Zelos out of the way and pulled her to him, and, surprised, she returned the embrace.
"Ooh," Zelos said. "We make a good team, Kratos."
"Lloyd," Colette said, looking up at the vibrant blue sky over Lloyd's shoulder. "What...?"
"You were hurt," he said. "Kratos healed you."
Zelos made a small, affronted sound in the back of his throat; he was ignored.
Silence... then she pulled away from him, panicked as she put a protective arm around her middle. "Was the- do you think it- where was I hurt?" she asked Lloyd, her eyes wide. "Lloyd, was my baby hurt?!" She clutched at his shoulder with one hand, surprisingly tight for a girl on the brink of death. It hurt him, he realized. If she kept it up for too long, her angelic strength might snap him in two.
"No," he said, trying to calm her down by holding her, wondering if he could hear his bones creak or if that was just his imagination. "No, no, it's OK, Colette. You didn't get hit in the stomach, and Sheena caught you before you fell." Not fully convinced, Colette swallowed reflexively, rubbing her swollen stomach with fear still present on her face.
"It's the truth," Yuan said, startling them all with the silence of his arrival, so removed from Zelos's ridiculous entrance. Wordlessly, he tossed Lloyd's twin swords back to him before getting down on one knee before Colette, leaning into her face. He was discreetly trying to keep his right hand out of view, but it was hard now that his cape was gone. "Are you all right?" he asked, face uncreased from worry- or any form of emotion, for that matter. The adrenaline from the battle hadn't completely worn out yet, and he was still feeling detached from the world.
Lloyd glared at him. "She's fine," he said, pulling the former seraph a more appropriate distance away from Colette. "But she's staying put. When the boat gets here, you're going to stay right here with me, OK Colette?"
"Yeah, Yuan," she said. "I'm all right now. I'm…" she took a long, shuddering breath. "Thanks. Where's Sheena? Is she all right? I- I can't remember what happened." Trying to look over his shoulder, she quelled most of her shivers.
"OK, Colette?" Lloyd repeated, his eyebrows bunching together. "Don't worry about Sheena. Worry about you."
"Y-yeah. I feel fine though, but..." Colette bit her lower lip. "But you're probably right, Lloyd. I shouldn't move... for the baby's sake."
"We don't want Lloyd Jr. to get stressed," Zelos agreed, perhaps oblivious to the worried glances Lloyd and Kratos exchanged. He sat down next to Colette, putting an arm around her shoulder to hug her to his side, grinning. "But where is Sheena?" he looked up at Yuan.
"Oh- she was right behind me," Yuan said, frowning and turning to see the direction he came from.
But there was nothing there.
OoOoOoOo
"I feel stupid," Mesha said with her head in her pillows. Harley was in the bunk above hers, reading by the soft yellow light of the lamp by their bed. "No- I am stupid. I'm the stupidest person in the world."
"Now, now, don't brag," he said absently, flipping the page.
"You weren't there. You didn't see the way I acted!" Mesha continued, clenching at her pillows with claw-like hands, tensing from the shame. "I was totally out of line."
"Mmnn," Harley said. "The Professor doesn't seem too upset. You're the only one who cares about what happened, Mesha, so get over it."
"Easy for you to say," Mesha muttered, turning over to rest on her back, staring at the bottom of Harley's bunk. "...Maybe I should apologize."
"For what?"
"Have you been listening?" Mesha snapped, standing up and climbing halfway up the ladder to Harley's bunk, her angry green head poking up over the side of the mattress. "I picked a fight with those thugs and then made a total fool out of myself in front of Raine! She probably thinks I'm pathetic!"
Harley snapped shut his book, annoyed. "All I've been hearing is a lot of self-pity going on. Why do you girls have to over analyze everything you do? The way I see it, those jerks got what they deserved."
