Our scars make us know that our past was for real.
-Jane Austen ' Pride and Prejudice'
The Tailer Cemetery, The Great Kingdom of Minerva, Southern Ardeneon.
May 2
"Damn she's fine" River looks over his shoulder as she walks through the door that leads to the counter. "But so mean" he tuts
Dexter lifts his brow up at him "Is Skai finally rubbing off on you?" he asks with a sad smile knowing well that River did not mean to say that out loud, River turns to face Dexter confused then realization hits him.
"I said that out loud, didn't I?" he mutters, and Dexter nods at him, biting back a laugh.
"I miss Skai" River looks at the floor lost in thought. Dexter hadn't seen River feel since it happened, but then again between being a douchebag and a self- absorbed rubber head he didn't get to see much of anything.
"We'll wake her up" Dexter tells him, but he didn't know if he was trying to convince River or himself.
"What if we don't, what if we can't?" River looks up at Dexter a lonely tear sliding down his face. "I don't know how to do life without Skai, she is a part of me, and now that part of me is missing, I'm not River without Skai" he whispers out choking on his words.
"River..." Dexter trails off not really sure what the best thing to say to him was, he'd never seen River cry before, it hurt him to see his best friend this way.
"It should have been me" Dexter sees the pain in River's eyes, it didn't leave, it settled in his ocean blue orbs calling them home. "I should have protected her"
His face crashes into his palms, Nyxia looks at him in confusion and...guilt? Maybe pity, whatever it was she isn't important to Dexter, so he didn't bother thinking about it. He turns his attention back to River not knowing what to do, he had never broken down like this before.
He wraps his arm around River, letting him cry, knowing River probably needed it more than anyone at the moment, Suzumi walks back into the house looking at them blankly, she soon catches on when River starts sobbing.
"She's going to come back Dex" River began mumbling between sniffs and Dexter hums in response.
"She will" he tells River
"But she's not here" at this point, River is hyperventilating causing Dexter to wonder how long he had been keeping it in.
"River, breathe" Dexter tries to tell him "Breathe" he's not listening. "We're getting the heart River, she's going to be okay" Dexter tries to console him, in the corner of his eye he can see Suzumi walking through a door at the corner of the room.
Dexter allows River let it out and it goes on for about 10 minutes and even after he is still shaken.
Sighing Dexter leans back into the couch, just as he did Suzumi walks in. "The tailer is here" she informs them "But it'll take some time to get the heart out"
"How long?" surprisingly Nyxia was the one who asked.
"Dexter" Suzumi ignores Nyxia motioning for Dexter to go over to her, and he does.
"I need to talk to you privately" she walks through the door he had seen her go through previously, he follows her through warily.
Easels and Canvases, big and small, scattered around the bedroom, paint decorating the walls, even on the bed sheets.
"The heart will be ready in about eight hours" she tells him and his left brow lifts in confusion.
"You could have just told me with the others"
"Sk-" she pauses in thought "I don't trust that girl and your friend doesn't seem like he can process much information right now"
"Oh...why?" Dexter asks.
"Why what?" she looks at him confused.
"Why don't you trust her?"
"I can feel things, hear things sometimes, see things and she is full of guilt" She looks anywhere but Dexter's eyes.
"Why are you helping us?" he asks her instead, there's a lot of reasons for Nyxia to feel guilty, he understood that, but he didn't understand a total stranger risking her life and turning against her own people to help them.
"If you don't want the heart, you can leave" she rolls her eyes. "Asking too many questions is never helpful in the long run."
"Who are you?" Dexter blinks at her, and she blinks back but her eyes seem empty, so empty, almost as if she isn't looking at him, and then he does something he knew was stupid. He waves his hand in front of her face, she blinks, not startled in the least bit.
"I'll let you know when the heart is ready" she moves around him walking out the door "And you should be more worried about the girl than me,she's the reason your friend is asleep" he watches her leave weirded out, taking the last words she spoke sink in his brain, then he shrugs it off. "I just met her, how would she know" he mumbles to himself, his eyes briefly glancing at Nyxia before he joins them back in the living area.
River picks at his fingers aggressively in complete and utter humiliation.
"How long did you say we'd have to wait again?" he asks Dexter quietly.
"Uh- she said six hours...but that was a while back so I'm guessing maybe an hour or 30 minutes more to go?" he shrugs still in thought.
Suzumi walks back into the room after a long while. "Would you like anything to drink?" she asks blankly. The three both seemed taken aback by this but all brush it off.
"No thank you" River murmurs.
"What's there to drink?" Dexter asks out of sheer curiosity not really planning on drinking anything. They'd learnt their lesson from trusting strangers in this world.
She shrugs, "Tea, reeze, bubble scaz"
"Bubble scaz? Soda?" He asks and she nods her head "Well it's not as unhe-" She cuts herself off.
