Cress' Revelation

He didn't know what to make of the whole thing. Mint had finally learned who her father was. Chester had found out that he was related to Claus. It seemed that among all his friends, everyone else bore ties of blood to another, somehow. He was the only one alone, without any real family left.

The realization hurt.

It wasn't the same. It counted, but it wasn't the same. More than anything, Cress wished that his own parents were still alive.

He still hadn't spoken to his Uncle Olson since that horrible night in Euclid, when everything had begun… He still hadn't forgiven the man, or his aunt Joanne, for their complicity in his abduction. Although things had worked out well in the end, the betrayal had been devastating, especially coming so immediately after his parents' horrible deaths, and Ami's, and the entire destruction of Toltus.

And of course, he would be marrying Mint once the city was rebuilt. Trinicus D. Morrisson would be giving away the bride, and Chester would stand as his own best man. Arche would be the maid of honor, although Mint was having a rather difficult time of convincing her friend to leave the broom out of the wedding party. THOSE were amusing discussions! And afterward, he too would be related to the Morrissons, although only by marriage.

Still, he didn't consider himself as having any living blood ties. And his wedding was only a few days away.

It had taken most of a year to rebuild Toltus into what they had already begun calling the city of Miguel. People had flocked to the site, eventually, to help out. After the first weeks of slow solitary labor, the friends had felt like half of Aseria had come at some point! Now, quiet moments were few and Mint at least was not involved in the construction at all; in fact, she had spent most of the time she wasn't preparing for the upcoming nuptials in playing hostess and feeding the masses. Many brought food as well as building supplies, and even though the buildings for the stores had not been finished, shopkeepers were already moving in and making their wares available at surprisingly reasonable prices.

None of them were ever left alone for very long; Arche had found it easier to escape on her broom and had always been willing to give any of them a literal lift out of the area should they need to take a break. He was constantly surrounded by friends, old and new alike. When he wasn't planning the city or the wedding, Cress was working on reestablishing the Albane School as a center for martial education. It pained him that he was virtually the only survivor. None of the younger students had survived the attack on Toltus. Master Tristan had, however, and he had been indispensable.

Cress had never felt more alone.

He felt that he had no right to complain; after all, his friends were some of the best family anyone could ask for. He had survived not one but three separate battles with that supremely destructive force known as Dhaos, and learned a lot in the interim about himself, his world, and the big picture. His home had been destroyed but he was rebuilding it with his own two hands and all his friends beside him. He had the love of a truly wonderful woman – he even dared to call her divine, which amused the healer – and he knew for a fact that the future was bright. It didn't change how he felt.

"Hey, lazybones, quit daydreaming and gimme a hand with this last support beam," Chester interrupted his friend's musings.

"Oh, sorry, Chester. This place is coming along really well," he admired the younger man's handiwork. "Who'd have thought you had the soul of an architect?" He smiled encouragingly, trying to shake off the dull depression that tugged at the corners of his mind.

"Thanks. I wish Ami could be here to see it." Chester's answering smile was wistful.

"Like she didn't worship the very ground you walk on already," Cress grinned at his friend.

Chester smirked at that. "Well of course!"

They wrestled the last beam into place. "I can finish up here. You should probably go check on the girls and make sure Arche hasn't poisoned anyone yet."

"Oh, come off it, Chester. I don't know why you're still so hard on her. You know she's gotten to be really good in the kitchen."

Cress almost missed the flash of agony in Chester's eyes before his friend responded. "I bet she bought that picnic food, and that Mint's been doing all the work ever since. What're you lookin' at?" He had noticed that Cress seemed to be studying him.

"Y'know, Chester, you've acted really strange around her since she came around. It's been months. Don't you think you should talk to her?"

Chester dropped his gaze, seeming to pay a lot of attention to an invisible spot on the floor. "About what?"

Cress sighed. "You really don't know?"

Blue eyes flashed in sudden frustration. "No, I don't know, Cress! All I DO know is that every time I talk to her she ticks me off! I can't have one conversation with that girl that doesn't end without us wanting to throw something at each other!"

"You're really crazy about her, aren't you," Cress said softly.

Broad shoulders slumped. "It doesn't matter, Cress. She's not crazy about me. She's meant to be with someone else. It was in Dad's letter."

"What?" Cress was genuinely surprised. Chester hadn't shown any of them the letter from his father wherein Travis Burklight revealed his relationship with Claus. In fact, it had been difficult for Chester to tell them even that much.