Mesha didn't have anything to say to that, but inside she raged against it. She couldn't remember the anger Kaleb had stirred in her, a deep anger she hid from the world. She didn't see that ugly part of her that reared it's head to protect herself from the ugliness of those around her. All she could see was Raine's pale skin, the way it had been when the girl had put her face against the woman's shoulder and sobbed her heart out.
Her face aflame, she hopped off the ladder and walked out of the room, intent on finding Raine. It wasn't very hard, as it turned out. She was sitting in the spacious lobby of their hotel, in an area meant for socializing. Of course, it was too late in the night for anyone else to be there and so she sat undisturbed, a solitary figure hunched over a small notebook.
Mesha could only stand there staring at her, waiting to be noticed, wondering what she would do if she was noticed, and wondering if it was too late to just turn back and try to forget about it the way Raine already seemed to. She was frozen in mid-step, already plagued with indecision. Raine didn't say anything, didn't give any indication at all that she realized she wasn't alone. She looked tired, and maybe even a little sad, as her pen danced along the page with a dry hiss. After who-knows-how long, she stopped for a moment, dropping her quill with a sigh and reaching high above her to stretch out the kinks in her back and yawning.
It was then that she noticed Mesha. Her eyebrows quirked up and she smiled thinly, beckoning her student closer. "Couldn't sleep?" she asked when Mesha hurried over and sat down next to her teacher.
Mesha shook her head.
"Me neither. A blessing, I suppose, for a work-a-holic like myself." She tilted her notebook to the side so that Mesha could look at the scribbles. "Care to look?"
"Sure," Mesha said, though in all honesty she couldn't understand half of what Raine had written, and admitted so. It all looked so complicated, like a giant formula for something, though for what she couldn't begin to understand.
"To be honest..." Raine said, and Mesha could see she was trying hard not to smile, "It's a human."
Mesha turned in her seat, her thin green eyebrows shooting high up her forehead. "Is that some sort of figure of speech, Professor?" she demanded.
"I'm telling the truth," the Professor said, grinning fully now. She took the notebook back and flipped back several pages jammed with notes and scribbles and formulas. "If you memorize this within a day," she continued, "I will automatically fall down on my knees, worship you, and call you my Master. This is every biological reaction that occurs within the human body, the automatic processes that makes them breathe, sleep, digest their food..." she waved her hand. "Et cetera."
Mesha leaned closer to look at the scrawls. She frowned. "Did you memorize it in a day?" she accused, forgetting that she was supposed to be apologizing for the trouble her sharp tongue had gotten her into earlier.
"Of course not," Raine said. "But that's not the point. I'm not actually daring you to memorize it, and I don't expect you to. The only reason I know it is because of my connection with the unicorn horn. I'm just saying, the human body is so complex, it's fascinating. The half-elf body seems so different, even on a biological level, not to mention cultural and..." suddenly down, Raine propped her chin on one hand and sighed, looking down at her notebook without really seeing it. "And I have a theory, too, my Creator theory, but if it's not true for half-elves..."
Mesha made a curious little sound in the back of her throat and Raine snapped back to reality, her cool, detached smile back in place. "But I don't like sharing my Creator theory. Why don't we get started on your next lesson, instead?"
And there you go. Quicker than you could say "change the subject."
Mesha shrugged noncommittally. "New lessons?" she asked, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. She was having trouble enough learning magic, now Raine wanted to teach her even more? Mesha didn't think her brain was capable of learning anything new.
"Well..." Raine said. "Why not? If neither of us can sleep. Let's see, how about..." Raine flipped back in her notebook, searching for something. "Let's start with the basics of Physical Science. Gravity, motion, velocity, weight..." She looked up. "I bet you haven't learned about any of that, have you?"
"I just suddenly became exhausted," Mesha said, plunking her forehead down onto the table.
Raine frowned. "Then why did you come down? What, did you think we were on a constant field trip? You need to get some real lessons sometime. Otherwise I'd be failing myself as a teacher."
"Well, I couldn't sleep. And... I wanted to apologize for the way I acted today." She bit her lip, waiting for a reaction from Raine, not lifting her head from the table.