River's scroll touch begins to beep. Emily's name and ID pops up on it.
"Hey Em" He greets as he touches the answer button.
"Help" she whispers.
"Why are you whispering?" he whispers back
"We got caught, we're currently locked up" she sighs under her breath and turns the scroll touch around and River sees bars and Elijah in an opposite cell.
River curses turning to Dexter who was watching their conversation. "We will find a way to break you out" River sighs "Did you get the flower?" He asks, needing to know if they will have to get the flower before they get them.
"Yes, they didn't take any of our belongings when they caught us, the cells are guarded by these forcefield bars." She explains. "Whatever you do, be careful...they knew Elijah and I, they knew we are wanted by the great council"
The call ends.
"Where are they?" Suzumi asks sitting on the other couch.
"Why do you care?" River asks confused.
"I can help" she shrugs her eyes lifeless.
"How?" Dexter asks
"The real question is why?" River scoffs picking at his fingers.
"You have a lot of attitude for someone who needs help" she retorts.
"It's just not adding up, you're risking your life for us, no one in their sane mind does that" River chuckles lowly.
"Oh trust me, I haven't been sane for years" she mutters in irritation.
"We don't need your help; we'll take the heart and leave" River tells her.
"You'll regret this" she sighs
"I-" Dexter cuts River off. "River let's hear her out okay? She's risking her life for us it's the least we can do"
"That's how we felt about the Bolveras and look where that got us" River groans in frustration, He didn't understand why Dexter didn't get it. They can't trust anybody who just casually offers to help them time and time again for no reason, it's not smart.
"Suzumi is not the Bolveras River, if she can help I want to hear her out, I can't afford to lose Skai" he blinks the tears that were brimming in his eyes away "Not when I just barely got her" he croaks out.
"Trust me Dexter, I get that, but if anything goes wrong it would all go to nothing, and I cannot afford to lose her either" River tells him.
"River we can trust her" he tries to assure River.
"No, we can't" "No you can't" Suzumi and River respond simultaneously, River narrows his eyes to him in an I told you so manner while Dexter glares at her to which she blinks back at him emotionlessly.
"Can I walk around?" Nyxia asks.
"No" they all respond. Nothing was more fun for the two boys than being mean to Nyxia, they just can't help it.
"You shouldn't trust me, but if I don't help you, you're all screwed" she shrugs.
"Yeah sure" River snorts.
"I'm serious" she says with the same emotionless look in her eyes but hearing it this time River knew she was being for real.
He sighs turning to Dexter "For Skai" Dexter tells him and River nods in resignation "Fine"
"Is Skai your girlfriend?" Suzumi asks and Dexter scratches his head.
"Not really, but we were getting there" he pauses "before..." he trails off clearly struggling to talk about the incident.
"It's okay" she frowns and for the first time since she returned to the room, emotion returned to her eyes, and she reaches out placing a hand on Dexters in comfort to which Nyxia jumps up pushing her away from him.
"Dexter is mine" she smiles at Suzumi and River chokes on his laughter.
He couldn't tell whether he was laughing at Nyxia's delusions or the fact the two people he doesn't like at all are currently throwing words back-to-back. It was quite amusing to him.
"I'm not yours Nyxia" Dexter butts in trying to stop the unnecessary argument "The only person I belong to is Skai"
Nyxia looks at Dexter in disbelief and River chuckles.
"Weren't you tired of her playing games with you? She could wake up and do that you know?" Nyxia bursts out
Taken aback Dexter remembers what Suzumi had told him while they were in her room.
He lets out a soft yet agitated breath before looking her dead in the eyes "I'd rather play her games than love you Nyxia"
"WHY?!" Nyxia is full of emotion at this and so is Dexter.
"Because Nyxia, loving you would be mental suicide, can't you see you're crazy? if we were to equate love to a game as you are so bent on doing... then at least with Skai I can guarantee wins, she wants me to win, but loving you would be a losing game, you don't want to see me happy, because if you did Nyxia? Skai would be awake."
He saw the guilt flash in Nyxia's eyes but it left as soon as it got there and then he realized Suzumi might be right.
"Hey, as much as I don't like Nyxia, blaming her isn't necessary." River cautions his friend and Dexter shakes his head in bewilderment.
At this Suzumi stands up and begins to leave the room, River quickly gets up trailing behind her quietly, he wanted to know why she was helping them, he just has to be a bit subtle about it.
She seems to have taken into account the fact that he was following her seeing as she did not close the door behind her. After she stepped back into the reception area she began walking down the little hallway. Then she stops almost making him bump into her.
"Don't be a creep" she sighs begrudgingly as if she had finally decided to acknowledge his existence.
