Honeydew was up to something, Xephos knew. After such a long time on this strange planet, he knew the way that Honeydew smiled when he wasn’t being entirely truthful. The dwarf’s attempts to conceal his smirks, glancing at Lalna conspiratorially, and keeping Xephos away from the factory with odd jobs were obvious giveaways. The scientist was better at hiding his emotions, but not much. He still he let the occasional grin and quiet chuckle slip when he thought Xephos was hard at work, and his tone when speaking with the spaceman was superior, as though he knew something he did not.
Even Sips and Sjin had a different air around them, somehow. They did not joke with only each other and use the same inside jokes only they truly understood, they hung around with Honeydew and, even though they weren’t really friends, Lalna. The four of them whispered to one another, snuck glances at Xephos, and once even burst out laughing, rolling on the ground in front of him. When he had asked them what was so funny, horrified that maybe there was something wrong with him(Was it his shirt; maybe it was backwards? Or maybe his face; was there something on it?) they would glance at each other, before giving the unconvincing answer, “Nothing,” before falling apart, giggling madly.
The spaceman was confused- no, he was more than that, he was perplexed, baffled, confounded, a whole load of other big words that were synonyms of going completely insane with curiosity, worry and confusion.
This went on for weeks, getting more and more annoying each day, until one day Xephos had had enough. On this particular day, Xephos had been having a bad day. When he woke up he just had this lingering sense that something was wrong. He felt miserable and the continual whisperings and chucklings of his friends didn’t help. Finally he snapped. He grabbed Honeydew’s upper arm and said in a low voice, “Alright, you’ve had your fun long enough. I want to see what the lot of you have been keeping from me.”
The dwarf smiled knowingly at his friend and winked over Xephos’s shoulder at Lalna. “Come
right along! Got quite a surprise for ya in store! Follow me, have a Jaffa, come on!”
A bemused Xephos followed the dwarf into the factory, Lalna bringing up the rear. They activated their flying rings and flew up to the penthouse at the top of the factory, Honeydew rambling about what a “great surprise they had in store” until Lalna hushed him up.
Xephos sighed. “Right, what is go-“ The sentence was cut off by everybody, namely Sips and Sjin, jumping out from behind the furniture and yelling, “SURPRISE!”
“It’s been a year since you fell from the sky and on to this planet. We became friends and you helped me in my mad quest to build this factory! Ah, remember when we had nothing but hopes, dreams, and lots of creepers….” Honeydew said nostalgically.
Xephos cracked a dry smile. He felt the same pride as the dwarf, but that nagging hole in his heart still told him something wasn’t quite right. “The good old times, am I right?”
Lalna nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s go have a beer!”
Sips and Sjin cheered and followed him to the cooler.
Honeydew grinned broadly. “Let’s go!” He tilted his head. “Xephos, are you crying?”
Xephos lifted a hand to his face and was surprised to find that yes, in fact, he was crying.
“Tears of happiness right?” Sjin offered as he cracked open a cold bottle.
Xephos shook his head. Not really consciously, but as soon as he did it, he knew it was true. Words stumbled out of his mouth, “I just have a feeling that there’s something I’m missing… something important.”
“Like us celebrating with some beer?” Honeydew joked halfheartedly, but Xephos shook his head. The dwarf looked worriedly at his friend, putting a large hand on the man’s back as he began to cry.
“Like… I just don’t know,” Xephos sobbed, putting his face in his hands, racking his brains for what could be missing, “I-I’ve felt like this all day, but I just can’t place why.”
Honeydew shrugged. “Well, I’m going to- ack!” He had tripped over a small box, made of ebony wood, that had been in the corner of the room for Notch-knows-how-long. “Oh, I forgot about this! We found this in that old spaceship of yours and thought we’d give it to you now.”
“Is that mine?” Xephos asked, picking up the familiar looking box.
“I guess. Open it to see what’s inside,” said Honeydew, popping the top open. Everyone crowded around to see what it was. “Hey, there’s nothing in here but some old pictures!”
“Pictures? Let me see.” Xephos grabbed one out of his friend’s hand and gazed at the face he saw.
“Hey, that looks like Lomadia!” Sjin gasped as they looked at it. There was a young blond woman, with glowing eyes just like Xephos’s, except hers were green. She did indeed look quite a bit like the owl woman who Xephos had grown fond of. Beside her was a much younger looking Xephos, and both were smiling, the woman with tears in her eyes as she showed off a startlingly beautiful copper band on her finger with strange engravings on the edge. Xephos felt a pang of loss when he looked at the woman. Now if only he knew why…
They pulled out a second photograph. This one was of a girl who looked remarkably like the spaceman himself. She had long, silky raven-black hair and soft blue eyes. She looked around the age of nine or so and, while she looked a bit like Xephos, she retained some of the features of the woman from the first picture. She was smiling as if she was looking at someone she loved dearly.
On the other half of the picture was Xephos.
“Islelle,” he whispered. It was like the world was crashing in upon itself. Memories flooded him and he felt like he could hardly breathe. He knew who these phantoms in photographs were. “Today’s her birthday, and I’m not there for her. I always said I would be there. But instead I’m here. I can’t believe-“ His voice broke. “I can’t believe I forgot about her!”
“Who is she?” asked Honeydew softly. Confusion and curiosity warred in his head.
Beers were forgotten in hand. Xephos couldn’t speak for several minutes, and neither could anyone else. Finally the words were choked out, spoken to an astounded audience,“My Isy. My little Islelle. She’s my daughter.”
Enjoy! :D -Callie
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Gift from the Heavens
FanfictionWhen Xephos crashes on Minecraftia, a serious head injury induces amnesia and all memory of his previous life on Callarus is wiped from his mind. He doesn't remember his friends or family, not even his daughter.