Chapter Thirteen: Fix You
1850 Words
“No, please...We, uhm, we’re still friends, ok?” Elise sputtered.
She hoped they could be friends, anyway - even if Ian was kind of an ass. She didn’t want the guild to suffer any more because of her stupid choices. If she’d just stuck to her guns and never gotten involved with that i***t, everything would have been fine. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, Elise thought bitterly to herself.
Some small part of her also hoped that maybe, just maybe, they could work things out. It was a stupid hope, based in no part on reality...but the mind hopes for funny things when the heart is breaking.
Mercenades sighed, and shook her head. “He’s an i***t. Come on… let’s get off this dusty hallway floor.”
The half giantess got to her feet, then leaned down and scooped the smaller woman up in her arms, carrying her to Pita’s room.
“I...I don’t know if this is any better…” Elise said, sounding weepy again.
“It’s basically become the crying room, anyway. Everyone’s taken a turn. Now it’s yours.” Mercenades said, setting the troubadour on the bed.
Elise sniffled a little, looking around the room. She’d rarely gone in Pita’s room before, but it was full of his familiar, earthy, slightly floral smell. She thought the smell might have faded by now, but it must have been helped along by the live moss rug on the floor, and justmine vine that was growing in a frame around his window. Her eyes overflowed with tears again as she looked around.
“Pita would have had no idea what to do with me if he was here…” Elise said, deciding that as Mercenades had already seen her blotchy face with its snotty, running nose, she didn’t need to hide it anymore. “He was so bad at this kind of stuff.”
“The absolute worst. His idea of comforting someone was cracking a terrible one liner then asking if they wanted to make out.” Merc said, barking a laugh at her own joke.
Elise laughed too; it was hard not to. She could imagine Pita doing just such a thing; she wouldn’t be surprised if Merc was using a real life example.
Ichigo poked his head in as the women laughed together, “Ah-ha...here you are. Do you want your old room back? I don’t mind staying in the barracks.”
No one wanted to clear out Pita’s room, it seemed. As they said, some things just take time.
“That’s your room now, Ichigo. If...if no one objects...maybe I can just stay here in Pita’s room? Or, I can head over to the Appleton. My Mom’s there and all...I’m sure she’d be happy for me to stay with her, and it’s not that far.” Elise said, thinking through her options aloud.
“I don’t mind if you stay in Pita’s room, but we should probably ask Moltar. It’s not like Pita really spent much time in here, anyway.” Mercenades said, shrugging a little. “We’ve always piled into Moltar’s room.”
“It must be hard to stay in there. Should we maybe swap rooms around, or maybe redecorate?” Elise asked, looking a little concerned. “Not right away, but… if it helps. That pink room probably isn’t Ichigo’s style anyway.”
“On the contrary, it puts me in the perfect frame of mind to write boudoir scenes.” Ichigo said, adjusting his glasses as he gave the girls a brief, cheeky smile.
They laughed, and the catton chuckled along with them, taking a seat on the edge of the bed by Elise. He draped the straps of the rucksack he’d been carrying over the end of the bedpost, letting it hang. Mercenades then sat on the ground by Ichigo’s long legs, bumping her shoulder playfully against them.
“You still haven’t given us copies of the finished goods yet, sir. You’re already working on book two, aren’t you?” Merc asked, smiling up at the catton cleric.
“I am. I should be getting my hardcover copies from the publisher soon. Sorry to keep you waiting.” Ichigo said, adjusting the covers over Elise as she crawled under them, curling up. “I just wanted to make sure my biggest fans got the best copies. Not shabby paperbacks.”
“I’d be happy with either,” Elise said, sighing in an exaggerated manner. “The wait is the worst part, don’t you know? You’re torturing us.”
“Ah-ha, you guys are too kind.” Ichigo said, smiling his gentle smile, eyes mostly closed. “Maybe I should call Echo over. It’s been a little while since we had a party meeting.”
“Sure.” Elise said easily. Mecenades nodded in assent, and their party leader used a spell to send a message to their rogue. Communication earrings were great, as they didn’t require mana, but switching between them all the time was irritating. This was just easier.
