Brothers In Arms (UNDER EDIT)

Chapter 11 - Sunny

    Even after everything he had been through, Sunny had not forgotten about Eliza.
    Though he had forgotten he looked like a right old mess, as he'd stumbled over to her when he'd spotted her in the Dormiscale library. She'd taken one look at him, and had practically squeezed what life there was left out of him, her face a mixture of shock and worry. And Sunny liked it, for some strange reason.
    His darker voice had gone silent ever since they'd gone to The Wastes, though not that Sunny cared much about that anymore. It was just like a miniature version on Ross inside his head. A part of Sunny hoped it never came back to taunt him.
    Brandon, though he didn't show it, was a skilled mechanic. He'd fixed up their ship in two hours, and had gotten it running half an hour later. The Blue Crayworl and Biggulon had hesitantly asked if they could join the team, and Sunny had said yes. They could use a few extra creatures, should they come against the Illusionist and his army. Biggulon, being a sniper, was skilled at shooting, and Brandon was strong with his claws and brute force, as well as his skills with metal.
    As for Racer? Well, they were still chasing him down. Ross had argued that they should shoot him now, but Sunny held his ground, and had agreed to give Racer a month to rest -and they needed to recover as well, as Ross didn't look any better than Sunny. They'd dropped him off on planet Tylum, and Sunny wondered if he should've talked to him, but Racer had not said much. He'd only said what planet he wanted to go to, and had said no more. Sunny dreaded the day he would face his old friend again when a month was up. He wasn't sure if he could pull the trigger.
    So Sunny had given him space, and concentrated on healing. And spending time with Eliza. And continued to think about what had happened.
    He was now certain that the deaths of his parents was from the Illusionist, not Racer, and Sunny felt half relieved that Racer was innocent. It meant he didn't have to shoot his friend in the head, though it would be hard explaining it all to Ross, who had no idea what had happened and would most likely not know until they encountered Racer, because truth be told Sunny was too afraid to explain it to the dark blue Nepolian.
    But why was he thinking about this now? He was spending time with Eliza and healing, which is currently the best thing he could do. They'd scheduled to meet in the same café that they'd gone to before Sunny left, and the Nepolian had opted for a simple plain blue shirt that he could tolerate wearing, since it didn't seem to press against his burns and grazes, and soft, dark blue trousers. But his bigger concern was that Eliza was late. Or maybe he'd just been early, since he'd scared himself out of the house by investigating his wounds in a mirror. It was a sight he would never want to see again. He looked like he'd walked out of an explosion. He looked like...
    He looked like Racer all those years ago when his brother had flung himself out of the window during the fire. Who'd been clutching their father's helmet, and passing it to him. And Sunny had told him afterwards to get lost, and that he'd kill him if he ever saw him again.
    "Sunny?" Eliza asked, cutting into his thoughts and making Sunny jump. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you jump. You just looked... lost in thought."
    "Yeah, I was." Sunny admitted, shuddering at the memories that lingered in the edges of his mind. He had to talk to someone. Had to get it out of his chest. He felt like he was drowning, drowning in his thoughts and choices-
    So he told Eliza everything, because she was there, and she was listening.

~~~~~~~~~

    "I'm sorry I kind of threw all that on you." Sunny apologized for the hundredth time, panicking about whether Eliza would still hang out with him and worrying about what Ross would say when the Nepolian found out. Ross would make his life torture from there on.
    As usual, Eliza waved him off, laughing. "For a Captain, you seem to like apologizing a lot." She said. "Surely that as a Captain, you get more creatures apologizing to you, rather than you apologizing to them, right?"
    "You'd be surprised." Sunny replied, his voice going distant. "Citizens get out of my way, but some like to push their luck by darting in front of me last minute and asking where the rest of our nation is when they know I don't know where they are." He didn't want to talk about the amount of verbal abuse he sometimes received. It could be rather colorful at times. Nobody believed a peaceful wandering Nepolian could become a Captain. Especially since his nation had seemed to have disappeared off the face of the galaxy.
    You're a coward, just like your nation. They said to him. A pity they left you behind.
    They'd moved from the café to a street overlooking the coast, with a Shosium bar fence protecting creatures from falling over the side, into the sea below.
    "Have you ever noticed the ocean can be very... relaxing at times? How calming it can be?" Sunny asked, thinking it was a random question to ask, and he hadn't realized he'd moved a little closer to stand beside Eliza as they gazed out at the ocean. He put his hands on the cool Shosium bars to let it distract him, waiting for Eliza to laugh at him or yell at him or for his darker voice to come out and whisper about ways to ditch Eliza and shoot Racer in the head and still get on Ross' good terms.
    He wasn't expecting Eliza to put a hand on top of his. His pulse jumped in a way that screamed look at me Eliza! I want your attention! And Sunny had to frantically push down a blush that was surely appearing on his cheeks.
    "The sea can be quite peaceful, yes." She said, and when Sunny looked at her, she met his gaze and smiled. "But don't you think it can be wild and untamable, and dangerous?"
    "Well, yes, but I think it's a show. To show creatures it has power and shouldn't be underestimated." Sunny replied, finding it hard to take his gaze off Eliza. And suddenly he began thinking about Ross, and how he seemed so scary and stern, but also how sometimes it would seem... forced. Like he wanted Sunny to think he was as cold hearted as he seemed.
    Especially with how he acted around Star. Sunny had not seen Ross smile at his jokes, but the minute Star started talking, the Nepolian would smile and laugh with him. Maybe Ross hated Sunny, or maybe he liked Star more. But perhaps there was something deeper going on between the two of them that he didn't know himself.
    "It's getting late." Eliza said, interrupting his thoughts about Ross and Star. And she was right - the sky was darkening and the streetlights had turned on, illuminating the Xucline stone path. "We should be going home. You should go home and rest. Don't worry about me, I can get home just fine."
    Sunny nodded, then hesitated, before pulling Eliza into a hug. "Thank you for not telling me to get lost after I told you everything." He murmured, and felt her tremble ever so slightly, sparking a wide range of emotions to flutter in his heart. Feeling a blush coming along, he broke the hug and quickly walked away, trying so hard not to look back.
    "Hey, wait!" Eliza called after him when he'd only gotten a few feet away, and he paused, turning around. "Where are we meeting tomorrow? I'm assuming we are meeting... right? Unless you're going on another mission?"
    "Have you seen the state I'm in?" Sunny said, gesturing to the burns that were visible and bandaged. "I'll be around for a month. So yes, I'd love to meet up. Maybe here again, if that's okay?"
    "Yeah, sure. I'm up for that. Um... take as much time as you need, alright? Don't feel like you have to get up super early to get here. Rest." Eliza reminded him, putting emphasis on the last word.
    "Since when did you become my mother?" Sunny teased, and couldn't help smiling at her. But she was smiling back, and Sunny knew then what he was feeling. Yep, he was certain he knew what the mysterious emotion he'd been feeling around Eliza was.
    But he couldn't tell anyone about it.