Alligator Eyes

Chapter 17

They start by restoring the houses, beginning farthest from the temple and working their way up until they reach what has been dubbed, "The Palace". The Palace holds their treasury, the hospital, and of course the temple as well as the public paths. The library was no small help in this, holding information they thought forever lost, including the power behind the stone doors and the impenetrable gate.

Unbelievable maps of tunnel systems that the fortress holds, the trick to the aquifers, the best ways to use their farm land, and key aspects of their language all thought lost, brought back by the wonders of their library. There are several books they can't decipher, either in other languages or too far removed from their current speech style to comprehend.

One of things Mark found most interesting was a history book about Tilopen. Being the closest kingdom to their own, their relationship used to be good. Much of the book is blank, like it was in the process of being written. It goes as far as a war breaking out and then ends. Likely the war that drove them from the city. Along with it he finds several language books from Tilopen, thinking it might be a good idea to learn. Maybe if he works at it he can establish trade again, mend the relationship.

Maybe it shouldn't be him. There is a lot to mend and maybe the person with the glowing eyes shouldn't be the one to try and dispel rumors of monsters luring children into the woods at night to eat them. Uteh came up behind him while he was reading section, thinking it over, and took the book from him, reading only the title, and then flipping through it, and then handing it back.

"Maybe if we could get into King Yanel's library we could find a history although inaccurate, we could piece it together"

Uteh nodded, letting out a sound that was as close to a laugh as Mark has every heard from him before saying. "Yeah, you work on that"

They know some of the history after that, Epsil had gotten involved in a humanitarian fashion and that's how they weren't wiped out altogether, he gave them refuge in the forest and swamps of his kingdom, far from the boarder. But of course they want to know what sparked the war, and if it was their fault, to fix it.

Mark spends as much of his time building as he can, he loves to use his hands, it lets him focus on one task at a time, completely occupying his mind. Uteh and Wan have been working along side him the entire time and none of them are talking about what happened when Jinyoung left. Although Mark tried once, Uteh denied saying anything at all and Wan backed him up on that, both preferring to pretend that Jinyoung had left without incident. He only wanted to know why Uteh said that, but he would give him nothing, not a damn thing.

His parent only asked him once what happened on the trip but he would tell them nothing. He just doesn't think its worth going over. The important thing, as far as Mark is concerned is that they've made it home, and Mark would have gone through any amount of hardships to make that happen.

His whole family has been busy so it hasn't been terrible keeping them off his back about it, but he still has to deal with the staring. Uteh still won't let him go on any hunting trips, and he won't let him scope out the jungle. So when he isn't building he's digging graves.

They've managed to pull all of the remains from the temple and most of the bodies out of the fortress, at least the parts they've found, but its seriously a maze. It was honestly pure luck that the seven of them got out into the temple. It gives Mark a headache just thinking about it, and when he looks at the maps left in the library he feels as though he could throw up. He was this close to dying there.

Eri has managed to corner him about it once, after a few weeks, refusing to let it go until Mark told her something.

"You haven't been the same since we got here" She said. "I miss my brother"

That had done it for Mark and he immediately broke down. Feeling generally horrible for ignoring them. He used to play with them in between tasks and now if he has any free time at all he just sleeps. Still, he couldn't admit to her what had happened with Jinyoung, he couldn't tell her how alone he had felt for most of their trip and how they had betrayed him before he saved their asses from old friends.

And he couldn't tell her that he had called him a reaper, because she would never forgive him for it and more than anything Mark doesn't want them to hate Jinyoung or Jackson, or any of them. Eri calmed him down, but if anything he felt worse, he had wanted to ease her mind about the whole thing and instead he made it worse

That got Uteh involved, but only slightly. He was taking more and more responsibilities and was away less and less. It shouldn't have surprised Mark, but it did. He was really becoming their Chief, all that was left was the ceremony. Who knew when that would be. Anyway, Uteh only asked him what happened, same as everyone else and Mark just shook his head, shrugging and saying nothing.

But then Uteh would look at him with such disappointment and sadness it made Mark's heart ache. Wan was silent on the matter, in fact he has practically ignored Mark this whole time. Thinking back on it, Wan hasn't said a word to him since he got back from the mission. He tries not to worry about it, but it is different. They used to be close, well as close as they could be.

Thinking back on his trip is something Mark does with fondness. It was absolutely the craziest riskiest thing hes ever done. I mean what was he thinking? Walking into a bar in Epsil and asking for a man on a wanted poster to help him find his city. He almost drowned, Jinyoung almost died. He saved them from kidnappers. He can hardly believe any of it, like it was all a dream.

Sometimes he stands up at the temple steps, overlooking the courtyard and stares off into the jungle as the sun sets. He thinks of Jinyoung's smile in these moments, of Jaebum's cool gaze, BamBam's childish laugh, and everything they went through together and sighs.

He sighs when he wishes he could cry, missing the friends he thought he had made, and the lover he almost had. Now, standing in that very spot as the sunset shoots pinks through the sky and purples through the few clouds he closes his eyes, leaning back against the wall. He slides to the floor, puts his head on his knees and falls asleep.