Chapter Twenty-One
Reunions
Linebeck was broken out of his thoughts when Ciela nudged his hand with hers that still held Kato's reins, wordlessly giving control back to Linebeck now that they were out of the treacherous temple tunnels. Reaching around his sister, Linebeck took the worn leather.
Remaining silent, Ciela made her way towards Isamu, untying him from the tree branch, noting that where Kato had been tied, the branch laid on the ground broken. Then Ciela turned back to Isamu, mounting him with a grimace when her arm was disturbed, which in turn, aggravated her wounded left shoulder. She settled down with a heavy sigh, feeling her whole body slump with the aftereffects of running practically the length of the isle and the tunnels of the temple.
Linebeck urged Kato toward Ciela, watching her movements with a small frown. The frown deepen in pain as his leg was jostled by Kato's movements. With the short distance from the temple to Ciela, Linebeck knew making it back to town was going to be a long, slow, and painful process.
"Ciela." Called Linebeck. "How... How are you holding up?"
"I'm hiding up fine." Came Ciela's curt reply, as she turned away from Linebeck as he came up beside her.
"You don't look fine." Linebeck retorted, eyebrows furrowed in displeasure.
It was true. Ciela's face was white as snow and a thin sheen of sweat shone on her forehead, throwing her bright hair into relief. Before she turned her face away from him, Linebeck caught that her eyes had taken on that emotionally blank stare. Her right hand trembled as she gripped Isamu's reins so tightly that her knuckles matched her face. Her left arm dangled uselessly by her side, nigh on completely soaked from her shoulder wound. All this paired with her and Jolon's blood splattered on her front made Ciela looked like she walked out of a horror story.
"Frankly, you look like hell." Linebeck bluntly continued. "I won't deny that while it was better, you made a life altering decision today-"
"It's not my first hard call I have had to make." Ciela cut Linebeck off, still not looking at him. "My past duties as being a spirit made it so I had to make tough calls."
Ciela buried the sting at lying to Linebeck, glad that she was looking away from him so she wasn't looking him in the eye. She only really made one tough call and that was splitting her soul to escape from Bellum.
However, Ciela wasn't going to get into her mental state so soon after murdering a man. At this time, Linebeck was going to need to focus his energy on his sister, and not worry about Ciela. This was her choice, and she would deal with the repercussions on her own. She wasn't going to burden anyone with this.
Linebeck stared long and hard at Ciela, examining her posture and turning her words over in his head. He spent years throwing bullshit out to people to gain a few rupees here and there for a drink and after the Phantom Quest, to get into somebody's good favor that would help get a certain treasure. As such, he gained a sense for when somebody was lying to him. Ciela's words were setting off alarm bells in Linebeck's head.
Linebeck opened his mouth to call Ciela out on it, but before he could get a single syllable out, Linette began stirring within his grip, softly groaning.
Mouth closing with a snap, Linebeck looked down at his waking sister. Then back to Ciela. Lips thinning, Linebeck raised a hand to Linette's arm, gently squeezing. He didn't want to just drop their conversation, but Linebeck didn't want to get into a fight with Ciela in front of Linette, because he knows that it would take a fight to get the truth out of Ciela.
"Damn stubborn woman." Linebeck internally muttered, face darkening before calming himself for Linette.
"Urg…" Linette groaned out, blearily blinking open her eyes. She looked side to side, expression dazed and confused. "We're… outside?" In an instant, her expression sharpened and became aware. Her head and posture shot up. "We're outside- ow, ow, ow." She curled back into Linebeck's chest, feeling pain ripple along her body at pushing herself too fast.
"Hey, hey, hey. Take it easy." Linebeck chastised, again gently squeezing Linette's arm. "How are you feeling?"
"Like sunshine and fucking roses." Linette shot back, glaring at Linebeck with as much venom as she could muster with one eye swelled shut and face white.
"Good to know you're still sassy as ever." Linebeck said, expression turning sour. "Answer the damn question, 'Net."
