Well, here's chapter 6, much earlier than promised! This fic is really coming along. :O In this chapter, Songi does what he does best: acts like a complete asshole. But will Gala stand for it? Will he- Oh, I'll just shut up and let you read the damn chapter. XD
Chapter 6
The next few days passed slowly and uncomfortably. Zalan prepared good meals for his two guests - better than most of the things they were used to - and brought them in to them three times a day.
Gala spent some of his time outside of Songi's room, mostly helping Zalan and Pepe in any way he could in an attempt to repay their hospitality. But a lot of the time, he too slept. His several-month-long quest with Vahn and Noa had tired him considerably, and he was glad for the opportunity to get some regular, uninterrupted sleep at last.
At first, Songi did little else outside of eating and sleeping, usually aided by the effects of mild doses of Jigul grass. But a couple of days later, his wound, despite its severity, was well on its way to healing. This was mostly due to the health and physical strength which training for over half his life in the Biron Monastery had yielded; he could get up out of bed and walk slowly around the house, but would hiss in pain if he tried to make any quick or sudden movements.
Around Zalan and Pepe, Gala was surprised to see that Songi was almost himself, though perhaps slightly less obnoxious. He had long conversations with them about trivial things, and even though the two jewellers still knew virtually nothing about him, they seemed to somewhat enjoy their discussions with him.
Gala had never been much of a talker himself, especially with people he wasn't exceptionally close to. Songi was slightly more talkative, particularly towards people he thought he could gain something from, but for the most part he took a very long time to warm to others. Gala had the feeling he was only really talking to their hosts because he was bored.
At one point, Songi did have enough formality to ask Zalan about his jewelling business, but he quickly lost interest when the jeweller told him he mostly specialized in Seru. Clearly, Songi's attitude towards the mythical, soon-to-be-extinct creatures had not changed. Gala was tempted to point out to Songi that it had been Zalan's skills with making jewels out of Seru that had saved his life. But he quickly decided against it; not even Zalan knew what his work had done.
Around Gala, Songi switched between an odd combination of passive aggressiveness and awkwardness. At times he almost seemed to hate his guts, while at others Gala got the impression that he was somewhat ashamed of himself around him. For all Gala knew, it could very well be both.
There weren't any times when Songi was normal or even semi-normal towards him, the way he was with Zalan and Pepe. Obviously though, Gala didn't make any effort to mend their relationship himself. He felt he'd done more than enough at this point, and he just didn't think he had the energy to deal with Songi in that way, at least for a while.
The incident where Songi had practically cried his eyes out in Gala's arms was apparently meant to be forgotten, but Gala didn't mind that so much. He wanted to forget about it too, except for the part where Songi had shown such clear remorse. It gave him comfort to know that his former friend was, however faintly, still capable of being human. It meant that Jedo hadn't completely driven that out if him.
It didn't take long for the news of Juggernaut's defeat to spread to Jeremi. The townspeople were overjoyed, but since Jeremi and its region had long-since been freed of the Mist, the news wasn't as big as Gala had feared.
Of course, the fact that he, Vahn and Noa had been the ones to defeat the evil Seru was no secret, nor was it a secret that Gala was staying in Jeremi with Zalan. The townspeople were considerate though, and apart from a few eager, star-struck kids, no one came crowding to the jeweller's house and demanded to see the hero.
Songi didn't say anything when Juggernaut was brought up, but the terrible guilt on his face couldn't have been more plain to Gala. Again, this unexpected display of humanity both shook and comforted him, and he found himself almost beginning to trust Songi. Almost. He still couldn't bring himself to completely.
And as the incident the next night proved, it was a good thing he hadn't.
Gala had since moved out of the room Songi was staying in and had taken up residence on the sofa in the sitting room. He'd realized, once it was clear the man was in no danger of dying, that he no longer had any wish to share a room with him. One of the reasons for this was that it brought back painful memories of their days in the monastery, both before and after their friendship had broken up.
When they'd been friends, Gala and Songi had usually whispered to each other for a good while before going to sleep each night, or before Maya or someone else hammered on their doors and told them to go to sleep.
After they'd begun to grow apart and argue though, there had been nothing but stiff, uncomfortable silence in their shared room before they dropped off. And when Songi nudged him awake at night to tell him to stop snoring, it was no longer with the light-hearted, playful air of annoyance that he'd had before; it was with real, fierce anger, and often a promise to inflict bodily harm on him if he didn't shut up.