The archer reached into his quiver and pulled out the scroll. "Don't tell this to Arche," he read. "When I first met her I thought she was quite a woman, but it didn't take long before I realized she was waiting for someone special. By now maybe she's even found him again. I say again because, though she never said as much, I think she'd already met him but in the future, which she won't talk about. With any luck, she's come back from wherever she went, and she's helped to raise you alongside us. She left very suddenly when Cress was born; it was the same day we told her you were expected. She never told us why but your mother figures that it was something future-related. Your mother is a very smart woman. And no, dear, I'm not writing that because you're reading over my shoulder as I write. Then again, son, you're reading this now, so something happened that we didn't expect. Or want. Don't get too close to Arche, Chester. I don't ever want to see you hurting."

Cress stared at his friend. "Our parents actually knew Arche before we were born? Weird. Why did none of our parents ever mention anything?"

Chester shook his head. "It's right there in the letter. My mother knew there must have been a reason that Arche left; she knew that Arche had been to the future, so they probably decided not to tell us they'd known her until they knew why she left." Sadness washed over the two men as they realized that they did know the reason, now.

"So, Chester," Cress tried to be as casual as he could. "Who do you think it is?"

"Who do I think what is?" He was having a harder time shaking off the sadness than Cress had.

The blond fought the impulse to roll his eyes. "The person that Arche was waiting for."

"What difference does it make," he spat out, suddenly angry again. Without another word, he whirled, his blue hair fanning out behind him, and stormed down the stairs, leaving Cress scratching his head in complete befuddlement.

He wanted to run away and scream. Was Cress really that dense? That selfish? He had to know how Chester felt about Arche. But between the letter and the way she'd been acting, Chester was sure that his feelings were unrequited. After all, she'd clearly been crazy over Cress when they'd come back to his own time. She was being amazingly enthusiastic about his impending wedding to Mint, but she wasn't evil or selfish.

If anyone deserved that description, Chester thought, it would be him. How could be begrudge her the least bit of happiness?

Cress just didn't get it. The only thing in the entire world that made any sense to him was his love for Mint; sometimes he didn't even understand why she'd love someone like him in return. He didn't question it, though. She did, and that was enough for him. It was all he really needed.

But he didn't think Mint could help with this mess. His best friend was suddenly and inexplicably furious with him, and all he'd done was try to get him to admit that he liked Arche as more than a friend. It had been almost a year since their return to their own time. Why in the world was Chester acting so unhappy every time the sorceress showed up? Why did the mere mention of her name set him off? Cress sighed and descended the hidden stairs. Chester really was doing a great job with the house; Cress only wished he could be more helpful in other ways.

He decided to check in with Mint and see if she needed any help.

She and Arche were cleaning the kitchen, discussing the final seating arrangements, when he arrived.

"But we can't seat the Denbys with the Jordains," Mint was saying worriedly. "And there isn't enough room for them at the table with the Mawlis, unless we move the Wards and the Plotkins."

"So don't seat them there, put them on the other side of the room with the Endormans." Arche shook her head. "Hey, Cress. Will you please tell your bride to chill out?"

"Chill out," he said helpfully.

Arche snorted, rolling her eyes. "Thanks SO much."

"Glad to be of service," Cress grinned, his eyes on his bride.

"What's wrong, Cress?" Mint's perception startled the young man.

"How did you – oh. Never mind," he said as his grin turned rueful. "It's Chester. I'm worried about him," he continued, his eyes flickering towards Arche.

She apparently misinterpreted the look. "I'll let you two talk," she said. Her friends noticed the trepidation that flickered in her rose eyes.

"It's hard to tell which of them is more foolish, sometimes," Mint said with an odd twist of her lips that wasn't quite a smile.

Cress nodded. "I just had the weirdest conversation with Chester." He summed up the part of the letter that his friend had read to him, and the ensuing discussion. "He really has no idea that it's him. I want to get really mad at his dad, but there's no way he could have known. He was trying to protect his son."

Mint nodded. "It's silly, really. I wish they'd just get over it already. I've tried talking to Arche but she refuses to talk to Chester about it. Of all the things for that girl to get old fashioned about," she grumbled. Cress smiled again. "But I'm glad you're here, Cress," Mint's eyes were troubled again.

"What's wrong, more trouble with where to put the Mayor of Euclid?"

"Not the mayor, Cress. Your uncle."

"I don't want him there!" Suddenly Cress was furious. He struggled to keep from raising his voice. "I'm sorry, Mint, but I really do not want that man or his wife at our wedding."

"Cress…"

But he was adamant. "No. Not after what he did to my family. He is responsible for his own brother's death!"

"Cress!" Mint was shocked. "He hardly had a choice in the matter. It was horrible, what happened is horrible, and few know that as well as I do. But Cress, if you think about it, he was being badly threatened" she lowered her gaze, "and a lot of good eventually came from it. I wouldn't have met you otherwise."

