Of Where We've Been and Where We're Going

John huffed, breathing heavily as he rounded another corner just behind Ela. The cool morning air burned in his throat, almost as badly as his muscles had begun to burn from the exertion. It was starting to take a lot of effort to maintain the running form that he’d only just managed to get right earlier. So far, on their run, he’d confirmed two things.

One, his stats really had made a dramatic difference in his physical ability, more so than he’d guessed. Though he’d been pushing himself to a pretty high speed (for him, at least) for almost the entire run back from the bakery to his house, he was only now beginning to feel his normal soreness and exhaustion, as they turned back onto his street.

Two, his stats still paled in comparison to his blonde companion’s. She’d taken a noticeable lead over him almost immediately as she’d dashed away from the park in a fit of giggles, though she’d dropped back to just in front of him after a block or so. On top of that, she seemed none the worse for wear at all, despite her lingering injuries.

’Was she just this far ahead of my base stats…?’ he wondered, thinking back over the last few days. ’Not exactly the most unlikely option, all things considered. I wasn’t exactly Olympic material before, and I don’t think I’ve put a single point into Agility.’

The Gamer tilted his head slightly, lost in thought. ’Still, the dump of points into Endurance should have helped some, right…? I wonder if her own leveling up has affected things at all. Probably, that’s gotta be some of it.

’I don’t actually know for sure that she has stats, let alone that my powers have been raising them, but, I mean, she’s got a level, so something has gotta be changing there.’

John chuckled - more questions without answers. Shaking his head, he turned his focus back to the front, where Ela had begun to pull ahead of him again as he’d lost focus. Locking in mentally, he pushed himself to speed up enough to run alongside her for the final stretch. He exhaled heavily, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Almost there,” his blonde companion said, turning to offer a supportive smile. “You are doing great! Be careful not to hurt yourself now.”

The Gamer nodded. “Yeah. I’m just trying to finish strong… that’s a thing, right?”

“Yes, though you do need to know your own limits.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll stop if something starts to hurt. Promise.” He smiled, trying to be nonchalant. “Besides, I don’t think [Gamer’s Body] will let me hurt myself too badly.”

Ela frowned, shaking her head. “You should not be thinking like that. I cannot deny that it may be true - that Lady Gaia’s gifts may protect you from yourself - but it is bad to think like that. It is not healthy to accept harm to yourself so casually.”

“I-” he paused, blinking, “I wasn’t really thinking about that.”

“The mind is meant to protect the body, to care for its well being.” She turned to him, serious lines etched on her face. “If you break that link, it can be hard to get back. That can have nasty consequences, not just in the Abyss.”

That sentiment sent John flying back through his memories. How often had he begun to rely on pain for focus in tense situations? In the cold wreck against the crabs? In the trapped store against the guitarist and his phoenix? …When he’d asked Ela out earlier? Perhaps he’d already begun to subconsciously dissociate the pain and injury, at least somewhat.

“Yeah… I’ll be more mindful of that,” he said, solemnly. “Thanks.”

Ela looked at the sincerity in his eyes, then nodded, breaking out in a wide smile. “Good! Now, come on, I am starving!”

John chuckled, and, together, they finally finished the last stretch of their morning run, making their way down the street to the Newman residence. Brenda’s car was gone, as she’d long since departed for her job downtown. The pair of Abyssals arrived at the bottom of the driveway, slowing down to stop for a moment and catch their breath.

“Honestly, that really wasn’t so bad,” The Gamer said, coughing as he pulled out a pair of water bottles. He offered a bottle to his companion before taking a huge gulp from his own. “The run, I mean. The everything else was great.”

Ela held a fist up against her mouth, holding in a giggle as she finished her own sip. “I am glad that you feel that way. With a little more practice, you should be able to do much more than we did today.”

“Heh. We’ll see if practice or leveling gets me there first.” John smiled, stretching up as high as he could. “Now, let’s get inside and eat. I’m starving now, too!”

The blonde lit up at the mention of food, her bright green eyes wide and glimmering. She quickly capped her water bottle, and, with a happy little hop, she skipped off towards the front door, leaving John in the dust. He laughed as she darted away, smiling at her excitement.

“You know that I both have the key to the front door AND the food, right?” he called, scratching the back of his neck.