Linette's expression soften at the use of her old nickname, one that she hadn't heard except in her dreams. "Woozy. Everything is throbbing." Linette leaned to the side as much as she could without falling off. "And how the hell did we end up on Kato, outside the maze of hallways in the temple?"
"Sparkles, and Kato being a smarter horse than anyone would have imagined." Linebeck said, giving a soft pat to the horse's side.
Linette let a hoarse laugh, which didn't really sound like a laugh at all, more like a loud and rough cough. "She always has been, compared with your empty brain."
Linebeck let out a sound of indignant disbelief, mouth dropping open. He tried to make a retort toward his sister, but all of a sudden, the fight went out of him. Things were still too raw, and it felt wrong and empty, banter sounding rather hollow. For Goddesses' sake, Ciela would have been crowing her head off at Linette's comment. Instead, she remained silent, a statue on top of Isamu.
Linebeck gave a world weary sigh, almost collapsing as he leaned over Linette. He only hummed in response to Linette, eyelids resting low over his eyes.
Linette swallowed, also feeling the grating feeling of the almost forced banter. It was a mockery of their previous conversations and joking around. She leaned back, curling into Linebeck's chest. Linette opened her mouth. What she was going to say, she wasn't even sure.
The sounds of hooves galloping along the packed dirt of the trail brought everyone back on alert and cut of Linette. Even though Ciela could feel her muscles trembling beneath her and there wasn't any more trouble on the island for them, she reached for Linebeck's blade still dangerously shoved in her belt. Her hand remained on the hilt of the blade, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.
Then, a fair amount of the residents of Farqay Island emerged from the forest, with Max and Maris leading the group.
Immediately upon seeing Linebeck, Linette and Ciela, they slowed and stopped in the edges of the clearing. They stared in disbelief, mostly at Linette and her truly being alive.
"Blessed be the Goddesses…" Max murmured under his breath.
Maris raised a hand to her lips, eyes beginning to fill up. "By Din, you're really alive, Linette." She cried out, scrubbing at her face.
The other townspeople responded much of the same, Linette's name being spoken in rolling tones among them.
Linette tried to muster up enough energy to smile back, but only managed a wavering grimace. A sea of strangers stared back at her. Almost no one looked how she remembered them and it only reminded Linette of the years she had lost to Jolon. Linebeck brought his arm around her front, holding her protectively to her chest, sensing on some level, Linette's distress.
"Where is Jolon?" Mr. Rybak questioned, grey-blue eyes peering over the group, one hand gripping an old looking musket resting on his other arm.
"Dead." Ciela said, voice emotionless. She met Maris' eyes before looking away. "I had gotten the chance."
Maris' eyes widened, but she nodded back. Ciela resumed her blankly looking over the rest of the group, hoping that nobody would inquire any further. Thankfully, they remained mostly silent other than a low murmuring of Ciela's words being repeated among them.
"Well, let's get you all back to the bar." Rybak said, jerking his head in the general direction toward the bar. "You all look like death warmed over and I want to get those wounds looked at immediately."
Linebeck gave a dry snort at Rybak's comment, but urged Kato forward, still keeping his one hand around Linette's front protectively. Ciela followed suit. Half of the group turned back to follow them, while Rybak directed the rest to go a retrieve Jolon's body after moving to be alongside Linebeck and Linette. Linebeck paused to only warn the group of the temple's maze of tunnels, telling them to make sure to have some method of not losing their way.
He turned back around just in time to see Ciela slump to the side and onto the ground below, unconscious. Linebeck's heart leapt into his throat, and every instinct in him told him to run to her side. Then common sense kicked in when his shot leg was moved and his own vision flickered dangerously again. He moved Kato closer forward, keeping a safe distance as Max and a few of the villagers jumped off their horse and examined Ciela.
