Things Lost and Found (a Waglington and Mianite fanfiction)

Chapter 5

Thanks everyone for the OCs! :D They'll start showing up in a few chapters. There are a few songs that I had stuck in my head while writing this one. "Summer Again" by The Afters, "Things Left Unsaid" by Disciple, & "Lucy" by Skillet. All 3 are awesome bands. Check them out before or after reading. :)

Warning: Feels inbound 

*Jordan's POV*

The wizards came by this morning to start work on my towers; I'd put in a request a few weeks back. I hadn't requested a giant build like I had back in the old realm; this time I just wanted my place fancied up a bit. They decided to figure out payment after renovations were done, since they weren't quite sure how much they'd be doing.

I'd given Phil the general tour of my Fortress of Fury. He seemed generally pleased with what I had built without access to magic and with the style I used, though I could have sworn I saw him cringe when I showed him my bedroom layout. Everyone's a critic. So what if I like to see bright colors first thing in the morning?

Aside from that, the tour was going well until he asked about a chest shoved into a corner of one of the ground floor rooms. "Why do you have a chest here if you have your ME system?"

I still had a few chests scattered around that Martha had left messages or items in that I hadn't cleaned up yet; so it took me a moment to realize which chest he meant. By then, he'd already walked over to it and lifted the dusty lid. Before I could stop him, he reached in and pulled out a rose. From the part of his face showing below his goggles and helmet, I could see a puzzled expression as he turned it in his hand.

When Phil looked up from the flower to meet my eyes behind my sunglasses, his questioning look immediately became one of sorrow and understanding. I don't know what powers the wizards had beyond flight and making blocks out of nothing, but Phil apparently could read faces quite well, even when the person's eyes were hidden. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I lied as I tried to think about anything besides the person who had given me a rose just like that one.

An awkward silence stretched between us until curiosity got the better of Phil. "I thought Capsize only gave you one rose, Jordan; why is there a whole chest full?" He asked carefully.

"Capsize's rose was tucked inside my jacket when we went to Aethoria. I dropped it into the void before we jumped. One way or another it made it to this dimension too. Martha somehow found it and discerned it was mine. After Tom stole it from me—again—she used her magic to make duplicates of it." I tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, though it hurt that Martha had done that. You can't recreate something like that. I get that she was trying to help, but she only cheapened the one thing I had left of Capsize. Now I can't even tell which one was really hers.

Phil picked up on my sadness and moved to return the rose to its chest. "I'll tell the others to leave this chest alone," he said over his shoulder.

"No," I said with sudden determination to stop myself being dragged into the past by old memories. "You can get rid of them. She isn't coming back. I let go once, and I didn't ask for that rose to show back up."

"Sure. Whatever you want, Jordan." He seemed unconvinced, but let the matter rest.

That was pretty much the end of the tour. Phil went to relay what he had learned of my base's layout and design to his brothers, and I left them to their work. I used my spectre key to teleport to my pocket dimension, then took the portal hub I had set up there to reach my reactor in less than a minute.

As I checked on my laser drill's settings and my reactor's power output, I thought back to my dream the night before. It hadn't been one of Ianite disintegrating this time; that nightmare had been haunting me for weeks, playing endless scenarios of what I might have done differently. This time it was Capsize. I swear I must be cursed or something. Everyone I love or care about seems be taken from me. First Jerry, then Capsize, now my goddess—well, one version of her, at least. Even Guard Tom and the Urulu DG Worker have vanished without a trace. Needless to say, I had not gone back to sleep after waking from seeing Capsize's zombie face in my arms as she closed her eyes for the final time.