"...There's nothing to apologize for," Raine said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Mesha jerked her head up at that. "But, Professor, it was my fault and you probably hate me because-!" she said.
"Mesha, I'm telling you there's nothing to apologize for," Raine said, putting her free hand over Mesha's mouth. "Is it hard to believe that someone doesn't blame you for what happened? Or that someone could understand your anger towards humans? I've been in your shoes, Mesha, and I've seen this same scenario over and over again, and I'm telling you now," Raine shifted in her seat so that she was facing Mesha and looked down at the girl, "No one blames you, or hates you. Especially not me."
Mesha frowned, closing her eyes to try and remember her guilt, and her need to apologize. Raine's words were making it hard, though, to feel as though she had wronged and made her feel more like she had been wronged against. "But-" she tried again, feeling Raine's grip on her shoulder tighten. This time, though, Raine leaned forward and stopped her with her lips. Mesha's eyes snapped open and she sat rigid in her seat, staring in shock. It flashed through her mind that this was a kiss, her first kiss, and it was not at all like she had expected it to be. Then all she could think was that Raine's lips were incredibly soft, and she almost jumped in her seat when as the Professor pulled away way too soon. She hadn't thought there would be a noise, but there was. A startlingly loud, wet smacking sound as their lips parted- or maybe it was only loud in her imagination as she turned her head to look around her, expecting to see someone gawking at them with disgust in their eyes.
Raine got to her feet so quickly she almost knocked her chair over backwards. Snatching it before it could topple and create even more noise than their kiss had, she took a few steps away and looked back at Mesha to see her turning her head aside and discreetly wiping at her mouth with her sleeve, her eyes trained on a spot on the floor and spots of color blooming high on her cheeks.
OoOoOo
Sheena was on a steep cliff overlooking the tranquil ocean around the Island of the Great Tree, sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees as she looked down into the water that she no longer controlled. Gnome sat next to her in mole form, his bright red bow spinning sporadically, but his heart didn't seem in it today.
"How many of you have already left me?" she asked him, holding his garnet tightly in one hand, afraid she might drop it. "Now that I'm... different?"
"Now that your transformation into a half-elf is complete?" he asked back, almost idly. She winced, looking away from him. "I don't know," he answered. "How many of us did you make a pact with before you made a pact with me?"
She frowned, thinking to keep herself from thinking about... about the unbelievable truth behind what Undine had told her. "First came Undine... then Volt. After that was you, after that was Celsius, the Sylph, Efreet, Shadow, Luna, Origin, and then Maxwell." She paused for a good long moment before laughing dryly. "I think I just summarized one third of our whole quest to reunite the worlds just now. Are you telling me I have to go back and do it all again?"
"It'll be easier now," he promised. "Now you don't have as much at stake, do you? You don't have to wonder who your friends are, whether your loyalty is to Sylvarant or Tethe'alla, and all those other distractions."
Sheena put her forehead against her knees. "No," she said. "There's still a lot at stake. Mana told us there's danger in this new world Lloyd made, and I'm powerless without you guys. How long until I lose the rest of you, the ones who make me at all worthwhile?"
"Hey now, babe," Gnome said reprovingly, shoving her. "You kicked ass before you had us, you'll still kick ass if you choose not to get us back."
"You didn't answer my question," Sheena sighed.
"Probably three days, at the very most a week," he said. "Around that time you'll lose connection with Maxwell, which'll be pretty bad cause you're the one who keeps Exire floating."
Sheena felt her heart leap into her throat. "What?" She asked, leaping to her feet. "That's terrible! If that's the case, then he's the first one I gotta renew the pact with, or else all those people living on Exire will be in danger!"