The knight stopped in her tracks, then spun on her heels right back towards him. With her cheeks tinted rosy-red, she leapt back to the bottom of the driveway where he stood, trying her best to **** an annoyed glare over her embarrassment. Unfortunately for her, The Gamer could see the smile threatening to break through, leaving her with nothing more than a cute pout.

Seeing that her ruse had failed, Ela allowed herself to join John in laughter, grabbing his hand and dragging him up towards the door. He feigned disinterest for a moment before giving in and moving just ahead of her so that he could pull out his keys and open the door.

The cool of conditioned air rushed to meet them, a welcome reprieve that John didn’t realize that he’d been craving. He exhaled heavily, enjoying the slight chill running over him. Then, he stepped to the side, holding the door open for his companion. She nodded and thanked him, walking inside and taking her sneakers off. He followed just behind, kicking off his own footwear in the doorway and locking up behind them before the pair made their way into the living room.

“I’m gonna set everything down on the table, if you want to look through it all,” John said, turning on the lights. “Do you want a towel or something?”

Ela walked up next to him, smiling. “That would be nice. I will get our breakfast out in the meantime.”

Nodding, The Gamer tapped through his inventory, depositing all the many bags and boxes of things they’d gotten at the bakery on the dining room table before jogging out of the room and picking up a pair of towels for the two of them. He hurried back as fast as he could, handing Ela her towel and quickly wiping himself down. The blonde had already separated their breakfast food, and had begun to examine the rest of the boxes for future snacks.

John folded his towel over itself, laying it across the back of his neck. “Do you want a drink? I like to have a glass of milk with my chicken biscuit.”

“Sure,” the blonde replied enthusiastically. “This is the first one I have ever had, so I will try it how you do.”

“Excellent choice,” he said, offering an exaggerated wink. “You can go ahead and sit down if you want. I’ll get it.”

Ela nodded, moving to take a seat and eagerly unwrapping her portion of the meal. Meanwhile, The Gamer made his way into the kitchen and poured two tall glasses of milk for them. As he put the jug back into the fridge, he could feel his own stomach groan in complaint - his hunger growing rapidly now that he had a moment to rest and think about it. Being careful not to spill anything, he made his way back to the table as quickly as he could, finding his companion all but drooling over her food.

“Alright!” he exclaimed, setting one cold glass down in front of the blonde. “Let’s dig in!”

The Gamer plopped down across from her, exhaling heavily as he finally appreciated getting off his feet. He stretched his legs out, careful not to encroach on Ela’s space, and unwrapped his own breakfast, the delicious golden-browns of the biscuit still just as fresh and warm as they’d been when he’d taken them from the kindly baker earlier. He licked his lips, carefully wrapping the bottom half of it back in the paper so that no crumbs or grease would get out.

Looking up, John found Ela mirroring his setup. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” she sang back, gleefully. Without another word, the ravenous blonde opened her mouth wide and sank her teeth into the breakfast he’d recommended for them. Her face contorted into a blissful smile as she chewed through the soft biscuit and the crispy chicken. “Mmm…”

John chuckled as softly as he could, enjoying her satisfied reactions. “I take it you’re enjoying it?”

Ela flushed again, covering her mouth. “Oh, yes, very much. It is such a unique combination of salty and sweet and savory. This biscuit is one of the most delicious pieces of bread I have ever eaten.”

“Haha!” The Gamer smiled, nodding in agreement. “That’s why it’s one of my favorite breakfasts, too. It’s just a shame they’re so hard to make at home, really. It can get expensive to eat out too often, though, maybe not on an Abyssal budget.”

The Bookworm Knight nodded, taking a modest sip of milk before returning to her meal. John took a smaller bite himself, chewing thoughtfully as he watched his companion eat merrily. A strange sense of melancholy wrestled against his satisfaction. How many years had he lost, hidden away from anything like this? How many years had been taken from him? …Could he have done something different, and escaped sooner, without the help of his powers?

He sighed, taking a second, larger bite.

“John…?” a soft voice called from across the table. “Are you alright?”

He looked up, meeting his companion’s gaze. Concern tinted the green of her eyes. The Gamer paused, confused for just a moment, before he realized that a single tear was rolling down his cheek. Swallowing hurriedly, he dashed the offending droplet away with the back of his hand.

“Sorry, yeah. I'm OK,” he said, a little too quickly. “Just… thinking about things. How different this is to my life a week ago.”

John scratched his chin nervously, unsure if he'd said too much. “It's hard to believe that I only just met you on Monday.”

