Everything's fine
1814 Words
Because Jesse was nowhere to be seen, Aria and the others were now even more worried as they kept trying to search for their friends down the lit-up streets.
“Jesse!” Aria called out, but like always, there was no answer “Where the hell are you?!”
“It’s no use” Hazel panted as she and Dale met up with the princess “We can’t find him.”
“Oh, man.” Aria nervously bit her lip “What have we gotten him into? Was he even ready for this? For all we know, those pickpockets could’ve killed him and hid his body somewhere. I swear if they killed him I am going to hunt them down and kill them on the spot.”
“You don’t have to” a voice spoke up which caused everyone to turn and gasp.
Heading their way was none other than Jesse himself, and behind him were the two pickpockets.
“Jesse!” everyone gasped.
“Are you okay?!” Aria demanded with a worried look.
“I’m fine,” he assured, “I’ve got a bit of a bump on my head, but I’m fine, really.”
“Are these the pickpockets?” Hazel pointed to Cyrus and Emerson as she pulled out one of her daggers “Do you want me to finish the job?”
“No!” Jesse held his hand out to her as Cyrus and Emerson stood back in fear “It’s okay, they’re harmless.”
“But didn’t they kidnap you?”
“Well... yes” he admitted, “But they never planned on hurting me. They showed me the way out so we can talk things out.”
“What do you mean?” Aria asked.
Jesse turned to the pickpockets.
“Go on” he motioned with his hand as he stood back to allow them to face Aria.
“Um, your highness” Cyrus began as they both bowed to her “We know what we did was wrong, and we’re not proud of it. The thing is... we’re orphans and we’re homeless and we steal to keep us alive. We never meant any harm to anyone.”
“We’ve tried to turn our lives around,” Emerson added “But it’s been hard. We still can’t find real jobs or get a home, but we’ve grown so accustomed to pickpocketing that we just went on with it. And we just want to say that... we’re sorry.”
At that moment, Aria stood there surprised by what just happened. A pair of pickpockets were apologizing for their actions, even Hazel and Dale had the same surprised looks on their faces.
“Wow,” Aria remarked baffled “That was uh- I wasn’t expecting that.”
The two gave small shrugs as Aria turned to Jesse and leaned into him.
“What did you do to them?” she whispered into his ear.
“I’m just helping them.” he replied with a smirk “I know that robbing people is bad, but a majority of the people who rob do so because they’re poor and can’t afford things like food and clothes to keep them alive. They’re basically like Aladdin, they may have a nasty habit, but they’re actually good people.”
Once again, Aria stood there with that surprised look on her face when she soon gave him a smile.
“I gotta say,” she grinned “I never thought you would catch a pair of pickpockets this way. Most people would use violence. Did you even have to use any weapons?”
“Nope,” he shook his head “And it’s a good thing I didn’t. I know to be the new hero means that I will have to use violence at some point, but in case you don’t know, sometimes violence is never the answer.”
Aria let out a small giggle, “You’re right, sometimes I forget that.”
“Not me.” Hazel smirked, “Violence is always the answer to me. I gotta find some way to let my anger out, and I prefer to use it on someone else.”
“I’m not surprised” Jesse chuckled.
“Well then,” Aria spoke to Jesse “Now that you managed to catch these guys in a surprising way, what do you suggest we do with them?”
“You’re asking me this?” he raised an eyebrow “Aren’t you the one who gives out the orders?”
“Yeah but-” she giggled a bit “At a moment like this, I honestly don’t know what to do with them.”
“Well, I’m actually glad you asked me first because I was hoping you can help them out. If you have to arrest them, they’ll understand, but I’m really hoping you can help them find jobs and perhaps a home for them. Perhaps at the castle, if there’s room.”
Aria began to think as she took a glance at Cyrus and Emerson who stood there shyly with their heads down.
“Well,” she began, still facing them “If they are true to their words, I do have some room for them.”
“Really?” Cyrus gasped “You mean it, your highness?”
“Well, that depends. How are you guys with animals?”
“We can deal with them” Emerson shrugged.
“Excellent,” she smiled “You guys can help out with Dale, he’ll show you how to handle to animals and creatures at the castle.”
“Oh, thank you so much” Cyrus thanked with a big smile “You don’t know how much this means to us.”
“Well, it’s getting late” Jesse put in “We all should head back to the palace. Unless there are other pickpockets we have to catch.”
“Don’t worry,” Emerson assured, “It’s just us, at least I think so.”