Cress opened his mouth to argue, but sighed instead as the words processed. "I know, Mint." He took her hands in his own and held them to his heart. "And that, I don't regret. But he still betrayed my parents, and he betrayed me. He expected me to die, Mint. He condemned his own nephew to death!" The anger had twisted into pain, but Mint clung to his hands with as much fervor as he clung to hers.

"I know, Cress. Believe me, I know. But, beloved, he's the only family you have left. Please, at least read the letter. Then if you don't want him there, I'll never bring it up again."

Ardent blue eyes met his own. She radiated sincerity, and Cress knew she was right. A long moment passed before he sighed again. "Fine. I'll read it."

The smile that faltered into existence on her face brightened his world. For that alone, he'd read the letter. He didn't have to like it. Just read it.

To my niece and nephew, if you will allow me still to call you such:

~Well, that was good,~ Cress mused. ~At least the old man isn't dumb enough to think I could forgive him that easily.~

The past two years have been purest hell for us. Your Aunt Joanne and I have wanted nothing more than to see you since we heard you survived that horrible night.

They would have destroyed Euclid, Cress. They destroyed Toltus, which is irredeemable. But I could not allow them to destroy Euclid as well. I feared for your life, but I feared for our world as much. What is one life compared to many? Had you died, I would have followed soon after.

Joanne and I could never have children of our own, as you know. Sometimes, when you were younger and would stay with us for a few days, I would pretend to myself that you were my son and not my brother's. It helped.

When Mars came that night, a week before you arrived, and told me what Toltus' fate was, I felt ill. He and your father had been best friends. He had been one of the people who carried your mother's chair at your presentation. I still can't understand what made him turn on everyone like that. He was like another brother to us. And there he stood, casually as you please, telling me that Euclid would be the next to fall, the castle and the city alike. All he wanted was your pendant. I didn't know what was so special about it, other than that it was something your father guarded carefully. I didn't know what it contained. I didn't know that it would tear the world apart. All I knew was that a friend I'd trusted had killed my brother and his wife, and was threatening the rest of my world. I thought that no pendant could possibly be worth so many lives. I didn't think he would harm you. I thought if he got the pendant, he'd leave you alone. He promised he'd take me instead, once he had what he wanted, and I believed him.

I was wrong.

"Boy were you ever!" Cress' indignation was tempered by Mint's gentle hand on his arm and by the realization that Olson had truly had no choice, given what he knew. Then again, it could as easily be a story.

Cress, I don't expect you to forgive us, but we hope you will. Your aunt Joanne had no idea about any of this until well after the fact. I slept on the couch for quite a while, and my back still hasn't recovered… But I'm sure that's not what you want to hear.

I understand you'll be married soon. I can hardly ask you to allow me to stand up by your side, under the circumstances, but I pray to all the gods that you will not bar me from your lives forever. You are all that's left of my family, Cress. I don't feel worthy of being related to such as you. If blood will out, then let mine reflect your valor, and not the other way around.

Hopefully yours,

Olson Albane (And Joanne)

Cress read the letter twice more.

Running a hand through his thick blond hair, he sighed and resumed pacing, not having noticed he'd begun to do so while he read. "What do you think, Mint? Can I trust him not to ruin everything?"

Mint looked hurt. "Cress, you read the letter. You know he never had anything but your best interests at heart. He didn't know any other way to protect you."

"Protection like that I don't need." His disgust caused Mint to flinch again.

She stood behind him and tried to rub his shoulders around his armor. "I don't get why you still wear this stuff, Cress. It's not like there's much risk of having to battle monsters here."

"Construction can be dangerous work, Mint. Can't be too careful." He grinned but it faded quickly. He leaned his head forward to allow her a little more room to reach his neck. "That feels really good."

"If you think this feels good, Cress…" There was a promising note in her voice that Cress decided he liked. A long moment passed as she worked at the knot in his neck.

"Hmmm?"

"If you think this feels good, just imagine how amazing it'll feel when you see your uncle again," she said more curtly.

It was Cress' turn to flinch. "Ouch."

"Sorry, but it's how I feel."

"You're probably right, Mint."

"I know I'm right. It's been so long, Cress. Especially as we reckon time. Don't you think it would only help to let go and let the wounds heal?"

"You're such a HEALER sometimes!" Cress turned around to face his bride, his exasperation clear. "I know you're trying to help, darling, but I need to think about it."

Mint nodded and chose her words carefully. "I'm sure Arche will be willing to take them on her broom if you decide they should be here."

Cress leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead and left the room, Chester's distress forgotten.

Unfortunately for him, the archer was nowhere to be found; this was the sort of thing Cress would usually turn to him for. He loved Mint with his entire being, but Chester was his childhood friend, who knew Olson and Joanne. Chester and he had suffered the same losses together. Part of him was convinced that Mint just couldn't understand how he felt.