"Do you go to scire?" he asks instead, the cold air briskly moving through the corridors.
"Why do you want to know?" She turns around to face him and just as she did voices started radiating from the entrance of the hallway. The doors they had walked in through.
"Why is no one here?" the voice booms, a loud masculine voice echoing through the walls.
"Can you act?" she lifts a brow at him calmly, but he could sense a little nervousness to her tone.
"I've been in a few plays, why?"
"Well, this is your chance to prove it, bear with me" She mutters before wrapping her hands around his neck almost as if she was trying to pull him down to her and smashing her surprisingly warm lips into his cold ones.
"What.
The.
Flip."
River internally protests.
He tries to move away but she just pulls him closer.
"Prove it" She mumbles into his lips. And he groans internally trying to run the reasons for this through his brain while he snaked his hands around her waist stiffly.
The kiss began to intensify, and he tries to remain calm and relaxes his body, but this was his first kiss, and he really didn't know what to do.
People don't just find themselves kissing strangers when they are supposed to be saving their sister from dying and in the process saving the world.
"Zumi!" a voice booms right in River's ear, he didn't even notice the person coming being so lost in his thoughts.
They jump away from each other and River tries to hide the relief in his eyes, He did not want to be any closer to her than he needed to be. He caught on quickly that whoever this was, is someone that shouldn't be here and as much as he didn't like Suzumi, she's helping him save his sister.
His eyes linger on Suzumi a little longer trying to make more sense of why she thought kissing him was the best solution. He soon turns to face the person that 'interrupted' them.
"A northerner?" The man scoffs eyes wide, he shared no resemblance whatsoever with Suzumi. So, he didn't think it could possibly be someone related to her.
"Fa-" he cut her off.
"A northerner Suzumi" he looks at her judgingly "In my establishment"
River stands there lost, wondering why the man is acting like River killed his family and tortured him while doing so, forcing him to watch them all die in pain and he—the last living member.
"Ganato Mako" He sticks his hand out to me, his hatred for River seeming to have died down after a moment of silence.
"River Ladiston" he shakes his hand with a smile.
"You're this snowball's little boyfriend ey', you'd better treat her alright" he looks River dead in the eye tightening his grip on my hand and River nods keeping his smile on.
"The owner of the marketplace has a tailer in need of a pick-up, could you do that daddy?" Suzumi says in a voice sweet as honey, almost mocking the word 'daddy'
"Of course, glad to see you having people around you... even if they are northerners"
"Care to explain?" River asks after her father had left.
"Would you care to explain why you're following me?"
"I want to apologize" River lies "I haven't been treating you the best"
"The heart should be ready" she brushes off his 'apology' turns on her heels and keeps walking.
"That's not how you treat someone you just made out with." River mumbles but she didn't hear him.
"You didn't answer my question, I didn't see you at Lucrari South, that's why I'm asking" he pushes.
"You went to Lucrari South?" She asks under her breath.
"Yes, how old are you?" he asks more as they stop by a door.
"You are really pushy you know?" She sighs, her eyes fall to the ground. "I'm 15...My mother died a couple weeks ago, so I haven't been to scire, that's why I'm helping you, because I wish someone could have helped her" she looks back up at him despite the slight shake in her voice, her face void of any emotion.
"I'm sorry to hear that-" She cuts him off opening the door.
"I didn't ask for your pity, just stop being so on edge, otherwise you'd rather your sister die?" she walks into the room, and River follows behind her.
Takashi—her brother is sat at desk his hand in gloves putting the bleeding heart in a jar. The blue blood dripping into the empty jar as he carefully lowers it inside.
"Tailer is buried, sewn up just in case and heart is in good shape, well dead... but you get what I mean—oh uh you're here too" he smiles noticing River's presence.
"I-I can uh leave" River sputters out, he didn't know why exactly he was nervous, Takashi's presence just makes him feel that way.
"No, it's fine, I guess you and your friends will be off now" he takes the gloves off covering the jar.
"Yes, thank you so much for doing this for us" River says "We owe you one"
"It's nothing, anything for Zumi" he nods standing up.
"Shut up" she rolls her eyes at her brother and turns to face River "I want to follow you guys"
"What? Why?" River didn't think she was serious about this.
"Because you need me. I see things" she sighs "The King of Nefeli plans to kill Elijah" she pauses "And take Emily as his toy...and as much as you don't like me...I'm not a monster just a bit of a douche. I won't stand by and watch that happen. Look the sprites of the air have one weakness and that's ice, which is ironic given the fact that Nefeli is often referred to as the kingdom of ice. Anyways, they can outfly fire and they can fight off water, the earth has nothing on them, the darkness is their friend, but ice stops them, I might be awful sometimes but I'm not evil enough to let you and your friends die"
"Oh"