“Eh, good enough” he shrugged as they began to make their way to the carriage when Hazel suddenly sniffed the air.
“Um, who smells like fish?” she questioned.
“They didn’t have an ice pack” Jesse muttered.
__________
Well, looks like everything turned out good. I’ve got the pickpockets, Aria gave them both jobs and a room to stay in the palace, and I’m still alive. Although to be honest, I was kinda hoping for this mission to be more exciting, I actually felt ready to use some weapons. But hey, at least that gives me more time to train. And because it was practically late, that meant I had to go back. I had already changed into my normal clothes when Aria approached me in the throne room.
“You leaving now?” she asked me.
“I’m about to,” I told her “Do you need anything before I go?”
“I just wanted to say thank you. Because of you, the city can have fewer pickpockets now.”
“Oh well, you’re welcome” I smiled “I’m glad I can help.”
“How’s your head?”
“It still kinda hurts, but it’ll heal. Hey uh, do I still smell like fish?”
“A little.”
“Great...” I sighed, “Although that fish did work pretty well.”
She gave a small giggle when she added, “So um, how were you able to handle Cyrus and Emerson like that? Are you sure you didn’t use any violence?”
“I swear I didn’t” I guaranteed, “I just started talking and I was able to gain their trust.”
“Were you even afraid at all?”
“Well, at first, waking up with my ankle chained in a creepy cave is pretty scary, but once I realized that Cyrus and Emerson never planned on harming me, I didn’t feel scared. So I got them talking so I can gain their trust.”
“Would you have done the same thing if they were going to kill you?”
“Hey, most things can be solved by talking things out. And if not, I guess violence will have to do.”
“Yep,” she giggled “In this world, violence is usually the answer.”
“Oh, I bet” I grinned.
“By the way, even though this mission was pretty easy, you gotta be prepared when it gets hard. Although with that brain of yours, I know you can handle it.”
“I hope so. Because from experience, not everyone likes to talk things out.”
“Well, as long as you keep training, you can do anything.”
I nodded in agreement as we kept our smiles on our faces. Man, she looks so beautiful when she smiles.
“Well um-” she suddenly spoke, “I’ll let you go.”
“Alright, I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“I’ll see you then.”
The moment I was left alone, I gazed down at the ring and remembered what Wren had told me. If I was going to let it take me to a place I wanted to go without having anyone seeing me, I needed to think hard while rubbing it. But now I needed to know where I wanted to go. I couldn’t go to my dorm cause Evan’s probably there and I can’t appear in front of him, and since the sun was already setting, I was quite nervous about being outside. Maybe the restrooms will be okay, yeah, that should do it. So here it goes.
I kept my focus on transporting to the restroom as I rubbed the ring. And the moment I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe that it actually worked. The ring had taken me to an empty stall of the men’s room, and thankfully, I didn’t hear anyone so the whole restroom must be empty thank goodness. And as I headed out of the restroom and into my dorm, I noticed that Evan wasn’t back yet, which is great cause that means I can finally take my ring out and put it into the iron box Wren gave me.
So once I took out the iron box from my backpack and placed it on my desk, I took off my ring and suddenly got drawn to how beautiful the gem sparkled in the light. What kind of gem was this? Are there others like this? I mean, what if the gem falls out of the ring, has that ever happened before? Oh well, looks like I’ve got another question that I have to save for next time. But until then, I placed the ring in the box and shut it closed while flipping the latch to keep the lid secured as I placed the box back into my backpack just as the door swung opened as Evan stepped in.
Whoa, talk about a close call.
“There you are,” he said to me while closing the door “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you since lunch.”
“Oh um-” I quickly tried to think of what to say “I got a call from my family saying that they needed me.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I nodded with a small smile “Everything’s fine.”
“Oh good,” he breathed in relief “I was afraid that I was going to hear a death involved and that I needed to find a way to comfort you, which I don’t do so well in. So that’s good to hear that everything’s fine.”
“Yeah...” my smile soon turned fake “You’re such a great friend.”
__________
That night, everything was quiet as Jesse laid fast asleep in his bed. It was about three in the morning when a shadowy figure appeared in front of the dorm door. The figure tried to open the door, only to be blocked by the protection spell Wren had cast. After letting out a frustrated growl, the figure teleported to the window in front of Jesse’s desk and peeked inside to see the chosen hero asleep on his bed. After many years, the figure was staring at the one person who could take him down. But after many years of failing, the figure has learned a lot about his previous mistakes, and this time, Z wasn’t going to let this hero get in the way.
- Writer
