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4

Eli was deathly silent, which had, in turn, begun to confirm my fears. He doesn't feel the same way... "I knew it," I mumbled, while turning to walk back to my home in Quiet Lawn Cavern. Spark hopped after me, somehow keeping pace, with a look of confusion on his face. I t was utter silence aside from the sounds of my footsteps and Eli's footsteps that soon followed.  

"Where are you going?" he asked when he was walking right beside me. 

"Back to my home," I kept my eyes trained forward, "in Quiet Lawn." 

"Your home's with us now, Astrus, you know that, right?" 

I stopped walking and looked him dead in the eye, slate grey eyes meeting cerulean ones, "Yes. However, it'll be awkward living with you guys so long as I'm aware of what I now, painfully, know." I resumed walking again, and this time he didn't follow. 

"What're you taking about?" 

"If the Shane Gang needs me for anything, you know where to find me." I waved without looking back. Spark, who was now perched on my shoulder, kept eyeing my face. "Now do you understand why I didn't wanna tell him? Not knowing is a hell of a lot less painful than knowing and facing rejection." I sighed, "I knew this was going to happen." 

Spark chirped as though he was arguing. 

"He didn't say anything, Spark, he just stood there. If he did feel the same as he did two years ago then wouldn't he have said something on the matter?"  

Spark, and the other slugs, chirped what I had assumed to be a version of 'yes'.  

"You guys," I trained my grey eyes on the roof of the cavern, "I'm going to go see some people tomorrow. It'll probably be better if I go alone, so I'm going to leave Spark and Dreamer in charge while I'm away, got it?" My small arsenal of slugs chirped their approvals ans the rest of the night went on in silence.

~

"This must be the place," I mumbled to myself as I reread the address scribbled on the paper in my hand. "Here goes everything." I hesitantly knocked onto the door, and was greeted by a woman in her early to mid Forties. She had raven black hair and deep brown eyes, and a warm, motherly smile. 

"Hello," she greeted with slight suspicion.  

"Hi, um, are you by chance Mrs.Quinn?" 

"I am, why do you ask, Miss?" 

I smiled softly, "Mom, it's me, Astrus." 

"A-Astrus?" she asked, then examined my face and gasped in disbelief. "Oh..my... it really is you!" tears sprang into her eyes. 

"Yeah, Mom, it really is. How have you been?" 

"Oh, dear, I've been fine! But you, how have you been all these years?" 

"Pretty good. Still alive," I chuckled. 

Her eyes fell onto where my necklace was usually hung, "Where's you're stabilizer, honey?" 

"I don't need it anymore. Eli Shane, Will Shane's son, helped me two years ago and now I'm finally cured!"  

"Really? That's wonderful!" mom pulled me into a hug, "Where is this Eli? I'd like to thank him personally." 

"He's...he didn't come with me. In fact he doesn't even know I'm here." 

"Why's that, honey? Aren't you two together?" 

"M-mom!" I could feel the heat rising to my face, "He doesn't think of me like that anymore!" 

"'Anymore'?" 

Oops.. "Um...well..two years ago I was living with him and the rest of the Shane Gang, nothing bad happened so don't worry, but at one point he had told me he loved me. Then some time after he had gotten mad at me and I ran away to live on my own." 

"But you were fifteen!" 

"Mom, I've been on my own since the day you and dad abandoned me. It's just natural for me now." Guilt flashed through her eyes. "But it's okay! If that had never happened then I'd still need my stabilizer and I never would've met Eli! So I should be thanking you." 

"What we did was horrible and shouldn't have been done. I'm sorry, Astrus, I really am." 

"Mom, it's okay, don't cry. I'm okay, see? I'm alive." 

"But I was gone for fourteen years of you life, and had abandoned you no less." 

"I don't hate you. If I did I wouldn't be standing here right now." I sighed, "If it'll make you feel better, I can come visit you ever now and again." 

"That would be delightful, honey," she smiled. 

"I'll even bring Eli next time, okay?" 

"Okay. You should go see him, you don't want to keep him waiting too long." she winked before giving me a hug. 

"Moooom~" I whined, "don't say things like that." A smile formed on my face as I hugged her goodbye.  

"Don't be a stranger, honey," she waved as I started walking down the path back towards my home Cavern.  

"I won't!" 

"And go clear things up that Eli boy! Give him a chance!" 

I stopped dead in my tracks. "How did you-?" 

"Mother's intuition, Astrus, now go on," she laughed as she retreated into her small house and closed the door."  

"Mother's intuition," I repeated, "right."

~

When I returned home, I was greeted by my slugs. Each one nuzzling against me. "Hey there, little ones, I have a question for you all." 

A chorus of chirps was my response. 

"Do you think I was a little mean to Eli yesterday?" 

"I don't know, were you?" The new voice startled me. However, since my blaster was in a different room I couldn't fire any of my slugs at them. So I did the next best thing. I turned swiftly, knocked the intruder's feet out from under them, and placed my foot onto their chest to prevent them from getting up. That's when the intruder's face finally registered into my brain.

"Elliot Jason Shane!" I yelled. "What the hell have I told you about sneaking up on me!?" his eyes were filled with shock. 

"How do you know my full name?" 

"I used to know your father, it has it's perks. Anyway, what the hell's you're problem?" 

"At least this time you didn't have you're blaster loaded and aimed at my face." 

I helped him to stand and poked him in the chest, glaring him in the eyes. "Don't you ever sneak up on me again. Got it?" 

"Got it." 

"Good." I sighed, and leaned back against the wall. "Listen, about yesterday, I'm sor-" I was cut off when a pair of lips gently pressed against mine. Eli pulled back and smiled. 

"Apology accepted, and I hope that clears up any confusion from yesterday. When the surprised shock wore off, I saw him holding a black and green orb that resembled something the Shadow clan used to teleport themselves and before I could blink, he was gone.