“Echo, can you come to the guild hall for a party meeting? We’re in Pita’s room.” the catton rumbled warmly into the empty air, his eyes flashing all white as he spoke.
A few minutes later, the rogue came loping into the room, whose door the cleric had left cracked open. Echo observed his three party members for a long moment, before taking a seat on the floor next to Mercenades.
“I see it’s Elise’s turn in the crying room.” Echo remarked, his voice casual.
Ellie laughed a little, snorted, then laughed again at her own snort. “Sorry...I know I look terrible.”
“Don’t be silly, mon chou. You are beautiful, even when you cry.” Echo said, turning to smile at her - a smile that didn’t disappear immediately, like it usually did.
“Oh, that’s a good one.” Ichigo said, “I’ll have to remember that for my book.”
“Echo might be more charming than that pious pretty boy. Why don’t you just take him for a spin, Ellie? He’s hot. And that piercing…” Mercenades said, grinning at both the rogue and troubadour in turn.
“What’s this? We are crying over the commander?” Echo asked, frowning and lifting an eyebrow at Elise.
“Yes..hey, don’t look at me like that. Ugh, I don’t think I’ll be dating anyone from the guild ever again.” Elise said, rolling her eyes. “No offense, Echo. You were totally my type when I was, like, seventeen.”
“None taken. You were never my type, anyway,” the rogue said, laughing at the little glare she gave him in response. “You’re too nice, Elise.”
“I might be less nice in bed, you don’t know.” the troubadour grumbled.
The other three laughed at her perturbed expression, but Ichigo thought it would be best to change the subject before things went too far.
“I think we should do some questing. Maybe try to find a new party member so that we can attempt another dungeon.” Ichigo said, sidestepping the term ‘replacement’ entirely. He knew as well as they did that there would never be any replacing their druid.
“Well, if we’re going to be looking for a heavy hitter, I might have a suggestion…” Elise said, smiling a little. “How about this new wizard we just recruited...Jasper?”
“Wizards aren’t really melee fighters, but they do have excellent damage dealing capabilities… It’ll take some adjusting.” Ichigo said, tilting his head first one way, then the other as he considered.
“If Elise isn’t going to be dealing as much ranged damage as she used to with her new build, that might work out better for us in the long run.” Echo replied, then shrugged. “It sounds good to me. Does she not have a party yet?”
“I don’t think so.” Elise said, though she didn’t sound sure. “She only signed his contract the other day.”
“I’ll talk to her.” Ichigo said, his faint smile widening. “It’ll be nice to get out there and kick some ass again.”
“You really have become one of us,” Mercenades said with a laugh. “Who ever would have thought, Ichigo the murder hobo.”
“I, personally, always knew you had it in you.” Elise scoffed, then giggled a little when Echo tsked at her.
“Tch. Weren’t you the one complaining that he was always stopping to clean his glasses in the middle of training instead of just letting them get covered in mud and blood?” Echo said, ratting her out.
“Hey, you weren’t supposed to tell him that! You’re the worst spy, can’t keep any secrets.” Elise complained.
“Best, you mean. Spies do not keep the secrets, they steal and then sell them. That one was just to whet the tongue of our leader. I have more if he has gold.” Echo said, teasingly.
Elise laughed, and pinched a little at Echo’s long, pointy ear. He made a hilarious squealing noise at this, and battled her hand away, but not before everyone started laughing.
Though her heart was still hurting, the pain in the troubadour’s chest had faded to a dull ache. Sure, things were crappy right now, but they wouldn’t always be. After all, she still had her friends. Her Mom was back. The guild was growing by leaps and bounds.
Some things just took time; things like heartache and loss. Right now she felt like she was going through more than her fair share of both. Luckily, she still had plenty of time to go through it. She was grateful for that time, and for her friends. They were the best kind of friends - people who wanted to help, but weren’t trying to fix you. They knew that she wasn’t broken - just hurting.
“So what dungeon are we going to tackle next?” Elise asked, her eyes shining not with tears, but with excitement.
- Writer