Max signaled to Linebeck that Ciela was okay. One of the villagers removed the sweater they were wearing, before wrapping Ciela's left arm and tying it off to make a makeshift sling. Max gathered Ciela in his arms. He carefully maneuvered Ciela back onto Isamu, making sure that the woman was secure within the saddle. He got back on his horse and grabbed up Isamu's reins to lead them back to town.
Linebeck watched Ciela with worry, knowing that she was lucky with Jolon's shot, that a few inches lower and she would have been gone. Linebeck blinked, and squeezed shut his eyes against a sudden wave of dizziness.
"Shit…" Linebeck thought, remembering how he got the same wave of dizziness before passing out in the temple. Blinking more, Linebeck noticed the blackness at the edges of his vision wasn't going away.
He turned to Rybak beside him, stated for the man to try and catch him, and then finally blacked out for good, dead to the world around him.
That night, Ciela laid in one of the beds above the bar, staring out at the dark sky blankly. Her fingers trailed over her bandaged shoulder, occasionally pressing down on her bullet wound, causing the constant level of pain to spike, making Ciela close her eyes in response to the pain.
Opening back up her eyes, Ciela twisted her head to look over at the sleeping pair of twins. Linebeck and Linette had fallen asleep on same bed, curled toward one another. Linette had her back to Ciela and rested her head against Linebeck's chest, tucked underneath his chin. Linebeck faced Ciela, face smoothed out in sleep, arms still curled protectively around Linette's frail frame.
All throughout the day, Linebeck and Linette were by each other's sides. Whenever Linette would become overwhelmed, she turned to Linebeck to hide. The twins couldn't be separated. Understandable, given what they had been put through. At least, that was what Ciela had been told when she came to a few hours ago after she awoke with a bullet mostly removed and the entirety of her shoulder bandaged.
Ciela watched them for a few minutes as they slept. Then, her eyes turned back to the night sky. At that moment, a bright light zipped by, blinding Ciela momentarily. She blinked, a flicker of surprise showing on her previously expressionless face. Ciela sat up, looking out of the window better.
The light zoomed passed outside the window again, and Ciela recognized it from the temple. Craning her head out the window, she stared at the pale blue ball of light for a few moments, before making up her mind.
"Meet me at the Blue Tala field." Ciela whispered to the light, before slipping back inside. Sliding quietly out bed, Ciela put on the sling for her arm and swung her jacket over her shoulders, buttoning the top part to create a makeshift cape. Reaching down, she grabbed up her shoes in her hands. Ciela scurried across the floor, trying to avoid waking Linebeck and Linette.
Unbeknownst to her, however, a pair of emerald green eyes watched as Ciela snuck out into the hallway.
With a confused frown, Linette settled her head back against Linebeck's chest, wondering who in the sea Ciela could be meeting with. With her thoughts swirling about in her head, Linette willed herself back to sleep, focusing on the even breaths of her brother. She settled into an uneasy sleep, frown still on her features.
Once outside of the bar, Ciela shoved on her shoes and hurried through the backstreets of the town, unknowingly keeping herself to the shadows. The pale blue light would hover close to the ground, allowing Ciela to keep her footing among the debris.
Within good time, Ciela hurried onto the road leading to the field. With the dark looming in front of her, Ciela clutched her jacket tighter to her chest. The wind picked up. Ciela's nightgown snapped around her bare ankles. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather traveled up her spine.
For a brief moment, Ciela started turning back to the town and the warm lights that signified safety. Then, the pale blue light appeared out of the trees, darting down the road. It speed it's way down, as if trying to escape from Ciela.
Outside of the town, Ciela had no qualms about keeping her voice down.
"Wait!" She called, running toward the light and into the darkness. She quickly picked up speed.
The ex-fairy raced down the path, ignoring the burning in her lungs and her shoulder throbbing in protest at being agitated.
Upon finally reaching the field, Ciela looked up and skidded to a stop in shock, trampling a few flowers.
She stared at the person who awaited her in the gazebo, eyes wide in astonishment, mouth dropping open silently.
She knew that it was her… but actually seeing….