After a while, Gala had begun to respond to this, just as angrily as Songi, and a few times their loud arguing had awoken other members of the monastery. At last, Gala had swapped rooms with another monk, leaving him to deal with Songi's crap.
If only the anger he'd felt then could've remained indefinitely... instead of being replaced so quickly by that damned, detestable pain.
Another reason Gala didn't stay in the room with Songi was that he simply didn't know if wanted to be around him. Despite his assurances that he didn't want to cut him out of his life, Gala wasn't completely sure if he wanted him back in it either, especially if he was going to keep acting the way he was around him.
So, Gala had moved, but he hadn't stopped his suspicions. If Songi tried to sneak out of the house again, Gala probably wouldn't notice. After all, he'd managed to avoid his notice when Gala had been in the room with him, so he shouldn't have a problem doing it now that he had the room to himself.
The room in question was right next to the sitting room, and Songi would have to pass it if he wanted to get outside - all of the windows in the house were far too small to provide an escape - but still Gala hadn't been comforted.
Thus, he'd taken Zalan aside and, embarrassedly and as vaguely as he could, told him that he didn't completely trust the man he'd brought to him. Zalan, understandably curious, had nevertheless nodded and assured him that he would set his mind at ease.
"I will lay down some old, metal scraps from my work outside his room at night," he'd said. "The door opens inward, so if Mas- I mean Songi opens the door and steps out, he'll unsettle the scraps, and the noise should alert you."
Just as Zalan had promised, Gala had been greatly relieved by this. And once the feeling of security was there, he'd realized he didn't really think Songi would try anything anyway. It was more the possibility that he was guarding against, careful person that he was.
So it was with a huge start that Gala awoke in the middle of the night a few days after his talk with Zalan, the sound of crashing metal ringing in his ears.
Like lightning, he sat up, used to waking suddenly both from his strict training in the monastery and his adventures with Vahn and Noa. He glanced automatically towards the room Songi was staying in, and sure enough saw the young man sprawled on the floor, having tripped on the pieces of metal. More than Zalan had intended, probably, but still beneficial, at least for Gala.
In the darkness lit only by a few small candles along the wall, Songi's expression looked dazed and surprised. As though he had some kind of sixth sense, he looked up and saw Gala staring straight at him. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and seemed about to bolt towards the door.
"Don't move!" Gala cried, springing from the sofa and attempting to corner him. Songi was too fast for him though. In an instant, he'd run past Gala, thrown open the front door, and darted out into the night.
Gala, stopping only to step into his shoes, gave chase, not even bothering to close Zalan's door behind him. He ran outside and caught sight of Songi about fifty meters ahead of him, and hurriedly made after him. He'd initially hoped Songi would've been too stupid and incompetent to put on his own shoes, making it easy to catch up to him, but he quickly realized that this was a futile hope; the guy could be pretty smart when he put his mind to it.
Gala stopped thinking and put all his efforts into following his target. Songi had always been a good runner, and Gala had rarely been able to catch him when they'd played chasing games as kids, back when they'd been friends. If the older man had been at full strength, Gala wouldn't have had a hope of catching him. Luckily though, Songi's wound was undoubtedly paining him enough to keep him from running at full-speed, and it was logical to assume that he wouldn't be able to keep even that up for long.
They ran almost a full circle around the small town of Jeremi so that, in the end, they were back near Zalan's house, only around a quarter of a mile away from it. Gala hadn't bothered yelling out to Songi again. He knew he wasn't going to stop, no matter what he said, and anyway he didn't want to disturb the sleeping townspeople.
Suddenly, with a sharp cry of pain, Songi fell to his knees, his hands clutching his bandaged torso. As Gala quickly caught up with him, he noticed blood trickling out from between his hands, staining the bandages and shirt covering it. The still-healing wound had clearly opened again. In the dim light provided by the few oil lamps in the street, Gala saw that Songi's face was white, and his lips were trembling slightly. But Gala didn't feel sorry for him at all. On the contrary, he was almost glad to see him suffer.
"Songi," he panted, stopping to stand over him, "you miserable bastard."
Songi, despite his obvious pain, tried to smirk.
"You actually trusted me?" he said, the mocking edge in his voice almost disguising the pain. Gala looked back down at him in disgust, but he was too tired to feel much yet.