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa," he said, yanking on her pant leg to pull her back down next to him. "Calm down some, Sheena. You can't renew the pact with him until the pact is broken. All you have to do is be there when it breaks. The actual Keeping-Exire-Floating part is still effective for at least a day after it breaks, so you have plenty of time to beat him up." He blinked, looking back at the ocean. "Oh... wait... But you need to have pacts with a bunch of other summon spirits first before you take him on, or else the snob won't even look at you, am I right?"
Sheena shook her head. "Great Goddess Martel. Gnome, thanks for telling me this and all, but it really hasn't made my day any better."
"Don't hate the messenger."
"Can't Maxwell keep Exire up by himself?" Sheena asked, slamming a fist into the ground in frustration. "Damn it!"
"Well... no, now that you mention it," Gnome said. "He needs you."
"He needs me to tell him to do something that's right?" Sheena asked. "Gnome, no offense meant, but you're the most human of the Summon Spirits. If you had a responsibility like that, you'd do it without a master..." She glanced at him, anxious. "Right?"
"Well yeah, Sheena," Gnome said. "But it isn't that simple. Maxwell would if he could, but he can't do something so huge without a master." His furry little eyebrows raised, he kept on, "You have to be his catalyst."
It was Sheena's turn to lift one eyebrow up. "You mean like your garnet?" she asked, holding the gem up to the light.
"No, that's the symbol of our pact," Gnome said, patiently, like you would with a child. "But we need a master in order to channel the energy necessary for our complex spells."
Sheena frowned. "I thought you guys already had all this amazing power and I just point at what I want zapped and you zap it... Or send it up in flames, or crush it in dirt or freeze it or something."
"You mean you're the one who made all these pacts with us in the first place and you don't even know what the hell you're doing?!" Gnome exclaimed, throwing his front paws in the air. "For three years you've been causing mass devastation to your enemies and all you think is that you say Abracadabra and I go like a good little dog?! Jeezum, Sheena!"
Her face hot, Sheena shot back at him, "Well excuse me, Gnome, but how the hell would I know all the specific little details about an art that almost no one alive today knows a goddess damned thing about?"
"I dunno, you're the summoner here!"
"Well, I don't know about all that, Gnome," she snapped. "So can you please explain before I have to get really nasty with you?"
Gnome muttered under his breath for a few moments, punching the ground and causing the grass to grow around him in agitation. "Fine, fine," he said. "You go up to a Summon Spirit, beat him up to show him he's not dealing with some punk, and propose a pact. If the spirit likes the vow you said, then presto! You now have a shiny new pact that lasts until you croak or the spirit says you've broken your vow- but you know that at least, right?"
"Right..." she said.
"So now, the Summon Spirit and you have a sort of symbiotic relationship. He- or she- or it- can now do all sorts of neato tricks with their element because they use their summoner as a catalyst and an energy source from which to draw power from. But the person who mainly uses all these neato tricks is the summoner himself- or herself- because the summoner is the one who technically created the spell. And now the Summon Spirit is free to leave the immediate area around their shrine to go do as they wish- except for Aska, who's really not a summon spirit at all but Luna's consort so he can do whatever he damn well feels like whether or not Luna is in a pact or not. And so, since this power is technically all the summoner's, the summoner can do most of these spells by herself without actually summoning, especially if they're a half-elf that's full of all that conflicting mana. It's the really big things, like Keeping-Exire-Floating, that need the actual summoning, but you were too stupid to realize this, so that's why you're always so exhausted after a battle where you summon one of us after a lot of unnecessary chanting and mumbo jumbo."
Gnome paused to take a deep breath, looking at Sheena with all serious intent as he finished this long lecture with one last word:
"Duh."
Sheena could only stare at him in shock. "How on earth was I supposed to know all that? How could you just... assume... that I..."
"I dunno, you're the summoner here!"
"Would you please stop saying that?" Sheena growled at him, poking him on his furry brown chest.
"As my Master commands," he said. "So now what? Who do we go after first?"