Ciela glided forward like a ghost through the wilting flowers, never taking her eyes off the person before her.
Just as Ciela entered the gazebo, clouds covered the waning moon, bathing the field into darkness.
…
About two weeks later, Linebeck and Linette sat upon their horses' backs, in front of a freshly dug grave with a blank tombstone. While it was customary to cremate the remains of any Farqay resident, nobody wanted to extend that right to Jolon, with the blood on his hands. So, they found a small clearing in the woods, near where they had found the body that had been assumed to be Linette's and buried Jolon there, placing the small, unmarked tombstone above to mark his place.
The air was cool. A slight breeze picked up, causing brightly colored leaves to fall from the branches above, twisting and twirling around the pair of twins. Fall had fully settled on Farqay island.
"Did you ever think that we would have reached this moment?" Linebeck queried, face remaining passive, staring at the blank grave.
Linette gave a dry snort. "What? Where we're standing before our father's- Jolon's grave?" Linette was still working on referring the man as Jolon, and not father as he made her do so during her imprisonment. "No. I was expecting us to be six feet under and him standing above us instead."
Linebeck met his sister's gaze, before nodding and looking back to the grave, face still passive.
Linette raised one eyebrow, a sick feeling of unease pooling in her stomach at Linebeck's uncaring attitude about her rather depressing comment, his almost agreement with it. "Seriously, you didn't think we would make it either?"
"I had some pretty dark moments in the past thirteen years." Linebeck said, eyes darkening with unpleasant memories of his younger, drunker self. "And after I learned of your apparent 'death', I had given up entirely on rescuing you."
"Understandable, given that Jolon faked my death for the townspeople." Linette said. "That poor girl…. We only had the time from whatever island she had come from to Farqay Island to talk to each other. I can still hear her screams the night Fath- Jolon took her away and murdered her." Linette bowed her head. "I hope we can find her family, give her a proper burial at home, since she got caught up in this mess for no damn reason."
Linebeck nodded again. "Come on." He stated after a few minutes of silence. "This isn't the place to talk about those stories. Not in front of the grave of the man who started it all." He picked up the reins of Kato and moving back toward town and where Max and Maris stayed behind at a respectful distance to give the two privacy, while also making sure that they would be okay. Linette followed suit.
Linebeck and Linette's injured legs had been secured so while riding Kato and Yori they wouldn't be injured more. They shouldn't have been out riding at all, but they both insisted on that they wanted to be there to see Jolon put into the dirt, to know that he was finally out of their life for good.
Ciela had been the first to relent, feeling the somewhat the same way. She had been at the funeral, but sticking to the shadows of the trees, before leaving after Jolon's body was placed, hand pressed over her shoulder. Linebeck didn't know where Ciela went after that.
The others followed suit, but only if the twins followed all orders of bed rest before and after.
As the group began moving back to town, Linette stated to Linebeck. "You know, I hardly recognized the man fighting Jolon from the boy that couldn't even fight Maris off of him."
Linebeck colored as Maris guffawed with laughter at the memories. "Well, I had trained with Jolene for a year or so, then with a real band of pirates and finally with a true hero, you're fighting skills tend to change." Linebeck's eyes brightened. "Oh, speaking of Link, I would like for you to meet him and Aryll, since they're family."
"Wait, they're real?" Linette exclaimed, looking at Linebeck with wide eyes.
Linebeck raised one eyebrow at Linette. "Why wouldn't they be real? Jolon had talked about them."
It was Linette's turn to color as she looked down in embarrassment. "I thought, to try and throw Jolon off, that you made them up knowing them…" Her voice trailed off in embarrassment.
"No, they are real, and I would like you to meet them. I plan to have them come over to tell them in person. If you feel up to it, of course." Linebeck said.
"It would just be them?" Linette asked, suddenly feeling sick at meeting unfamiliar people.
"Probably would have Beck as well, who is family, just not in a way you would expect." Linebeck said. "But it will just be them."