"Not completely, obviously," he said, "but I was beginning to. You would've done better to wait until I actually did. You would've had a better chance then. But you've always been impatient."
"It's not like I'm..." A short hiss of pain and a deep, shuddering breath. "It's not like I'm running away to go and kill people or anything. I just want-"
"You're not running away period," Gala interrupted him coldly. The casualness with with Songi mentioned killing people sickened him. "I told you that. And I told you what would happen if you tried to run from me."
Gala had hoped to see fear in Songi's face at these words, but that infuriating smirk never left it.
"So, what? You're gonna beat me up?" he said sarcastically. "Go ahead."
Gala's fists clenched. He had to restrain himself from doing just that. Unnervingly quickly, anger was beginning to fill him, replacing the fatigue. He seemed to be getting angry a lot more easily these days. Songi laughed shortly, though still undoubtedly in a great deal of pain.
"That's what I thought. You-"
Not even thinking, Gala drew back his fist and punched him with all his might, right in his infuriatingly sneering face. His fist hit his left cheek, and Songi fell roughly in the opposite direction. Gala drew back, expecting to want to hit him more, but the rage had left him almost as soon as it'd come, leaving only a bitter kind of emptiness in its wake.
"Not bad," Songi muttered, slowly sitting up. He wouldn't allow himself to finger the large, swelling bruise now emerging on his cheek, even though it must've hurt. Gala sighed and said, in a very tired kind of voice:
"Come on. Let's go back to Zalan's."
Obediently, not having the strength to refuse, Songi rose and awkwardly stood. His open, bleeding wound was still causing him a lot of pain, probably even more than the lingering sting of Gala's strike was. He tried to hold in a moan of agony, but it still slipped out. Despite everything, Gala felt himself feeling some sympathy. He stepped forward to help support him.
Songi, clearly hating himself for it, allowed Gala to take some of his weight and help him back to Zalan's house, towards the still-open door. Once inside, Gala took him back to his room, stepping carefully over the invaluable scraps of metal still lying all over the floor, and roughly dumped Songi onto his bed. The man gasped hard as his injury was strained by his landing, and he glared at Gala's already-retreating back.
Gala was relieved to find that Zalan was awake too, probably alerted by all the noise. As much as he'd wished they hadn't disturbed the jeweller, Gala still felt grateful he was there. He wasn't nearly as good with medical practices as Zalan was, and he certainly wouldn't have gone to him if he'd still been asleep. He and Songi - especially Songi - had burdened the poor man enough already.
Zalan, his eyes puffy with sleep, reacted as expected when he followed Gala into the room and saw Songi: There was blood leaking through his bandages, and he was lying back on the bed with a pale, strained face. Zalan gaped for a moment, then rushed from the room to fetch his medical supplies, returning less than a minute later. No one said anything as he knelt down beside the injured man and, after thrusting a small handful of Jigul grass into his hands, began removing the bloodstained bandages.
Songi, aside from forcing himself to swallow the numbing medicine, didn't move as Zalan cleaned, treated and re-dressed his wound. His eyes were closed, but he didn't look nearly as bad as he had the last time. His face was pale, but it wasn't the unnerving chalk-white it had been then. Gala thought his injury didn't seem too serious, and when he was finally done tending to it, it appeared Zalan agreed.
"It's not too bad," he said, still sounding a little tired. "He dislodged one of my stitches, but I've replaced it. I've also put some medicine on it so he won't get infected."
Standing up, clearly eager to get back to bed, Zalan muttered to Gala under his breath:
"I'll help you put the metal scraps back outside."
Gala nodded, grateful. He turned to follow the jeweller out of the room, but before he did, he looked at Songi. The red-head now had his eyes slightly open and was giving him a sleepy but mocking smirk.
"You're an idiot, you know that?" Gala said. "You're lucky you didn't hurt yourself more than you did."
Songi laughed weakly.
"No, you took care of that for me, didn't you? You can really hit hard when you want to."
Gala scowled and walked out, not bothering to reply. Zalan was waiting for him outside, and together the two set back up the bits of scrap-metal that had worked so well. They were silent as they worked. Zalan wasn't mentioning the ugly mark on Songi's face, but he'd undoubtedly seen it. He'd probably guessed at its cause too, and whatever he once might've thought, it wasn't likely he believed his two guests were friends with each other now.