It was almost dark when Chester finally reappeared. There were a few leaves entwined in his hair.

They spoke almost in unison. "Cress, I'm sor—"

"Chester, I need –"

They both laughed nervously.

"Me first this time, bro. I need to apologize to you for before. My problems with Arche are mine, not yours. I guess I better just get over it and move on with my life. Dwelling on the past doesn't do anyone any good. It's only hurting me." Indeed, he looked fully as miserable as he had that morning, before he'd exploded.

"Hey, it's okay," Cress said. "It's funny you should say that, though…" He tried to smile and failed.

"What is it, Cress?" Suddenly, Chester realized that the haunted look in Cress' eyes had nothing to do with their own little spat. Something was seriously bugging his friend.

"It's Uncle Olson and Aunt Joanne. Mint and I got a letter from them."

"What!" Chester was always quick to anger, and this time was no exception. The mention of those names set a fire blazing in his eyes that matched Cress' when he'd first heard of the missive. "What was he thinking?"

Cress' head hung low. "That's what I said. He wanted to apologize." He showed the letter to his friend, who read it quickly. "Mint says I should try to let it go."

Chester opened his mouth to speak, but to Cress' surprise he closed it again and looked thoughtful. "Y'know, I don't like it either, but your betrothed is not a foolish woman." The added, "unlike some people" slipped out before he could stop himself.

"Chester…"

"Sorry," Chester responded to the warning tone in his friend's voice but neither one of them really believed it. "What he did was wrong. But really, Cress, what would you have done? If it were Ami, and I thought they'd let her go… To save the world…" he shook his head.

Cress was surprised by the mention of Chester's sister, especially in such a context. It seemed to him that the little girl he remembered as if she had been his own sister was always present, but rarely mentioned. Chester would never forget her, never forgive her loss, but it seemed that even he was beginning to adjust to the idea. And this was the second time in one day he'd mentioned her. For Chester, that was a new record.

"To save the world… I wouldn't sacrifice anyone," Cress said slowly.

Chester found something fascinating on the floor that made him stare at it very hard. "Don't take this wrong, buddy, but… What if you were asked to sacrifice yourself?"

Now it was Cress' turn to open his mouth to speak without a sound escaping. A realization began to dawn on him, and finally words emerged. "You… expected to die that day."

Chester nodded, still staring at the floor.

"Chester – but why?"

Under blue fabric, the broad shoulders shrugged unevenly. "It was me or all of us. I figured what the hell, if it meant saving the world, even if it only meant giving you that one extra moment to escape…" His voice trailed off and he looked up, his eyes almost feverish. "Cress, you're my best friend. You're like a brother. You're the only family I had then. The only family I'll ever have," he said with a grimace. "And I'll be damned if I ever let anything hurt you. That's what family's about. Watchin' out for each other."

"Chester…" Cress stared at his friend, stunned. The intensity of the man's feelings shocked him to the core even more than the letter had. Something in his mind clicked.

Olson had seemed very nervous, that long-ago day, anxious and scared. He'd been almost desperate for Cress to spend the night at his house. Aunt Joanne had been concerned about him but she hadn't seemed as distracted as his uncle. Though it unnerved him, he'd just thought the old man looked older. Thinking back, the expression on his uncle's face as he'd pushed for Cress to agree to go to bed had been despair.

He hadn't wanted to give in to Mars' demands. He hadn't wanted to give Cress into evil hands, but he'd thought that they'd take the pendant and let him go, whereas he'd believed that withstanding the pressure would mean not just Cress' death, but everyone's. He'd truly believed he had no other choice, and he had given up his own happiness to save something that meant far more. Olson had expected to pay with his own life.

The more he thought about it, the more he had to believe it. Sometime during his ruminations, Chester patted him on the shoulder and left. At some point, he leaned against a tree and sank to the soil beneath. Olson had done much as Chester had. Of course, he only had the old man's word for it, but Mint and Chester were so adamantly in favor of giving him another chance. Maybe they were right.

Darkness had fallen long before he wandered back to Mint's house. He was relieved to find all three of his friends there.

"Hey, you okay?" Chester studied his face.

Cress nodded. "Hey. Arche, can you do me a favor? Do you think your broom will carry two more people here from Euclid?"

Chester grinned widely and Mint all but glowed as she put her arms around him and laid her cheek on his shoulder. Arche, who had heard the gist of the situation from Mint, made a thoughtful face.

"I think I can see what can be done. I can always take one at a time… So who should I bring first, your aunt, or your uncle?"

Cress smiled gratefully and Mint opened the embrace to include her. None of them noticed the brief flash of hurt in Chester's eyes as he leaned against the wall.