Ela offered a reassuring smile, which grew wistful as a few seconds of silence passed between them. “You know, it does not feel like I have only known you for a few days.”

“I feel the same. I could have known you for months at this point.” He shrugged. “Well, aside from all the things we’ve never had a chance to talk about yet. There are lots of things we probably don’t know about each other, still.”

“I… think that we know what matters,” the blonde knight said, resting her arms on the table and tilting her head in thought. “I may not know a lot of things, like where you went to school before Ashcroft, what your studies are like - all sorts of mundane trivia that is nice to know eventually - but, I do know who you are.

“I learned who you were when we fought together in the dungeon, and again, yesterday, in the store. Who you are… when **** is close… is probably who you truly are,” she continued, shifting in her seat. “Well, a lot of my books say things like that.”

John smiled, reaching a free hand across to brush against one of hers. “I like that. We can learn all the little things later.”

They shared one final look, an understanding passing between them, then returned to their meal, both eager to finish devouring the food they were holding. The Gamer had already been behind his companion, and her pace of consumption was far higher than his own, so she finished first, moving over to the boxes of pastries to find something else to sate her hunger.

“So,” John said, crumpling the paper in his hands as he finished his own biscuit. “We still have a few hours before we need to go see the Order. Do you wanna, I dunno, watch a movie or something? We still have our sound setup out from last night.”

“Sure!” Ela said, smiling as she pulled out a heavily iced doughnut with rainbow sprinkles. “Did you have one in mind?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, not really. Bit of a spontaneous idea, that one.”

“Well,” she sang, standing up. “You should show me one of your favorites. I can learn a ‘little thing’ that way.”

“Alright, hmm…” John stopped to consider his choice, turning back to pick up the small pack of sugar cookies from the table. There were plenty of more classic movies he could pick from, like Star Wars, but those didn’t really say much about his taste. He thought it might fit better to pick something a little more unique. “Actually, have you ever seen Pacific Rim?”

Once they’d decided on a movie, they’d migrated back into the living room, sitting on the couch together. John had considered popping some popcorn, but Ela had already brought out a dozen doughnuts for them to split, so he’d decided that they had enough food. As the movie started, the boom of the movie logos sounding from the speakers, The Gamer felt a warmth pressing up against his side.

He froze in place, and looked down, finding Ela curling up against his side. Every cell in his body screamed at him to move or freak out, but he was too paralyzed to do anything. The blonde seemed to recognize that tenseness, turning her head to look back up at him.

“Is this OK?” she asked, blushing. “I… thought it would be nice.”

“This is great. Everything is great,” John stammered back, as fast as he could. “Just… gonna take a second to get used to.”

The knight smiled, curling back up against him. Forcing himself to relax and accept the situation, The Gamer wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in to cuddle. As the movie began to start for real, he reached over and dragged a blanket over their legs, basking in the warmth shared between them.

The woman, with pure relief on her face, realized the man was still alive, pulling him into a warm embrace, a sharp contrast to the cold of the ocean around them. The pair began to weep in happiness. As planes flew overhead, they separated and smiled at each other before the shot cut away.

"STOP THE CLOCK!" the gruff man in the movie yelled, the men around him breaking out into cheers.

The whole cast began to celebrate as the movie ended.

Ela shifted slightly, pressing herself closer into John. Her warmth felt incredible to him, her softness contrasted the hardness and strength of the muscles in her arm. She was everything he could have dared to dream of, and more.

"You know, is it not a little disappointing for it not to end with a kiss?" she whispered, leaning into him. "I like when they get together in the end."

John turned to look at her, and she met his gaze. Their eyes locked for a second, and she allowed a warm breath to escape her lips.

"Well, actually," John retorted, looking back at the screen. "I think it's kinda cool in this case. The point was that all relationships can be equally as meaningful, and that their friendship was as powerful as his connection to his brother at the beginning. Really, I think thi-"

His train of thought crashed as Ela slipped her hand into his, locking their fingers together and squeezing slightly.

"Ela..?" he asked, turning to her, confused. She giggled softly, as he tried to piece together the look in her eyes. "You... You weren't talking about the movie."

She laughed aloud this time, a glorious sing-song. "No, I was not."

The Gamer swallowed nervously. "I've never tried something like this before. Sorry if this is bad."

Ela leaned up, bringing an arm to John's neck and pulling him in. "That is OK. As long as you really want it, that is what matters."

Their lips met, and she was right. It was perfect.

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