Heroes of Veritas: Bardic Inspiration (Book 2)

Chapter Twelve: Breakeven

Ichigo blinked rapidly a few times, glanced at Astredian, then looked at Elise again. The troubadour got to her feet, leaving a half finished waffle on her plate.

“I’m going to go open the place up. Hattie’s going to be here soon.” she said, swallowing a little.

“Oh no…” Ichigo said softly, his eyebrows knitting together with worry. “Elise…”

When she left, the catton gave Astredian the dirtiest look he could muster. If eyes could project disintegrating rays, his flashing silver eyes would have. Without a word, he got up as well and went after her. If the i***t paladin wasn’t going to, someone had to - before she ran again.

Now alone with Ian, Moltar finally spoke up again. “So, you were definitely going to marry her. You hadn’t proposed yet, but...well...you bought her a house, basically. You were going to build it together.”

Ian put his fork down, no longer feeling hungry himself. Moltar kept eating though, not seeming particularly put off by the morning’s dramatics. 

“Marriage? Me? Or, I guess...the other me.” Ian said, frowning. 

He wasn’t against marriage, exactly. It just seemed superfluous; if a couple wanted to be together, they would be. It didn’t help that most of his past relationships had gone down in spectacular flames before ever getting far enough for wedding bells to become a real concern.

Moltar sighed a little. “You shouldn’t think of Astredian as separate from you, man. It’ll just f**k you up the longer you try. He’s you, and you’re him, in all the ways that matters. You can even bring up your memories from this world if you think about it a bit.”

“What did you mean by Moltar was a better person than Kade, then?” Ian asked, drinking more of his coffee. He was going to need a second cup soon.

Moltar tilted his head to one side, cracking his neck as he chewed, expression contemplative. Then, he said, “Moltar was a lot more honest about who he was than Kade. People back on Earth have a lot of hang ups that people here just, well, don’t. I’m tired of being miserable, man. Moltar was happy, until...well..until Pita died.”

“Pita… the druid?” Ian asked. He barely remembered the guy; just that he was really good at dueling and did a lot of single player pvp tourneys.

“Yeah. He was my boyfriend.” Moltar said, finishing off his waffle. “He died during the second desolation, trying to protect Elise. He was...beautiful. Brave. The strongest of us. He still died.”

In spite of his calm, unruffled demeanor, Ian could tell that Moltar was grieving. It was his eyes that gave it away; they were far away and full of despair as he spoke.

“I’m so sorry, Ka- …I mean, Moltar.” Astredian said, reaching out to put a hand on his friend’s.

Moltar nodded a little, and looked up at Ian, his penetrating eyes returning to the present. “Look, I don’t know what all Ellie told you, but this world is dangerous. You’re going to need to remember how to do everything. I’ll do everything I can to help, but you need to figure s**t out with Elise.”

Ian scoffed a little, withdrawing his hand. “You can say that, but bro...I’m not marrying her. I barely know her.”

“I’m not saying marry her, I’m saying the guild runs better with her in it. I’m saying talk to her. Smooth things over. Be, you know, charming and s**t. You’re good at that.” Moltar said, sighing.

“Not sure I am anymore,” Ian muttered. “I might have called her a crafting slave this morning…”

Moltar grimaced at this.“Dude. How are you not dead? She hates that phrase. It’s actually the first phrase that got put on the banned list.”

“Well, whatever.” Ian grumbled, pushing away from the table to get a second cup of coffee. “I’ll think of something. She told me I’m supposed to have a budget meeting with her this afternoon. I’ll try to come up with a good apology before then.”

While Moltar was doing his best to advise their new arrival, Elise had opened up the front doors, then retreated upstairs. That’s where Ichigo found her, gathering her things into a spatial rucksack, jaw clenched against the tears that were threatening to stream down her cheeks again.

“Do you want some help, Ellie?” Ichigo said, his warm bass driving away the silence that was threatening to overwhelm her again.

She almost told him no out of habit; then she remembered what her mother had said about receiving help. There was nothing wrong with letting her friend help her. 

“P...please. This is really hard.” Elise said, sniffling a little as she handed the rucksack to Ichigo.

“Go wait in my room downstairs, ok? I’ve got this. Merc might be in Moltar’s room if you want some company.” Ichigo said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

Elise didn’t run, but she did move with purpose out of the commander’s quarters, through his study, down the stairs, and into the hallway leading to the officer’s quarters. It wasn’t until after she opened the door to Ichigo’s room, and saw what was inside, that she remembered it used to be her room. The room that Astredian had made for her.

Ellie had cried a lot of tears over the past few weeks; so many tears that she was sure her eyes would turn to stone from lack of moisture. She wasn’t normally much of a crier, so when she did cry it was the ugly, sloppy kind of crying. She was the kind of crier who got frustrated by her how useless crying was, which of course only made her cry more. She was the kind of crier who hated other people seeing her cry, and would hide in a bathhouse because then her tears would be disguised by all the water. She thought, hoped really, that she had finally run out of tears.

Yes, she had cried a little while hiding in the closet - but that was because she was having a panic attack. Now, as she stood in the doorway of her old room, which Ichigo had barely made any changes to, real tears rose hot and thick in her eyes. 

There was the beautiful white pintucked bedspread, and the quilt he’d designed with its beavers on the water pattern embroidered handsomely on top. The chippy white dresser and matching vanity with their smooth, dark wood tops...and the blanket. The dark blue blanket with the lions that he’d given her, the one Pita had insisted she take with her to The Cattonary, still draped on the red and white striped chair in the corner. A wail escaped her lips as her knees buckled beneath her, and she dropped like a hot potato to her rump.

The door to Moltar’s room opened and a frazzled Mercenades looked around. It took a moment for her to spot the source of the sobbing, and then her expression became alarmed. She rushed right over to the distraught troubadour, and wrapped her in a warm embrace.

“Ellie! Ellie, what’s wrong?” Mercenades asked as tears filled her own eyes. Unlike Elise, Merc was a sympathetic crier. She would cry at pretty much anything - including adorable kittens.

“He’s g-g-gone!” Elise wailed against Mercenades’ shoulder.

Mercenades froze for a moment, her heart dropping like a stone. The tank thought that her friend was talking about Pita, of course.

“I know,” Merc said, sniffling a little herself as she cuddled the tiny little human. “I miss him too. So much.”

Elise hid her face against Merc’s shoulder, ashamed that she was letting the half giantess comfort her for all the wrong reasons. 

“I’m s-s-sorry, Mercenades...not Pita, Astredian...” Elise choked out, half-sensically stringing words together between gasping sobs.

“Astredian? Want me to get him for you?” Merc said, rubbing Elise’s back.

“NO!” Ellie nearly shouted, her head popping up like daisy. “He...we...we broke up.”

Mercenades had a similar reaction to Ichigo; she pushed Elise back at the shoulders so she could get a better look at her face. The troubadour could see astonishment plain on the tank’s face. After a beat, Mercenades frowned, her tears slowing to a stop.

“You want me to break him up?” Mercenades asked, not entirely looking as if she was just kidding.