"No one," Sheena said, standing up again. "We go to Mizuho and inform them to be on full alert for any suspicious activity. If Mana isn't going to tell us what this danger is, we have to use our own heads. And I want to know..." she lifted one hand, letting her grandmother's broken ex-sphere. "...I want to know if I can find out the truth. The whole truth- about me, my parents, everything." She looked down at the summon spirit, her brown eyes almost glaring. "Gnome," she said, "If I'm supposedly so powerful when I have a summon spirit... do we have a way to get to Mizuho really fast?"
Gnome grinned lazily, tossing his head back to look at the sky. "Well, now that you mention it..." he said.
"Then let's go," she said, nodding decisively. "To Mizuho. Lloyd and the others will catch up soon enough."
OoOoOo
"Rise and shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine, sleepy head!"
Mesha's heart leaped into her mouth as she shot straight up in her bed, banging her head against the bottom of Harley's bunk. She groaned, rolling off her mattress and clutching at her forehead even as last night rushed straight to her topmost thoughts, only temporarily reprieved by the abyss of sleep. Getting to her feet without a word, she looked at Harley as if he might have all the answers to her confusion, wishing somehow that he could just suddenly know what had happened so that they could talk about it without Mesha having to actually... tell him what had happened.
"Hey, are you all right?" Harley asked her, suddenly concerned at her pale, pinched expression. He ruffled her hair. "I'm sorry I scared you. Is everything all right?"
"Yeah!" Mesha croaked. "Just... didn't get that much sleep." I was too busy thinking about Raine.
Harley looked at her critically, hands on his hips. "You look terrible," he said. "Here- sit down a second." He put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to sit on the edge of her mattress. "First Aid!" he said, letting the warmth seep through his outstretched hand into her tiny frame.
The sudden relief had an almost... well... magical effect on her. She felt her headache from lack of sleep slip away and the tension in her shoulders ease. Sighing once, she let her eyelids drop, finding the strength within her to sit down and really think about what she should do next. "Thanks," she said. "You really have no idea how much that helped."
"Well, glad I could help," Harley said, puffing out his chest proudly at the flattery. "Anyway, get your skinny butt movin'. There's a plate of breakfast with my name on it waiting downstairs."
Feeling a little sick at the thought, Mesha sank down onto her mattress again, her arm over her eyes. "Um... no thanks, Harley," she said. "I'm not hungry. I think I'll skip breakfast."
There was silence in the room. Mesha waited for a good long while before peeking from under her arm to see Harley with a deep frown on his face. "You give me no choice, then," he said, pulling off his bandanna and tying it around his eyes.
Mesha sat up some, red flags going up in her head. "Harley..." she started in a warning tone, but didn't get very far after that.
People seemed intent on not letting her finish her statements nowadays, because Harley grabbed her ankles and lifted her up high with her head dangling towards the floor. "Yoink!" Harley said, pinching the back of her nightgown and slipping it off of her with the flourish of a magician lifting a table cloth to reveal a birdcage underneath that had previously not existed. Being careful where he put his hands, he set her down and took a leap backwards, holding the nightgown above his head where he knew she couldn't reach. "Now you have five minutes to get dressed, Mesha!" he crowed, "After that I'm gonna take off the blindfold, so chop chop!"
"Harley, you- you idiot!" Mesha shrieked, hopping into her bed and pulling the blankets over herself. "If you don't get out of this room right now, so help me Goddess Martel I'll burn you into a cinder!"
"Psh," Harley said, waving his hands dismissively as he blindly turned his head to where he figured Mesha's voice came from. "You can't start a fire to save your life."
"Yes I can!" Mesha said, "So move!" Harley let out a yowl as his bandanna caught fire. He ripped it off, tossing it on the floor and stomping on it while cursing up a storm.
"Cripes, Mesha!" he said, backing towards the door. Mesha's green eyes blazed from under the folds of the blanket, promising further pain. "Don't get so-"
He stopped as he felt something tap the top of his skull a few times.
