The Outskirts: Thé Crystal Keepers (Jace x OC)

The Crystal Keepers: 24 *

The next morning, Nova had the kids gather in the living room.
"I'll let you say your goodbyes." Nova said, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.
"Wait," I said. "What does she mean? Goodbyes?"
"Yeah. Goodbyes." He said, scratching the back of his head. "She has a mission for me. The High King needs more errand boys at the palace. I'm delivering a message to Queen Harmony, and asking her if she knows where Constance is. Then i'll come back, and hopefully she'll be able to help us."
It was Dalton that spoke up first. "How long will you be gone?"
He sighed. "About two weeks, tops."
"When do you leave?" Blake asked.
Cole looked over to the clock. "An hour?"
I stood up and hugged him.
"Stay safe." I whispered. "You have to come back. Come back for Jenna. She still needs us. And I need you to, of course."
He pulled back and gave a small smile. "Count on it."
The boys and Mira all took they're turn saying goodbye and wishing him luck.
"Well," He said, glancing at the clock again. "I'd better get going."
I gave a salute. "Die bravely."
Mira did the same. "Die bravely."
He smiled and saluted us back, and then left the room.
"Okay," Blake said. "So I know i'm new here and everything, but what's die bravely?"
"I was wondering the same thing." Dalton said.
"It's an inside joke," Mira said. "Something the three of us, and . . . Jace used to say back at the Raiders."
I laughed. "He was so superstitious about that."
"Yeah," Mira agreed. "He wouldn't let anyone tell him good luck, thinking it would jinx him."
There was a moment of silence.
"I really hope he makes it back." Dalton said solemnly. He cleared his throat, and then laughed. "I still haven't gotten him back for what he did to me at Zerobase."
Mira grinned. "Pretty sure he's pranked all of us at some point."
I smiled, remembering Elloweer. "Remember when he hid all of our saddles? Mine was twenty feet up in a tree."
Dalton laughed. "We got him back pretty good that time."
"We did." I agreed. "I still can't believe you held together a fake horse for almost an hour."
Mira turned to me and laughed. "Remember that time we walked in on the boy's pillow fight?"
I groaned. "That was so embarrassing."
Dalton laughed. "No, that was hilarious. You guys were totally checking us out."
Mira rolled her eyes. "If you say so."
"You guys wanna play some games?" Dalton suggested.
We all agreed, and Dalton grabbed a deck of cards, and we all sat down around the small table in the middle of the room.
"Wanna play black jack?" Dalton suggested.
"Absolutely not." Blake whined. "I'm so bad at that game. Let's play go fish."
I laughed. "Dude, the last time we played go fish, we were probably like six."
He shrugged, smiling. "And i'm amazing at it."
"How about we compromise?" I said. "Two rounds of black jack, and two rounds of go fish."
They both agreed.
We started with black jack, and Dalton won both rounds, and then switched over to go fish. We were on our fifth round, when Googol came down.
"Look who finally showed up!" he said with a smile, gesturing to the hallway behind him.
Trickster emerged, and we all clapped and cheered.
"Any sign of Roulette and Jace?" I asked. "Or Joe?"
His smile faltered. "They haven't made it back yet?"
Googol shook his head. "Our last contact with Roulette and Jace was the morning after the mission. They met up underground, and Forge requested they cut the communications between them and the layer. Then Forge got raided, and we haven't heard from them since. Same with Joe and Outlaw. Kendal made it back with Sidekick yesterday, and they picked up someone new on the way."
"Trickster, this is Blake, Blake this is Trickster. Blake got taken with me, Cole, and Dalton from Earth. He was working for Datapoint."
"Nice to meet you," Trickster said, shaking his hand. "Where is Cole, by the way?"
"We sent him on a mission to contact Queen Harmony to see if she knows anything about the source Secret is looking for." Googol explained.
Trickster whistled. "That's going to be tough with Stafford there."
Googol sighed. "Yes it will. Trickster, if you don't mind, I could use your help."
Trickster followed Googol out of the room, and we continued with our game.
We played multiple different games until we got bored and went to bed.

~Timeskip~

The next morning, Googol and Trickster came downstairs to where we were all sitting in the common room.
"Would any of you want to go on a patrol with Trickster? We need people outside keep watching in case Joe or Jace and Roulette show up."
"I'll do it." I said immediately. I needed some fresh air. I would much rather patrol than sit around worrying.
Trickster nodded sadly, and took me out the secret door that lead to the tunnels.
"I think we'll head up to one of the higher buildings and keep watch first," He said. "Then on our way back, we can look around the surrounding areas."
We climbed up a neighboring building that was about four stories tall.
When we reached the top, Trickster sat down near the edge and motioned for me to join him.
"How are you holding up?" He asked when I sat down next to him.
"I could ask you the same thing." I said. "I know you were close with Roulette."
He gave a small smile. "She's my best friend. Both my parents and hers gave us up to the Unseen. We only had each other. If she doesn't make it back . . ." He trailed off.
"I know how you feel," I said. "Jace is my closest friend out here. If something happens to him . . . I don't know what I would do without him. I need him."
"So I guess we're in the same boat, huh?" He said with a sad smile.
"I guess so."
It was silent for a minute.
"You love her, dont you?" I asked him.
"I . . . How did you—"
"I can tell by the way you look at her." I said with a smile.
He groaned. "Am I really that obvious?"
I laughed. "A little bit, yeah."
"Okay," he said, turning to face me. "If you get to grill me about Roulette, then I get to ask you about Jace."
"What about Jace?" I asked.
"Kendal, come on," he said. "Don't even deny it. You like him."
"It doesn't matter if I do." I said. "He might not be coming back."
"Listen Kendal." He said. "Given how Jace feels about you, there is no way he would ever give up on finding you. I mean come on, you heard him on the comms when the Hunter found you. I wouldn't be surprised if he strangles Forge when he gets back."
"He has to come back." I said quietly.
Trickster stood up, his gaze focused on something in the distance.
"Trickster?" I asked.
He held a finger to his lips, and then gestured for me to stand up. I did, and he pointed.
Two figures were walking toward the base. I couldn't make out the details, but we had to find out who it was.
We hurriedly climbed down the building, and headed toward the figures. We kept the buildings between them and us, in case it wasn't Jace and Roulette.
We ducked behind buildings and under ledges until we were close enough to see who it was.
I gasped. "Joe!"
I ran over and gave him a hug.
Trickster came running over as well. "Thank gosh you and Outlaw made it. We were starting to worry."
"We heard Forge got raided." Outlaw asked. "Is everyone okay?"
Me and Trickster exchanged a glance.
"Everyone is accounted for now except Jace and Roulette." I said. "We know they met up underground, and they contacted Googol, but they cut comms with everyone. We haven't heard from them in over a week."
"That is severely unfortunate." Joe said, his face falling.
"Come on," Trickster said. "Let's get you guys inside."