When they were done, they went back into the main room of the house. Gala lifted the blanket he'd been using and put it back on the sofa. Zalan watched him for a few seconds, his brow creased. Finally, he said:
"Gala, I'm sorry if I sound intrusive, but..."
Gala flinched, knowing what was coming. Of course, he couldn't expect Zalan not to be curious now. He'd taken in Songi as happily as he'd done him because he'd believed he was Gala's friend. An awkward, passive-aggressive friend perhaps, but a friend nonetheless. Now that he realized they weren't friends, he was well within his rights to know just what Songi was to Gala. The problem was, Gala didn't really know himself.
"Just what is going on with you and Songi?" Zalan went on carefully. "I assumed he was a friend of yours, but you two are acting more like..."
Mortal enemies? Gala thought, resisting the urge to laugh bitterly.
"He was my friend, a while ago," he said after a moment. "But we..."
Gala stopped. He wasn't sure what Zalan's reaction would be if he told him Songi had been an avid supporter of the Mist that had terrorized Jeremi for so long. After all, that same Mist had kept Zalan from his son for ten years and taken his wife from him forever. At the very least, he'd almost certainly not want Songi in his house anymore. But then, Gala thought suddenly, he didn't really want to be in this house any longer either. It wasn't in his nature to throw his problems on people, especially strangers, and he and Songi had already been staying with Zalan for over a week.
"We won't stay here anymore. I'll find somewhere else," Gala said decidedly. "We've burdened you enough."
Zalan started to protest, as Gala had known he would, but he stopped him before he could get too far.
"I know you're fine with it, Zalan, but I'm not. Please..."
Zalan hesitated. It could not be more obvious that he would've been willing to take in twenty people if Gala had asked him to. But upon seeing the firm, decided look on the young man's face, Zalan evidentially realized there was no changing his mind.
"There are quite a few empty houses in Jeremi," Zalan said tentatively instead. "Ever since..."
He stopped, looking down. He didn't have to remind Gala that Jeremi had been under the tyranny of the Mist for ten long years. Many of the town's citizens had been killed in the initial takeover by the maddened Seru. As a result, there were still quite a few of uninhabited houses in the village. Gala didn't much like the idea of living in the houses of people who had fallen victim to such a horrible fate, but he liked the idea of continuing to burden Zalan even less.
"I'm sure no one would mind if you took one, considering all you've done for this village," Zalan said. "And you can..." He hesitated. "...Take some of my metal scraps with you, if you need them."
"Thank you," Gala said, nodding gratefully. He wasn't sure if Songi would fall for the same trick twice, but it was a lot better than nothing.
"But you should probably wait a few days," Zalan said. "It wouldn't be a good idea for Songi to walk straight away."
Gala felt a reluctant twinge of concern that he immediately tried to suppress.
"Walking to a house nearby won't open up that wound again, will it?" he asked.
"Not if you're slow and careful, but he'll be in a lot of pain if you do it tomorrow."
Gala's concern melted away, and he suddenly found himself feeling nothing but hatred and betrayal. Hell, he'd begun to half-trust the guy, even to consider he was capable of change.
Songi had actually cried in front of him, something he'd never done with him or anyone else in the monastery since they'd first been brought there. But what if he'd only done that to use him, to gain his trust so he'd be able to ditch him more quickly? The crying, even the regret in general, had been very unlike him. And he'd always been very good at manipulating people, especially when he'd gotten that Sim Ra-Seru. Gala had to wonder now, not for the first time, if the influence of that evil thing hadn't left Songi completely unscathed.
"That was his fault," Gala said coldly, breaking the short silence that had fallen. "Maybe the pain will make him think twice before trying to run off again. This is the second time he's done it, and I'm getting sick of it. I'm sure you are, too."
He sounded harsh, and he knew it. But he didn't care. All he knew right then was that the idea of Songi suffering was a very pleasant prospect.
And to think, before all this, before Songi had betrayed the monastery, Gala had never even wished suffering upon another human being, let alone inflicted it.
Songi, you douche. D: Yeah, I'm willing to bet Songi was a lot more in-character in this chapter, right? XD Poor Gala. He has the patience of a saint.
I hope this chapter didn't seem too pointless, since basically I just spent six pages explaining why Gala and Songi won't be staying with Zalan anymore. But hopefully the character interaction between them was okay. I like to think Gala would've snapped under these circumstances and struck Songi. And to be honest, the guy... kind of deserved it. XD