Linette squashed down the ill feelings in her stomach, facing Linebeck with a bright smile that she hoped was reassuring. "I would love to meet them, they are family after all." Linette said, echoing Linebeck's words.
"I'll write to them tonight." Linebeck finished, staring at Linette for a few moments before looking forward again. The rest of the ride was in silence.
That night, Linebeck sat at the table in the map room, a single candle lighting the area and paper around him. Pausing while writing his letter to Link, Linebeck looked up to check on Linette. With both doors open and a small lantern by her bedside, he could watch her sleep soundly in the second cabin room.
Linebeck watched her for a few minutes, still in disbelief that she was actually alive and finally home with him. Some mornings, in the brief span of those first few minutes, he think that it had all been a bittersweet dream. Then he'll look over and be reminded that she was here.
Linebeck turned away, looking over what he had written so far, absent mindedly rubbing his leg that was elevated on another chair, resting on an extra pillow.
A strangled scream was suddenly heard, causing Linebeck to jump and curse when his hands smacked into the table, spilling ink all over his letter. He quickly righted the ink well, before looking back at his sister.
Other than shifting in her sleep, the scream hadn't come from her. So there was only one other person…
"Ciela?" Linebeck gasped out, pushing away from the table, dragging his leg off the chair. He grabbed his crutches he used around the ship, pushing himself to his feet. He hobbled to his room.
Pushing open the doorway, Linebeck looked in to see Ciela curled in a ball in the middle of the bed. A scene of sweat covered her bare skin, causing her to shine in what little light there was. Her head rested in between her knees, still breathing heavily. Left arm left hanging by her side.
"Sparkles?" Linebeck asked, pushing the door further open.
Ciela head shot up too fast, eyes too alarmed for Linebeck's liking and a shot of guilt ran through the captain, knowing that she had been sleeping alone, to give Linette her space.
Immediately, Ciela smoothed out her features to be more relaxed. "Moron… What are you doing here?" She uncurled from the tight ball she had put herself in. She leaned over and lit a candle, giving light to the room.
Linebeck gave Ciela a strange look. "Well, for one, it is my cabin room, and two, I heard you scream," He made his way further into the room and sat down on the bed.
Ciela gave a soft, reassuring smile. "I accidentally rolled onto my shoulder in my sleep." Ciela gestured to her bandaged shoulder.
Linebeck took in Ciela's appearance. She hadn't been holding her shoulder in pain like she would have been if she really did roll onto it. Bags were forming under her eyes, made worse by the candlelight, signaling sleepless nights that Linebeck knew all too well.
Linebeck crossed his arms. "I'm calling bullshit." He stated in a tired tone. This wasn't the first time Linebeck tried having this conversation with Ciela, and he had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.
He saw the remains of Jolon, and he knew that that was the first time Ciela took a person's life, and in such a brutal manner. He knew that it wouldn't help to force it out of her, but dammit, she needed to admit that she wasn't going to be okay.
Ciela crossed her arms, mirroring Linebeck. Her smile turned into a grimace. "It's the truth." She firmly stated.
"...Is it because of what happened with Jolon?" Linebeck asked, looking down at his knees.
"You mean how I murdered him." Ciela muttered.
Linebeck's face darken. "Sure, let's not sugarcoat it." He sarcastically replied.
"I told you before, I'm handling this, and I'm fine!" Ciela snapped back. "It was my choice and I will live with it, like I had done so before with my spirit duties."
"I don't give a damn about what had happened with your spirit duties!" Linebeck said, voice turning hostile in tone. "You murdered a man, Ciela. I saw the remains. It wasn't a simple shot in the forehead. Eleven times in the chest. You bashed his fucking head in and broke most of the bones in his upper body before finally ending it with the shot to the forehead!" Before he could stop himself, a sentence he knew he wouldn't be able to take back slipped out. "Frankly, seeing what you did to him terrified me."
A heavy silence fell over the pair, as Ciela drew back into her ball at Linebeck's words, looking away, every part of her being put on the defensive.