"I think you should leave, Harley," Raine said, her eyes cool and indifferent as she stepped up next to him to fix him with her stare. Her Balacruf spade was in one hand, tapping him again with the broad, blunt face, but this time in the stomach. She herded him backwards out the open door and then closed it behind him, locking it with a conspicuous, loud click.
Raine sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why I chose him to be my first student," she said to the closed door, her back still facing Mesha. "He learns fast, is eager to learn, and has no family to speak of so he had no other real obligations, but-" she turned around only to quickly face the door again. She leaned against it, one palm pressed to her forehead.
Mesha flushed, pulling the blankets tighter around herself.
"I'm sorry," Raine said, "I should leave as well."
"Um, n-no," Mesha said, standing up with the blankets wrapped around her like a robe. "It's all right if it's you. Just keep your back turned for a second, OK?"
Raine said nothing, her hand resting on the door handle as she listened to Mesha padding across the room to where she kept her clothes. Mesha tried not to take her time, but all the while she couldn't help but stall for a few moments to stand and look at Raine's back, her mind churning with a way to broach the subject of what had happened last night. But when she was done dressing and told Raine it was safe to turn around again, she still drew a blank.
"He didn't mean anything by it," Raine said, looking down at her spade and running a few fingers along the curves of the unicorn horn. "But I'll have a talk with him, all the same. And-" Raine stopped, looking up at Mesha with wary eyes for a few moments before continuing. "Perhaps it's best if you two don't share a room any more, either. Harley still needs to learn that you're a girl, and certain things just aren't appropriate."
"OK," Mesha said. "I mean... really, it's OK. I know he didn't mean anything by it. I don't think Harley even likes me that way."
Raine nodded and reached behind her for the door handle. "And I need to apologize... but perhaps it's best if we don't ever talk about what I did last night," she said, so soft and so sudden that it took a few moments for Mesha to comprehend.
"But why?" Mesha asked, honestly curious. "I mean... why can't we talk about it?"
"Because it didn't happen," Raine said, unlocking the door and opening it behind her, taking a few steps forward to let a bit of the outside world into the room. Mesha could hear the other inn occupants already downstairs and eating the breakfast provided. Harley was easily pinpointed among all the other noises, being the loudest noise at the table himself.
Mesha's mouth dropped open a small bit. "What?" she demanded. "Professor, I'm sorry, but... no." With a daring that surprised even herself, she strode forward and reached out with one arm, pushing the door shut while locking it securely with her other hand.
With both of Mesha's arms on each side of Raine, there wasn't much for the Professor to do but stand there, looking down at her student and waiting for her to make the next move.
"You can't just do something like that and expect me to ignore it like it didn't matter or something," Mesha said, her face aflame but her stance unyielding. "I mean, Professor... that was my first kiss. And it was with a girl. I didn't even know girls could kiss."
"I know I must have confused you, Mesha," Raine said, her voice sounding different to Mesha somehow. It seemed a little less cold than normal, a lot more emotional. "And I don't think I can describe with words how sorry I am. It was a stressful night for you as it was and I'm certain I didn't make it any better."
"But... why?" Mesha asked again, falteringly. "What did it mean? Why did you do that? Is it cause you like me?"
Raine put a hand on Mesha's arm, pushing away. "Mesha, I really think we should drop this before things get even more confusing between us. I'm your teacher. That's all."
"Well, if you're my teacher the least you can do is answer my questions!" Mesha said, trying to keep her voice steady, but it came out in what seemed to her to be a very annoying whine. Her blush intensified, the tips of her pointed ears turning scarlet as well. "And I want to know why. Can't I know why?" Raine pursed her lips at that, in annoyance, anger, or something else, Mesha couldn't tell. Mesha found it very disconcerting that she noticed Raine's lips now, a lot more than she had before.
Raine, at least, hadn't lost total control of her voice yet. Calmly, she said, "Because I'm a very bad person, Mesha. I'm using you, even when I teach you and try to take care of you. Every action since I became your teacher has been out of pure selfishness. Even now I'm making you suffer when I should be the one to help you." She closed her eyes, lowering her head as if in prayer. "That's why. It's not much, but it's like you said. I should be able to at least answer your questions if I'm going to be your teacher."
