The Haze

--Chapter Five--

~~^picture of Zeus^~~
~~(again, from Pinterest, so I sadly can't locate the person's name for this picture)~~

~Nala~

I sigh. Today, I opened my eyes, expecting to see a bright, sunny day, giving me a sense of optimism to start the day off well. Instead, I wake up to see a super bright light, with a loud yelling outside.

Once I get up and look around, I notice that both Zhara and Zeus are out of their beds, and appear to be outside, maybe part of the commotion?

Not Zhara talking, obviously, but maybe Zeus

As I stretch and begin to readjust to the light around me, I remember the commotion and look out of the window to see what exactly it's about.

Peering outside, I see Zeus and who looks to be the blond, taller, boy, gosh, I should learn his name, right next to each other. Zhara seems to be standing behind Zeus, and the brown-haired boy, standing behind the other guy.

Cloud is nowhere to be seen here, and Pepper is sitting on a log about in between the two, looking conflicted. As soon as she sees me looking at her, she motions, to me, to come over there.

Oh great. Now that she saw me, I have to come over there. But I really don't want to get involved with any of this.

I sigh but realize that I probably should go out there and see what all of the fuss is about. Reluctantly I begin to make my way to the door of our hut, to go outside and find out what the hell is happening.

As soon as I step out of the hut, I hear two predominating voices. Those voices come from Zeus and the taller, longer haired, blond kid.

Yes, I called a person that I am like 99% sure is older than myself a kid, but so what? who's gonna judge me, I'm stuck in a freaking enclosed area with only six other people, and who knows what else okay?

"Why don't you just shut up, okay? I think we all need to get the hell out of here, before who knows what comes and kills us!" The blond haired kid yells, rather dramatically, trying to convince everyone to leave.

Zhara looks Zeus dead in the eye, as it seems she knows what is going to happen, now that the blond-haired kid told him to shut up.

"Alexx, calm down, this isn't worth getting into a fight over," The brown haired, green-eyed boy says, trying to be calm, and appearing to do so.

"Shut...up...Malachi" The boy, that I presume is called Alexx as that's what the other kid called him, says, but Malachi's words seemed to have calmed him down somewhat. Alexx then mutters something I couldn't completely hear, something, in a rather negative tone, about himself, his brother, and his parents.

Who's his brother? Is he here, or at wherever his home is?

I shake my head, trying to come back to what's happening right now.

No. That's not important right now. I need to focus on the argument here-

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of Zeus's angry voice speaking, seeming to tower over everyone else, and what they were saying.

That's not hilarious at all. Zeus is the one towering over everyone, with a strong voice, so UNLIKE the god Zeus.

I chuckle to myself about how perfect that name fits his personality.

"Why you...take that bac-" Zeus is about to finish his sentence, in a rather threatening tone to Alex, when he gets cut off by what appears to be my own voice. Why the hell I decided to speak up right here, right now, your guess is as good as mine.

"G-guys, what's this argument even about?" I ask, my voice steadying every word I say, trying to both change the topic and also to develop some context on what the freak is actually happening.

"Hmm?" Zeus turns and looks to see who the vice is coming from, clearly not expecting anyone to get in between their fight, then a moment of shock goes through his face when he sees me.

I assume that I'd slept in way longer than them, so, during the fight, he probably forgot that I had even existed. A look of initial shock, then slight relief, crossed over Zhara's face, and then she turned to look at me. Zhara then smirks and jerks her head over to the two boys that were fighting.

As I turn to look at what specifically Zhara was motioning to, all I see are both of them, Zeus and Alexx, looking at me curiously. Their stares take me by surprise, and I turn away, as I feel my cheeks start to turn red.

Ack! Am I turning soft and actually blushing at two guys? Geez, you really have turned soft, Nala. What would mom think? Mom, where I hate that I can't remember anything specific about her, except that she raised me to be a powerful individual.

Quickly recovering myself, and as I feel my cheeks return to their natural color, I turn back to those two, who, look as they have forgotten why or what about the two were even arguing about. This was my original plan, though how I managed it was not as expected.

The two of them turn in opposite directions and start to grumble and walk off, Zeus to his/our hut, and Alexx over to the main, slightly larger, hut where all of the food and weapons and other things are located. More confused than I originally was, which I didn't even originally think was possible, I go to walk over to Zhara, but in seeing that she's heading to our hut, where her twin brother went, I decided to leave them alone.

Not sure where to go from here, I'm about to go either further explore the area around the huts or go sit on a nice sunny rock, but am unable to do either because Pepper starts to walk over to where I'm sitting, on the floor.

"H-hey, I had, er, a question." She says, pausing, to wait for me to speak.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, what's up?" I ask her, clearly taken aback by her simplicity and straightforwardness.

"Um, I know it's a lot to ask, but um," Pepper pauses, clearly trying to phrase whatever it is she's trying to say correctly, and then her voice drops down to a whisper, "'Cloud' is driving me INSANE. She keeps talking about herself, and all the boys that are probably missing her, now that she's here and no there with them, and other crap, so I was wondering if I could room with you guys?" She seems so sure that we are going to reject her, that Pepper has to add more, and continues to speak.

"I-Its completely fine if you can't, I mean I understand, cause it's a three-person hut and I would be a fourth, plus, in comparison, our problems could be much worse than some moody teenager complaining about boys, and I'm sorry an-"

I cut her off by speaking, "Pepper, calm down. I'll definitely ask Zeus and Zhara about that. And if not, Zeus can move my bed in there, and I'll bunk with you. That way, we can complain about Cloud together, okay?" I wink and then smile at her. Then I walk away, to see Zhara and find out if Zeus is calmed down yet.

Then I go into the hut and ask Zhara and Zeus. He's calmed himself, and says it's fine that Pepper bunks with us, as long as they, he spoke for himself and Zhara, though she honestly didn't seem to care either way, still get their original sized spaces, which I said was fine, Pepper can share my 1/3 of the hut for all I care.

Once Pepper is all moved into our hut, and everyone is settled, it starts to get darker, and I gradually get more and more tired. Outside, the light begins to change to darkness and my vision initially starts to blur and then fades to darkness.

Finally.

I can actually go.

To.

Sleep.

--Author's Note : Ack! We got to 100 reads! Just for that, I'll make the next 2 Chapters 1500+ words, as a little reward. Remember, to get the extra Wednesday chapter, we need 100+ Reads and 20 Votes. We have already accomplished half of this, which is incredible, so thank you! Our next goal, for views, is going to take time, but will be 200 reads! Keep in mind, extra chapters will just be based on votes :) Anyways, this chapter was kind of boring, and a slight filler, because the next one will have something exciting and different, so be sure to come back and read it. That's basically all for now. Ciao!