Linebeck mentally swore, running a hand through his hair before dropping it back onto the bed, returning his gaze back to his knees. A heavy sigh escaped him. "Please…. let me be here for you, Ciela. Don't take on this burden alone, because it's my fault you had to shoulder it." Linebeck's shoulder drooped with the weight of guilt of causing Ciela's mental state, expression weary.
Ciela felt her expression soften. Biting her lip, Ciela turned back to face Linebeck's back. She started to reach out a hand toward his, uncurling from her ball. It trembled in the air.
"You should be terrified." Ciela wanted to say. "You should be, because so am I. Of what I'll become, that I will become what my father once was. I'm so scared and lost and the only people that would truly understand what I'm feeling, what I'm terrified of, is in a whole different world. I don't know who I am anymore. While I feel more at home in this body than I ever did as a fairy, I still look in the mirrors and stare at the stranger looking back at me. I don't even know if I'm a good person anymore. I don't want you to know this darker side of me. I don't want to lose you to this darker side of me… but I fear that it is already happening. It is already happening."
But, before Ciela could say any of that, Linette's voice broke the silence.
"Linebeck?" She called out, voice wavering with the creaking of the ship and worry. "Where are you?"
"I'm in the other room, Linette." Linebeck called back in a reassuring tone. He turned back to Ciela, not wanting to leave her alone.
Ciela retracted her hand back to her side, curled back up in a loose ball. Her features she morphed into something she hoped would get Linebeck out.
"Go." She stated firmly, making little motions toward the door with her hand.
"This conversation isn't over." Linebeck warned, pushing himself off the bed, letting out a tiny pained grunt.
Ciela didn't say anything until Linebeck reached the hallway, and he didn't think she meant for him to hear it. As the captain exited the room, he heard her uttering the words in a low mutter, almost hissing the words under her breath in a loathing tone of voice.
A chill traveled down Linebeck's back, but he didn't let it show. The coward side of him was thankful for the darkness hiding his expression from Ciela.
As Linebeck disappeared into the darkness, Ciela let her faked expression fall, curling back tightly into her protective ball. She listened to the low murmur of the twins as Linebeck reassured Linette that he was still really here.
"She needs you more than I do." Ciela whispered to the flickering candle.
Just as Linette had fallen back asleep, Linebeck heard the engine room door open and close above him, followed by the sound of footsteps he had memorized.
"Sparkles…" Linebeck thought, looking up at the ceiling; frustration, unease and fear all rolling into one within the pit of his stomach.
Knowing he wouldn't be able to chase after her, Linebeck resigned himself back to the map room, to re-start his letter to Link, Aryll and Beck.
Some distance away, Ciela sat beside the Brante's personal dock, letting the tide wash around her and soak her clothes, not giving a damn about the cold water and air around her. She sat there, still as a statue, powerless to stop the tears dripping down her face.
Hours later, three letters rested off to the side, Ciela still hadn't returned, and Linebeck found himself staring at the nearly spent candle of the table, wax joining the multitude of stains and spills on the table. His gaze was unreadable.
Only a single phase was running through his head, the words he last heard Ciela say.
"You should be terrified of me."
Ciela remained on the beach 'til dawn broke.
…
Hey ho, everybody. Welcome to no more fun time. I will be your guide till the end of this fic and through most of the final part of this tale.
So! First off, apologies on the late chapters, but college had kicked my ass and I literally had no time for this story nor any motivation with the stress I was going through. That being said. The rough draft of these last two chapters has been finished. All that is left is for me to write them up and post and we will be on to the final installment of the Really Trilogy.
So, even though the bastard is dead, he still has claws in our dear ex-fairy and captain, fucking up everything as usual, and will be for some time. Relationships are gonna get messy and ugly and nothing will be fun.
So, I won't have an author's note on the last two chapters, but I will have a separate chapter after the story has been wrapped up, which will be my final author's note for SARF.
~Roses