The Esper of Algol: Protector

Water Ways

"Alis..." Noah woke very suddenly. He was immediately aware of how warm he was compared to the icy planet they were just on. The weight of what had just happened pressed down on his chest and settled there. Alis. He couldn't get the image of her lifeless body out of his mind. He couldn't save her.

He started to sit up and realized the weight was holding him down. Then he felt the accompanying rumble. He finally looked down and saw Myau curled up on his chest, purring and seemingly asleep. He felt a surge of affection for the yellow fluffy cat that under other circumstances would have possibly weaseled a smile out of him. He gently placed a hand on Myau's back.

The purring abruptly stopped. "Pet me and you lose a face."

This time Noah did smile a little. Myau opened his eyes and lightly hopped down to the floor. As his healer stretched, Noah sat up and looked around, realizing where they were. Odin and Myau had somehow dragged him all the way back to Suelo's in Camineet. On Palma.

"I'm sorry," Noah said quietly, looking down at the floral patterned sheets.

"For what? Worrying us all to death?" Myau had begun cleaning his own face.

"For... Alis..." he couldn't say any more than that.

Myau looked up from his washing. "What are you talking about?" Noah turned his gaze upon his friend and he put his paw back on the ground. "How the hell do you think we got all the way back to Suelo's?"

Noah's breath caught. Was what Myau was presumably saying true? Could it be? Noah stood up and moved quickly into the open room that served as Suelo's common room and kitchen. There, at the table, Odin sat with Alis standing opposite, both with steaming mugs in front of them, and Suelo preparing more of the hot drink at the stove.

"Hey," Alis smiled widely, "you're up!"

Without giving his internal voice enough time to protest, Noah took three strides to her and embraced her. She took a small gasp of surprise, but then placed her arms around him in return.

"You're ok?" Noah could feel the wet heat welling up in his eyes. The voice made it back in time to fight the urge to kiss the top of her head.

"Me?" Alis sounded confused. "I thought I'd killed you."

Noah took a step back to look at her. Her brows knit together over glassy eyes, and now Noah was confused.

"I never knew magic like that existed," Myau had come out of the bedroom as well and alighted on a nearby chair. "Both of you bringing on some amazing stuff."

Odin cleared his throat. "Uh, Alis wasn't waking up, you shouted something - don't ask me what the magic word was, I'd never get it right anyway - then she did wake up and you passed out."

"'Revasu,'" Myau said. "And then Alis started screaming for you to wake up and when you didn't she transported us all here. All the way to Camineet. From DEZOLIS!"

"Yes, yes," Suelo intoned as she handed Noah a cup of hot sweet brown tea. "It was quite a shock for all of you to suddenly show up on my front lawn, covered in snow and blood and screaming. And with the current atmosphere, I'd think some people," here she glared at Alis, "would be a little more courteous and not yell for me to help known renegades."

"We've put you in danger," Odin stood up and started to clean up. "We should leave as soon as Noah's had something to eat, before we make things worse."