But how can you live and have no story to tell
-Fyodor Dostoevsky
Underneath the floating Kingdom of Nefeli, Southern Ardeneon.
May 2
"So how exactly do we get all the way up to Nefeli?" Dexter asks.
They all turn to Suzumi. "Your little air sprite will fly us up there" She shrugs.
"I can't lift you guys!" Nyxia objects.
"You have telekinesis do you not?" Suzumi lifts a brow at Nyxia.
"How did yo-" Nyxia starts but Suzumi cuts her off. "Not the point, take River first"
"Hey! Why me?" River exclaims in disbelief.
"We need to be sure she can do it" Suzumi shrugs.
"Let's be sure with Dexter—or you!" River suggests.
"Dexter can't go first, she might just run off, Dexter has to be last" she explains. "What, are you scared of heights?" she chuckles lowly
"Of course not" he rolls his eyes.
"Then go on"
........
"There's nobody here" Dexter notes as soon as he lands.
"That's because we're behind the palace" Suzumi informs them. Everything around them is complete stone, not one form of land, instead it had ice and snow covering some parts of the ground.
"There's a secret passageway around here, Suzumi took a pair of glasses out of her satchel and puts them on.
She falls to the ground on all fours searching around for something.
"Here" she mutters.
"How do you know this?" River asks to which she ignores.
"This passageway should lead right above the prison" she informs them pulling the slab of stone out of place, revealing the passageway she had been talking about.
"So how do we get to the prison from there?" Dexter asks.
"Have a little faith, will you?" she smirks jumping down and landing inside the passageway, "sure have faith in a total stranger." River jumps in after her, total darkness.
"Suzumi?" He whispers out and she pulls him aside hushing him. Soon Dexter and Nyxia arrive in the passageway too. They quietly walk behind Suzumi till she stops.
She moves another slab of stone and seems to climb down a ladder. They all follow after her. "One person has to stay on the lookout" Suzumi tells River, and he passes the message to Dexter to which he tells Nyxia to stay back, surprisingly she doesn't fight to follow, it's quite evident that she's growing tired of adventures.
They end up in a tight space that wouldn't possibly fit more than four people comfortably. "You guys wait here; I'm going to take care of all the guards." Suzumi whispers to them and she slides the wall open.
Five minutes later she opens the wall and ushers for them to come out. "Which ones are they?" she asks, and they look through the prison halls ignoring the frozen guards.
"There!" Dexter calls out and River and Suzumi turn to spot Elijah looking down...he couldn't see them.
"They can't see you guys; the blinders must be on" Suzumi says in response to their confusion. "I'm going to freeze the cells, as soon as that happens an alarm is going to be set off and guards will flood the prison, so you guys will break the ice, grab them and we run, okay??" She says in a rush and they both nod, Emily and Elijah's cells being opposite each other, both boys stand opposing eachother by the cells
Suzumi freezes them and Dexter and River ram their bodies into the ice shattering it, as soon as they do that an alarm goes off. River grabs Emily's hand and Dexter—Elijah, they bolt sparing no time for greetings.
"Ouch" Dexter groans as the five of them got into the little room leading back to the surface.
"Let's get out of here" River mutters but of course Suzumi was already one step ahead of them climbing up the ladder.
"Who is she exactly?" Emily asks.
"Took the words right off my tongue sunshine" Elijah sighs as they get on the ladder.
"We will answer that once we get out of here" Dexter assures them.
They get to where Nyxia was waiting for them "Nyxia how many people can you lift at a time?" Suzumi asks
"Two is my limit" she shrugs uninterested.
"This is going to be a problem; they'll be searching the palace by now" Suzumi points out.
"Elijah can teleport" Emily points out.
"You can what?!" Dexter and River exclaim.
"Later conversations, what's the plan?" Elijah asks hurriedly.
"If my theory is right then when Elijah jumps and the portal opens, anything or anyone that he is holding or apart of will go through too, so he could take two people with him. Maybe more but that isn't proven yet and isn't recommended to be proven in a situation as dangerous as this." Emily speed talks.
"Great. Nyxia takes two people, Elijah takes two. Let's run" Suzumi breathes out, clearly not ready to be locked in a cell because of them.
"So, who is she?" Elijah asks River as soon as they get up from the ground
"A kind-hearted a-hole...maybe with a back story" he shrugs before proceeding to give them a real answer "Her name is Suzumi, she helped us get the heart and offered to help us save you guys." He explains.
"That doesn't sound a-hole-y" Elijah tells him.
"Wait until she opens her mouth, her actions say one thing, her mouth says another" River says and Elijah hums in response.
He gives them the tea on how their journey went while they were waiting for the others.
.......
"You've got your friends and the heart; I should get going" Suzumi tells River and Dexter after they all finish thanking her. "Also, you guys don't move discreetly enough for people that the great council is after" she pauses turning around "Maybe try harder?" she shrugs.
"You knew?" River asks bewildered and she chuckles.
"I told you before, I'm a douche not a monster." She turns around walking away.
"Wait!" It was Elijah that called out to her, he ran up to her placing his hand on her shoulder to which she shrugged it off almost instantly, they talked for a short while before returning.
"Suzumi's coming with us." Elijah tells them as they stroll back.
"What do you mean coming with us?" River asks, "She's-" Suzumi cuts him off.
"I want to be of help" she answers "Kind of, actually I'm just tired of Minerva, it gets boring here fast" she shrugs.
"We're not going to have fun we're going to-" she cuts Emily off "Save your friend, yes that sounds about right, just don't forget, I saved you guys and the flower you went to steal, and I got the heart for you, I get stuff done" she picks at her nails not interested in pleading her case.
.......
And somehow they end up back in Zephyr with a complete stranger, it's becoming a thing for them to pick strangers up on adventures.
"How long do you think it will take Mr. Starling to get back?" Dexter asks anxious
"Soon, he's supposed to have been back by now" Elijah sighs from beside Emily, she's cuddled up to him on his bed, playing with his fingers anxiously.
"Should we call him?" Emily asks her boyfriend, staring up at him and he pats her hair.
"Okay" he nods, she sits up a little allowing him to dig his scroll touch out of his pocket.
She snuggles back into him as Mr. Starling answers the beep.
"Are you back?" Elijah asks and Emily nudges him for not at least greeting "Hey dad" he mutters.
"I'm on my way" he answers, "Did you guys get it all?"
"Yeah, we're waiting for you, please be quick" Elijah ends the call.
"It wouldn't hurt to be a little nicer to him you know?" Emily reprimands him and he shrugs pulling her closer.
"Are you okay?" she asks, noting that he was being unusually clingy.
"Is anyone?" he pulls her even closer. She doesn't question him any further, she just melts into him.