Mesha didn't know what to say to that. She let her arms drop down to her sides and took a few steps back, her eyes trained on her own feet as she tried to understand.
"I'm sorry," Raine said, turning to leave.
Mesha looked up.
"...Wait." Mesha caught the edge of her sleeve, stepping forward again and tilting her head to the side. She closed her eyes, reaching up and planting a small kiss on Raine's lips. Not a full blown kiss, it was more like she kissed the side of Raine's mouth. It was safe, experimental, a question.
Raine answered it.
"That isn't the way you do it," she said, and then pulled Mesha closer by her waist, giving her another one of those mind-meltingly soft kisses, a quick taste of Raine's lips that was gone before Mesha could drink her fill, leaving her wanting more. "I do like you, Mesha..." Raine said into her ear, the closeness of her breath sending jolting but pleasant ripples down her spine. "That's the problem. I shouldn't like you as much as I do." She tried to pull away again but Mesha latched onto her shoulders, her eyes pleadingly wide.
They heard Harley's loud laughter drift up the stairs.
"We have to go downstairs," Raine reminded her firmly, almost ripping Mesha's hands off of her. "We'll talk about this later, understand?"
The half-elf nodded, a little dizzily. "Later," Mesha agreed, her voice distant. "OK. Yeah. I mean... yeah." Raine opened the door, holding it open for Mesha. The half-elf stepped outside, her green hair hanging over her face like a thick curtain of moss, hiding the large grin that had spread across her face. She sat through breakfast without a word, her food lying untouched before her, because all she could think about was the silver-haired half-elf sitting next to her at the table, acting for all the world as if nothing had happened.
OoOoOo
A/N: Hehehe, I know I say it a lot, but I don't think you can really realize how soft lips are until you've kissed them. ♥ It really does blow your mind away. Or at least it blew my mind away. And oh shoes! Has Raine forgotten about Sheena already? Is she just really, really lonely? And if so... How's Mesha gonna react when she realizes she's just the rebound girl? And Sheena is now officially a HALF ELF! Oh, the drama!
Chapter Eight: (RUNAWAY) Kloitz makes it a point not to kill Sheena. Instead, he finds a way to reveal her grandmother's pendant and talks about it, indicating he already knows what it is and he knows a lot about Sheena.
Chapter Nine: (RUNAWAY) At one point, Sheena takes her necklace off to wrap it around her wrist. In these scant few seconds, Raine looks at her strangely and begins to ask her a question, "Sheena, are you-" but then stops once Sheena has the charm back on again. Hmm.
Chapter Twelve: (PARTNERS) "It- it was expensive. The Katz was loath to part with it, but they all have a price. It can do a lot of things. I change my hair with it, but the Katz said it was very strong. A half-elf could pretend to be human, and it can affect what you're wearing, like make a dress look like a tuxedo, or, or, or opals look like diamonds."
I'm lazy and the hints are all so subtle and this chapter is way too big already. Just letting you know... Go read Sheena's Problem. It's a million times better than this story, and not as twisted, and has half the filler, 100 less reviews, and the characters act more in character. Because I'm not as attached to it as I am to this one, I find it easier to back and edit all the bullshit. I'm personally beginning to dislike the type of story this is, but that's just because it's an old story now and I'm getting bored with it... almost two years! I am a commitment-phobe and I've committed to this for two years! Do you realize the impossibility of this? I'm already working on the sequel, in fact. I'm not sure if the sequel is going to have as many melodramatic twists as this one, but the type of story it is going to be will be, I hope, a pleasant surprise.
And ZOMG I have more than 100 reviews! Holy COW! I have more reviews than RUNAWAY, which was like my baby! Thank you all so much, especially the constant reviewers who review almost every chapter.